Values and Virtues

"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity”.      Colossians 3:14

For us at Holy Trinity, our school motto reminds of us of this call to service. In the words of Saint Oscar Romero, each of us at Holy Trinity must try every day to

Aspire not to have more, but to be more.

We have a clear idea of how to achieve this. From our Mission Statement stem our nine core values. These are the foundation of our classroom and school rules. They are:

We value ourselves
We value each other
We believe in justice
We believe in truth
We believe in taking care of our environment and belongings
We value being trusted
We forgive each other
We believe in being the best we can be
We are faithful to Christ.

Our children learn how to put these into practice in the service of themselves, the Church and society.

As a Catholic school family, we desire to follow the teachings of the Gospel revealed through the Church. We look to scripture for revelation from God, which will guide us in the way he wants us to live. In the Gospels and Church tradition, we find the person of Jesus, through his teachings and interactions with people, showing us the way to live our lives. The Beatitudes (Matthew 5) encapsulate the values we want to live by and that we would want to nurture and develop in the children in our care.

At Holy Trinity, we know the importance of developing a virtuous life. The Catechism describes a virtue as “an interior disposition, a positive habit, a passion that has been placed at the service of the good.” Cardinal Vincent, Archbishop of Westminster, in an address to Head teachers a number of years ago reminded everyone that, “that’s what virtue is. It’s those habits of mind and action which genuinely serve the common good…. Schools are the places where such virtue is generated or where it is neglected.” The virtues we practise and teach to be in Holy Trinity are:

Grateful and Generous
Attentive and Discerning
Compassionate and Loving
Faith-filled and Hopeful
Eloquent and Truthful
Learned and Wise.
Curious and Active
Intentional and Prophetic

 Jesus teaches of love for all, to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’; in the new commandment Jesus instructs the Apostles to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ and to make that love know to all: ‘Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.’ This is the core work of our school.