Children and young people from across Hallam diocese are part of the wider celebration captured in a new video marking highlights of the Jubilee Year.
Catholic schools in England and Wales received international recognition from the Vatican, for their extraordinary contribution to the 2025 Jubilee Year as Pilgrims of Hope.
Available on CAFOD’s website cafod.org.uk/jubilee-schools, the film shows how schools demonstrated creativity, compassion and action in embracing Pope Francis’ call to celebrate the Jubilee with “deep faith, lively hope and active charity”.
50,000 pupils gained a deeper understanding of global debt and learned how to speak up for the vulnerable and take action on global justice. Pupils from one school even wrote to Downing Street and got a reply from the Prime Minister!
Visit jubilee-schools.org.uk to find out more.
Over 1200 schools made the Jubilee Pledge, a whole school commitment to stand in solidarity with the world’s poorest communities, living out Catholic Social Teaching now and in the future.
More than 2000 Jubilee banners were displayed on school gates, sharing a positive message of hope and unity with local communities.
600,000 Jubilee prayer cards were ordered, to be shared with pupils and their families. Creative celebrations, liturgies, prayer trails and assemblies brought the Jubilee theme to life in classrooms and playgrounds.
Pupils and staff gathered in prayer and in several dioceses they joined in a celebration of hope, presenting their Jubilee Pledges to the bishop.
“The Jubilee helped me put my faith into action… it encouraged me to hope more than doubt.”
— Primary pupil (Portsmouth Diocese)
Across England and Wales, the Jubilee Year has served as a reminder of the extraordinary and vibrant impact Catholic schools make every day. Through a continual commitment to living out the Jubilee Pledge, Catholic schools will continue to be living signs of hope, reaching out to their communities and the global family too. Sharon Matthews
