As a Catholic primary school, collective worship plays a fundamental part of daily school life and enables us all to join together as one in prayer and worship.
Collective Worship at St. Joseph’s acknowledges and celebrates the life-giving presence of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in our lives. It is how we, as a community of faith, come together to give glory, honour, praise and thanks to God.
It is through acts of shared worship, prayer and liturgy, that the Catholic identity of our school is shaped and sustained.
Pupil led worship
All pupils are invited to take an active part in collective worship through sharing prayers and reflections. Faith council members meet weekly and plan the collective worship for class and whole school worship.
Collective worship is linked to the liturgical season, Sunday’s Gospel, or other religious themes and Gospel values.
Prayer leaders also help prepare the prayer tables in each class in line with the liturgical year.
Teacher led worship
Teacher led collective worship is well supported by high quality resources from Ten:Ten, CAFOD and the Wednesday Word.
Collective worship focuses on The Word (scripture) and allows time for reflection, prayer and ‘going forward’ with how we can live out the scripture.
Liturgies and Masses
The whole school attends Mass at the beginning and end of each term and on Holy Days of Obligation at our parish church St Thomas a Becket.
Throughout the year, we also mark other important events in the Church’s liturgical year such as St. Joseph’s day where we hold special Liturgies.
Praying the Rosary
During the months of May and October we invite families to come together in our Rainbow room to pray a decade of the rosary and to reflect on the mysteries before school.
The children enjoy this opportunity to come together as a community and find a sense of calm and to be able to connect to God at the beginning of the day.
Our School Mission Prayer
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Dear Lord, Help us in our mission to nature our faith through living and teaching the Gospel values. Guides us in our mission as we are learning to love and loving to learn. Inspire us in our mission to achieve and encourage everyone to be the best they can be. Support us in our mission to become confident and responsible citizens which aspire and inspire. With your help we aim to become the architects of the future And build our lives on the foundations of Jesus’ teaching. Amen |
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Our Prayers
Each day starts with time for some reflection, and praying our school morning prayer together:
Good morning dear Father, I give you this day, In all that I think And do and say. I want to join in, With all that was done, By Jesus Christ, You dearest Son. St.Joseph, take care of us, Now and always, Amen.
Before lunch we thank God for the food that we are about to eat, and all those who have helped prepare the food:
Grace before Meals
Bless us O Lord, as we sit together. Bless the food we eat today. Bless the hands that made this food, Bless us, O Lord. Amen.
At the end of the day, we come together to thank God for all of His blessings that day and ask that He will continue to keep us safe. We say our Evening Prayer:
At the end of the day let’s kneel and pray.
Thank you God for my work and play, I’ll try to be good, I know that I should, That’s my prayer at the end of the day. Amen.
As St. Joseph is our School’s Patron Saint, we mark St. Joseph’s feast day as a special occasion with our St. Joseph’s prayer:
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Let us share our St. Joseph’s prayer. Father Joseph, You taught Jesus how to work and play, help us to realise that we can only gain knowledge by listening. With you to help and guide us we pray O St Joseph, that we will choose the right path and will remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus. St Joseph’s take care of us, now and always. Amen |
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