St John Fisher RC Primary School

The Hail Mary
Signed and sung by all pupils at St John Fisher.

Prayer and liturgy happens daily in class. We have our school prayers that are prayed daily and pupils are also encouraged to lead their own prayers. We also encourage and support parents in their own personal approach to prayer. See the 'Living out our Faith at Home' page of this website.

Collective worship (Prayer and liturgy) is central to all we do here at St John Fisher, providing opportunities for pupils and staff to worship God, reflect Jesus' role in their lives and develop community spirit and shared values. It takes many forms and is led by both pupils and staff. We follow the liturgical year (see below) and respond to world events and issues the children wish to explore.

We encourage everyone to respond to the prayer experience offered with reverence and in a heart felt way and we foster a sense of respect for those of others faiths.

Classes study the weekly Gospel reading through a variety of different ways including, Mark 10 Mission and The Wednesday Word. Pupils are supported each week to live out the message of the Gospel.

"I like saying our prayers during the day and using the actions."
Year 1 (Evie)

We celebrate Mass at school regularly. Pupils from Year 3, 4, 5 and 6, including our Chaplains take an important part in planning and leading our Masses. Year 2 plan and lead a class Mass in the Spring Term and from then on, join KS2 to celebrate Mass.

“When I came out of Mass a feeling of overjoyment filled me up because it was the first time I had received Jesus since I made my First Holy Communion last Saturday.”
Year 3 (Alannah)

Each year we celebrate a whole school liturgy to honour Mary, Mother of God. May is a month where all around the world, people come together to remember and celebrate Mary. She was the first to hear about the mission of Jesus and her faith came from an understanding of the great gifts that God had given her, especially the gift of her son. During our liturgy, the whole school sing and sign Hail Mary and Mary's statue is crowned. By following Mary, we can see how to love Jesus more deeply and appreciate how much he loves us.

At St John Fisher Primary, pupils are given time, and their own personal Prayer Journals, to develop the skill of Prayer Journaling. We allocate time for pupils to ‘prayer journal’ on a weekly basis from Year Two upwards. Come and See, encourages the use of journaling as a regular activity.

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) said the psalmist, for spending time in silence, in God’s presence is a gift and allowing ourselves the space to do this is something we should all take the opportunity to do. One of the best ways we can do this is by creating our very own special prayer journal.

“I like St. Catherine’s garden because it's nice, calming and relaxing. We sang the Hail Mary song with the school when it was the Crowning of Mary. We can pray in there.”
Year 1 (Gabriel and Quinn)

We learn about World Religions as part of our RE curriculum. We spend one week learning about Hinduism, one week learning about Judaism and one week learning about Islam. We follow the themes of Look, discover and respect which develop throughout the school. We also learn about important days, celebrations and festivals of other faiths during whole school collective worship (prayer and liturgy).

HINDUISM

JUDAISM

ISLAM

"Be kind to one another" Ephesians 4:32

Liturgical Calendar

The Christian year has two cycles: the Christmas Cycle (Advent-Christmas-Epiphany) and the Easter Cycle (Lent-Easter-Pentecost). Within each cycle are a preparatory season symbolised by the colour purple and a festival season symbolised by the colour white. After each cycle there is an ordinary time of growth symbolised the colour green. Therefore there is a sequence of seasons using purple, white, and green in that order twice each year.

Please view the Liturgical Calendar for 2023-2024 below.

Prayer and Liturgy

The Hail Mary Signed and sung by all pupils at St John Fisher.

"I like saying our prayers during the day and using the actions." Year 1 (Evie)

“When I came out of Mass a feeling of overjoyment filled me up because it was the first time I had received Jesus since I made my First Holy Communion last Saturday.” Year 3 (Alannah)

“I like St. Catherine’s garden because it's nice, calming and relaxing. We sang the Hail Mary song with the school when it was the Crowning of Mary. We can pray in there.” Year 1 (Gabriel and Quinn)