prayer
In its simplest form, prayer is defined as “talking to God.” It is a personal time of opening our hearts to our Heavenly Father and bringing everything in our hearts to Him. Through the Apostle Paul, God asked us to pray. Prayer can be a powerful force for change in our lives, and the importance of doing it on a daily basis should be instilled in our children.
Communication is the foundation for success in any relationship. When we communicate openly and freely with each other, we learn to know each other as individuals. This principle also applies to our relationship with God. By talking to God, we can learn more about who He is and what plan He has for us.
Please read on to see different examples of prayer at St. Francis.
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
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.
Lent: Stations of the Cross
The children from Key Stage 2 walk to St Francis’ church to learn about and take part in
a prayer and reflection service based on the Stations of the Cross, which is a series of art works
displayed across the walls of all Catholic churches depicting the events of Holy Week and now
sometimes the resurrection.
The children are led in readings and prayers by the Chaplaincy team. Here are some of the children's thoughts from this year:
‘It made me feel like I was on a journey with Jesus. I thought how much pain He went through and how I will try and help people if they are going
through a difficult time.’ Jack
‘It was nice to have a bit of time outside of stressful work and worship.’ Matias
‘I’m going to help people liked Simon helped Jesus carry the cross.’ Navin
year 6 leavers mass
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
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.
service in honour of mary
During May, the whole school comes together to honour Mary.