The motto of our Junior Chaplaincy is “Helping children meet God in everyday life”.
Chaplaincy work 2020/2021
LEAVERS’ MASS – FRIDAY 16th JULY 2021
Year 6 pupils celebrated their ‘Leavers Mass’ with celebrant Fr Jerry Twomey on Friday morning . The children had an opportunity to celebrate their time at a primary school, appreciate the sadness of leaving and to be grateful for all the friends and lovely memories they made at St George’s. It was a beautiful celebration; Fr Jerry reflected on Jesus’ words from the Gospel he read at mass, “I have loved you with an everlasting love and I am constant in my affection for you. I will build you up and I will protect you in good times and in bad”. Fr Jerry told the Y6 leavers to always remember that God loves them; he encouraged pupils to stay close to God and be good ambassadors of their faith and God’s goodness and importantly to experience the fullness of life!
FEAST OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL- TUESDAY 29th JUNE 2021
On the feast day of St Peter and St Paul we all met on the field for our whole school liturgy led by Junior Chaplains.
Each class had shared their creative work on a different aspect of St Peter or St Paul.
EY have been learning about St Peter the fisherman and they created some lovely colourful fish to fill in our fishing net on the altar. Year 1 class explored St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and made a movie “Love is…”. Year 2 children were learning about St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and drew this beautiful church. Year 3 class acted St Paul’s travels to spread the Good News. Year 4 pupils told us about St Paul’s conversion and what we need to do to CHANGE. Year 5 class used pastels to draw icons of St Peter. Year 6 children told us about St Peter as a head of the early Church and Pope Francis as the Appointed Successor to the Apostle Peter.
It was a beautiful and very creative celebration of the feast day of St Peter and St Paul.
FEAST OF PENTECOST- THURSDAY 22nd MAY 2021
The whole school met outside today to celebrate Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles bringing them strength and courage and the ability to speak in a way that people from any nationality could understand them. The Junior Chaplains led the liturgy.
MAY PROCESSION – THURSDAY 6th May 2021
We held our May Procession on our school playground to honour Mary in this month of May. We were so happy that the weather was perfect this morning for us and we could celebrate this special liturgy together as a whole school.
ST GEORGE’S DAY CELEBRATION IN SCHOOL – Friday 23rd April 2021
We started the day with a lovely outdoor liturgy on the school field led by members of our Junior Chaplaincy and in the afternoon, everyone enjoyed some fun games in the sunshine. Junior Chaplaincy has also made some St George’s Day greetings cards and sent the wishes to Pope Francis, Father Jerry, Bishop Terry, Canon Alan, Our Academy CEO-Amy Rice and to the head teachers of other Catholic schools in York.
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND REFLECTION-23rd March 2021
The National Day of Reflection on the 23rd march 2021 marked the first anniversary of the UK lockdown. All of us at St George’s wanted to commemorate this tragic loss of so many lives due to covid and stand together with everyone who is grieving. Every class in school reflected on the life and death through the interactive outdoor Stations of the Cross which we set up on our field. The last station-Jesus is laid in the tomb – we reflected in our Garden of Reflection, where the big Lenten cross reminded us of one of the main pillars of our faith that through Jesus’ death we can have a new life-eternal life.
Celebrating Lent and preparing for Easter
ASH WEDNESDAY LITURGY AT HOME – 17th February 2021
Our Lenten preparations this year will look very different because of the pandemic. We are inviting you to celebrate a special Liturgy for children and families to mark Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent- our season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. You can prepare a little focal point in your living room and invite other members of your family to join in. We would usually have our liturgy at school at 9.30 in the morning therefore it would be nice if we could all try to start at the same time if possible. We may be apart but we can still come together as a community as we journey to grow closer to Christ.
Link to Ash Wednesday Liturgy you can find on your classroom stream or Ash Wednesday Liturgy for children and families
Lent is a forty day preparation for Easter. It reminds us of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness before he took up his ministry. During that time he fasted and prayed.
LENTEN SPIRITUAL READING- GOSPEL OF ST MARK
During this season of Lent at St George’s we are reading the Gospel of St Mark. Each day of the school week we will upload a short passage from the Gospel of Mark read by one of the pupil or member of staff for you to listen and reflect on it. You can access all the recordings from your google classroom page or St George’s Chaplaincy twitter- Chaplaincy @ St George’s York. Hope everyone enjoys St Mark’s stories of Jesus and finds this short reflections helpful in your journey through Lent.
Here you can find the timetable for the Lenten St Mark’s Gospel readings if you would like to read along with us each day. 30DayGospelofMarkLent2021
Gospel Day 1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHdmhhAmNc8
Gospel Day 2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqHKq7rIG4Q
Gospel Day 3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaX4Ll8-F5M
Gospel Day 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ori0JIUdbcE
Gospel Day 5https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw-tBtDYvq0
Gospel Day 6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPeQx2mR9T8
Gospel Day 7https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNfPr7tUi7o
Gospel Day 8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0–q-qKFRYM
Gospel Day9https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkTifsrhgG4
Gospel Day 10https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFx3uMPz55c
Gospel Day 11https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHc3_sLwgU
Gospel Day 12https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzj_LBdSxMo
Gospel Day 13https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NJgwWZztgQ
Gospel day 14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvg3-zcCaSc
Gospel Day 15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8H5p8RSmUA
Gospel Day 16https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cXSwdhzfhM
Gospel Day 17https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57IIKytHAKU
Gospel Day 18https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKGW-Vqzusw
Gospel Day 19https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qrnAqDkNA4
Gospel Day 20https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dshiL89rl1o
Gospel Day 21https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXMd4gVT2Dw
Gospel Day 22https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjf9kr9gqM
Gospel Day 23https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw4Uvu7VEMg
Gospel Day 24https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsF9OYQqens
Gospel Day 25https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0PjIhIf-Rw
Gospel Day 26https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8o6_Q6kD1s
Gospel Day 27https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMWPzsDdAtw
Gospel Day 28https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vs-mnXdb28
Gospel Day 29https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4At4gJ9PRc
Gospel Day 30 -Easter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5eYXukm9dY
Painting Bible characters for the Holy Week stories (March 2021)
Members of the Junior Chaplaincy painted the wooden dolls and made some RE resources for the Reception class to be used to act out the events of the Holy Week.
Celebrating the season of Advent and preparing for Christmas
We have started our waiting time and the countdown to Christmas. On Sunday the 29th November the Catholic Church began the new liturgical year and entered the season of Advent. During our school Liturgy on Monday morning we lit the first candle on the Advent Wreath and each class set up their Advent prayer station. Every class received a hand made manger and throughout Advent the children will be writing some messages to Jesus to get themselves ready for the arrival of Christ-Child. YoYo Trust sent each class an Advent calendar and every day during this season of waiting, we will be able to watch a part of the nativity story told by different character.
Advent Lanterns by the Crib, Wednesday 2nd December 2020
We have marked a start of the Advent season with our Lanterns by the Crib event on Wednesday evening. Every child and every member of staff at St George’s decorated a paper lantern with some messages of hope, peace, joy and love. All the lanterns were then displayed on the playground and lit by our outdoor nativity scene and the Christmas tree. We wanted to send those messages to everyone in our community: All together in one heart representing our St George’s family.
Our interview of Father Jerry through Google Meet- Friday 18th December 2020
Just before breaking up for Christmas holiday, we arranged a google meeting with Father Jerry and asked him some questions about his priesthood and the Sacrament of Ordination. We finished our interview with a prayer and a lovely Christmas wishes for each other. Hopefully we will meet in person in 2021.
Remembrance Day-Wednesday 11th November
To remember all those who gave their lives so that we could live in peace we prepared and led the Remembrance Service for the whole school. At 11:00 we met at the playground to listen to ” The last Post” and we paused for 2 minute to pay respect to all who died in wars and conflicts all over the world. Each class presented a wreath at our cenotaph. We chose children to present whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces.
It was a very special liturgy for our whole school.
St Francis Day outdoor liturgy-Tuesday 6th October
We led whole school liturgy on our field to celebrate the feast day of St Francis of Assisi who is the patron Saint of Year 2 class. This was our first opportunity to meet as a whole school observing the safety restrictions and praising God together.
Chaplaincy work 2019/2020
April 2020
The WednesdayWord Primary School Resource – a beautifully presented bulletin for the whole family with a Sunday Gospel reading and some fun activities related to the scripture (free edition)
http://www.wednesdayword.org/school/index.htm
Special edition-Lent and Easter Special-Edition Lent and Easter
Sunday 3rd of May 2020-Good shepherd Sunday Good Shepherd Gospel
YOYO CREATE 2020 Project – “Who is God?” – Yoyo invites all the children to look at different names of God in the Bible and create an art work about it. All information are included in the video.
http://www.yoyotrust.org.uk/create
CHAPLAINCY TEAM: COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS – RESOURCES FOR LENT, HOLY WEEK AND EASTER DURING THE SCHOOL CLOSURE PERIOD
Although Catholic churches remain open, there will be no public acts of worship from Friday 20th March 2020 until further notice (that means no Masses).
Read the statement from the Bishops of England and Wales here https://www.cbcew.org.uk/43836-2/
Tere are a few suggestions from the Chaplaincy Team for this changed period as we journey through Lent, Holy Week and Easter.
Many Masses are now streamed. Here are a couple of websites – choose the Mass you want.
https://www.churchservices.tv/
Masses from St Therese of Lisieux RC Parish Ingleby Barwick celebrated by Canon Alan Sheridan https://stthereseingleby.org.uk/mass-livestreams
The readings for Mass can be found at this website, which also has an app. Go to settings and choose Middlesbrough Diocese for local feast days.
For resources to pray with the Sunday Mass readings
https://stbeunosoutreach.wordpress.com/prego/ (adults)
https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Children-s-liturgy (children)
http://sdc.me.uk/sundayliturgy/default.html (children)
This site has many resources (for adults) to pray at home in different ways.
https://www.pathwaystogod.org/
For children, try this website. It has loads of (easy) crafts and ideas for Lent, Holy Week and Easter.
https://www.catholicicing.com/
There is also a YouTube channel with How to Draw Videos with Catholic themes.
Why not have your own Stations of the Cross at home? (printer required)
http://www.drawn2bcreative.com/stations-of-the-cross-coloring-pages/
Find more traditional Stations of the Cross for children and families here
https://media.loyolapress.com/assets/lent/stations-eng/stations-eng.html
https://missiontogether.org.uk/lent/ (powerpoint)
Here is a modern Stations of the Cross (powerpoint)
https://cafod.org.uk/News/UK-news/Stations-of-the-Cross
You can still take part in our Lenten challenges!
Take part in SiLent for Million Minutes and keep silent for 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes or more at home. You can donate to our Team Fundraising page until 31st March here
https://wonderful.org/fundraiser/stgeorgesrcprimaryschoolyork-16c91a5a
or learn more about SiLent and Million Minutes here
https://millionminutes.org/silent
Every minute an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is destroyed in the Amazon rainforest. Hopefully, we will continue to support Cafod’s “Defend the Defenders” campaign when we return by have having football activities. In the meantime, why not have your own at home?
Find out more here
https://cafod.org.uk/Education/Primary-teaching-resources/Lent
There are still traditional crafts you can do – make an Easter garden, decorate eggs etc. Search for ideas online e.g. Pinterest, crafting sites or
https://www.catholicicing.com/resurrection-garden/
You can find more useful links for spiritual resources on Pupils’ Learning-Learning at Home or by clicking here
If there is anything you wish to share with us, please use our social media.
Twitter @StGeorgesRCSch
Facebook @ChristattheCentre
In the words of Fr James Martin SJ
“Remember you are still part of a community … Many things have been cancelled because of the coronavirus. Love is not one of them.”
Wishing you peace-St George’s Team
_________________________________________________________________________________
February and March 2020 – The Holy Season of Lent
On Wednesday the 26th February, Junior Chaplains led the Ash Wednesday Service in our school. It was a beautiful and very spiritual time for the whole school which helped us to start this special liturgical season of Lent.Junior chaplains served everyone by distributing the blessed ashes.
LENT 2020
Serving others – our focus throughout Lent
Pray – Fast – Give – Care for Creation = our focus on specific weeks
In classes
Children can make an individual Lenten promise or a class promise, choosing from Pray – Fast – Give – Care for Creation
Mission Together collection boxes available for anyone who wants one
Our whole school activities
Wednesday – KS2 Lenten Taizé style Sing and Pray
w/c 2nd March – PRAY
- Reading the whole of Matthew’s Gospel
In the library at morning break, everyone welcome!
- Prayer stations around school
- Stations of the Cross towards end of Lent
w/c 9th March – FAST
- “siLENT – Be Silent for a Change”
- collective silences in assemblies and classes
- we add our silence together e.g. 30 people x 1 min silence – 30mins of silence
- sponsor and donate online (for charity Million Minutes)
w/c 16th March – GIVE
- collection for Carecent York
- list of required items to donate will be available
w/c 3rd March – CARE FOR CREATION
- looking after our school and local environment (litter!)
- CAFOD’s “Defend the Defenders” campaign
Every minute in the Amazon, an area of rainforest bigger than a football pitch is destroyed.
- Junior Chaplaincy Team → football themed activities to raise money
JANUARY 2020
The Year of the Word-God who speaks
This year is a special year for the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The Bishops have called 2020 “The Year of the Word”. This means that in our school and our families we are making our relationship with God closer and deeper through His Word in the Bible. Through our celebrations and whole school and class liturgies we are we celebrating, live and share God’s Word in the Bible.
Mass to celebrate the Year of the Word – Thursday 16th January 2020
So far, Junior Chaplaincy led the mass for the Year of the Word with blessing of Bibles. Father Jerry blessed our class Bibles and our introduction from scripture was read out by our children in English, Irish, Italian and Polish.
“You are holding something divine in your hands: a book that is like fire! A book through which God speaks.”
Pope Francis, preface to the Youcat Bible of the Catholic Church
Whole school assembly – Tuesday 28th January 2020
NOVEMBER 2019
Junior Chaplains run the collection of toiletries and sweets to support the annual Gift Bag Appeal.
Kitchen for Everyone York (KEY) is an organisation providing meals at the Spurriergate Centre to the homeless and vulnerable of York on a Tuesday evening and Sunday morning. KEY also has a Saturday evening outreach programme.
KEY’s mission is to help and support individuals who find themselves homeless in our area by providing meals, clothing, toiletries, sleeping bags, snacks and any other essential items they may require.
Our school supported KEY’s 4th annual Christmas Gift Bag Appeal as part of our Advent charity project.
Here is a poster advertising our project and the list of items collected Bag Appeal Kitchen for Everyone York 2019
RED WEDNESDAY – 27th November 2019
We are standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted.
Across the world Christians are persecuted because of their faith. Persecution takes many forms. Christians in the Middle-East have been violently attacked and chased from their homes, neighbours who were once their friends too scared to offer them shelter from Islamist extremists. Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka and the Philippines are only a handful of countries that have been subject to bomb attacks in the recent months. Christians widows in Nigeria have been left with no money when their husbands have been murdered by extremists.
On Wednesday during the Sing and Praise, the Junior Chaplains will lead a decade of the Rosary praying for the Christians who are persecuted because of their faith.
OCTOBER
#EMM2019
Pope Francis has declared that October 2019 is an Extraordinary Month of Mission.
It is a time for everyone to think how they can share God’s love with everyone around the world.
There are 4 aims of #EMM2019
• To pray
• To be inspired by saints, martyrs and living people
• To learn more about mission
• To help oversees missions with prayer and money
The Junior Chaplaincy team led a liturgy to explain #EMM2019 to the whole school.
These are the things we are doing in school.
In RE, some classes will be learning about baptism and others will be learning about vocation, mission and service.
We will be saying a decade of the World Mission Rosary on Wednesdays in the library. Each decade of the rosary has different coloured beads, which represent a different continent. As you pray, you think about that continent.
We will be writing our mission, as individuals and as a class and making a display.
Each class has a Mission Together collection box on their class altar for small change (1p, 2p and 5p coins). Mission Together is a charity that enables children to help other children overseas.
Classes will also be saying the Mission Together prayer
May all the children
In the world
Share love
Share friendship and live
In the peace
Of God’s love.
Now and forever. Amen
What’s your mission? Remember your mission is not just for this month!
Rosary on playtime
On the 10th October 2019, the Junior Chaplaincy members were invited by St George’s SVP to help welcome their guests at the Mass for the Sick. The children helped serve refreshments to the guests after Mass.
On Monday 21st October 2019, the Junior Chaplaincy team went to York Cemetery to help the Friends of York Cemetery plant purple crocus bulbs. The Friends had been asked by the Trustees to plant 8,000 bulbs to support the campaign to eradicate polio. Last year, there were only 30 cases worldwide.
After each person had planted 50 bulbs, we had a fantastic tour of the beautiful cemetery and visited, amongst other things, the pond, the Cross of Sacrifice, the grave of Thomas Wilkinson, awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the Crimean War, and WWI military graves.
The autumn weather was fantastic and we thank Clive Dawson, Chairman of the Friends of York Cemetery for his help planting and his wonderful tour.
Chaplaincy work 2018/2019
Junior Chaplaincy – “Helping children meet God”
Our mission as members of the Junior Chaplaincy is to help the children in all classes meet God in liturgies, prayer, people and action.
Lent 2019
Our Lenten actions
The Sorry String prayer station
The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year was on 6th March. Lent is a season of preparation, when we are invited to change our lives so we can experience fully the joy of Easter.
As Pope Francis said in 2015, “Lent is a time of renewal for the whole Church, for each community and every believer.”
Traditionally, Christians make an effort during Lent to pray more, to give something up or fast and to give money to people in need. This year at St George’s School we are adding another action – Care for Creation.
We hope that our Lenten activities will complement what you may already be doing at home. As Junior Chaplains we are going to support children during Lent in class liturgies, assemblies and their Lenten journey.
Every child has made a Lenten promise choosing one thing from the following areas: Pray – Fast – Give – Care for Creation
Pray
Children who chose to pray more have received the yellow wrist bands and will use Prayer Journey weekly.
Forgiveness prayer station
We have also set up Lenten prayer stations around the school. They are designed to give pupils and staff the opportunity to pray in different creative ways. The first three active prayer stations are Forgiveness (in the Hall) and Wilderness ( near the staff room) and the Sorry String in Y5/Y6 shared area.
- Prayer Journey Week 1
- Prayer Journey Week 2
- Prayer Journey Week 3
- Prayer Journey Week 4
- Prayer Journey Week 5
Fast
Children who decided to fast (giving up things they like) have received the purple wrist bands.
Give
Every child in school has been encouraged to support CAFOD’s Give it Up Challenge this Lent.
They received a collection box for any coins – either spare change or money saved by giving up something. Even the smallest coins will make a big difference when we collect them all together.
Care for Creation
Everybody in school-children and adults – will make an effort this Lent to reduce what we use and not waste resources, to reuse things and to recycle. We will be caring for our natural surroundings at school and where we live.
Ash Wednesday
We went to church on Wednesday 6th March for Mass where we all received ashes.
Bishop’s Visit
Bishop Terry Drainey will be visiting school on Wednesday 13th March. He will join us for celebration, visit each class and bless our new nursery.
Wishing you a blessed Lent!
The Chaplaincy team
So far this year …
We welcomed our new pupils and staff in September and talked about the role of Junior Chaplaincy members and our plans for the coming year.
We prayed the rosary in lots of different ways in October – traditional, colouring, walking, using art and music and, our favourite, eating! We have also run some lunch time club during which the children were making a decade of the rosary using some wooden and plastic beads and the pipe cleaners.
We were invited by the SVP to welcome their guests at the Mass for the Sick at St George’s Church and help them with refreshments.
Altar servers received training from Canon Alan so they can serve at school Masses.
In November, we used special prayer cards to remember and pray for family members and friends who have died.
This Advent, our Holy Family figures travelled around school, visiting every class, helping us to reflect on God coming to this world as a baby and what this means for us. For the first time, they also went to the homes of several pupils.
We have also made some Christmas cards for the parishioners who will be visited by the members of the SVP at St George’s Church over the holiday.
We encouraged the whole school community to join us in helping disadvantaged people in York by donating items for Christmas gift bags to be made by Kitchen for Everyone.
St George’s Junior Chaplaincy Team, December 2018 update