Prayer and Liturgy

Prayer and liturgy permeates life at St Mary's whether that is in a quiet moment of prayer at the start of the day; celebrating at Mass at St Winefride's or in the school hall or leading class-based prayer and liturgy sessions. 

Daily Prayers 

Our day is full of prayer and our school prayers can be found in the drop down above.

Prayers at St Mary's always take place:

• In the morning 
• Before lunch 
• After lunch 
• At the end of the school day

There is time in each day for children to pray for their own private intentions and we use Pope Francis' Five Finger Prayers to help children to structure these. 

Prayer and Liturgy in the Classroom

All children at St Mary's have the opportunity to lead class-based prayer and liturgy with the support of our Pupil Chaplains over the year. This is usually once or twice a week depending on the class assembly schedule.

We use the following structure to help children navigate and prepare for these sessions. 

Class Assemblies

All children at St Mary's have the opportunity to lead a class assembly on a topic that they have been learning about that term. These always include an opportunity for prayer and often link to RE lessons and the Catholic Life and Mission of our school. As well as these assemblies, groups of children help to lead special assemblies such as Harvest Festival to demonstrate their understanding of the word of Jesus and his teachings as well as other teachings of the Church. 

Mass and Holy Days of Obligation 

Mass is regularly held in school to mark key school events. There is also the opportunity to attend Mass on all Holy Days of Obligation as well as special Masses for First Holy Communion, Leavers and our school Feast Day. 

Children in KS2 also attend Mass at St Winefride's throughout the year. 

We are also passionate about encouraging our children to be part of the wider community in our deanery and diocese. We regularly attend Mass with other schools to help celebrate our faith together as members of a local and national community of Catholics. 

' When I was a the special Mass at St George's Cathedral, I felt happy that I was there and a little nervous. Seeing all of the other children made me realise how many children follow the same Catholic values as me.'  Year Four Pupil on the Start of Year Mass 2023