We belong to the St John Henry Newman Parish family.

'God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission.' St John Henry Newman.

At St Mary's Catholic Primary School, we want all our children to live out our school mission statement: Called to Make a Difference. We want to grow to be more like Jesus in our everyday actions with each other, our local community and our global family. We can do this by growing in the knowledge and understanding of Jesus' life and teachings-these are an example to us. We will experience prayer and liturgy that builds on learning in RE and Catholic tradition and develop children's spiritual and religious dimensions of life through awe and wonder. We recognise the importance of helping children to understand God's plan for them and to live a life of action and service. We want our children to confidently know that God has chosen them to make a difference in our world and to flourish as the unique creation  they have been born to be with many gifts and talents to help them thrive in our world. We want our children to live out the Gospel values and make that difference in our world.

We live out our mission in many ways:

• We celebrate the liturgical year

At St Mary's we want to be Kingdom builders and grow spiritually through learning about key events and feasts in the Church's liturgical year. We use the example of saints and feast days to help us be more like Jesus and we do this so that we can help grow our school family and the wider community. The Church's liturgical year includes many celebrations and we enjoy taking part in these and spreading the Good News to all we meet. Some of our liturgical celebrations:

Mary's Birthday

Thank you Mary for saying 'yes' to God. Help us to be a school family who also say 'yes' to God's calling.

On Mary's birthday we think especially about one of her titles: Mary, Untier of Knots. We present our worries to Mary because we know she can help us.

We pray to you, Mary our Mother, to receive in your hands all the worries of St Mary's, to free us from the knots in our lives. Amen.

The Angelus

 The Angelus 'interrupts' our day so that we can stop the busyness of life and turn to God. In KS2, The Angelus  is prayed the first Monday of every month at 12noon and is led by our prayer leaders.

Holy Souls

November is the month that we remember all our loved ones who have gone to Heaven. We invite our school family to send photos of their loved ones to place on a very special Remembrance Prayer Table in our quiet room. Each class spends time in remembering our family and friends who are no longer with us and we pray for them and thank God for their presence in the world. We remember what a gift they have been to us. 

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen

Advent

During Advent, we go on a special Advent journey with Mary and Joseph. This helps us to become closer to Jesus and to be more like him. We look forward to welcoming the Light of the World into our lives at Christmas and our Advent preparations will make sure that we are ready to fully embrace Him and live like him. 

Feast of the Epiphany

The three wise men come to glorify Jesus. The Light of the World is with us!

We three kings of orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain
Moor and mountain
Following yonder star

O star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light

Lent

Ash Wednesday

During Lent, we try to become better friends with Jesus by praying, fasting and giving alms. Deacon John comes for a special service to distribute ashes. We all make promises to Jesus: what will we give up, pray for and raise funds for in the coming weeks? Children have the chance to earn a special Mercy Token for various good deeds.

Holy Week

Everyone prepares a special liturgy to tell our school family about the events of Holy Week. This is the most special story of  the liturgical year. 

Palm Sunday     Years 6 and Reception

The Last Supper    Years 3 and 4

The Crucifixion       Year 5

Stations of the Cross

During Holy Week, KS2 classes pray the Stations of the Cross. We visit church to be with Jesus on his final journey. 

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. 

Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

• We are inspired by the saints

Each year group is named after a saint. We celebrate their feast days, pray to them and learn about them so we can try to live like them. They are our ultimate role models!

Reception-St Nicholas

Year 1-St Francis of Assisi

Year 2-St Clare of Assisi

Year 3-St Vincent de Paul

Year 4-St Peter

Year 5-St Teresa of Calcutta

Year 6-St Oscar Romero

These saints are our Heroes of Faith.

• We live out the Gospel Values

Each half term we have a focus on a Gospel value. These values help us to live a life with Christ at the centre. We learn about each value, try to live them out and recognise when others are living according life by them.

As a school family we are:

Hopeful              Loving             Truthful           Faith-filled            Compassionate            Prophetic

Grateful             Generous         Learned          Attentive              Curious                         Peaceful

• We pray together

During the school year, we celebrate Mass at church during Advent and Lent. We use Advent Prayer Stations to focus our mind and invite parents in to journey with us. We also pray the Rosary each term and invite parents and parishioners to join us. This is important time spent together as a faith community and it helps us to grow our faith and to spend time being attentive to God.

• We serve others

We have a thriving Mini Vinnie group in school. In September, the Mini Vinnies are commissioned and celebrate a special Mass. We work closely with the SVP in our parish family and enjoy leading projects at Christmas and Easter for the elderly in our parish family and Morecambe Homeless Action. We enjoy serving lunch for the parishioners during Advent and Lent and befriending those who are lonely. Mini Vinnies enjoy meeting in their own time to pray, make cards and gifts during craft evenings and organise projects to help others. HELP WEEK is a whole week of fundraising: cake sales, mufti days, the copper heart challenge and our Help Week Fair. We raise lots of money for CAFOD, Morecambe Homeless Action and Unique Kidz.

Mini Vinnies-Click here to learn more about the work of the Mini Vinnies and the SVP.

• We live out Catholic Social Teachings

CARITAS In Action

What does the word Caritas mean?

• It means LOVE.

 • A special kind of love – charitable love for humankind.

• It comes from the Latin language.

• Leads us to Faith In Action.

 “Ubi caritas Deus ibi est.” "Where true charity is, God is there." As a school of service to others, this is at the heart of of how we live.

We focus on a different aspect each half term. This work is also supported by CAFOD visits to school.