Collective Worship and Prayer

Class Liturgies

Since the beginning of the year, we have been planning and leading our own Class liturgies with the following structure "We gather", "We listen", "We respond", "We have a mission". After the liturgy, we evaluate it, reflecting on 'What Went Well' (eg how it helped us to pray, what it taught us about about our faith) and 'Even Better If' (eg What we would do differently next time).

Advent Wreaths

In Advent, Year 3 led a special assembly and explained the symbolism of the Advent Wreath. Following the Assembly, we all made Advent wreaths which were blessed by Fr Reg. We took the wreaths home so we could pray with our families in the weeks leading up to Christmas. At our Advent prayer station, we wrote down on stars, how we were going to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.

St Francis' Feast Day

We brought our pets to school because St Francis' is the patron Saint of animals. Fr Reg and Year 6 led our Feast day Mass where we reflected on 'Stewardship' and how to be a 'Steward of Creation'.

Harvest Mass

In October, Year 4 led our Harvest Mass, and encouraged those present to share God's love by helping others, particularly those less fortunate than ourselves. Following the Mass, the Prayer Team organised a harvest sale to raise money for the Uganda Water Project. They collected Chocolate bars and sold them, raising £361.00. They also set up a harvest Prayer Station, which encouraged others to give thanks to God for the food that we have and to pray for those who don't have enough to eat.

Year 6 Leavers Mass

Year 6 attended the Leavers Mass at Clifton Cathedral in June. This is an annual celebration for Year 6 children from across the Diocese as they prepare to move onto the next phase of their education. At the Mass, Bishop Declan asked the children to spread the light of Christ in their next schools through their actions and words. Gifts that represented messages in the Pope's letter 'Fratelli Tutti' were carried up in the offertory procession. We offered photos of the things we had done to put the messages into action. One of the photos showed the fundraising we had done for the school in Uganda because Pope Francis reminds us that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and it is our job to care for each other.

After the Mass we went to Redland Education Centre for a Retreat where we focussed on our feelings and emotions as we come to the end of our time at Primary School and we get ready to start a new school. We know that God is with us on our journey and with the Holy Spirit to support us we should never be afraid

Feast of Ascension Day

At our Ascension Day Mass, Year 6 danced to 'Christ has no body now but yours' reminding us that we are Jesus' body on earth and we have to do the things that He did when he was on this earth like helping others, saying kind things and showing love to everyone.

After Mass, we let balloons go up to Heaven as a sign of Jesus going up to Heaven. The balloons also represented our prayers going up to Heaven.

May Procession

The month of May was dedicated to Mary the mother of God. All classes contributed to our annual May Procession during which we crowned a statue of Our Lady with a crown of flowers. As part of the procession there was singing, drama, dancing and prayers. Year 6 led a decade of the Rosary with some prayers being recited in other languages. Parents and pupils donated bedding plants which were planted in the prayer garden after the procession.

Thank you to those parents who sent in plants for the May Procession. Members of the Chaplaincy team have planted them in the prayer garden where you will be able to admire them as you enter and exit school. The children really do want to appreciate this area and look after it and have been out each morning watering the plants and digging up the weeds! All of this is done in the knowledge and understanding that God created our beautiful world and that it is our responsibility to look after it for future generations.

Holy Week Workshop

Our Year 6 prayer team organised a Holy Week workshop in order to teach the children in Key Stage 1 about the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Through drama, readings, prayers and craft work, the children reflected on the events surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection.

Easter

During this Easter season we have been reflecting on the Stations of the Resurrection which begin with the appearance of the Risen Lord to Mary Magdalene and end with Pentecost. The Stations of the Resurrection emphasise the hopeful aspect of the Christian story and can serve to deepen an appreciation of the Easter season.

Each class made models to represent the Stations and, with the help of Fr Richard and Fr Reg Gray, spent some time focussing in a prayerful way on their meanings.

Christingle

Reception Class learnt about Advent and how we prepare our hearts for Jesus. They took part in a Christingle service in which they made their own Christingle. The class learnt what the orange, ribbon, candle and sweets of the Christingle represent. The children enjoyed selecting the sweets to represent the four seasons. The class were very good at remembering that the lit candle represent God as the light of the world and his love for us all.

Start of School Year Mass

Miss Parry and Father Reg worked really hard enabling us to celebrate a whole school mass in line with all the government and church guidance. It was lovely to see the whole community together, safely socially distanced outside of course.

KS1 Nativity

A huge ‘congratulations’ to all the staff and pupils of our infant department for a joyful and enthusiastic rendition of the Christmas story. The children sang, danced, narrated and acted beautifully and parents, grandparents and friends should be rightly proud of their achievements. Well done to all.

KS2 Carol Service

A huge ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’ to all who made our KS2 Carol Service such a beautiful occasion. We have had so many compliments from parents and carers and parishioners who came to the service last. We were all very proud of our singers, dancers, musicians, narrators and actors.