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More than 60 delegates--headteachers, senior leaders, governors, and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) coordinators from Catholic schools across our diocese--joined the Education Service and guest speaker David Wells on Tuesday 3 March for an RSE conference on the theme: “The greatest among you must be your servant” (Mt 23: 11): Understanding human dignity as a basis for leadership, behavioural policy, and wellness.

Attendees came together to review progress with the implementation of RSE in schools and share examples of best practice and strategies for resolving common issues and difficulties around the delivery and monitoring of the subject. Updated RSE curriculum guidance has just been received from the Catholic Education Service, for implementation in September 2026.

David Wells is an internationally acclaimed author and speaker who has addressed audiences from small parish groups to 8,000-strong crowds at Wembley Stadium. With a background as a teacher and an adviser to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, he has spent decades exploring how faith transforms our view of the human person.

David explored with those gathered an understanding of human dignity as a basis for leadership, behavioural policy, and wellness, inviting everyone to move beyond “utilitarian” views of education and work—where people are valued for what they do—and instead embrace a vision where every life is willed, loved, and necessary simply for what it is.

In two talks over the course of the day, David examined what erodes our sense of self-worth, and how our self-worth and that of others can be recovered. He also looked at what the Church says about human dignity and the role it plays in Catholic schools, observing that we often hear that every person is made in the image of God, but reflected on how we live that truth in a world that often treats people as data or outcomes. He shared his belief that the highest mission we have is to rediscover the inherent worth—the sacred dignity—of every person we meet.

During the afternoon, the delegates split into primary and secondary phase sessions, led by Anna Flood, diocesan Education Service Primary Adviser on RE & Catholic Ethos, and Dave Legrand, Secondary Adviser on RE & Catholic Ethos.

The day was engaging and successful, and all present benefitted both from David Wells’ input and from the opportunity to discuss the questions and issues raised with other skilled professionals who face the same issues as they implement the updated RSE guidance in advance of September 2026