Salford Diocesan Anchor – Year of Jubilee  

The Holy Year of Jubilee is being marked by schools and colleges across the diocese throughout 2025 with the help of anchor statues, which are designed to symbolise ‘hope’ being held firm and steady by an anchor. 

Headteachers from diocesan schools gathered together for the annual Headteachers Conference in January. They were invited to make ‘hope’ a key focus of school life this year as our Church celebrates the “Pilgrims of Hope” Holy Year of Jubilee. 

Following a special blessing from Bishop John, three large anchors were given to schools representing each of the Academy Trusts: Romero Catholic Academy Trust, St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Academy Trust, and Emmaus Catholic Academy Trust. 

Two students from St Marie's Primary School, Joy and Fabian, visited Holy Cross with their headteacher Glynne McRae, to ceremoniously hand over the Salford Diocesan Anchor. 

We had the anchor in College for two days in which it went on a little journey around our campus:

Bec Hyndman, RE Curriculum Leader, and Kelly Needham, Holy Cross Lay Chaplain, then took three of our students to Guardian Angels to hand over the anchor to them. They also prepared and delivered a short Liturgy to the whole school, which was lovely to see. 

Bishop John shared his thoughts on the significance of Jubilee theme of hope in our world today, saying: “I don’t suppose there’s a single person in this room who doesn’t have challenges, problems, difficulties somewhere, whether it’s in school or private life, things that concern and then we’ve got the children in our care, our pupils. 

“That’s why we need to celebrate the Jubilee of Hope and hope is a Christian virtue that says that no matter what may surround us, we know that there is a resolution, even if the ways of reaching that resolution are not clear.” 

With these words, Bishop John challenged each school to make the anchor a focal symbol throughout the year, reminding pupils, teachers, staff, and governors of the grounding hope of our faith as we work together towards a brighter future in Christ. 

He said: “So we celebrate this Jubilee of Hope, and we symbolise that hope in that sense of the firmness, of being held firm and steady by an anchor, and we ask that these anchors can be an image around our schools this year.”