Prayer, Liturgy & Worship
"Full of grace, we grow and learn together."
Our school is situated next to St Mary's Church and one class attends Mass each week. Father Marlor welcomes the pupils to Mass each week and we have whole school masses at points throughout the year such as Lent and the Leaver's Mass.
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS IN THE PRIESTHOOD
Staff, pupils and parents celebrated with Father Marlor at a Mass to commemorate and celebrate 40 years in the priesthood.
Father Marlor was delighted with the cards the children and staff had made for him.
Please pray for Father Marlor as he continues to serve the parish community of St Mary's.
JUBILEE 2025
We started the year with the launch of the Jubilee Year and a whole school assembly.
Pupils were asked to think about how they can be "Pilgrims of Hope" this year.
We will be holding a number of events to mark the Jubilee during the year.
BISHOP JOHN ARNOLD'S VISIT TO ST MARY'S
We welcomed Bishop John Arnold to St Mary's during Lent this year. Our Faith Leaders joined Bishop John for breakfast and they gave him a tour of the school and he met our pupils in their classrooms.
Bishop John celebrated mass in our school hall. This was a wonderful whole school celebration of the Mass focusing on loving our neighbours and we finished with our Jubilee Year Hymn which our pupils love to sing.
We thank Bishop John for coming to visit St Mary's.
ADVENT MASS WITH FATHER DAMIEN
Father Damien Louden joined us to celebrate a wonderful Mass during Advent. Father Damien is a governor at our school and he has been so welcoming to all our pupils on his visits to school. He thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Mass with great joy and encouraged all our pupils to feel included and a part of a wonderful celebration.
CELEBRATION OF THE WORD
Our chapel is used each week for Celebration of the Word. Classes go into the chapel for their sessions with their teachers leading a session and also our Faith Leaders lead Celebration of the Word for each class.
Sometimes Celebration of the Word is held in the school hall, the classroom or outdoors.
The chapel is also open at lunchtime for prayer, bible study and meditation.
Our Faith Leaders ensure that displays are changed to reflect the Liturgical year and teachers record their sessions in a Big Floor Book.
CROWNING OF MARY
During the month of May, our school community comes together to celebrate Mary, Jesus' mother. Through readings, prayers and hymns, we honour Mary and services in church and in school end with the crowning of a statue of Mary with a crown of flowers.
LAUDATO SI PRAYER STATIONS
In the Autumn term, our Faith Leaders set up Laudato Si Prayers stations where they guide the rest of the school in reflections about how we care for our world. Pupils are asked to think about how we can follow the example of Pope Francis and work with our brothers and sisters around the world to make our world fair for all.
ADVENT LIGHT FEVER
In Advent, our Faith leaders set up and lead a reflection on our hopes during the season leading up to Christmas. pupils are encouraged to write their own prayers and present these on our Nativity altar.
This was followed up with our annual carols and readings assembly. Year 5/6 lead this for our parents and our whole school commnuity.
LENT LIGHT FEVER
During Lent, our Faith Leaders set up and lead a reflection on the theme of prayer in our school hall. Pupils are encouraged to think about what they are going to do during Lent and how they will join our community to look after those who are in need in our diocese.
Pupils write their own Lenten promises and place those on our altar.
ASSEMBLIES
Each week we have a number of assemblies and we also have class assemblies where each class prepare their assembly on a theme.
Whole School themes - Jubilee, Remembrance, Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, End of Year
Y5/6 - Our Mission Statement and the Stations of the Cross
EYFS - Mother's Day, Palm Sunday and Nelson Mandela Day
Y1/2 - Laudato Si and the Resurrection
Year 3/4 - Palm Sunday and St Peter and St Paul
Pope Francis Assembly
We marked the death of Pope Francis with a whole school assembly to celebrate his life and work for communities all over the world, especially those most vulnerable.
