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Our Lady of LourdesCatholic Primary School & Nursery

“Christ at the centre of our school where we live, love and learn together”

Year 3

Beech class welcome you to their Catholic Life page. This is an important year for us as we prepare to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and The Eucharist. Please remember us in your prayers.

September 2019

Our class prayer area reflects that we are in Ordinary time in the Liturgical Year. It is a very special place in our classroom and reminds us that Jesus is at the heart of everything that we do.

Father in heaven You love us...You are with us night and day.

Mission Accepted!

In our Religious Education lesson, at the start of our new school year, we reflected on our school mission,

'Christ is the centre of our school community

where we live, love and learn together.'

We thought of so many ways our class family can live, love and learn together and displayed them on our 'Mission Tree' display.

Our work is displayed in our class prayer area and is a lovely reminder of how we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

We were very proud of our finished work and Mrs Creegan was too!

Year 3 Class Saint

St. John Vianney

The Cure d’Ars (the Parish Priest of Ars in France)

Our class Saint was the parish priest of Ayrs in France and we learned so much about him when we listened to his story. We decided he had many qualities which will inspire us this year.

St. John Vianney...

loved God with his whole heart and had a strong faith,
made the right choices,
was obedient,
was generous and compassionate and helped people, especially the poor,
persevered when his work was difficult,
followed the Gospel messages,
was a good role model to other people,
always worked hard,
cared for sick people,
was brave in new situations,
was never afraid to talk about his faith and as a little boy, was brave enough to receive the Sacraments in secret, even though he risked punishment from the French soldiers if caught.

What an incredible person he was!

We worked in groups to write a prayer to God asking him to help us be inspired by St. John Vianney's life.

Our prayers are displayed in our class prayer area and we use them during class prayer time.

Read our prayers here!

PRAYERS.pub

Why is St. John Vianney our class Saint?

•Because he dedicated his life to teaching people about God, just as we are learning about God in our preparation for First Holy Communion.

•He helped people receive God’s forgiveness through confessions, just as we will in our First Confession.

St. John Vianney is the Patron Saint of priests.

His feast day is the 4th August.

Our Jesuit Virtues this half term are 'Grateful and Generous.' Our ideas for how we show these virtues are on our 'Virtues Tree'. I wonder who will win certificates for demonstrating them this half term?

As Jesus had his disciples to help him in his ministry and serve other people, these children have been elected by their friends in Beech class to serve their school family as councillors. Meet our pupil voice team!

Beginning our work on

'Belonging - We gather as God's family'

Team work was definitely dream work when we worked in groups to decide on what responsibilities and qualities were necessary in our school family.

We need to be mature, forgiving, truthful, helpful, perserve, grateful and generous and so much more! Too many responsibilities to list!

Some of our finished work...

Would you be a fisher of men?

In our Religious Education lesson we read the story of the 'Call of the Disciples' and sorted reasons for and against the disciples answering Jesus's call. Beech class have yet to decide what they would have done so watch this space for an update! They have decided however, that they are definitely Jesus's disciples TODAY!

What would you do?

The vote is in! 17 of Beech class decided they would definitely follow Jesus and be a 'Fisher of men'. The rest weren't so sure they wanted to leave their families behind!

Thank you Mrs David for our new 'Good News' Bibles!

Grateful and Generous' in action. A generous boy in Beech class started our Harvest collection for St. Chad's Sanctuary today. Our target...three boxes filled by the time we lead our school family in our Harvest celebration of Mass. Can we do it?

Sequencing the Rite of Baptism today. We learned that Baptism is the first Sacrament of Initiation!

Our first prayer service using our Y3 'Prayer Bag' was so reflective. We thought about the importance of Our Lady saying yes to God and being the mother of his Son. Prayer cards were generously given to each of us and we promised to say the Hail Mary everyday.

October

Super news ...box number 2 filled today with harvest donations. We are definitely doing small things with great love. One more box to fill and then we have completed our target. But can we fill more?

Today we have begun to learn about the Introductory Rite of the Mass. This will really help us in our preparations for First Holy Communion. We sequenced this part of the Mass independently. Well done us!

Blessing Service

Beech class were delighted to welcome Deacon Tim to their class for their class 'Blessing Service'. It was a really reverent and special occasion when we gathered to ask God’s blessing on

us, as we live and work together as his family
on our classroom, where we learn together
on our prayer area, where we show our love together for Jesus and all the time remembering that Jesus is at the heart of all that we do.

Our new class Bibles were blessed and we know we will treat them with great respect because they are the 'Word of God.'

Walk to School Week

These children have been walking to school this week instead of travelling by car. Did you know the average drive to school and back releases 800g of CO2 into the air? This is enough to inflate over 60 balloons! Certainly makes us think about how we should care for our common home, the earth!

These happy faces know they are making a difference this week!

A lovely prayer service all about being sorry, using our class 'Prayer Bag.' We thought of times we needed to say sorry and asked for God's help.

There were cheers and big congratulations today as box number 3 was filled with Harvest donations. Our target has been reached but we have already started box number 4! Can you believe it ? And still two weeks to go until our Harvest Mass. Such generosity! Thank you!

The girls confidently led us in our Novena with Newman today. Not long now until Mrs David is off to Rome to celebrate the Canonisation of Blessed John Henry Newman. An historic time in our Catholic life!

Laudato Si...

care for our common home, the earth.

“I urgently appeal, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation that includes everyone, since the environment challenge we are undergoing affect us all”

Pope Francis

In class today we watched the CAFOD Laudato Si film clip, which helped us to understand why Pope Francis is so concerned. He calls on "every person living on this planet to make urgent changes to our lifestyles and to think about how we consume energy in order to protect the planet."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Lz7dmn1eM

Did you know Laudato Si means 'Praise be to you?'

How should we care for our common home?

Laudato Si taught us about environmental issues including pollution, climate change and use of water but the focus of our lesson was to think about how people can live more simply, by reducing the amount of food they buy and throw away.

We learned about a large group of volunteers who live in Todmorton, West Yorkshire, who plant and look after vegetable and herb beds and fruit trees all over their town. These all provide food to share with anyone who wants to pick it. Only take what you need!

Young cherry trees have been planted at the police station.
The entrance to the health centre is decorated with raspberry bushes and apple trees.
The local train station's platform is green with mint and rosemary.

"This is really interesting Miss!" Good to hear! LOL!

We quite liked the idea of planting herbs on the platforms at Yardley Wood train station and using the Dingles for vegetable plots. We were a bit worried about vandals and animals though!

Our work is complete!

We leave you with this thought...

Pope Francis implores us to work together to create a better world for future generations and asks us to make the necessary changes in our lives in order to take care of, respect and value our ‘common home’.

Praying the Rosary live with Archbishop Longley

To celebrate October as an Extraordinary Missionary Month, Beech class and our school family, joined thousands of children from the schools of the Archdiocese and spent time praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary with Archbishop Bernard.

Streamed live from St. Chad's Cathedral.

Waiting to begin...

Archbishop Bernard reminded us that during this Extraordinary Missionary Month, Pope Francis asks that we spend time in prayer, follow God and do his work as his disciples, just as Jesus did. Pope Francis also wants us to be inspired by the lives of the saints and Blessed John Henry Newman.

Our Father who art in heaven...

To pray the Rosary we used a special set of beads called the Mission Rosary. This is a special symbol of prayer for each of the continents. As we prayed, we remembered all people around the world. Each bead is connected to another, which reminds us that we, like the beads, are links in a chain. We are connected to each and every person on this earth because of our love for Jesus and his for us.

Watch the live stream here

https://www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/blog/praying-the-rosary-live-with-archbishop-bernard

The Mission Rosary

Africa is represented by the green decade which stands for the forests and grasslands there.
The Americas are red representing the fire of faith.
Europe is white because it is the home of the Holy Father in Rome.
Oceania is shown in blue for the oceans surrounding the islands there.
Asia is represented in yellow as a symbol of the sun rising in the East.

Wherever we are in the world, we will be missionary disciples of Jesus. A powerful message!

Baptised and sent...the theme of Extraordinary Missionary Month

Look who popped into Beech class today! Just at the right time as we were thinking about how Samuel felt when God called him to work for him. Just like Father Sean! Call again soon, it was lovely to see you!

Samuel, Samuel! Speak Lord your servant is listening. How do you think Samuel felt when he heard the voice of God calling him?

We enjoyed a very reflective prayer service all about the importance of the Holy Rosary prayer. We prayed a decade of the Rosary for all our intentions

Year 3 take their commitment to being disciples of Jesus very seriously and have been busy thinking about ways they can demonstrate discipleship in their actions. We all completed a Missio sheet detailing an action we will try to keep during this Extraordinary Missionary Month.

Our mission is...

...what's yours?

Prayer time led by members of the Chaplaincy Team

“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission... I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons."

St John Henry Newman

We were helped to understand and reflect on these powerful words.

How can you be a link in a chain? What service will you do for God? We wrote our ideas on a link and formed our chain. We are now all connected in our mission to serve God and be His disciples!

And the good news... box number 4 is nearly full! We think we can squeeze in a few more Harvest donations. And yes! We have made Jesus happy! LOL!

We have made progress in understanding the Liturgy of the Word.

Look at these amazing Rosary beads made at home for our Religious Education homework challenge. Just outstanding! There's even a Mission Rosary in the colours of the continents. We are praying for children across the world. So proud of these children and grateful to parents for their support.

Hail Mary, full of Grace...

Morning Prayer

Our day began by thinking about the focus for the day on our Extraordinary Missionary Month calendar.

Find out about children in South Africa

who are loved and cared for by Sister Anece.

We learned about St John's Care Centre, where Sister Anece works and guess what? The children there learn exactly the same as us. They are important members of God’s family with the responsibility to love themselves, other people, and all God’s creation.

Someone thought that Johannes, an eleven year old boy who lives at St. John's Care Centre, would be excited to know that we were talking about him thousands of miles away in Yardley Wood!

"I'm so happy that the children look happy in the picture. They are loved because they are being hugged. "

" I am glad Victor thinks living there is wonderful. It could be hard not living at home with your own family."

" Look Miss, I can see the money box that we have in the picture!" Miss hadn't spotted it!

We decided we must really make an extra big effort to fill our boxes at home and do little things with great love!

We prayed the Our Father, for all the children at St John's.

Let us pray....

Members of the Chaplaincy team led us in our Friday Angelus. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary...

Our 'Prayer Bag' from home reflected on members of our family who have passed away. We prayed the Hail Holy Queen and prayer cards were shared.

We love attending Forest School! There are so many things we are grateful for in God's wonderful world!

Read the story of Creation in the Old Testament and remind yourself of how God created our world!

The Mini Vinnies held their lunch time session in Y3. We reflected on the theme of being grateful. Our friends have so many gifts and talents! We wrote them on lollipop outlines and thanked God for them! We are grateful for our friends!

Grateful together!

Harvest Mass 2019

We have had our final practice before leading our school Mass. We will join together with our school and parish family to rejoice in the wonders of creation and to thank God for all his gifts of creation, especially the food we receive each Harvest.

We will remember all those people, both in this country and in other parts of the world, who may not have enough to eat.

God asks us to share with others and with this thought in mind, we will remember all those people who are supported by St Chad’s Sanctuary, where our Harvest donations will help to make such a difference.

We are proud to lead the Entrance Procession and read the introduction.

Penitential Act and Liturgy of the Word

Reading our bidding prayers and offering the unconsecrated bread and wine.

This thanksgiving moment just cannot be missed, to thank God for bringing this lovely…..HARVEST

Look at this amazing centre piece for our Entrance Procession and made at home, as part of our homework challenge for maths. There's even a little field mouse. So, so impressed and immensely grateful. Thank you VERY, VERY much!

Only some of the many donations received for St. Chad's Sanctuary. We are looking forward to a lovely celebration of Mass!

And now our Harvest Mass has been celebrated and is over for another year. It was indeed a lovely, joyous celebation. So proud of wonderful Beech class and how confidently they participated.

Back in class, we got to work comparing and contrasting the Baptism of Jesus with out own Baptism. What a busy day!

Our final 'Prayer Bag' prayer service of this half term was led with reverence and confidence. We remembered October is the month of the Rosary when we prayed...Hail Mary.

What a lot of thoughtful I wonder questions we had in our Religious Education lesson, when we learned about The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. I wonder did Simeon and Anna discuss the promise made to Simeon by God? I wonder indeed! What do you think?

We ordered the Bible story of The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and then retold the story. We thought Simeon would have been very happy indeed that God kept his promise to him and he finally met Jesus.

November

Month of the Holy Souls

Say this prayer at home and remember family and friends who have sadly passed away.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace.

Amen

There are many who have no one to pray for them. Pray for them also.

Our class prayer area reflects November, 'Month of the Holy Souls.' We have put the names of all those we want to pray for on our 'Remembrance Tree.'

Thank you to the Yr 6 Chaplaincy Team who led us in our morning prayers for the 'Faithfully Departed.'

The names of who we want to remember and pray for during the Month of the Holy Souls will be offered during our school Mass tomorrow.

Today we have supported the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. This year famous celebrities have gone undercover to sell poppies. Look out when you see poppy sellers!

Living the Jesuit Virtues in Beech class!

Our excellent role models who won certificates

for being 'Grateful and Generous.'

Pupils in Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School

are growing to be..

Grateful for their own gifts, for the gift of other people, and for the blessings of each day; and generous with their gifts, becoming men and women for others.

I wonder who will be our certificate winners for being 'Attentive and Discerning' at the end of this half term?

Always an I wonder question Beech class! LOL!

Congratulations!

Our prayer bag service this week was all about Remembrance Sunday. We thought about those people who had died and offered up our prayers for them, creating a beautiful prayer chain which now sits underneath our 'Remembrance Tree'.

We are the one leper who remembered to praise God and thank Jesus for cleansing him of the terrible disease of leprosy. We had to think about what the leper did, said, thought, felt and believed in this gospel account. Mrs Creegan was so impressed with our learning and the progress we made. The message! Like the leper we must remember to thank God and others for all they do for us! Simple but true!

Such an important start to our week in our school Assembly...reflecting on Armistice Day and those who lost their lives during war. How can we be at peace with others? Negotiate and get along a wise person said!

We say thank you for the sacrifice of many and pray for peace

We say thank you!

At the end of Assembly, Mrs David set a challenge as part of our work on Remembrance. We had to write a letter to a serving soldier in the Welsh Guards, thanking them for following their vocation for the service of others.

We discussed the role of a soldier and what it entails and thought carefully about what we needed to say thank you for. Year 3 have written some lovely letters which will be sent off very soon to the Welsh Guards.

When you are far away, we are very proud of you!

We wrote our letters on our poppy paper. We hope the Welsh Guards like them!

You put your life at risk and make difficult decisions, but I believe in you and I am sure your families do too!

Because of your bravery and loyalty you deserve a trophy!

Thank you to our wonderful Beech girls for their commitment to our school choir and Mini Vinnie group. Incredibly grateful to them for being so generous with their time.

A lovely prayer service this week all about saying sorry and asking for God's forgiveness. The class thought carefully about things they needed to say sorry for and signed a prayer card together. We even learnt a new hymn and received a copy of the words to learn at home. Such a lovely way to start a school day.

In our school assembly this morning we were reflecting on our new virtues ‘Attentive and Discerning.’ What do they mean? How can we demonstrate them in our lives?

Homework Challenges!

'Interview adults about your Baptism. Write down all their memories of the day you were baptised into God’s family. Explain why it was a special day for them. Include pictures/drawings.'

We have shared some lovely homework challenges about our Baptism. They were filled with happiness and special memories. We enjoyed talking about receiving this sacrament at home.

Mummy remembers... we made promises to always guide you in the Catholic faith.

I was baptised on Mummy's birthday. She has kept her Baptismal promises because she still makes sure I live like Jesus wants me to.

A double celebration, Baptism and mum and dad's wedding anniversary! Mummy was very proud that she was my mum!

Oscar Romero House Group Meeting

How can we be 'Attentive and Discerning?'

In Oscar Romero's house group meeting today, Year 3 participated with such confidence and were full of ideas about how they can demonstrate our new Jesuit Virtues' focus.

We can be attentive by listening to the Liturgy of the Word.
We can be discerning by going to Mass.
We can be attentive by listening to Father Sean's homily.
We can be discerning by putting others before ourselves in all ways.

We even decided that Samuel was both Attentive and Discerning! Super link to previous learning in RE.

Year 3 with their groups' finished work!

'His Goodness Never Fails' Retreat Day

Dan and Emily from One Life Music came to school for our ‘His Goodness Never Fails’ retreat day.

Our image of Jesus today was as the Good Shepherd. We thought about what it means to be a shepherd and how much care a shepherd takes of his flock.

The Journey of our day...

It will soon be Advent! Before the month of the Holy Souls ends, we decided we would stay behind after our school Mass and pray for all who are deceased. We lit two candles, one for our family and friends and one for all who have no one to pray for them. May they rest in peace.

Red Wednesday

Christians around the world are being persecuted because of their faith. Today we showed our support by wearing red. Beech class were shocked to hear that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.

We support faith and the freedom to practice it...

Another RE homework challenge completed this week. A Rosary made from shells. Well done!

Learning about the 'Memorial Acclamation' in RE!

Did you know?

We sing or say this acclamation directly to Jesus himself. We are proclaiming to him that we understand and believe what has just happened in the Consecration. We believe the bread and wine are now Jesus’ Body and Blood.

The next step in our learning was to write our own Memorial Acclamation.

We received our new prayer journals today which we have already been filling in about our retreat last week. We thought carefully about Jesus being the Good Shepherd. Our journal is a special place to record our thoughts about our relationship with God.

December

....and the start of Advent

Our class prayer area reflects that we are in the Holy Season of Advent. Purple is the liturgical colour for Advent. Look around school and in church. Where is the colour purple being used?

Advent...a time to prepare and welcome Jesus into our lives.

A little help goes a long way...thank you! Team work gets the job done!

Read our Advent prayers...we are recognising Jesus is present in us when we pray for others.

For those who have nothing that someone will show that they care.

Our Advent calendar has an act of kindness task inside it. We are trying to be 'Advent Angels' and are working hard to be even kinder than we need to be. When we do this, people will know Jesus is present in us. We will be living and loving like he did.

When we have completed our act of kindness, we will write in on an angel on the tree.

How can you put others before yourself this Advent?

Our actions will speak louder than our words during Advent!

Meet the newest member of our school choir! Delighted to hear this news!

Baptism homework challenge completed. My aunt made my cake and mummy said it was an exciting day because all my family and friends celebrated together. My feet are a lot bigger now!

Christmas card homework challenge. Make a card for an elderly person .... definitely an act of kindness showing Jesus is present in us!

For my next door neighbour...

Our Advent Angel tasks are being completed. Tidy my bedroom and write a letter to someone thanking them for having a positive influence on me. We are putting our angels on the tree knowing we have made a difference to other people!

What will my Advent Angel act of kindness be? Put a water bowl out for the birds! Well they need our help too!

Well done to the Mini Vinney girls....shoe boxes completed! Very proud of you!

The Annunciation

In our Religious Education lesson this week we have been reading the Annunciation and reflected on how Mary felt before, during and after this wonderful event.

We even discussed what would have happened if Mary had said no! She had freedom of choice. History may have been completely changed. We believed though, that God knew Mary would say YES!

We believe we should trust God to help us in difficult situations. We believe we should say yes to God and welcome Jesus into our lives like Mary did!

A lovely prayer service this morning in Beech class. Our theme today was all about forgiveness. We enjoyed listening to the parable of the Prodigal Son.

What a super idea to give out 'Act of Sorrow' prayers today. These will help us in our preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Beech class have started their RSE work and thought carefully about people who care for us and how we also look after and care for ourselves. We came up with a long list of people we need to say thank you to.

Lots of Advent Angel acts of kindness tasks have been completed...

Absolutely delighted to hear today that this young man has joined our school choir. What a wonderful role model!

This little Advent Angel made Father Sean so happy today. He was delighted when he read his thank you letter for being our parish priest. There were so many things he was thanked for in this superbly written letter and when Father read it, he said he would treasure his act of kindenss!

We have been learning about the work the Salvation Army do for the homeless. We have all been Advent Angels today and have written a Christmas card to a homeless person to receive on Christmas day. We hope to bring a little joy this Christmas!

For many, Christmas can be the most lonely time of all. We hope our cards will be a reminder that someone cares.

Our homework challenge was to design and make a Christmas card for an elderly neighbour or relative. Two beautiful cards with thoughtful messages will certainly be treasured by those who receive them.

A beautiful prayer service all about the theme of generosity. Lots of questions were prepared to ask the class all about their ideas as to how they could be generous with their time and actions during Christmas.

We have been discussing how we can look after others in our RSE lessons and how we can help other people make and keep their friends, through the example we set.

Our sponsored fitness fun certainly raised our heart rates and has raised money for CAFOD. We had a lot of fun exercising and are very pleased that our efforts will help children in other parts of the world go to school.

It's the final week of term and we are busily preparing for our school 'Carol Concert.' Our Y3 choir of angels sing...Gaudete, gaudete, Christus est natus, ex Maria virgine, gaudete.

Better keep an eye on Bethlehem town.....

A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, 'Wonderful Counsellor,' 'Mighty God,' 'Eternal Father,' 'Prince of Peace.'

More Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes arrived to class today from our wonderful Mini Vinney girls! Thank you so much! You will be making some children very happy this Christmas!

The Advent Angels have been busy in Beech class this week!

And a random act of kindness for my teacher! It made her very happy indeed!

International Migrants Day

In our Advent prayer service today, we thought about the idea of ‘home’ and what that means to us. We particularly thought about those who do not have a home, those who have been forced to leave their homes because of violence and war, and those who are trying to make a new home and life for themselves.

Help us to prepare to welcome you by reaching out to all who are in need of our love, care and support.

We listened to Majid's story and how he fled from his home to escape the war in Syria. We couldn't believe he walked all day and night across the desert with his wife and six daughters. Life was hard, but with the help of CAFOD things have improved. We felt so sad for this family but then hopeful for them, because their lives improved.

We hope Majid and his family can return home one day.

What makes your ideal home? We made a brick wall with all the words we thought best described home for us: cosy, safe, warm, loving, forgiving, welcoming. Y3 had to say thank you tonight for their homes! Something we take for granted!

We ended our prayer service by sharing the beautiful prayers we had written ourselves and sang a new hymn we learned 'Prepare ye the Way of the Lord.' A lovely, peaceful, prayerful start to our day.

Living the Jesuit Virtues in Beech class!

Our excellent role models who won certificates

for being 'attentive and discerning.'

Pupils in Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School

are growing to be..

Attentive to their experience and to their vocation;

and discerning about the choices they make

and the effects of those choices.

Congratulations!

A thoughtful prayer service where we shared a beautiful prayer to our guardian angel. We were all given prayer cards to take home.

Another 'Advent Angel' busy thinking of others. A beautiful handmade Christmas card for our cook, thanking her for our delicious Christmas dinner and a card for our crossing lady, Sally, who is out in all weathers keeping us safe.

We have been working hard in our RSE lessons. This week we have discussed the difference between 'lonely' and 'alone' and how we all need our own personal space.

Reading the story of Zacchaeus reminded us of the need to forgive others. We worked in groups to create role play situations where friends said sorry and forgave each other. This is an important part of being a good friend.

'It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...' We have been enjoying a festive day, celebrating our end of term Mass, wearing our Christmas jumpers, enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner and making our Christmas cards for our families. We have so much to be grateful for!

Our excellent role models in Year 3 who have won their bronze 'Certificate Of Excellence In Catholic Life.' They have worked hard to demonstrate the Jesuit Virtues in their daily life in school.

Our carol concert was a beautiful end to our term and we are definitely ready to welcome Jesus into our lives once more on Christmas day.

Let's remember Christmas is

About our Saviour's birth;
That's the way to happiness,
The way to peace on earth.

Beech class wish all their family and friends a very

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

January 2020...

...and we are in the season of Christmas until the Baptism of Our Lord.

Our class prayer area reflects the Christmas season and the Liturgical colours are white and gold.

Why did God choose the shepherds to be the first to meet Jesus, Christ the Lord? What do you think?

Our task to complete after our Epiphany assembly...

It has been one of the oldest traditions of the Church to bless chalk at the Masses of the Epiphany, and then to use the blessed chalk to say a prayer of blessing on our home for the New Year that has just begun. Above the doorway of our home 20+C+M+B+20 is written and the prayer of blessing is said.

The three Wise Men

(C) Caspar

(M) Melchior, and

(B)Balthasar, followed the Star to God's Son who became man

(20) Two Thousand and

(20) Twenty years ago,

+ May Christ

+ bless our home

+ and remain with us throughout the new year .

+Amen

We wrote an Epiphany blessing to take home. Using Mrs Creegan's blessed chalk from mass, an extra blessing was written to put above our classroom door.

A lovely prayer service all about God’s love for us and how we can show our love to others.

As part of our prayer service, the girls shared some of the prayers they had written and put in our class prayer basket. A lovely start to the day in Beech class.

The Beech Mini Vinnies were busy in their session today. They acted out the Baptism of the Lord to help them prepare for this special feast day on Sunday.

Sacramental preparation begins...

...and our first sacramental preparation mass

Children and their families gathered together to celebrate Mass on the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Amazing singing from Beech class today. We were so proud when a parishioner came to congratulate the children on their behaviour, responses and singing.

Ready for mass to begin.

Father Sean gave each of us holy water from Lourdes. He wants is to remember our own Baptism when we were baptised in the 'Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.'

Menu

Year 3

Beech class welcome you to their Catholic Life page. This is an important year for us as we prepare to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and The Eucharist. Please remember us in your prayers.

Father in heaven You love us...You are with us night and day.

Our work is displayed in our class prayer area and is a lovely reminder of how we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

We were very proud of our finished work and Mrs Creegan was too!

We worked in groups to write a prayer to God asking him to help us be inspired by St. John Vianney's life.

Our prayers are displayed in our class prayer area and we use them during class prayer time.

Read our prayers here!

Our Jesuit Virtues this half term are 'Grateful and Generous.' Our ideas for how we show these virtues are on our 'Virtues Tree'. I wonder who will win certificates for demonstrating them this half term?

As Jesus had his disciples to help him in his ministry and serve other people, these children have been elected by their friends in Beech class to serve their school family as councillors. Meet our pupil voice team!

We need to be mature, forgiving, truthful, helpful, perserve, grateful and generous and so much more! Too many responsibilities to list!

Some of our finished work...

What would you do?

Thank you Mrs David for our new 'Good News' Bibles!

Grateful and Generous' in action. A generous boy in Beech class started our Harvest collection for St. Chad's Sanctuary today. Our target...three boxes filled by the time we lead our school family in our Harvest celebration of Mass. Can we do it?

Sequencing the Rite of Baptism today. We learned that Baptism is the first Sacrament of Initiation!

Our first prayer service using our Y3 'Prayer Bag' was so reflective. We thought about the importance of Our Lady saying yes to God and being the mother of his Son. Prayer cards were generously given to each of us and we promised to say the Hail Mary everyday.

Super news ...box number 2 filled today with harvest donations. We are definitely doing small things with great love. One more box to fill and then we have completed our target. But can we fill more?

Today we have begun to learn about the Introductory Rite of the Mass. This will really help us in our preparations for First Holy Communion. We sequenced this part of the Mass independently. Well done us!

These happy faces know they are making a difference this week!

A lovely prayer service all about being sorry, using our class 'Prayer Bag.' We thought of times we needed to say sorry and asked for God's help.

There were cheers and big congratulations today as box number 3 was filled with Harvest donations. Our target has been reached but we have already started box number 4! Can you believe it ? And still two weeks to go until our Harvest Mass. Such generosity! Thank you!

The girls confidently led us in our Novena with Newman today. Not long now until Mrs David is off to Rome to celebrate the Canonisation of Blessed John Henry Newman. An historic time in our Catholic life!

How should we care for our common home?

"This is really interesting Miss!" Good to hear! LOL!

Our work is complete!

Streamed live from St. Chad's Cathedral.

Waiting to begin...

Our Father who art in heaven...

The Mission Rosary

Wherever we are in the world, we will be missionary disciples of Jesus. A powerful message!

Baptised and sent...the theme of Extraordinary Missionary Month

Look who popped into Beech class today! Just at the right time as we were thinking about how Samuel felt when God called him to work for him. Just like Father Sean! Call again soon, it was lovely to see you!

Samuel, Samuel! Speak Lord your servant is listening. How do you think Samuel felt when he heard the voice of God calling him?

We enjoyed a very reflective prayer service all about the importance of the Holy Rosary prayer. We prayed a decade of the Rosary for all our intentions

Year 3 take their commitment to being disciples of Jesus very seriously and have been busy thinking about ways they can demonstrate discipleship in their actions. We all completed a Missio sheet detailing an action we will try to keep during this Extraordinary Missionary Month.

Our mission is...

...what's yours?

We were helped to understand and reflect on these powerful words.

How can you be a link in a chain? What service will you do for God? We wrote our ideas on a link and formed our chain. We are now all connected in our mission to serve God and be His disciples!

And the good news... box number 4 is nearly full! We think we can squeeze in a few more Harvest donations. And yes! We have made Jesus happy! LOL!

We have made progress in understanding the Liturgy of the Word.

Look at these amazing Rosary beads made at home for our Religious Education homework challenge. Just outstanding! There's even a Mission Rosary in the colours of the continents. We are praying for children across the world. So proud of these children and grateful to parents for their support.

Hail Mary, full of Grace...

Let us pray....

Members of the Chaplaincy team led us in our Friday Angelus. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary...

Our 'Prayer Bag' from home reflected on members of our family who have passed away. We prayed the Hail Holy Queen and prayer cards were shared.

We love attending Forest School! There are so many things we are grateful for in God's wonderful world!

Read the story of Creation in the Old Testament and remind yourself of how God created our world!

The Mini Vinnies held their lunch time session in Y3. We reflected on the theme of being grateful. Our friends have so many gifts and talents! We wrote them on lollipop outlines and thanked God for them! We are grateful for our friends!

Grateful together!

We are proud to lead the Entrance Procession and read the introduction.

Penitential Act and Liturgy of the Word

Reading our bidding prayers and offering the unconsecrated bread and wine.

This thanksgiving moment just cannot be missed, to thank God for bringing this lovely…..HARVEST

Look at this amazing centre piece for our Entrance Procession and made at home, as part of our homework challenge for maths. There's even a little field mouse. So, so impressed and immensely grateful. Thank you VERY, VERY much!

Only some of the many donations received for St. Chad's Sanctuary. We are looking forward to a lovely celebration of Mass!

And now our Harvest Mass has been celebrated and is over for another year. It was indeed a lovely, joyous celebation. So proud of wonderful Beech class and how confidently they participated.

Back in class, we got to work comparing and contrasting the Baptism of Jesus with out own Baptism. What a busy day!

Our final 'Prayer Bag' prayer service of this half term was led with reverence and confidence. We remembered October is the month of the Rosary when we prayed...Hail Mary.

What a lot of thoughtful I wonder questions we had in our Religious Education lesson, when we learned about The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. I wonder did Simeon and Anna discuss the promise made to Simeon by God? I wonder indeed! What do you think?

We ordered the Bible story of The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and then retold the story. We thought Simeon would have been very happy indeed that God kept his promise to him and he finally met Jesus.

Our class prayer area reflects November, 'Month of the Holy Souls.' We have put the names of all those we want to pray for on our 'Remembrance Tree.'

Thank you to the Yr 6 Chaplaincy Team who led us in our morning prayers for the 'Faithfully Departed.'

The names of who we want to remember and pray for during the Month of the Holy Souls will be offered during our school Mass tomorrow.

Today we have supported the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. This year famous celebrities have gone undercover to sell poppies. Look out when you see poppy sellers!

Congratulations!

Our prayer bag service this week was all about Remembrance Sunday. We thought about those people who had died and offered up our prayers for them, creating a beautiful prayer chain which now sits underneath our 'Remembrance Tree'.

Such an important start to our week in our school Assembly...reflecting on Armistice Day and those who lost their lives during war. How can we be at peace with others? Negotiate and get along a wise person said!

We say thank you for the sacrifice of many and pray for peace

When you are far away, we are very proud of you!

We wrote our letters on our poppy paper. We hope the Welsh Guards like them!

You put your life at risk and make difficult decisions, but I believe in you and I am sure your families do too!

Because of your bravery and loyalty you deserve a trophy!

Thank you to our wonderful Beech girls for their commitment to our school choir and Mini Vinnie group. Incredibly grateful to them for being so generous with their time.

In our school assembly this morning we were reflecting on our new virtues ‘Attentive and Discerning.’ What do they mean? How can we demonstrate them in our lives?

Mummy remembers... we made promises to always guide you in the Catholic faith.

I was baptised on Mummy's birthday. She has kept her Baptismal promises because she still makes sure I live like Jesus wants me to.

A double celebration, Baptism and mum and dad's wedding anniversary! Mummy was very proud that she was my mum!