RE
Year 5 Trip to Canterbury Cathedral
We had a wonderful morning at Canterbury Cathedral on Monday 15th July 2024. We learned all about pilgrimage and St Thomas Becket. We took part in a costume trail around the Cathedral, acting out the story of St Thomas and learning about different parts of the Cathedral. We also made our own pilgrim badges, wrote our names with a quill, coloured our own stained glass window and were given the opportunity to explore the different activities in the education room. It was such a good morning!
Other Faiths Week 2024
We held our annual other faiths week in school this week. It is a wonderful opportunity for all the children throughout the school to learn about a major world religion in detail. Each class looked at a different world religion and produced some wonderful work. This was shared in our celebration assembly with the whole school and parents. Each class has also produced a display sowing some of their fabulous learning!
Year of Prayer
We are thinking about the Year of Prayer in school. This is a special year where we are called to pray in preparation for the Jubilee next year. Children throughout the school have written prayers that we have added to our prayer tree, which is on display in our school entrance. As part of their RE learning, year 5 looked at the Our Father and have written this sacred prayer in different languages.
Year 5 End of RE Topic Celebration
Life in the Risen Jesus
On Thursday 16th May 2024, we welcomed parents into our classroom to tell them everything we have been learning in RE this term. We have been learning about what happened after Jesus rose from the dead and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We shared some of our information about what Catholics believe in the Apostle's Creed, some of the main changes in the Church after the Second Vatican Council and the different types of prayer, knowing that Jesus is always with us.
Year 5 Class Assembly
On Thursday 16th May 2024, we shared our learning from this term with the whole school and parents. We shared learning from English, where we have been reading Beowulf. We read some instructions we wrote to catch Grendel and kennings. We then shared our Anglo-Saxon learning from history. We also welcomed everyone to the new game show...RE Today, where the contestants were asked questions all about the Second Vatican Council. To finish we shared prayers we wrote in RE about Jesus always being with us, followed by singing 'He'll be there'.On Thursday 16th May 2024 we shared our learning from this term with the whole school and parents. We shared learning from English, where we have been reading Beowulf. We read some instructions we wrote to catch Grendel and kennings. We then shared our Anglo-Saxon learning from history. We also welcomed everyone to the new game show...RE Today, where the contestants were asked questions all about the Second Vatican Council. To finish we shared prayers we wrote in RE about Jesus always being with us, followed by singing 'He'll be there'.
Wednesday 15th May 2024
Year 4 RE Celebration
During our class RE Celebration, we showed our parents some of our learning so far. The focus was The Early Christians - we were able to demonstrate the story of Pentecost.
Thank you to all those parents who were able to attend
Ascension Day Mass
This morning (Thursday 9th May 2024), the whole school walked down to St Thomas' Church to celebrate Ascension with members of our Parish.
Southwark Schools Rosary
This morning (Tuesday 7th May 2024), we joined other schools around our Diocese to celebrate the Rosary with the Archbishop via Zoom. We all joined in and watched live from our class rooms.
Crowning of Our Lady
In our celebration assembly on Friday 3rd May, the Mini-Vinnie's led the whole school and parents in a crowning of Our Lady. We shared prayers and placed roses at her feet. The youngest and oldest children in the school then crowned Our Lady. We sang some hymns dedicated to Mary.
Year 4 Class Assembly
02.05.24
Today, Year 4 welcomed parents and the school family to watch our class assembly. We were able to demonstrate our learning to-date. This included showcasing RE - where we were able to highlight Pentecost through drama and dialogue.
Year 5 Class Mass
This morning, Wednesday 1st May, Year 5 celebrated their class mass with the theme of Mary as it is 1st May. We heard about when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth in the Gospel and asked Mary for support and guidance throughout this special month of May. Canon Anthony came to celebrate mass along with some of our parents.
May is the month of Our Lady
As we start the special month of May, which is dedicated to our Lady, we think about how special she is and pray to her. We have a lovely statue of Our Lady in our foyer and on Friday we will be crowning her in our whole school assembly. After year 5 celebrated their class mass, they placed some flowers next to Our Lady.
Class Mass – Wednesday 24th April 2024
On Wednesday 24th April 2024, year 4 held a class mass in our classroom. The theme was work as it linked with the Feast of St Joseph the Worker. We invited parents to come and share mass with us.
CAFOD Club Assembly
Today (Thursday 18th April 2024), CAFOD Club held our second whole school assembly to let everyone know about our plans for the next two terms.
1) We would like to make the world a brighter place to live in! We would like to invite you to come to school dressed in bright colours to brighten up the world by fundraising for our global family by donating the money to CAFOD. We would ask you to bring a donation if you come to school in your bright colours. This will happen on Friday 3rd May 2024.
2) We showed a video of a bus that was being used in Pakistan as a mobile clinic to support those in need who were suffering as a result of the devastating floods of 2022. We are also inviting you all to take part in an art competition. For this, you will need to create a piece of artwork showing the community of St Thomas’. Just like the bus is being used in Pakistan. Your entry must either A4 or A3 sized and have your name and class written on the back. Your entry must be handed in to your class teacher by Tuesday 14th May 2024, winners from each class will be announced in celebration assembly on Friday 17th May 2024.
3) We are going to be hosting a whole school dancethon in term 6. More details to follow!
We are really looking forward to helping brighten up St Thomas', our local community and the whole world!
Holy Week in School 2024
Throughout this special time of Holy Week all the children will be taking part in different reflections and assemblies. In our hall we have images showing the Stations of the Cross.
Who was responsible for Jesus' death?
Year 6 have produced some wonderful work about who they believe to be responsible for the death of Jesus. They used scripture to find evidence for who they believed was at fault for Jesus' death, created pie charts in maths to visually show who they think held the most responsibility and created some lovely artwork.
Easter Assembly
At the end of the day on Thursday we celebrated all the fabulous Easter bonnets and decorated eggs that so many of the children had spent time creating. They all looked amazing!
Easter Bonnets and Decorated Eggs
We had some fantastic entries throughout the school for our Easter Bonnets and decorated eggs competition! So much effort went into them all! They were very difficult to judge but Mrs Milroy and Canon Anthony were up to the task!
A massive well done to all of the children who took part!
The Way of the Cross
On Thursday, Year 6 shared Jesus' final hours with the whole school and parents. It was a time for thinking about how Jesus felt during the events of Good Friday.
Last Supper
On Wednesday, we gathered as a whole school again to reflect on the events of the Last Supper. We all sat in the hall and broke bread thinking about Jesus' last special meal with His disciples.
Palm Sunday
On Tuesday, key stage one and foundation stage shared a Palm Sunday assembly with the whole school. They sang some beautiful songs, acted out the story of Palm Sunday and other parables Jesus taught.
Tuesday 26th March 2024
Stations of the Cross
Today, both year 3 and 4 visited St. Thomas’ Church in Canterbury to accompany Jesus on his journey through The Stations of the Cross. This is one of the most simple, yet powerful, ways to prayerfully walk alongside Jesus and to reflect on his great sacrifice for us.
There are fourteen Stations of the Cross. Each is an invitation to contemplate and experience a pivotal moment from Jesus’ sentencing to his death to his burial. They are a powerful way to step into some of the most significant moments in human history and encounter Jesus like never before. One of the most impactful times to pray the Stations of the Cross is during Holy Week, especially on Good Friday.
There are traditionally fourteen Stations of the Cross. Each station represents a different moment in Jesus’ Passion and Death, including:
- Jesus is Condemned to Death
- Jesus Carries the Cross
- Jesus Falls for the First Time
- Jesus Meets His Mother
- Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
- Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
- Jesus Falls a Second Time
- Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
- Jesus Falls a Third Time
- Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
- Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
- Jesus Dies on the Cross
- Jesus’ Body is Removed from the Cross
- Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
Lent Penitential
On Monday morning each key stage took part in a special penitential service. Canon Anthony and Fr Giovanni came to celebrate these. Key stage two children were then invited to confession with our priests.
Year's 5 and 6 Stations of the Cross
On Tuesday 19th March 2024 year's 5 and 6 walked down to St Thomas' Church to have some reflection time walking through the Stations of the Cross. We all stopped at each station to listen and reflect on each significant part of Jesus' last footsteps.
RE Displays Around Our School
We have been sharing lots of RE learning through our corridor displays this term. Take a look at what some classes have been doing.
Monday 18th March 2024
Age UK visit
Today, year 4 visited Age UK in Canterbury to sing a selection of Easter songs to visitors to the centre.
After, the children read some pages of their books to the people visiting the centre.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and we were grateful to lend our support to the local community
12.03.24. Canon Anthony joined Year 2's learning about Mass.
Class Liturgy 21st February 2024
Ash Wednesday
Year 4 celebrated Ash Wednesday by holding our own class liturgy.
Lent explained
Lent is a time when we pray, do kind things for other people, give up things and give to others, as we prepare to celebrate the great feast of Easter.
For forty days, we accompany Jesus on his journey to Calvary and we see the mercy he shows towards others, despite his suffering. Just as God shows mercy towards us, like Jesus, we try to show mercy to others.
This Lent, we are also making our journey alongside families around the world living in poverty, especially those who do not have the basic things they need like enough nutritious food to eat.
We began with a hymn, followed by an opening prayer, scripture reading from Joel (2:12-13), the response, A CAFOD story, Lenten promises before finishing with more prayers and a final hymn.