Prayer life of the school
Liturgical prayer
Prayer has been traditionally described as 'lifting up of the hearts and minds to God', which means it involves our whole person - our head as well as our heart. Liturgical prayer gives us the opportunity to celebrate God’s presence in everything around us. It provides us with a time of reflection to enable us to praise, thank and honour God.
At St Paul’s Catholic Primary School we believe that our liturgical prayer supports our children in developing their own personal relationship with God. Prayer in our school is a vital opportunity to think, not only about our own needs, but about the needs of others.
Children at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School engage in daily liturgical prayer, from class teacher led liturgical prayer, pupil led, Key Stage and whole school. We are also supported in our liturgical prayer by Re-Generate who visit us termly to lead us in prayer and reflection through their whole school assemblies.
In school, our daily prayers begin with our morning prayer, which helps us to prepare for the day ahead, enabling us to consider how to make it the best we can.
Our Grace before meals reminds us to be thankful for the food we have and for all who make it possible for us to be fed. Our Grace after meals provides a moment to reflect on all that we have been given.
Before we go home, we finish our day with the end of day prayer, thanking God for all we’ve done and asking for God to be with us.
At St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, we also pray at ad hoc moments, responding to the children’s needs.
As well as praying together as a class, there are other ways in which we gather in prayer.
Whole school liturgical prayer
Each Monday we gather as a school family for our Gospel assembly led by our Headteacher. The Scripture focus for this gathering is the Gospel reading used in Church the day before.
On Wednesday, our whole school gathers in the hall for Well Done assembly and House Points. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the ways in which the children have been using their talents from God, both in and out of school.
On Friday, our whole school assembles in the hall for the Golden Book assembly. During the Golden Book assembly, the whole school community celebrates those children who have been nominated for showing The St Paul’s Way values. We also share examples of children within the school family who have demonstrated a commitment to our Catholic Social Teaching principle for that term.
Key Stage liturgical prayer
On Tuesday, children meet in Key Stages for liturgical prayer. These Key Stage gatherings have a focus on values based on the ‘Values for life’ scheme.
Pupil led liturgical prayer
On Thursday, liturgical prayer takes places within each class. In EYFS and Key Stage 1, the staff lead the class liturgical prayer but with the involvement of the children. This involvement might take the form of choosing resources to use in the focal area for the gathering, reading or choosing some music. Our children in Key Stage 2 are encouraged to prepare and deliver their own liturgies in small groups for their class. They often choose a theme which is relevant either in our liturgical year or in their Religious Education topic at the time.
Each of our liturgical prayer sessions follow the same structure:
Gather:
Children gather together in the presence of God and prepare themselves to pray by making the Sign of the Cross.
Word:
We listen to the word of God in the form of a Bible reading.
Respond:
We respond to the word. This can be by saying our own prayer, giving thanks or reflecting on what we have heard in silence or through music.
Mission:
We focus on the message we have heard during liturgical prayer and take this message with us, in our words and actions, into our daily life.