Catholic life at St Albert the Great School is flourishing. We work closely with our parish and the local community to help enrich the lives of others whilst enriching our own faith.

Liturgical Year

At St Albert the Great, we take the time to celebrate the seasons of the Liturgical Year. All of our class displays reflect the Liturgical colour. We spend time in our R.E lessons looking at the events in the churches calender and we celebrate many of them together through collective worship. Throughout the months of October and May our Friends in Faith hold prayer and worship sessions during which the children pray the Rosary. We recognise the importance of Advent and Lent and encourage children to spend this time thinking about their role as a disciple of Jesus.

How We Celebrate The Liturgical Year

Autumn

Harvest Celebration– We hold an annual harvest celebration. In previous years, we have held afternoon teas to which the elderly members of our community have been invited.

This year, we will be holding a Harvest celebration and collecting food for the vulnerable in our community and donating it to DENS.

Month of the Rosary: October is the month of the Rosary. Classes are encouraged to pray the Rosary. The Friends in Faith hold a Rosary club.

Remembrance – Throughout the month of November we have a whole school book of remembrance. The children are encouraged to write the names of loved once who have passed away. The names in this book are remembered during our collective worship sessions throughout the month.

St Albert’s Feast Day – Our school’s patronal feast day is 15th November. we hold a school Mass each year to commemorate this day. St Albert was a great scientist and we incorporate this into our celebration of his feast day through various science related activities.

Advent: The prayer table should be changed to purple.

This is the season to prepare for Christmas. We hold an annual Advent Liturgy which is lead by our Friends in Faith.

This year, each class will be attending a Parish Mass during the season of Advent.

Christmas: Celebration of the Nativity through drama in EYFS and KS1. KS2 children lead a carol concert during which the Nativity story is reflected upon.

Spring

Epiphany 

Holy Family 

Lent: The prayer table should be changed to purple. During the season of Lent the children in the school reflecting on their actions and making positive changes in their lives.

Easter – The resurrection of our Lord is celebrated during the school holidays. However, it is covered through a 4 week RE topic. A special assembly is held and displays to highlight the importance of this feast are put up around the school.  

Summer

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. The school community celebrates with all the children at a school Mass.

May the month of Mary:-  In honour of Our Lady, we hold a may devotion during which flowers are laid on our May Alter. The service is led by our Friends in Faith.

Ascension: Covered in RE Topic work

Pentecost: Covered in RE Topic work

Corpus Christi: Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Feast of St. Peter and Paul

Leaver Mass: A farewell celebration for the Year 6 leavers.

Friends in Faith

We are lucky enough to have a pupil lead chaplaincy team, The Friends in Faith, here at St Albert The Great. Their role is to promote the Catholic Life of the school as well as support children in practising their faith. For example, they support the younger children in the planning and running of child-led worship sessions. They also help develop and strengthen links with our parish and the wider community through regular visits to local care homes, taking part in charity days and organising afternoon tea.

Each year, children from Year 5 and Year 6, interested in the role, fill out an application form and sit an interview for the post.

This year, we had a record number of applications for our Friends in Faith Team. The interviews were so strong we now have a team of 16 Friends in Faith. The children will be split into teams with each team having a different responsibility such as setting up for whole school prayer and liturgy sessions, modelling child-led worship for younger children and running lunchtime clubs. The children will get to experience each role throughout the course of the year.

Prayer and Liturgy

Prayer and Liturgy is a big part of life here at St Albert’s. It is central to the daily life of our school. We aim to provide opportunities for children’s spiritual growth and development through participation in a variety of forms of worship and through experiencing all forms of prayer: formal, informal, spontaneous, private, shared, petitionary and meditative. Shared acts of worship take place in an atmosphere of reflection and stillness, where we encourage each other to listen to God speaking to us and to respond.

During child-led worship, the children take ownership of their prayer and liturgy session by planning and delivering it within their class setting. The purpose of these child-led worship sessions is to empower children, giving them the opportunity to participate, take ownership of their learning, set their own agenda and give them a real voice in evaluating and planning activities.

Our Lady Queen Of All Creation

As a Catholic School, we enjoy working closely with Fr Kim, Parish Priest of Our Lady Queen Of All Creation church.  We regularly visit the church and participate in whole school celebrations as well as Holy Days of Obligation.  The Infant classes and Foundation Stage make regular visits to the Church as they begin to learn more about our faith.