Our Sacred Spaces

Our Chapel

Our Chapel, blessed and dedicated to Our Lady in 2018, is at the heart of our school. This small but special place provides our school community with a space for prayer and liturgy, or can just be a quiet sanctuary to sit and take a moment.  Our Chapel is cared for beautifully by our Collective Worship Leaders.  The Sacrament of the Eucharist, Family Group Assemblies, the Rosary, prayers for special occasions and the Sacrament of Reconciliation all take place in here.  It is a space of which we are very proud.  

The Willow Room

This Willow Room is at the heart of our school and is a powerful symbol of what Catholic education is about, encouraging faith, love and wellbeing in our pupils.  It was opened and blessed in 2021, after the second national lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Our pupils have this special space, dedicated to wellbeing and mental wellness, where they have the opportunity to share their innermost feelings and worries with God and with professionals. It is a place where we can experience the love of God, even when we are experiencing darkness in our lives.  The willow tree represents strength and stability; withstanding the greatest of challenges.  Our Willow Room is used for meditation, circle time, peer-to-peer support, talk and reflect events, social and communication groups and philosophical activities.  It promotes positive wellbeing and extends the support and provision for pupils as part of the high-quality pastoral support offered at The Barlow to remove any barriers to learning.

Our Rainbow Bereavement Garden

In December 2018, we officially opened our Rainbow Garden. This is a place for quiet reflection where we can think about those who we have loved and lost.  We are fortunate that Bishop John visited The Barlow and blessed our Rainbow Garden.  We are very proud of it and have worked hard to tend it and make it a special place.  We use this space to commemorate special events, for example, Holocaust Memorial Day and the anniversary of the Manchester bombing, when our Chaplaincy Team lead our community in a ‘Prayer Chain’.  Members of our School Council have designed and made the bee hives as part of an eco-project where they have explored ways to ‘care for our common home’.  We consider ourselves blessed to have a volunteer gardener, Alison Holland, to help us use the space and to involve our pupils in its care.