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We joined together as a school family to start the new year with Mrs Powers leading a Celebration of the Word based on the Holy Cross and how special it is to us.

Back in class we reflected on this together.

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On Tuesday 6th January Ms Ellis led the school in a Celebration of the Word recognising this special day in the liturgical year.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o3WO7MMel4g&autoplay=1&list=PL58g24NgWPIzvBk2IQVES_xC4WTm6-CDI

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Lulabelle , Nana, China and David led us in our first COTW this year. They planned the worship together and then led us in prayer.

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On Friday 16th January we led the LOW assembly which had a focus of Leadership.

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As part of our RE learning in Branch 3 -Galilee we thought about saying sorry. John the Baptist baptised people calling them to repent so they can come back to God.

We thought of something we should say sorry for and placed a ribbon into the basket to symbolise our prayer.

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Head Teacher Celebration of the Word Monday 19th January

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Head Teacher Celebration of the Word Monday 19th January

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Mrs Power spoke to us about the Holy Spirit. We heard how the Holy Spirit make us brave and works within us so we are never alone.

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Planning for Epiphany Celebration of the Word

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Planning for Epiphany Celebration of the Word

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Today we held a meditation in class based on the Holy Spirit. We gathered with calm music, meditated on the Word, responded with our thoughts and then shared our mission - what we could do next to follow Jesus more closely .

‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ Acts 2:4

Jeremiah said “I can ask the Holy Spirit to help me be respectful to my teachers”

Aoife said “I can be kind even if it’s hard”

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Our third Branch of learning, Galilee to Jerusalem. We created art work of John the Baptist.

“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him”

Matthew 3: 3

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As we completed our RE lesson, recapping symbols and meanings in baptism, we thought about how it feels to be cleansed as water was poured on our hands.

“No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit”. John 3:5

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Children planned and led a Celebration of the Word based on the scripture of Jesus’ baptism. The children chose for us to respond with prayers of sorrow as baptism cleanses of any sin. as the class shared their sorry prayers they were invited to place a blue ribbon into the water as a symbol of forgiveness.

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We visited the chapel to reflect on our day. Our prayer leader led us in our evening prayer.

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Visit from Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society

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Visit from Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society

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For our Advent fundraising we held a whole school cake sale for BCCS. Bernadette from the charity came to collect the monies raised and to speak to us all about the important work it will support.

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Catholic Social Teaching and Singing Celebration of the Word

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Catholic Social Teaching and Singing Celebration of the Word

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Mrs Dhannie led us in our weekly Celebration of the Word as we raised our voices to Jesus.

“To sing is to pray twice”

Saint Augustine

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As part of PSHE we follow A Journey in Love. This week we learnt about being safe in our communities and we heard that Jesus tells us “Do not be afraid”. We created posters and reflected on staying safe in God’s love. 

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As part of PSHE we follow A Journey in Love. This week we learnt about being safe in our communities and we heard that Jesus tells us “Do not be afraid”. We created posters and reflected on staying safe in God’s love. 

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Planning for Celebration of the Word Jesus' Baptism

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Planning for Celebration of the Word Jesus' Baptism

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Child lead celebration of the Word Year 2 jan 2026

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We recognised the day with a Celebration of the Word with our Year 1 friends. We thought about how we are all made in God's image and should all be treated with respect. We heard the Scripture of The paralysed man Mark 2:1-12 and thought about how Jesus is here for everyone , the sick, the poor or vulnerable. We also linked this to the CST principle of Human Dignity.

Later we created hearts of kindness.

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In Autumn, as part of our Prophecy and Promise Branch, we learnt about taking care of God’s world and the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Stewardship. We planted bulbs to enrich our learning and they have started to grow !

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We thought about being sorry as John the Baptist calls us to repent. We wrote our sorry prayers, offering them to Jesus as we placed them in a basket.

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We meditated on words Jesus said to his disciples “Do not be afraid”

We thought about our Mission

Elizabeth said ‘we can try new things because we know Jesus is with us’

Tapi said ‘Jesus is always with me so I don’t have to be afraid’

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We role played the scripture we had heard and afterwards retold the events as a piece of extended writing.

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We created a liturgical dance in groups and then as a whole class to symbolise what we had heard.

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We celebrated with year 1. We heard scripture from the holy gospel of Matthew 5:13-16

“You are the salt of the earth”

“You are the light of the world”

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Max, Elizabeth and Jola planned and lead our worship focusing on the scripture of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

We gathered on chairs with calm music. To respond we placed a coloured pebble around the Holy area on the carpet to symbolise our own individual prayer.

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COTW Jesus’ temptation in the desert planning

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COTW Jesus’ temptation in the desert planning

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The children planned and then evaluated as a group with support from the class teacher

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Our new Branch of learning - Desert to Garden.

We began by reflecting on a reconciliation sculpture created by Josefina da Vasconcellos that is situated outside Coventry Cathedral. We thought how it made us feel and what it reminded us of.

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As part of our learning we heard different sung versions of the Kyrie eleison, Lord have mercy. While we listened we responded to the prayer using pastels.

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Our friends from St Ursula’s joined us

#humandignity

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As we prepare our hearts for Jesus during Lent, we pray sacrifice and give.

We made Lenten promises to respond in sacrifice. We brought these to Jesus.

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Today we meditated on the words ‘Jesus is with me’. We thought about ways we could use this meditation,

“I will help my friends”

“I want to help the poor”

“I will be respectful to my teachers”

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During our art learning today we explored signs of spring in God’s world. We gave thanks for this wonderful day and the wonderful world we live in.

We then collaged our ideas.

#REcurriculum

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For our RE learning today we prayed the Confiteor, I confess prayer together. We created a prayer card with the Confiteor and our own prayer of petition. We asked our Merciful Father to help us to show forgiveness. We then offered our prayers to Jesus.

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We celebrated WBD with activities , dressing as characters or words and with a Special Head teacher Celebration of the Word ( see main prayer and liturgy padlet ). Mrs Power spoke to us about the most important book ,the Bible. Jesus used parables, stories with a special meaning, to help explain God’s Word to people living at the time. We still hear those parables today and they help us to understand how we can follow Jesus more closely.

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”

Matthew 4:4

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To recognise International Women’s Day and as part of our Catholic Life and Mission calendar of events we learnt about Mae Jemison, who was the first black woman in space . We took notes from various sources and used these to create factfiles and portraits.

“Nor is there male or female , for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.

Galatians 3:28

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We meditated on the prayer of the week, praying for stillness in our busy lives. During Lent we take time to find Jesus in the quiet moments.

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We talked about the new spontaneous prayer stations set up around school. They focus on 4 types of prayer;

Thanksgiving

Adoration

Petition

Sorrow

The children are able to use these stations throughout the day.

We also have a permanent new addition to our prayer spaces, a teepee in the KS2 area.

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We shared spontaneous prayer in the chapel .

“For where two or three are gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:20

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We heard from scripture of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

We role played the events of Palm Sunday and stopped in freeze frames to say how the person we were roleplaying would be feeling.

Jesus - Nana- “ I am feeling excited and joyful. I also feel a bit worried about what is coming.”

Elizabeth -crowd- “ I feel very excited because Jesus who we have heard about is here.”

Max - disciple - “I am proud and very important because I am Jesus’ friend”

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We raised our voices together ‘Sing Hosanna to the King of Kings!’

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We created water coloured paintings of our class daffodils and wrote inserts giving thanks for the special people in our lives.

"Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you"

Exodus 20:12

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Children shared the scripture of the Prodigal Son , we heard how our Father will always forgive us when we are sorry. We shared sorry prayers and used bubbles to represent our sin being forgiven as the bubbles popped.

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Maundy Thursday - The Last Supper wk beg 9.3.26

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Maundy Thursday - The Last Supper wk beg 9.3.26

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We heard from scripture, role played events, created a story map and then used the map to write a retell of the events of Maundy Thursday,

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We were an active audience as we began our whole school retelling of the events of Holy Week. Nursery and Reception began with Palm Sunday .

After we wrote and drew our thoughts in our Prayer Journals about what went well , what they could do even better next time and how the retelling made us feel.

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It was our turn along with year 1 to bring the events of Holy Week to life . We invited the school to be an active audience as we retold the events of Maundy Thursday. We saw Jesus celebrating the Last Supper with his friends , praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and finally Judas’ ultimate betrayal. We ended in darkness as a sign of the events to come.

After we wrote in our prayer journals about the things that went well and what we could do even better next time.

#thisismybodybrokenforyou

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As part of our Lenten renewal we meditated together;

“ We are sorry Lord”

For our mission we thought what we should be sorry for and how we can make things right.

“I m sorry for being unkind to my family . I can say sorry to them “ Nathania

“I am sorry for not listening to my teachers. I can try my best to be respectful and listen .” Jayden

“ We are sorry Lord “

Our prayer leader , Memso, chose to keep our reflective area simple and modest, with only the purple cloth for Lent and our class candle lit to symbolise Jesus being the light of the world.

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We shared sorry prayers in the chapel as we came to the end of term.

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We watched as Year 3 retold the events of the darkest of days.

After we wrote in our prayer journals.

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Year 4 brought us the Good News!

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As part of our RED learning we listened to scripture retelling the events of Good Friday. We made Easter cards by watercolouring a sunset and creating a silhouette of the Holy Cross.

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He is not here ! He has risen! Matthew 28:6

We heard from scripture and created resurrection gardens, collecting natural resources from out field and play areas.

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We celebrated our final mass of the term as a school family.

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A very blustery session at Forest School today where we felt the power of God through nature. We made kites and flew them!

Max said “We can feel Holy Spirit in the wind, like the disciples”

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This afternoon we had a special visitor who came to talk to us about the 5 pillars of Islam .We saw special objects related each one. It was very interesting to hear about another faith.

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Water colour interpretation of the Ascension

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During PSHE learning we found out who Jesus says our neighbour is

#everyone

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We heard the scripture of the conversion of Saul. We thought how Jesus changed Saul and created a role on the wall showing his character before and after.

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We celebrated the Ascension of the Lord as a class family. It was a special moment in the chapel with many of our families attending. Everyone took part, either by bringing gifts, reading the Word of the Lord, sharing their own personally written prayers of intercession and responding through words, actions and song. A beautiful service.

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Planning

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We celebrated the many cultures at Holy Cross and the amazing communality of love we all share in Jesus Christ.

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Fruits of the Spirit child led COTW . The group used bubbles to represent the Holy Spirit being around us always even though it may be difficult to see at times.

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A very exciting day for all of us at Holy Cross. Bishop Alan led an assembly, telling us his various roles as Bishop and answered many questions the children had for him. After Bishop Alan met with our Faith Council and Catholic Social Teaching Team who shared lots about our school. We all learnt a lot and were struck by Bishop Alan kind and gracious manner. He gave his time freely to the children listening intently and they were all enthralled by him. A wonderful day for us all.

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We learnt about a different Christian community based in France called Taize. We heard how they praised Gods through music and silence using colours and candles. We responded to Taize musical meditations for Pentecost through watercolour.

We reflected on our learning by placing candles around the Holy area and thinking how we might use the example of Taize to be closer to Jesus.

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The prayer leader sets up a Holy focus area on our carpet as we gather for the start of our RE lessons. They choose the colour cloth - related to the liturgical year - as well as other icons or artefacts that resonate with them that day.

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Child Led Celebration of the Word planning 7.10.25 Creation