Prayer and Liturgy
An essential part of the Catholic ethos of our school is the prayer life. Staff meetings and Governors meetings begin with a prayer.
The most important aspect of prayer for children is that they realise it is their way of communicating with God and is first and foremost a personal occasion.
Children are encouraged to pray in different ways according to their age and personal development.
Children are introduced to a variety of different ways of praying:
- quiet reflection / meditation;
- praying together;
- writing own prayers;
- prayers through music;
- learning traditional Christian / Catholic prayers;
- Staff are encouraged to pray with children, and to be an example for them.
Every day, our children are taught to open their hearts and talk to God. Every class partakes in daily prayers which are said at different stages in the day.
| 5–7 (KS1) | 7–9 (Lower KS2) | 9–11 (Upper KS2) |
| • The Sign of the Cross • The Lord’s Prayer • Hail Mary • Glory be • Grace before meals • Grace after meals |
• The Apostles’ Creed • An Act of Contrition • Angel of God • Come, Holy Spirit • The Prayer of St Richard of Chichester |
• Morning Offering • The Rosary • The Magnificat • Act of Faith • Act of Hope • Act of Love |
Collective Worship
Collective worship in our school community provides opportunities to:
- Deepen our relationship with God
- Grow in spiritual, moral and liturgical understanding; grow in understanding of our living faith tradition
- Develop a sense of wonder and inspiration in the person of Christ
- Reflect upon our own individual faith journeys and develop the skills of prayer. Collective worship is celebrated in a variety of ways including:
- Whole school worship
- Class worship
- Worship through hymns
- Class mass or liturgy
- Whole school masses during the year, including holy days of obligation during term time.
Prayer and Liturgy: Prayer Resources
Follow the links below for resources to support prayer and liturgy at home:
https://cafod.org.uk/pray/prayer-resources
https://cafod.org.uk/education/children-s-liturgy
https://www.catholicicing.com/
https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/family/catholic-kids/
https://www.teachingcatholickids.com/the-stations-of-the-cross-for-families/
https://www.thecatholickid.com/how-to-pray-the-rosary-for-kids/
https://www.teachingcatholickids.com/lectio-divina-for-kids/
https://www.christiethomaswriter.com/kids-ideas-blog/lectio-divina-for-kids/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Cb5LrAlU7_MPTRDMUBcvQ?view_as=subscriber
Celebrating pentacost
KS Nativity play
Reception Class Nativity Play
Advent Purple Day
On Thursday, all the children and staff wore an item of purple to represent the start of Advent. This is joyful time when we prepare and wait to welcome our Saviour into our lives and hearts.
The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
The Annunciation: Luke 1.26-38
Dear Jesus,
You came to bring us light.
You Came to bring us peace.
You came to bring us hope.
Blessing our Prayer Garden
The grass withers and the flowers fall,but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8
Fr Dominic blessed our new prayer garden. Prayers and scripture were led by our Apostles of Mercy, who then laid prayer stones that they had made in class.
Prayer stones
To celebrate our collective worship and the opening of our St Teresa prayer garden, all pupils were invited to make a prayer stone or prayer heart to use in worship. The stone / heart that they made can be used by anyone in school so the children had to think about the message their stone / heart would convey and what it would mean to the person holding it during reflection.
The prayer stones and hearts are beautiful, they can been seen all over our school, on our classroom prayer tables, RE displays, communal prayer tables and in our prayer garden.
St Blaise - Blessing of the throats
Spirituality Week
We celebrated Fr Dominic's 25 years
Ordination Anniversary at Mass 11th Nov 19
Apostles of Mercy Advent Lunchtime Liturgy
Celebrating families home learning
In Year 3, we have been learning about 'The Annunciation' and how Mary received the news that she was going to be the Mother of God. The children created artwork to show what they understood about 'The Annunciation' and they enjoyed sharing their learning with their classmates.
This term Year 1 and their families worked together to create a piece of art work that represented God’s Great Plan, Adam and Eve or Noah’s Ark. They brought in this wonderful art work for display.
As we were looking at Mary Our Mother, the children brought in a picture of themselves with their mum’s and displayed it on our RE table.
Reception class - Rejoice with Fr Dominic
Our Pupil Parliament led the school in a wonderful Remembrance Reflection last week. They helped us to pray for all those who have lost their lives in conflict, to hope that we learn from the mistakes of conflict and for the world to become a place of peace. The pupil parliament team led this reflection with a great deal of respect, we are really proud of them.
Celebrating the Year of St Joseph
