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Our Schools RE Project
Passing on the Faith
How can we help pass on the Catholic Faith to the next generation?
As Catholic women, we recognise that this is a task which is very much something that is our concern and responsibility. Most people first learn about God from a woman—it is mothers and grandmothers who are usually the first to tell children about Jesus Christ, about Christmas and Easter and what they signify, about praying and about the great events of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Most teachers in Catholic primary schools are women.
Since 2000 the Association of Catholic Women has sponsored a Schools RE project, aimed at primary-age children (5-11). For the best essay on a specific topic relating to the Faith we offer an annual award—in the form of an engraved trophy the child keeps for a year plus a personal prize and a prize for the school. Small prizes for runners up and Certificates of Merit are also awarded.
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The Winners 2011
2011 Schools' RE Project
The Association of Catholic Women
Sponsored by: The Catholic Truth Society
40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY
Pupils were invited to learn about the Rosary, and to choose one of the Mysteries and
write about it: we invited them to choose from two of the Joyful and two of the Luminous
Mysteries.
Entries for the Project poured in from across Britain and choosing the final winners was
extremely difficult. So we have awarded a number of runner-up prizes and special awards, and several certificates of Merit or Special Merit. In addition, every child who participated in the Project receives a holy card.
Joanna Bogle reports — It’s a rainy morning, and I’m squelching my way through the streets of Kingston in Surrey, en route to the local Catholic primary school. The summer term is drawing to it end, and I’m due at the school for a rather satisfactory event: the presentation of a prize gained in the 2011 Schools RE Project run by the Association of Catholic Women.
From small beginnings, this Project has grown and grown. It is now sponsored by the Catholic Truth Society, and 2011 saw over 1,600 essays pouring in from children at Catholic primary schools across Britain. The winning schools receive cash prizes, and the children receive books, including the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a pocket-sized hardback book, beautifully produced and illustrated , which they can treasure all their lives.
But I had a special surprise when I arrived at St Joseph’s, Fairfield, Kingston. I was greeted by a cheerful and pleasant young lady, who would be leading me in to the morning assembly where the children were gathering. I started to chat to her about the Schools RE Project, and she said shyly “Yes – I know a bit about it. I think I was the first winner, over ten years ago...um...my name’s Maria Byrne .” Maria Byrne! Of course I knew the name! Her excellent essay on the Mass was a clear winner in our first-ever Project, and got the whole venture off to a wonderful start. Read Maria’s essay.
Maria, home-educated, is now studying further and working part-time at St Joseph’s, where she is responsible for school worship and linked activities. It was a real delight to meet her – and the children at the school were delighted, too, when I told them about this coincidence, and gave their Miss Byrne a hearty round of applause.
Giving out the prizes is a thoroughly enjoyable part of the whole Schools RE Project, and here I must pay tribute to other schools where I have been warmly welcomed, notably St Edmund’s prep school at Ware in Hertfordshire, and St Joseph’s Primary at Port Talbot in Wales.
The idea of the Project is to encourage children to study some specific part of the Catholic Faith each year, and to write about it. This year’s essays on the Rosary were on the whole of a very high standard. The children had been asked to study, in particular, the Joyful and the Luminous Mysteries, and had to choose one and write about it in some detail. There were some excellent accounts of the Nativity, and of Baptism of Christ and of the Transfiguration, showing an understanding of the importance and significance of these events.
The essays arrive by post, in huge packets, with some schools sending - which actually we don’t really want! – all sorts of artwork as well as the essays themselves. Our Secretary then distributes the packets among various judges who carry out an initial reading, sifting out some essays that are clearly winners. Among the others, there are a large number that receive runner-up Catechism prizes, and others that receive certificates of Merit or Special Merit. This year, there were just four schools where the work was such that we honestly couldn’t award anything at all – but, as with all the schools, every child entering the Project gets a small holy picture.
Choosing the final winners happens at a gathering of the judges in London, and is always a hard task. It is really encouraging to see that there is a great deal of good work from a range of schools, showing that there are teachers who are truly keen to pass on the Catholic Faith to the next generation. When we finally have a list of winners, letters go out to the schools notifying them, and then all the essays are transported to the offices of the Catholic Truth Society in South London where teams of volunteers, organised by the ACW, begin the big task of mailing out all the runner-up prizes and certificates.
We sit with piles of jiffy-bags and boxes of Catechisms, carefully writing out the child’s name and the name of the school, along with “Presented on the occasion of the 2011 Schools RE Project, for work of a high standard...” We are fortified by brews of coffee and tea and take a chatty lunch-break over sandwiches. We enjoy the occasional howlers in the essays (“Christmas is an Immaculate Celebration”) or the children’s way of expressing things (“John was a Baptist and he swished water all over Jesus”) and we reminisce about our own schooldays or about previous ACW projects and events.
The Project would not be possible without our wonderful ACW supporters, who helped to launch the whole venture in its early years and still help to keep it going. We continue need funds for some of our basic administrative costs, and for the other work we do with schools including our day-conferences on Art and Music at which teachers learn how to sing Gregorian Chant, and to use some of the great works of art of our Christian heritage in passing on the Faith today.
When the Association of Catholic Women began, over twenty years ago, I don’t think we imagined that we would ever be involved in a vast annual nationwide schools project offering two trophies to be kept and displayed by schools and involving the mailing out of great stacks of Catechisms and other books. A big THANK YOU to all who support and encourage this work: please keep the Schools RE Project in your prayers.
The main prizewinners are as follows:
Years 3-4
I. Jointly: Taylor Delvaille-Sills, St Thomas More primary school, Bexleyheath, and
Antonio Clegg, Our Lady of Victories primary school, Putney
2. Jointly: Charlie Larkman and Grace Heery, St Joseph's primary school, Port Talbot
3. Jointly: Alex O'Connell, St Richard's primary school, Longsight, Manchester, and
Abigail Adamiec, St Joseph's primary school, Inverness
Years 5-6
1. Joshua Best, St Edmund's prep school, Old Hall Green, Ware
2. Jasmin Werner, Our Lady of Victories primary school, Putney
3. Jointly: Alice Lowden, St Anne's primary school, Buxton, and
Tashlyn Pereira, St Joseph's primary school, Kingston-upon-Thames
We were delighted to hear, from a number of teachers, of how much the children had
enjoyed taking part in this Project. The judges, too, enjoyed reading the children's essays
You can see the winning entries in full, electronically if you click on email on left and ask for a copy, state A, B, and or C.
A. Taylor Delvaille-Sills B. Antonio Clegg
 
C. Joshua Best
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