Through this page, we aim to share with you and celebrate many of the elements which make our Catholic school so special and show how families, the Parish and the school work together in supporting the development of our children's faith and Religious Education.

Today we prayed the Rosary in our Prayer Garden 🙏

Thank you to all of the children, parents and staff who joined us for our Lenten Reflection this week

 🙏

In our school, we learn about Care for Creation.  This week we have looked at the teaching of Pope Francis and His Laudato Is

DIOCESAN INSPECTION OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (October 2021):

In October 2021, the school's provision of Catholic Education and the Catholic Life of the school was inspected by the Diocese.  Since the date of the last inspection back in 2017, the school has worked incredibly hard to improve both the standards of teaching and learning in RE but also to place our Catholic identity firmly at the heart of everything that we do.  We are delighted to announce that the Diocesan inspectors agreed with our judgements that Classroom Religious Education is GOOD and the Catholic life of the school is now OUTSTANDING.

To read the report, please click on the link below.

LENTEN AND ADVENT REFLECTIONS:

Throughout the Seasons of Lent and Advent, the Headteacher leads a series of daily reflections each morning for the school community to join in with. These reflections provide the staff, children and parents with a wonderful opportunity of coming together as we try to deepen our relationship with God throughout these important seasons of preparation. The reflections start each day at 8.40am and finish by 8.55am. Parents are welcome to join their children in the hall for these special sessions. We also run a lunchtime prayer group throughout Lent and Advent, in which the children can come to voluntarily dedicate prayers to God, our Father, at the start of their lunch break in our prayer station.

KS2 children enjoyed their assembly by Andrew Hollingsworth from 'The Passage' who highlighted the challenges that the homeless community face - great ideas for fundraising later in the term!

Fr. Norbert leading our EYFS in song in our reflection today. Thank you Fr. Norbert and children (and staff) for singing such beautiful words.

Fr. Norbert came into work with our Year 1 class today. He led a reflection all about Jesus welcoming the children which made us all feel very welcome in Year 1.

Fr. Norbert came into work with our Year 2 class today. He led a reflection all about Jesus welcoming the children - which we all really enjoyed. 

Fr. Norbert led a beautiful reflection with Year 3 today - focusing on Our Lady and our Mission Statement 

Fr. Norbert led a beautiful reflection with Year 5 today - focusing on Our Lady and our Mission Statement.

Fr. Norbert led a beautiful reflection with Year 6 today - focusing on Our Lady and our Mission Statement 

Our Year 5 and 6 bubble were beautifully reflective and prayerful in this afternoon's Lunchtime Rosary Club 🙏

Today is the Feast of the Ascension, where we remember when Jesus ascended into heaven. We celebrated this special day of obligation by joining Fr. Tony for an online mass this morning. We remember today that, even though Jesus ascended into heaven, he is always with us 🙏

MINI VINNIES AT OUR LADY:

Our newly appointed Mini Vinnies meet regularly each term to help to further develop the positive impact that they have made on the Catholic life of the school.

Our Mini Vinnies, who are represented by selected pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6, were officially elected in September 2021. They were presented with their own 'treasured' Prayer, Pledge and Badge in our initiation ceremony.

Our Mini Vinnies for 2021-22 are Millie, Liam, Lukas, Amaya, Jadon, Olivia, James, Arianna, Amelie, Aiden, Goda, Grace and Jonathan.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul has been engaging with young people and education for many years, which can be highlighted through the development of the 'Mini Vinnie' programme. Mini Vinnies are seen as having, "the potential to significantly contribute to the future of our Society." This aim also fits in perfectly with the key principles of Catholic Social Teaching which we are teaching at Our Lady Catholic Primary School.

MAY AND OCTOBER REFLECTIONS:

Throughout the month of May and October, we begin each day with a reflection on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary followed by prayers dedicated to Mary, our Mother. We also run a lunchtime Rosary club for the children to take part in.

Please click on the link below to watch our reflection on the 1st Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation:

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

Please click on the link below to watch our reflection on the 2nd Joyful Mystery: The Visitation:

https://youtu.be/wrqJ2lw1nhQ

Please click on the link below to watch our reflection on the 3rd Joyful Mystery: The Nativity

https://youtu.be/ly90j9Bh_vg

Please click on the link below to watch our reflection on the 1st Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony of Jesus in the Garden.

https://youtu.be/zlVU1WuXp6g

Please click on the link below to watch our reflection on the 2nd Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging at the Pillar

https://youtu.be/GqKHk6_TGjk

Please click on the link below to watch our reflection on the 3rd Sorrowful Mystery: The Crowning with Thorms

https://youtu.be/q3a584_hiX8

WORSHIP AT OUR LADY:

We are lucky enough to be situated very closely to Our Lady, Queen of Apostles Church and the parish priest, Fr. Norbert and Assistant Priest, Fr. Tony Thomas regularly visit our school. We also come together as a community in school and in the Church for Mass and through the Stations of the Cross.

We mark special liturgical celebrations in the Church's calendar such as Holy Week, Easter, Advent and Christmas.

After the children receive their First Holy Communion, we hold a celebratory mass at school.

MARIAN DEVOTIONS THROUGHOUT MAY AND OCTOBER:

During May and October, we focus our prayers and devotions on the Blessed Virgin Mary. We mark this in a number of ways.

Reflection on the Mysteries in the school hall each morning:

We begin each day in the school hall with a reflection of one of the Mysteries of the Rosary. The Mysteries of the Rosary are designed to help focus our prayers on the life, ministry, and Passion of Our Lord. We would like to invite parents, carers and other members of the school community to join the staff and children each morning in the hall at 8.40am.

Lunchtime Rosary Prayer Group:

During lunchtime, staff will lead the children in praying a decade of the rosary. Children will have the opportunity of attending these prayer sessions each day and reflecting further on each Mystery. We are also encouraging children to bring in a set of rosary beads to assist in their prayer.

Crowning of Mary:

During May, we will also celebrate the Crowning of Mary in our school grounds. 

We encourage all parents and carers to share in these Marian devotions with the school and at home, for example, by saying a decade of the rosary together as a family.

ASSEMBLIES:

Every Monday afternoon, Mr. Curry and Mr Abrahams lead the whole school assembly, which is based on the Gospel reading for that week. Friday morning is a special time for celebrating children's achievements in our awards assembly.

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING:

We have continued to embed the key principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) into the ethos of our school. CST is based on the belief that God has a plan for creation, a plan to build his kingdom of peace, love and justice. It holds that God has a special place in this story for each of us, whoever we are. Our part in this plan is not just limited to things ‘spiritual’, or things we might do on Sundays, but that it involves every aspect of our lives, from the things we pray about, to how we live as responsible global citizens.

As part of our Catholic Social Teaching, we believe it is important to support people in need throughout the world. In the last year, we have raised money for CAFOD, Red Nose Day and Save the Children (to name but a few).

COMMUNITY LINKS:

Our local community is also important to us. Each Christmas, our choir sings in the local residential home and delivers mince pies.

RE NEWSLETTERS 2022/23:

Please click on the links below to read each class' RE Newsletter for the Spring term 2023.

PRAYER BOOK 2021/22:

To help the children develop a knowledge of a range of prayers, we have created a school prayer book for our families to use. We encourage parents and carers to share these prayers with their children and pray together as a family. A copy of the prayer book can be found here:

Fr Norbert held a range of services, including Mass to explain the presentation of Our Lord to the children.

The children will receive Bibles next week as a gift from the charity "Bibles for Children", which will be kept in school.

A huge thank you to Fr Norbert, the staff, pupils and parents for making Education Sunday Mass a huge success.