During this first week of Advent, the pupils and staff have been asked to consider the first Synod question on the theme of ‘Hope’.
- What is my dream for the Church and my school?
- How can we make it happen?
Here are some of the children’s responses:
These questions are up in the staffroom for the staff to add their thoughts and the children will be responding in a variety of ways during the week. Images of those responses will be added here once complete.
All of the responses will be condensed into an overview and shared with Father Gabriel at St Wilfrid’s Parish Church.
5 comments
In Year 6 we have been discussing the theme of Hope while on our residential trip to the Briars. We spoke about the hopes we have of ourselves and our futures as well as the hope we get during Advent waiting from the arrival of Christ. When thinking about our hopes for the church we said we would like mass to be more inclusive, for example learning some prayers in sign language. We also said we hoped to see Father Gabriel in school more not just for celebrating mass but also for class liturgies, having lunch with us and may be joining us for football and table tennis games (which we know he enjoys!).
Year 3 have been thinking about ways that they can bring the Church and school together and they have thought of the following suggestions-
For Father Gabriel to come to school to help each year group plan the liturgy and make them better.
For Father Gabriel to come into our R.E lessons to help us learn more in depth about what we are learning about.
Draw pictures of Church and school and put them up in school and at Church.
Go round the Church to see things we hear about in R.E lessons.
For Father Gabriel to come to school and bring things in for us to look at and learn from from the Church.
In year 5, we discussed what the word hope means and that utilising the word hope could range from something as little as hoping for pizza at dinner time to bigger hopes and dreams like the jobs they would want when they become adults. We were asked to write letters to Father Gabriel outlining what we could do to become disciples of God and how could we create a stronger bond between school and the church. Our main ideas involved having more time to practice hymns in school so that when we go to church we can sing fluently and loudly. Year 5 also thought it would be a good idea for Father Gabriel to come and visit us in class more often so that he gets to know us. They mentioned Father Gabriel could give us ideas of how to become disciples of God.
In Year 1, we talked about what the word hope means and we made connections to what we were all hoping to get for Christmas. The children were all engaged with the discussions and were able to share their hopes. We then reflected on what hopes and dreams we have for our school. They came up with some good ideas, one child mentioned that they will like Saint Clares to be a school where there is love and happiness.
In Year 4 we discussed what we hoped for as a class in our class liturgy. We thought about ourselves and what we are hoping for at Christmas. We also talked about our hopes for our family members and that they stay well and safe from COVID. We discussed our hopes for the wider world that we are able to make changes to improve our climate.