Catholic Life

At St Mary’s we put our mission statement ‘Love of learning, love of one another, love of life itself and love of God’ at the heart of everything that we do. Pupils are given the opportunity over time to grow and strengthen their faith and personal relationship with God. They are given many opportunities throughout the school year to put their faith into action through charitable service and prayer. Here is a taste of things we do.

Live Simply

St Mary’s were delighted to achieve the CAFOD Live Simply Award in 2024. The school community undertook 9 actions to show that we live simply, live sustainably and live in solidarity with the poor. These actions included class pledges, recycling project, palm oil campaign and creating an outdoor prayer garden.

Faith in Action

All Year 6 pupils are invited to complete the Faith in Action award. Pupils are encouraged to celebrate their active faith lived out through service and reflection. The Award helps them connect their life and faith in a tangible manner. In journeying through the Award, pupils experience a deepening of their relationship with God.

Spirituality Day

Spirituality Day is a day during Holy Week, specifically devoted to spirituality where children can participate in a range of spiritual and prayerful experiences with an aim to develop their relationship with God. Prayer spaces are set up throughout the school for pupils to move around and they are led into prayer of different forms.

Stay and Pray and Assemblies

At St Mary’s, we encourage families and the wider community to join us in prayer and liturgy. These include Reception Welcome Assembly, Y6 Leavers Mass, class stay and prays, stations of the cross and Easter Stay and Pray.

Pop-Up Prayer Spaces

Pop-up prayer spaces are often used throughout the year at important times in school life and the Christian calendar, such as Advent, Lent and feast days. They ‘pop-up’ for short periods of times around the school and grounds. These spaces create an opportunity for a burst of spiritual life for the whole school community, gathering the individual responses of each person into a shared expression of faith, hope and care.

CAFOD

St Mary’s actively supports CAFOD and their aim to bring hope and compassion to poor communities, standing side by side with them to end poverty and injustice. CAFOD volunteers visit school to deliver assemblies, sharing new campaigns with us. In Advent we collect loose change for the CAFOD World Gifts appeal and, during Lent, all pupils complete the ‘Big Lent Walk’ where pupils are sponsored to walk 40km as a class throughout Lent.

Good Shepherd Appeal

We support the Good Shepherd appeal every year with an own clothes day, raising money for Nugent care who provide support for vulnerable families in the north west.

Harvest Foodbank Collection

The school supports St Helens foodbank at various points throughout the year with appeals and collections. The main collection being during the Harvest festival.