Meet the Teacher
As building work continues around school, it remains important to use to keep up clear communication with our parents. We wanted to reassure everyone that our classes have settled well into their new environments. It was therefore more important than ever that we welcome all our parents into their classrooms at our Meet the Teacher events!
Macmillan Coffee Morning
The reopening of our school hall allowed us to welcome our parents back in for coffee morning! We felt this was a great opportunity to raise some money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Our children helped sell cakes before and after school and we raised almost £200.
Harvest Festival
During Harvest Festival we take the time to to think about all those in our local community who rely on generous donations to feed their families in these difficult times. Every class in school collects food items and this year our GIFT team members delivered them to our local charity, Emmaus, to support these families.
The Rosary Challenge
In this month of the Rosary, every class has successfully participated in the Mark 10 Mission Rosary Challenge. Every day, we have prayed a decade of the Rosary and learned about a different mystery every day. Mysteries are the moments in the life of Jesus and Mary and when we think about them we reflect on the impact they have on our mission today.
During Advent, the GIFT team attended the BoSCEP Carol Service, held at Thornleigh Salesian College, where they took part in a fantastic liturgy with other local schools. They also extended a warm St William’s welcome to some of our parishioners for an afternoon of entertainment and festive treats. All the children in school showed compassion for Mary and Joseph during our Journey to Bethlehem Day, as they revisited the Nativity story through prayer stations, reflecting and listening to the story of Jesus’ birth. Our Advent celebrations culminated in a lovely whole school Christmas Mass and carol service, where the children sang and read beautifully.
As we started a brand new year, each class focussed on the theme of “A new start” during prayer and liturgy, and discussed what they could change or do more of this year to be more like Jesus. We also spent some time thinking about the Gospel Values and the GIFT team introduced everyone to our Gospel Value Happiness Jars! Every time children were “caught” living out one of these core values, their name went into the jar.
In February, our “Happiness Jars” continued to remind us of the importance of living out the Gospel Values and the children in each class whose names appeared most often were presented with our CARITAS in Action Catholic Social Teaching Plaque. We also began preparing for Lent by thinking about what we could give up or how we could give back. The GIFT team went to Mount St Joseph’s to discuss Catholic Social Teaching in response to poverty and the Christian mission to promote kindness.
There have been lots of exciting things happening during Lent. All children in school completed their CAFOD Lenten Walk to raise £108 for fishing communities in the world struggling to support their families. Our own families showed incredible generosity in our St Joseph Penny box fundraisers – over £450 raised!. And in our final mission, we collected toiletries that our GIFT team used to create Blessing Bags to support local families.
May has been a busy month at St William’s. After returning from the half term holiday we attended Mass in Church to celebrate the Ascension. Every class created a crown during Prayer & Liturgy sessions and participated in the Crowning of Mary. And of course every class had a fantastic time at their Pentecost Parties as we all celebrated the Church’s birthday!