September
New names
Careful seating, home-language labels and tea with parents who feared their child would disappear into the group.
School & Community
A network of
open doors
Catherine's work moved outwards: classroom, corridor, school gate, parish hall, family kitchen, neighbourhood.
The whole room
Teaching attention
Religious education began with questions; reading groups used rhythm and voices; anxious children received useful jobs.
Catherine noticed who arrived hungry, who had stopped joining in and which parent needed to speak without a queue listening.
The year around her
December
The performance
Borrowed costumes, lost props, choir rehearsals and siblings waving from the church aisle.
Spring
Preparation
First Holy Communion sessions built around belonging, responsibility and service rather than perfect answers.
Summer
Leaving well
Year Six pupils visited older parishioners and recorded one story before moving to secondary school.
Mentoring
Begin with the child you nearly missed
Catherine mentored eleven early-career teachers.
Her advice was practical: shorten the instruction, move the chair, ring the parent early, admit when the lesson failed.
She shared resources freely and never mistook silence for a settled classroom.
Help without a spotlight
Uniform rail
Clean donated clothing, available without forms or explanations.
Winter table
Food, toiletries and heating support passed through trusted local contacts.
Neighbour visits
Children learning that an older person's story was part of their own street.