St Anne's Catholic Primary School

Our Faith

At Saint Anne's we look to Jesus as our guide in praying and learning, as we strive to achieve excellence in all our God given talents. Each one of us is special as we accept and respect one another as children of God.

This is our Mission Statement that encompasses our faith. The spirituality of our school is enriched by daily prayers, our weekly Celebration of the Word as both a whole school and in our individual classes. We also join together as a school family to celebrate Mass throughout each half term of our school year.

The Catholic faith is at the heart of our school. We work very hard to treat everyone in school with care and respect just as Jesus taught us to 'love one another as I have loved you'. Our close link with our Parish is very important to us and our school chaplain is the Parish Priest, Father Robert Murphy.

St. Anne's is a vibrant, multicultural and multi-faith community and care and respect for individual differences is very much at the heart of our ethos.

Jesus is at the heart of our school and as such we welcome and value equally all members of our school community.

Prayer and Liturgy

Our Catholic Faith is central to the day-to-day life of our school and all aspects of the curriculum, and pupils are encouraged to recognise the importance of their faith and they respond to all forms of prayer with respect and reverence.

We have a liturgical life in that the experiences we provide are wide ranging and take place in school, out of school, in Church and in the wider community, and engage and involve pupils, parents, staff, governors and the parish.

The Celebration of the Eucharist and prayer are central in our school.

Our Parish Priest celebrates Mass for us at school, during each half term to mark Holy Days of Obligation, key times in the Liturgical Year, Feast Days and other special times in our school calendar.

Children say prayers at the beginning and end of the morning and afternoon sessions. These are suited to the growing spirituality of the children. You can find our school prayers on the 'Our Prayers' page.

Assemblies

We have a whole school Gospel Assembly each Monday. This enables us to join together as a school family in Celebration of the Word as we begin each new week in prayer and reflection, using Sunday's Gospel as our focus.

We also join together for whole school Assemblies to mark significant events.

Star Assembly takes place on a Friday when we celebrate the achievements of all our children. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the children's behaviour, attitude to learning and their wonderful work in lessons.

A child from each year group also receives a 'Virtues Award' during our Star Assembly which allows us to reflect upon the Values and Virtues that we are focusing upon during the half term and celebrate how these are being lived out within our school community.

The Liturgical Year

We learn about special times in the Liturgical Year through our weekly Celebrations of the Word in our classes, Assemblies, Masses and RE lessons. These Seasons are celebrated and reflected within our classrooms and our school environment.

Ordinary Time ~ September-November 2023

The Season of Creation: September 1st - October 4th

We started our new school year by celebrating the Season of Creation.

We gave thanks for our beautiful world and considered ways that we can be Stewards for God's creation through our actions, both inside and outside of school.

October: The Month of the Holy Rosary

Each year group hosted a special 'Stay and Pray' Service during the month of October. Our families were invited to join us as we prayed a decade of the Rosary and we offered our prayer intentions to Mary, Our Lady, during this month.

November: Month of the Holy Souls

We have reflected upon Remembrance during the month of November and we have offered prayers for all those who have died; especially members of our own families and school and Parish community.

Each child created a Prayer Poppy, featuring the names of those who they would like to remember and pray for during this month.

Advent 2023

We celebrated this very special season of preparation by decorating our school environment, lighting our Advent wreath and writing our own Advent Promises.

We celebrated Mass and we welcomed our families to 'Stay and Pray' sessions and craft workshops.

Our Prayer Bags also reflected this season.

Lent 2024

We are currently on our Lenten journey together in school.

We have prepared our corridors, classrooms and prayer spaces to reflect this Season and we are reflecting upon the themes of Praying, Fasting and Almsgiving.

We have created Lenten Prayer Crosses with our families at home and we are looking forward to hosting Stay and Pray sessions during the weeks ahead.

We have taken part in a 'Wear Purple Day' as part of our Lenten fundraising and each class are also hosting their own fundraising events as we strive to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves at this time.

We have also joined together for special events, including Mass and a Retreat to mark the start of our journey through this Season.

2022-2023 Academic Year

Advent 2022

We recorded our own Advent Promises which were displayed on our Advent Tree in our school entrance and we joined together to celebrate Mass both in school and in our Parish Church of Saint Anne's during this time of preparation.

Lent 2023

We started our Lenten journey together as a school family at the beginning of Spring Term 2 and we celebrated Mass to mark this.

Each class received Prayer Bags, containing items to support prayer and reflection at home during the Season of Lent. We are looking forward to seeing how each child uses these bags at home with their family.

We also took part in a Virtual Lent Retreat, provided by OneLife Music, which provided us with an opportunity to join together in prayer and song as we prepare for the next steps on our Lenten journey.

Prayer during the month of May 2023

We took part in a special Prayer Service to honour Mary during the month of May.

We joined together in prayer by listening to readings, singing hymns and taking part in a meditation. We crowned our statue of Mary and presented beautiful flowers which then formed a special part of our school Prayer Garden.

Special Visits

We enjoy welcoming our Parish Priest, Father Robert, to our school. Father Robert has visited each class to discuss Prayer. He also celebrates Mass with us throughout the school year and supports us as we complete Sacramental preparations.

We had the opportunity to reflect upon Vocations when we welcomed visitors to our school to speak about their own careers and life experiences. We were inspired to reflect upon our own Vocation and what paths we may choose to follow in the future.