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Our Lady And All Saints MAC

Snippets of Faith

Catholic Life, Collective Worship & Religious Education

 

Nursery's workshop was followed by the ‘ABC Nativity’ performance. All of the children were just delightful. They were superstars, putting so much effort, enthusiasm and joy into retelling the Nativity story through songs and actions. A big well done to all of the Nursery children.  We look forward to our last group of families joining us on MondayThe workshop was followed by the ‘ABC Nativity’ performance. All of the children were just delightful. They were superstars, putting so much effort, enthusiasm and joy into retelling the Nativity story through songs and actions. A big well done to all of the Nursery children. 

 

Reception were excited to begin their Advent unit of work and loved learning the song “Awake, Awake” in prepartion for the birthday of Jesus. We looked at the first candle on the Advent wreath and talked about all of the things that we were hopeful for. We also created our own Advent wreaths using dough and loose parts.

 

In Year One, they have learnt that Advent is a time when we remember God’s promise of a Saviour on Earth and prepare for the arrival of Jesus. We know that God kept His promise because Jesus was born on Christmas Day. We want to make a promise to Jesus this Advent and keep it just like God did. We used our Catholic Social Teachings to inspire our choices and then wrote a birthday card to Jesus telling Him that our gift to Him this year is our Advent commitment. Some of our commitments included: “I will donate my old toys to charity which links to ‘Option for the Poor and Vulnerable’ because I want to help those in need like Jesus did.”, and “I will help my family and friends even when they don’t ask for it which links to ‘Family and Community’ because we are all brothers and sisters of God’s family.” Our Advent commitments are all little promises that will make big differences in our community. 

 

Year 2 have commenced with their Advent celebrations. We are opening our Advent calendars and counting down the days to Christmas. In RE, we have made special promises to Jesus of how we can be better Catholics during this special time to prepare for his coming again. We have also learnt about the Advent wreath and what it’s symbols mean.

 

Awake Awake, it is the season of Advent! To prepare for the coming of Christ, Year 3 have started Advent unit of work by writing our Advent commitments, thinking about how can we commit to being a follower of Christ this Advent season? On Friday, we gathered together with our families to mark the first week of Advent with our special Advent assembly! We inspired everyone to go forth and spread hope, peace, joy and love during the special season of hopeful anticipation and exciting celebration!

 

Year 4 have been thinking all about the theme of ‘Hope’ – we have been discussing our hopes for 2024 and what we hope the world will look like in the future. The children have also been writing some beautiful Advent commitments reflecting on how they will prepare during this special time.

 

This week in RE, Year 5 are thinking about how we can prepare for the coming of the Messiah. We talked about the different words we might have for Him. We looked at how the bible passages speak about Jesus’ coming and what we can infer about Jesus as a person from the passages. The quotations taught us that Jesus is thought of in many different ways, but all talk about Jesus as a powerful and special person. As we move forwards into Advent, we think about how we can prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

 

Year 6 have had the opportunity to listen to the words of Deacon Stewart linked to the season of Advent.

 

Deacon Stewart answered the Questions:

Which Sacraments can we receive to bring us peace during this special season?

How can we share Christ’s peace with others during Advent?

 

Through his words, Deacon Stewart emphasised how we receive God’s grace through the sacraments and explained that through the sacraments of reconciliation and Confirmation, we find peace and we can then live out that peace with others through our words and actions.  

 

 

In our RE unit ‘God Our Father Cares for Us’ the Nursery children have been learning about the importance of saying sorry when we make the wrong choices. We said sorry prayers to God for the times that we have hurt those who love and care for us.

 

 

Reception are exploring Jesus’ life as a boy. We listened to the story “The Finding in the Temple” and discussed how Jesus visited the temple to listen to the teachers . We explored the different feelings of the Holy family in this story.

 

Year 1 had the pleasure of welcoming Deacon Stuart into Year 1. He joined us to speak with the children about our current RE topic—Prayer. Through his visit, the children deepened their understanding of the various types of prayer, learning about the ACTS acronym: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. We also explored items in the church, such as the Stations of the Cross, that can aid us in prayer. Together, we reflected on the significance of prayer and how communicating with God can strengthen our faith. To finish, we prayed the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be as a year group.

 

The Year 2 children have been learning about the Bible story ‘The Flight into Egypt’ when Mary and Jesus had to flee from Bethlehem to Egypt, after Joseph received a message from God in a dream. The children reflected on the story and how Mary and Joseph may have felt when they arrived in Egypt. They also thought sadly of the thousands of people in the world today who share the experience of Mary and Joseph and have been driven away from their home because of war and violence. Together as a class we discussed that Mary and Joseph were refugees. We then thought about how we can build our kingdom and make a difference to the lives of refugees locally and nationally in our world.

Some examples were:

  • Give them food.
  • Donate old clothes and toys for children.
  • Offer them a place to stay.
  • Welcome them with love and kindness.

 

 

Year 3 had a wonderful opportunity to visit St Anne’s Church this week. We invited Deacon Stuart to join us as We revisited the order of the Sacrament and considered how we would feel on that day when we examine our conscience before making the Sacrament for the first time. We even looked inside the Confessional where we will be making the sacrament. Afterwards, we joined in prayer saying the Act of Contrition, Our Father and Hail Mary. It was a holy time of reflection.

 

 

On Friday, the Year 4 children led a beautiful Prayer and Liturgy with the focus being Advent. The children were reflecting upon the first week of Advent and in particular the first candle: Hope. The children spoke about how we can prepare for the Season of Advent and asked God to support and guide us on this important spiritual journey.

 

 

In Religious Education Year 5 have started their unit of Advent. Our first lesson of Advent is making our Advent Commitment. To retrieve our knowledge of Advent, we played a game of noughts and crosses with questions all about Advent! We enjoyed being competitive and retrieving all of our knowledge. For our commitment, we thought about all of the things we can do to nourish our faith, Build the Kingdom of God, and give love and support to those around us. The children had some beautiful ideas and are looking forward to deepening our faith by learning more about how we can ‘Stay Awake’!

 

Huge congratulations to the children in Year 6 who were confirmed this week with Bishop David Evans. On Monday, we were joined by Bishop David Evans ahead of the Confirmation Masses. It was an opportunity to meet with the Confirmands to talk about the importance of this special sacrament and how they are committing themselves to be full members of the Catholic Church.

 

 

The children impressed Bishop Evans with their extensive knowledge during a meeting on Monday afternoon; talking eloquently and confidently about the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. The Bishop complimented the children and staff on the level of preparation and commitment to the Confirmation programme. This shone through beautifully in the celebration Mass in the reading, singing and participation throughout. Well done children, we are really proud of you all. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our RE unit ‘God Our Father Cares for Us’ the Nursery children have been learning about St. Anne’s Church. They know that it is a special place for people to go and pray. They know that Father Christi and Deacon Stuart do a special job for God.

 

In RE, Reception listened to the story of Jesus’ very first miracle “The Wedding Feast at Cana”. We enjoyed role playing the story and we re-enacted the special moment when Jesus turned water into wine. We spoke about how special Jesus is and we know this was the first of many miracles that Jesus performed.

 

As theologians in Year One, we have celebrated Red Wednesday with the rest of our school family. This is an important day where we learn about Christians from other parts of the world who are persecuted and treated unfairly just because they believe in Jesus Christ. As young activists, we want to use our Catholic Social Teachings to make a difference to the world that God created for us. Through our mission statement, we know that we are all created by God’s love, so we understand that we are all brothers and sisters in God’s family. Therefore, we want to unite in solidarity with our global family and share the importance of being compassionate and loving to all. We shared how we can treat others fairly and with respect, especially if they are different to us, and how we can live our lives with Christ in our hearts through everything we do, just like Saint Maximilian Kobe. Our prayer leaders had the special role of decorating their class focal point with red material as a symbol for us to remember those in our prayers who are at risk because of their faith.

 

Year 2 children enjoyed having a special visit from Deacon Stuart. In his session with the children he focused his teaching on the Rosary. The children asked him many questions linked to the Rosary prayer. The children gained a clear understanding of the main features of the Rosary, what events in Jesus’ life we think about when we say this prayer and, also how this prayer can help us think about events in our own lives. The children learnt that we can prayer the Rosary at any time in our lives and we can say it as many times as we want. To end the session Deacon Stuart used his Rosary Beads to say part of Rosary prayer together.

 

This year our Year 3 prayer leaders decided to plan their Prayer and Liturgy all about forgiveness. They started by gathering together reverently, lighting the focal point light and listening to prayerful music. We then said our Morning Offering and listened to the children saying the Act of Contrition. To respond to this the children carried out an activity where they passed around a stone, considering what it would be like to carry this stone around with them all day. This was used to show a representation of how difficult it is to carry our sins. Sometimes we dwell on our mistakes and perhaps wrong choices. However, it was important to show to the children that if we show that we are truly sorry for our sins then both God and Jesus will forgive us.

 

Several children in Year 4 led a Prayer and Liturgy this week in the Prayer Garden. The theme was: Faithfulness. We listened to the word of the Gospel and reflected upon how we can grow our faith together. As a going forth, we carefully considered the ways we can be closer to Jesus.

 

Year 5 have moved onto our Baptism unit. We looked at the Gospel reading of Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. We learnt many interesting facts about the River Jordan and why it is considered such a special place. The children had many questions about the River Jordan and we discovered that people can be baptised there today. Also, we looked at two different pieces of art which reflected the baptism of Jesus, and the children decided which art work they thought best reflected the story from the Gospel. The children had some very special answers and reflected on why art work is so subjective.

 

 

 

On Friday, the children in Year 6 led a beautiful Prayer and Liturgy, ahead of the Feast of Christ the King on Sunday. Beginning with placing a crown on the focal point, the children prayerfully discussed the importance of allowing God to ‘reign in our hearts’ and think about how Jesus is our King. Through prayer, song, psalms and quiet reflective moments, the children and parents had the wonderful opportunity to join together in prayer. This feast presents a golden opportunity for us to make a new start with Jesus – the Universal King. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us in this holy and reverent moment.

A prayer, inspired by St Teresa of Avila, was then shared with parents by the children, as a reminder and going forth.

 

 

 

In our RE unit ‘God Our Father Cares for Us’ the nursery children have been learning about all the different people who care for us. The children chose a special person that cares for them and drew a picture for our class display. The children know that everyone, all over the world should be cared for.

 

We have been thinking about Remembrance day and went over to the Prayer Garden to lay our poppies in preparation for Remembrance Sunday. We enjoyed making our own poppies with loose parts to remember the service men and women. We watched a video which showed the poppy fields and creating our own poppy artwork.

 

This week in Year 1, our prayer and liturgy focus was on All Saints Day. We spent time reflecting on our Class Saints, St Francis of Assisi. We also looked at inspiring earthly saints, especially those who have served as activists. We looked closely at the life and actions of Harry Peska, exploring how his example of caring for and protecting animals can inspire us in our own lives. Together, we considered the question.

“I wonder why we need saints in God’s kingdom?”

Here are some of the wonderful responses from children:
They teach us how to look after God’s creation – Finley
They set good examples for us that we should follow – Scarlett
They share God’s word and follow in His footsteps like we should – Remmy
They have taken care of nature for us to live in a clean world – Hudson
They use kind words and share God’s word – Florence
They are leaders like Jesus and teach us in the same way that Jesus teaches us - Grace

 

We have been learning about the story of Abraham and Isaac. The children have sequenced the story and considered how Abraham would be feeling and thinking, when he was asked to sacrifice his son.

 

The children delivered a beautiful prayer and liturgy to their parents this week. It was lovely to gather altogether in prayer. They focussed on forgiveness in preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The children read beautifully and the remaining children in Year 3, along with their parents really enjoyed this tranquil moment spent together at the end of a busy first week back. We pray with the support of school and their families that they will be well prepared for this special Sacrament!

 

This week, Deacon Stuart came to visit Year 4 to discuss the importance of the Rosary and the ways Jesus prayed. The children asked lots of fantastic questions such as: 

  1. What is the Rosary?
  2. Who was St. Dominic?
  3. Why do Catholics pray the Rosary?

The children reflected upon how praying the rosary brought them closer to God.

 

Four of our Year 5 children planned and delivered a beautiful Prayer and Liturgy, all about the Gospel. The children read the Gospel to their classes and asked the children to reflect on the message. They asked the children, ‘Why did the woman give her last two pennies? What does that say about her?’. The children delivered a wonderful session and really enjoyed the planning process. It is wonderful for our children to have the opportunity to deliver Prayer and Liturgy sessions to bring us closer to God as we deliver the Word and the important messages of the Gospel. Well done Year 5.

 

In preparation for their visit to St Chad’s Cathedral, the children gathered together in the hall to pray the Angelus. The children’s reverence was wonderful and they are all excited for their visit next week! The children thought about the words of The Angelus and how they can live this prayer out in their thoughts, actions and words.

They particularly thought about the significance of ‘The Word was made flesh’ – How can we, as Christians, ensure the Word is lived out in the world today?

 

In Prayer and Liturgy, the Nursery children have been using the Ten, Ten resource ‘I Am Welcome’. They have learnt about feeling welcome, and how to make others feel welcome too. We have learnt about inviting God to be welcome in our lives. The children sang an echo song called ‘All Are Welcome’.

All are welcome (all are welcome)                                                

You and me (you and me)

Everyone is in God’s (everyone is in God’s)

Family (family)

 

Reception are thinking about all of the people in our lives that care for us. We discussed the people that show us love and care at home, at school and in the community. We worked together to create a piece of art representing all of these people. We said thank you to God for all of these wonderful people.

 

Year One are reflecting on the importance of prayer. We pray various times throughout the day for different reasons, and so we have taken the time to discuss what helps us to pray. It is important to us to create a calm and peaceful space before talking to God and therefore, we shared that ringing the bell before prayer is one of our favourite items as it helps us to channel our focus into spending time with God. Some of us like to also close our eyes from any distractions, whilst others look toward our focal point and the special items it displays. We light candles to remind us that Jesus is with us as He is the light of the world, and we join our hands to point towards heaven when speaking to Him. We also reflected on the special items provided inside our prayer bag and what they mean to us.

 

In honour of Black History Month, we have been focussing our prayers on Saint Josephine Bakhita this week. We have read her inspiring story and reflected on how we can take inspiration from her. When she found things challenging, she always had faith in God to support her. Together as a class we reflected on this question,

In your times of difficulty, how does your faith help you?

 

These were some our responses.

- My faith helps me realise I’ve made a mistake and God helps me to say sorry and make the right choices.

 - My faith helps me because I know nothing is impossible for God. –

-My faith helps me know that if I’m finding something hard, I can always pray to God and he is always listening.

- My faith helps me to ask God to send the Holy Spirit to people who are suffering like the poor.

-My faith helps me when I pray, I can ask for God to make me, and other people feel better.

 

We are learning all about another faith - Hinduism. We explored Rangoli patterns which bring good luck to Hindus.  We were lucky enough to receive a special visit from Mrs Chauhan, a volunteer who came to speak to the children about the faith whilst also giving them an opportunity to make some Rangoli patterns. The children thoroughly enjoyed this! We looked at all the different symbols that Hinduism has such as the Lotus flower. We even spotted a similarity between our faith as both Catholics and Hindus join their hands together. We learnt all about where Hindus pray in the Mandir and how they use a puja tray to help. We performed some drama all about Rama and Sita! It has been such a fun week learning about another faith!

 

Year 4 children were praying a decade of the Rosary. It was a wonderful opportunity to gather together and reflect on Our Lady and all of her loving qualities. We then discussed how we could show that love to others and the children provided many beautiful and thoughtful responses. We prayed the 5th Joyful Mystery and listened to the story of Jesus in the Temple. This story links beautifully to our RE topic: Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray.

 

Year 5 are very lucky to have Deacon Stuart come and visit us to speak to us about our Religious Education topic. As we are looking at Jesus’ Miracles and the Sacrament of the Sick, Deacon Stuart was able to speak to us about a variety of Jesus’ miracles, but also about how we can answer our BIG CST Question which is all about how we can help people who are sick or who need our extra love and care. The children were so engaged with Deacon Stuart and asked him plenty of questions to answer! Thank you Deacon Stuart.

 

In Religious Education, Nursery children have continued to learn about Creation-God the Creator. They named lots of things that God created and as artists they painted pictures of them. We all gave thanks to God for his wonderful and beautiful creations. 

 

During Liturgy and Prayer, Reception have been discussing the different talents that God gave us. We thought of all of our special gifts and how we can use them to help others. Have a look at some of our special talents!

 

Year 1 are reflecting on one of our Catholic Social Teaching focuses - Stewardship of God’s Creation. The children made a link between the virtue and our class Saint; they explained that as a steward of God’s creation, Saint Francis cared for the animals and birds. We created a ‘pledge-hog’ whereby we shared our wonderful ideas and made a pledge to go forth and live out the ways in which we can be all be stewards of God’s creation.

 

In our RE lessons, Year 2 continued their work on Old Testament Stories and prayers. The children enjoyed learning about the story of Jonah and the big fish. They first learnt the story through a song before reading it from the bible. After the story, together as a class we reflected on the important message it brings us about listening and serving God. We also spoke about God’s mercy and forgiveness, when we make a mistake and say sorry. Finally, they produced a thoughtful piece of work linked to Jonah in the story. They answered the following questions. The children enjoyed using our class Bibles to help them.

What did he do?            

 What did he say?                    

How did he feel?   

What faith did he have?

 

Year 3 are focusing on the skill of Bible referencing. We were given some Bible references which we had to follow to locate the first animal mentioned in each passage. We then learned about the different groups of books in the Bible. We know the Bible is a very special Holy book and we are so excited to use the Bible more independently in our RE lessons.

 

 

Year 4 are learning about the story of God telling Moses the Ten Commandments. We then discussed what each of the Commandments meant and in pairs came up with our own Ten Commandments that we felt were important for people to follow today. The children then wrote these out on tea stained paper.

 

In Religious Education, Year 5 have now moved into our unit of Jesus’ Miracles and the Sacrament of the Sick. The children have been learning about a variety of Jesus’ miracles, as well as retrieving information and knowledge about some of the miracles they already know! On Tuesday, the children wrote a letter pretending to be a woman who had experienced a miracle. Their letters were so thoughtful and full of expression, and the children really tried to resonate with somebody who experienced one of Jesus’ incredible miracles.

 

Deacon Stuart visited Year 6 to discuss our Catholic Social Teaching Question. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and loved the opportunity to explore our faith with an established member of our Parish. An important reflection we shared with Deacon Stuart was when he asked when is the most important time to pray? One of us said our “Morning Offering” which we said together. Deacon Stuart said this to remind us that we are offering all of our work, play and actions to God – this is such an important devotion and highlights how we are following the Commandments and listening to God’s calling.

 

In Nursery, the children have been learning about God the Creator. They listened to the Creation story from the

Bible and went on a creation walk to find some of the things that God made.

 

Reggie - “God made the sky and the clouds.”

Jolene - “God made the trees.”

Freddie – “God made the flowers.”

Momore – “God made the sun.”

 

Reception have continued their work on the Creation Story. We enjoyed creating our own pathway retelling the story. We then took turns to tell the story in our own words.

 

As October is the month of the Rosary, Year 1 have said the Hail Mary prayer every morning to begin their day. We have looked at the special items on our new blue focal point that represent Our Lady and spoke about their meaning. In addition to saying the Hail Mary each morning, we have sung it and used sign with the help of Dan and Emily from our One Life retreat.

 

Year 2 have joined together with other schools in our MAC to celebrate ‘Our Father Week’. The children have amazed their teachers with their beautiful singing performing ‘The Our Father prayer’. They then moved on to learning a certain line of the prayer in more detail. Our Focus was “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Together we discussed how God wants us all to make our Earth as kind, beautiful and caring as in Heaven. We talked about how we should live our lives in a way that reflects the way that Christ lived his. We talked about how we can do the same as God ‘Our King’ and reveal the kingdom of heaven through our actions each day. We created a piece of artwork linked to this line of the ‘Our Father’ to show that we can make the world a better place by recycling. Together as a class we collaged a world with recycling materials. We also used our art skills to answer this question,

 “I wonder as disciples of Jesus; how can we build a kingdom like in heaven? Here are some of our ideas.

 

In Prayer and Liturgy, Year 3 took some time to reflect on the special month of October and highlight the prominence of Our Lady during this time. We prayed a decade of the Rosary together where we started our Rosary Challenge beginning with the 1st Glorious Mystery: The Ascension. Whilst doing so, the children coloured in a bead at a time on a visual representation of the Rosary Beads showing the importance of each prayer that we say: One Our Father, Ten Hail Marys and One Glory Be.

 

Year 5 have been thinking about lots of different things. In particular, across our school, we have been thinking about the Our Father prayer. Year 5 were given the line ‘and lead us not into temptation’ to focus on. One of the things we did was set up the focal point and talk about why we had certain objects placed on it. The rocks represent Jesus’ time being tempted in the desert by Satan, and the money links to our recent financial workshops with how we can be tempted by different things in our lives. The children had a wonderful discussion and reflection on how we ask God to guide us down the right path and support us in making the right choices.

 

To conclude our learning about ‘The Story of the People of God’, Year 6 have learned about an inspirational figure in the Bible called Queen Esther. We listened to her story and understood how she showed sheer courage for standing up for her belief and faith. We reflected on how we can learn from this story, showing how God can use us where we are right now to better ourselves, our school family and community and the wider parish.

 

 

‘Let All Creation Sing’ Retreat Day

 

Dan and Emily from One Life joined St Anne’s on Tuesday for a retreat day celebration of God’s Creation. The children prayed, reflected and rejoyced in song! With class based activities and whole school assembly time, the children had a memorable and faith-filled day. It was a magnificent and spiritual day filled with hope, inspiration and a renewed sense of faith. This was a wonderful way to draw the Season of Creation to a close.

 

Faith in Action:

The Liturgical leaders have distributed a beautiful olive wood candle to each class, as part of the celebration for the Our Father Week, which is taking place across Our Lady and All Saints MAC. These candles will be displayed on the focal points, next to the Lord’s Prayer. We continue to focus on the Our Father during the Year of Prayer and consider the importance of the words Jesus taught us. Thank-you to St Anne’s Parish for kindly gifting the candles to school.

 

CAFOD Family Fast Day – Little Way Week

Today is Family Fast Day, which is a time for praying and sharing. At St Anne’s we want to say a massive THANK YOU for your generous donations to support the vulnerable in our local community. Through this small act of Kindness during Little Way Week, we will collectively make a huge difference to those in need. We are always over whelmed by the kindness and generosity of our parents and local community.

Today, you are standing in solidarity with those facing incredible hardships, as part of one family of God.

 

Our Father Week

During the Year of Prayer, Pope Francis has called us to focus on the Our Father Prayer. For ‘Our Father Week’ a special emphasis has been dedicated to this prayer across school. Each year group has a special focus line from the prayer to explore and look at the meaning. Lots of meaningful and beautiful prayer and Liturgy activities have been planned across school. At the end of the week the whole school will come together and reflect on the meaning of the ‘Our Father Prayer’ by joining all lines together in a God’s gift Assembly. We look forward to creating a school display showcasing all the children’s work.

 

Throughout the week the children have been learning all about the first story in the Bible ‘The Creation Story.’ Together as a class we listened to the story and sang a Creation song. We thought about our favourite things that God created. We used a paint programme on the IPad to create some wonderful Creation work. Look at what we are thankful for….

 

 

In celebration of Little Way Week, we learned about St. Thérèse of Lisieux and how she demonstrated God's love through small acts of kindness. Inspired by this, we also explored the story of a young activist named Robby Novak. Like St. Thérèse, Robby Novak reminds us that making a difference in the world doesn’t always require grand gestures; it can be done by showing love and kindness in our daily lives. As a class, we discussed how the world might change if everyone followed the ‘little way’ of kindness and love as modelled by St. Thérèse and Robby Novak. Here are some of our reflections:

 

Everyone would be a lot more smiley (Ruby)
God’s world would be looked after by us all more and would be full of love (Hendryx)
Our class family would always be happy because everyone would smile at each other (Promise)
The world would be filled with love and happiness (Brea-Rae)


 

The children have recalled the story of Noah’s ark today. We began the lesson by retrieving the children’s knowledge of the word promise from Year 1. We then did an activity using skittles (sweets) to give the children a clue into the promise that God had made in the story of Noah’s ark.  After we shared the bible story together and discussed that God’s rainbow was placed in the sky as a reminder that He always keeps His promises. The next time you see a rainbow, with your child talk about the promise that God made to Noah, and help them remember that just as God has kept that promise, He keeps all of His promises to them, too.

 

As we celebrate Little Way Week, we took the time of think of others and do little good deeds for them each day, no matter where they are in the world. Using the template of a hand, we promised to do good deeds for others every day and to consider their brothers and sisters around the world.

 

 

The children have been answering their Catholic Social Teaching question to finalise the end of their Creation topic. The question was: 

The children produced some wonderful and insightful answers where they discussed Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and how they can care for our world and support the poor and vulnerable in our society. The children understand that we are all stewards and protectors of our world and therefore we have a duty to care for it. We have been so impressed with how thoughtful their responses are.

 

In our final lesson of our Creation unit, we thought about inspirational people. The children responded to who is inspirational to them in their life and why. Then, we either looked at Mahatma Ghandi or Mother Teresa and described their life and why they are inspirational. We then reflected on how they can inspire us in our lives through their teachings.

 

The children in Year 6 used water colours to depict a Bible story from the Old Testament. The story of ‘The Water from the Rock’ tells of Moses striking his staff in the dessert to release water from the stone to share with those who hadn’t had anything to drink for three days. As a class, we thought about the meaning of this and concluded the importance of a strong faith in God and having trust in His plan for all of us; particularly when we are most vulnerable and in need of His guidance and protection.

 

 

As we came to the end of our unit on creation, we thought about how we are Stewards of God’s creation and answered the following question
Why is it important that we ALL take care of the world that God created?

We came up with some thoughtful answers such as:

  • God’s creation is a gift for us so we must protect and care for it.
  • By taking care of God’s creation we are showing how grateful we are to God.
  • In the Bible, God asked us to take care of the world so we should listen to Him.
  • We must protect the world so that everyone can enjoy it

 

 

Year 2 have been good Stewards of God’s creation. We have been celebrating all the wonderful blessings that God has created for us to take care of for him. We have also thought about many ways we can protect God’s planet e.g. Give money and food to the poor, Water God’s plants and never pick them, be careful not to step on God’s creatures, share our things with others and share love with others where ever we go.

 

To celebrate the Season of Creation 2024, Year 3 have been focusing on Laudato Si’ – an encyclical from Pope Francis which calls us all to care for our Common Home. Our wonderful prayer leaders led us in a beautiful creation themed Prayer and Liturgy service – we all promised to go forth continuing to be Stewards of God’s wonderful creation.

Friday also marks a very special day for the children of Year 3 – the feast day of our class saint, Saint Vincent de Paul. We marked this special day by gathering together in church for a beautiful Mass. The children led with readings and sang so passionately – what a lovely way to commemorate such a special Saint!

 

 

Year 4 are reflecting on the story of Joseph. We focused on themes of honour, reconciliation and forgiveness. We put ourselves in Joseph’s shoes and considered how honourable he was to forgive his brother after how they treated him.

Year 6 are looking at Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis wrote the Canticle of Creation which ensures that we know how to look after our planet which God created for us. It has a beautiful message and is very important in our everyday lives, now more than ever.

 

 

 

As part of our prayer and liturgy this week, Year 1 children from each class helped plan and lead our child-led prayer, focusing on the theme of serving and how we can serve Jesus. The children were respectful and confident, delivering the prayer beautifully, and making us very proud.  The "Go Forth" message encouraged everyone to think about how they can help others not only at school, but also at home and in the community, promoting kindness and compassion in everyday life.

 

Year 2 children have continued their work on the unit ‘Old Testament Stories and Prayers’. They learnt that the stories in the Old Testament teach us lots of messages about how we should live in God’s world. In the lesson this week the children played a matching game in groups to help children rehearse some of these messages about God’s love. The children worked well taking turns to match a message form Bible with the image it related to. After matching the images and messages the children went on to write down as many as they could remember in their RE books.

 

In RSE, Year 3 are learning about the Story of Jairus and his daughter. We read the story several times, focusing on a different person each time. We have learned that we are all created by God out of love and for love: we were designed for this purpose!

 

In our Creation unit in R.E, Year 4 have been exploring how we have all been made in the image and likeness of God. The children have been considering the qualities of God and how our class saint, St. Catherine of Siena displayed these throughout her life.

The children identified how St. Catherine demonstrated elements of the Our Lady and All Saints Children’s Charter too. It was a lovely opportunity to reflect on how we can aim to show these in our daily lives. Additionally, several children from each class led a beautiful prayer and liturgy. The children were so spiritual and reverent when delivering the Wednesday Word. The focus word was: Jesus.

 

Year 5 are looking at Creation, and how we are made in the image and likeness of God. We looked at the different meanings of ‘Image’ and ‘Likeness’ and what those words mean to us. This links back to the importance of our Mission Statement, and how God has created us all to be unique and special, but also so we can live and act as he would want us to.

 

Year 6 gathered together at Mass, with the support of Year 5, to celebrate them becoming Leaders of St Anne’s. The children were exemplary role models, listening attentively to the Word of God read beautifully by the Year 6 children. This was a very special moment for all attending, celebrating the love of God and the amazing Year 6’s.

 

Year One have been learning all about Saint Francis of Assisi, who is the patron Saint of animals. St Francis is our class Saint, and so his story has inspired us to reflect on how we can show love and care for all of God’s creatures and creations. After learning the story of St Francis, we recalled key events of his life and drew beautiful pictures to represent them. Linking in with our Catholic Social Teachings, we discussed how we can be Stewards of God’s Creation every day, just like our class Saint.

 

 

Year 2 are learning about our Class Saint Mother Teresa. They enjoyed hearing about her life story, her dedication and how she inspired others with her compassionate and loving nature. After learning lots about her, the children then produced a wonderful piece of written work about her. They then ended the lesson reflecting on how they can be even better servants of God.

 

 

Year 3 are learning about Baptism. They are exploring signs and symbols of Baptism and their importance to the Catholic faith. After watching a video of someone receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, we recreated the Rite of Baptism in small groups. We know our Earthly Saints in Year 3 would make excellent Godparents one day!

 

We have also created some prayerful artwork of our school Saint (St. Anne) which we are going to share with other schools in our Our Lady and All Saints MAC family.

 

Year 4 have started their Creation topic in RE. The children used the Bibles to find the Creation story in the Old Testament. We discussed how God made us in His image and likeness and what in particular was created on each day. The children then created a storyboard to represent the story and then linked this to our Catholic Social Teaching: Stewardship of God’s Creation.

 

Year 5 are learning all about Creation. They have looked at different Creation myths from around the world. In particular, we have focused on the Benin Creation Myth because it links to our History Topic! The children decorated pictures of Cowrie Shells to display their knowledge of traditional African Artwork, and more specifically, their Creation story. The children have shown a super interest in the Creation story of different faiths and cultures and their art work was absolutely fantastic!

 

 

Year 6 have had the opportunity to study the Bible and focus on the contents and history within this special book. We explored the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament. We also looked at the different types of literature found within the Bible such as poetry, wisdom literature and parables.

 

 

OLAAS MAC Celebration Day

As part of a family of schools, we join together today to celebrate our shared vision and collective mission as part of a Multi-Academy Catholic Company. It is important that we recognise and celebrate our Catholic identity. Across all of the schools, we will be sharing gifts of artwork with each other linked to Our Lady and St. Anne. We will also share Our Lady & All Saints MAC Prayer in classes and assemblies. You may wish to use the prayer too: 

 

Our Lady and All Saints MAC Prayer  

Lord Jesus,

We pray that your guiding light will forever shine upon our family of Our Lady and All Saints.

Help us to live as Jesus taught us by your word

to love, learn and grow in

faith and friendship together.

May we strive to always follow your example as

we serve as earthly saints

 and journey together joyfully in your footsteps.

May we always hear God speaking to our hearts

As we care, share and love one another.

We are all created by God’s love

and faith is our shared foundation.

 

Our Lady and All Saints

Pray for us.

 

At St Anne’s our mission statement is at the heart of everything that we do so this week we thought about what it means to us. Linked to the line ‘Each one of us is special’, we also thought about reasons why we are so special.

Here are some of the responses:
I am special because I am part of St Anne’s family.
I am special because I wear glasses to help me see God’s world.
I am special because I am a really good footballer.
I am special because I have freckles on my face.

After thinking about our mission statement, we created actions to perform whilst saying the special words!

 

Year 1 have focused around the School Mission Statement. The children were brilliant at remembering the words and actions of The Mission Statement learnt in year 1. They thought carefully about the words in the mission statement and what they mean to them. The children drew some great pictures under each line to show this. They also reflected upon themselves and wrote about somethings that they feel make them special.

 

 

Year 3 are very excited to learn about their new class saint which is Saint Vincent de Paul. He inspired others with his kindness and generosity to children and the poor. We spoke about how he is a brilliant example of our Catholic Social Teaching of Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. Going forward Year 3 are striving to be more like Saint Vincent de Paul!

 

 

 

Year 4 children focused on our Mission Statement and learned about our class saint: St Catherine of Siena. The children also had the opportunity to visit our wonderful prayer garden – which has been updated over the summer holidays. It was lovely to say a prayer together and reflect upon the year ahead.

 

Children in Year 5 are focusing on giving thanks to God for our opportunities this year. We prayed for strength, courage and guidance throughout our time this year and that God will always show us the path through in all that we do. We thanked God for our friends and families and asked that He watch over us. The children were so reverent and respectful as we prayed and gave thanks for the year ahead.

 

As the Year 6 children embarked on their new journey as leaders of St Anne’s school, they are reflecting on what it truly means to be a leader. We gathered outside for Prayer and Liturgy and listened to God’s Word through the story “The Call of the Disciples”. We discussed how this important story of Jesus calling these special people to follow him resonates with Year 6 as Jesus calls us to be his disciples and spread the Word of the Lord to those around us. A beautiful moment shared together to mark the start of a wonderful year.

 

 

 

Year 1 have been learning about Jesus as our teacher and healer. We explored some different parables Jesus told his disciples to spread the good news, with a special focus on the parable of the Good Samaritan. We discussed the lessons this story teaches us and reflected on how we can apply them in our own lives. Some ideas we came up with to be good Samaritans included helping our families, donating to charity, smiling to brighten someone's day, and tidying up after ourselves, among many other thoughtful actions!in Year 1, we've been learning about Jesus as our teacher and healer. We explored some different parables Jesus told his disciples to spread the good news, with a special focus on the parable of the Good Samaritan. We discussed the lessons this story teaches us and reflected on how we can apply them in our own lives. Some ideas we came up with to be good Samaritans included helping our families, donating to charity, smiling to brighten someone's day, and tidying up after ourselves, among many other thoughtful actions!

 

The Year 4 children enjoyed reflecting about their year and praying for themselves and people they love during Praying in Colour! It was such a calm atmosphere! The children said they felt calm, relaxed and that any worries they had went away!

 

In Religious Education, we finished our Marriage and Holy Orders unit. We finished our topic by answering our BIG Catholic Social Teaching question, ‘How can you show that you belong to the church?’. After our visit from Deacon Stuart last week, the children had lots of knowledge to answer this question. Their responses were absolutely beautiful and thoughtful, and it was a wonderful way to finish our Religious Education learning from Year 5.

 

The children in Year 6 had their final Leavers’ Mass in church on Monday. It was a beautiful, special moment for the children, staff and families who attended. The children sung beautifully and truly lived out what a Year 6 pupil at St Anne’s represents.

The children received a special St Anne’s medal in a presentation box and a Leaver’s certificate. Hopefully the children will keep this medal for many years to come- St Anne’s school will always be here for you. As you move onto pastures new, remember St Anne is always there to guide you.

 

 

The Nursery children and their families enjoyed gathering together in prayer.

 

Reception children have been thinking about their move into Year one. We have been writing our own prayers to ask God to support us on our special journey. Have a look at some of our wonderful prayers.

“Heavenly Father, thank you for my class family who love me. Help me with my colouring in Year 1. Amen”

 

Heavenly Father, thank you for my teachers and friends. Help me to work hard in Year 1. Amen”

 

Heavenly Father, please help me with my reading and writing. Amen”

 

“Heavenly Father, thank you for my friends. Help me to say my prayers in Year 1. Amen”.

 

Year 2 are learning even more about Refugees and how they need our prayers and support. A live stream took place where the children listened to real life stories of how refugees left their homes and sought refuge in a safe country. They explained how they have been made welcome and are now living here and adding to the communities they live in. There is a refugee team for the Olympics which has made a big impact on their feeling of belonging.

The children spent time in the prayer garden reflecting on the importance of welcoming all people into our communities as we all belong to God’s family and everyone is valuable and special to God.

 

Year 3 children are reflecting on various responsibilities people in the church community have. We looked at the responsibilities and role of Nuns and Monks and what their day to day life is like. The children were very interested by the numerous rituals and strict schedules that Nuns and Monks must follow. They then considered what they would enjoy and what they would find most difficult if they were a Nun or Monk.  A lot of them said they would find waking up early hard as it would also be a really long day, however, many said that they would love to go and celebrate Mass everyday which is lovely! We then had the opportunity to talk to Deacon Stuart on the roles and responsibilities he has as a Deacon. The children were very inquisitive and had lots of wonderful questions! We also considered the role of the Priest.

 

Deacon Stuart paid a to visit Year 5 to speak to them about his role as a Deacon in the Church. As our topic has been Marriage and Holy Orders in Religious Education, it has been wonderful that Deacon Stuart could come in and talk about his role in the church. The children learnt so much and had so many fantastic questions for Deacon Stuart, we are so grateful for this opportunity to speak with him. 

 

Year 6 are reflecting upon Pope Francis’ vocation ‘To make God’s dreams come true’. In their written responses they considered what God’s dream for the world may be and then thought about how they, as children, could make these dreams come true. Their responses were simply beautiful.

 

The Nursery children have been learning about the role of our priest, Father Christi. They know that he is a special person. They understand that the priest has a special job to gather us together at church as God’s family.

 

In Reception, we enjoyed sharing our own Baptismal photographs and artefacts with our friends. We discussed each item and spoke about how it is used during the special sacrament of Baptism. We know each of these items represents something special during the celebration of Baptism. 

 

Year 1 have focused on how people follow Jesus in different ways. This week, we explored CAFOD's charitable work and its connections to Catholic Social Teachings: ‘Option for the Poor and Vulnerable’, ‘Family and Community’, ‘Dignity of Work and the Human Person’, and ‘Solidarity of the Common Good’. Reflecting on these values, the children shared ideas on practical ways to live them out, such as donating old toys and clothes, and organizing cake sales to raise money for charity. This exploration has deepened our understanding of these teachings and inspired us to take meaningful actions to help others in our community and beyond. To consolidate our knowledge of charitable deeds, we created posters for CAFOD advertising all of the significant ways in which they help others, in the footsteps of Jesus.

 

 

Year 2 are learning even more about the Higaonon Tree Planting Project. They watched a video of the tribe people in, need of our help in the Phillipines. The children were very interested. They learned about the indigenous trees that will be planted to help the people deal with the effects of climate change. As well as learning more they prayed for God’s help as a class and thought about how we all belong to the same world. This is the prayer recited

Sa Ngalan sa Amahan, ug sa Anak, ug sa Espiritu Santo. Amen

Creator God,

We pray that we grow in knowledge and friendship through our partnership with people in the Philippines.

Bless us and the people there.

Amen

Sa Ngalan sa Amahan, ug sa Anak, ug sa Espiritu Santo. Amen

Year 3 have been learning about Prayer and Worship. This week we looked at signs, symbols and actions involved in worship and the meaning behind them.

 

The Year 4 children have considered the importance of Marriage and why this sacrament is so sacred to those in the Catholic faith. They thought about the responsibilities of both a man and woman in this lifelong commitment to each other. They enjoyed learning about the symbols of marriage; rings, unity candles and the Holy Bible. The children also looked at how they can care for the sick and vulnerable and help those in their community! They looked at the importance of showing compassion to others, specifically focussing on the miracles of ‘Jesus Heals a Deaf Man’ and ‘Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy.’

 

Year 5 are learning about the Archbishop of Birmingham. It was brilliant for the children to learn so much about the Archbishop and what he does. We have been thinking about how he inspires us in our lives through his faith and how he lives this out.

 

Year 6 are reflecting upon the words of Matthew's Gospel:

'Go forth and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all the things that I have taught you '

They reflected upon what would have happened had the disciples chose not to follow Jesus' command. They then considered how they could be modern day disciples - fulfilling Jesus' commands.

 

 

Faith Week 

Faith week has taken place in KS1. Year 1 learnt about Judaism and Year 2 Buddhism. The children’s interest and work has been super and has promoted discussions around British Values, culture and protected characteristics ‘race and religion’.

 

 

In RE the children recalled their work on Baptism and talked about being a part of God’s family. They know that the church is a special gathering place and they spoke about their own experiences of going to church. They continue to say their own thank you prayers to all the people who show love and care for us.

 

In Year 1 we explored Judaism. We began by learning about the Star of David, a six-pointed star made of two triangles. We discovered that the top point represents Abraham and the bottom point represents his followers. Connecting with Sky Arts Week, we tried pointillism and decorated a Star of David with various marks. In the following lesson, we examined other significant symbols and items in Judaism. Then, we learned about Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, which commemorates a miracle in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. We sequenced the Hanukkah story together and explored how Jewish people celebrate this festival.

 

Year 2 have been learning about the Buddhist Faith. They listened to the story of Buddha, learned about a Buddhist temple and also how as part of this faith people meditate. The children were able to understand and appreciate that other people have different faiths and we should respect this.

 

As we approach the end of our Eucharist unit of learning, we have been reflecting on this question: Jesus feeds us in Mass and through His love. Is it fair that some people have more food than others? We reflected on this question and linked it to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. We discussed that we should put our faith into action by being generous to others and not taking advantage of what we have.

 

During their RE lesson, Year 6 had the opportunity to read and appraise psalm 139, a beautiful psalm from the bible that speaks of the omniscience of God.

 

In RE the Nursery children have been learning to say their own thank you prayers for the people who show love and care to them.

 

Reception have continued their learning around Baptism. We role played a baptism and welcomed Baby Annie into the family of God. We practised the special words said at Baptism and looked at the special artefacts and symbols used during this sacrament. We are excited for next week where we will share our own Baptism photographs and artefacts.

 

Year 1 had a special morning at their RE Inspire Workshop. We were joined by our families in the hall to complete an activity linked to our current unit of work ‘Following Jesus Today’. With our families, we created a piece of artwork that showcased the many ways that we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Some of our wonderful ideas include: reading the Bible, praying to God, looking after God’s world, spreading the word of God, showing love and kindness to others and going to Church.

 

The year 2 children spent a most amazing time working with a family member as well sharing in their faith journey together. They started the session by joining together in prayer, then the children and family members watched a video of ‘The Wedding at Cana’ and after that they created their own spectacular jar which represented the miracle of turning water into wine. A quiz took place to test the children and adult’s knowledge of animals in Bible stories- very competitive!!! The morning was finished off with a favourite hymn. The teachers were so proud of the children and it was wonderful to see them working with their families.

 

In Year 4 we have come to the end of our unit on the ‘Old Testament; Moses and King David.’ We focussed on the call of King David. The children discussed how and why King David was called upon by God through the help of Samuel. They then carried out a news report where they asked David, Samuel and Jesse questions. They thoroughly enjoyed this activity and loved taking on the role of either a news reporter, David, Samuel or Jesse. Next week we will focus on our CST question; ‘God chose Moses and other Old Testament characters to protect his people. Can you think of other people who might need God’s protection at the moment?’

 

 

In Religious Education Year 5 have started their new unit of Marriage and the Holy Orders. The children already know lots about the different sacraments of the Catholic Faith, which they have certainly shown through their knowledge this week. In our lesson on Tuesday, we thought a lot about promises that we make or might make in our lives. Then, the children came up with their own symbols which might represent their promises. This meant the children were able to think about why some promises that we make in life have symbols and what the meaning is behind those symbols.

 

During Prayer and Liturgy, Year 6 focused upon Refugees. They thought  about how they could show others that they are part of God’s kingdom through their simple acts of kindness .

 

 

 

 

In RE the children have been thinking about a variety of people who show love and care for them. We thought about how our dads, uncles and grandads are special linked to Father’s Day. The children listened to a story called ‘My Dad is Brilliant’. The children thought of the different ways that their Dad’s are brilliant too. My Dad is brilliant because…Tallulah-“ He tickles me.” Tierneny-“He fixes homes.” Emmie-“He munchies me.” Harper-Reign-“He takes me to the park.”

 

We have started our unit of work on Baptism. We watched a video of a Baptism and discussed our own experiences of being welcomed onto God’s family. We visited church to look at the different Baptismal artefacts and symbols. We are looking forward to learning more about this special sacrament.

 

We have been reflecting on important celebrations that we take part in to help up understand the life of Jesus. We thought about all of the wonderful celebrations that we have and why we celebrate them. We thought about Christmas and how it is so special because it was Jesus’ day of birth, Holy Week because it helps us to remember the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and then resurrection, Ash Wednesday as it reminds us that Jesus died for us and our sins and finally the Ascension because Jesus ascended into Heaven to be with God, His Father but is still always with us. 

 

For our final lesson of learning about Pentecost, Logan and Emily from year 6 joined us to share their knowledge. The year 2 children were learning about the gift of the Holy Spirit being received at the Sacrament of Confirmation. Listening to two eloquent children who have made this special Sacrament gave the children a real insight. Well done Emily and Logan-Year 2 enjoyed listening and learning from you. They were able to write a paragraph about the Sacrament using the knowledge that had attained.  

 

To consolidate our learning about Pentecost, we explored the life of modern day Apostles and Earthly Saints who have used the gifts of the Holy Spirit to change the world. Linking to the Catholic Social Teaching Principle of Family and Community, we explored the life of Saints such as Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Carlos Acutis. We also discussed how we are inspired to be like them and be Earthly Saints too!

 

The children have come to the end of the Pentecost unit. We looked at prayers and songs in different languages and how this relates to us being a part of the

universal church united with the spirit. The children loved listening to the scripture of the story of Pentecost whilst simultaneously writing feelings, words or drawing pictures as they listened. This made them think and consider the different interpretations that we can have which is the same for people with different language. However, ultimately we all receive the same message and are all a part of the one splendid family of God. We then collected responses together in response to their CST question; ‘Jesus wanted his apostles to have the opportunity to speak. Why should everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from have a say?’ These are some of the responses we received:

 

The children have looked at the prayer to the Holy Spirit, and annotated why different parts of it are important to us. The children made some beautiful annotations and really thought about its meaning to us and their faith. We thought about why it was so important to the Apostles who received the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended to Heaven. The children in Year 5 had such beautiful responses.

 

Year 6 have been reflecting upon the importance of prayer. They have identified different types of prayer and have analysed the Lord’s prayer I identifying words and phrases in this special prayer that are important to them.

 

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The celebration of the Sacred Heart is associated with the physical heart of Jesus Christ and the wound it received when Jesus was dying on the cross. The heart is seen to symbolise Jesus Christ’s divine love for humanity. The Feast of the Sacred Heart falls 19 days after Pentecost, on a Friday.

During Prayer and Liturgy, we thought about the symbolism of the Sacred Heart.

The Symbols of the Scared Heart of Jesus

Heart - We place the image of the heart on our focus to remind us of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Flames - The flames represent the intensity of his eternal love for us.

Cross- Placing the cross on the top of the Sacred Heart reminds us of his passion, death and resurrection and most importantly his victory over sin and death.

Thorns- The Thorns placed across the middle of the Sacred Heart is also a symbol of his passion and symbolises Christ’s sorrow.

The rays of light – The rays of divine light are a symbol of Christs triumph and the rays of love for us.

Act of Love Prayer

O my God, I love you with my whole heart

and above all things

because you are infinitely good and perfect,

and I love my neighbour as myself

for love of you.

Grant that I may love you more and more in this life,

and in the next for all eternity.

Amen.

 

 

In RE the children continue to learn about Pentecost, the air around us. They know that air makes things happen. They experienced using the power of air by using their mouth, a fan, the wind and a pump. They learnt about the word invisible and that the Holy Spirit helps us to be patient, helpful and peacemakers.

 

We have been continuing to live out our Catholic Social Teachings in many ways this week. Wannie was awarded the CST certificate Solidarity and the Common Good because he is always so kind and loving towards his class family. In 1I the CST certificate for Stewardship of God’s creation was awarded to Kingsley for always being so curious about God’s creatures and how he can take care of them. We are so proud of these two children and the rest of the year group for always putting their faith into action!

 

 

This week Florence and Tara have been chosen to receive a certificate as they have shown our catholic social teaching in their daily lives. They have made their teachers extremely proud as have all the children this year that have received a certificate. Year 2 stars!

 

 

Congratulations to the children from 3M who celebrated this special Sacrament during the half-term holiday! You were all so reverent and respectful – what a beautiful day for us all to celebrate! A special thank you to Mrs Cope who kindly gave up her time to help us prepare for this special day, we really appreciate your loving support!

 

This is a celebration held every May to commemorate the anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical “Laudato Si'” on the care of our common home. This refers to encyclical (letter) from Pope Francis named LAUDATO DEUM. The theme is 'Seeds of Hope' which links beautifully to our wonderful work and collaboration with the Philippines for supporting the growth of the indigenous trees for the next 5 years. It aims to help us all foster a deeper respect for creation, promote sustainable habits and deepen commitment to a lifestyle that instils this respect to God's creation. Following on from the messages shared in Phase Assembly, the children were asked to do a guided meditation to appreciate nature. They reflected and considered how they can have an impact on the world around them and be a seed of hope.

 

 

This week, the children have been learning all about the faith of Islam. On Monday, we joined a Zoom call led by Imran, who introduced the children to the faith and told them about the Five Pillars of Islam. This call was wonderful and so educational; the children learnt so much. It was a fantastic introduction to the faith, and the children have been so respectful all week when learning about Islam. We know it is important to learn about other faiths and other’s beliefs, as it also links to our British Values and Protected Characteristics.

 

 

During their RE Lesson this week, linked to Pentecost, the year 6 showed their devotion to the Holy Spirit through the medium of Art and prayer

 

 

 

What a wonderful celebration we had in Key Stage One. The children behaved reverently and sang beautifully. We learned to sing The Hail Mary with sign language too - the roof of the hall practically lifted with the heartfelt singing! All four classes then processed prayerfully around the hall before saying prayers, laying flowers and finally crowning the statue of Mary. All the teachers were so very proud of the children. What a wonderful occasion and memory for children and teachers.

 

The children have been learning about Pentecost, the air around us. The children know that Sunday is a special day and that the Sign of the Cross names the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They know that red is the colour for this time of the year.

 

We have been learning about Pentecost. We spoke about how Jesus promised to send the special gift of the Holy Spirit. We listened to the story and learnt how the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of wind, fire and power. We made our own wind with material, sat by the fire and learnt some words in a different language. We know the gift of the Holy Spirit is with us all.

 

 

In RE we began to think about Pentecost and the promise that Jesus made to His disciples. We learnt that God made a promise to Jesus to send the Holy Spirit to us. We thought about how the Holy Spirit helps us in many ways like to love one another, share Jesus’ love with others and to spread the good news. It also reminds us that God always keeps His promises and is always with us to make good choices.

 

For this half term the children have been thinking of ideas to answer the Big Catholic Social Teaching Question when thinking about Jesus’ teachings on family and community in our church. The children have completed their learning about ‘Our Church’ and reflected on what they know to answer the question. Their answers were meaningful. Here are some of them.

‘How do your share the Gospel message with your family and friends?’

  • Sharing the Wednesday Word with them. I know this is found on St Anne’s Website.
  • Living my life by following the Gospel messages.
  • Going to Mass with them at the weekend.
  • Attending Parish Mass with my teachers and school friends and talking about the Gospel.

Prayer and Liturgy

We have finished the Missio challenge of praying for children around the world during the Month of May. Today we joined in with the Holy Rosary after Parish Mass whilst patiently waiting for our second confession. We also celebrated Kacie's first Confession too!

 

This week marked the start of Pentecost. In Year 4 we focused on understanding the story of Pentecost and how the Apostles spread the Good News. The children shared some insightful ideas and thoughts. Their responses were a great reflection of their knowledge and strong faith. They considered which gifts they would like to possess, how they can spread the Good News today and whether the Gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are linked with British Values and the values promoted through our faith.

 

We have started our unit of Pentecost in Year 5. The children have thought about retrieving their knowledge from what they already know and learnt in Year 4, and looking at our Learning Journey ahead of us of what we are going to learn in Year 5. We looked at why the Holy Spirit is called a gift, comforter and helper, as well as understanding that it allowed the disciples to be ‘true advocates’ for spreading the word of Jesus through the gift of knowing all languages. The children were very engaged, and we look forward to our RE Inspire Workshop which is Friday (which will have already happened when you are reading this!), and is all about Pentecost. 

 

As part of their work linked to Pentecost, Year 6 began their RE lesson today with the prayer to the Holy spirit. They then thought about the ways in which Holy spirit has impacted upon their lives since their Confirmation in November.

 

Our Reception children thoroughly enjoyed working with their parents linked to their class saint ‘Saint Anne.’ A special focus was also given to Mary with it being the month of May. It was wonderful to see children and parent’s/family members working in partnership and taking part in prayer and liturgy together. Families added thoughtful prayers to the prayer tree, created Saint fact posters and completed wonderful arts and crafts pieces. A wonderful morning was had by all.

 

In RE the children listened to the Bible story ‘The Wedding at Cana’ and were amazed by Jesus’ first miracle.  They know that people get married when they love each other. The children enjoyed dressing up in special clothes and role-playing a wedding celebration.

 

 

 

Year 1 have continued their work around Prayer. They visited church to say their own Prayers to God. Reception also attended Parish Mass. The children were beautifully behaved and showed wonderful reverence and respect during the service.

As we conclude our unit on forgiveness, we have explored the Catholic Social Teaching question, "Should I forgive everyone all of the time?" This question is connected to the principles of solidarity and the common good. Throughout this unit, we have gained a deeper understanding of the significance of forgiveness and its important role in our faith. We learned that forgiving others is not just about being kind, but it also helps us feel better and grow as people. When we forgive, we help make our school family more loving and caring, just like our faith teaches us. Here are some of the wonderful responses children gave linked to the CST question:

 

‘Yes we should always forgive because that is what Jesus teaches us to do in His parables’

‘Yes we should always forgive because the Our Father prayer asks us to forgive those who trespass against us’

‘Yes because God forgives us, so we should forgive like Him’

‘Yes because forgiveness helps us to live a happier life’

 

For the unit of RE in Year 2, learning all about ‘Our Church’, the children have learned about St Peter, who is known as ‘The Rock’ of the church. The children listened to the story and retold it through role play. They learned how inspirational St Peter was in founding the Catholic church as he had a strong faith and God protected him as he protects us all. 

Watch the story with your child by following the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzM9aFqkw6s


 

We have also been reflecting on our Sacramental Journey. We have written our own special prayer, understanding this journey and this important step we make so we can grow closer to God. 3R will be receiving the Blessed Sacrament for the first time. Please keep these children in your prayers and wish them a happy day as they make their First Holy Communion.

 

In R.E. the children have been looking at Moses and King David – two influential prophets who set the example in our faith. It has been a privilege to learn about these amazing individuals. So far the children have looked at Moses’ Birth and Moses and the Burning Bush. The children have focussed on what they can learn from these stories and what the key message is. Despite Moses start to life he overcame this, becoming a great teacher and someone we can learn from. God called on Moses on a few occasions (with particular focus on the burning bush). The children therefore reflected on  who God called them to be and how they can find God today in their own lives.

 

Year 5 have been learning about the life of Saint Stephen. Stephen was the first Christian martyr. The children explored the reasons why Stephen stood up for what he believed in, and gave his life for his faith. We also asked the children the question, ‘What do you think is the most difficult decision a follower of Christ could make?’ and the children had some wonderful, thought-provoking responses. We talked about how it is important to stand up for what we believe in, and because our faith is rooted in everything we do, it is important that we speak up for our beliefs, just like our virtue, to be ‘Eloquent and Truthful.’

 

 

Ahead of Vocations week, the children spent time reflecting on their gifts and talents, and what God has called each of us to be. The children prayed the diocesan prayer for vocations, whilst thinking about how they can flourish their God given gifts and be the best version of themselves. During the month of Our Lady, we continued to show devotion to her through praying the Magnificat. Mary has been a great source of strength for the children, particularly this week.

The nursery children know that each Sunday people gather in Church to celebrate together so the children visited St. Anne’s Church and listened to the Bible story ‘The Wedding at Cana’.

 

 

We have continued our work in Reception Prayer. We have been busy writing our own Prayers asking our Heavenly Father to help and guide us. Have a look at our wonderful work.

 

Year 1 have continued exploring why forgiveness matters and how it can improve our lives. We are understanding and realising that forgiveness doesn't excuse wrongdoing, but it is an important part of our faith and happiness. We discussed classroom situations and ways to forgive. Also, we learned about Jesus's sacrifice for our sins and the importance of being grateful to Him and those who forgive us when we make mistakes in our lives.

 

In May, Year 2 know to honour Mary the Mother of Jesus. The Hail Mary is prayed daily and this week they have learned to sing the prayer with sign language. Please practise at home by following the link to encourage your child to pray at home through song.

Hail Mary - Signing Film (youtube.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we draw closer to celebrating our First Holy Communion, Deacon Stuart also kindly visited us to share his wisdom and answer some of our questions around First Holy Communion. We are so excited to receive the Blessed Sacrament for the first time!

 

To commemorate Mary during the month of May we took this time to go to the prayer garden and say the Hail Mary. We considered the impact Our Lady has had on our lives. We also took this time to reflect on the Feast of the Ascension and how we are so grateful to learn from Jesus every day.

 

 

In Prayer and Liturgy, the children took part in a Five Finger Examen Prayer together. Each finger on our hand represents a different type of prayer. For example: Be Still, talk with God, and Notice. It was a wonderful day to start our morning and helped us to connect with God in a peaceful way. We use our fingers to grip onto things, to point out things, and to join our hands to pray. The children took part in this so wonderfully and really enjoyed being reverent and having the opportunity to reflect before a busy day ahead.

 

 

During Prayer and Liturgy, Year 6 showed their devotion to Our Lady by praying the Magnificat in the prayer garden. The sun was shining as we thought about Our Lady. We presented flowers to her and prayed a decade of the Rosary.

 

 

 

The children are learning about special celebrations, they spoke about their own experiences of celebrations like birthdays, Christmas and Baptism. They know that celebrations are happy occasions.

 

We have been focusing on good choices and bad choices. We learnt that choices we make, however big or small, can affect us and other people in good or bad ways. We then looked at a range of scenarios and decided if it was a good or bad choice. By the end of the lesson we were able to understand the consequences that can happen because of the choices in which we make and also what can happen if we make the right choices!

 

 

For the Spiritual Learning Unit of ‘Our Church’ year 2 went to visit our parish church ‘St Anne’s’. The children know how special St Anne’s church community is and how we all belong and are welcome. The children had a challenge in the form of a treasure hunt in church. They did really well and are going to further their learning about these special treasures in our next lesson.

 

During the month of May, we celebrate our Holy Mother, Mary. This week we gathered together in Prayer and Liturgy to pray a decade of the Rosary, say and sing the Magnificat (with the help of the very talented Jo Boyce), and pray in colour creating beautiful images of Our Lady!

 

 

The year 4 children planned a beautiful child led worship all about the Wednesday Word ‘Love’ and started our celebrations of Our Lady, as we are now in the month of May. We gathered together by singing the Hail Mary as a way to honour Our Lady. The children then introduced the activity of creating a Jar of Blessings, where each child wrote what they are thankful for on a heart template, before we gathered them together to add into the jar. The children enjoyed this time of reflection and to think about the people they love most and who they are grateful for! Finally, the children delivered the Go Fourth message where they decided it would be a lovely idea to spend some time reflecting in our prayer garden and pray a decade of the Rosary as a way of honouring Mary.

 

 

On Monday, the children were visited by Deacon Stuart to talk about our Big Catholic Social Teaching question for our Easter Unit. Deacon Stuart talked to the children about why it is important to pray for those who have passed away and how we can ensure that we keep them in our thoughts. The children had some wonderful responses and questions for Deacon Stuart. We feel very lucky that Deacon Stuart is able to come in and talk to us about our faith.

 

The children in Year 6 have been reflecting on various Saints this week and have been thinking about why these Saints inspire them. We have a variety of different Saints ranging from St George to St Sebastian. The children have also been thinking about what it means to be a ‘martyr’ and we have been thinking about St Stephen and the sacrifices he made for his faith.

 

 

To celebrate Saint George’s Day, Year 3 went to Parish Mass on Tuesday. Deacon Stuart spoke to us about the true meaning of Saint George fighting a dragon. We were inspired to go forth with bravery and courage just like Saint George!

 

During prayer and liturgy this week the nursery children have been recalling their work on the ‘Creation’ story linked to ‘Earth Day’. They thought about different ways that they could help look after our planet. Emmie- “Turn the lights off.”  Harper- “Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth.” Ava- “Water the plants.”  Robyn- “Put the rubbish in the bin.” Brady- “We can recycle.”

 

This week in Reception we have been thinking about Prayer and the ways in which we can pray to God. We have been thinking about all of the things that we are thankful for. We thought about the talents that God gave us, the wonderful world He created and the special gift of our family and friends. We drew pictures of what we are thankful for and said some wonderful thank you Prayers.

 

Through the story of The Good Samaritan, we learnt about who our neighbour is – everyone!
We focused on the scripture ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, thinking about our communities and how God calls us to live in community with one another. We have made pledges to become ‘neighbour monitors’ - if we see any children in our school community that may not have anyone to play with or needs help with their work, we will make sure that we help them, as we should love each other and work together.

 

2024 has been designated a Year of Prayer by Pope Francis. There is a particular focus on the Our Father, and this presents the children in Year 2 with a great opportunity to go back to the basics of prayer on earth as it is in Heaven. This week Year 2 have been focussing on saying this prayer as well as singing a version of it. Here is the link if you would like your child to sing it at home-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tGqHrR8J0U

 

 

This week Jake, Ciara, Analeah, Kyla, Harry-Rae and Dolcey of Year 4 planned a beautiful prayer and liturgy. They gathered together with the hymn ‘My Lighthouse’ and introduced the Wednesday word of ‘Growing.’ The children then chose a unique idea which explored a different type of prayer; prayer of the hand.  We did an activity called envelope prayers where we had an envelope each for Praise, Thanks and Sorry. The children had to then select one type of prayer they wished to write. They then added their prayer to the corresponding envelope. We shared some prayers which were beautiful. We now have a collection of Thanks, Sorry and Praise prayers to read at any time! For the Go Forth message they wanted everyone to consider how they could grow their faith this week, remembering that our faith blossoms everyday just like a flower.

 

 

This week, the children have been thinking about Saint George’s Day. As Saint George is the Patron Saint of England, we have been thinking about his bravery and role as our patron Saint. We said a prayer for him to keep him in our thoughts, as we ask that God gives us our own power and strength to fight our ‘dragons’, just as Saint George did in his story.

 

During their RE lesson this week, they year 6 children had the opportunity to reflect upon the meaning of Eternal life. Their responses were beautiful.

 

 

 

 

The Nursery children have been continuing to sing and use the happy, Easter word ‘Alleluia’. They decorated their own alleluia signs to take home and share with their family.

 

Reception have been continuing their work around Easter. They went to church to look at the beautiful artefacts and symbols and focused their work on the Paschal Candle and Together we discussed the special symbols on the candle and their meaning. The children looked carefully at the candle and created beautiful observational drawings.

 

Year 1 children have listened to the Bible story ‘Peter in Prison’. The children began by re-telling the story by putting images in the correct order. They then learnt about the meaning of ‘faith’ and why it is important to have faith just like the people of God did when they were praying for Peter to be set free from prison in the story. We thought about how we all believe in God, follow and love Him; yet we have never physically seen Him. However, having strong faith allows us to believe that He is with us all always and we will be re-united one day.

 

For the unit of Easter Year 2 listened to the story of ‘Doubting Thomas.’ They explored the meaning of doubt and looked at scenarios where they had to say whether they believed something or not to have an insight into how Thomas felt. The children role played the story and were exceptional in their delivery. They learned an important lesson from scripture that nothing is impossible with God’s help.

 

During Prayer and Liturgy, Year 3 gathered in the Prayer Garden to say our morning offering. In the beautiful sunshine, we reflected on the week we have had and even sung one of our First Holy Communion hymns together. A wonderful way to start the day together.

 

Year 4 concluded their Easter unit by answering our big Catholic Social Teaching question ‘Christians believe that Jesus continues to remain here with us on Earth. What do you see or hear around you that demonstrates that?’ which links to the catholic social principle of Stewardship of God’s Creation. We had some wonderful responses showing how the year 4 children’s faith continues to grow. Their responses were personal to their own relationship with Jesus. The children recognised and understood that Jesus’ presence is around us always and we can see this through our values and virtues, catholic social teaching, prayer and Gospel readings. The children at St. Anne’s show how they can live this out through learning from Jesus’ example every day.

 

 

Year 5 children have been learning about the Ascension of Jesus. We thought about how the disciples would have felt when they saw Jesus ascend to Heaven, and what questions we might ask them if we had the chance. The children came up with some wonderful, spiritual questions that they might ask. We also looked at a beautiful painting of Jesus’ Ascension to Heaven.

 

 

Year 6 children had the opportunity to discuss the following statements linked to resurrection of Christ. Their responses were thought provoking and spiritual.

The Nursery children have been learning about the Easter story and they know that the Easter word ‘Alleluia’ is used to show great joy and happiness because Jesus is alive. They sang an Alleluia song and talked about the things that make them feel joy and happiness. Brady- “I feel happy when I go on holiday.” Harper- “I feel happy when Daddy gives me a pick up.”

 

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Reception have been thinking about Easter and celebrating that Jesus rose on Easter Sunday. We recalled the events of Holy Week and spoke about how the disciples felt when they realised that Jesus was alive. The children were wonderful at retelling the story.

 

 

During the season of Lent, Year 1 buried the Alleluia inside a sealed box on our classroom’s focal point. This reminded us that during the season of Lent, we were invited to reflect and practice repentance. As we returned to school this half term, we unburied our Alleluia’s and celebrated joyfully reminding us that Jesus lives! We sang ‘Praise Ye the Lord Alleluia’ and stuck the word Alleluia all around the classroom as a wonderful way of recognising this.

 

Year 2 have ‘unburied’ the Alleluia as we are celebrating that Jesus is risen in this season of Easter. The children listened to the story of the resurrection as well as looking at different images. They then reflected and thought of questions they wondered about the resurrection.

 

 

To end our unit of learning about Holy Week, we responded to our Big Catholic Social Teaching Question. In our responses we discussed how Jesus decided to see the good in everybody even though He knew that one of the Disciples would betray Him – thinks links to the principle of Dignity for the Human Person!

 

This week Zuriel, Freddie, Leah, Lenny, Adaeze and Isobella planned a beautiful prayer and liturgy. They gathered together with the hymn here I am to worship and introduced the Wednesday word of ‘Believe.’ The children then chose a unique idea which explored a different type of prayer; prayer of the hand.  As the children hold each finger they have a different focus. Thumb; Pray for those closest to you, Pointing Finger; pray for those who point to God – parents, teachers, priests, Biggest finger; Pray for those in authority, Weakest finger; pray for people who are suffering, Little finger; pray for yourself. The children really enjoyed and valued this reflection time. As their Go Forth they decided to get Year 4 to think about what the word believe means to them and to think of one way that how believing in Jesus improves our lives.

 

 

Year 6 children have been learning about the Easter Vigil in our Easter Unit. The children learned about the importance of the Paschal Candle and what it represents. We talked about the first and last letter from the Greek alphabet representing the never-ending life of Jesus, and the cross representing the cross that Jesus died on. The children had some wonderful responses to our discussion and really thought about the true meaning of Easter and the symbols we think of when we think about Easter.

 

 

 

 

In Prayer and Liturgy the children have been using the Ten, Ten resource ‘I Can Pray!, I Remember’. We have been remembering all we have learnt about the special way we can spend time with God through prayer.

 

In RE we continue learning about Lent, we created a mind map showing all of the different things we do to prepare for Easter. The children added some super drawings to our map. 

We concluded our Lent unit by answering our big Catholic Social Teaching question ‘Is it easy to follow Jesus all of the time?’ linked to rights and responsibilities. We had some wonderful responses showing that the year 1 children are really able to reflect on their own faith and how they put their faith into action each and every day. Here are some of the children’s responses:

Yes, because we learn our virtues and values in school that help me to be a follower of Jesus.
Yes, because Jesus’ parables teach me how to follow in His footsteps.
Yes, because I want to make God proud and I know I must follow Jesus to do this.

 

 

As we approach the end of our Lent unit in RE, we have been reflecting on our big Catholic Social Teaching question. Our question is ‘Why do you think that it is important to put those who are in need first?’ which links to the CST principle of Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.

 

We have been continuing to live out our Catholic Social Teachings in many ways this week. In particular, the children have been considering in Geography why migration provides an option for the poor and vulnerable. In our phase assembly this week many children were celebrating for showcasing the catholic social teaching principles.

Kyla and Lydia were awarded the CST certificate for Stewardship of God’s creation as they both considered how they can implement nature into the school grounds and look after the earth during National Science Week.

The children have been learning about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the different stages. We learned about how important it can be to ask God for forgiveness if we make a wrong choice, and how that can nourish our relationship with both God and ourselves. The children had some wonderful responses about forgiveness and its importance in our lives.

 

 

In RE the children have been thinking about times that they may have made a wrong choice. They learnt to say their own sorry prayer. We finished our prayers by saying “We are sorry Lord- yes we are.”  To celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday the Nursery children invited their mums into class to watch them perform a special song called ‘It’s Mother’s Day Today’. The children presented their mothers with a special card, a flower and a hug. During prayer and Liturgy they thought about the different ways they can show love to their mums.

 

 

Reception have been discussing how during Lent we try out best to make good choices. We know good choices bring us closer to Jesus.  We wrote our choices on a petal to create a class choices flower. We will keep referring to these throughout our Lenten journey. 

 

Year 1 have been continuing to live out our Catholic Social Teachings in many ways this week. Teddy was awarded the CST certificate Family and Community because he is always such a role model to his class family. In 1I the CST certificate for Family and Community was awarded to Michaela Kielty for always showing kindness to her class family. We are so proud of these two children and the rest of the year group for always putting their faith into action!

 

 

 

On Monday Deacon Stuart visited year 2 to teach the children more about Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness as we are in the Season of Lent. He told us the story of The Prodigal Son and answered the following questions-

What does the word sin mean? Can you tell us what repent means and why it is important? Can you tell us how we can show God we are sorry? The Big Catholic Social Teaching question we have got to answer is ‘How can we show God we are sorry for our sins?’ Can you help us answer this question please?

 

 

During Lent, Year 3 have been reflecting on the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fast and almsgiving. We discussed why it is important to give back to the world and think about others during Lent. We wrote our own Psalm for Change, asking God to shine his light on all who are less fortunate than us and bring them comfort during times of need. It is through this act of solidarity that we can bring change to the world! Psalm 16:8 I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

 

 

In R.E. the children are continuing to enjoy their Lenten Unit. The children developed an understanding of what it means to be a humble person. They then related this to the Bible story of the Pharisee and the Publican. They discussed what they thought God would think about both men. The children decided that the Publican/ Tax Collector would return home justified before God; ‘For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted’ Luke 18:9-14.

Year 4 also looked at parables about God’s Kingdom and how we can embrace His Kingdom today.

 

 

In Religious Education this week, the children have been looking at Lent. On Tuesday, we looked at some of the teachings of the Apostles from the New Testament and their letters about becoming more like Christ. Looking at the letters from St Paul, we picked out this quote in particular taken from

1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

In Year 5, we talked about what this quote means to us and how we can live out this teaching.

 

 

During their RE Lessons this week, the year 6 children focussed upon the Beatitudes. They discussed what each Beatitude meant and thought carefully about the type of people that Jesus blessed and the rewards that these people received. They then wrote their own modern day version of the beatitudes.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Shepherd Assembly

A visitor was welcomed into school to launch and talk about the ‘Good Shepherd Appeal.’ They told the children about the work of Fr Hudson’s and where the money raised by the Good Shepherd Appeal will be going. This is an excellent way of showing children how their Lenten Sacrifice can help make a real difference to people’s lives. We are putting our faith into action to serve the most vulnerable in our community fulfilling the Catholic social teaching principle ‘the option for the poor and vulnerable’. We Remember, our actions, both big and small, contribute to building a world of peace, love, and justice.

 

 

 

 

Religious Education

The Nursery children can make the Sign of the Cross and they know that when we pray we are talking to God the Father and to His son Jesus. During Prayer and Liturgy the children have been learning about worshipping God.

 

Emmie- “God is wonderful.”

Oliver- “God is amazing.”

Isabella- “God is good.”

Harper- “God is great.”

 

 

 

In RE we created a Lenten pathway to show the different things that we can do as we journey through Lent to grow closer to Jesus. We spoke about Lent being a time of thinking carefully about our actions and choices and saying sorry to God. We thought of our own Sorry Prayers.

 

In RE this week we have been thinking about some of the important sayings of Jesus and what they mean to us as Catholics. In John’s Gospel (chapter 8 verse 12) Jesus said ‘I am the Light of the World’. We learnt that before Jesus came into our world, the world was not a nice place to live in with many people being unkind to each other and it felt like people were living under a cloud of darkness. We believe that because of this Jesus was our salvation and he was like a light coming into our world to teach us how to treat one another. We have created our own pieces of art work showing that Jesus is the light of our world. 

 

On Tuesday Year 2 attended Parish Mass. The teachers were so proud of their reverent behaviour and listening during the mass. As each class has buried the alleluia the children noticed how before the gospel reading the alleluia was definitely missing. Well done Year 2!

 

 

Following from our inspirational assembly with Margot from Father Hudson’s Care, Year 3 read the beautiful story called ‘The Rainbow Fish’. We identified that this links to our Catholic Social Teaching for the half-term: Option for the Poor and Vulnerable! We considered the important messages that both Jesus and this books teaches us and reflected on the important messages from our assembly. We decided as a class that it is very important to think about those less fortunate than us because everyone has the right to feel safe and loved. It is our responsibility to care for those in need.

 

 

The children led a beautiful child-led Prayer and Liturgy based on the Wednesday Word this week with a focus on enthusiasm. The children opened with their chosen hymn of ‘My Lighthouse’ for their gather as they enjoy the notion that when we sing we are praying twice. Their Go Forth message was to spread enthusiasm throughout their learning and in everything that they do.

 

 

On Wednesday, the children had a visit from Father Hudson’s Good Shepherd appeal. During the assembly, the children found out where the money that they raise during Lent can go to support those who are in need of extra support. In class, Year 5 had an important conversation about the importance of almsgiving during Lent and how money that can be raised will help others.

 

Year 6 have been busy selling chocolate bars this morning to raise money for our Lenten charities. This is a wonderful example of the children at Anne’s living out our Catholic social teaching principle of helping the poor and vulnerable, as all of the money raised from this sale will go to charity.

 

 

 

Lent 

Nursery children have been learning about Lent. They know that it is the beginning of Lent and that the colour purple is used at this time.

 

Reception started their Lenton journey and have been thinking carefully about the things they are going to give up and the promises they are going to make during this special time. They displayed their Lenten promises on a special tree placed at our focal point.

 

Year 4 have been thinking and reflecting on the liturgical season of Lent. They have created Lenten promises including the three main pillars in Lent; Pray, Fast and Almsgiving. They have linked this to the Catholic Social Teaching principle and our focus for this half term; Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. They have thought about how they can help those less fortunate than themselves.

 

Year 6 have been writing their Lenten Commitments. They promised they would be more like Jesus through their actions and their spirituality. We discussed the importance of almsgiving as well as the things we should change/give up during Lent and what importance this has on our faith. 

 

 

 

 

 

To mark the beginning of Lent, Year 1 decorated the word Alleluia with colours before burying it inside a sealed box on our classroom’s focal point. This is going to remind them that during the season of Lent, we are invited to reflect, acknowledge their sins and practice repentance. Once the Lent season has passed and Easter is here, the Alleluia will return and we will open the box and display our colourful creations.

 

This week as year 2 begin their Lenten Journey the children learned that the Alleluia is not said or sang. They thought about how during this season they prepare for Easter and the celebration of Jesus rising and how they need to prepare by reflecting and making their hearts ready for this wonderful event in their lives. The ‘Alleluias’ have been coloured and buried in a box and will be revealed again when Easter arrives.

 

Year 1 decorated the word Alleluia with colours before burying it inside a sealed box on our classroom’s focal point. This is going to remind them that during the season of Lent, we are invited to reflect, acknowledge their sins and practice repentance. Once the Lent season has passed and Easter is here, the Alleluia will return and we will open the box and display our colourful creations.

 

 

 

Year 2 begin their Lenten Journey the children learned that the Alleluia is not said or sang. They thought about how during this season they prepare for Easter and the celebration of Jesus rising and how they need to prepare by reflecting and making their hearts ready for this wonderful event in their lives. The ‘Alleluias’ have been coloured and buried in a box and will be revealed again when Easter arrives.

 

 

 

 

Year 3 had a wonderful visit from Deacon Stuart on Wednesday. We had a very spiritual conversation about Lent and shared some important information about the season we are in. We were very curious to ask Deacon Stuart our Big Catholic Social Teaching question for Lent which is: Why do you think that it’s important to put those who are in need first? It was lovely to reflect on Deacon Stuart’s expertise on how it is our responsibility to put people in most need first, linking to the principle of Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.

 

 

 

Religious Education

 

In Prayer and Liturgy the Nursery children have been using the Ten, Ten resource ‘I Am Welcome’. They have learnt about feeling welcome, and how to make others feel welcome too. We have learnt about inviting God to be welcome in our lives. The children sang an echo song called ‘All Are Welcome’.

 

All are welcome (all are welcome)

You and me (you and me)

Everyone is in God’s (everyone is in God’s)

Family (family)

 

Reception have listened to the story “The calling of the disciples”, and have learnt all about Jesus’ 12 special friends. The class discussed how they can be a good follower of Jesus. We know that Jesus has called us all too and that we must try our best to follow in his footsteps and be a good disciple.

 

Year 1 have been preparing to write a prayer of sorrow and love to God. We listened to the parable ‘The Prodigal Son’ and thought about how the son showed sorrow for the wrong choices that he made but the father showed love by forgiving him! We thought about things that we might be sorry for like making wrong choices, being unkind to our siblings and not protecting God’s world. We understand that God will forgive us is we are truly sorry.

 

For the Unit of work ‘Sharing in the Life of Jesus’ the children of Year 2 have interviewed their teachers for the job of a disciple. They then had to answer questions about themselves. The children came up with some convincing ideas for why they in today’s world were suitable candidates as followers of Jesus.

 

 

Year 3 – Religious Education - Our Sacramental Journey: The Sacrament of Reconciliation

In the last two weeks, Year 3 attended Parish mass before taking the next big step in their spiritual journey, making the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Each child was so reverent and respectful during this time. The Year 3 team are so proud of each and every one of you!

 

 

 Year 4 children and their families were welcomed to take part in their R.E. inspire workshop all about the ‘I Am’ Sayings of Jesus. There were some beautiful creations to definitely be proud of. I am sure we could all agree it was a beautiful atmosphere! Well done Year 4!

 

Year 5 children have been looking at a painting of Jesus. It is called ‘Light of The World’ by William Holman Hunt. The children reflected on the image and what it might represent, and also how we might answer Jesus if he knocked on the door of our home and asked to speak with us. The children spent some time in silent reflection, about their own thoughts and feelings towards this image and their relationship with Jesus, but also shared these emotions with the class in a wonderful discussion.

 

In their RE lessons, Year 6 children have been thinking about the qualities needed to be a disciple. They then had the oppurtunity to create a persuasive paragraph explaining why they believed that they would be a great Disicple. We think our children in year 6, as the leaders of the school, show great discipleship each and every day. We are all called to be disciples of Jesus through our thoughts, words and actions.

 

 

The Feast of Saint John Bosco

 

On the 31st of January, Year 6 celebrated the Feast Day of Saint John Bosco, our class saint. During prayer and liturgy, we discussed his life and we reflected on some of his quotes which inspired us to be a follower of Christ.

We were particularly inspired by

how he followed our Catholic Social Teaching: option for the poor and vulnerable.

 

 

Religious Education

 

In Prayer and Liturgy, Nursery have been using the Ten, Ten resource ‘I Can Pray!’ (The Sign of the Cross). They learnt an echo song called ‘I Can Pray’ (To the tune of ‘I Hear Thunder’).

I can pray (I can pray)

Anywhere (anywhere)

Put your hands together (put your hands together)

Time for prayer (time for prayer)

 

 

 

Reception have been continuing with their unit “People who help us”. They are reflecting on their visit to church and have discussed the different artefacts and objects they saw there. They have been speaking about Father Christopher and his important work in the community, showing super retrieval skills and wonderful knowledge linked to our church.

 

This week’s catholic social teaching certificates have been awarded to two absolute superstars! A very big well done to Amelia in 1I who received the Stewardship of God’s Creation certificate for sharing a wealth of knowledge of animals and how they are a special part of God’s creation. Then to Alexander in 1O’C who received the Dignity of Work certificate for putting his absolute everything into his work, helping him to grow and become who God is calling him to be!

 

For the Unit of work ‘Sharing in the Life of Jesus’ Year 2 children have learned how to pray with rosary beads. The luminous mystery ‘Wedding at Cana’ was a focus where the children prayed and thought about Mary and Jesus at this important event. The children have also been making their own choices to reflect on something meaningful to them while they prayed the rosary. They thought of family members, the poor, the sick and refugees to name a few.

 

Year 4 children have been understanding the ‘I Am’ sayings of Jesus and understanding the importance of the Eucharist. After going through the order of Mass retrieving knowledge from Year 3, the children were tasked with a challenge! Their job was to prove to Miss Evans that they can share with the Twitter and Catholic community why the Eucharist is important. The children had to answer key questions within their tweets including what is the Eucharist? And what does transubstantiation mean to Catholics? Year 4 definitely succeeded with their challenge!

 

The children have celebrating their R.E. Inspire workshop with their families this week, all about the ‘I Am’ sayings of Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

Deacon Stuart came to visit Year 5 to talk to us about our unit ‘Parables and Sayings of Jesus’. He helped us to answer our Big CST question, and spoke to us about loving our neighbours, and spreading peace and love all around the world. We are so grateful that Deacon Stuart took the time to come and speak to us, the children loved hearing his views and insightful words!

 

The Year 6 children have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to listen to Deacon Stewart help them answer their BIG CST question: “And the light shineth in the darkness. and the darkness did not comprehend it!” How can we be a light in the darkness? Deacon Stuart supported the children to answer this question, drawing upon familiar Bible stories to help the children understand. We have been focusing particularly on the inspiration of St Francis of Assisi, who certainly was a light in the darkness, carrying out the work of God and his creation

 

 

As we have come to the end of our Christmas unit in RE, it was time for the children to answer our big Catholic Social Teaching question. The children discussed how Mary and Joseph became refugees when they were forced to flee to Egypt due to King Herod. We spoke about how we can relate the Holy Family’s stories to the stories of refugees today, and how we, as Catholics, can support them. The children’s responses were beautiful and they really thought about how we can embody the Catholic Social Teaching values to support and show love to others.

 

 

 

We have now started our new unit in RE which is ‘We Listen to God’s Word at Mass’. We started by sharing some of our prior knowledge from Year 2, thinking about the signs, symbols and actions associated with Mass. Then we explored how to listen to God’s Word through the Bible. We were even set a Bible reading challenge where we locate different animals and Biblical figures using Bible References.

 

 

 

The children have been learning about the final event ‘The Flight to Egypt.’ They acted out the story where Mary and Joseph, along with the baby Jesus, fled to Bethlehem- as his life was in danger after an angel warned Joseph in a dream. The children thought about how the Holy Family were refugees and they then discussed how important it is to treat refugees today the way they would have hoped Mary and Joseph were treated. They were in need and vulnerable just as refugees are today and deserve kindness, compassion and our prayers.

 

 

 

We have started our new unit ‘Sharing in Jesus’ Life’. In this unit we are listening to the Bible story of how Jesus called His disciples to be His followers and then played a game of ‘disciples snap’ to help us remember the disciples’ names. After this we took part in a true or false quiz to see what we could remember from the story of the ‘Call of the Disciples’.

 

 

 

Visiting the Church

 

As part of our unit “People who help us” we enjoy visiting church. We were excited to look at the special artefacts and statues in church. We discussed the special role of Father Christopher and the important work he does in our community.

 

 

Catholic Life and Social Teaching

 

 

Year 4 children have been answering their Catholic Social Teaching Question for their Christmas Unit. The children have used all of their knowledge from the unit and their growing faith to provide beautiful answers. Our focus for this unit has been ‘Solidarity and the Common Good.’ The children answered the following question: The angels were God’s messengers. What message would you spread to the world to show solidarity?”

 

 

To mark the start of the New Year, Year 3 have been celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany. They have been reflecting on Matthew’s Gospel and considered how this story highlights the guidance God has given us through the birth of Jesus. We developed our understanding that not only does God guide us but the Church exists to help us and provides us even more support from the Bible. What an important manual we have for our lives! We sung the wonderful hymn “We Three Kings” to celebrate this special event.

 

The story of Annunciation

 

After learning all about the season of Advent leading up to Christmas, we now reflect upon the events that took place before and after the birth of Jesus. We were told the story of the Annunciation and reflected on how we would feel if we were Mary and had been visited by Angel Gabriel. To show our understanding of the story, we retold it in our own words.

 

Year 2 have been working on their further understanding of the story of the Annunciation and considered why this event was so important. They really enjoyed acting out the story in pairs using a script of the conversation between Mary and Angel Gabriel.

 

 

 

 

Religious Education

 

In Nursery’s RE unit ‘Christmas-Mary the Mother of Jesus’ the children know that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday and that Mary is Jesus’ mother. They think about the different ways that their Mums show love and care to them just like Mary did for Jesus.

Tierney- “My Mum gives me kisses all the time.”

Tierney- “My Mum makes me laugh.”

Oliver- “My Mum makes me dinner and we sit down at the table.”

Ava- “My Mum plays with me.”

Robyn- “My Mum takes me out for dinner.”

 

 

Reception have worked hard to order and sequence the story of Christmas.They learnt all about the feast of the “Epiphany” and had a special visit from three wise men. They brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

 

 

 

 

The Epithany 

 

In Year 2, the children have learned more about ‘The Epiphany’ where the three kings visited baby Jesus and offered him gifts. They thought about what gifts they would bring to offer baby Jesus- not material gifts but actions and behaviours. The children thought of some wonderful ideas- friendship, love, care and peace- to name a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religious Education

 

In R.E. the children are coming to the end of their Christmas Unit. They have looked at Messengers of God and the signs and symbols of Christmas. Year 4 have worked really hard to grow their faith by learning more about the meaning and symbolism of Christmas.

We have also looked at Christmas Traditions in Spain!

 

 

In Year 5, the children have been using the Bible to work through different activities. By finding the book, chapter, and verse, the children have worked together to find the different Bible references. Year 5 are brilliant at using our precious bibles and really enjoy working together on this task! It is a lovely opportunity to use the Bible and understand and navigate the different books which complete the Bible too. Well done, Year 5!

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas Story

 

Reception have continued their work around the Christmas Story and the children were able to recall the story in lots of detail. We played a game where we “hot seated” the different characters and thought about their feelings during different parts of the story. The children used super vocabularly such as “amazed”, “astonished”, “shocked” and “surprised”.

 

 

Year 1 reflected on our knowledge of the Christmas Story. We thought about the important decision that Mary had to make when Angel Gabriel came to visit her and how our lives would be different if Mary had not said yes. Then we re-told the important events that happened in the Christmas story and how grateful we are that Jesus our Saviour was born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Three have been focusing on the Christmas story and the important role that was played by the Shepherds. They explored some of the titles given to Jesus by the Angels when delivering the Good News to the Shepherds. They also explored how Saint Francis shared his faith with others and cared for God’s creatures, just as the Shepherds did too!

 

 

Christingles


 

During their PSHE lesson year 6 had the opportunity to make a Christingle. The Christingle means ‘Christ’s Light’. and are used by Christians to celebrate Jesus as the Light of the World. They also remind us that Jesus brings hope, comfort and joy to those who feel sad, lost or lonely

 

Children have thought about the coming of the Jesus. Year 5 made booklets for Key Stage 1, telling them about how they can prepare for Advent and all of the different ways they might do this. The children worked so hard on their booklets and loved being able to write something that is aimed at younger children to teach them all that they have learned and know about preparing for the coming of Jesus.

 

 

 

Religious Education

As we draw nearer to the Birth of Christ, Year 3 have been learning about the tradition of the Jesse Tree! We learned about how Jesus’ ancestors prepared for the Messiah just as we are preparing too during the Season of Advent!

 

 

 

Year 2 Catholic Life- The Nativity Performance

What a fantastic way to finish Year 2’s final week before the rest of Christmas festivities begin. All the children sang their hearts out, danced with delight and chorally spoke clearly and with gusto!!!

 

Every child was a shining star and made their teachers extremely proud. A wonderful way to share the Christmas story with all the children in school as well as families too.

 

 

Bambinelli Sunday

Bambinelli Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) when all the children bring their figure of baby Jesus from their nativity scenes to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope. Our Reception children have made their own beautiful Bambinellis and were delighted when Deacon Stuart came to school to bless them. The children have taken their Bambinellis home, meaning that Jesus will be present in their home during the Christmas season.  

 

 

 

 

Prayer and Liturgy

The children have been continuing with their Advent Spiritual Journey. They have said the Walk with me prayer, lit the second Advent candle for Peace and sang our favourite Advent song ‘Light The Advent Candle.’ Follow the link if you would like to use this song at home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkTWjhjKHjs

 

 

 

RE

In RE this week, the children have looked at St. John the Baptist and his message. From our previous unit of Baptism, we learnt about his importance as being the person to baptise Jesus. However, during Advent, we are learning about the message of St. John the Baptist. We especially loved this quote: “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” This encapsulates our Catholic Social Teaching principle of Dignity of the Human Person and Option for the Poor and Vulnerable.

 

 

 

Religious Education Advent-Getting Ready

 

Nursery children have been learning about the start of ‘Advent’. They noticed that the focal point material had changed to purple and that it is now purple time. They thought about times that they have needed to get themselves ready. They opened day one of the Advent calendar and they were introduced to the Advent wreath.

 

 

In RE this week we explored Jesus’ life as a boy. We listened to the story “The Finding in the Temple” and discussed how Jesus visited the temple to listen to the teachers . We explored the different feelings of the Holy family in this story.

 

 

 

We were excited to begin our Advent unit of work and loved learning the song “Awake, Awake” in preparation for the birthday of Jesus. We looked at the first candle on the Advent wreath and talked about all of the things that we were hopeful for.

 

Year 2 took part in a Cafod Assembly this week in preparation for the Season of Advent. The children reflected on the message that they can bring HOPE, share PEACE and spread JOY with others. They also reflected about people all over the world who are suffering from hunger and the effects of war. A prayer was said for these people. Year 2 are looking forward to Advent and preparing for the best gift of all to arrive at Christmas- ‘Jesus’.

 

 

 

Children finished their unit focusing on Jesus: The Light of the World. Throughout this unit, the children have learnt about some key events in Jesus’ life such as His Baptism, The Transfiguration and the Presentation of Jesus. The children were given the task of choosing one of these events and creating an image to represent it. It was wonderful to see the children share their talents and create unique and beautiful pieces of artwork!

 

 

 

Year 6 Confirmation

 

Congratulations to the children in Year 6 who were confirmed this week with Bishop David Evans. The children impressed Bishop Evans with their extensive knowledge during a meeting on Monday afternoon; talking eloquently and confidently about the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. The Bishop complimented the children and staff on the level of preparation and commitment to the Confirmation programme. This shone through beautifully in the celebration Mass in the reading, singing and participation throughout. Well done children, we are really proud of you all. 

 

 

 

 

Climate Justice

Thank you to all the children who submitted work for the Climate Justice Campaign, there were some fabulous entries from all the children and it is clear we are all passionate about creating an awareness around Climate Justice.

We have some exciting news…                      

CAFOD will be exhibiting Jake Dyson’s (Year 4) artwork entry at the Houses of Parliament during COP28 on 6th December.

Jake has put Catholic Social Teaching into action by thinking about our Global Neighbours and the world he wants to see.

Well done Jake!

 

 

 

Our Earthly Saints in Year 3 have been deepening their understanding of their Reconciliation unit by exploring how this links to our Catholic Social Teaching principles. We discussed how being forgiving and merciful contributes to building the Kingdom of God. This linked beautifully to the launch of our Catholic Social Teaching certificates in phase assembly. Well done to Shawn and Nellie whose efforts of displaying our CST principles were recognised, along with Mia and James from Year 4!

 

 

 

 

Bishop David Evans visits St Anne's 

On Monday, we were joined by Bishop David Evans ahead of the Confirmation Masses. It was an opportunity to meet with the

Confirmands to talk about the importance of this special sacrament and how they are committing themselves to be full members of the Catholic Church. 

 

 

 

Other Faith Week

This week we have been learning all about another faith - Hinduism.  We explored Rangoli patterns which bring good luck to Hindus and looked at all the different symbols that Hinduism has such as the Lotus flower. We even spotted a similarity between our faith as both Catholics and Hindus join their hands together.  We learnt all about where Hindus pray in the Mandir and how they use a puja tray to help.  We performed some drama all about Rama and Sita! It has been such a fun week learning about another faith!

 

   

 

 

Deacon Stuart

This week, Year 5 had a visit from Deacon Stuart.  Deacon Stuart gave the children lots of information about the Seven Sacraments, which is what they are currently learning about.  The visit was extremely interesting and helpful for the children in Year 5 and we are very grateful that Deacon Stuart was able to come and answer the children’s questions.

 

 

 

RE – Prayer

This week in our RE lessons we have continued to think about the importance of prayer.  We thought about what prayerful items we can use to help us whilst we are spending time talking to God.  Thinking about when we take the prayer bag home, we discussed the items that are provided in the bag and how they can deepen our time spent in prayer such as:

 

 

Holy water - being blessed by this can help us to feel connected with God.
Prayer booklets - these help us to remember prayers whilst we are still learning them.
Rosary beads - these help us to count our prayers when praying the rosary.
Holding prayer crosses - these remind us that God is always with us whilst praying.
Candles - these can help us to stay focused during prayer and also remind us that Jesus is the light of the words.

 

              

 

 

 

 

 

Year 6 were visited by Deacon Stuart on Monday.  He spoke to the children in detail about all aspects of Confirmation, including the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 

 

CAFOD Harvest Fast Day

 

A big thank you to all the families who donated a tin/food items today – we received over 1000 items!  Some of our liturgical leaders helped load the items in to the van sent by Helping Hands; they will distribute the donations to those in need. 

Today’s efforts links in with our half term value which is ‘Grateful and Generous’ and has shown how one small donation can make a big impact. This will help so many local people. Thank you once again.’

 

                                

 

 

Saint Anne

 

This week our Reception children have been learning all about our class saint ‘Saint Anne.’  We spoke about how our school is named after this special Saint and how we have a special statue on our focal point to always remember her in our thoughts and prayers each day.  We had a wonderful prayerful moment where every child lit a candle and said the special words ‘Saint Anne prayer for us.’  The children contributed some beautiful ways that they would like Saint Anne to help and guide them on their journey through school.

                                                                                      

 

Other Faith Week - Judaism

 

This week was Other Faith week for Year 4. We have been studying Judaism and have been enjoying learning all about a different faith. The children have been learning all about worship, festivals and important artefacts. On Tuesday, Ruth, a Jewish lady came in to show the children some artefacts from her religion and answer their questions. Year 4 have thoroughly enjoyed this week and have been demonstrating their British values beautifully!

 

OLAAS MAC Anniversary Mass

 

This week Mr Linehan, Miss Evans and 7 children from St. Anne’s celebrated a special Anniversary Mass at Olton Friary as a family of Catholic schools in our Multi-Academy Company (OLAAS).  They were joined by pupils from every other school in our MAC.  It was a lovely occasion and such a special opportunity to come together and pray for each other and the pupils across each school.  We took our special St. Anne’s banner, which represented the whole school and our mission for the year ahead.

 

 

 

 

LITTLE WAY WEEK

This week in school we have celebrated ‘Little Way Week.’ Saint Therese of Lisieux, was an inspiring saint. In class, we thought about how she would show God’s love to others through small acts. We have learnt that she called this her ‘little way.’ Little acts can make a big difference! We have linked this in with our virtue for the half term, to be ‘Grateful and Generous’ and how we can show gratitude to ourselves, others and the environment. Each class created a ‘gratitude journal’ to celebrate everything they were grateful for, including pictures, symbols and personal prayers.  We thought about small acts we could do each day to be more like St Thérèse.

 

CAFOD Harvest Fast Day

 

CAFOD Harvest fast Day in on Friday 6th October and we will be taking donations on this day which we will pass on. 

If you are able to donate anything, please do so on this day – please hand donations into your child’s class teacher.

 

Suggested items to donate are as follows:  Cereal, soup, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, pasta sauce, lentils, beans and pulses, canned meat, canned vegetables, tea/coffee, tinned fruit, biscuits, UHT milk, fruit juice. 

Thank you in advance for your support for this very worthwhile cause.

Religious Education

Children in Year 2 have been thinking about all the wonderful Blessings God has given to us. They used the quotation from scripture ‘Blessed are you Lord God of all creation’ to choose some of the favourite things that they are grateful to God for and drew some beautiful images. The children were also reminded of our Catholic Social teaching theme for this half term- ‘Stewardship of Creation’ and thought about how important it is to look after and care for all of God’s creations. 

 

 

Qualities of God

In our Creation unit in R.E, Year 4 have been exploring how we have all been made in the image and likeness of God. The children have been considering the qualities of God and how our class saint, St. Catherine of Siena displayed these throughout her life.  The children identified how St. Catherine demonstrated elements of the Our Lady and All Saints Children’s Charter too. It was a lovely opportunity to reflect on how we can aim to show these in our daily lives.

 

          

 

Year 6 Mass

 

The children in Year 6 participated in a wonderful Leaders Mass this week.  Afterwards they received their Leaders Badge and made their Leaders Promise.  We are confident that they will lead the school through their hard work and saintly actions.  We are very proud of you and may God shine on their lives this year.

 

Key Stage 1 May Procession

 

What a wonderful celebration we had this week in Key Stage One.  The children behaved reverently and sang beautifully.  We learned to sing The Hail Mary with sign language too - the roof of the hall practically lifted with the heartfelt singing!  All four classes then processed prayerfully around the playground before saying prayers, laying flowers and finally crowning the statue of Mary.  All the teachers were so very proud of the children.  What a wonderful occasion and memory for children and teachers.

 

 

SPRING 2023

Happy Retirement, Lena!

 

Today we bid a fond farewell to Lena who is retiring as a cleaner at St. Anne’s after a wonderful 48 years of service!  We wish Lena a long happy and healthy retirement.

 

 

Holy Week

 

The children joined in a special Holy Week Mass on Tuesday where we prayed and reflected upon the events leading up to Good Friday.  We thanked God for his sacrifice and thought about how we can bring ourselves closer to God during this season.

 

 

The Liturgical Leaders delivered hand-made Easter cards to the residents at the local day care centre.  We wished everyone a very happy Easter.  They were delighted to receive a card on behalf of all the children at St. Anne’s.

 

 

 

 

Deacon Stuart

 

This week class 4R had the privilege of being visited by Deacon Stuart.  The children had the opportunity to ask him questions about the key themes in our Religious Education unit, Lent, for example: making the right choices, temptation, the kingdom of heaven and the time that Jesus spent in the desert.

Big Lenten Walk

 

Thank you to all the children who took part in the Big Lent Walk today to raise money for CAFOD.  The children walked, danced, jogged and skipped their way to increasing their step count and ‘walk a mile in their shoes’ which was the strap line for this year.  Well done everyone and thank you for the generosity of your donations too.

 

                   

 

 

Parish Mass

 

On Thursday morning, Year 5 attended Parish Mass.  It was wonderful to attend Mass and reflect on journey so far in Lent.  All of the children in Year 5 were respectful, reverent and demonstrated beautiful devotion to their faith.

Father Hudson’s Good Shepherd Appeal

 

Due to the success of the money raised last year linked to the Good Shepherd appeal and the fantastic response from parents and children, we are again asking for your support as part of our Lenten fund-raising to collect for this very worthy charity.  On Wednesday, we were visited by Margot from Father Hudson’s Care who led a special assembly highlighting the importance of supporting the most vulnerable in our community.  Margot shared the story of her Ukrainian colleague Liudmyla, and the devastating effects the war in Ukraine has had on her family.  Supporting refugees and asylum seekers is just one of the ways Father Hudson’s Care transform the lives of people in our local community.  Please encourage your child to put a small amount of money in their box each day and return the box with its contents during the week before we break for Easter (w/c 27th March).  We will send a reminder out near the time. On behalf of St. Anne’s and Father Hudson’s Care, many thanks in advance for your support of this very worthy appeal.

‘How marvellous it would be if, at the end of the day, each of us could say: today I have performed an act of charity towards others!’ - Pope Francis

 

 

 

Year 3 Commitment Mass

 

Year 3 have been strengthening their faith as they prepare for their upcoming Sacrament of Reconciliation next week.  To enrich our sacramental journey, we all celebrated in a special Parish Commitment Mass and joined together in prayer with our prayer friends, our families and members from our Parish community.  We received a certificate at the end of Mass to commemorate this very important day, recognising our journey in deepening our faith.  Year 3 were so reverent and thoughtful throughout this moment and we cannot wait to expand our faith in the upcoming weeks. Well done Year 3 – we are all extremely proud of you!

           

                   

 

RE and Catholic Life

Year 3 visited our Parish Church this week as we have finished our RE unit of learning, ‘We listen to God’s word at Mass’.  We used our learning from our RE lessons to act out the Proclamation of the Gospel.  As we start to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we also took this opportunity to we practice what we will say to the priest and had a look around the confessional.

 

On Thursday morning, we were delighted to invite our families to join us for our RE Inspire Workshop.  As part of our Sacramental preparations, we created celebration banners linked to our upcoming topic the Eucharist.  We loved having the opportunity to care, share and learn together.

 

 

                 

 

 

Year 6 Confirmation

 

A huge congratulations to the children in year 6 who were confirmed this week with Bishop David Evans. The children impressed Bishop Evans with their extensive knowledge during a meeting on Monday afternoon; talking eloquently and confidently about the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The Bishop complimented the children and staff on the level of preparation and commitment to the Confirmation programme.  This shone through beautifully in the celebration in the reading, singing and participation throughout.  Well done children, we are really proud of you all.

 

 

                 

Catholic Social Teaching in Action

 

The staff at St. Anne's have collected hats, scarves and gloves over the last few weeks and donated them to a worthy cause.  James Trewby, who works with the Columbans, will take the donations to Calais to support the hundreds of refugees who desperately need the support.  We continue to show care for the most poor and vulnerable.  Please keep in your prayers our global brothers and sisters. 

 

 

Year 6 are Preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation

This week, the children had the wonderful opportunity to reconcile with God by going to Confession with Father Christi. The children reflected upon what they could do to better their relationship with Christ in readiness for the Sacrament of Confirmation on Monday 6th with Bishop David Evans.

 

Please continue to pray for the Confirmands as they continue on their journey of faith.

 

 

 

 

Feast of St. John Bosco – Tuesday 31st January

 

Year 6 celebrated their class saint, St. John Bosco, this week both in church and in class.  They began the morning by celebrating at Mass, where Father talked about the inspirational life that John Bosco led.  We then reflected upon his life in class, and how we can be guided by him in our daily actions.  Each day we ask St. John Bosco to pray for us and watch over us as the leaders of St. Anne's.  The children then had a small celebration in the afternoon with a chocolate biscuit and congratulated the wonderful life this saint led. 

 

Did you know: Don Bosco is renowned for his work in educating and rehabilitating poor and disadvantaged youth.

 

Confirmation

 

The children signed an enrolment certificate to promise that through the Sacrament of Confirmation, they wish to affirm their belief in Jesus Christ and His Church.  The children have promised to do their best, with the help of school and parents, and to take a full part in the Sacramental programme.

 

Please pray for the Confirmands at this time, that they open their mind and heart to the workings of the gifts of the Holy Spirit now and moving forward into their lives as full members of the church.

 

   

Feast of Epiphany

 

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.  Epiphany comes 12 days after Christmas Day, when the three Wise Men (the Magi) visited the baby Jesus.  This visit was seen as a message to all that Christ was for all nations.  Christ was revealed as the Son of God to all of humanity. 

 

AUTUMN 2022

We would like to express our deepest sympathies and send our condolences to the families, friends and wider community involved in the tragic Babb’s Mills incident this week.  We keep them all in our prayers.

 

    

 

Thank you St. Anne’s

 

In times of despair the family community of St. Anne’s always reaches out to support others. This week there is so much darkness. We continue to pray. Thank you for your incredible generosity to support our local Catholic school St. Anthony’s.

We have raised £1550.   Please continue to keep the community of St. Anthony’s in your prayers.

 

MESSAGE FROM ARCHBISHOP BERNARD LONGLEY:

“My heart goes out to all those affected by this tragedy and on behalf of the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham I offer my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones.


Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kingshurst community at this deeply distressing time.  What has happened is truly devastating and hard to comprehend.  The Catholic community is here to support and comfort all those affected.  Prayers are being said at all our churches.” 

 

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

 

The St. Anne’s children went to Mass on Thursday to celebrate this special Holy Day of Obligation.  The children thought about the following during and after the celebration of Mass:

Just like the baby Jesus was sent to Mary

God sent a baby to St. Anne.

God made her to be very precious, and without any sin.

St. Anne then had this precious baby and named her Mary

She was a special gift from God to St. Anne and St. Joachim.

God always had an important plan for Mary (just like He has a plan for all of us)

Because of this plan, Mary spent her life in a perfect relationship with God.

God always had the plan that Mary would be the mother of Jesus.

 

 

The Holy Family

 

On Wednesday, Year 5 were discussing this image with the words “We too were asylum seekers”. Considering our Catholic Social Teaching, The Holy Family, the children thought about the difficult journey Mary and Joseph had to make and the danger they potentially faced.  We then thought about how this related to our world today and discussed world issues too.  We pray for all on a difficult journey during this time.

 

 

 

Bambinelli Sunday

 

Bambinelli Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) when all the children bring their figure of baby Jesus from their nativity scenes to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope.  Our Reception children have made their own beautiful Bambinellis and were delighted when Deacon Stuart came to school to bless them.  The children have taken their Bambinellis home, meaning that Jesus will be present in their home during the Christmas season.  

 

     

 

 

Message from The Columbans of Britain

 

The Columbans in Britain are trying something different this Saturday - at 10am (UK time) we're inviting Columban supporters and their families to join an interactive online advent prayer service.

 

https://columbans.co.uk/pray/11494/family-advent-prayer-service/

 

 

Catholic Social Teaching: Family and Community

 

This week, the children watched the CAFOD livestream assembly, which linked beautifully with our Catholic Social Teaching Focus of Family and Community for this half term.  We thought about how we can share joy and peace this Advent and how we can come together as God’s community to make a difference.  We linked our prayers particularly to the war that is still ongoing in Ukraine, and other vulnerable people in the community who needs our prayers this Advent.  We then reflected upon the journey that we are all on this Advent together, growing in our relationship with Christ, who shines in our hearts.

 

 

 

Onelife Advent Livestream

 

On Friday, the children joined with Dan and Emily, to think particularly about the significance of Advent and how we, as children of St. Anne’s, can prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ in our hearts, minds and our daily actions.  We sang together and prayed - bringing hope, sharing joy and spreading peace throughout the school!

 

 

 

TenTen Newsletter

 

Please follow the link to find the December edition of the TenTen Parent Newsletter, where you will find information about what the children will be learning about over the course of Advent during prayer and liturgy.  www.tentenresources.co.uk/prayers-for-home/parent-newsletter/

 

 

The Pope’s Prayer Intentions for November and December

 

November - Children Who Suffer: We pray for children who are suffering, especially those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of war; may they be guaranteed access to education and the opportunity to experience family affection. The Pope’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MafPVv25rBs   

 

December - Volunteer Not-for-Profit Organizations: We pray that volunteer non-profit organizations committed to human development find people dedicated to the common good and ceaselessly seek out new paths to international cooperation.

 

Livesimply Pledge During Advent

 

Responding to the Call of Creation, as a school, we are joining the campaign to reduce schools’ environmental impact this Christmas by taking a Christmas Card pledge.  The pledge will stand from this year onwards that we encourage a more sustainable, alternative policy for Christmas card giving.  This supports our livesimply award and what it stands for.

Of course, card giving is a fun part of Christmas so we have some alternative suggestions to keep things joyful. Please see the poster for alternative ideas, which we would love for you all to consider.

 

Remembrance

 

KS1 held a beautiful phase assembly in the hall this week linked to Remembrance. The children thought about how we, as pupils of St. Anne’s, can think about and remember those that have departed before us: in our families, community and those who have fought in wars. 

 

November ~ Month of Remembrance

 

We have now entered the month of November.  A time where we reflect upon and pray for the deceased members of our families, friends, school and parish community.  During this important time, we will keep in our prayers in particular the special intentions from families at home.  If you would like to share a prayer intention, please send this in with your child at school and this will be placed in our special remembrance box.

 

Our site manager, Mr Slattery, has also kindly place a beautiful soldier silhouette in our prayer garden so that children can visit during class time, and break times, to pay their respects to the fallen soldiers.

 

Please take a look in the prayer garden when you collect your child – the upturned rifle is a sign of respect for those lost in war.  Each day, the children will remember those who have died by praying the Eternal Rest prayer.

 

                                

 

 

 

 

 

All Saints’ Day

 

On Tuesday this week, the children celebrated the Feast of All Saints, which is a Holy Day of Obligation, to honour all the saints in the Catholic Church who are now in heaven.  It was a beautiful Mass for the children.  The children then reflected upon some of the inspiring saints of the church during a reflection at the end of the day.

 

 

On Monday, St. Anne’s joined the Livestream for Schools organised by the Birmingham Archdiocese in the presence of the relics of St. Bernadette.  Archbishop Bernard led us all in praying The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.

 

 

                                

CAFOD Family Fast Day

 

In support of CAFOD Family Fast Day, St. Anne's would like to thank all staff and families for their very generous donations, which has today been taken to Lilly's Tea Parlour and has been gratefully received.  We will continue with our support to local food banks and outreaches. 

 

     

 

Collective Worship

 

St. Francis Collective Worship

This week Year 1 came together with their Year 6 buddies to celebrate the life of their class saint St. Francis of Assisi in prayer.  They listened to the story of Creation linking in with their RE unit and then linked this with how St. Francis cared for God’s creation.  Together they sang a beautiful hymn together called ‘I Give Thanks’ - which they learnt during the ‘One Life’ autumn stream last week.
All of the children were wonderfully prayerful and reflective throughout.

 

 

 

This week the children in year 2 led a Collective Worship. They used the Wednesday Word as a focus.  The children read beautifully, prayed reverently and also showed how they can work together as Spiritual Leaders.

 

 

 

Year 4 have been praying in colour this week, we have been reflecting on the people who are special to us and have been sending our prayers to God.

 

During Collective Worship, year 6 showed their devotion to Our Lady by singing and signing the Hail Mary. A beautiful, prayerful way of showing our love to the Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus.

 

 

This week Year 2 joined St. Anne’s Parish Mass.  The children were so reverent and joined in with many responses and prayers.  They listened to Father Christie and behaved beautifully.  The year 2 teachers were extremely proud of them all.

 

 

Our Lady and All Saints MAC Mass

 

Representatives from Year 6 celebrated Mass this week with the 12 other primary and secondary schools that make up Our Lady and All Saints MAC.  This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to come together to signify officially our launch through the celebration of Mass.  The children participated through reading and leading on the offertory.

 

 

Ten Ten Year of the Pilgrimage

 

At St. Anne’s, we are following the journey of the year of the pilgrimage.  This is a series of assemblies which will take our children on an exciting virtual pilgrimage journey.  One Collective Worship assembly per month will be a Ten Ten Year of Pilgrimage assembly, with ‘stopping place’ destinations across the year such as the cross, Santiago de Compostela, Rome, a local pilgrimage site of schools’ own choosing, Walsingham, Lourdes and lastly the manger in December 2022.  Here you can see the Pilgrimage map to see the destinations we will focus on.

 

  

  

Most excitingly, the children of St Anne’s are leading on the Year of the Pilgrimage! Hundreds of schools across England, Wales and Scotland will join our pupils lead on this very special time to learn about places of pilgrimage in the Catholic faith. The children were absolutely incredible leaders, showing amazing qualities of speaking and listening to deliver really important messages. We are so proud of them!

 

 

Please see link below for the monthly Ten Ten R.E Newsletter (September addition).  The information shared on this newsletter links to the children’s Collective Worship in class.

www.tentenresources.co.uk/prayers-for-home/parent-newsletter/

 

Year 6 Mass

 

The children in Year 6 participated in a wonderful Leaders Mass this week.  Afterwards they received their Leaders Badge and made their Leaders Promise.  We are confident that they will lead the school through their hard work and saintly actions.  We are very proud of you and may God shine on their lives this year.

 

R.I.P Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II

 

As we remember Queen Elizabeth II, following her sad passing yesterday, we thought it would be fitting to share this special photograph of a St. Anne's pupil greeting the Queen upon the official opening of Chelmsley Wood shopping centre in 1971.

 

We remember fondly too the fun-filled days we shared last term in school, celebrating the Platinum Jubilee.

Please treasure the special 'Queen Elizabeth II' book that your child received last term, so this remarkable queen will live on in their memories as we begin a new era with a king as monarch.

 

 

 

Eternal rest grant unto her,

O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine

upon her.

May she rest in peace.  Amen

 

 

 

We pray for the repose of the soul of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  We give thanks for her life of faith and service to God and to the people of this country, the Realms and the Commonwealth.

Lord in your mercy

R: Hear our prayer.

 

We pray for His Majesty the King Charles III.  We ask that God blesses him and gives him the strength as he begins his reign.

Lord hear us

R: Hear our prayer.

 

SUMMER 2022

Live Simply Award

 

 

We are very pleased to announce that as of today, St Anne’s have become a LiveSimply school. 

Throughout the year, we have been working hard to engage with three main areas:  To live simply, to sustainably and in solidarity with the poor. This is a wonderful achievement for St Anne’s and the community.

 

We are one of only three other schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham that have been awarded.

 

 

 

 

Peace Workshop

 

On Tuesday, the children in year 6 took part in a peace workshop, led by Aisling who is a Schools and Youth Education Officer working with Pax Christi.  It was a beautiful morning where the children explored what ‘peace’ means to them; what it looks like, how we can describe it, how we can find peace in our lives and most importantly promote peace.  The children then created doves using their hand shape as a closing, reflective activity.  The children were so engaged and provided some thoughtful responses.  Aisling and Juliette commented on the children’s maturity in responses and impeccable behaviour throughout.

 

 

 

Religious Education

 

On Wednesday, it was the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.  The children in Year 4, 5 and 6 went to church to celebrate in Holy Mass.  Father Christi talked at length about the life of St. Peter and St. Paul and why they are now inspirational saints.  Saint Peter and Saint Paul were two men who taught people about Jesus, the stories he told people and the miracles he performed.  They converted to Christianity.

 

Peter was a fisherman on Sea of Galilee.  Jesus called Peter to become a disciple and he agreed.  He gave up his life as a fisherman and instead, learned from Jesus about living a good Christian life and helping others change their lives too.

 

Saint Paul was a Roman Jew who was called Saul.  He made tents in Galilee and although Jesus was often in Galilee, Saul did not know Jesus.  Saul did not like Christians at all.  Then, one day, he had a vision of Jesus and believed he was filled with the Holy Spirit.  After that, he changed his name to Paul and became a Christian.

 

The children behaved beautifully throughout the Mass.

 

Assembly

 

Mrs Bathurst led a beautiful phase assembly this week.  The children listened to the Queen’s Jubilee Book and learned all about the Queen’s life and the wonderful job she has leading our country.  We thought about how much the Queen does for charity too.  The children then prayed the Hail Mary and sung it too.  

       

 

 

Other Faith Week

 

This week year 1 have been celebrating 'Other Faith Week' where they have been learning about the religion 'Judaism'. 

 

The children had great fun learning about the Star of David and had ago at making the six-pointed star using paper straws.  They enjoyed gaining knowledge of some artefacts that are special to Jewish people, such as the Torah, Tallit, Mezuzah and Kippah, Menorah and Yad.  They loved having the opportunity to hold these and even try some of the clothes items on.  Towards the end of the week the children learnt about the Jewish festival of lights 'Hanukkah' which reminds Jewish people of a miracle that happened in Israel over 2,000 years ago, when a jar of oil which normally lasts 1 day, kept the Menorah candle lit for 8 days.  

 

     

 

 

The World Meeting of Families

 

This week (20th – 26th June) it is the World Meeting of Families.  The World Meeting of Families is a 4-day international conference generally held every three years, in different places around the world, and often in conjunction with a papal visit or appearance.  This has drawn around 2,000 Catholic families to the Italian capital to meet Pope Francis and hear talks on marriage and the faith. 

 

The World Meeting of Families is a gathering of the Roman Catholic Church that has occurred every three years since 1994 and is organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which ‘promotes the pastoral care of families, protects their rights and dignity in the Church and in civil society’.

 

In school we have been thinking about the importance of family, in every context.  Through our school family, our class family, our families at home, our MAC family linked to Our Lady and All Saints and the family of God.

Here is a link to a beautiful prayer resources that you and your family can use at home to encourage a special prayer time together. This resource was specifically created for the World Meeting of Families.

https://www.celebratetrust.org/celebratehome-prayer-stations

 

 

 

Parish Mass

 

This week, year 3 went to St. Anne’s church to join in Parish Mass.  It is wonderful to share in Mass each week with the local community and parishioners.  The children were reverent, and prayerful throughout and represented school beautifully.

 

It was very special that the Year 3 children were able to celebrate the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist.  Father explained to the children that the church recognises 3 birthdays - Jesus,  Mary  and St. John the Baptist.  Well done year 3.

 

Collective Worship

 

This week, Mrs Neild led a beautiful collective worship with years 4,5 and 6 on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

 

We thought about the love that Jesus has for us and how we can thank and praise Him.  We learned about Saint John Eudes who devoted his life to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  We also thought about the visions that Saint Margaret Mary had and those visions have had a lasting impact in church today.  We learnt a new hymn called ‘Jesus is the Rock’ and raised the roof with our singing! 

 

 

Refugee Week 2022

 

This week at St. Anne’s, we have recognised the importance of the National celebration, Refugee Week. The theme for Refugee Week is ‘healing’ and hopes to imagine a world where healing replaces harm and care becomes the worlds shared currency.  The children, staff and community of St. Anne’s have a shared understanding that we have a duty as Christian Citizens to support those in need, to be compassionate and show love to our global brothers and sisters in crisis.

 

In school, we have focused on the book ‘On the Move - Poems About Migration’, which is a book written by the famous author Michael Morporgo. We have thought about how we can relate to the refugees and considerations from alternative viewpoints.  There is also a link below to a beautiful, short story: ‘My name is not refugee’:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9n1plse2K4

                  

Year 6 Collective Worship

 

During collective worship, year 6 participated in the NSPCC speak out stay safe assembly where they learnt about the importance of keeping themselves safe.  Their reverence and responses were wonderful!

 

  

 

 

 

 

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Prayer

 

Almighty God, we pray, that your servant Elizabeth, our Queen,
who, by your providence has received the governance of this realm,
may continue to grow in every virtue, that, imbued with your heavenly grace,
she may be preserved from all that is harmful and evil
and, being blessed with your favour
may, with the royal family, come at last into your presence,
through Christ who is the way, the truth and the life
and who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

SACRAMENTAL MASSES

Congratulations to the children who made their First Holy Communion last weekend, we are immensely proud.  We continue to keep in our prayer all of the children who are due to receive the sacrament next week.

 

 

We Are All Saints: Children’s Charter Launch

 

We are proud to announce the launch of our ‘We Are All Saints…Children's Charter’ to mark the one-year celebration of the formation of Our Lady and All Saints Catholic Multi Academy Company.  The charter outlines the offer of all schools within the MAC and sits at the heart of our mission to provide high quality Catholic education for all our pupils.  

 

In the most basic sense, a saint is a ‘holy one’, someone who is set apart for God’s special purposes.  As a result, every follower of Jesus Christ can be a saint.  By following the examples of the saints, we will guide, lead and teach our children to emulate their virtuous behaviours and to follow in their footsteps. 

 

Our charter is arranged into the following principles:  

 

•    All Saints have a love for others, 

•    All Saints use their gifts wisely, 

•    All Saints are servants of Christ, 

•    All Saints are risk takers, 

•    All Saints have a love for the world around them. 

 

 

The five sections set out a blueprint for the overall offer of experiences that our children and young people can expect to receive as they undertake their journey through each stage of both their primary and secondary school lives, within Our Lady and All Saints Catholic MAC.  It seeks to equip them to become active Christian citizens in their communities and across the world. We want every child and young person, following the example of Christ in his likeness and in his Gospel teachings, to leave school fully confident that, not only are they academically fulfilled but they have also experienced a wide range of activities enriching their hearts, minds and souls. 

 

The principles of our charter will be explored and unpicked at focus points throughout the liturgical year but we’ll also be looking for and celebrating examples of saintly behaviours each and every day. 

 

All parents/carers have been emailed the 'We Are All Saints…' Children's Charter today and it can also be located on our website here: Our Faith: We are all Saints…Children’s Charter

 

We look forward to embedding the Children’s Charter offer for all of our pupils at St Anne’s Catholic Primary School. 

 

“The saints were not superheroes, nor were they perfect.  When they recognised God’s love, they followed it and served others."  Pope Francis 

 

 

SACRAMENTAL MASSES

 

Our first group of children will be making their First Holy Communion this weekend.   We continue to keep in our prayers all of the children who are due to receive theirs over the coming weeks.

 

SPRING 2022

 

Easter Displays

 To celebrate the season of Easter, the children and staff have created beautiful, meaningful prayer areas to be displayed beautifully at

the front of the class. 

 

         

 

 

 

 

SPRING 2022

 

Mr Woolley

 

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Chris Woolley, a much loved member of the St. Anne’s team.

Mr Woolley was a fantastic cleaner for over 10 years and so reliable, committed and hardworking.

Mr Woolley passed away at the weekend following his battle with cancer and leaves behind his wife Jackie and 2 daughters. 

Please keep Mr Woolley and his family in your prayers. Rest in peace.

 

Holy Week

 

Year 1 have had a wonderful week learning about Holy Week and reflecting on the last days of Jesus’ life. We began the week by looking at Palm Sunday and role-playing the story together as a class.  We also discussed the emotions and feelings of Jesus and the crowd.  We then moved on to look at the Last Supper - this lesson was introduced with a display of the Last Supper and then children acted as the disciples taking the bread and wine.  The children also enjoyed going on a special journey visiting the Stations of the Cross which were set up in the outdoor area.  They walked in Jesus’ footsteps and learnt about the story of Jesus carrying the Cross and his Crucifixion.  Everyone was very respectful and thoughtful. 

The children enjoyed expressing their own thoughts about each station and they thought carefully about the journey that Jesus had to make.

  

                                                   

 

Stations of the Cross

 

This week we continued to learn more about Jesus' journey.  We learned the story of the last supper and then re-enacted it and talked about similarities to Mass in church.  We also walked in Jesus' footsteps by looking at images of the stations of the cross. We thought about how he felt at each stage and how we can learn from his journey in our lives.  The children showed great reverence and respect while participating in the Stations of the Cross in Church.

 

 

 

Lenten Charities

 

Well done to all the children of St Anne's for taking part in Lenten charity week and raising a significant amount of money for charity.  All the staff of St. Anne's have been overwhelmed with the number of cakes baked and brought in for this occasion to take place. We would like to thank our parents so much for their kindness!  The children had an amazing time eating lots of treats, taking part in raffles, penalty shoot outs, and games like picking a lucky lollipop. 

 

 

 

Help for Ukraine

 

The Liturgical Leaders and School Councillors helped take the Ukraine Donations to the centre opposite school today. The donations will be taken to Arden Hall tomorrow afternoon.

 

On behalf of St. Anne’s, we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has donated towards this cause, the children and staff feel very passionate about helping those who are in need. The school community of St Anne’s is so generous and it cements what we already know, that St. Anne’s is a wonderful, generous and kind school and community to be a part of. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the innocent families.

 

 

 

Year 2 Religious Education

 

This week Year 2 were introduced to the Act of Contrition prayer as a way to say sorry and to ask forgiveness during Lent. 

Children created their own 'sorry prayers' and then shared these during a collective worship.

 

   

 

 

 

CAFOD Walk Against Hunger

 

Our Sports Leaders led the Walk Against Hunger activities today.  They led, supported and inspired other children to get their step counts up for this very worthy cause!  Many thanks for your support and donations – we are very grateful.

 

    

 

 

 

Prayers for Ukraine

 

This week the children across school have been thinking about the families that are currently being affected in Ukraine.  We have spent some time creating meaningful prayer cards.  A dove, representing peace, as we pray for peace.  The coloured strips are representing the blue and yellow on the Ukrainian flag.  Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them all. 

 

 

The Children’s Charter

 

Within Our Lady and All Saints Multi Academy Company, all schools have adopted the ethos and vision that ‘We Are All Saints…Children’s Charter.’

This sets out our approach and aspiration to delivering a truly Catholic educational experience for all the children across the 13 MAC schools.

A saint is a “holy one,” someone who is set apart for God’s special purposes.  As a result, every follower of Jesus Christ can be a saint.  By following the examples of the saints, we will guide, lead and teach our children to match their virtuous behaviours and to follow in their footsteps.

The charter is arranged into the following principles:

 

• All Saints have a love for others,

• All Saints use their gifts wisely,

• All Saints are servants of Christ,

• All Saints are risk takers,

• All Saints have a love for the world around them.

 

The five principles set out aims and guidelines to strive for.  It seeks to equip them to become active Christian citizens within their communities and within the world.  The aim within the MAC is that we want every child, following the example of Christ in his likeness and in his Gospel teachings, to leave school fully confident that, not only are they academically fulfilled but they have also experienced a wide range of activities enriching them.

 

Children will potentially face a world where there may be indifference to the needs of the poor, gross inequality, injustice and climate change challenges which threaten God’s creation.  Our charter and overall curriculum offer aim to mould active citizens who, through social action, will have the capability and the will to created lasting change.

 

Moving forward, St Annes will link the children’s charter with texts home to St. Annes families to recognise individual children each week who are demonstrating an aspect of the children’s charter.

 

 

 

Lenten Promises

To mark the start of our Lenten journey, Year 5 have made some beautiful promises. The children considered the three pillars of lent; praying, fasting and almsgiving and thought about how they could demonstrate these. There were many wonderful promises made, highlighting the children’s devotion to their faith.

 

   

Livesimply tip of the week: During the half term, could you explore the local community through walking, cycling, taking the bus, tram or train? By doing this, we are encouraging time outside but also supporting lowering the amount of carbon emissions in the air.

 

Father Hudson’s Care

It was wonderful to welcome Margot back to St. Anne’s this week after more than two years apart.  Margot is a representative from Father Hudson’s Care and has spoken to the children about how we can support the charity during Lent.  After half term, each child will receive a Good Shepherd Appeal Box to fill with coins and raise money for this charity; this money will go towards helping those in need for example, help to support and tackle homelessness and those who are vulnerable in our local community. 

 

We are taking every effort to promote our Catholic Social Teaching for this half term, which is to support the poor and vulnerable. It is important that we recognise these sisters and brothers must be treated with extra respect and extra care and have access to what they need.

 

If you would like to find out more about this worthy charity, please go to the following website.

https://www.fatherhudsons.org.uk/getinvolved/good-shepherd-appeal/856.htm

 

 

 

Fairtrade Fortnight Artwork

 

Children across the school have been creating a piece of artwork incorporating their 'vision for the future' and how they might like to see the world.  The children focused on all the benefits of Fairtrade and how essential it is for the sustainability of our planet.  We were so impressed by their enthusiasm and their engagement for this extremely important global issue. 

 

The children in year 6 have created this piece of art work ahead of Fairtrade Fortnight.  The theme for this year is ‘Choose the World You Want’.  The children looked through the most recent newspapers and were amazed to find out there is so much happening towards combating Climate Change.  We all recognised the importance that children’s voices must be heard, and we must all stand together to make a difference.  We linked to our art work to the ‘Livesimply’ award where we can choose to make changes in our lives to make a huge impact on safeguarding our future world.

 

     

 


 

 

 

Live Simply Tip of the Week

 

Give thanks to the world that God has bestowed upon us.  Go for a walk at the weekend with your family and look at God’s beautiful creation.  What are you thankful for? The trees, nature, family, fresh air, open space.  Have a grateful heart.

 

Year 6 - Religious Education

 

This week the children learned all about Tom, a trainee priest and his vocation and calling to God.  They learned all about how he is using his special talents in the church.  The children have been exploring vocations in RE this half term and have also spoken to Deacon Stuart and his role in the church too. 

 

 

 

 

Year 2 - Religious Education

 

For our learning about Jesus’ life we have found out more about how important Mary is to him and to us in our daily lives.  We prayed to Mary in Collective Worship and also started to learn how to pray the Rosary using Rosary beads.  We thought about and prayed for our families, the poor and the sick. 

 

  

 

 

COP26 Workshop

 

On Monday and Tuesday afternoon, Year 5 took part in a COP26 workshop led by Columban Missionaries UK.  Juliette led a wonderful workshop for Year 5 sharing her experiences of being at COP26 in Glasgow. We reflected on all of the wonderful things the children have done since the Care for Creation project and asked Juliette questions about her own experiences at COP26.  It was a wonderful opportunity for the children to share their passion, enthusiasm and determination towards the fight against climate change.

 

 

 

 

Eden’s Prayer

 

Eden had also created a beautiful prayer to share with year 3.

Lets put our hands on our heart. Father God fill us with your love.

Help us to love You & everything that you have created.

Lets point to our eyes. Lord Jesus help us to see you and see others the way you see them.
Lets point to our ears. Holy Spirit help us to hear you and give us courage to do as you say.
Amen

 

 

 

Prayer Bag

 Beautiful examples of our earthly saints using the prayer bag at home with their families and pets!

    

 

 

 

 

 

‘Live Simply’

This week the children made a promise to live more simply, through a small action.  The children wrote on a 'Livesimply' pledge to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si' to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”.  

The children wrote some beautiful, thought provoking promises.

 

Livesimply tip of the week: To care for our environment.  Have you thought about browsing through your local charity shops? You can find books, clothes, board games and films to enjoy with the family at a fraction of the price!

 

   

 

 

 

‘Live Simply’ Tip of the Week

 

 

Can you take some time this weekend or during next week to have a walk with your family?  Is there an opportunity to walk to school

rather than drive?  Wrap up warm and take some time to appreciate the world we live in.

 

 

 

 

AUTUMN 2021

 

 

 

Advent Mass

 It was wonderful that Year 5 and 6 and Year 3 and 4 were able to join St. Anne’s parishioners for Advent Mass.  A fantastic way to prepare for the coming of Jesus.

 

 

Year 3 First Confessions

Well done to all the children in Year 3 who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are so proud of the children involved, showing great reverence and respect throughout the process.  This special sacrament has brought the children closer to God as they prepare for their upcoming First Holy Communion.   We look forward to them continuing their journey of faith as they prepare for the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the summer term.

 

Year 6 Buddies

 The children across year 6 LOVED receiving a Christmas Card from their Our Lady and All Saints MAC buddy school, Our Lady of the Wayside.  Inside is a beautiful Bible reference linked to Christmas.  The children will treasure the cards and hopefully meet their buddies next year 
 

This week in Nursery the children continue to learn about ‘Advent’.  They looked at the Advent wreath and could talk about what they could see.  They have been learning about babies and what babies need.  They made their own Bambinellis, baby Jesus’ to keep in a special place at home.  This is another way of helping us prepare for Jesus’ birthday. Deacon Stuart came into school to bless them.  Today the children were very excited to wear their Christmas jumpers

 

 

 

The children in Reception have enjoyed learning more about Advent. This week we looked at the Advent wreath and created our own observational drawings.  Look at our fantastic work!

 Bambinelli Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) when all the children bring their figure of baby Jesus from their nativity scenes to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope.  Our Reception children have made their own beautiful Bambinellis and were delighted when Deacon Stuart came to school to bless them.  The children have taken their Bambinellis home, meaning that Jesus will be present in their home during the Christmas season.

 

         

 

 

A Christmas Carol!

This morning, Year 5 had the wonderful opportunity to sing some Christmas songs for their families outside. It was lovely to share our talents once again and put a smile on everyone’s faces – the Christmas jumpers looked great too!

 

 

Advent

 

The children in Reception have had a wonderful week learning about Advent. We looked at the Advent wreath and talked about the special candles and the symbols. We created our own Advent wreaths and made our special Advent commitments. We also enjoyed decorating our Christmas trees  and starting our work around “The very First Christmas”.

 

 

 

Year 3 took part in the CAFOD Advent Livestream this week. We discussed the importance of Advent and then wrote our own Advent commitment prayers in RE. We are looking forward to our Advent assembly!

 

 

Year 5 have begun their Advent by writing some beautiful commitments this week, their thoughts and words were incredibly reflective and beautiful.  Please take a look at some of the wonderful work produced.

 

       

Lollipop Lady, Mrs Conway, Retires!

Today we celebrated the retirement of Mrs Conway, our very special lollipop lady. Mrs Conway has served our community for 50 years.  She began her work as a lollipop lady in 1971.  In 2009 she was awarded an MBE at Buckingham Palace from Prince Charles.  Mrs Conway knows so many families and has looked after thousands and thousands of children.  She always has the most beautiful smile which she shares every day, despite unpredictable weather including hail and snow!  She is the most caring and thoughtful lady and she always has a kind word to say to everyone she encounters.

 

At school today we gave our thanks to Mrs Conway by surprising her with a morning of celebrations including song, poetry and a special guard of honour as well as lots of treats.  

 

On behalf of St. Anne’s, we would like to say a million thankyous for everything she has done and we wish her the most wonderful retirement!  An incredible achievement retiring at the age of 82!

 

The Creation Story

This week in Nursery the children have been learning all about the ‘Creation Story’.  They have used a variety of arts and crafts, role play, small world and water play to explore all of the wonderful things that God made. They really enjoyed ‘Yoga Time’ moving like different animals.  The children were able to say their own beautiful thank you prayers.

 

          

 

 

Catholic Social Teaching - Family & Community in Year 2

This week our focus for Catholic Social Teaching is Family and Community.  We talked about The Holy Family (Mary, Joseph and Jesus) and their relevance to our own wonderful families. This fitted well with our Religious Education lesson about the Sacrament of Marriage as we talked about the love and care Mary and Joseph had shown each other. The children wrote some beautiful prayers of intention where they thanked God for The Holy Family and also asked for God's blessing for all married couples.  Year 2 Superstars!

 

 

 

 

 

Other Faith Week

 

This week was Other Faith week for Year 4.  We have been studying Judaism and we had two visitors come in.  On Monday, a speaker from CAFOD spoke to the children about Catholic Social Teaching.  On Thursday, Ruth, a Jewish lady came in to show the children some artefacts from her religion and answer their questions. 

 

 

 

Year 6

 

The children have made a beautiful stained glass window Christmas card with the North Star presented inside, for their MAC buddies at Our Lady of the Wayside this week.  It is lovely to make close links with another school.

 

 

 

Catholic Social Teaching

 

At St. Anne’s, we are thinking about Catholic Social Teaching and how we can live out the teachings at school.  They are a set of seven principles, rooted in Scripture, to provide us with guidance on how to live out our faith in our school, community and the world, particularly thinking about social justice.  Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours, brothers and sisters in every situation, following in the footsteps of Christ.  

At the very core, Catholic Social Teaching is for the common good of all people.

 

       The seven statements are:

  • The Dignity of the Human Person
  • Family and Community
  • Solidarity & The Common Good
  • Rights and Responsibilities
  • Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
  • Stewardship of God’s Creation
  • The Dignity of Work and the rights of Workers
     
    This half term, our focus is on Family and Community.
    ‘Jesus understood that people need each other.  We all need our families, friends and neighbours.  He tells us that these important people can help us.  Jesus says that we must help them too.  Doing this, we create a loving community where everyone can live life to the full.’

 

 

Reception Baptism

 

Children in Reception have continued their work on Baptism this week and the children loved Baptising the baby in class.  The children were fantastic at remembering all of the special symbols of Baptism and welcoming Baby Anne into the family of God.

 

 

 

CAFOD

Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed their visit from CAFOD today to talk about Catholic Social Teaching.  They came up with some wonderful suggestions as to how they can implement the teachings into their everyday life.

 

 

Our Year 3 children took part in a workshop led by Chris from CAFOD.  We were delighted to also have Deacon Stuart, Sue and Tom join us for our workshop too!  We had a brilliant time learning about how we can follow the Catholic Social Teaching Principles.

 

Children from John Henry Newman visited St. Anne’s on Wednesday for a child-led liturgy with Mr Morgan. The theme was to be kind, with Anti Bullying Week in mind.  Year 5 and 6 enjoyed singing, reflection and a prayerful time together.  It embedded the idea that being kind, in all situations, is so important.

 

 

 

 

REMEMBRANCE

 

The children have all taken part in a variety of activities this week to remember our  fallen soldiers. 

On Remembrance Day, the whole school held a 2 minute silence at 11am.

 

  

 

 

                                   

Year 6 Confirmation

 

This week, the final two groups from year 6 completed their Sacrament of Confirmation.  The children were a real credit to themselves and demonstrated the virtues and values which they live out every day in their lives.  

They now continue their journey of faith, filled with the Holy Spirit to guide them.

 

Thank you to all the families and friends of the children for helping to celebrate with them.

 

 

REMEMBRANCE

November is the month of Remembrance.  It was wonderful for the children to share in Holy Mass on Tuesday with

@SoulsSchool for All Souls Day, to remember the faithful departed.

 

 

 

Year 6 Confirmation

Congratulations to 6EN who have received the sacrament of Confirmation this week.  The service was both reverent and special.  We are so proud of you.  Thank you to all our families for all their support.  We look forward to 6C receiving the sacrament next week. 

 

SACRAMENTAL MASSES

 

Congratulations to our final group of children who made their First Holy Communion last weekend.   It has been lovely being able to continue with our Sacramental Masses and we look forward to our Year 6 children receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation after the half term break.

 

 

 

Year 6 Confirmation

 

The children in year 6 have been busily preparing for their Confirmation which will take place shortly after half term.  The children have thought deeply about their chosen saint, considering how they inspire them in their own life and faith journey.  The pictures below are just a few of the most amazing, creative pieces of work that they have so proudly celebrated and presented today in front of the class.  We look forward to celebrating in the Sacrament of Confirmation after half term.

 

 

Year 2 Religious Education

Our learning in Religious Education is about The Old testament stories.  So far we have learned about Noah’s Ark, Abraham and Isaac and Jonah and the Whale.  The oldest Bible was written in Hebrew and we tried to write in Hebrew ourselves - we did a great job!  We talked to our partners about other stories we knew from the bible and the messages from God within them.

 

 

 

Home Focal Points

 

Wonderful examples of the children in Year 3 using the prayer bag at home.  Eden set up her focal point along with her own religious statues, bible and rosary and shared prayers with her family, thanking God for his love, guided and offerings.  

It was also wonderful to see Nikola set up her focal point at home, along with her cousin in 5T and her cousin in 6C and they prayed as a family.

 

 

 

 

The Month of the Rosary

This week, Year 5 spent some time praying to The Rosary, in order to build our own faith and grow closer to Our Lady. We then reflected on our own private intentions and prayers and asked Mary for her love and guidance always. The children were extremely reverent and prayerful as always and it was a beautiful opportunity for them.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Chad’s Mass

 

Paddy, Sophia and Maya represented school on Monday as part of our Care for Creation project.  They joined other schools in the MAC and celebrated Mass at St. Chad’s cathedral.  Following Mass, they walked to the town hall to meet the Lord Mayor.  They presented some letters to be shared with MPs about the climate.  As we know our children are passionate about climate change and we hope he MPs will listen to the requests put forward by the children.

 

 

 

Year 1 Class Saint - St. Francis of Assisi

 

On Monday, children in Year 1 celebrated their class saint ‘St. Francis of Assisi’.  St. Francis lived a life of poverty after deciding to dedicate his life to looking after nature and God’s creatures.  We wanted to celebrate this in class by thinking about how we can we can live our lives like him.  We reflected on what things they love in the world that cannot be bought.

 

SACRAMENTAL MASSES

 

Our first group of children made their First Holy Communion last weekend.   We continue to keep in our prayers all of the children who are due to receive theirs over the coming weeks.

 

 

 

Visit from our Local M.P for Meriden, Saqib Bhatti

 

We were delighted to welcome Saqib Bhatti to St. Anne’s last week.  It was the first time we had received a visit from a Member of Parliament.  The children in Year 6 sent him a letter to invite him into school to discuss climate change linked to our topic “Care for Creation”.  This is what he tweeted following his visit:

 

Saqib Bhatti MP, @bhatti_saqib

 

‘I was delighted to visit St. Anne’s Primary in Chelmsley Wood last week to speak about the importance of climate change and my work as an MP.  I was certainly put through my paces with this crowd!  They did a good job of holding me to account and I look forward to visiting again.’

 

 

 

Care of Creation Project

 

We want change!  We want change!  The children at St. Anne's have taken part in lots of activities linked to our topic 'Care of Creation'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Season of Creation

 

Children have had a brilliant week learning all about how to look after our world throughout 'Care for Creation' week.  The children have produced fantastic work this week while discovering different ways to help tackle climate change. We have been so inspired by how thoughtful and compassionate the children have been when discussing such important topics! The children had lots of fun making placards to raise awareness of protecting our planet for future generations. Hope comes from action! 

 

 

 

Our Lady and All Saints MAC Launch

 

This week, the children have celebrated the official launch week for the Our Lady and all Saints MAC.  The children have had a fantastic week celebrating schools joining together.  The week began with a video of photos and videos from each of the 13 schools, where the children could see and meet children from each school.  We then joined together in prayer, thinking about our journey is similar to the parable of the mustard seed.  Our faith, friendship and support for each other as a MAC family will grow over time to become a huge success, just as the mustard seed grows into a huge tree.  Later in the week the children had some fun with a Saints Trail around the school grounds, finding out fascinating facts about each of the school saints.  The week ended with praying our school MAC prayer, which the children across school created last academic year.  We look forward to growing our connections with each school and continuing on this exciting journey.

 

 

 

 

The Season of Creation

 

Pope Francis has named this time from September to the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, ‘The Season of Creation.’

 

During the Season of Creation next week, we will be starting two weeks of learning and action all about caring for the environment; for God’s beautiful creation.  We have teamed up with the family of schools that creates Our Lady and All Saints Catholic Multi Academy Company (MAC) and Columban Missionaries Britain, because together we are stronger, ‘Stronger in Faith’.

 

Beginning on Monday 20th September and concluding on the feast of St Francis of Assisi, Monday 4th October, this MAC-wide project is a special time to pray and act for the earth, our common home.  Together we are stronger; together we will listen to the cry of the earth, together we will pray and reflect; together we will take action, making a positive change for better.  Find out more as it happens by following us and our MAC Family of schools on Twitter: @OurLadyandAllS1 @GrdangelsCP @StAnnesCP @StAnthonysSch @stwilfridrc @OurLadysCP @SJBsolihull @StEdRCPrimary @ourladycompass @OLWayside @StAugsCPS @StPetersSch @stgandtschool @s82twitter

 

 

 

CAFOD ‘Go Green’ Assembly

 

On Wednesday, children watched the CAFOD ‘Go Green’ assembly.  They are learning all about how we can help the Amazon Rainforest.  Did you know, the Amazon rain Forest is like a giant air conditioning unit for the world?  It is so important for our climate.


We must take more care of our world.  The Amazon is important for the whole world. God has given us the Earth as our common home, we share it together with our family of God.  We must work together to look after it. https://cafod.org.uk/News/Events/National-assemblies 

            https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Primary-teaching-resources/Laudato-Si-for-children

 

 

 

 

SUMMER 2021

 

Other Faith Week

 

Year 2 have learned many things about Buddhism as part of finding out about other faiths in our world.  The children listened to the story of Buddha-Siddhartha Guatama and then sequenced the story in pairs.  We had a very calm time when the children meditated to free their minds and be at peace!!  All our knowledge was retrieved at the end of the learning using a quiz - they remembered many facts. 

Well done Year 2!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Faith Week

Year 1 have enjoyed finding out about Judaism, as part of 'Other Faith Week'.  They each made a Star of David, discovered how Jews worship and know about the origins of Hanukkah 

 

                       

 

 

 

Religious Education

Year 6 thought about what the word faith means to us as a class during our RSE lesson. We completed a ‘faith’ task, where the children followed instructions, having complete faith in the person who was leading on the instructions.  Using our ears to listen, without needing evidence or being able to see, just like we should be ready to open our heart and listen to God

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Faith Week in Year 5

 

This week the children have thoroughly enjoyed taking part and learning all about the Islamic faith.  They have discovered the wonders of the Five Pillars of Islam, as well as the Pilgrimage that Muslims take to Mecca – Hajj.  Finally, they children got the opportunity to recreate some Islamic artwork.  Well done children – you continue to impress us every day! 

 

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

 

Today marks the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  On Friday 11th June Pope Francis encourages us to discover the riches of charity hidden in the heart of Christ. 

 

                  

 

‘May this Heart, full of love for men, give everyone hope and trust.  I invite you to discover the riches that are hidden in the Heart of Jesus. The devotion to the heart of Jesus has Christ’s unconditional love at its centre.  We must realise that we are never before God only as individuals, but also as members of the Church and children of the one human family.’

 

 

Giving Thanks to the Holy Spirit

 

This week Year 6 gave thanks to the Holy Spirit and created representations using chalks and oil pastels.  They drew on inspiration from famous depictions, and thought about how they could incorporate colour to represent the gift, fruits and expressions of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

The Month of Mary

 

 

On Monday children in Year 2 had a lovely May procession to honour Mary our Mother.  We processed around the playground to the prayer garden joyfully singing the Hail Mary.  Children lead us in prayers, we crowned Mary with a pretty floral crown and also laid a flower at the feet of Mary.  The sun shone down and we now all have a wonderful memory of a special occasion.

 

 

 

 In Religious Education, Year 2 had a visit from some wonderful year 6 Confirmands.  We are learning about the Sacrament of Confirmation and Annabelle, Rose, Leon and Abigail were able to answer some important questions for us. 

 

They were so eloquent and mature in their responses.  The children explained how they felt when they were given the gift of the Holy Spirit and how they would use this gift in their lives.  All the children gained an insight into what it means to be confirmed by listening to children who have a recent experience.


 

During this week, Year 5 honoured and celebrated the month of Our Lady, by contributing their own class rose and sharing in a very reverent worship together.  In addition to this, they joined together to dedicate their prayers to her with a decade of the Rosary.  

 

 

 

 

Pentecost – Sunday 23rd May 2021

 

Children enjoyed some reflective, prayerful song with Dan and Emily this morning in preparation for Pentecost on Sunday.  The children thought about the Holy Spirit; the words and music were so powerful.  Many thanks to all involved.

 

‘Spirit of god, descend on me this day.

Grant me the Spirit of joy, to lift me,

The Spirit of hope to inspire me,

The Spirit of love to surround me and

The Spirit of truth to enlighten my path.

Amen.’

 

CAFOD – The Eyes of the World

 

This week as a school we have been continuing our work with CAFOD and focusing on ways we can live out our faith by caring for our common home and for each other. This year, CAFOD are running a campaign where we have the chance to tell our UK government and world leaders that we want them to look after the planet and all the people who live on it.  In November, there is a very important meeting taking place in Glasgow, where important people from around the world come to our country to talk about the climate, how it is changing and what should

be done about it.  This meeting is called COP26.

 

This week in our collective worship sessions we have been thinking about the changes that need to be made so that people can live their life to the full and climate change isn’t making people’s lives hard.  We have joined other children over England and Wales to work together to tell the Government that the eyes of the world are on them, as they make decisions for the future.

 

This week all year groups have produced many pictures of eyes to show the government eyes of the world are watching, and so are we!  On and around an eye template the children drew what they would like our world to look like in the future.  Here are some examples of the wonderful work produced.

 

 

 

 

The Rosary

 

During the Month of May, we have been praying for Our Lady and thanking her for her love and guidance. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday morning classes 3T and 3O’R prayed to the Rosary to show our devotion for

Our Lady; the children were then given the opportunity to write their own beautiful prayers for Our Lady.

Year 3 were incredibly reverent and spiritual throughout this time and it was a joy for their teachers to see.

 

 

 

Vocations Week

This week the children thought deeply about their vocation and calling from God.  They considered the question ‘who is God calling me to be?’ during Collective Worship and RE.  Using the Bible, the children then found references to God’s call threaded throughout the Old and New Testament.  God speaks to individuals and to all his people throughout the Bible

 

 

 Year 3 have been thinking about the many different vocations God may call us to pursue in life. We thought about the special qualities we need for these.

 

Year 2 Collective Worship

 This week in Collective Worship Year 2 have been reflecting and learning about vocations.  To help us and guide us we have said the St. John Vianney prayer for vocations.  We have spent time thinking about the courage we need in our life to follow God's plan for all of us.  Some of us would like to be nurses and doctors in the future and show the same amazing courage and care our NHS workers have shown recently.  Most of all we thought about how important it is to show care and love to everyone in our world.

 

 Religious Education in Year 1

 

This week, year 1 went over to church to view the Saint Anne's Paschal candle as part of our RE lesson.

We discussed the symbols that can be found on the candle and their meaning and talked about when it is first lit and why. Miss Wicketts and Mrs Bathurst were amazed by the children's answers and how reverently and respectfully they behaved whilst in God's house.

 

Reception – The Little Red Hen and Vocations Week

 

The children in Reception have been continuing their work on the story “The Little Red Hen”.  We have loved listening to the story, joining in with the actions and completing lots of work linked to the story. We have also had a great time thinking about our “Vocation”.  We thought about the special talents God gave us and how we can use these talents as we grow up.  We spoke about what job we would like to have when we are older. We created some super work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Lady and All Saints Catholic Multi Academy Company (MAC)

 

This week at St Anne’s, we have been celebrating the launch of the Our Lady and All Saints Multi Academy Company.  We started the week with a launch assembly, introducing the 12 other schools that are joining together.  It was wonderful to discuss the connections the children of St. Anne’s already have with so many of the schools.  

We thought about how we, as a school community, can be ‘strong in faith’ as the strapline of the Our Lady and All Saint logo states.

 

Throughout the school, we then used the parable of the mustard seed to represent the journey that we are now on together during a Collective Worship.  Starting as a small mustard seed, our faith as a community of leaders, staff, children and parents will grow to create new connections and a stronger faith, together.  We thought about our new family that we are welcoming.  We have our own families and carers at home; our school family; the family of God and now, we welcome Our Lady and All Saints family too.

In our R.E lessons, we explored each of the 13 Mission Statements from each school, and the important messages that we can take from each of them.  We then created a class ‘Our Lady and All Saints prayer’, using the special words from each of the Mission Statements to help us.  The prayers were then offered to God, and all the boys and girls at St. Anne’s said a special prayer thinking about the 4500 children and more than 700 staff who are joining together.

 

It has been a delight to see the wonderful art work that has been created to represent Our Lady and All Saints. From the canvas paintings, the posters, the framed art work and the wooden mobiles.  I know that Peter Davies, the Catholic Senior Executive Leader will be overwhelmed with the creativity at St. Anne’s.

It has been a truly fabulous launch week, with lots to celebrate and look forward to. We look forward to the future where can grow new friends and new connections with the other schools.

 

 

Our Lady and All Saints MAC Launch

 

Miss Evans visited both of the year 6 classes on Monday, to launch the Our Lady and All Saints MAC to the children.  

We thought about what this meant to us as a school, and how we can be strong in faith.

 

 

It was amazing to think that all 13 schools were sharing the same launch assembly this week.  We said a prayer for all the members of the new, Our Lady and All Saints family. 


 

Tree Planting in recognition of the launch of our lady and all saints multi academy company

 

Niamh, Finlay and Ruby helped Mr Slattery plant a Dog Rose saplin as part of our launch.  All schools were kindly given this saplin as a symbol of new beginnings and growing in faith.  We will watch our saplin grow and blossom over time.

 

 

Collective Worship

 

In collective worship, Year 2 listened to the parable of the mustard seed. We compared how the mustard seed grows into a tree with our school growing as an academy.

Fantastic creativity linked to our new and exciting journey from Harrison in year 2. Harrison is proud to share this fantastic piece of work done at home with our new family of schools.

 

 

Our Lady and All Saints – Year 3 Prayers

 

As part of our MAC soft launch, the children in year 3 created some beautiful prayers in class.  The children thought it was important to recognise in our prayer that we are joining together as a new ‘family’. 

 

Year 3 are looking forward to their new journey within Our Lady and All Saints.

 

 

Year 1 Collective Worship

 

In collective worship this week in year 1 we have been learning about something very exciting.  We learnt that our school is growing into a bigger family!  We are joining together with 12 other schools to become a MAC, called ‘Our Lady and All Saints’.  This week we have been spending time asking God to help us as we grow and we have been having faith that he will do this.  Each class planted a seed and we will nurture it over the next few weeks and encourage it to grow just like us joining the Academy, where we will become even bigger, better, stronger school, just like our sunflower plant. 

 

  

Year 5

​

Year 5 have had a fantastic first week back!  All the children have been working extremely hard and we are very proud of all their efforts.  Throughout this week the children have been celebrating joining Our Lady and All Saints MAC.  They have all written their own beautiful prayer as well as contributing to producing a shared class prayer.  Well done Year 5 for being so spiritual and thoughtful.

 

 

Year 4

 

Fantastic artwork created by Finley for Our Lady and All Saints.

‘This picture reminds me of all the schools coming together to become one, with Christ at the centre of our lives.’  Finley made this beautiful work with beads, thousands of them!

 

 

 

 

                                                                                   REMOTE LEARNING COVID 19

Spring 2020

Week Commencing 2nd March 2020

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, our Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

 “Lord, there are so many reasons to smile and be cheerful, so many God-given moments that are messengers of hope each day.  Help me, during this Lent, to seize the day and to make the most of every opportunity.”

 

“Lord, Many communities and countries are living in poverty and daily hardship yet they show tremendous faith and love.  Help us to learn from these groups the importance of love as a gift more precious than other possessions.”

Week Commencing 24th February 2020

Ash Wednesday Mass

 

On Wednesday, children and staff from years 3, 4, 5 & 6 attended a lovely Mass for Ash Wednesday led by Deacon Stuart.  The children were reverent and respectful in church as always and read and sang beautifully; many thanks to all the children and staff.  Reception and Infant children received their ashes on Wednesday afternoon in school.

 

 

 

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, out Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

“Lord, in the parable of the talents you teach us to use the gifts we have been given for  

 our benefit and that of others.  Help us to recognise the potential of our own and others’    

      gifts to enhance lives each day.”

 

“Lord, I offer you my hopes and fears during Lent.  I offer you the light and shadows within me.  May your light shine through me clearly, that the others will recognise your goodness in me.”

 

                                                         

 

Father Hudson’s Care Good Shepherd Appeal

 

Father Hudson’s Care is the social care agency of the Archdiocese of Birmingham which is a very worthy charity.  Once again we are asking for your support as part of our Lenten fund raising activities.

 

This week, each child will have received an information letter along with a self-assembly collecting box; please encourage him/her to put a small amount each day in the box.  Would you kindly arrange to return The Good Shepherd Collection boxes to school by Friday 27th March 2020.  Your contributions are greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

 

Week Commencing 10th February

 

Year 5 Assembly

 

This morning, Year 5 performed their assembly on their PSHE unit "Dreams and Goals".  The assembly consisted of their hopes for future jobs and vocations and they expressed their understanding of training and the journey they must go on in order to achieve their dreams.  

 

We also linked this to our God given talents which we must share with the world and choose a vocation that would nurture God's world for the better.  The children were fantastic and sang, acted and spoke confidently and eloquently.  It was a very popular assembly enjoyed by all!

        

 

 

Year 5 Debate

 

On Thursday, six children from Year 5 took part in a debate held at Solihull Council Chambers.  Along with other schools, the children had to put forward their argument to the Mayor of Solihull.  The subject was ‘Should children under the age of 12 be banned from eating sweets and chocolate?’  All of the children performed wonderfully and were a credit to St. Anne’s.  A special mention to Konrad who won a £10 book voucher for being ‘Debater of the Day’.  Well done to Konrad, Abbigail, Ella, Kyle, Jack & Roxanna.

        

 

Week Commencing 3rd February 2020

 

NSPCC National Number Day

 

Thank you for supporting the NSPCC National Number Day today.  Our reception children had great fun exploring with numbers and representing numbers in different ways in the outdoor area.  We had some super number sentences!!!

 

Each child put out the coins that they had brought into school and spelled out ‘Find Your Brave’.  The Rock Star/Pop Star non-uniform theme went down brilliantly with some wonderful and funky costumes!  Such an amazing effort by all for a very worthy cause.  We look forward to sharing with you the amount raised as soon as we have the figure.

 

 

 

Week Commencing 27th January 2020

 

ST. ANNE’S 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS!

 

St. Anne’s Catholic Primary School will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary in April 2020.  As part of our celebrations we are working on putting a collage of photographs together showing ‘St. Anne’s through the years’ and we really need your help please.  If you have any photographs that could be part of the collage would you please arrange for us to have a copy, either electronically by sending them to the school office via email: parentmail@st-annes.solihull.sch.uk (please put ’50 Years’ in the subject line of the email so we can easily recognise emails relating to the 50th Anniversary) or if you have hard copies by sending them into school, ensuring that your name is on the back.  Also if you have friends, family or neighbours who have had links with St. Anne’s through the years, please ask them too!  We really want this to show as many of the wonderful pupils, families and events that St. Anne’s has celebrated over the last. 50 years.

 

Please arrange for any contributions to be sent in by Monday 16th March 2020 and many thanks in advance for your support with this important project.

 

Class 2OC Mass

 

This morning class 2OC celebrated Candlemas in their Class Mass.  All the children were wonderful; they each had a special part to play and carried it out fantastically.  A wonderful celebration for all who attended and a super effort Class 2OC.  Thank you to year 2 staff and thanks to the Year 5 children who attended Mass with their Reception buddies. 

 

Holocaust Memorial Day

 

On Monday this week, some of our Year 6 children attended an event in honour of Holocaust Memorial Day at the Civic Suite in Solihull.  Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2020 marks 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau with the theme ‘Stand Together’. Over many years, the Council and its partners have commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day by holding a service in Solihull. 

Some children attended the service in the morning with the remaining children attending a talk by Rabbi Pink about his own family’s experiences during the Holocaust. 

 

The children represented St. Anne’s brilliantly and enjoyed learning so much about this very important day.

 

 

 

 

Week Commencing 20th January 2020

 

 

Chinese New Year

 

This week the children in Nursery have been learning all about Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat.  The children have enjoyed tasting a variety of Chinese foods and opening fortune cookies to find lucky messages.  The children were excited to take home a lucky red envelope which they put under their pillow and opened the next morning to find a lucky coin!  The children have been creative by performing a lion dance, a fan dance and a ribbon dance to music using percussion instruments and we made a class story map to show all the different ways people celebrate Chinese New Year.

 

Eco Committee Litter Pick

 

Children across all year groups were amazing this week – they carried out a litter pick around our school. They were so enthusiastic and worked brilliantly together to make our environment greener!  Our new eco committee in St. Anne's were wonderful in leading and encouraging children from other year groups to help gather litter.  A big thank you and well done to all involved in our big clean up!

 

Week Commencing 13th January 2020

  Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Compassionate and Loving’

 

The Virtue for this half-term is ‘Compassionate and Loving’

‘Our pupils are taught that compassion means always trying to be respectful and kind to one another even if it just means a smile to someone. Every year we raise money for charity and we support those in need. Our pupils are taught to love one another as God loves us.’

 

READ ALL ABOUT IT – TOP PRIMARY SCHOOL IN SOLIHULL!!  Birmingham Mail Real Guide

We are delighted to inform you that Saint Anne’s have been awarded a five-star rating and made the top ten schools in Solihull in the Birmingham Mail Real Guide to League Tables for our results from 2018-19 cohort.

 

St. Anne's was rated in TOP position in Solihull and ranked 163rd overall across the country, out of 14,749 primary schools in England!

The school earned a maximum five stars in different categories including progress, attainment for all and attainment.  Parents can go online to browse the full data, compare different schools, and find links to contact details and recent Ofsted reports:

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/st-annes-catholic-primary-school-6492024

 

We are very fortunate to have such wonderful, committed staff, fantastic children and great families and together we can continue to make Saint Anne’s the best it can be.

 

The Year of the Word - The God Who Speaks

 

                                                                                            The Year of the Word

                                                                                          'The God Who Speaks'

30th Sep'19 - 31st Dec '20 celebrating, living and sharing God's word
Launch: 30th September 2019 – The Feast of St Jerome
Campaign Year Begins: 1st December 2019 – The First Sunday of Advent.

An initiative announced in February 2019 by The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales dedicated the Year 2020 to Sacred Scripture.  It has been given the name “The God Who Speaks” and it takes the Bible as its focus.  It takes place in cooperation with the British Bible Society and it offers all Catholics an opportunity to enrich current practice and to develop and explore new ways of responding to ‘The God Who Speaks’.  Scripture is at the centre of everything the Church does.  The Word of God shapes our prayer and worship. The Bible shows us how to understand the world, how we are called to live and relate to each other.

 ‘We are invited to listen afresh to the word of God as did Our Blessed Lady at the Annunciation, to encounter anew the presence of that word, and to proclaim it afresh in the Church and the World.’ - Pope Francis

 

Throughout 2020 there will be a range of events, activities and resources to participate in school and around the country, focusing on three themes of celebrating, living and sharing God’s Word. 
The year will also serve to commemorate two important anniversaries of Scripture’s role in the Church;
2020 will mark the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini;
it is also the 1,600th anniversary of St. Jerome’s death.  For Catholics all over the world, St. Jerome is a very important Saint and Biblical scholar.  

"We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life." - 1 John 1:1

 

On Tuesday morning, the school joined together in prayer to celebrate the first Mass together of the New Year. Father Christopher then blessed the Bible during Mass, as part of launching the Year of the Word, signifying the importance of the Bible.

 

The prayer for the       Living God, You walk alongside us and speak to us throughout the Scriptures.

Year of the Word:      Your Son, Jesus Christ, listens to our hopes and fears and shows us how to live for

                                    one another.

                                    Send us the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds so that we may be your witnesses

                                    throughout the world. Amen

Autumn 2019

Week Commencing 16th December 2019

 

Advent Mass

On Wednesday morning we held a beautiful Advent Mass in Church.  As usual the children were amazing both in terms of their singing and their behaviour.  Thank you to Mrs Cope and everyone involved in organising Mass.

 

 

‘Bambinelli’ Sunday

Bambinelli Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) when all the children bring their figure of baby Jesus from their nativity scenes to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope.

 

St. Anne’s Nursery and Reception children have made their own beautiful Bambinellis and on Wednesday morning Deacon Stuart came to school to bless them.   The children have taken their Bambinellis home, meaning that Jesus will be present in their home during the Christmas season.

 

Year 3 Visit to the Orchards Care Home

Some of our Year 3 children went to Orchards Care home in Shard End on Wednesday to sing Christmas carols to the residents; we also celebrated some very special birthdays!  The children gave the residents handed out a lovely Christmas card to all.  The children wished everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year.

 

 

Carol Concert

On Thursday morning, the children of Key Stage 2 come together to share in the annual Christmas Carol Concert. The children travelled on a journey through the very special build up through Advent leading up to Christmas Day; through readings from the bible and a mix of traditional and modern carols.  We then ended the Carol Concert with the twelve days of Christmas and Santa Claus is coming to town, really getting into the Christmas Spirit. Wishing you all a Happy and Holy Christmas from all of Key Stage 2!

 

Week Commencing 9th December 2019

 

School of Sanctuary

The children in year 5 had a visitor linked to their work on The School of Sanctuary on Wednesday.  Barbara spoke to the year group about the wonderful work her charity does in helping asylum seekers who are waiting for help as they have not yet been given refugee rights.  She spoke about a dear friend of hers named Muhammed who was a businessman in Pakistan before he was forced to leave due to his conversion to Catholicism.  The children learned about the tough conditions he now has and were informed about all the wonderful ways they could welcome refugees to their community linked to the fact that Jesus was a refugee due to Herod's actions.  

 

Barbara also left two wonderful books with us; Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird and We Are All Born Free by Amnesty International. 

Week Commencing 25th November 2019

 

Year 3 Advent Assembly

The Year 3 children performed their Advent assembly this week.  The children were fantastic and have really enjoyed preparing to share the very special message of the importance of preparing for the birth of Christ.  The year 3 children and staff hope that everyone enjoyed the performance and are looking forward to preparing for Advent. 

 

A big thank you to all of the staff and children involved for a truly beautiful Advent assembly.

Year 6 Confirmation

 

It was a proud occasion on Thursday evening when our Year 6 children received the Sacrament of Confirmation in Church.  Canon David Evans visited school in the morning and confirmed the children in the evening. He was very impressed by our school and the children’s knowledge and understanding of the Sacrament and why they had chosen to be confirmed.

 

Thank you to everybody who helped to make it such a special occasion and most of all, to the children who with the support of their families and sponsors, received this very special sacrament and led it beautifully.

Week Commencing 4th November 2019

 

Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘ATTENTIVE & DISCERNING’

 

The Virtue for this half-term is ‘Attentive & Discerning’ -

 

‘Our pupils are taught to be attentive to always listen to the word of God. The Bible shows us how to live a good life. They are taught that the views of others are important and should always be listened to. Our pupils are taught that everyone deserves to be heard. They are taught that to be discerning is to choose between right and wrong in the light of God’s word’.

Week Commencing 7th October 2019

 

Canonisation of Blessed John Henry Newman

We are looking forward to the Canonisation of  Blessed John Henry Newman on Sunday 13th October 2019.

 

 

Prayer with Archbishop Bernard

 

On Wednesday afternoon, the children and staff of St. Anne’s School joined together in prayer by praying together the rosary as part of the extraordinary missionary month, during a live stream with Archbishop Bernard. As disciples of Jesus, we live out our Mission by praying for everyone in the world. The Liturgical Leaders then presented each class with a set of rosary beads, which are the same beads used by Archbishop Bernard during the time of prayer. They have been placed on the focal point and used during class worships to pray the rosary together as a class. 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Mass led by Year 2 children - Tuesday 8th October 2019

 

Children in Class 2M led a wonderful Mass this morning celebrating The Harvest. Every child had an important role in the Mass and Mrs McGuire was so proud of them all. The children read eloquently, sang beautifully, carried the offertory gifts reverently and led the congregation with actions so well for the songs. The children greeting members of the parish and the community as they arrived were so ‘welcoming’ as they entered St. Anne’s church to join Class 2M for a wonderful celebration.

 

Week Commencing 30th September 2019

Macmillan Cancer Support Cake Sale

 

Thank you all for your very generous donations for the Macmillan Cake sale last week.  We raised an amazing £318.60 for this wonderful charity!

Week commencing - 23rd September 2019

 

Year 6 Leaders’ Mass

 

Year 6 confirmed their new status as the School’s leaders this week by celebrating a wonderful Mass on Tuesday morning.  All of the children in Key Stage 2 represented St. Anne’s wonderfully by showing great reverence and as always, by their lovely singing. 

 

Year 6 Leaders’ Ceremony

 

Our Year 6 children were presented with their Leaders’ badges and certificates in a special ceremony this morning.  Many thanks to the family members who joined us on the special occasion and well done to our Year 6 children who we are sure will be super leaders in our school.

 

Year 3 Mass 

 

Children in year 3 led a wonderful Mass this morning marking the Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul.  The children were reverent and respectful in Church as always and sang their hymns beautifully.

 

Macmillan Cancer Support Cake Sale

Today we held a cake sale in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.  A huge thank you to the junior children who brought cakes in to sell and to all children who bought cakes to raise money for this wonderful charity; we look forward to letting you know how much we raised in the upcoming weeks.

 

 

 

Week commencing 16th September 2019

 

God has called me to do His Work – Leaders of St. Anne’s

 

Over the last few weeks we have been celebrating in assembly all the leaders in our school.  Our children lead St. Anne’s so well in so many different ways.  Here are some examples; Liturgical Leaders, School Councillors, Mini Vinnies, Eco Leaders, Sports Leaders, Year 6 leaders, Faith friends, Year 5 buddies, Altar Servers, Play leaders.

Week Commencing Sunday 8th September

St. Anne’s Mission Statement 

 

Last week, the children across the school this week have focused on what Our Mission means to them.  They thought deeply about how Our Mission can be threaded through school, home and our community and thought particularly about the words that really stood out to them.  

 

Our Mission is part of our continued faith journey, a statement that all children and staff live out daily.  Our Mission embeds everything we do and we will continue to discuss this and keep it alive in different ways across the year. 

 

 

 

 

Week Commencing Sunday 1st September

 

  Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Grateful & Generous’

 

“Our pupils are taught to be grateful for all that they have, all that they are and that is. They are taught that generosity is the root of good deeds. They are encouraged to be generous with their time, their talents and to use them to support others.”

 

Mass 

Our first school Mass of the new term was held today.  The children all sang beautifully and were reverent as always in Church.  It was lovely to see parents and family members at Church today and we thank you for joining us.  Thank you to all the staff who organised Mass.

 

Education Sunday 

                                                                                       

 

This Sunday, 8th September, is Education Sunday. 

 

Education Sunday is celebrated annually on the second Sunday in September – our children have been learning about this in school this week and the learning will continue with next week’s edition of the Wednesday Word. 

 

The theme this year is ‘Form and flourish – to re-form’.  If you would like more information and/or resources, please visit the Churches Together in England (CTE)

website: https://www.cte.org.uk/Groups/325728/Home/Resources/Education_Sunday/Education_Sunday_2019/

 

St. Anne’s Mission Statement 

 

In assembly today, we have been discussing our Mission Statement with the children.  The children’s responses were amazing and expressed what our mission statement to them and how they practice our mission. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn 2018 - Summer 2019

 

Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Compassionate and Loving’

 

 

‘Our pupils are taught that compassion means always trying to be kind and respectful to one another even if just means a smile to someone. Every year we raise money for charity and we support those in need. Our pupils are taught to love one another as God loves us.’

School Mass

 

Our first school Mass was held today.  The children all sang beautifully and were reverent as always in Church.

 

Adoremus Service

 

All the Catholic Primary Schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham joined Archbishop Bernard through a live video link in a very special service of prayer and adoration of Jesus.  It was a beautiful service in which our children participated with great reverence, demonstrating their love and respect for Jesus.

 

Leaders’ Mass

 

Year 6 confirmed their new status as the School’s leaders this week by celebrating a wonderful Mass.  All of the children in Key Stage 2 represented St. Anne’s wonderfully by showing great reverence and as always, by their lovely singing.  The Year 6 staff would like to give a big thank you to all of the parents and family members who were able to support their children on what was a very special day.

 

School Gold Awards

We are delighted to announce that we, St. Anne’s Catholic Primary School, have achieved the School Games Gold Mark Award for the 2017/18 academic year.

 

 

The School Games Mark is a Government led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

 

Our sporting achievements this year include: Athletics, Dodgeball, Football, Gymnastics, Inclusive Quad Kids, Inclusive Tennis, Indoor Athletics, Hockey, Netball, Personal Best Festival, Rounders, Tennis and Tag Rugby. 

 

With an increasing number children year on year competing in local inter-school competitions, we are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.

 

As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil many different criteria including participation and competition, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.

 

A special thanks to Miss Smith, Mr Humpherston, Mrs Welbourne, all the children who have competed and taken part in clubs and events and St. Anne’s staff for training, supporting and encouraging the children in all sporting events.  We look forward to applying once again in 2019!

 

 

We are delighted to announce that we have also recently gained our Artsmark Gold Award.  Artsmark’s motto is ‘Bringing learning to life through arts and culture’ and we are very proud of our ability to do that and thank all the staff and children who engage so wonderfully with the Artsmark activities.

 

Year 3 Mass 

 

Children in year 3 led a wonderful Mass marking the Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul.  The children were reverent and respectful in Church as always and sang their hymns beautifully.

Parish Tea Dance 

 

Class 2M entertained the local community at the Tea Dance in St Anne’s Parish Centre.  They sang their hearts out and behaved impeccably – Mrs McGuire was so proud!  A treat was given for their amazing efforts.

 

Year 6 Mass 

 

Children in year 6 led a wonderful Mass on along with their Year 1 buddies on St. Francis of Assisi.  The children were reverent and respectful in Church as always and sang their hymns beautifully.

 

 

MacMillan Cancer Support Cake Sale

 Thank you for your generous contributions for the cake sale last week – we raised £278.66!  There was also a cake sale at the  Parish Centre which raised a further £56.97 bringing the grand total to £335.63 which is a fantastic amount to raise for this very deserving charity.

 

 

Class 2M Mass 

 

Class 2M celebrated a beautiful Harvest Mass -  we were saying thank you to God for all the food we have and the children donated money to CAFOD for boys and girls all over the world who need our help.  The children read amazingly, sang beautifully and showed great reverence in Church as always. 

 

Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Faith-filled & Hopeful’

 

The Virtue for this half-term is ‘Faith-filled & Hopeful’

 

‘Our pupils are taught about their faith from home.  They begin on their journey of faith with the Sacrament of Baptism, through to Confirmation.  Our pupils are taught that hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.  The best way not to feel hopeless is to get up and do something.  We are taught that it is important not to wait for good things to happen to you.  If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope and you will fill yourself with hope.’

 

Remembrance Month

 

We are very lucky to have a very special candle as part of our wonderful Poppy display. 

 

Our Site Manager, Mr Slattery, served in the 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment and this candle was made by the regiment to mark the centenary year of the end of World War I in remembrances of all those who fought and died during the conflict.

 

Mr Slattery will be representing his regiment at the Remembrance Parade at the Cenotaph this Sunday, 11th November.  It will be a very proud moment for Mr Slattery and our school community.

 

If you would like us to remember any of your loved ones in our prayers this month, please complete the slip we sent out before half term and send them into school with your child.  They will be put in to our Prayer Box and included in our Remembrance prayers throughout the month of November. 

 

Class 5C Mass

Class 5C led a wonderful Mass on St. Martin de Porres.  The children represented St. Anne’s wonderfully and as always were respectful and reverent in Church.  Many thanks to the families who attended Mass; it was lovely to see you all in Church.

Other Faith Week – Year 3

 

As part of other Faith Week, children in Year 3 have explored the religion of Hinduism.  Children have enjoyed a range of activities including making their own 'Diwa lamps' and creating some beautiful rangoli patterns; we even had the opportunity to learn some Hindu dance moves!  Year 3 have shown respect and enthusiasm throughout the week and have gained a wonderful understanding of the faith.  Well done to all the children and to thank you to all the Year 3 staff.

 

 

 

Remembrance Month

 

Our Site Manager, Mr Slattery, took part in the Remembrance Parade at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday as part of the 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regiment in which he served.

 

If you would like us to remember any of your loved ones in our prayers this month, there is still time to complete the slip we sent out before half termand return it school – all slips will be put in to our Prayer Box and included in our Remembrance prayers throughout the month of November. 

Remembrance Service

 


Class 5H led a beautiful Remembrance Service in Church.  During the service we remembered those we have lost and the children represented our School wonderfully being respectful and reverent in Church as always. 

 

Many thanks to Miss Healey and Year 5 staff for all their hard work and to all families who attended the service; it was lovely to see you all in Church. 

Year 5 Debating Competition


Some of our Year 5 children visited the council House to take part in a Debating Competition.  The children were amazing and represented St. Anne's fantastically well; they were so respectful to others and clear with their speeches.  Kyle had a special mention from the Mayor for his convincing presentation.  Well done to all the children who took part – Anne, Ethan L, Kyle, Harry, Jessica and Georgina and a big thank you to Mrs Malone for doing such a wonderful job in preparing the children.

 

 

Charity Fund-raising

 

Many thanks for your kind contributions and donations for non-uniform day.  We raised a brilliant £390 for our School charities.

 

 

Year 6 Confirmation

 

It was a proud occasion when our Year 6 children received the Sacrament of Confirmation in Church.  Bishop Robert Byrne visited school in the morning and confirmed the children himself. He was very impressed by our school and the children’s knowledge and understanding of the Sacrament and why they had chosen to be confirmed.

 

Thank you to everybody who helped to make it such a special occasion and most of all, to the children who with the support of their families and sponsors, received this very special sacrament and led it beautifully.

 

 

Year 3 Advent Assembly

 

Year 3 performed their Advent Assembly with dances, songs and 'The Advent Factor' they were able to show the real meaning of Advent and send a wonderful message.  Well done to all of the children who sang beautifully and have worked so hard to prepare for this assembly and many thanks to all of the Year 3 staff for preparing the children. 

 

 

 

Parish Centre Performance

 

Children from class 3O'R performed for parishioners at a tea dance at the Parish Centre.  They performed a range of songs from our Advent assembly including: 'Awake, Awake', 'O Holy Night' and 'A Whole New World'.  The children sang beautifully and the singing was enjoyed by all.  The children were even given the opportunity to join in on a Christmas sing along! 

 

 

 

Year 4 Visit

 

Ruth Jacobs, a Jewish speaker, came to visit Year 4 to talk about her faith. The children learned about the major festivals; Hanukah, Yom Kippur, Shabbat and Sukkot.  Ruth shared with us some of the signs and symbols of Judaism including the traditional outfits used in prayer.  The children learned so much from this experience, gaining a deeper appreciation for other religions and thought about the traditional upbringing that Jesus and his family would have had. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nursery Nativity Workshops

All the Nursery children enjoyed performing the ‘ABC Nativity’ to their families and spending time in the classroom with their parents, sharing books and making a variety of Christmas craft activities.  The children showed their parents how confident they have become since they started nursery back in September at the ‘Welcome to Nursery’ workshop.  Both staff and parents were extremely proud of the children’s acting, singing, dancing and behaviour.  Each child received a book from school as a gift to encourage reading for pleasure.  Many thanks to the staff for all their effort and to all the parents/carers who attended.

 

 

Reception Nativity

Well done to all of the Reception children for such wonderful nativity performances this week – the children have been working so hard to learn their parts.  The hard work certainly paid off when they made everyone feel so jolly and festive with their storytelling, dancing and singing to tell the Christmas story.  They made their parents and staff extremely proud. 

 

Many thanks to all of the reception staff for producing such a wonderful nativity. 

 

 

Mini Vinnies Visit to the Parish Centre

The 'Mini Vinnies' went over to the Parish Centre to help with the Christmas dinner and festivities for the local community and parishioners of St. Anne's. The children got into the Christmas spirit and delivered hand-made Christmas cards (which had been made by the Mini Vinnies and the Liturgical Leaders at school) to everyone that was there.  The children helped serve during the afternoon and were most helpful. The children engaged in some delightful conversation and were beaming upon their return to school. 

 

Well done Mini Vinnies!



 

 

 

Advent Mass

 

A beautiful Advent Mass in Church took place this week.  As usual the children were amazing both in terms of their singing and their behaviour.  Thank you to Mrs Cope and everyone involved in organising Mass.

 

 

Key Stage 1 Nativity

Key Stage One performed their annual Christmas show 'The Nativity'.  The nativity really did show us all the true meaning of Christmas and what an amazing performance it was!  The Year 2 children acted, sang and danced incredibly well to put on a spectacular show for us all. The children were real superstars!  A huge well done to Year 1 too, who performed a poem and a Christmas song at the beginning of the show. They also had choir roles throughout the nativity and supported the Year 2 children amazingly. 

Many thanks to the Key Stage 1 staff who worked so hard to ensure that the performances were a success and thanks to all the family members who watched the performances; it was lovely to see you all.

 

 

 

Carol Concert

 

The children of Key Stage 2 came together to share in the annual Christmas Carol Concert. The children travelled on a journey through the very special build up through Advent leading up to Christmas Day; through readings from the bible and a mix of traditional and modern carols.  We then ended the Carol Concert with the twelve days of Christmas and Santa Claus is coming to town, really getting into the Christmas Spirit. Wishing you all a Happy and Holy Christmas from all of Key Stage 2!

Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Eloquent & Truthful’

 

The Virtue for this half-term is ‘Eloquent and Truthful

 

‘Our pupils are taught that it is important that they are able to express their thoughts and beliefs and that they must be taught to explain and convince others with great articulation and eloquence.  To understand that being truthful is being faithful to oneself and to Jesus.’

Whole School Mass

 

We held our Epiphany Mass in Church this week. The children all sang beautifully and were reverent and respectful in Church as always.  Many thanks to the families who joined us for our special Mass.

 

 

 

READ ALL ABOUT IT – TOP PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NORTH SOLIHULL!! Birmingham Mail Real Guide

 

We are delighted to inform you that Saint Anne’s have been awarded a five-star rating and made the top ten schools in Solihull in the Birmingham Mail Real Guide to League Tables for our results from 2017-18 cohort.

 

St Anne's was rated in top position in North Solihull, 3rd in Solihull and ranked 1217th overall across the country, out of 14,459 primary schools in England.

Parents can follow this information on  www.birminghammail.co.uk › News › Midlands News

 

 

The school earned a maximum five stars in different categories including progress, attainment for all and attainment.  Parents can go online to browse the full data, compare different schools, and find links to contact details and recent Ofsted reports. 

 

We are very fortunate to have such wonderful, committed staff, fantastic children and great families and together we can continue to make Saint Anne’s the best it can be.

 

 

Class 2OC Mass

 

This morning class 2OC celebrated Candlemas in their Class Mass.  All the children were wonderful; they each had a special part to play and carried it out fantastically.  A wonderful celebration for all who attended and a super effort Class 2OC.  Thank you to year 2 staff and Miss O’Connor who is so very proud of her class and all the children who attended Mass this morning.  Thanks too to the Year 5 children who attended Mass with their Reception buddies. 

 

Year 5 Tea Dance

 

Members of Year 5 went to the Parish Centre on Wednesday to perform a number of songs to parishioners. They sang three different songs from their assembly which was about 'Islands and looking after God's Earth'.  Some of the songs were very well known to the parishioners and it became a lovely celebration with both children and audience singing along together.  Thank you to all the children who represented the school beautifully and to staff for arranging the afternoon.

NSPCC Number Day

 

Many thanks to all who sent in loose change for the NSPCC Number Day.  We are very pleased to announce that we raised a total of £209.97 for this very worth charity.

 

Year 3 & 4 Collective Worship Parent Sessions

 

Many thanks to the parents who attended class 4E’s Collective Worship.  It was lovely to welcome parents in to school to join in this very important part of our learning.  We look forward to welcoming parents of the other classes over the next 3 weeks.

 

The dates and times for each class are listed below.  All sessions take place in the School Hall at 2.50pm and parents should come to the main school entrance by 2.45pm.

 

Class 4S - Thursday 7th March.  Class 3OR - Thursday 14th March.  Class 3D: Thursday 21st March 2019.

 

 

 

Ash Wednesday Mass

 

The children and staff from years 3, 4, 5 & 6 attended a lovely Mass for Ash Wednesday led by Deacon Stuart.  The children were reverent and respectful in church as always and read and sang beautifully; many thanks to all the children and staff.  Reception and Infant children received their ashes on Wednesday afternoon in school.

 

 

Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Learned & Wise’

 

The Virtue for this half-term is ‘Eloquent and Truthful

 

‘Our pupils are taught that understanding the Word of God is the way for making the most important decisions in life.  Through learning, observation and from the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, we can come to understand the truth.  Our pupils are taught that we are wise because we know that life is about the journey; not the goal.  They know that they should treat everyone how they want to be treated.  They are wise because they follow the school mission; that everyone is special and unique.’

 

 

Year 3 & 4 Collective Worship Parent Sessions

 

Many thanks to the parents who attended class 4S’ Collective Worship.  It was lovely to welcome parents in to school to join in this very important part of our learning.  We look forward to welcoming parents of the other classes over the year.

 

The dates and times for each class are listed below.  All sessions take place in the School Hall at 2.50pm and parents should come to the main school entrance by 2.45pm.  Class 3OR - Thursday 14th March.  Class 3D: Thursday 21st March 2019.

 

 

 

 

Class 4E Mass

                        

Class 4E led a very special Mass today in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day’!  The children all sang beautifully, read wonderfully and behaved reverently.  Thank you to all the parishioners and family members who joined us for this wonderful Mass and many thanks to Miss Evans and the Year 4 staff for organising such a beautiful Mass.  Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone from St. Anne’s!

Father Christi would be delighted to see as many of the children as possible at 11am Mass on Sunday morning to celebrate the feast of St. Patrick and help lead the singing of the hymn ‘Hail Glorious St. Patrick’, which they sang so beautifully today.

 

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, out Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

“Lord, in the parable of the talents you teach us to use the gifts we have been given for our benefit and that of others. 

Help us to recognise the potential of our own and others’ gifts to enhance lives each day.”

 

“Lord, I offer you my hopes and fears during Lent.  I offer you the light and shadows within me. 

May your light shine through me clearly, that the others will recognise your goodness in me.”

 

 

 

Good Shepherd Assembly

 

We were very lucky to have Margot from Father Hudson Society present an assembly on Thursday about the Good Shepherd Appeal.  She explained the work of the Father Hudson’s and spoke to the children about their Good Shepherd boxes and how their kindness and generosity will make a huge difference to the people supported by the Father Hudson’s Society.

 

Class 3OR Parent Collective Worship

 

Many thanks to the parents who attended class 3OR’s Collective Worship yesterday afternoon.  It was lovely to welcome parents in to school to join in this very important part of our learning.  We look forward to welcoming parents of the other classes over the year.

 

Class 3D’s Collective Worship will take place next Thursday, 21st March 2019 in the School Hall at 2.50pm.  Parents should come to the main school entrance by 2.45pm.  Thank you.

 

 

Class 4S Mass

 

On Tuesday, class 4S led a very special Mass on the feast day of St. Joseph.  The children were a real credit to the school; they all read and sang beautifully throughout. 

 

Thank you to all the parishioners and family members who joined us for this wonderful Mass and many thanks to Miss Smith and the Year 4 staff for organising such a beautiful Mass.

 

 

 

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, out Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

“Lord, I offer you this Lent with all the generosity I have.  I give you each hour, each decision and each challenge, may I learn to do the most loving thing.  May I ease the pain and injustice of the world and help to build your kingdom.”

 

“Lord, Lent is a time when you ask us to focus on what needs to change in our lives.  Like dusty rooms, our lives need a spring clean.  We need to look at our lives and change the furniture of our lives around and throw away whatever is unhealthy.  Be with us, Lord, as we change our lives this Lent.”

 

 

Lenten Activities

 

Voluntary Prayer:  It was lovely to see so many children from across KS1 and KS2 today taking part in the voluntary prayer during break time.  Each Friday, the children spend a couple of minutes reflecting upon the week through music, prayer and silent reflection. 

Mrs Conway leads the children in prayer each week and there is an opportunity to sit silently afterwards and spend some time with God…a very calm, spiritual and reflective way to end another fabulous week at school. 

 

 

Liturgical Leaders Meeting:        

The Liturgical Leaders from KS1 and KS2 got together again for their weekly meeting during Lent.  What a successful meeting it was indeed!  The children had some fabulous ideas of how to promote the prayer garden on the playground through posters and new resources; thought deeply about how as a school during Lent we can help the homeless and also chose the Lenten prayers which will feature over the next coming weeks during Lent.  Fabulous commitment, determination and passion was shown by each Liturgical Leader to help drive the Catholic Life of the school.  Well done to all!

Easter Cards: On Thursday and Friday afternoon, the Mini Vinnies in KS2 gave up their lunch time creating beautiful Easter cards ready to present to the parishioners and local community of St. Anne's that are part of St. Anne's Parish Tea Dance. 

 

The children will then present the cards in good time, wishing everyone a happy and Holy Easter for the 21st April.  Well done to the Mini Vinnie's for their commitment and creativity! 

 

 

 

Year 3 Mother’s Day Mass

 

Year 3 led a beautiful Mother's Day Mass in Church.  During Mass we thought about our wonderful mothers; the children all read and sang beautifully and represented St. Annes wonderfully showing reverence and respect in Church as always.   They were a real credit to school and their families.  Many thanks to the Year 3 staff for all their hard work and to all families who attended Mass; it was lovely to see you all in Church.

 

First Confessions

 

Children in Year 3 have been making a special step in their journey towards First Holy Communion.  Children have been making their First Confessions in Church throughout the week in preparation of receiving this Holy Sacrament.  They have represented themselves wonderfully and we look forward to them making their First Holy Communion in the summer term.  Many thanks to all of the parents for attending and to Year 3 staff for leading the children.

 

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, out Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

“Lord, some of us begin Lent full of determination to stick to our targets.  Help us not to be too hard on ourselves if we fall short. Instead help us to realise it was worth having another try, as we battle against our weakness.  Be with us Lord and give each of us a new enthusiasm and determination to renew our lives in your love”.

 

“Lord, I offer you this Lent with all the generosity I have.  I give you each hour, each decision and each challenge, may I learn to do the most loving thing.  May I ease the pain and injustice of the world and help to build your kingdom”.

 

 

Liturgical Leaders Meeting

 

The Liturgical Leaders once again met during their lunch time to discuss different ways in which our Catholic Life can be celebrated.  The children were so enthusiastic and on this particular occasion used their creative flare to create posters to advertise the Prayer Garden.  The finished posters will be displayed around school to encourage all of the children to use the Prayer Garden throughout the season of Lent and beyond!  Well done Liturgical Leaders, your dedication is commendable!

 

 

Year 5 & 6 Lenten Stalls

Year 5 & 6 were able to buy a gift for their mums from our Lenten Stalls.  All gifts had been kindly donated and the stalls organised by Mrs Southall.  In doing this, we raised and very impressive £117.85 which will be donated to our Lenten charities. 

 

 

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, out Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

“Lord, there are so many reasons to smile and be cheerful, so many God-given moments that are messengers of hope each day.  Help me, during this Lent, to seize the day and to make the most of every opportunity”.

 

“Lord, thank you for the gift of this day and for all the blessings it has brought.  Forgive me when I have lost my balance today. When I have taken myself too seriously, lost my temper, or refused to learn or to relax with others. Help me to be more aware of Your presence and live with more balance tomorrow”.

 

 

Mass of Holy Week 


This week we had our very special Mass of Holy week.  The children read and sang beautifully and as always were reverent and respectful in church.  It was lovely to have so many families join us for this special Mass.

 

 

Lenten Prayers

 

During Lent, out Liturgical Leaders will be sharing special prayers with you and our St. Anne’s community.  This week our Leaders have chosen the following prayers:

 

“Lord, you have given us the sun so that we can see clearly,

You have given us clouds to provide us with cooling rain.

You have given us the wind to calm our heated tempers.

You have given us the night time so that we can rejoice once more at the start of a new day”.

 

“We ask Jesus to help us with our Lenten promises by saying Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation”.

 

 

Stations of the Cross

 

At lunchtime on Monday, the Liturgical Leaders went over to Church to help lead in the ‘Stations of the Cross’.  The children read the prayers and reflections beautifully, thinking deeply about the journey of Jesus on Good Friday, through to Easter Sunday.  The children were respectful and reflective throughout considering the great sacrifice Jesus made.

 

On Tuesday evening, the staff of St. Anne’s also journeyed through the Stations of the Cross in Church.  This was a beautiful moment for staff Collective prayer and opportunity for reflection and prayfulnes during Lent.  Deacon Stuart led the Stations for the Staff.

 

 

Year 3 Parent Inspire Religious Education Workshop

 

On Tuesday Morning, Year 3 enjoyed having family members in school to create some wonderful banner craft highlighting the importance of the Eucharist and their upcoming First Holy Communion date.  It was wonderful to see such enthusiasm and pride from the children.  We were so impressed with how wonderful all of the creations were; all of the children and adults should be extremely proud of their hard work!  A big thank you to Year 3 staff for organising this event.

 

 

Easter Competitions

 

We had some wonderfully creative designs for our Easter competitions today!  Well done to all who entered and congratulations to the winners of the Crowne Plaza competition.  The overall winner from the whole school was Aoife from class 4S.  Well done Aoife!

 

NAM – Tommy and Niamh                NPM – Sidney and Jasmine

RSH – Patrick and Ella                       RH – Ikenna and Evaleigh     

1H – Jack and Sonia                          1W – Stan and Kelsi

2OC – Jakub and Anais                     2M – Riley and Casey                       

3OR – Sophia and Leighton               3D – Harley and Molly           

4E – Clarke and Kaya-Anne               4S – Liam and Aoife  

5C – Frankie and Amelia                    5H – Caiden and Shauna                  

6M – Joey, Thomas and Laillie           6N – Paige and Kaiden                       6N – Calum and Siobhan

 

 

Diocesan Virtues at St. Anne’s – Our Half Term Value: ‘Curious & Active’

 

The Virtue for this half-term is ‘Curious & Active’

 

‘Our pupils are taught that from curiosity comes great learning. They are encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their own learning and to be active in their engagement with the world and how it is changing and how they can make it a better place.’

Whole School Mass

 

This morning we held a beautiful Mass for the new term.  The children read and sang beautifully and as always were reverent and respectful in church.  It was lovely to have so many families join us for this special Mass.

Donations for the Homeless

 

During Thursday Lunch time, the Liturgical Leaders got together to help distribute all of the generous donations provided by all of the boys and girls of St. Anne's for the homeless people of Birmingham.  The children worked really hard to ensure that each donation bag had a selection of donations from each year group and each bag was put together with love and care.  Each gift bag has a message on it: 'Best wishes, from all of the boys and girls from St. Anne's Catholic Primary School.'  There is also a prayer included, which was written by a child at St. Anne's. 

 

On Wednesday morning, a representative from Tabor House will be presented with the donations during assembly.  Thank you all again for your generous contributions to this very worthy cause.

 

 

 

 

Year 5 Trip to St. Chad’s Cathedral

 

Children in Year 5 spent Monday at St. Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham; they had an awe inspiring and reflective experience.  Firstly, they were brought around the Crypt and then the Cathedral whist the guides told stories behind the building as well as the significance of many of the items and artwork around the Cathedral.  The trip concluded with a beautiful mass which allowed the children and staff to spend some time in the presence of God.

 

 

 

May Procession

 

Yesterday our Year 1 and 2 children took part in a beautiful May Procession around the School.  The children kindly brought flowers into School as a symbol of their love for Mary which were then taken to service users at Roundmead Day Centre by our Liturgical Leaders. 

 

 

Celebrating Other Faiths - Year 5 - Islam  

 

In Year 5 we have been learning about the Islamic faith.  We have spent time looking at the story behind Islam and Muhammad, the signs and symbols seen in the faith, the 5 pillars of Islam and also some of the art work linked to the faith.  The children have been really engaged and have shown the virtues of being curious and active about other faiths.  They have shown respect and also great knowledge about various facts linked to the faith.

 

Celebrating Other Faiths - Year 6 - Sikhism

 

On Wednesday, Dr Bhogal who is a practitioner at Birmingham QE and a senior member of the Sikh community, came to visit the Year 6 children as part of other Faith Week.  During the visit he spoke to the children about a variety of topics such as the origins of Sikhism, their beliefs and their way of life.  Both children and staff learnt lots from this very wise individual.  Thank you very much to Dr Bhogal visiting St. Anne’s and to Year 6 staff for organising.

 

 

It is important that as part of our faith and learning, our children learn about other faiths and living in a multi-cultural society.  The lessons are invaluable and children benefit greatly from them.

 

Food Bank Donations

 

On Friday, three Minnie Vinnies, from year 4, took food that had been donated by St. Anne’s staff to a local food bank.  The volunteers that help out at Auckland Hall Food Bank were extremely surprised and grateful for the fabulous amount of food that St. Anne’s had gathered together.   Martin, the lead volunteer, runs a very tight ship and showed the children how the food is catalogued and then distributed to those in need.  We were all very interested to see first-hand how help was shared in the local community.  

First Holy Communion

 

Our final group of children made their first Holy Communion last week.  We would like to congratulate all the children who made their First Holy Communion this year; you were all so reverent and respectful and as always it was a proud moment for everyone.

 

Thank you to Mrs Cope and all of the staff at St. Anne’s for helping and supporting the children for this very special occasion and to all of our families for their continued support.

 

First Holy Communion Thanksgiving Mass

 

Thank you to everyone involved in the beautiful First Holy communion Thanksgiving Mass held last Sunday.  The children all looked splendid in their Communion clothes and the service was beautiful.  It was lovely to see parents and family members at Church so many thanks, as always, to those who came along.  Congratulations once again to all children who made their First Holy Communion this year.

 

 

Year 5 Flourishing Fivers

 

Roll up, roll up!  The children had a fantastic morning "Flourishing" their fivers!  A few weeks ago, year 5 were set an entrepreneurial challenge to make £5.00 grow.  Age UK Solihull (a local charity for the disadvantaged and elderly) gave the children £5 each which they were to use whilst working in teams, to produce a profit.  The children budgeted and designed fundraisers to make a profit for the charity. 

 

This morning, years 1 to 6 school had great fun spending their pennies and giving to this very unique and special charity.  The fundraisers ranged from penalty shoot outs, a cinema club, board games stalls, mocktail making and plenty of sweet treats!  Fun was had by all and the children raised plenty of money for charity! 

 

 

 

Reception Assembly

 

Reception children made everyone very proud with their super performance in their class assembly 'We Love Reading'.  We took everybody on an ABC reading adventure and shared our passion and love for reading books at school and home.  The children shared all the bible stories that they had learnt through the year showed their parents how important the Bible is to all the children and families at St. Anne's.

 

All the children were excited to dress up as their favourite book characters and share the books that they love.  Many thanks to all the Reception children for such a wonderful performance and to the staff for ensuring the children knew their lines and moves so well!

 

 

Year 6 Residential to Alton Castle

 

Our Year 6 pupils have been on a 2 night residential trip to the Kenelm Trust this week.  The children took part in a number of activities and a fabulous time was had by all!  Many thanks to all the staff involved for their organisation, hard work and commitment.  More photos and information can be seen on our Twitter page: @StAnnesCP

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Other Faiths – Judaism

 

Children in Year 1 have been celebrating Judaism this week and learning lots of exciting things!  They created Menorahs out of peas and pasta; made a Star of David using paper, felt tips and sequins and learnt about some special Jewish artefacts that they use or wear and the place in which they worship. 

 

special Jewish artefacts that they use or wear and the place in which they worship. 

National Sports Week

 

This week St. Anne’s have been celebrating National Sports Week.  As part of National Sport Week, the children have learnt about the patron saint of sports, St. Sebastian, as well as learning about sporting role models such as Mo Farrah, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katie Taylor and many more.  The children were in House Saints teams. 

 

Throughout the week, children from year groups 3, 4, 5 and 6 have also taken part in a mini-Olympics event which involved participating in a carousel of activities to emphasise the importance of being active, having fun and trying something new.

 

Thank you to all of our fantastic year 5 and 6 leaders who independently led each event; you are a real credit to the school and made Miss Smith and your class so proud!

 

Leaders:  Maizie, Amelia, Haydn, Georgina, Dante, Dawid, Giovanna, Tamara, Tegan, Siobhan, Alfie C, Tayla, James, Paige, Gabby, Frankie & Hughie.

 

 

 

Celebrating Other Faiths – Buddhism

 

Children in Year 2 have been celebrating Buddhism this week as part of our work on other faiths.  The children took part in lots of exciting activities including meditation and art.  The pictures show the children creating ‘Wesak Lanterns’ which are traditionally very bright and colourful and used during times of celebration.

 

 

 

Class 5C Collective Worship

 

On Thursday, Class 5C held a very special Collective Worship which was attended by their parents and some of our school governors; the focus was on St. Peter and St. Paul.  The children focused on how we can strengthen our faith with God despite making mistakes, just like St. Peter and St. Paul did.  Children were sincere and reverent with their delivery of the worship and there was a beautiful atmosphere.  All involved benefited from this spiritual time with God.  Thank you to all who attended.

Year 4 Vocations

 

On Thursday last week, the children in year 4 had a wonderful experience as Mr Slattery's friend from the army came to visit the school.  He talked to the children about his vocation to join the army and also how he became a very talented musician playing the bag pipes.  The beautiful sound from the bag pipes resounded around the hall and the whole school.  The children also had the opportunity to ask Duncan questions to get to know him a bit more.  The governors of St. Anne's and the liturgical leaders also joined this special event too.  Thank you to Mr Slattery for organising and to Duncan for joining St. Anne's for the afternoon. 

 

   

St. Anne’s Day

 

Today the children across the school celebrated the feast day of St. Anne, which falls on the 26th July during the school holidays.  We began with Mass in church and prayed together the prayer to Saint Anne during the Mass and sang our school hymn.  The Liturgical Leaders then planned a fabulous day full of activities, learning opportunities and a special celebration in the afternoon with food, a quiz about the life of St. Anne and a party afterwards with an opportunity for art work too.  The liturgical leaders then presented each child and member of staff with a special keepsake St Anne’s bookmark which they created alongside the Mini Vinnie’s during their lunch times over the last few weeks.

This will certainly become a yearly tradition now at School!  It was a fabulous, memorable very special day indeed celebrating our school saint. 

 

Class 5H Collective Worship

 

On Thursday, the parents of the children in 5H shared and lead a beautiful collective worship, focusing on God's Kingdom.  The children shared the Gospel and explored its meaning about being a part of and growing God's Kingdom.  It was wonderful to share this with parents and to rejoice in our faith that is rooted in Christ. 

 

Children were sincere and reverent with their delivery of the worship and there was a beautiful atmosphere.  All involved benefited from this spiritual time with God.  Thank

you to all who attended.

Year 6 Leavers’ Mass 

 

Thank you to everyone involved in the end of term Mass.  The children were fantastic and it was a beautiful service.  We are so proud of our Year 6 children.  It was lovely to see parents and family members at Church.  Thank you to all the staff who organised Mass.

 

St. Anne’s Awards!

 

We are very lucky at St. Anne’s to be able to offer our children many sporting opportunities.  In recognition of this, we were invited to attend the Solihull Sports Awards 2019 - Incorporating North and South Solihull School Sport Partnership Awards at the Core Theatre, Solihull.  The awards were for schools that can demonstrate the impact of the PE and Sport Premium funding on their pupils’ engagement in physical activity or health improvement activities

 

On Tuesday evening, Mrs Conway attended the ceremony with our P.E Co-ordinator, Miss Smith and our Sporting Teaching Assistant, Mr Humpherston.  We are very proud to announce that we won!  St. Anne’s won the Regional P.E and Sports Premium Award for Physical Activity and Health Enhancing initiative and Miss Smith won the North Solihull School Games Organiser Special Recognition Award!!  A massive well done to you both!  Please see poster at the end of this Newsletter for detail.