Our Ethos

At St Raphaela's we are a learning community and our purpose is to guide and support each child in all aspects of her or his education and development. For us this includes promoting,not only academic success, but also self esteem, confidence, and personal responsibility. A key element of our ethos is the respect and dignity shown by all school personnel towards every child. The learning environment that we create is welcoming, collegial, happy, safe and respectful of all its members. The words of Anne Holte, displayed in our school entrance remind us daily of what we set out to achieve;

If a child lives with tolerance he/ she learns to be patient,
If a child lives with encouragement he/ she learns confidence
If a child lives with fairness he/ she learns justice
If a child lives with praise he/ she learns to appreciate
If a child lives with security he/ she learns to have faith
If a child lives with approval he/ she learns to like himself
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship he/ she learns to find love in the world.

Like Saint Raphaela we believe that the Eucharist is at the heart of God's goodness to us and from it flows all our blessings.We have a School Mass at least once a term and many pupils choose to join the community for Mass in the Convent chapel at 8.05 am daily.

The school has an Infant Assembly on Tuesday mornings and a Junior School assembly each Wednesday.As well as using Assembly to reflect on current themes we also use it to celebrate individual successes and achievements.

We believe that education is a work of partnership between the parents and the school and we believe that good communication is what makes this partnership work well.

Our school motto is Ad Finem Fidelis, faithful to the end.

Ourselves:

Know you what it is to be a child?
It is to be something very different from the man of today:
It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism;
It is to believe in love.
To believe in loveliness; to believe in belief;
It is to be so little that the elves can whisper in your ear;
It is to turn pumpkins into Coaches and mice into horses
Lowness into loftiness and nothing into everything.