Worship

Liturgical Prayer

The practice of the Roman Catholic faith is fundamental to the life of the school. This guides and directs all our activities in relation to worship and assembly, the content of RE lessons, spiritual and moral development. It is at the heart of everything we do and our anchor.

Intent

We believe that Liturgical Prayer (or Collective Worship) in our school aims to provide opportunity for all pupils and staff:

To contemplate something of the mystery of God
To reflect on spiritual and moral issues
To explore their own beliefs
To respond to and celebrate life
To experience a sense of belonging and develop community spirit
To develop a common ethos and shared values
To enrich religious experience
To grow in liturgical understanding and development
To reinforce prayers which are part of the Catholic tradition
To reinforce positive attitudes
To participate fully
To take time out ‘to wonder at’, ‘to come to terms with’ and ‘to give worth to.’

Please see our Prayer and Liturgy policy for further details (on the school policies page)

Implementation

Programme of Liturgical Prayer in school:

Monday - Whole school collective worship

Tuesday - Key stage/ class worship - based upon our 'virtues'

Wednesday - Key stage/ class worship - based upon our 'virtues'

Thursday - 'Sing and Praise'

Friday - Class led assembly on rotation, including prayer.

Daily morning, before/after lunch, end of the day prayers.

During Advent and Lent, additional opportunities for prayer and worship are provided and we pray the Rosary during the months of October and May (see below). During these special times of the Church's year, children have the opportunity to take home 'prayer bags' with items in that help to tell the story of the season and give them the chance to pray at home with their parents.

The children are also given the opportunity for confession with our priest, when appropriate.

Our School Prayer

(Written by the pupils)

Mass

The children regularly take part in Mass both in school and within the parish. The parish and parents are warmly invited to all acts of worship and these will be advertised on the school's newsletter and within the parish newsletter. Liturgies also feature throughout the year, such as Remembrance, Ash Wednesday etc. These are often planned and led by the Faith Leaders.

Faith Leaders

Our Faith Leaders also help to set up and lead acts of worship throughout the year and are a great help to staff and a fantastic example to the other children. There is more information about their role and activities in the pupils' section.

Faith Leaders

Advent

During Advent, the children could take home a prayer bag full of things they could use to help them focus their thoughts and prayers at this special time. It included ideas for children and parents and the opportunity to record their thoughts if the children wanted to.

Our Lady: Mary

During the month of October, the faith leaders will be leading the Rosary before school at 8:45am on Wednesdays and Fridays, all are welcome to attend, just meet in the prayer room. The rosary will also be prayed in class based worship too.

Travelling Rosary:

Each class has a 'Travelling Rosary' bag. This has a set of rosary beads and prayer cards and each child in the class can have a turn to take it home and pray with their family if they wish. Full instructions are inside.

May Procession

Each year we process into the hall for Mass, to celebrate our Lady. The children bring flowers to honour her, she is crowned and we celebrate Mass. After Mass, we distribute the flowers amongst our elderly friends at Abbeyfield and Wingfield.