Our CAFOD Club is a place for children to put their faith into action and support the Catholic Life of our school. We meet each week, and through games and projects, children learn about the wider world and take part in activities to reach people who urgently need help and support. We also focus on our local community and support those in need too.
Our CAFOD Club aims:
PRAY to God to give us determination and courage to help others.
GIVE to those who are less fortunate.
ACT like Jesus taught us.
To begin the school year, our CAFOD Club spent time reflecting on our Mission Statement and how we will ‘Learn, love and grow with Jesus’ this year. We then brought this into each class so all children had the opportunity to share their ideas and staff spent time together reflecting upon this also.
Today we went on a walk around our school looking at our CST principle displays and discussing how CAFOD fulfil these principles through their charitable work.
Our CAFOD Club worked hard designing a new area in our Spiritual Garden using pebbles where children can create religious symbols using pebbles and decorate them to represent different times in the Liturgical calendar. We are excited for everyone to visit this new prayer space we have created!
Today in CAFOD Club we reflected on the Gospel Value and Catholic Social Teaching principle of Peace and linked this to Remembrance. We thought of ways in which we can live these out in our lives.
CAFOD Club visited each class to share our Christmas message board – this is an action that CAFOD Club wish to continue following our Live Simply award as it encourages us to live sustainably and any money raised will go towards CAFOD World Christmas Gifts.
Our CAFOD Club have created a ‘Prayer Club’ which will take place every Friday at 1pm in our school library or our Spiritual Garden. Our prayer club is about speaking your mind and participating in all activities. After all, one of the main CST (Catholic Social Teaching) principles is ‘Call to Family, Community and Participation’. Our school’s prayer club is a very friendly place to be in, where we pray, love and there is always a spot open. We are always ready to welcome you! Our prayer club helps us follow our school motto by reminding us to follow Jesus’ footsteps and how He would want us to act. We learn, love and grow in the footsteps of Jesus. Watch this space to find out what we get up to!
Leading KS2 Prayer and Liturgy and sharing how CAFOD helps our global community.
We chose World Gifts using the money raised from our Christmas Message Board. This is what we chose and the reasons why.
Planning and leading Prayer and Liturgy to celebrate the renewal of the objectives of our Mission Statement.
Choosing the winners of our Catholic Social Teaching logo competition with the help of our Chair of Governors.
At CAFOD Club we decided what we would like to put on our focus table throughout Lent and which words and symbols reflect what we are doing to get closer to God this Lent.
Our CAFOD Club set up the May Altar so everyone has a space to pray to Our Lady and ask her to watch over us this Jubilee Year.
CAFOD Club led our prayer and liturgy for our Jubilee Pledges.
Throughout the Jubilee Year we have undertaken an action each month to bring hope to others. CAFOD Club decided to create prayer packs to send home during the summer holidays to each family so families can explore hope in the world around us.
Today prayer club took place in our Spiritual Garden where we spent time under the warmth of the winter sun and reflected in sacred silence, offering up our own individual intentions. Children said that they enjoyed taking time out of their very busy lunchtime to stop, reflect and be still.
Following the success of our Christmas Message Board where families donated money and wrote their Christmas message instead of sending individual cards, CAFOD Club chose World Gifts. During one of their sessions, CAFOD Club shared the reasons for choosing each of these gifts. This is what they chose to help those in our global family who are less fortunate than us.
Today, CAFOD Club spent time in meditation reflecting on how they can follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
CAFOD Club had a wonderful last session before the Christmas break reflecting on how they have prepared for Christmas by thinking about how they can continue to bring love, peace, hope and joy into the lives of others. They were then presented with a Christmas Blessing from Mrs Jackson.
We celebrated the Jubilee Year by holding a very special Celebration of the Word which was led by our CAFOD Club. We reflected on the journey which St. Jude’s has taken this Jubilee Year and how we can carry these actions forward to continue to bring hope to others. CAFOD Club shared their Jubilee journal to inspire others to create their own. We can’t wait to see what they come up with.
Today in CAFOD Club the children wrote prayers based on the Gospel Values. These will be displayed on our Gospel Values prayer wall. We sat in silent reflection before we read our prayers which inspired us all to live in the footsteps of Jesus.
Today CAFOD Club spent time designing an area of our Spiritual Garden. We want to create an area where everyone can pray and spend time thinking of others, perhaps even decorating pebbles for different intentions. The winning design will be chosen and created so watch this space. Mr Wilson even joined us for this session.
CAFOD Club had a very successful first meeting today and enjoyed thinking about our Mission Statement, ‘Together, we learn, love and grow with Jesus,’ and how they will live it out this year.
Again this year the children planted vegetables in our vegetable garden and they were able to harvest them yesterday. All vegetables were sold for a donation and the proceeds will go to a charity chosen by our CAFOD Club. At St. Jude’s we strive to continue our Live Simply journey.
Today CAFOD Club visited Year 1 and told them all about how they continue Jesus’ mission and help those most in need by donating to CAFOD World Gifts. They shared their reasons for what they had bought and inspired Year 1 to follow in their footsteps.
Last week we celebrated the renewal of our Mission Statement by inviting all of the St. Jude’s community to a very special Prayer and Liturgy led by our CAFOD Club. A very joyous occasion for St. Jude’s and one that we will all remember. ‘Together, we will learn, love and grow with Jesus.’
