Autumn Term

Prayer tables are green to reflect Ordinary Time at start of the academic year.

Welcome Mass: This is an opportunity to welcome the children and their families back to our community and to pray for the pupils as they start the next stage of their educational journey. Year 6 lead the mass.

Harvest Thanksgiving: A Communal Assembly with gifts of food and drink. Children lead the assembly to show our care for creation and support the Cafod Family Fast day appeals. We put our faith into action by donating Harvest Gifts to the Whitton Food Bank. 

Month of the Rosary: October is the month of the Rosary. Classes are encouraged to pray at least a decade of the Rosary each day, and this year we are hoping to involve the wider community by inviting parents and governors for morning prayer in our special garden. In recent years our local Catholic Primaries have a shared a liturgy to Mary, with Sacred Heart pupils reading some parts of the Mass.

Month of Remembrance: During November we remember all those souls who have gone to Heaven. We attend an All Souls Mass.  On the 11th November we particularly remember those who have died in war. This is marked with an assembly and reflection. Everyone attends a two minute silence in the school playground.

Advent: At this time, we gather for Mass to reflect on how we can prepare for the coming of Jesus. We introduce the children to the Advent Wreath and light the first candle. Subsequent candles are lit throughout the season, and their significance is explained. The prayer tables in classes are now changed to purple as a sign of preparation and waiting. Every child in every year group has the opportunity to bring home their class ‘Travelling Crib’ so that they can pray and reflect at home with their family members.

Christmas: There are a range of assemblies, liturgies, attendance at Mass, nativity plays and carol services led by the different classes throughout the school.  Parents are warmly invited and welcome to attend.

Nativity Play: EYFS and Reception classes, and Years 1 and 2 classes perform their Nativity plays in late December. Last year, the children acted, read and sang beautifully as they retold the Christmas story which helped us to reflect on how we can welcome Jesus into our lives.

Advent Carol Service: Parents and carers are warmly invited to our annual Carol Service. Through the readings, Carols and tableau, pupils in Years 3 to 6 help us to reflect and consider how we can prepare ourselves to receive Jesus. Our School Choir contributes to the festivities in the community by singing Christmas Carols at the annual ‘Teddington Lights Up’ event in November.

A Christingle Service happens during advent led by the children. Pupils learn the significance of each part of a Christingle decoration.

Reconciliation Services for KS2.

These are just some of the liturgical events that happen in the Autumn Term. There are additional whole school events that contribute to our school community and the wider community:

Christmas card delivery in the local community.

Junior Citizenship Programme – Year 6

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Anti-Bullying Week

Junior Safety Officers – road safety awareness

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Spring

Prayer tables are gold for the Christmas season then green for Ordinary Time after the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord.

Epiphany: As a whole school, we gather to celebrate the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus. This takes the form of a Parish Mass or Mass in School.

Holy Family (if in term time) – We attend a Parish Mass and reflect on becoming spiritually closer to each other and to Jesus.

Candlemas: Celebration of Light and Jesus’ presentation in the Temple. Led by Reception.

Lent: The Ash Wednesday service in hall marks the beginning of the Lenten season. This is a time to prepare for Easter, and prayer tables become purple once again. The opportunity for Prayer and Penance is given to all children. Stations of the Cross are prayed in each class or in the parish church. KS2 classes go to parish Mass at least once a week. There is a special assembly on the last day of term to remember the Last Supper.

We encourage awareness of our greater responsibilities and of our privilege to help our brothers and sisters in the wider world. Last year as part of our journey through Lent, the children learned about the Catholic Children’s Society and how they support local disadvantaged children and families.

Reconciliation Services for KS2.

Easter – The resurrection of our Lord is celebrated during the school holidays however covered through a 4 week RE topic. Special assemblies highlight the importance of this feast when the children return to school. 

These are just some of the liturgical events that happen in the Spring Term. There are additional whole school events that contribute to our school community and the wider community:

Mother’s Day Assembly: KS1

Mental Health and wellbeing week

Class assemblies

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Summer

Prayer tables are gold for the Easter season until Pentecost when they change to green for Ordinary Time.  

First Holy Communions: The children in Year 3 (there may be children from other year groups) make their First Holy Communion on a Saturday in May or June. As many staff as possible try to come to celebrate this occasion with them.

May Procession in Honour of Our Lady:  May is a month devoted to Our Lady and she is honoured as the ‘Queen of May’. Our Prayer Garden reflects this devotion, and a class will lead a liturgy for this. Children process to show her importance and will say the Rosary. Throughout the month of May, classes will endeavour to say a decade of the Rosary each day.

Ascension: Celebration of our Lord’s return to Heaven. Parish Mass and special assembly to celebrate.

Pentecost: Celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Parish Mass and special assembly to celebrate.

Service of Reconciliation: The whole school studies the topic of Reconciliation this term. 

Corpus Christi: Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Eucharistic adoration in the Church Yr2-6.

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: A special liturgy or Mass in which children reflect on the love and mercy of Jesus after which our school was named. Last year, pupils reflected on and created a range of artistic representations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Feast of St. Peter and Paul: A whole school mass is celebrated with the parish community and led by the pupils in Key Stage Two.

These are just some of the liturgical events that happen in the Summer Term. There are additional whole school events in the Summer Term that contribute to our school community and the wider community:

International Dinner Party

Thanksgiving Mass for Leavers