Our Form Patrons
Our Form Patrons
All students, staff, and governors at St Mary’s are part of a Patron Group. These groups form the basis of our pastoral and charity work. Following a process of discernment our new patrons were chosen by a vote of the whole school community at Easter 2025. More information about our Patrons can be found on their own pages.
Each group includes students, form tutors, teaching, and non-teaching staff, lead by members of our Senior Leadership Team.
Feast Weeks
Each of our Patron Groups celebrates their patron’s Feast Week. During this week we shape our liturgy (Celebration of the Word, and form time morning prayer) around the life, teachings, and legacy of the patron. Celebration of the Word is planned and delivered by students working with their SLT Links, and this week is a focus for charity and faith in action events organised by the Patron Group. The Patron group celebrates Mass together, and our Form Patron Awards are presented.
Form Patron Awards
Catholic Social Teaching Awards
Using our themes these are awarded each Feast Week to a student in KS3, KS4 and KS5 who puts into practice our values of Catholic Social Teaching. Praise Points (awarded to students) are part of it, but we also look for students who go above and beyond, putting their faith and values into action.
Form Patron Awards
Each Form Patron Group has an award named for, and inspired by their patron. This is presented annually to the student who seeks to embody and live out the charism and witness of their patron in school and wider society. More information of each of these can be found on the patron pages.
Patron Videos
To get to know our new patrons staff and students from Chaplaincy, A-Level Theology, English, and Debate Club have produced short videos exploring the life, mission and legacy of each patron. These can be found on their pages.
Peer Mentor Programme
Our Peer Mentoring Programme operates within the Form Patron structure. This initiative is designed to support Year 7 students in their transition to secondary school, and provides a leadership opportunity for Year 11 students.
The transition from primary to secondary school can be both exciting and daunting for Year 7 students. At the same time, Year 11 students are often poised to offer insight, encouragement, and practical guidance, but may not naturally find opportunities to do so. As Peer Mentors our Year 11 students accompany Year 7s in form time, offering a friendly face, a listening ear, and modelling the highest standards of a St Mary’s student supporting Form Tutors in the first half term.
This role is more than pastoral support; it is a living expression of the Church’s call to go out on mission. Echoing the vision of Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium and continued by Pope Leo XIV, we are reminded that the Church is not self-enclosed, but is called to be a field hospital; a community that moves outward in service, mercy, and encounter.
In this spirit, the mentoring programme invites our older students to become missionary disciples within our school community—stepping forward not only as guides, but as witnesses to a life shaped by compassion, responsibility, and welcome. It challenges them to look beyond their own immediate concerns and extend themselves for the good of others, particularly the most vulnerable and least familiar—our new Year 7 students, many of whom arrive uncertain, overwhelmed, and in need of connection.
This programme is anchored in our form patron structure, rooted in the example of saints whose lives were defined by mission and service. We are forming a school culture that mirrors the Church’s deepest identity: one that accompanies, that reaches out, and that builds others up. Inviting students to step up as the kind of leaders our community and Church need—young people formed not only for achievement, but for discipleship.