St George's Day

Today we dressed in red to celebrate the feast of St George. We attended Mass with the rest of the school to learn more about the life of St George. We were encouraged to think about the dragons in our lives that we meet in  daily  including jealousy, anger and pride. 

Jesuit Virtues- Generous and Grateful

EYFS joined together to learn about this half terms Jesuit Virtues to be Generous and Grateful in our words and our actions. 

Holy Week 

During this week we have explored the trials and tribulations that Jesus felt from Palm Sunday to Good Friday. We have retold events of joy and of sadness including Palm Sunday and the Last Supper. We participated in a service of penance in our new outdoor prayer area, listened to scripture from celebration of the World and attended Mass on Holy Thursday to watch the washing of the feet. 

Lent - One Life 

During the season of Lent we have joined other schools across the Diocese to pray and reflect through song and prayer. 

St Patrick's Day

We joined the rest of the school today to dress in green, we attended a great celebration of  Mass as a whole school and afterwards we were treated to a display of Irish Dancing from children in Year 1 and 2.

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes 

We celebrated an important day in our school family the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

We have enjoyed a day of celebration filled with new experiences and deepening our understanding of our faith. Along with the rest of the school we celebrated Mass and then had hot chocolate and croissants after. We had a special opportunity to spend time with St Bernadette's relics, visited our parish grotto to say the Rosary, had a service for the sick, made flowers for the statues of Mary in school and finished the day with a prayer service. 

People who help us: The calling of the Disciples and the Feeding of the 5,000. 

As part of our RE unit People who help us, we have enjoyed listening to stories about Jesus' disciples, the people who helped him. We have listened too and retold the story of the calling of the Disciples and the feeding of the 5,000 using props and costumes to help us understand how it would have felt during those times. 

Church as a community

Reception have enjoyed using our new church area to develop our understanding of our faith. We are exploring the rules we follow and we are enjoying showing others our knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of the participants within the church community. 

Pupil Prepared Prayer

Reception gathered for their first Pupil Prepared Prayer, went learnt about the four elements which make up this time of prayer including Gather, Listen, Respond and Go Forth. We chose components to make up our prayer focus, selected scripture linked to our chosen theme, thought of how to respond to the scripture and what we wanted our friends and peers to take away and continue as they grow in faith. 

Vocations Day- Who is God calling me to be? 

We enjoyed thinking about the jobs and responsibilities God is calling us to be as we grow up. We have thought about the type of person God wants us to be and how our Catholic Social Teachings and Jesuit Virtues help us to achieve these roles. 

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord 

To celebrate the feast day of the Epiphany, we went to Mass together. We learned how the Wise Men followed the star to find Jesus and offered him gifts. After this celebration we blessed our classroom door, asking God to bless everyone who enters. This tradition helps us  to demonstrate our school motto of living our lives with people we have welcomed into our school to love and learn with us.

Carol Service

As part of our final Advent celebrations we live streamed the  KS2 Carol Service. We listened to the children read parts of the Nativity story from the Bible and enjoyed listening to hymns which reinforced the meaning of the Christmas story. 

Advent Fundraising

During Advent we participated in a sponsored danceathon. Our fundraising helped support CAFOD's work by buying gifts for poor communities all around the world. 

Advent Celebrations 

Over the last three weeks we have joined One life daily to prepare ourselves spiritually for the coming of Jesus.  We have also participated in celebration of the word, each week we have lit a new candle on our class advent wreath and explored the meaning behind each candle of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. We listened to scripture readings linked to each of these themes, joined in with hymns and prayers to help us get ready for the birth of Jesus. 

Bambinelli

Well Done to all the children who made a Bambinelli for Gaudete Sunday Mass, where Father Sean will bless them. 

One Life Advent Retreat

Today we joined Dan and Emily from One life to celebrate the season of Advent we joined in with prayers and hymns helping us to prepare for the coming of Jesus. 

Advent Stay, Pray and Create

Thank you to our parents and family members who joined Reception for their Advent workshop. This took place on the feast day of St Nicholas, we explored the story of St Nicholas and the traditions that happen in lots of European countries. We worked with together to make stockings to hang on our class tree, as part of our go forth for the next couple of weeks we will fill our stockings with good deeds we have done and ways in which we have been like St Nicholas. At the end of the term we hope that St Nicholas will have visited us, taking with him our good deeds and leaving a coin just like he does for all the girls and boys in other countries. 

Year of Jubilee Celebration

This year, we celebrated the Year of Jubilee, focusing on the theme of hope. As part of this special year, we joined other schools across the diocese  to make a pledge to carry on being Pilgrims of Hope for others.  The celebration with Diocese helped us to remember we should continue to develop our relationship with God and encourage others to do the same through promoting hope every day.  

Our Lady of Lourdes Focus Week 

This week we have been understanding more about Our Lady Of Lourdes, we understand that Our Lady of Lourdes is named given to our school and it is a very important story for a school family. We joined in with some of the Mass that was being said at the Grotto through a live stream, we also took part in a May procession to our School Grotto. 

ACN - Red Wednesday

Reception class wore red to celebrate Red Wednesday. Our red clothes showed our CST of Solidarity, we were upstanding for persecuted Christians and all communities who suffer because of their beliefs. We joined a live stream with schools all around the country to remember those people.

The month of Remembrance 

In Reception, we have been learning about remembrance and how November is a special month in our Catholic Faith. We joined the rest of the school to pray for and remember all the Holy souls in Heaven we thought of ways to remember these people throughout our daily lives, especially during this special month.  As part of our learning, we created a beautiful display using finger prints, handprints to make wreaths and poppies which we know are important symbols of Remembrance. 

The Solemnity of All Saints 

Today we learnt all about the importance of this special feast day in the church's calendar. We listened to the scripture reading of the Beatitudes and our class liturgy leads from Year 6 taught us a special hymn "Bread of Life". We thought about people who are saintly in our lives today and reflected on ways in which we can be a blessing to others like all the Saints in Heaven. We thought how we might do this linked to the words from the Beatitudes. 

One Life Autumn Livestream

Today, we joined Dan and Emily for their OneLife Autumn livestream. We joined other Catholic schools across the Diocese in a service of thanksgiving and prayer. 

The Celebration of Mass

We joined the rest of the school for our first time since starting school to celebrate the sacrament of Mass through the live stream. We listened carefully to hymns, prayers and scripture readings.  

Open for Creation 

We have enjoyed celebrating the Season of Creation with One Life. We have learnt new hymns and enjoyed listening to the thanks giving prayers. 

Season of Creation

During the Season of Creation we explored our school grounds to find evidence of the special things that God had created. We recognised the importance of being Stewards of Creation and looking after these important things. 

Whole School Mass

We have joined the rest of the school to participate in the celebration of Mass. The live stream provided us with the opportunity to see the inside our of church and to see Deacon Tim. We are beginning to understand the words and actions that are used during this celebration and how we show respect and reverence during the service.

Blessings for a new school year

Reception class welcomed Deacon Tim to our class to receive a blessing. We prayed together for new beginnings and a successful start to our school life. 

People who care for us

This week we have looked at people who care and love us and how we show them love and care. We listened to the story of the calling of the disciples and recognised how the fishermen were good friends of Jesus.

Live,  Love, Learn together 

Reception class have had a great first week together, joining the OLOL family. We have explored our inside and outside classroom, making new friendships with our peers and teachers.