MyNewTerm is the applicant tracking system of choice for thousands of schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs) across England, including many hundreds of Catholic schools since MyNewTerm began collaborating with the CES.

Working extensively with the unique requirements of Catholic schools and MATs, MyNewTerm has streamlined the recruitment process for both candidates and employers to ensure compliance with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) and ensure that the application forms, in particular, are appropriate for use in Catholic schools and MATs and approved by the CES.

Change within school recruitment is needed more than ever today; the labour market continues to remain challenging, with recruitment processes for many Catholic schools still time-consuming, costly and labour-intensive, and the concern of losing the best candidates also often looms.

MyNewTerm’s Catholic partner MATs and schools have already innovated with speed and ease to improve their education provision, by attracting the best candidates and deploying a fully digitalised process; all offered by the MyNewTerm platform.

Founded by a former teacher, MyNewTerm is the leading applicant tracking system for schools and MATs and provides employers with some of the following benefits:

• Improved efficiency
• Ensured compliance with KCSiE
• CES-approved application forms
• Fully digital application process for candidates
• Integration with the DfE Teaching Vacancies Service

Joe Richardson is Strategic Executive Leader at St Thomas Catholic Academies Trust, which is made up of 17 schools within the Diocese of Northampton and has partnered with MyNewTerm for several years. He said: “MyNewTerm has sensitively and thoughtfully adapted the platform to reflect the distinct needs of Catholic schools, ensuring that specific needs are met in full. They constantly update the platform to reflect KCSiE and, for that reason alone, I cannot imagine being without it!”

Wayne Cartmel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at MyNewTerm, said: “We are proud to have worked collaboratively with the CES to deliver on the specific requirements for Catholic schools to provide the benefit of being able to fully digitise the recruitment process. Removing barriers for prospective candidates is essential in a challenging recruitment market and we are pleased to be able to provide an online application process for all Catholic schools to benefit.”

Paul Barber, Director of the CES, said: “The CES has been pleased to work with MyNewTerm to ensure that its application forms are suitable for use in Catholic schools. It is important that the CES provides support to enable Catholic schools to attract the best candidates for roles in their schools.”

To learn more about the applicant tracking system of choice for the education sector and the bespoke online application process developed for Catholic Schools, get in touch here with the MyNewTerm team today.

This September a new generation of Catholic teachers will be trained through three groundbreaking new schemes across the country.

Led by the Formatio partnership of dioceses, Catholic multi-academy trusts (CMATs) and the four Catholic universities in England, 80 trainees start soon in what will be the first Initial Teacher Training (ITT) scheme specifically geared towards teaching in Catholic schools. 

The Diocese of Westminster Academy Trust (DOWAT) identified pupils from the trust’s secondary schools interested in teaching, and gave them weekly lesson support experience. Working with St Mary’s University, DOWAT is delivering the CMAT ITT Direct programme for Formatio’s South East Regional Hub, with trainees to be based within the trust’s schools. 

The trainees, many of whom are former Catholic school pupils, will additionally be shown how to participate in activities like collective worship and chaplaincy, as prospective teachers in Catholic education.  

Pat Murden, Chief Executive Officer of DOWAT and a founder member of the Catholic Academy Trust Training Collaborative (CATtColl), said: “This came out of the Department for Education’s market review of ITTs, which represented an opportunity to think differently and act at scale. We’re developing a career path that starts at ITT and goes on to early career teacher, to master teacher, middle leader then senior leader.

“Our aim is to address teacher shortages, especially in Religious Education, to develop workforces reflecting the communities our schools serve, and provide a model that any other Catholic MAT can copy.”

Similar ITT schemes have also been set up with the Catholic universities by Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company, and Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, within the Formatio regional hub structure.

The Formatio partnership supports the Catholic Education Service and diocesan schools commissions working with the four Catholic universities and CMATs in implementing strategies for school leadership and governance, as commissioned by the Bishops in 2017. 

CATtColl is the national network of Catholic multi-academy trusts (CMATs), representing 44 CMAT CEOs from all English dioceses, more than 600 schools, 250,000 students, 20,000 staff, and is the largest network of academies in the country. It delivers continuing professional development in collaboration with the four Catholic universities on behalf of Formatio.

Find out more about Formatio

Friday 24 January will be the launch day for schools to mark the year of Jubilee in 2025, the Catholic Education Service Chairman has said. 

The Rt. Rev. Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds and CES Chairman, has written to diocesan schools commissions informing them of the date Catholic schools and colleges can come together and celebrate the launch of the Jubilee next year. 

There will be an opportunity to make a Jubilee Pledge, for the common good, to advance justice and harmony, and an invitation for schools and colleges to refresh and renew their mission statements.

In his letter Bishop Marcus writes: “The theme of Jubilee 2025 is Hope, the hope that comes from knowing we are loved by God, the hope we can bring to those in most need, and the hope we can bring to our common home, the earth. 

“There will be opportunities for the whole school community to experience the joy of sharing their faith in prayer and worship, and take action together as pilgrims of hope “in service to God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace.”

He also refers in the letter to a forthcoming framework for schools to celebrate the Jubilee year alongside any related diocesan plans. 

The framework is being produced by the CES, CAFOD, and Caritas Social Action Network with support from Cymfed, and will enable the Catholic education sector to mark together the Holy Year as a significant and memorable moment in the lives of children and young people. 

Read Jubilee Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope – a letter from the CES Chairman, the Rt. Rev. Marcus Stock

More than 150 students and teachers of Catholic schools from across the country gathered to hear how Catholic Social Teaching has been put into practice in education. 

The 2 July event took place at the Church of the Holy Apostles Parish Hall, Pimlico, and also saw the launch of a community organising handbook, published by charity Citizens UK and featuring the schools’ work. 

Welcoming speeches were made by the His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Raymond Friel, Chief Executive of Caritas Social Action Network; and Anita Motha, Chief Executive of Catholic youth charity Million Minutes.

Students at Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove, in the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, explained how they successfully campaigned against a Coptic Christian pupil being deported to South Sudan. After their efforts appeared in a local newspaper and television news bulletins, lawyers offered support and the Home Office reversed its decision. 

The students also secured a pilot project of school-based mental health counselling for Year 9s across Brighton and Hove, after approaching the local council. 

Gráinne Byrd, Director of Faith and Ethos at Cardinal Newman, said: “A recurring motif in Cardinal Newman Catholic School’s involvement with Citizens UK is the repeated call to be ‘light in the darkness’. Working together collaboratively, we have challenged decision makers to be that light.” 

St Thomas More Catholic High School students, in North Shields, Hexham and Newcastle Diocese, discovered that Arriva buses, unlike other bus companies in areas nearby, were charging them adult fares.    

They participated in transport consultations, also persuading the then-Mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority to support the campaign. They dressed in their parents’ work clothes, sang songs and marched peacefully, meeting with Arriva, and ultimately a £1 fare was announced for all under-22s in the region. 

Wimbledon College, in the Archdiocese of Southwark, identified mental health as an important issue that emerged during Merton Citizens assembly meetings with schools and churches. They organised a mental health summit with local decision-makers, eventually securing more NHS youth mental health funding in their area, trained mental health ambassadors, and ‘be well hubs’ across south London. 

St Bonaventure’s Catholic Secondary School, Forest Gate, in the Diocese of Brentwood, had long been served by inadequately-timed and overcrowded bus services. A group of Year 8 students hosted a meeting for bus companies and Transport for London (TfL) representatives, and timetables were swiftly improved.  

After some of their peers had been fined, students also raised the issue of training for drivers and a bus company regarding regulations around travel with lost or damaged travel cards, with positive results.   

At St Antony’s Catholic Primary School, also in Forest Gate and the Diocese of Brentwood, pupils decided to campaign on the issue of low pay. They wrote a song, and performed it in front of management from London City Airport, a major employer in the area, persuading them to become an accredited Living Wage employer.The school was then able to successfully influence other big local employers to do likewise, such as Tate and Lyle Sugars, Newham Council, and ExCeL London. 

St Clare’s Catholic Primary School, Handsworth, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, worked together with across the city to develop a five-step plan to help tackle discrimination and appreciate each other’s differences. They are now working on a video to share their work with others and to support Year 6 and Year 7 transition. 

Cardinal Nichols said: “This work, from my point of view, really does have to spring from our faith.

"Human dignity does not depend on any human authority, it is innate, it comes first because each person is made in the image and likeness of God.”

Download Called To Action: Catholic Social Teaching and Community Organising in Schools and Colleges