Know: Catholic identity is held within a relationship with the Church. The diocesan bishop has responsibilities for Catholic schools; governors, trustees, employers and headteachers have distinct responsibilities within the school’s legal arrangements.

Do: locate your trust deed or instrument of government, academy articles and scheme of delegation where applicable, and diocesan directives. Identify the school’s employer, admissions authority, land trustees and routes for approval of major decisions. For a religious-order school, understand its charism and relationship with its trustees.

Canon Law: 793 and 796 address parents and partnership; 795 describes integral human formation; 803 concerns Catholic identity; 804–805 concern religious education; 806 §1 addresses episcopal oversight and 806 §2 academic standards comparable with other local schools. Read these with your adviser to understand their local application.

Vatican: Canons 793–821 · CES governance guidebook · EducareM: Governing with Hope

Know: the Bishops’ Memorandum sets expectations for staffing Catholic schools. CES guidance requires its model employment contracts and associated documents. Read your own leadership contract with your employer; understand its duties concerning Catholic character, professional conduct and leadership.

Do before recruitment: read the current Memorandum; confirm reserved-post requirements and diocesan involvement; use the appropriate CES application and appointment documents. Do not assume every post has the same religious requirement.

Do before issuing a contract: identify the employer and correct school or academy template, employment status and role; follow the CES user guidance and obtain diocesan and employer HR/legal advice. Catholic ethos clauses, disciplinary concerns and contract changes require informed handling.

Live it: explain the mission at induction, support staff of all faiths and none to contribute to it, provide formation, and follow fair procedures when difficulties arise.

Bishops’ Memorandum · CES employment, recruitment and workplace resources · CES contracts and guidance

Know: RE is central to the school’s educational mission and is an academic subject with its own knowledge, methods and assessment. It needs strong teaching, appropriate curriculum time, resources and leadership.

Do: ask the RE leader to explain how the Religious Education Directory informs progression, teaching and assessment in your phase. Confirm diocesan implementation expectations, timetable requirements, qualifications and any examination provision. Check the quality of pupils’ learning, including pupils with SEND.

Support: protect subject leadership time; arrange diocesan training, moderation and support for new or non-specialist teachers. Avoid using an RE scheme as a substitute for understanding the curriculum.

To know You more clearly: Religious Education Directory · CES RE guidance · Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies

Know: prayer is an encounter with God; liturgy is the Church’s worship. Different forms have their own purposes and requirements. Mass, a celebration of the word, classroom prayer and reflection need thoughtful preparation.

Do: work with your priest, chaplain and prayer leader to review provision, staff confidence, pupil participation, music, Scripture and accessible spaces. Plan for the Church’s year and school community, including bereavement and times of difficulty. Confirm sacramental arrangements with the parish and diocese.

Enable: develop pupil ministries with formation and adult support. Help pupils prepare, proclaim, serve and reflect in ways appropriate to their age and to the liturgy. Welcome the whole community sensitively, explaining what participation involves and respecting conscience.

To love You more dearly: Prayer and Liturgy Directory · Bishops’ Conference: prayer, Scripture and liturgy resources

Know: protecting children is a fundamental expression of their dignity. Good intentions, reputation or a wish to reconcile people must never obstruct reporting, investigation or protective action.

Do: establish confidence in DSL arrangements, safer recruitment, allegations and low-level concerns procedures, online safety, attendance follow-up and the recording and escalation of concerns. Make reporting accessible to pupils. Concerns involving clergy or church personnel also require the appropriate Church safeguarding route alongside statutory procedures.

Lead sensitively: when questions arise about identity, family circumstances, disability, discrimination or relationships, listen carefully, keep the child safe, and use current statutory duties, diocesan guidance and qualified advice. Never make a child responsible for resolving adults’ disagreement.

DfE: current Keeping Children Safe in Education · Bishops’ Conference safeguarding · Find diocesan support

Admissions: understand who sets the policy, the approved oversubscription criteria and consultation and appeals arrangements. Use current diocesan and CES advice. Welcome enquiries from families of all faiths and none; explain Catholic character clearly. Pastoral welcome does not replace the published admissions process.

Relationships education: understand statutory requirements for your phase and the Catholic vision underpinning provision. Work with governors, staff and parents on policy, curriculum, consultation and staff training. Check which version of national guidance applies and its implementation date.

Accountability: use the current Catholic Schools Inspectorate framework for Catholic Life and Mission, Religious Education, and Prayer and Liturgy where applicable. Confirm the inspection arrangements for your school. Keep self-evaluation honest and connected to improvement. Alongside this, use the current Ofsted or ISI requirements relevant to your school.

CES admissions · CES relationships and sex education · DfE RSHE guidance · CSI: current school documents · Ofsted · ISI framework

• English and languages: teach close reading, careful listening and responsible expression. Examine whose stories are heard, how persuasion works and how language can dignify or dehumanise. Choose texts with intellectual depth and a range of human experience; equip pupils to challenge distortion with evidence.
• Mathematics: secure strong conceptual understanding for every learner and challenge the idea that mathematical ability fixes personal worth. Where the curriculum supports it, interrogate averages, denominators, misleading graphs, risk and financial claims. Ask pupils to explain the limits of a conclusion as well as calculate accurately.
• Science: teach rigorous investigation and the distinction between evidence, interpretation and ethical judgement. Explore applications such as energy, health or biotechnology with age-appropriate moral questions. Wonder at creation can accompany accurate science; theological claims should not substitute for scientific explanation.
• History and geography: interrogate sources, causes, power and representation. Study migration, conflict, empire, development or environmental change with historical and geographical precision. Avoid reducing communities to victims or treating a single account as the whole story.
• Arts, design and technology: cultivate attention, imagination, craft and critique. Consider how beauty, materials, accessibility and design serve human needs. Include sacred art and traditions where educationally relevant, alongside wider artistic achievement.
• PE and sport: develop skill, discipline and teamwork while examining access, competition, bodies and belonging. Review who participates and who withdraws. Coach pupils to compete honestly, care for teammates and respond well to failure.
• Computing and business: teach technical competence alongside scrutiny of privacy, accessibility, AI claims, labour and commercial incentives. Require pupils to justify design or business choices by their effects on people as well as efficiency.

For primary schools: apply the same questions to subject progression and classroom routines; select a small number of meaningful connections. For secondary schools: ask each department to identify one curriculum choice, one teaching practice and one access issue worth developing.

A useful task: bring an actual unit of work and three examples of pupil work. Identify what pupils are learning, who finds participation difficult, and one change that deepens knowledge or human formation. Return later to see its effect.

• Office and administration: offer a patient first welcome, protect confidential information, make forms understandable and help families navigate processes without embarrassment.
• Site and premises: create safe, accessible and hospitable spaces; identify barriers, waste and energy use. Invite pupils to learn from improvement projects with appropriate supervision.
• Catering: protect dietary and allergen needs, reduce stigma around food support, seek pupil feedback and examine waste and sourcing.
• Teaching assistants and pastoral staff: support independence, recognise strengths, help pupils express their needs and contribute professional knowledge to planning.
• Finance and procurement: protect public and charitable resources, pay suppliers appropriately, examine value over time and make participation affordable.

Include every group in paid, accessible formation and consultation. Ask each team: “Where does someone experience the school’s care through our work, and what would make that experience better?”