Worship
As a worshipping community, we actively encourage our families to worship together at home. We have a programme of school- home worship which reflects the Liturgical Year and supports our parents/carers in worshipping with their children at home.
The feedback from both parents and children is always very positive!
We focus on 2- 3 virtues a term as part of our Character Education which is supported by our Leader in Me programme.
You can find out more about the Virtues we study by clicking on the Virtues tab in Catholic Life.
All the Virtues underpin our worship throughout the school year which of course is linked to the Liturgical year!
Scroll down to see the kinds of things we do each term!
AUTUMN TERM
During the Autumn term we celebrate our Harvest Festival. Our Worship Team helped to plan and lead this but also spoke at church, inviting the parishioners to join us and nominate any people in need of a harvest hamper from school.
The food hampers that we made up from the donations sent in by our families went to the elderly and housebound of the parish and local community as well as the Food Bank in Brighouse.
During the month of October our Worship Team are leading us in Voluntary prayer. We gather at the start of break to say a decade of the rosary together. How lovely to be still and come together in prayer in this way.
We say one Our Father, 10 Hail Marys and one Glory Be. Why don't you say a decade of your own. Who will you pray for?
In November we create a Wall of Remembrance in school.
Our families contribute to this and their prayer petitions are displayed in school.
Some of our children represent our school at the local cenotaph for the community Remembrance Service too. We lay a wreath on behalf of the school and observe the silence together.
ADVENT
In the church's season of Advent we are reflecting on the meaning of this very important time. We are focusing on our preparation leading up to Jesus' birthday on Christmas Day.
Our school and class Advent wreaths help us count down the days until we can celebrate His coming!
Our Faith in Action Team and our choir led the singing at the first parish Mass of Advent, supported by many other children from school. After communion, Father Michael invited us to explain the Advent wreath to the congregation through song.
On the last day of the Autumn Term as part of our Advent preparations we gathered together around the tree and lit lots of candles to create a calm and peaceful atmosphere.
We sang carols and listened to prayers and some of our Faith in Action group lit the candles on the Advent wreath - all to remind us about the true meaning of Christmas.
Asa we gather, we are also reminded what a wonderful family we are!
Our new school year began with Mass. It was a wonderful opportunity to mark the start of the year as a community and lovely to be joined by parents, grandparents and parishioners.
Father Michael spoke to us about how we need to remember to love each other and be kind as part of that community. As always we will be trying hard every day to do just that!
Father blessed the beads that represent each one of us kept within our heart bowl which represents our school. Just as the heart bowl keeps the beads safe our school keeps us safe.
Our school staff also come together regularly in worship. At the start of each school year we hold a special Commissioning Service in church for staff and governors. We pray together and reflect together and ask for God's blessing as we strive to achieve the very best for each of our children and our school. New members of staff or governors also place a bead in our heart bowl, reaffirming their commitment to the life of our school.
SPRING TERM
For the Feasts of Candlemas and the Presentation in the Temple, we helped to plan and lead a Christingle Mass for church. We led the singing with the school choir and some of the children from school carried the processional candles at the start of Mass. We also led the parish in a reflection on light as we held our Christingles.
it is always lovely to contribute to Masses with the parish family.
We also held our Christingle liturgy in school and lots of our parents and carers came. It was wonderful to be together in worship through prayer, reflection and song.
We had Mass in school to mark the start of Lent. Father encouraged us to reflect on how we can all change inside to be the very best version of ourselves we can be - something we think of each day in school too. He reminded us that even when we fail, when we sin, when we do wrong, God does not turn away from us. he is always there, ready to embrace us and catch us.
At the end of Mass we received the ashes in the form of a cross on our foreheads. This will serve as a reminder to us to stay true to God and our faith as we do our best to realis our potential.
Our children are taking it turns to lead Lenten Worship at break times twice a week. Each worship will focus on one of the stations of the cross and enable us to reflect more deeply about the sacrifice Jesus made for us.
Our Gardening Club have made the Easter garden for us to use as a focal point for our liturgies and worship during Lent. It is in the hall and the three sections represent the garden of Gethsemane, Calvary and Jesus' tomb.
Our children are leading worship at break times with a focus on the Stations of the Cross. This is a lovely time to focus and reflect on ourselves and what we need to do to live the virtues in our daily lives.
Each day in school begins and ends with a prayer (scroll down for the prayers) and of course we pray at other times of the day too. Reception and KS1 gather, as do KS2, to worship together, This is led by Mrs Hodges our Headteacher, with the support of some of the children. The worship is based around a piece of scripture which may reflect the particular Virtue we are focussing on. A display in the hall builds up over the weeks helping us to make links between Bible stories and pieces of scripture.
Morning Prayer
O my God you love me, you are with me night and day.
I want to love you always in all I do and say.
I'll try to please you father, Bless me through the day.
Amen.
Prayer before Dinner
Bless us O lord as we sit together; bless the food we eat today.
bless the hands that made the food; bless those who have no food;
bless us O Lord.
Amen
End of Day Prayer
God our Father I come to say, thank you for your love today.
Thank you for my family and all the friends you give to me.
Guard me in the dark of night and in the morning send your light.
Amen.
At least once a week a small group of children in each class will plan and lead a worship for their own class. The younger children are supported by the staff but as they grow in both confidence and skill they become independent in doing this