Relationships and Sex Education
Catholic Education is an education of the ‘whole person.’ Our mission is to support the development of all our pupils spiritually, morally, socially and ethically which is rooted in the teachings of Jesus and the Catholic Church. The education of children in human sexuality is an important, precious and privileged responsibility. Teaching healthy relationships is an essential part in the formation of the ‘whole person’. The Catholic Church teaches us that this is very much a partnership with parents, in which parents are the ‘first educators’ of their children on these matters; ultimately, you confer on us the right to co-educate your children with you.
Our RSE curriculum is based on three key themes:
- Created and loved by God
- Created to love others
- Created to live in community
This is delivered via Religious Education, Science, Health & Wellbeing, the school nurse and bespoke PSE lessons using Ten Ten resources approved by the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Catholic Education Service.
Ten Ten is an award-winning Catholic educational organisation that is well respected and very experienced in this field of work. It produces the resources, ‘Life to the Full.’
Our Relationships and Sex Education policy can be found on our website under the ‘School Policies’ page and our school contact is Mr P Moriarty, Deputy Headteacher.
Services
Centenary celebrations
St Illtyds Catholic High School marks its centenary this year and began doing so with a Mass at St Albans Catholic Church in Splott, Cardiff. St Albans was the local church closest to the schools original site and all were made welcome by Father Sebastian and the Oratory.
Archbishop Mark O`Toole was the main celebrant but he was also joined by fellow priests, many of whom were themselves Old Illtydians. It was a wonderful opportunity for all past pupils and staff to share their own memories of the school and suffice to say a lot has changed.
We were delighted that Brother Michael and brother Ben could join us. Brother Ben spoke of his own time and memories of St Illtyd`s and this was a theme carried on the next day at the school itself where Mass was celebrated by Archbishop George Stack and Father Brian Grey, Chair of governors and father Sebastian. We were also joined by Headteacher Mrs Hart and pupils from St John Lloyd.The mass took place in the Chapel which was a part of the Brothers lodgings when they were ever present in the school.
It was great to have brother Michael and brother Ben with us. They helped to reinforce our rich history and association with lasallian education and we hope it is the first visit of many as the centenary celebrations continue.
Chaplaincy
Our Chaplaincy
The appointment of our school chaplain Victoria Wonnacott is an exciting opportunity to help our pupils and staff to develop their relationship with Christ and each other. The new Chapel has been very busy with Class Services with Fr Brian, Collective Worship, SVP conference, Youth Action Group meetings, Charity donations for the Turkey-Syria appeal and primary school visits.
The development of the Jesuit Pupil Profile is at the core of everything we do in the Chapel.
Our Chaplaincy
The appointment of our school chaplain Victoria Wonnacott is an exciting opportunity to help our pupils and staff to develop their relationship with Christ and each other. This term has been really busy with services in our new chapel, a focus on Ash Wednesday, charity donations for Ukraine and the further development of the Jesuit Pupil Profile.
Liturgical display during Lent
Collective Worship with St Albans Primary School
St Albans pupils joined us in our School Chapel for a collective worship with group Unity of our YAG. The older students read the Gospel and reflected upon its message, they then helped St Albans to make mosaic crosses as part of the Lenten craft.
School Chapel Services
The winter term saw the beginning of class services for pupils in our School Chapel with Father Brian. The Year 7 classes were eager to join in with readings and prayers with each volunteer reading beautifully. The students grew in confidence with their readings and fully engaged with Father Brian.
Youth Action Group
Lenten Challenge
St Illtyd’s staff and pupils are taking on the challenge of walking 200km as a school during Lent to raise money for CAFOD. They will be covering the distance during PE Lessons as well as other activities during school time.
Please sponsor us by following the link to our school fundraising page. https://cafod.enthuse.com/pf/victoria-wonnacott
The Big Lent Walk
We are taking on the Big Lent Walk! 200km in 40 days throughout Lent. Staff and Pupils willl be working with the PE department for The Big Walk by tracking any walks/runs completed in PE lessons or ou
Year 7 Youth Action Group
January saw the launch of the Youth Action Group for year 7, we had an incredible turnout where 55 pupils showed up to the initial welcome meeting. The 55 students were broken down into 4 groups, each group assigning a President and Vice President. The Youth Action Group (YAG) focuses on 3 key elements; SEE, THINK and DO, turning their concern into action. The group will focus on our school community, the local community, global community and our primary schools. This coming term will see us focus on working with our primary schools in collective worship, workshops and charity work. They will be building up a relationship with the St Vincent De Paul Centre to encourage the already budding partnership the school has with them.
Year 10 Youth Action Group
Our current year 10 Youth Action Group has been incredibly busy since it formulated back in 2022. They have attended the SVP Community Engagement day where they met and collaborated with other Catholic High Schools in South Wales, it was at this event the group started to build a good relationship with the leaders of the SVP Centre in Ely Bridge. The group ran a successful Candy Cane fundraiser during Advent to raise funds for supplies for two charity workshops filling bags with essentials for the homeless and gift bags for the residents of Quarry Hall Care Home. They have collaborated a number of times with the SVP Centre who invited them to a Christmas Food Hamper workshop where they, along with volunteers from Holy Family Church, filled over 100 trays with food and handwritten Christmas cards for vulnerable families in Cardiff.
This term the year 10 group will be fundraising for the Turkey-Syria CAFOD Appeal by holding a Hunger Lunch in the school hall on 21st March.
St Illtyd’s Pupil Profile
St Illtyd’s has adopted the ‘Jesuit Pupil Profile.’ The Profile is a response to the question: ‘What kind of person would you really like to be?’ (Pope Benedict – St Mary’s University, Twickenham. 17th September 2010) The St Illtyd’s Pupil Profile offers a vision of what it is to be a good person and supports the moral and spiritual development of our pupils and staff.
Our pupils have been competing to design the logos for each pair of virtues
