Collective Worship and Prayer

At St Joseph’s, we provide regular opportunities for our children to engage with prayer and worship. As well as praying on a morning, before lunch, after lunch and at home time, our children experience prayer in the following ways:

Monday Morning Celebration of the Word

Every Monday morning, Mr Burgess leads a Celebration of the Word with the whole school.  This reflects the Gospel from the previous day and gives the children a mission for the week – this is our going forth.

Tuesday

In class on Tuesday, we revisit going forth, and, after quiet reflection time, we consider how we intend to carry this forward in our classrooms, our lunch hall, our playground and at home.

Wednesday

On Wednesdays, our children lead a Liturgical Prayer which they have planned themselves in small groups for the rest of their class. These could be based on a theme which they have been learning about in RE or focussed on a theme of their choosing. We use the Let Us Prayer 2Gether resources to help children become more independent in their planning of Liturgical Prayer as they move through the school. We encourage our pupils to consider different ways to pray and different places to pray at this time.

Thursday

In class on a Thursday, our pupils have the opportunity to explore creative prayer.  Children may enjoy some reflective music and meditation, they may have an opportunity to pray for a specific intention, they may look at some religious art considering what the image means to them.  Time is dedicated to prayer but it is responsive to the age and needs of each class.

Friday

Every Friday, Miss Ryan leads a whole class leads a whole school celebration assembly.  This is a time to celebrate all those who have shown they are able to follow our Mission Statement: Work hard, love tenderly. Walk humbly: trusting in God.

We also focus on the three Rs of The St Joseph’s Way:

Be Respectful, Be Responsible and Be Ready to Learn

Within this gathering, pupils are also invited to share examples of how they have lived out the mission introduced at the start of the week.

Celebration of the Word with our families and our parish

At different times throughout the year, we invite families and our parish friends to join with us in our Celebration of the Word.  This means we have the chance to prayer and listen to God’s word together.

Praying at Home

Praying together as a family is a lovely experience.  During Advent, Lent, and the month of May, we send home prayer packs so that families can enjoy a few minutes praying for any particular intentions you may have. Everything you need is included and allows you to set up a little prayer station overnight.

Cafod Live Simply Award

At St Joseph’s, we are taking part in CAFOD’s LiveSimply award. Throughout the year, we are showing different ways that our school and community are living:

• Simply;
• In solidarity with people in poverty;
• Sustainably with creation.

The LiveSimply award is an opportunity for our school community – 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”.

What have we done so far:

Alongside a number of other initiatives, we have:

• Set up a Community Club which meets weekly to plan activities to support members of our local community
• Supported our local food banks and PACT House;
• Begun to design and construct an outdoor prayer space;
• Made Easter cards for the elderly residents in our local care home;
• Created a Laudato Si display and a Live Simply pledge wall;
• Supported CAFOD’s Big Lent Walk appeal.