Catholic Life of our school 2023-2024
At St Paul's we support local, national and international charities throughout the year. Some of the charities that we support include:
https://broxbourne.foodbank.org.uk/
https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/
https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/
As Catholics, we are committed to contributing positively to our society; being of service to others – particularly those that have less and are more vulnerable.
At St Paul's we have a mission as part of the wider Catholic Church, and to be able to live this out, we aim to serve the common good in our localities and in our wider world. Our School Mission statement states, ‘Our school is a place of learning, a place of love’ Our pupils and staff aim to share their love by going out to do good in our community, by inviting community members into school and by using our God given skills and talents to help and support those in need.
We seek to embrace and contribute to the Mission of Church, to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and to bring each person closer to our loving Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. By recognising the dignity of all, finding opportunities to imitate Christ and striving to love and serve others, we aim to encourage one another to give in service, in as much as we give of our resources through charity fundraising. This means we try to be giving of our time to charities and to others, and as a school community, we organise events throughout the year to raise awareness of charities and contribute to their cause.
Matthew 6: 24 – Jesus says: ‘You cannot serve both God and money’. Here, Jesus was teaching us about the common good; how we should seek what’s best for everyone – beginning with the last, the least, the most forgotten in our society.
We strive to be witnesses to Christ in the world through our words and actions.
"The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies" Pope Francis
House Captains
Each of our house saint groups have 2 house captains which support the children to learn more about their house saint throughout the year. Our new house captains were voted in by their house and then led an assembly to the rest of the school to introduce themselves on Wednesday 20th September 2023
Start of Year Mass
On Monday 25th September Fr Tom celebrated our start of school year mass. In the Gospel we heard how Jesus called all the children to him, just like he calls us. Each class prepared a reflection on how they are going to become closer to Jesus this year like the children in the Gospel. You can see these below:
Yr 1 – We can be closer to Jesus by helping our friends and always being kind to one another.
Yr 2 – We want to ask Jesus to help us to be kind to others, to focus on our learning and help keep the world safe. We will follow Jesus’ message from the Bible to help us be close to him and share this with people we meet.
Yr 3 –
Jesus, we need you. Help us to become closer to you. Help us to grow closer to you by opening our minds, our words and our hearts to you. Help us to see you in the beauty around us. Help us to grow closer to you by listening carefully to the words you have spoken and the love you have shown us. Help us to receive love and to give love to others without questions. Help us to follow in your footsteps every day of our lives.
Yr 4 –
Lord Jesus, we ask you for your help. Allow us to experience your presence in the many blessings you put before us. Open our eyes to the new challenges and exciting opportunities we have in our school. Open our hearts and minds to see your presence in our new friends and new teachers. Jesus, inspire us to do our best this year!
Yr 5 – Lord, grant us your aid, Grant us determination when we struggle.
Grant us faith when we face challenges. And grant us love and kindness to share with others. We pray that through this school year you help us to become closer to you in our work and our play. Help us to live our lives as you lived yours.
Yr 6 –
Lord Jesus, we ask for your eternal blessing. You have come to live within us by your Holy Spirit, and we have become members of your family forever. Please help us to grow stronger in our faith, and to become more and more like you. Allow us to serve you, share in your love, and celebrate your presence in our lives . Help us to realise that you are always with us, especially this year in any challenging times we face as we look on to our journey ahead beyond St Paul’s
Each class also had their new class candle blessed. We light these every day when we pray and as part of our RE lessons.
Our Chaplaincy team also were blessed and given their badges.
Chaplaincy retreat morning
On Wednesday 27th September, our Chaplaincy Team joined the other teams from local Catholic Schools in a special service in St Joseph's Church. During this service, they reflected on the values of St Francis which they will then share with our school community during the year.