Prayer and Liturgy

Prayer, worship and liturgical celebration are central to our Catholic tradition and form an integral part of the school day. Prayer is encouraged in a variety of methods; – private individual prayer, group prayer, and whole school prayer.

Each child takes part in a daily act of worship (5-10 minutes) and formal prayers are used to open and close the school day sessions. The children also plan and lead acts of worship within each of their classes. Collective Worship across every class uses the same structure.  We gather, using prayers or actions or music.  Then, we listen to scripture, readings and / or poems.  After that, we respond by doing something or saying a prayer together.  Finally, we go forth by reflecting on the scripture and taking this forward into our work throughout the day. It is wonderful to see the children excited, enthusiastic and deepening their faith through prayer and liturgy. In each class, there is a prayer and liturgy book where pictures, planning templates and powerpoints are kept as a reminder and record of the acts of worship.

We look forward to our Thursday morning liturgies, which are planned and led by each class in turn. These are usually centred around global issues, British and Catholic values. The children always relate these themes to scripture references and they write their own prayers and choose their own songs to celebrate and worship together. It is wonderful for the children to leave us all with a reflection, mission idea or practical response to our celebration, enabling all to deepen faith, learn from the teachings of Christ and become the very best we can be for ourselves and for others.

We also recognise and celebrate children’s achievements, both in and out of school, during our weekly Star Award Celebration.

Amazing things can happen when people come into agreement.

Matthew 18:19 says

“I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

The children and staff will be delighted to pray for you or a loved.

As soon as we receive your request, the children and staff will keep your request in our hearts and minds as we pray throughout the day and week.

On the following link from St Mary's Catholic Academy Chaplaincy, we have weekly worship resources linked to Sunday's Gospel, which parents, staff and children can use - https://www.st-mary.blackpool.sch.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1969&Itemid=1133 

The Mini Vinnies did a great job at speaking in Star of the Week assembly, by starting with their own liturgy in preparation for Lent.

On Friday 5th January, we celebrated the Epiphany by revisiting the story of the Kings visiting Jesus and what this meant. We discussed the Christian tradition of 'Chalking the Door' and writing the year and the letters of the names of kings in chalk, then putting it above the door, at the start of a new year, to bless and welcome people to their home or school. 

In assembly today (15th December), we announced our Mini Vinnies. Mrs Sewell has set up a Mini Vinnies (Liturgy Leaders group) with children who applied from Year 4 and Year 5. Congratulations to Poppy, Maria, Molly, Dominic, Lucas and Jacob on being our first Mini Vinnies. Mini Vinnies is a group set up in schools to support the charity SVP (St. Vincent de Paul). They will be fundraising, leading worship and coming up with ideas of how we can help our local community.

An example of some photographs taken my our parents of their child participating in the posada box activity of providing Mary and Joseph a home on their journey to Bethlehem. The children light the candle, share a prayer and give Mary and Joseph a home for the night.

Some of the young people from Cardinal Allen's school mission team came to led us in liturgy to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. They shared the Gospel, it's meaning, Advent promises and prayers.

Prayer and Liturgy in 2021 - 2022

Easter is the greatest celebration of the Christian faith. On Easter, we celebrate the event that sets Christianity apart from all other religions and cultural traditions of the world. It is the day that our God rose from the dead. And He’s still alive today!

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.

- Matthew 28:5-6

Each class has a Easter Mystery Box. They read the leaflet inside to understand how during Lent we prepare for celebrating Easter. Inside there are special items, which they can use and set out as their own mini worship area. They share the Easter Story (using the book), reflect on what Easter means to you and share in the prayer (on the leaflet).

Today, Shackleton class have continued their worship planning.  Their worship session themes range from hunger, to justice, love, music and peace.  They are so excited to deliver these sessions to their peers in their class and across the rest of the school.

Well done to Jessica who was the first person in Year 4 to plan and deliver her own worship session. She chose her theme of 'Peace and Nature' and chose the Creation Story and focused on forgiveness after the actions of Adam and Eve. The children had to reflect on what they'd ask God to forgive them for and why they want God's forgiveness. Jessica wrote her own prayer and chose someone to read it. 

Here are a selection of photographs taken at home of some of the children who took their class posada box home during Advent. The children provided Mary and Joseph a home for the night, lit a candle and shared an Advent prayer.

Once a week, throughout November, our worship time was dedicated to 'In November, we remember'. We shared the gospel of Mark where Jesus tells us he is preparing a place for us and we said prayers to help us remember the people we have lost and all that they were. We finished with saying the Eternal Rest prayer together which the children have now learnt.

In the Year 4 classroom their is a prayer for the children to use to add a prayer. Each coloured ribbon represents a different themed prayer. STOP - sorry, thanks, others and peace. We also have a multi-coloured ribbon, which the children have the opportunity add, to remember someone who has passed away and pray for them and their life.

Prayer and Liturgy in 2019 - 2020

We have really enjoyed spending our worship time in our KS1 worship area. The children have had the opportunity to lead their own worship by saying their own prayers and engaging within hymns and songs familiar to them. The children are aware why we light our candle during worship. Evelyn said, 'because Jesus is the light of the world and leads us out of darkness and into light'. 

Dzhuliya and Tia led prayer and liturgy with a theme of generosity and hunger. During the session the girls shared 'The Story of The Lonely Widow' which illustrated their chosen theme perfectly.   And linked in the scripture reading of 'The feeding of the 5000'.

After leading worship in their own class, Year six visited Hobby class for worship to tell us the story of 'The poor widow who gave everything'. The children passed around the rosary beads and thought about whom they would give their last possession to. The children then joined in with the ‘Year of the Word’ prayer responses. 

Prayer and Liturgy in 2018 - 2019

When learning about what happened after Jesus' resurrection, we discovered that he turned up in a locked room with his disciples! They were shocked, so Jesus gave them a blessing; he shook their hands and said 'peace be with you'. We had a go at saying it too and shaking our friends' hands. We talked about how we say this at mass and the children now know to expect this at our Corpus Christi mass and the Year 6 leavers' mass. 

During one of Cassatt Class' worship, they listened carefully to a short reading from the Gospel. The reading talked about the commandments and how we can teach people to follow them. They discussed how we could teach someone to follow rules and the children suggested that if they follow the rules then others will too. 

In worship, the children have been reflecting on what makes a good friend, we used role play to act out a story, then discussed how the character could change his ways for the better, like God would like him to.

The children in Reception thoroughly enjoy Worship. We have relaxing, quiet music on, our room in darkness with just our candle light shining through and our worship table in the centre. When the children see this set up, they automatically understand that it is time to think about Jesus, to have a quiet moment and put our hands together. The children are brilliant at making the sign of the cross and always have lots of questions about the world around us, Jesus, God and Mary. We often have a theme for our worships such as Remembrance Day, friendship, love, forgiveness, Red Wednesday, the Year of the Eucharist, Advent or a subject close to the children's hearts.