Year 4's Mass

Y6 attended Mass this week, led by Y4, at our Parish Church. Some of our Y6 children supported this Mass: playing a musical instrument, singing in the choir and assisting with the PowerPoint. 

Year 6 remember

Throughout the month of November, Y6 have taken part in a variety of activities and collective reflections to remember all of the faithful departed. They gathered with the rest of their peers in a special assembly, where names of those who are no longer with us were brought forward and placed in a basket on the prayer table. They reflected on the focus of the month and paid particular homage to all of the individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice. Y6 also made poppies in preparation for Remembrance Day and wrote a speech during their writing lesson with Mrs Beard. 

Christmas Carol Rehearsal 

Year 6 took part in their first rehearsal for the Christmas Carol concert this week. 

It was a joy to spent the morning rejoicing in prayer; they sang beautifully and were led graciously by Mrs Anthony who gave them some targets to work towards for the next rehearsal. 

All Souls Day

We started our first week back by gathering together to remember all of those who have died. Before we gathered, we wrote down the names of family members and friends who have died and placed them in an envelope so that we can pray for them all throughout the month of November. 

The Holy Rosary

This week, our Chaplaincy Team led us in a decade of the Holy Rosary.  We were led in the Joyful Mysteries and talked about the Visitation.

With our Class Rosary Beads to hand, we followed the Chaplains in the prayers that Jesus taught us. It was wonderful to gather together and pay tribute to Mary, Our Mother, during this special month of October. 

Creation Assembly

Today, we were led in celebration of God's creation by the children of Y3.

We listened to the Gospel message, praised God's creation in song and talked about St Francis of Assis in preparation of his Feast Day on 4th October. 

Mr Connolly set all of the children the task of taking care of our school environment to show God that we are looking after the special gift he gave us. 

Back at class, we talked about St Francis' Canticle of Creation and used it as inspiration for our prayers in our RE lesson. 

Adam and Eve

We have been learning about important characters from the Bible. 

This week, Year 6 recapped the story of Adam and Eve and immersed themselves in gaining a deeper understanding of what the story meant and how we, as Catholics, should apply this knowledge to our lives today.

Year 6 compared what life was like for both characters when they followed God's word in truth, to what it was like after they had given into temptation and sin. We represented our thoughts in the form of trees to symbolise the Tree of knowledge and demonstrate how fruitful and plentiful life is with God at the centre of everything that we do. 

Visio Divina

'Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming' Matthew 24:42.

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, and recently in Year 6 we have been using the practice of Visio Divina (“divine seeing” in Latin) to help us to focus more deeply on God in prayer. Drawing on the principles of Lectio Divina, Visio Divina is the slow, thoughtful contemplation of a picture, photo, work of art, or really anything visual that invites God to speak to us in a deeper way.

This week, we have looked at the artwork 'Jesus Light of the World' by William Holman Hunt. We discussed what we could see in the artwork and what we thought God might be saying to us through this painting. In Lectio, we read Matthew 24: 37-44 and reflected on how we can shine our light like Jesus. 

The Feast of St Matthew Y6 Mass

Year 6 led us in Mass this week to celebrate the Feast of St Matthew; the Evangelist and author of a gospel. In the readings today, we heard that St Matthew, a tax-collector, was not a very well-liked man before he became a disciple of Jesus. Thank you to the children who read and led our offertory procession. 

Learning in RE

During our first unit in RE, we have been looking at the Bible and all of the different books within it. We have looked at different types of writing (Psalms, Poetry, Parables, etc) and talked about why we think there are different styles of writing within our Holy Book. Year 6 pupils had the opportunity to raise questions and work collaboratively as they attempted to respond to and answer their peer's questions. 

Classroom Blessing 

This afternoon, Deacon Tim visited Rowan Class to perform a very special blessing upon the classroom, the pupils and the teachers. Deacon Tim talked to the Year 6 pupils about the coming year ahead and asked God to watch over them as they venture through an important stage in both their educational and spiritual journeys. 

Our Class Saint - Saint  Thomas Aquinas

We learned all about St Thomas Aquinas. We discussed his patronages and reflected on ‘A Student’s Prayer’ before completing an information leaflet all about him.

Our Mission

Year 6 discussed our School Mission and identified ways in which they can live, love and learn with Christ at the centre.

Virtues

Our Jesuit Virtues for this half term are Grateful and Generous.

Year 6 came up with ways that they can embed these virtues into their lives today. We also talked about how extraordinary, Ordinary Time is and did some investigating of the elements of the life of Christ that are a focus during this liturgical season. 

New Beginnings and Welcome

Welcome to Year 6’s Catholic Life page. We have gathered together this week for our first act of Collective Worship. We took part in a 3-minute retreat and spent a moment reflecting on the events of last year before we turned our attention to the year ahead. With the Parable of the Sower in mind, Year 6 discussed ways that they can plant their seed in good soil this year.