In everything we do at St Joseph’s we live out our mission statement. All children, staff and stakeholders truly trust in God so that we can create a better tomorrow for everyone we meet by following Jesus’ example to help others today.
At St Joseph’s our calendar reflects the Liturgical Year of the church ensuring well planned celebrations and reflections to help children understand the various times in the year.
Our children show a deep understanding of the church’s year and how they can recognsie signs of this in Mass, worship, sacraments, celebrations and actions of believers.
Thank you to our chaplaincy team and Sr Susan who led us in a beautiful service in which we crowned Mary today. The weather was fantastic so we were able to begin our service on the field and process into the hall for our service.
As part of our preparations during this Holy season, the Chaplaincy Team have thought of daily reflections and acts. These acts, which the whole school will participate in, range from acts of sorrow, repentance and fasting. Each school day during Lent every child will try to include this act in their lives so that they can turn away from sin and distraction as they grow closer to Jesus.
Here at St. Joseph’s liturgy is the dynamic heart of the school. It reinforces the Catholic ethos of the school and its importance is obvious to the whole community. It is crucial to ensure that as many people as possible are involved in liturgies so that worshipping God is a truly communal activity.
As a Catholic school we have a duty to ensure that students have the opportunity to take part in Mass on Holy Days of Obligation, to celebrate important events in the life of the school and to give students the opportunity to take part in liturgies which celebrate important aspects of the Church Calendar and which help to promote the school’s Catholic identity, for instance Advent Services, Ash Wednesday Services, Penitential Services, Holy Week Liturgies, Class Masses and class collective worship.
Students are enabled to engage actively in worship and sharing the Word of God. This reinforces the importance and relevance of these within their own lives and gives them the chance to serve and minister to their peers and to staff as well. Children are also encouraged to use their gifts and talents to help the whole community of St. Joseph’s to access liturgy through different media e.g. music, dance, art, drama, ICT and so on – we all learn in a variety of ways and so need to experience liturgy being presented to us in different ways. This is evident within our Come and See assemblies and Masses.
Our Priests of the Parish, Cannon John Kyne, assisted by Father Marc and Father Shalbin, visit the children in school on a weekly basis to celebrate Mass.
Our teaching at St. Joseph’s is truly rooted within the teaching of Christ. Our religious life stretches far beyond the RE curriculum and is an integral part of daily life within school. This enables the children to develop a deep faith, respect and love of one another and helps them to understand the world around them. Follow the links below to learn more about the ways in which we celebrate our faith.
