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.