On Monday 23rd September CAFOD visited our school. We found out about the new World Gifts they have and each class had a presentation about Catholic Social Teaching principles. Children then had the opportunity to reflect on what they had learnt.
At St. Jude’s we are embracing the Year of Prayer in Preparation for the Jubilee Year ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. We are focusing on traditional prayer throughout the school as well as welcoming Fr. Causey into school each week to lead the Rosary. Join us as we embrace this year of prayer.
We celebrated our Harvest Mass in school and our local community were invited. Our choir led the music and children participated throughout through readings, the offering and by welcoming our visitor from The Edge Community Grocery, who we collected food for. We then found out how our food would help in our local community.
As a whole school we gathered at 11 o’clock in our Spiritual Garden to remember those who have fallen in war. Our Prayer and Liturgy focused on how we can be peacemakers, embracing one of the Catholic Social Teaching principles.
During this festive season, the St. Jude’s School Choir has been spreading Christmas cheer throughout the community. The children were invited to perform at St. Jude’s Social Club during their Wednesday Warm and Cosy event, where they sang a variety of songs they have been preparing for their upcoming concert in March, as well as Christmas carols. They also visited the local retirement home, St. Clements Court, and performed Christmas carols for the residents, who graciously gave the children a selection box as a gift.
During Advent we gather together each week to light the Advent Candle. Each week we went forth thinking about how we can bring hope, love, joy and peace to others during this time of waiting and preparing. Children also celebrated Prayer and Liturgy at our crib.
Continuing on from our Live Simply journey we had our Christmas Message Board again this year. Reminding families of the message from Pope Francis in Laudato Si about looking after our world we asked families to save paper and send in one Christmas message per family instead of sending a class of Christmas cards. These joyful Christmas messages were proudly displayed in our hall and the money donated from families will be used to purchase Christmas World Gifts from CAFOD.
Our families came and shared in the Christmas story with us. Early Years held a Prayer and Liturgy, Key Stage One performed the Nativity and Key Stage Two shared the Christmas Story at Church for the whole community through song and drama with a very special Carol Service.
We celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany with a special Prayer and Liturgy as a whole school. Listening to how the wise men followed the star it reminded us how Jesus is our shining light who leads the way for us. Each class was asked to ‘Go Forth’ and consider how they could be a shining light to other people, just like Jesus was.
We went to church to receive ashes for Ash Wednesday to mark the beginning of Lent. Children read the first reading, the bidding prayers and brought up the gifts. Then at the end of Mass our CAFOD Club shared how we will try to give more during Lent as a school by participating in CAFOD’S Big Lent Walk campaign.
We invited all the special women in our lives into school to celebrate Mother’s Day with a prayer and liturgy led by the children where song, role-play and prayers showed all those mums just how special they are to us. A celebration that brought smiles and tears to everyone!!
This week we celebrated the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul with a whole school prayer and liturgy. Our First Holy Communion children participated and our Early Years children shared the ‘Good News’ of Jesus with everyone!
Ann Angel visited our school and immersed us in the Jewish way of life. Children had the opportunity to taste Jewish food, try on Jewish clothing and learn stories from the Torah Scroll.
Our Year 6 Leavers Mass celebrated the life and works of Oscar Romero and so the children were inspired not to have more, but to be more. Children wrote prayers of thanks for their time at St. Jude’s and we all prayed together to ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to give our leavers the courage to continue to shine bright.
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.
In Reception, we had a visit from one of our parents and siblings. They came into class to talk about their religion. The children learnt about different Hindu traditions and beliefs.
We invited our parents to come and celebrate our learning in R.E. We told them the Parable of the Lost Sheep and shared our thoughts and feelings with them.
As part of our Prayer and Liturgy to celebrate the new Pope, Year 4 decided that they would like to honour him by collecting toiletries for those less fortunate than themselves. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our families. Today we delivered these donations to our local family hub. Well done Year 4.
When our children leave St. Jude’s we hope they are equipped to become caring and thoughtful individuals who can contribute positively to society… we can certainly say that a past pupil of last year, Chelsea, has achieved this. She visited school this week with donations, which Chelsea and her family have done since she became a pupil at St. Jude’s. These donations are given to families who are less fortunate than us. What an act of kindness from Chelsea and her family!
Year 5 wrote letters of hope which were hand delivered by Bobby whilst he was there to see his wonderful doctors at Alder Hey. Such inspirational letters to bring a joy to other children. Well done Year 5!
Today, children from Y4 hand delivered letters of hope, which they had written, to patients at Wigan Hospital. Such an inspirational morning which really did bring hope and a smile to everyone. Well done Y4!
This week we celebrated the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul with a whole school prayer and liturgy. Our First Holy Communion children participated and our Early Years children shared the ‘Good News’ of Jesus with everyone!
Year 1 have been learning about our local church, St. Jude’s. The children set up a role-play of the mass and used their creativity to set up a small world area of the church. How fantastic!
We were delighted to receive professional photographs taken of our children reading the bidding prayers at the Good Shepherd Mass in the Cathedral at the beginning of June. We were so proud of our children and how they represented our school.
Year 4 have been creating broadcasts about ‘Living in a whole new way’. We discussed how the Holy Spirit can change a life and the impact it has on us and our lives today.
They also loved impersonating news readers for the task!
Year 6 have had a great day at Animate Youth Ministry in St. Helens. They took part in lots of different activities to develop teamwork, resilience and perseverance.
Today we visited Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral for the Good Shepherd Mass. We were so proud of the five children who read the bidding prayers. All children represented St. Jude’s in a fantastic way. Then, to our complete surprise, Archbishop Sherrington spotted us taking a photo outside the Cathedral and decided to join us. What an experience for our children!
On Thursday, Year 5 led a prayer and liturgy to celebrate Pentecost. It was attended by their grown ups and the Key Stage 2 classes. They did an excellent job at organising the event: designing invitations, creating a perfect gathering, enacting the Fruits of the Spirit, choosing the song, writing a prayer and encouraging grown ups to choose their own path for spiritual growth in the Holy Spirit.
In class, we have been talking about reconciliation and what steps we can take to bridge friendships that may be a bit broken. The children in Year 4 had some lovely ideas 💕
Reception children have been learning about the coming of the Holy Spirit in RE, we had a Pentecost celebration in class. The children decorated a banner to display in class, they decorated biscuits with red icing and they made paper swirls to blow in the wind.
Year 6 enjoyed creating self-portraits of themselves and also of the people who they feel inspire hope in others.
During Spring 2, in RE, Reception class learned about different traditions that take place during Lent. The children learned about a tradition in Poland, this is where baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to church to be blessed on Holy Saturday. The basket is traditionally lined with a white linen or lace napkin and decorated with sprigs of boxwood (bukszpan), the typical Easter evergreen. As a class we decided to make a class basket to share with the local foodbank. The children donated packets and tins of food to contribute to the Easter basket.
Pope Francis, now we are your Pilgrims of Hope. Our children have been reflecting on the life, witness and legacy of Pope Francis, adding their illustrations and prayers – inspired by the Holy Father’s love, peace and care for creation.
During RE this week, children in Year 4 have been illustrating, in their own way, what the scripture we studied tells us about the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles at Pentecost.
Loving father, we thank you for the life and service of your Shepherd here on earth, Pope Francis.
His humility, kindness and leadership, his call for mercy and his deep love for those who are forgotten and marginalised has been an inspiration to us all.
May his actions continue to inspire us to live humbly, love deeply, respect all people and follow in your footsteps.
Eternal rest grant upon him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We gathered together this afternoon for prayer and liturgy to celebrate Easter.
Year 4 have loved creating their own artwork for ‘The Empty Tomb’. We love the individuality and imagination put into these pieces.
This week Years 3 and 4 performed the Stations of the Cross. The children have worked incredibly hard to remember each of the stations and recall their lines.
The children in Reception made Easter Gardens to further their learning about Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Year 6 have walked around the local area to the canal as part of our Big Lent Walk enjoying the glorious sunshine.
Today we re-created the scene from The Resurrection and thought about how the women felt when the angels appeared and told them the Good News that Jesus had risen!
A fabulous Prayer and Liturgy to celebrate all of the amazing ladies in our lives.
As part of our RE topic, Year 3 was asked to come up with an action to show how they live in God’s image. Year 3 decided to raise money for charity to show this. They discussed different ways they could raise money and decided to make their own Easter hamper and sell raffle tickets. They agreed to donate the money to the Good shepherd.
Year 3 have raised an amazing £231.
Today we recreated the scene of The Last Supper using artwork to inspire us. Then we celebrated Prayer and Liturgy thinking about how God gave Jesus strength and courage to keep spreading the good news, even at difficult times. We prayed to God and asked for courage so we could continue to make the right choice, even if it is a difficult one,
Year 4 loved our Big Lent Walk today. We decided to try and look for the colours of the rainbow in nature, which is one of our Generation Wild badge tasks. We talked about how grateful we are for these special gifts from God. 🌸 🌼
Reception retold the story of The Last Supper together. They then shared some bread and a drink. They passed it around and reenacted the story of Jesus’ meal with his friends.
For our Lent Walk this week, Y1 went on a Spring walk around the school grounds to observe the changes that occur when Spring arrives. We saw blue skies, new bulbs and even some birds nests. We talked to Mr Keen about the changes Spring brings and why he has covered up the vegetables and bulbs that have just been planted.
Year 6 took part in a class prayer and liturgy in our school spiritual garden before going on a walk around the local area to observe signs of spring linked to the creation story.
We had such an incredible day at Martin Mere. We loved learning about the wetlands and following Ava’s clues on the treasure hunt. It was great to learn about the wildlife that call Martin Mere their home.
Y1 and Y2 were lucky enough to get the opportunity to celebrate Prayer and Liturgy at Martin Mere on our school trip. Whilst we were in quiet reflection, thanking God for our wonderful world, a flock of ducks flew over our heads and reminded us of all that God created!
In preschool today we have been making pizza, we used all different toppings to show it is ok for everyone to like different things. ❤️🍕⭐️
Yesterday we all attended Ash Wednesday mass at Church where we received ashes and took time to reflect upon how we can make a new start during Lent to get closer to God.
The children in Reception learnt about Shrove Tuesday. They then had the opportunity to choose and add toppings to their pancakes.
At St. Jude’s we have officially launched the Jubilee Year of Hope. During this Jubilee Year Pope Francis has called us all to bring hope to those most vulnerable in society. At St. Jude’s we are excited to take on this challenge and give back to our local and global community.
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.
We have listened to the story of the ‘parable of the Sower’ the children retold the story as a group through art.
They each chose a part of the story and drew a picture to represent it. We then talked about the message of the story and how it teaches us to trust, believe and follow God.
We celebrated Candlemas with a special Prayer and Liturgy. We invited our families in to celebrate with us and everyone was asked to think about how they can shine their light on others.
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.’
Memories to look back on. Our Key Stage 1 children worked so hard. We were so proud of them all.
Some pupils from Y6 took an active role in our class prayer and liturgy on the baptism of Jesus.
Year 1 have been learning about Candlemas when candles are brought to the church to be blessed. We lit a candle for everyone in Y1 today and thought about how God’s loves all of us.
Year 1 looked at how Christmas is celebrated in Poland. We made crafts and sold them to our families. To entice parents to our stalls we re-enacted the Christmas story. We raised £28 and bought Christmas World Gifts from CAFOD to bring love, joy, hope and peace to our global family this Christmas.
This week Y1 learnt about the angels visiting the shepherds on the hillside. We then made a host of angels to celebrate the words from The Gloria.
At the end of our topic ‘Belonging’ in RE – we have looked at the concepts of fidelity, commitment and responsibility with a focus on service to God and Christianity. As a celebration, we have made ‘Commitment Cards’ to take home and show our love for others by promising to serve them in our own chosen way.
The children worked together to plan their own prayer and liturgy. They chose how they wanted everyone to gather and wrote their own response prayer.
Today, at 11 o’clock, we all gathered outside in our Spiritual Garden to observe a 2 minutes silence to remember all those who have fought for peace.
The children have been exploring the Bible. They have been finding out where different scripture are located for example, The creation story, is in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament.
In our RE topic this week we have been looking and learning all about how God loves everyone and how Mary loved Jesus. To celebrate this we made a collage heart to hang in our RE area. ❤️🙏
Today Y1 heard the story of the Annunciation. Children enjoyed hearing the story from the Bible, the Golden Box and then retelling it themselves.
Today Canon McNally led our Harvest Mass in thanksgiving for all that we have. We also welcomed a visitor from the Community Grocery to explain how our food donations would help those in need in our local community.
On Monday 23rd CAFOD visited our school to tell us all about how their World Gifts scheme has developed and how Catholic Social Teaching principles remind us how to live together, supporting everyone.
This week Year 3 celebrated Prayer and Liturgy in our Spiritual Garden. We listened to the creation story and discussed our duties as Christian stewards in protecting our special world.
Our Prayer and Liturgy this week reminded us that God will provide us with everything we need so we don’t need to worry. If we do have worries, like the bubbles, they will eventually disappear.
This week Year 1 celebrated Prayer and Liturgy in our Spiritual Garden. We listened to the sounds in the world around us and thanked God for all that he created for us.
Today we gathered together to welcome all staff and children back for our new school year. Mr Wilson led Prayer and Liturgy giving everyone the opportunity to reflect on what they are excited about for the year ahead!
