From September 1st to October 4th (the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, our Trust saint), Christians unite worldwide in prayer and action for creation during the Season of Creation. The 2023 theme is “Let Justice and Peace Flow.” The symbol is the mighty river. This is a time in school when we can remember the majesty of creation but also educate our pupils about the destruction of our world and ways we can act together to stop this. During the Season of Creation, we also mark the Harvest Festival which is a traditional time when we remember and celebrating how God has blessed us with a successful gathering of the year's crops.

In school, this is a focus for both RE lessons and prayer and liturgy. We are using a range of resources from Caritas, CAFOD and the Bible Society.

Early Years will be leading our Harvest Thanksgiving Service on Friday 12th October. We encourage families to donate fruit, vegetables and canned/dried goods that will be donated to those in need.

 

Synodal Pathway

In January 2022 we worked with KS2 to help them understand the Synodal Pathway process using the Powerpoint from the Diocese of Westminster, the video from Cardinal Nichols and the video made by the children from the All Saints Academy Trust. We spoke about the big changes and impact of the Pandemic and how Pope Francis wants to hear from all of us about the Church. All children in Year 3-6 were involved in the discussion, with the oldest pupils noting down some of their ideas. 

We talked about how no one has a voice unless ears are open in readiness to listen. We reminded the children of the work we do in RE about the early Christians and how the holy spirit enabled them to talk in and understand so many languages.

It was very mixed whether the children felt part of the Church. Some had attended virtual masses throughout the Pandemic and had quickly returned to normal since face to face church services resumed. Some had continued to pray as a family during lock-downs but not had provisions for attending mass virtually (in our school Parish this was the case). Being in a rural area means that some of the smaller churches in our parish have not fully reopened, and some families are having to travel a greater distance to attend Mass. This has resulted in some families no longer attending.

Our non-Catholic children feel their only concept of Church was through online RE lessons and prayers the school provided. Sadly, due to COVID we haven’t had any face to face masses this academic year which, for children who don’t attend Mass with their families, is causing a disconnect with the Church. Some of our youngest pupils are yet to even set foot in a church. We were grateful for the CAFOD national assemblies and virtual Masses from the Diocese to at least give somewhat of a liturgical experience during this time.

Our children were concerned that the Pandemic has left elderly people isolated because Priests may not have been able to visit to administer communion due to social distancing rules. They were also concerned (mainly in Year 5/6) that as the level of homelessness has increased, these vulnerable people are not able to access the Church.

Children all commented on the need for better provision for children in the Church. Many of the Children’s liturgies that previously ran pre pandemic have not restarted and they felt that these both enable children to access gospel values at an appropriate level, and help older children concentrate and listen better without the distraction of those younger members of the Church.

Unanimously, Children wanted the sense of community back in to the Church. They wanted parish centres to be open again with opportunities for parish clubs, coffee mornings and groups to restart. Many children have had disruption to their Sacramental journeys and are looking forward to making their Communions or celebrating the Baptism of siblings.

They want to feel more part of the Church through more opportunities to lead and contribute in their parishes.