Welcome Mass

Father Declan visited us today for our All Saints Day/Welcome Mass. 

Thank you for everyone who joined us, and thank you to our children who led it alongside Father Declan. 

Month of the Rosary

Some of our children have worked with Mrs Reynolds in small groups to create a bead from the Rosary, these will all join together to create St Michael's Rosary beads. 

Faith in Action

This year, some of our year 6 children have decided to work towards their Pin Award and join the Faith in Action group. They have completed their first reflection with Mrs Reynolds. 

Harvest Festival

Class 2 led a beautiful Harvest Assembly this year, we heard some wonderful songs they had learned and showed thanks for all of the donations our school community have offered to our local foodbank.

Faith In Action

Today some of our Year 6 children completed their Faith In Action Program and created their final collages demonstrating their understanding of their faith and the ways that they live and act out their faith in every day life:

Good Shepherd Thanksgiving Service

Today a group of children attended the Good Shepherd Thanksgiving service at St Marie's Cathedral in Sheffield. Here we were able to share what our school did in order to raise funds for the Caritas appeal and donate the money that our school raised. We also received a certificate for our efforts. 

The link of the live stream is below: 

Holy Communion

Congratulations to our children who are making their First Holy Communion.

Holy Week - Maundy Thursday

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Class 4's Maundy Thursday

assembly and thank you to Class 4 for telling us the story of Maundy Thursday as part of our Holy Week celebration - well done! 

Holy Week - Spy Wednesday

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Class 3's Holy Wednesday

assembly and thank you to Class 3 for telling us the story of Spy Wednesday as part of our Holy Week celebration - well done! 

Holy Week - Stations of the Cross

Today was Class 5's turn to lead assembly.

They told us about the 'Stations of the Cross' - the journey of Jesus Christ before he died for our sins. 

Well done Class 5! 

Holy Week - Palm Sunday

Class 2 put on a wonderful assembly reminding us of the story of Palm Sunday. It is so wonderful to be able to have our families and community back in school helping us celebrate Holy Week.

Well done Class 2!

Good Shepherd Appeal

Today in our classes we learned how we can look after ourselves, physically, mentally and spiritually. A way we can look after ourselves mentally is by using the Six Ways to Wellbeing. Our 6-a-day for our mental health. We all brought our most bizarre fact and connected another in a number of ways. 

The Good Shepherd Appeal - Caritas

The Good Shepherd Appeal is historically the key fundraising initiative for Caritas, which is the social arm of the Diocese of Hallam, it offers support to a wide variety of Social Action projects but The Good Shepherd Appeal is primarily to raise money for its counselling services, used by children, families, schools and adults of all ages. 

The theme of this years Good Shepherd Appeal is: 

Good Mental Health

We look forward to engaging our pupils around Good Mental Health and bringing the message of the Gospel to the heart of good mental health - all of course, whilst having fun and fundraising for our community.

Lent

During Lent this year, children have received a Lent pack to share with their families at home. We have considered what Lent is a time for and discussed that it doesn't always have to be about 'giving up' something. We can often make a promise to start doing something new. Children have been asked to complete their reflection and return it to class. 

Ash Wednesday

This year for our Ash Wednesday celebrations, we thought about how the day is a time where we confess our sins. Each child was asked to think carefully about something that they may be sorry for and would like to ask God for forgiveness ready for Lent. Each individual then wrote this on a piece of paper and placed it in a box. These confessions were then burned and turned into ash. 

Each class then scattered the ash as a symbol of throwing away their sins. 

Synod

Pope Francis has asked every one of the People of God to let him know how things are for them in the Church. He believes we are all trying to journey together through life, finding ways to communicate the fundamental message of Jesus, to love one another, in how we live our lives and in our words. That is the meaning of the word “Synodal” – it means “journeying together”.

He has asked the Bishops of the world to ask you and then tell him.

At St Michael's the children of Class 3, 4 and 5 have all submitted their thoughts. 

For any further information, visit: https://hallam-diocese.com/synod/

Guided Meditation

Children from Class 3 and 4 have participated in Guided Meditation, in this session they focused on what they would say to Jesus if they had a chance to speak to him.  

Carol Concert

Children from Class 3, 4 and 5 have all been practicing their favourite Christmas Carols and have put together a wonderful performance. Class 1 and Class 2 also showed us how beautifully they can sing. 

Advent: Travelling Crib

This year for our travelling crib, each child was given the Christmas story, a prayer and a character. They were asked to share the Christmas story with their family and think about the true meaning of Christmas. Children then returned their character and reflection sheet to become part of the Class nativity scene. 

Advent: Christingle

Throughout school as part of our advent preparations, every pupil has made their own Christingle. We talked about what every part of the Christingle symbolises and shared our preparations with an assembly.

Other Faiths Week: Judaism

Throughout school this week we have been exploring and learning about the Jewish faith. We have each had a different focus in our classes: 

Class 1 - Stories: Abraham and Moses

Class 2 - Prayer/Home: Shabbat

Class 3 - Places for worship: Synagogue 

Class 4 - Beliefs and festivals: Pesach

Class 5 - Belonging and values: Yom Kippur

Welcome Mass

Many thanks to Father Declan for our lovely Welcome Mass on Wednesday.

 Father was very impressed by our lovely children and the way they took part. A special mention to our readers who did an amazing job. We had hoped to be able to invite our wider community to the service but the current COVID restrictions made this impossible. 

Remembrance Assembly

Class 4 produced a Remembrance Day assembly.

Visit from Father Declan

Class 5 had a lovely visit with Father Declan to discuss what it was like to be a priest and what the sacrament of Ordination was like. It was fantastic to listen to Father speak about his role with such passion, to find out about his experience of been called by God and to ask all of the questions we had about his experiences of priesthood. A huge thank you to Father for taking the time to be with us today.

Month of Remembrance

November is the month of remembrance, in school we have all added the name of someone who we would like to remember throughout November. This may be someone close to us who we have lost, or it may be a fallen hero. We will pray for these people during our assemblies. We will remember them. 

Baptism/Confirmation - Belonging

Our second Come and See topic is 'Baptism/Confirmation - Belonging'.

Each of our classes have a topic focus: 

Class 1 - Belonging: 'What does it mean to belong?'

Class 2 - Signs and Symbols: 'Are signs and symbols important?'

Class 3 - Promises: 'Why make promises?'

Class 4 - Life Choices: 'Is commitment important?'

Class 5 - Vocation and Commitment: 'What is commitment in life?'

Collective Worship

Each week collective worship takes place in every class. Children work to prepare and deliver these sessions around a theme which gives the class a chance to listen and reflect respectfully. 

Here are some examples: 

Faith In Action

A group of our Y6 pupils have opted to participate in completing their 'Faith In Action - Pin Award.'

This award rewards young people's active service in helping to build the Kingdom of God on Earth. The Faith in Action Award encourages young people to take that service into their wider community and accept greater responsibility for their faith in action.

'Virtues to Live By'

This year we have introduced, 'Virtues to Live By' which enables us to explore each virtue and deepen our understanding of it within our school community.

Our first focus is Respect and Courtesy. 

Children have nominated their peers each week when they have recognised the virtue being carried out around school, which has then been celebrated in our key stage assemblies. 

Domestic Church

Our first Come and See topic is 'Domestic Church'.

Each of our classes have a topic focus: 

Class 1 - Families: 'Why do we have a family and who is my family?'

Class 2 - Beginnings: 'Who made the world and everything in it?'

Class 3 - Homes: 'What makes a house a home?'

Class 4 - Ourselves: 'Who am I?'

Class 5 - Loving: 'Do you have to earn love?'

Mission statement

We have updated our mission statement!

As a federation, we have chosen to update our mission statement so it represents our school in the best way possible.  

Here is what the children think: 

Parent voice: 

It is so wonderful to hear from our parents what they think of our school, we are very pleased with the responses. 

Advent

A lovely end to our advent season in school this week with our advent mass led by Class 5 and Father Brett as well as our KS2 Carol service, telling the story of the fist Christmas. The children were amazing and got everyone in the Christmas mood. Merry Christmas everyone.

Advent begins in School

Friday 9th November

Class 5 have led an assembly to celebrate Remembrance Day focusing on the history of the poppy appeal and what it represents.

Wednesday 7th November

Class 5 packaged shoe boxes ready to be sent off around the world as part of Operation Christmas Child. In total we managed to create 22 shoe boxes which will bring joy to children in other countries.

Monday 22^nd October

Class Two lead a great assembly for the school and their parents sharing the work of The Samaritans Purse and the Christmas Shoe box appeal.

Welcome back to all our families.

Here we have your Come and See Autumn newsletter and some additional information for our upcoming Other Faith week.

Thank you for a wonderful year!

Class 2 finished their Universal Church - Neighbours topic with a lovely liturgy about how to be a good neighbour. The children were able to reflect on their learning and discuss the scripture of The Good Samaritan.

2nd July 2018

Islam Focus Day

Today all the children in school took part in different learning tasks about the Muslim faith. This included research, prayer mats, the mosque, Islamic art and pattern and the 5 Pillars of Islam. The children worked in mixed groups around the school to learn more before coming together to share in a celebration assembly.

27th June 2018

Today our Class Two children lead assembly sharing their work on Neighbours across the world. They linked the celebration to their learning from Cafod and the World Cup.

They all spoke well and we are very proud of them.

15th June 2018

The Feast of Corpus Christi

Class 4 helped us to celebrate The Feast of Corpus Christi with a celebratory mass. They all did brilliantly!

20th May - Pentecost

The Birthday of The Church

This week our Class 3 children led the whole school community in a Pentecost assembly, sharing the story and prayers to help us celebrate the coming of the

Holy Spirit.

Mary in May

Our school entrance has now been dressed with a blue cloth, special prayers and fresh flowers for Our Lady.

The children in Class Two have been learning more about the early life of Mary and have been working on creating their own images of her.

Holy Week

The week began with a lovely liturgy lead by our Class 3 children, retelling the story of Palm Sunday.

Class Two led the school in a beautiful retell of the Last Supper with some songs and liturgical dance.

Our journey through Holy Week continued with a wonderful drama of the Last Supper and Jesus' arrest by

Class 4.

In our final liturgy Class 5 shared the moving story of

The Three Trees.

We also took the time to remember the promises we made at the start of Lent with our Lenten branches.

Praying Together

The children in Class Two led the whole school in a Lenten liturgy encouraging us to keep our Lent promises and be more like Jesus.

Lent

During Lent the Travelling Cross and resources will be shared around our school community. The bags are being sent home with different children each evening so that everyone will have the opportunity to take part over the coming weeks.

When the bag is in your home please take some time to read through and discuss the resources with your child. If you need and further support please speak to a member of staff.

In addition to the Travelling Crosses each of our classrooms have a Lenten branch as a focal point to our prayer areas.

The idea is that children, staff, parents and visitors can write down their promises and intentions for Lent and these can be hung on the branch.

During Holy Week the branches and intentions will form part of our final Liturgy.

KS2 Carol Concert

The children in KS2 performed a wonderful carol concert laying out the story of the Nativity with lots of wonderful hymns to help get us in the Christmas mood. We had a choir from Class 3, acting from Class 4, Latin from Class 5 and a wonderful Spanish carol to finish. Below is a copy of the concert for anyone who could not make it.

Making Advent Special

Monday 4th December

For our first day together in Advent the children and staff in school marked the occasion buy wearing one item of purple clothing. We linked this with the changing of the cloths and the Advent wreaths.

Don't the children look great!

Liturgy Leaders Getting Busy

Monday 4th December

Today our wonderful Liturgy Leaders put together Advent wreaths for each class. Using natural resources from our local area and the school grounds they worked together to create a focal point for each classroom.

Other Faith Week

Judaism

Monday 27^th November

Today every child our school took part in a range of learning opportunities focused on the Jewish Faith.

These included the significance of the Star of David, the festival of Hannukah, the making of unleavened bread, the significance of the Sedar Plate and the 10 Commandments.

The children worked creatively and collaboratively with their peers to learn and share understanding about another world faith.

Don't forget to head over to the Class 4 Autumn 2 page to see what happened on their visit to St Marie's Cathedral. This was an opportunity for the children to learn a little more about the history of the cathedral and also a time for quiet prayer and reflection.

Class 5 helped us to celebrate Remembrance Day with a very thoughtful and caring assembly.

In November, We Remember

Linked with Remembrance Day, each class have a travelling prayer bag. This bag will go home each day throughout the month of November. This gives the children the opportunity to share prayers with loved ones at home and think about our family members who have passed away.

With the help of the rest of the school and many generous donations Class 5 have made 21 shoe-boxes to donate to Operation Christmas Child. A very big thank you to everyone who donated to this project.

Our Class Two children led our school community in a lovely Harvest Assembly.

Thank you so much for all your kind donations, these will be passed on to the Salvation Army Foodbank.

October is the Month of the Rosary

Each class have added a rosary focus to their prayer area.

If you would like to pray The Rosary in your home there is some helpful advice here...

Here is the Come and See parent newsletter for the Autumn Term

Spirited Arts

the different ways in which we see God

First Holy Communion

24th June 2017