This week, Father Andrew Bowden celebrated year 5 St Josephine Bakhita’s class mass at church. Year 5 planned the mass in class with Miss Walsh and led the readings and prayer in church. Thank you to all the parents who came along to join in our special mass.
Our intercessions: (Daizy) For all our mums and dads, we know life is hard, May God be with you and look after our world Lord in your mercy, Hear our Prayer
(Tammy) For the poor, help them by giving them food and water to survive. Lord in your mercy, Hear our Prayer
(Kaitlyn) For the downhearted, please help feel better so they can continue to live a happy and well life.
Lord in your mercy, Hear our Prayer
(Leah) For the homeless, may they have a home, food and money. Lord in your mercy, Hear our Prayer
(Noah) For the sick, Help them get better so that they may not stay sick. Lord in your mercy, Hear our Prayer
(Jesse) We ask Mary our mother to listen to our prayers and to join her prayers to ours: Hail Mary…
To celebrate Diwali, we did a range of projects across the school.
As part of interfaith week, we were lucky enough to have Mr. Silver in to speak to us all about Judaism.
Mr. Silver explained to us that Jewish people also believe in one God (monotheism). Much like we, as Catholics, have the Bible as our holy book, Jewish people have the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). He explained to us how Jews worship in Synagogues, and that the most important day of the week is the Shabbat (the Sabbath).
The festival of Hannukah reminds Jews of a time over 2500 years ago when Antiochus, a Syrian king, tried to make the Jewish people worship Greek gods. A statue of Antiochus was erected in the Jewish temple and the Jews were ordered to bow down before him. The Ten Commandments forbid Jews to worship statues or idols and so they refused.
A small group of Jews called Maccabees rebelled, and after a three-year war they recaptured Jerusalem. But the temple was all but destroyed.
The Jews had to clean and repair the Temple, and when they were finished they rededicated it to God. They did this by lighting the lamp (Menorah) – which was a symbol of God’s presence. Only one small jar of oil was found, enough to light the 8 candles on the Menorah for one day, but miraculously the lamp stayed alight for eight days.
Today, Evie in Year 5 came to show me her letter that she had written to Rishi Sunak at home as a result of learning about our Catholic Social Teaching theme Preferential Option for the poor. She feels like the government needs to put more resources in place to look after the most vulnerable in our community. She is hoping to get a reply soon and hear of any action being taken. Watch this space for an update!
This week for Catholic Social Teaching, we carried out our Catholic Social Teaching initiatives to The Option for the Poor.
‘Looking at his disciples, he said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.’’ Luke 6:20-21
In Key Stage 1
During this week key stage 1 really enjoyed putting together their poster to signify the end/ time to review what we had gone through during the last three weeks. We took the time to recap the options for the poor and they showed a greater depth of understanding for the preferential options, scriptures that show us how we must give to the vulnerable, many of them mentioning the story of the widow who gave all she had. They were also able to demonstrate an understanding of different options, by creating their posters.
In Lower Key Stage 2
This week the lower key stage looked at a practical option for the poor, they had to think of a fundraiser to raise money that can be used for the betterment of those who are vulnerable and in need. After recapping the last few lessons where they were able to explain what it meant to give the best of what they had to those in need.They then came up with fundraiser ideas, such as an OLSJ Fun fair, Arcade, ice cream stand and trivial round night to help raise money for those that need help and are vulnerable in the community.
In Upper Key Stage 2
Upper Key Stage 2 had the task of putting together a letter to write to the local MP or Rishi Sunak, putting forward different options and plans that can be administered to help those who are vulnerable. They were able to give impressive ideas such as freezing inflation, to make it easier for the vulnerable to buy what they need, without struggling. Building more homeless shelters, having a vulnerable person’s dinner night, where people can come and get a free dinner, which is especially important around this Christmas season. Also, something that was quite thoughtful was a free Barbour and shower hub, so the homeless can feel clean and well kept, building self-esteem.
Thank you to Sister Chris and Mr Sands for organising Interfaith Night for staff and members of our community, with Emdad (from the Muslim community), Fr Andrew (from the Christian community) and Leonard Silver (from the Jewish community). All spoke about prayer and what it means to them and their faith. Each speaker made similarities to each other’s faiths where Abraham is our founding father and how all of our faith’s show the importance of treating our brothers and sisters with respect and honest and open communication.
This week in First Holy Communion Club, we learned about different forms of prayer, such as Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. We also learned a new prayer, Act of Contrition which we will need to know for our Sacrament of Reconciliation, a prayer we can regularly pray to God to say sorry.
We also learned how to write our own personal intercessional prayer, where we used each finger to represent our prayer with God.
Me and my family; sick, hungry and refugees; world leaders, homeless, my teachers and friends.
We also learned how to pray Labyrinth prayers to have our own personal conversation with God.
This week for Catholic Social Teaching, we recapped our Catholic Social Teaching principle The Option for the Poor. In each class, we brainstormed initiatives on how we can respond to local, national and international issues we face in our modern world linked to this theme by showing kindness and compassion to others and putting the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.
As Christians, we believe that those in need deserve the best. This is because of everyone’s inherent dignity. It is important that we advocate for those in need by listening to what they have to say and speaking up for them.
‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.’ Proverbs 31:8-9
This week Key Stage One continued exploring The Option for the Poor and developed some ideas in order to help those in need. They have really worked hard on remembering the Scriptures from the week before and showed a greater understanding of the meaning behind the scriptures. They explained that Luke 6:20-21 meant that regardless of your situation, you are blessed because there is a God who loves you and in the end, if you believe in him yours is the kingdom of Heaven.
Lower Key Stage 2 decided in their lesson that they would be determined to make more of a conscious decision to check in on the poor and vulnerable. They also spoke about the importance of standing up for the poor and vulnerable by asking them if they need help if they were ever being mistreated. Year 4 took time to think about how it may affect them and how that could encourage them to help and remember how difficult it may be for others. They really showed a sincere heart to want change for those who are vulnerable.
We received some brilliant thoughtful ideas from Upper Key Stage 2 during their lessons. They spoke about not looking at those in need or the poor and vulnerable with a different lens that they would look at others with. Explaining that people mustn’t judge a book by its cover and that by treating those who are vulnerable in society with kindness, we allow others to trust our heart and can bring about/grow a greater community for all.
This week our Chaplaincy Team handed out the new prayer books to each class. Please see below the Prayer Progression Map for our school and an electronic copy of your child’s prayer book to help them learn them at home and pray together as a family.
This week across the school, we have introduced this half term’s Catholic Social Teaching theme The Option for the Poor. We believe that all resources on earth should be shared with everyone equally. We show kindness and compassion to others and put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.
“In teaching us charity, the Gospel instructs us in the preferential respect due to the poor and the special situation they have in society.” – St Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action), 1971, #23
The Church teaches that people are more important than assets, and employment is more important than capital. The economy, including the market, should serve the people and not the contrary. It should be oriented towards a fair distribution of resources, and not exploit the poorest. Caring for those who are less well off is everyone’s responsibility. Preferential care should be shown to vulnerable and marginalised people, whose needs and rights are given special attention in God’s eyes.
In Key Stage 1, this week the children looked at the scripture in the gospel of Luke that explains the heart of the widow woman who did not have much, no more than 2 coins to put in the temple money basket but still gave what she gave, even though it was all she had. This gave the children a lot to think about. They began to understand that money given, with a hard heart, is not a true sacrifice. They also spoke about the poor being blessed and the true blessing being the love of God.
In Lower Key Stage 2, this week, we have looked at scriptures such as 1 John 3:17- 18 where children discussed that they must continue to give to those that are in need. The scriptures inspired them to think how they are living out God’s scripture in their lives and how they are to give to others, not with a little but with all they have.
In Key Stage 2, we have looked over scriptures that have proven to evoke deep emotions. Some children have felt that they may not have done all they can for those they have come across that are in need. They were then able to link the scriptures to our school’s Gospel Values that they live by and how they can apply these to their daily life, helping all in need.
Today for The Feast of All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation, we all went to church for mass. Year 5 planned and led the mass which was celebrated by Father Andrew. It was lovely to join other parishioners in our community for such a special mass.
Caterina, one of our past students and Chaplaincy Team member modelled and supported our altar servers during the mass.
Father Andrew’s homily was very inspiring and he spoke about Saints and what a Saint is. He said that there may be Saints in this church today but haven’t gone to heaven yet. He taught us that a saint says sorry to God and puts trust in his power. God wants you to be a saint by trusting in God’s mercy, forgiveness and his love. You don’t need to do everything on your own, you can ask for help just like in the Gospel it says: ‘ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.’
