Easter Livestream 

This morning, Linden tuned into Dan and Emily's One Life Music's Easter Livestream. It was a joyful way to end our first week back after the Easter holiday. We enjoyed singing new songs and using new signs alongside Dan and Emily playing the guitar. What a praiseful and joyous service! 

New Testament Letters

In RE today, we read some letters (1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Colossians 3: 12-15, Colossians 3: 20-23, Ephesians 4: 1-3) from the New Testament that were written after the resurrection of Jesus to guide people who began to believe in Him. Working in groups, we explored and analysed one of the letters: identifying the type of guidance that was offered. We discussed how these messages could help us as followers of Jesus today as we try to grow and change to be more like Him.

St Patrick's Day

Linden led the whole school in mass to celebrate the feast of St Patrick. It was a fantastic service with a sea of green throughout the church. 

Forgiveness Lenten Workshop

Linden held their Lenten prayer service this week with a theme of forgiveness. It was a time for us to reflect on our own willingness to forgive people who have wronged us, intentionally or unintentionally. We read the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant and explored how Jesus asks us to forgive “not seven times but seventy seven times”.

We know that to forgive as Christ forgives is sometimes impossible to do on our own. However, God simply asks that we participate in his gift of forgiveness. God has already forgiven those who are truly sorry — and all he asks us to do is to participate in his forgiveness. Forgiveness is possible when we trust in God to bring healing, forgiveness and reconciliation to our broken relationships. As God constantly searches out the lost, so should we; and as God always welcomes back the stranger, so should we.

We talked about how holding onto anger and resentment by choosing not to forgive can feel like stones weighing us down. During the final hymn of our service, we placed our stones inside the heart-shaped arrangement of candles: thinking about someone that we were yet to forgive whilst reflecting on our willingness to forgive those who have wronged us and participate in the forgiveness of Christ.

Sacrament of the Sick

First, we looked at photographs of the Sacrament of the Sick being administered. We explored the gestures of laying on of hands and anointing with the Oil of the Sick. We heard the words that are said to the sick person as they are anointed with the oil on their forehead and hands: “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy strengthen you by the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you and raise you up.” We wrote prayers for the sick to give to Fr Sean to take to the sick when he next visits them.

One Life Music 

Today, we joined all of OLOL and other schools in Birmingham Diocese to take part in One Life Music’s Lenten livestream. We learned new signs and sang hymns with Dan and Emily. It was a prayerful, reverent gathering and a lovely way to end our first week back in school. 

The Feast Our Lady of Lourdes

Today, we celebrated the feast of Our Lady with a beautiful, reverent mass followed by delectable croissants; it was a lovely way to celebrate.

The Rosary

Our Liturgy Leads led the rosary for us this morning to celebrate Mary, our Mother. We focused on The Joyful Mysteries and prayed a decade of The Rosary together.

O Antiphons

This week, we explored the O Antiphons. We learned that each Antiphon calls the Messiah to come and fulfil the prophecy and the first letter of each Latin name spells our Ero Cras which means “I will be here tomorrow”. We created our own artistic version of one of the O Antiphons.

Advent Art

To end our Advent unit, we created a piece of art using oil pastels and then took part in Advent meditation. We thought about the hope felt by Elizabeth and Mary as they awaited the birth of their children: John, who prepare the way for the Messiah; and Jesus, who would be the light to dispel the darkness.

Feast Day of St Andrew

Linden led Mass to celebrate the feast day of St Andrew, the patron Saint of Scotland. He was one of Jesus’ twelve special friends and the brother of Peter. Andrew was a humble fisherman, until Jesus called him to be his disciple. During his life, he preached the good news about God and converted many to Christianity. We prayed that St Andrew’s strong faith in God and his Son Jesus, will inspire us and help us to grow stronger in our faith, so we may grow even closer to God.

Red Wednesday

We all wore red to show our support for persecuted Christians around the world. As a class we prayed for all the Christians around the world who don’t have access to a bible and aren’t allowed to gather together to celebrate God’s Word. We prayed that God gives persecuted Christians comfort, hope and the right words to say to stand up for their beliefs.

Benediction

Linden went over to church for Benediction with Deacon Tim. It was a lovely, devotional ceremony which we enjoyed celebrating together as the perfect end to our week. We said the Divine Praises together and took a moment in silence to reflect on all we have to be grateful for and to pray for our any of our friends and family who might be going through difficult times at the moment. Deacon Tim blessed us with the Eucharist and we thought about our devotion and adoration for God.

Attentive and Discerning Assembly

Today, we held our assembly in class. We discussed what it means to be 'Attentive and Discerning. We know that we can be show we are attentive when we pay attention to the world around us and our place in it, when we listen to others and understand what response to give and when we pay attention to our own feelings and worries. We know that we are discerning when we make good decisions and the right choices and when we draw our attention to things that have happened and our previous choices. We read the story of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector and explored evidence of attentive and discerning actions and thoughts in the account. We ended our assembly with a reflection: Do we show the attributes in our work and play to be Attentive? Do we show the attributes in our work and play to be Discerning? Are we working everyday to do more and be more for God?

Baptism of Jesus

To start our Baptism unit, we looked at a stunning piece of artwork based on the baptism of Jesus and recreated our own version using watercolour paint. We thought about how God has given us all a purpose and vocation as He did for John the Baptist. 

Class Saint Feast Day

Today, we wore our own clothes to celebrate the feast day of our class saint, St Michael the Archangel. We reflected on the impact we hope St Michael will have on us this year; perhaps he will influence us to be courageous as he defeated Satan or to be responsible and caring as he is the patron saint of the police and paramedics. 

The Beatitudes

We explored some of the teachings of Jesus to his disciples about being the light of the world and the salt of the earth. We know that Jesus taught his disciples to use their gifts and talents at the service of other people. Then, we looked at the other important form of teaching from Jesus about using gifts and talents at the service of other people found in the Beatitudes. After analysing the version of the Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke’s Gospel, we discussed which gifts and talents are needed to live out some of these Beatitudes Working in groups, we wrote our own prayers asking God to use our gifts and talents at the service of other human beings. We focused on the Beatitudes of Jesus, understanding that they provide a guide for living as a disciple of Christ.

The Creation of Adam 

To begin our 'Creation' unit in RE, we recreated a section of the famous painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam: Adam’s hand reaching to touch the mighty right hand of our Lord. We used the grid method to ensure our drawings were precise. Then, we used flesh tones to add colour; we focused on highlighting the areas where the light touches the hands and using a darker shadow to deepen the darkest areas making sure that the whole illustration was blended perfectly. We thought about how we were made in the image and likeness of God and what that demands of us. 

Classroom Blessing

This afternoon, Deacon Tim visited Linden to bless our prayer area, all the pupils and the teacher. Deacon Tim talked to us all about the coming year ahead and asked God to watch over us as we take on the new challenges that Year 5 will bring. 

Grateful and Generous

We worked in groups to explore this half term’s Jesuit Virtues: Grateful and Generous. We discussed what is meant by each virtue and we will show each virtue in our words, actions and expression of faith.

Our Class Saint: Saint Michael the Archangel

We learned all about St Michael and enjoyed completing a fact file about the chief of all the angels and of the army of God. We are looking forward to celebrating our class saint on 29th September, his feast day.

Our Mission

We discussed our school Mission Statement and explored how this will affect our actions and faith this year.

New Beginnings 

We held our first whole class collective worship led by our newly appointed liturgy leads; it was a beautiful service of welcome and new beginnings.