St Martin's Ampleforth - a Benedictine Catholic school
At St Martin's Ampleforth we seek to be a community so formed by the good news of Christ that this informs every part of our lives. Our mission is to support families in the religious upbringing of their children and those children entrusted to us will be educated in the life of the Christian faith to grow up confident in the knowledge that God loves them and cares for every detail of their existence; they will be encouraged towards a free and mature responsibility. We believe such a community offers the freedom for children to grow spiritually, creatively and with a love for learning.
We gladly accept into the school a number of students of other Churches and traditions. We support them and their families as they make their journey of faith alongside us.
Faith is an affair of the head, the heart and the hands. All three must be engaged to form a whole personal relationship with God. Therefore chapel and classroom are inextricably linked in the liturgies we celebrate together as a school. As children gather into a worshipping community they experience a foretaste of the community of love, which is the goal of all their actions in the classroom, music room, theatre, on the games field, with friends and family, as well as in chapel. The Biblical readings offer their message; the prayers of the service remind us of God's love and mercy, and our need for that love and mercy. The regularity and predictability of the liturgy, central to the rhythm of school life at St Martin's Ampleforth, also speak of the reliability and trustworthiness of God - he meets with our pupils and staff day-by-day, week-by-week. The common celebration of the Eucharist provides the ideal start for the rest of the day, whether that day be a special one or an ordinary school day; the great feasts of the Church's year form the heart of our school year, and a focus of special joy in the school's life.
