May – Crowning of Mary

May is the month of Mary, the Queen of Heaven and we gathered together with Fr Gerard to crown Our Lady. We had a joyful liturgy with Marian hymns and prayers and then the youngest child in the school, helped by the eldest, was invited to place a crown of flowers on Mary’s head.

Pope Francis has said that we should say ‘yes’ to God, like Mary did and that we should be joyful in our actions, help others, without delay and we should persevere in all we do by trusting God.

Year 5 Assembly

Year 5 led the whole school in an assembly to retell the story of Jesus’ Passion. The assembly told the story of the great love and strength that Jesus showed during his final days before his crucifixion. The music and singing added to the solemn and reflective atmosphere.

Thank you Year 5 children and to the families who joined us to remember the great sacrifice which remember this Lent.

Prayer Stations during Lent

During Lent we are asked to PRAY more so that our relationship with God can grow stronger. Older children had the opportunity to attend a reflective personal prayer session provided by The Bridgebuilder Trust. The prayer stations were calm and focussed and allowed children to be silent and still in God's presence.

T.O. said "It was very calm and quiet and I felt closer to God."

A.A. said " I felt that I was the only one there and it was a bit like paradise."

Giving Kindness this Lent

During Lent we are asked to GIVE generously. 

The children have been giving their time, energy and smiles to help brighten our school and local community.

Year 2 planted spring flowers, Year 4 created happy pebbles and left them around the school for people to find, Year 1 visited Waterhall Care Home to spend time with the elderly residents and Early Years went for a walk and left cards and chocolates on our neighbours' doorsteps.

Thank you to Year 6 who gave their time to write letters of appreciation to adults who work in and visit our school and Year 5 gave their efforts to tell us about Jesus' Passion for their assembly.

Lent has been a wonderful opportunity to prepare our hearts for Easter.

Lenten Reconciliation Service

Our Lenten journey continued as we invited Fr Gerard and Fr Jithu to school to lead our Reconciliation liturgy. We all had the opportunity to examine our conscience and say some prayers of sorrow as we recognised the mistakes that we have made. Father explained that if we say sorry, God will always forgive us because he loves us. Later, there was opportunity for individual confession.

The Gospel today was: Luke 23:39-43 The Repentant Thief.

Ash Wednesday

We gathered together as a school community, to mark the start of the Lent with a liturgy lead by Fr Jithu and Year 6.

During Lent we are asked to PRAY often, FAST from things that take us away from God and GIVE generously to others. As a tradition of the Church, each of us received a cross of ashes on our forehead as a sign that we have made mistakes but that Jesus' great love will forgive us.

St John Bosco Feast Day

What a lovely feast day! To celebrate our new patron saint, we had a joyful Mass attended by the whole school and some parents, governors and parishioners too. Fr. Jithu blessed our new statue and helped us to learn about the life of St John Bosco who cared for and educated children who were poor and vulnerable.

Later, each class had chosen some inspirational words from John Bosco and worked together to produce a piece of collaborative art that reflected the words.

As it was a day of celebration and a feast, we all enjoyed juice and cake as a special treat and each family received a bag with some gifts and prayer items inspired by our wonderful saint.

St John Bosco, patron of our school, pray for us

Advent Mass 7th December 2023

We welcomed Fr Gerard into school to celebrate the start of our Advent preparations with Mass and to bless the Advent wreath.

The Gospel reading was Luke 12:35-40 which encourages us all to make sure we are ready for the coming of Jesus into our world.

Father spoke to the children about how each one of them should strive to pass on LOVE, JOY and PEACE during this time of preparing and waiting for the birth of Jesus.

Mass For the New School Year 

We welcomed our new parish priest, Fr Gerard, into school to celebrate Mass and bless our new academic year. The children participated with great reverence and beautiful singing. Fr Gerard commented that the Mass was a wonderful way to celebrate a new beginning.

The readings for today were:

Timothy 4:12 - Be the example to others                                                                                         

Matthew 5:14-16  -  Live so that others will see the good that you do.