Catholic Life and Mission
At St Edmund Campion Catholic School, we are blessed to gather in a building which is rooted in Catholic history. Our school stands atop of the great St John Henry Newman’s footprints, who preached at the neighbouring Abbey (St Thomas and Edmund of Canterbury) and will have often walked on the surrounding roads. In the late 19th century, a convent for the Dominican sisters was built on the site of our school. This convent soon became St Agnes Catholic Grammar School for girls, which was run by the sisters. Today, the school still retains some of the sacred vessels used in the Dominican sisters’ celebration of Mass, including a beautiful chalice dated 1891. In 1975, St Agnes amalgamated with two other local Catholic schools, St Thomas of Canterbury and St Margaret Clitherow, to become the school we know and love today: St Edmund Campion.
We continue to be at the heart of Catholic Birmingham, since we neighbour many beautiful Catholic churches and are only a short distance from the fantastic St Mary’s College in Oscott, home to many seminarians. We are incredibly fortunate to work closely alongside Fr Elias and the Redemptorists from the Abbey. They are all very eager to help our young people on their journey towards Christ. They guide us and we learn from them so that we can share our faith and friendship as a school community.
Our Priest Chaplains, Mr Oxley, Head of Catholic Life, Mr Sorroll, our Lay Chaplain and our strong RE department work alongside each other to develop the Catholic Ethos of our school. They are supported by an absolutely wonderful Chaplaincy Team, which is made up of students from almost every year group. Alongside Mr Sorroll, they help to plan fundraising activities, liturgies and collective worship throughout the year.
"The Catholic life of the school is outstanding"
Section 48, 2017
As a school we try ensure each child has the space and time to develop their spirituality, personal growth and an opportunity to live out their calling as Christians.
Throughout the year, we follow the liturgical calendar and have various liturgies, Masses and time for prayer during Lent/Advent, Feast days etc. Every single day begins with ‘Sacred Time, Sacred Space’ in form groups, wherein pupils are invited to listen to and reflect on the Gospel of each day, before being sent forth to embody the Jesuit values in all that they do. The Chapel is also open all day, every day and pupils are invited to use it as a space for retreat, prayer, reflection and time alone with the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Our ‘Christ the Teacher’ mural in our dedicated school hall was blessed in 2011 by the Archbishop of Birmingham - Bernard Longley. It depicts Christ as our teacher, St Edmund Campion and Fr. Michael Knight who was a governor at our school for 36 years and sadly died in December 2011 a week after the mural was dedicated.