Lent: The season of Almsgiving

We joined the rest of the school, to develop an understanding of the work that Father Hudson's Caritas do, in particular for the elderly of Birmingham. We recognised ways in which we could support the fantastic work this charity does. During Lent we are encouraged to give generously, to this charity and others like them, so they can continue their hard work. 

Year One Lent Assembly

Thank you to everyone who came to see our Lent assembly on the theme of Pray, Fast, Give. 

We hope you enjoyed listening to our readings, prayer and song as explained to you the importance of each of these during this time of reflection, forgiveness and new beginnings. 

Lent Retreat 

We thoroughly enjoyed the songs we learnt during our Lent retreat. It was a time to join together and reflect on the work we are committing ourselves to, during this season. We asked God to bless us as we continue on our journey during the Jubilee Year and enter the Season of Lent. 

We will go out (as Pilgrims of Hope) retreat

We joined One Life to learn through prayer and song how we can be Pilgrims of Hope. We learnt new songs and reflected on prayers said. We thought about who showed us hope and wrote prayers asking for God's help, so that we can show hope to others. 

The beginning of Lent

We celebrated Mass together today, receiving the ashes on forehead. We accepted this sign as a symbol that we recognise our sins, ask for forgiveness and acknowledge our penance. We reflected on the important words: repent and believe in the Gospel. We asked God to help guide and support us on our journey during Lent. 

CST: Participation through the work of St Vincent De Paul

We joined the rest of the school to explore the theme of Participation, our Catholic Social Teaching. We understood the importance of participation through our local and wider community. We were sent forth to find out about the life and work of  St Vincent De Paul and think about ways in which we can be like him during the season of Lent. Our liturgy leads then shared these ideas and reminded us of the work we called to do. 

Our Lady of Lourdes Feast Day

What a wonderful morning, we had celebrating our school's feast day.  We celebrated Mass, led by Year 5 and had the chance to see a relic from St Bernadette. Delicious hot chocolate and croissants were enjoyed by us all to complete the celebrations. 

CST: Preferential Option for the Poor

We reflected on how we can bring joy into the lives of the poor, just like Jesus did during the wedding feast at Cana. We recognised the poor aren't just those without money but also those who are yet to find God and Jesus in their hearts. 

The Jubilee Year of Hope

We joined thousands of schools online across the diocese to celebrate the Jubilee year of Hope. We listened to powerful words of guidance from Archbishop Bernard Longley on how this Jubilee year we can be pilgrims of hope and through our journey of faith we will become closer to God. We watched Pope Francis open the Holy Doors to the Basilica in Rome and understood the importance of this. 

Grateful and Generous

Year 1 have explored the Jesuit Virtues of Grateful and Generous. We listened to a reading from Mark's Gospel and acknowledged what it means to be grateful for our gifts and talents and how we can share them generously with others. We finished with the prayer of St Ignatius of Loyola asking to be more like Christ in our words and actions.

Joseph's Dream

We have retold the story of Joseph's dream through a variety of media and materials . We looked carefully at a piece of art work based on the story and replicated it using charcoals and pastels. 

The Annunciation 

We have looked closely at what the Bible tells us about Mary's visit from the Angel. We read sections from the Gospel, selecting the exact spoken words to use in our writing to help us demonstrate our knowledge of the story. 

Advent Mass

Year 1 enjoyed leading the whole school in the final Mass of 2024. We were joined by our parents and parish community as we sang and read beautifully. 

Advent Prayer Service 

Year 1 used prayers they had written in their RE lesson to share with each other as part of shared liturgical prayer service. The theme for our service was Joy. We listened to the words from the Gospel according to St Luke and reflected on the words of Pope Francis: 

‘Young people do not solely need material things.

They need to have values which are the heart of people ...

spirituality,  generosity,

solidarity, perseverance,

brotherhood and joy

We ended our prayer service by thinking of ways in which we can have 

generosity,  faithfulness, solidarity,  perseverance,  closeness, and joy in our hearts during Advent.

.’

Advent Fundraising

Year 1 raised money for CAFOD by completing a jingle bell walk. We sang our favourite Christmas songs and shook our bells as we walked around the playground. We hope all money raised will help lots of people in need.

Advent Workshop

Elm were joined by their families today to as prayed for Hope during the third week of Hope. We understood the importance of the Gaudete Sunday during this time of preparation and waiting. We made stars of Hope and wrote prayers on them: asking God to help those in need and asking God to help us to show hope to those around us. 

One life : Let His Glory Shine Advent Retreat

Year 1 took time out of their normal lessons today to join in with prayers and songs delivered from One Life. We reflected on the questions "Who Shines their Light in your life?" and "How can we shine our Light to others around us?"

Season of Advent - One Life 

We have been joining Dan and Emily daily during the season of Advent to prepare for the coming of Jesus. We have enjoyed preparing through song and prayer. We have reflected on the scripture as a way to guide us just this time of waiting. 

Glory Be

As part of our unit on prayer, we have learnt that prayers mean different things. We have thanking prayers, asking prayers, praising prayers and sorry prayers. We have learnt a praising prayer The Glory Be, we have used actions to help us remember the words. 

Aid to the Church in need- Red Wednesday

Year 1 wore red to mark Red Wednesday, we prayed for all those Christians who are persecuted for their faith.  We gathered for whole school assembly to learn more about the importance of this day and how it links to our Catholic Social Teaching principle - Human Dignity. We later joined Father Sean in church for a moment of silent prayer for those who cannot go to church and pray themselves.

November- The Month of Holy Souls. 

During this month we have remembered all those that have gone before us, we offered up their names during the Holy Souls Mass.

On Monday 11th November, we  gathered with the rest of school to think about all the armed forces who had lost their lives during war. 

We remember them all:

Eternal Rest, grant unto them O' Lord and let Your perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.

Amen  

Jesuit Values - Intentional and Prophetic

This half term we are focussing on ways to be Intentional and Prophetic. We joined the rest of the school to learn what this means for us as members of our school community. 

Mrs David's RE challenge: October 

Congratulations to these children who completed Mrs David's RE challenge for October, to produce a piece of artwork for St Francis or Assisi feast day (4th October)  or for Our Lady of the Rosary (October: the month of the Rosary) . The children took a lot of time and effort in creating their artwork which is displayed in our classroom. 

Prayer Bag

The first half of the Autumn term has allowed  Elm class to prepare and deliver so many beautiful prayer services on a variety of different themes and celebrations. We have shown reverence and respect during these opportunities for us to develop our relationship with God. 

Harvest 

In preparation for Year three thanksgiving mass for Harvest. Year One have been very busy collecting food for those less fortunate than ourselves.  We have been generous in giving, recognising that it is important part of our faith to help the poor and vulnerable. Thank you to all our families who have been kind and bountiful in their donations. 

St Josephine Bakhita

Linked to October being Black History month, today we looked at the life of St Josephine Bakhita. As a child, she became a slave. After 12 years of being a slave the Canossian sisters helped her, she was released becoming a Christian and joining the sisters in their work. When listening to her life story we were reminded of the importance of forgiving those, even if they have greatly hurt us. We were also reminded about how precious every life is.

Mission Together

This week we have gathered as a class to share the Mission Together assembly, exploring the 2024 work of 'Missio' in Cameroon.  We discussed how we saw the Catholic Social Teaching principles in action and we reflected on the words of St Therese of Calcutta, “Do something beautiful for God”.  We thought about how we can build a better world for the common good.

The feast day of Ss Cosmas and Damian

Today we celebrated Mass on the feast day of Ss Cosmas and Damian. We learnt that they were twin brothers, who later become Christian doctors. They devoted their time to healing the sick, without payments. Despite being persecuted for their faith, they continued to serve God and were later made Saints for their tireless work. 

Sunday Gospel

Every Monday we gather together to reflect on the Gospel that we have heard in church on Sunday. This week we reflected on the Gospel according to St Luke. We were reminded Jesus welcomes the children with open arms and does not turn anyone away. We made connections to the catholic social teaching of  The dignity of the Human Beings and to the Jesuit values of being active and curious.  We discussed ways in which we would live out these values and demonstrate the catholic social teaching by following Jesus' footsteps. 

Stewardship of Creation

During this special time,  we have gathered on several occasions to think about the creation and our roles in being stewards (linked to the Catholic Social teachings). We have reflected on the role of a steward and how we can use those skills to help with God's work of caring for the world he created. 

Curious and Active

Our Jesuit values this half term are curious and active.  We looked to the example of the Good Samaritan and thought how his example and these values help us to be the person God wants us to be. Through our words and actions we are active in our faith, our curiosity helps us to serve others in our school, at home and our wider community. 

Hymn Practice

This week Elm class, gathered with the rest of the school to prepare for our first mass of the year.  How lovely it was to see the children  joining in with such enthusiasm to words and actions of the songs.  

Season of Creation
During the month of September, we are celebrating the Season of Creation. During this season we thinking how we can care for God’s creation and in doing so we become go closer to God. We linked our collective worship message to the work we have been doing in our RE lessons and thought about the work of our class Saint (St Francis of Assisi). 

Our class Saint: Saint Francis of Assisi

Linked to the Season of Creation and first RE unit: The creation story, we have explored the life and work of Saint Francis. We explored ways in which we can be more like him. We looked at his Saint prayer and wrote our own using similar words. 

School Mission

We looked closely at our school mission and what it meant to us. We discussed ways we can be active in demonstrating this in our daily school life.