September

Macmillan Coffee Morning

On Friday 29th September, we held our Macmillan Coffee morning.

We would like to thank all those who baked, donated, volunteered and supported this event to help make it so successful.

 As always, we were overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of our school and parish communities.

Our coffee morning raised £297.00 which will make a huge difference to those affected by cancer.  

 

October

Harvest Festival - Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank

Whilst preparing for our annual Harvest Celebration children and families made donations for the Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank.

We came together as a school community, joined by parents, extended family and parishioners for our Harvest Assembly.

Following this our Mini Vinnies packed donations, totalling 77.61kg, which were then collected by Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank ready for distribution across those in need in our wider community.

 

 

 

Combined Schools Mass

A group of children represented Our Lady of Grace at St. Gregory`s, Longton, joining with others of the Catholic faith from across the city to celebrate the annual Combined Schools Mass.

 

Inspire Workshop

        

Year 3/4 invited family members into class to join them in a workshop to learn more about the Rosary. They then made a Rosary bracelet together.

  
One Million Children Praying the Rosary.

On Wednesday, 18th October, children will be taking part in "A Million Children Praying the Rosary"

The idea of “A million children praying the Rosary” campaign was born in 2005 in Caracas, Venezuela. While several children were praying the rosary at a wayside shrine, some of the women present had a profound experience of the presence of the Virgin Mary. They recalled the words of Saint Padre Pio, who, on seeing a group of children reciting the rosary, remarked: “When one million children pray the rosary, the world will change.” The annual drive is organised by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic pastoral aid organisation, which offers financial support to over 5,000 projects in more than 140 countries worldwide. The number of participants in this initiative has been increasing every year, with the aim of reaching at least one million officially registered participants.

This year’s campaign will encourage children to pray “hand in hand with Our Lady and under the protection of Saint Joseph”,

Father Martin Barta, the Spiritual Assistant to ACN International, notes that in “many countries, children, in particular, are suffering from the effects of war and persecution”. He believes that the Rosary campaign is a good opportunity for children to pray together and express their solidarity.

 

Aid for Israel & Palestine

On Friday 29th October we held a non-uniform day in support of those affected by conflict in Israel and Palestine, raising £110.

 

Supporting the Royal British Legion

Our Mini Vinnies created artwork to be displayed at the Biddulph Royal British Legion 30th anniversary celebrations.

      

      

 

From the end of October until Remembrance Sunday, our Mini Vinnies support the Royal British Legion by selling poppies and other items.

 

November

Remembrance Sunday

      

Children, parents and staff also joined the Biddulph community in laying a wreath and paying their respects on Remembrance Sunday.

 

Child Led Worship Workshop

     

Mr Corrigan, Lay Chaplain at St. Margaret Ward Catholic Academy, visited the Chaplaincy Team to provide training in child-led worship.

The children took part in a workshop with Mr Corrigan and prepared a Prayer Service to share with KS2 children during Advent.

 

Samaritan`s Purse

Our Mini Vinnies carried out their annual collection on behalf of the Samaritian`s Purse, Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to provide God’s love in a tangible way to children in need all around the world.

Our families donated items to fill the children receiving the shoeboxes with joy and excitement at Christmas. We received enough donations to fill 16 shoeboxes! The shoeboxes were taken to our local pick up point where they will be prepared for delivery.

      

     

          

 

Dougie Mac - Newman Catholic Collegiate Charity for Autumn

      

Jo from the Dougie Mac Hospice joined us for an assembly to talk about the work of the charity and how we can get involved with the Newman Collegiate`s fundraising for them this term.

     

 

Red Wednesday

Praying and reflecting on Red Wednesday with The Mark Ten Mission for all persecuted Christians around the world.

 

December

 

Advent - One Life Music

        

                                              Praying and singing to prepare with Emily and Dan for the season of Advent.                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

Prayer and Praise

This month we launched our Prayer and Praise club. This is run weekly by our Chaplaincy team.

Bible stories are shared along with prayers and time for reflection. All are welcome and the club is enjoyed by many!

 

Advent Prayer

                                    

All classes have worked extremely hard preparing for our Advent Prayer Services.

These have been led reverently by each class throughout the period of Advent for the whole school, parents and parishioners.

The services have been a wonderful way for us all to come together and prepare for Christmas.

 

Davlyn House

A group of our choir and instrumentalists, accompanied by Mrs Amison, visited a local care home in the week before Christmas, bringing Christmas cheer to the residents with a selection of carols and festive music. We hope they enjoyed it as much as the children did!

 

Parishioner`s Christmas Lunch

                  

Our Mini Vinnies hosted a Christmas Lunch for our parishioners.

Following the lunch, prepared by our kitchen staff, they were treated to a performance of our Foundation Stage and KS1 Christmas Production "A Tale of Two Birthdays".

 

Douglas Macmillan

Items were brought in to school and donated to the Dougie Mac to help stock their shops.

                             Groups of children also designed and made Christmas cards which were delivered to the hospice to send words of comfort at Christmas.

 

January

Father Hudson

 

We welcomed Jo from Father Hudson into school for an assembly on their work and how we can support them.

February

 

Douglas Macmillan

 

     

Our Mini Vinnies wrote letters, sending words of comfort and kindness, to those people supported by the Dougie Mac. These were collected for distribution by Dougie Mac staff.

 

Lenten Prayer Services

 

March

 

Sacrament of Confirmation

 

Children from Year 5 & 6 received the Sacrament of Confirmation in a Mass celebrated by Fr. Julian and Cannon Paul McNally, on Tuesday 12th March.

As a school and parish, we continue to keep these children in our prayers.

 

KS1 Inspire Workshop - Easter Gardens 

 

KS1 had a lovely afternoon learning about Easter and creating their very own Easter gardens, joined by parents and grandparents.

 

Father Hudson

 

During Lent, our Mini Vinnies sold knitted chicks containing crème eggs to raise money for the Father Hudson Society.

 

Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank

      

At the end of the spring term, we collected up all the excess Easter eggs from our Chocolate Bingo event and took these along to the Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank depot so that they could be shared with families in need in our area.

 

May

 

One Life Music - Easter 

As a whole school, we joined in with an Easter music and prayer service, led by One Life Music.

 

Parish May Procession

     

Catholics have long honoured Mary in May with special observances, traditions and devotions. This devotion led to her being known as ‘The Queen of May’.  One of these traditions to honour Mary, our Heavenly Mother, is placing a crown of flowers on her statue to signify her honour as Queen of Heaven and Earth.

On Sunday, 5th May, children and staff from Our Lady of Grace joined together with members of our wider parish, to participate in the May Procession at St Patrick’s Church Packmoor.

After the crowning of the statue, there was Benediction, followed by afternoon tea.

A big thank you to our wonderful children and families for supporting the procession and making us so very proud!

 

Father Hudson "Good Shepherd" Mass

Our Head Boy and Head Girl were joined by members of the school Chaplaincy Team to represent Our Lady of Grace to celebrate Mass at Holy Trinity, Newcastle. The Mass is celebrated in thanks for donations to the Father Hudson "Good Shepherd" appeal.

 

    

 

Crowning of Mary

        

        

While Mary the Mother of God is revered and celebrated all year long, May is a special month to celebrate the “Queen of Heaven.”

Today all of our children reverently processed around the school, following our statue of Mary. After that, we all gathered together in the school hall for a devotional ceremony, during which our May Queen crowned Mary with a wreath of flowers.

 

Rosary Club

     

During the month of May, pupils and parents came together before the start of the school day, twice a week, to pray the rosary for Mary, our heavenly mother.

June

Summer 2

Our Values and Virtues: Learned and Wise 

• Pupils are growing to be learned, finding God in all things; and wise in the ways they use their learning for the common good.

CAFOD "Live Simply" Award

Following lots of hard work, we are extremely proud to announce that we have achieved the CAFOD "Live Simply" Award. Special thanks go to Mrs Catalano, our Chaplaincy Team and our Mini Vinnies for all the hard work put into attaining this.

 

First Holy Communion

 

   

Congratulations to those children in Year 4 who received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion on Sunday 23rd June.

As a school and parish community, we continue to keep these children in our prayers.