St Bonaventure’s school

St Bonaventure’s school was founded by and is part of the Catholic Church. It is steeped in Christian principles and enriched by the cultural and religious diversity of its environment. We endeavour to be a community where each individual can grow spiritually, academically and socially while at all times serving as a witness to the Catholic faith.

St Bonaventure’s has a long and distinguished history. Our school has been providing the very best education for Roman Catholic boys in this area since before 1875. The school was founded on its current site in 1877 by the Franciscan Friars, making St Bonaventure’s one of the oldest Catholic boys’ schools in the country – only the London Oratory is older.

Our school motto, “In Sanctitate et Doctrina” symbolises what we expect from all members of our school. We are a community, based upon faith which impacts upon every element of our academic and personal lives and we expect everyone, adult and child, to ensure that they learn something new each day.

We aim to

• Enrich pupil’s understanding of the Roman Catholic faith and to cultivate respect and understanding for other religious traditions. Prayer and Worship is central to school life.
• Create an environment that is warm and welcoming, well-ordered and disciplined, reflecting the mutual trust and respect between staff and pupils where each person is recognised as an individual, valued and enabled to fulfill their potential to the highest possible standard.
• Provide a full and comprehensive curriculum for all students to enable them to develop their full potential in all areas of school life – spiritual, intellectual, physical, creative, moral and social.
• Promote a spirit of collaboration and co-operation. We recognise that all staff have a contribution to make to our school. All teachers and non-teachers must be valued and treated with respect.
• Reflect the principles of equal opportunity for all in our structures, curriculum, values and policies.

As an institute of Catholic education, St. Bonaventure’s is rooted in the Gospel values of respect for life, love, solidarity, holiness and learning and we endeavour to harmonise faith and culture, build a better society and pursue the Common Good by:

• Fostering links with our local community, parents, parish and industry in order to prepare our students for the challenges and opportunities of adult life.
• Recognising the effort, personal development, academic achievements and pupil’s contribution to the school and community life.
• Preparing and enable our pupils to meet and gain from the opportunities, responsibilities and challenges in an ever changing secular society.

We are a Roman Catholic school, founded on gospel values and our boys are an important and integral part of the faith community. Christian principles are at the very heart of all that we do at St Bonaventure’s.

We expect everyone in our school to make the most of their opportunities, to learn something new each day and to reflect upon their experiences. We expect our students to work hard and always try their very best at everything that they do. We will assist them, by providing them with the best possible learning environment and outstanding teaching, in an atmosphere of order, discipline and Christian love.

St Bonaventure’s continues to be an outstanding school”. We are very proud of our school and our students. It is very heartening to have a professional and external organisation confirm what we already know. They were also able to support our mission statement and said: “St Bonaventure’s provides a community where each individual student can grow spiritually, academically and socially”.

We support charities on a local, national and international level. Our boys give freely of their time and their money. Our CAFOD group raises over £2000 each year and we support Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society, Caritas Anchor House, Richard House Children’s Hospice and other charities.