Common Good Schools: the Art of Being a Good Neighbour
The Common Good is the lens through which we invite our partner schools to view their neighbourhood. A principle of Catholic Social Teaching, the Common Good teaches us what it is to be human and how we should relate to one another in love, especially the most vulnerable and poor. Fully understood and embraced, it marks us out as wonderfully different from the prevailing culture. It allows both staff and students to flourish and to explore their vocation.
In September 2023, brand new frameworks were brought in for Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) and Catholic Schools Inspection (CSI) under section 48. SIAMS promotes the flourishing of staff and students whilst CSI looks for the flourishing of pupils pursuing the common good. It is striking that both frameworks promote an awareness of the context of a school in the local, the taking up of responsibility, acting according to a theologically rooted vision.
At Common Good Schools we offer a vision of Catholic Social Teaching through the lens of the Common Good. It is a gift from the Church to all, including our schools. Imagine then, a school working with others in its neighbourhood to build the common good. What might this look like? And is it different from what schools are already doing?
GOOD NEIGHBOURS
The Common Good, a principle of Catholic Social Teaching, is something that at first glance seems obvious.
In St Mark’s gospel, a teacher of the Law asks Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12: 28-31)
The actions of students and staff are authentically Christian when love of neighbour flows from love of God. The life and mission of a school is rooted in love.
In initial conversations with schools about the Common Good, staff often tell me of the charities or campaigns they support. At Common Good Schools, we want to propose something more radical. Our ten-week programme gives students an opportunity for an in-person, hands on experience of being a good neighbour. Lessons and assemblies develop the knowledge, understanding and skills they’ll need. They will hear stories of neighbours building relationships and working together, challenging injustice and creating a place where people can flourish. But it’s in the community engagement activities that learning really comes alive. In this way, we hope to form young people to live their lives as good neighbours for years to come.
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the person on the road, attacked and abandoned, is clearly in dire need of help. But what sort of help is best? Have you ever noticed that the Good Samaritan spends a significant amount of time with the injured man? He doesn’t simply patch him up and pay for his care. He stays overnight. This is not a faceless handout or donation – it is a relationship. His accompaniment counteracts the man’s abandonment. It is the relationship that makes him a good neighbour.
Abandonment is the experience for many within our society’s individualistic culture today. People have become separated from one another, making them vulnerable. This is what Pope Francis calls a ‘malign’ culture, in which, he says, the young are especially vulnerable.
The ironically named “social” media has been a major contributory factor in the atrophy of “real life” relational ability among the young. Professor Jonathan Haidt’s research shows significant increases in anxiety and depression among young people aged 11 – 15 alongside the change from “flip phones” to smartphones.
In The Campaign to End Loneliness, Robin Hewings commented after analysing the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures that “younger people are at higher risk of loneliness.” The government’s Tackling Loneliness evidence review showed loneliness is highest for people who are 16-24 years old: young people are lonelier than the elderly.
The symptoms can be seen all too well in our schools. Poor mental health, high levels of anxiety along with problematic behaviour and poor attendance. Distressed young people can have a negative impact on the staff who teach and support them, contributing to a crisis of retention and recruitment. It turns out that our young people have as much need for a neighbour, as those they are encouraged to serve.
Building durable relationships with our neighbours over the road helps us to develop our neighbourliness. In cultivating reciprocal relationships, students benefit from the opportunity to “gladly embrace their personal responsibility to care for our Common Home, pursue the common good and serve those in need”. (Catholic Schools Inspection Framework)
TAKING ACTION
At Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Leeds, staff and students have spent the last academic year establishing and developing relationships with their close neighbours. Lead teacher Krystina Gold reached out to Penny Field School for children with complex needs and Brandon House Care Home, both situated nearby. Both responded positively and after initial meetings, weekly lunchtime visits commenced. Vibrant and mutually beneficial partnerships have emerged.
It was during a noisy Makaton ‘Sing and Sign’ session that pupils from schools first got together. Krystina had a clear idea of how the children from the two schools should relate: “I didn’t want the interaction to be power-based, in the sense that Cardinal Heenan pupils would only be helping Penny Fields students. I wanted the pupils to have an equal relationship, learning together.”
Jo Steele at Penny Field School wrote to Krystina expressing her delight at the success of the visits saying, “It’s wonderful for our pupils to gain interactions with mainstream peers and it has a significant impact on their lives. These interactions may not seem huge to your pupils, but they really do make a big difference to our pupils and we cannot thank them enough!”
RECIPROCITY
A mark of the common good is reciprocal relationships. Have you observed this in the gospels? Whenever Jesus encounters someone who needs his help, he also invites something from them. His affirming words, “your faith has made you well.” And, in Matthew 13:58, “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief,” show that Jesus does not impose his power, nor is he reduced to a blessing provider. Without the contribution of the person in need, his power is minimised or ineffective. Jesus’s way is to give agency, share responsibility, and welcome participation. This gives the recipient the grace to fulfil their humanity.
This is echoed in the mission of the 72. Jesus instructs them not to take a bag, money, or a change of clothes. The disciples rely on the hospitality of those to whom they are sent. Perhaps, the leaving behind of belongings also refers to letting go of our assumptions about what a group of people might need from us. Jesus’s mission requires mutuality.
Whilst it is not possible to build relationships with everyone, it is possible with our neighbours just across the road or with a local group with a mutual interest. When school staff take a lead, in line with their safeguarding policy, young people can gain the confidence to build safe relationships. Volunteering or fundraising for a project might be a step in the right direction but is often more about doing good rather than reciprocity. And that’s what make the Common Good Schools programme more radical.
AN INVITATION
We’re inviting church schools to lead the way in a prophetic rejection of individualism, to learn about Common Good Thinking and to adopt a beautiful posture of reciprocity with neighbours within their catchment area. This invitation offers members of the school the opportunity to take responsibility, according to their calling and ability and alongside their neighbours, for the flourishing of everyone.
It has been encouraging to witness the progress of our partner schools, both Church of England and Catholic.
Year 9 students at Worth School in West Sussex are taking part in Common Good Schools. Teacher Chris Wyles commented that the programme has sparked a significant increase in students volunteering to serve: “Common Good Schools has made a space for our students to be more virtuous and not feel shy about it. Their learning over 10 lessons has got them motivated to build the common good wherever they can.”
Cardinal Heenan students discovered that solidarity with their neighbours can be expressed weekly and in person. A student involved in visits to Brandon House Care Home said, “I have gained more empathy and understanding of the effects of dementia.” And a student visiting Penny Field School said, “I’ve learnt about different types of learning with people who have special needs, its [sic] helped me learn how it may be difficult for them and ive [sic] enjoyed learning Makaton.”
All Saints Multi Academy Trust, a joint Catholic and Church of England trust is our newest UK partner. The lay chaplain at one of their schools acknowledged the timeliness of the Common Good Schools programme. His plans for the programme include forging long term relationships in the community and integrating Common Good thinking into collective worship and form time. He aims to build a broad range of connections in the neighbourhood including with the local mosque, which some of his students attend and which was a focus for some of the rioting over the summer.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE COMMON GOOD
The enjoyment of in-person connections, vital for good mental health, is a striking contrast to interactions via TikTok, Snapchat and the like. With algorithms that drive division and facilitate cyber bullying, school staff are burdened with conflict resolution and disciplinary issues. How else might this ‘malign’ culture that Pope Francis warns about influence school life? And how can Catholic Social Teaching build our capacity to respond?
St John Bosco College in Battersea have adopted the Common Good Schools programme as part of their personal development curriculum. Approximately 825 children from Year 7 to –Year 11 are learning about Common Good Thinking in vertical tutor groups.
In Hampshire, Oaklands Sixth Form College students use tutor time to do the same. Common Good thinking is distinctively different from the prevailing ‘me-culture’, with its focus on self. Rather, personal development informed by the Common Good values the knowledge, skills and talents of each student for the benefit of mutual flourishing.
Bishop Ramsey CE School in Middlesex have introduced the Common Good to Year 8 students in PSHE lessons. Deputy Head, Malcolm Britten says that the programme’s lessons, assemblies and community engagement activities have given them a framework to link school activities and their current community partnerships, enabling a deepening of their local commitment to the common good.
STUDENT LEADERSHIP AND SUBSIDIARITY
At Cardinal Heenan, a group of students were invited to be Common Good Leaders. They spread the word among their peers about the opportunity to visit their neighbours. Krystina reports that, “[Being a Common Good Leader] provides the pupils with the opportunity to develop skills that are useful to real life and the workplace: persuading people, organising and communicating effectively. It gives them a clear role and clear leadership abilities.”
This is an example of the Catholic social teaching principle of subsidiarity in practice: responsibility is taken at the most appropriate level and decisions are taken closest to where they will have their effect. Young leaders, with the knowledge of their classmates’ strengths and talents, and the needs of community partners, can invite peers to participate meaningfully.
IT STARTS WITH RELATIONSHIPS
Working with neighbours across difference is possible! Forging ongoing mutual relationships, especially between the young and the elderly, can build bridges and overcome isolation and loneliness.
These are just some of many ways to build a common good. Our partner schools are leading the way. If we always start with the aim of fundraising or campaigning, we miss out on so much. The principles of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity are fully expressed in the context of reciprocal relationships and give opportunity for a wealth of mutual benefits. This is why a focus on building the Common Good is more radical. Imagine what your school’s students and your neighbours could build together.
Common Good Schools alone won’t bring that full vision into reality, but it will equip and form young people and teachers to get started.
“Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
Jo Stow
Project Leader, Common Good Schools
To try our free resources: visit commongoodschools.co.uk
For more information: contact Jo Stow at jo [@]commongoodschools [dot] co [dot]uk
A version of this article was first published in Networking – Catholic Education Today in September 2024.