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Monday to Friday

Chaplaincy

Chaplaincy

On 1st February, the Chaplaincy Team held a coffee morning for parents and parishioners in the school hall.

We spoke to the adults about what we do as Chaplains and how we make a difference to the Catholic Life of the school. We raised £54.23 for Cancer Research.

Thank you to everyone who attended our coffee morning, and for your donations.

At the Christmas fair, the Chaplaincy Team made Advent Wreaths, to sell and raise money for Charis, a local charity in Bridgwater that supports refugees. Thank you to everyone who bought one, we raised £33!

‘For Advent, the Chaplains organised Advent Calendars for each class. Each day of Advent, there was a short reflection to complete in class. For example: writing prayers, singing hymns or listening to a Bible reading. Here are some examples of their calendars.

On Friday 13th October, the Chaplaincy Team organised a fundraiser for CAFOD’s ‘Brighten Up’ Campaign. They asked the school to come in brightly coloured clothes, to raise money for campaign and also organised a cake sale at the end of the day.

They also led a worship at the beginning of the day for each class, to remind them about the work CAFOD does, and how our donations will be spent.

We raised an incredible £304.81. Thank you to everyone for their generosity, and the Chaplains for providing the cakes.

In October, some of the Chaplaincy Team put together shoeboxes for the Blythswood Appeal. This charity provides shoeboxes for those in need at Christmas and contains essentials that they would otherwise go without. They are then distributed in schools, hospitals, orphanages and care homes, and to households in very low income communities. Many have gone to people affected by the war in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, 4 of our school Chaplains from Year 5 and 6, led a reflection for all staff. ‘We lit candles and played quiet music to everyone felt relaxed and calm. We then read a meditation to try and make everyone feel happy.’

The reflection was enjoyed by all members of staff

‘I very much enjoyed the reflection run by the chaplains. The atmosphere they created was very relaxing. The candles, shells and music made an excellent space to reflect and contemplate. The chaplains led well, they were well organised, spoke clearly and led a session I didn’t really want to end!’ (Mr Davey)

Brighten Up

On Monday 2nd October, the School Chaplains led a whole school assembly, to introduce CAFOD’s new campaign, Brighten Up.

They explained what ‘Brighten Up’ was all about, and explained that we will be having a non school uniform day and a cake sale on Friday 13th October, to raise money for this campaign.

Catholic Social Teaching

This week, the Chaplains worked together, and created power points to share with different classes. Their task was to explain what CST was, the different principles and how we show these in school.

They then led an activity to create posters on the principles, which were displayed in each classroom.

”I think our workshop went really well. They all listened and understand the different principles of CST. They did take a long time to do the activity, so next time, we might need to choose a shorted activity” (Year 6 Chaplain)

For St Joseph’s Summer Fair, the Chaplaincy team made dream catchers to sell. We raised over £20 for Charis, supporting refugees in Bridgwater.

On Thursday 29th June, the Chaplaincy held a coffee morning for parishioners and our school community in the school hall. We spoke to the adults about what we do as Chaplains, and how we support others.

We raised an incredible £75.50 for Charis, which is a charity that supports local refugees in Bridgwater.

During Lent, the Chaplains led a Stations of the Cross Prayer walk around the school for each class. The Chaplains engaged the class, explaining each Station in detail and asking questions to check the children’s knowledge and understanding. They also spent some time in quiet prayer, reflecting on Jesus’ final moments before his death.

We celebrated Red Nose Day on Friday 17th March. The Chaplains decided on a ‘red’ theme, and asked children to dress in red for the day to raise money for the charity.

The Year 4 and Year 6 Chaplains led an assembly in the morning, explaining what Red Nose Day is, and how our donations can support young people across the country, and even the world.

Friday 10 February – this week, the Year 5 and Year 6 Chaplains have been leading workshops in classes throughout the school. They explained what Catholic Social Teaching was, and discussed 6 Principles of CST. The children then came up with ideas of how we show each principle in school. Following on from this, the chaplains split the class into groups. Each group focussed on 1 principle and created a poster all about what they had learnt, and how we show these principles in and out of school.

Chaplain Presentation

For the Christmas Fair, the Chaplains decorated tree decorations and wrote prayers to add to their decorations. We then sold these at the fair to raise money for Cancer Research. Thank you to everyone who bought one!

In November, the Chaplaincy Team created Advent Calendars for each year group. Every day during Advent, they planned an activity or reflection. Here are some examples of our calendars.

On Monday 7th November, some members of our School Chaplaincy Team, went to St George’s School in Taunton, to a training day run by Louise White. We did lots of fun activities to help us become leaders within our chaplaincy work, and also created our Chaplaincy Action Plan for the year ahead. During the day, Fr. Rajesh, from St George’s Church, led our Chaplaincy Commissioning Service where we welcomed new members to our Chaplaincy Team.

We went back to school and shared what we had learnt with the rest of the Chaplaincy Team and came up with some more ideas for our plan!

Year 6 Chaplains have made up shoe boxes for the Blythswood Shoebox appeal. These shoe boxes will be sent out to countries and given to vulnerable people in countries such as Ukraine, Albania, Hungary and Romania.

This week, the Chaplains came into each class, and taught the rest of the children about October being one of the months dedicated to Mary. Each class looked at the rosary and discussed what it meant, and which prayers linked to it. Our reflection was then based around the prayers of the rosary. In Year 6, the chaplains led a meditation session, where we repeated the Haily Mary for each decade of Jesus’ life.

Friday 23rd September 2022 – This week, the Chaplaincy Team organised to go into each class in the school and deliver a Liturgical Prayer based on St Therese of Lisieux and Little way week.

Each class learnt a little bit about St Therese, and took part in a reflection, colouring petals, as this is what St Therese did every time she did a ‘little thing’ to help somebody. During the worship, we also thought about the little things we could do this week to help others.

At the Summer Fair, the chaplains ran a stall, making prayer beads. We were raising money for the Emmaus project, which we are supporting this year. Thank you to everyone that came and supported out stall.

On Tuesday 5th July, the chaplains ran an activities morning for all classes in the school hall. They were teaching the rest of the school about our new school values. Each class worked round the carousel of activities to find out more about each value, and how we could show this value in and out of school.

Gardening club and the chaplaincy team have been working together to create our prayer garden on the school field. Gardening club have cleared the area, and began to plant some flowers, and the chaplaincy team have created prayer tiles and a reflection corner for children to go to at lunch to prayer and reflect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To celebrate May, the month of Mary, the whole school had a worship this week which focussed on Mary. The chaplains organised to go into each class, and lead a Liturgical Prayer, reflection and activity.

Within the worship, each class decorated a crown for Mary, which was then used to crown Mary during Mass on Thursday.

          

We are continuing to support the Emmaus Project, and therefore, the chaplains organised a onesie day. All children were invited to come into school in their onesies, and bring a donation towards the Emmaus Project.

The Year 6 chaplains led a whole school assembly, to remind the classes why we had dressed up, and how their donations would help the people of Uganda.

During Holy Week, the chaplains led a prayer walk linked to the Stations of the Cross around the school.

They stopped at each station for a short prayer or reflection, thinking about how the stations might link to our lives today.

     

On Thursday 24th March, the School Chaplains organised and ran a cake sale to raise money for the Emmaus Project. They donated and made lots of cakes to sell to the rest of the school during their lunchtime! Well done to the chaplains who managed to raise £140.14  for this project.

This year, St Joseph’s, as well as other schools in our Diocese, are supporting the Emmaus Project. This project will reach out to thousands of young people and their families in the Masaka District of South-Western Uganda. Working alongside the International Tree Foundation and the Masaka and District Land Care Chapter, they aim to provide independent water resources for 23 schools across the region.

The Chaplains went to each class in the school, to give an assembly about what the Emmaus Project was about, and encouraged them to think of ways in which the school can raise money.

The Chaplains have now come up with a plan, of different fundraisers that we can do in school to raise money and support this charity.

The Chaplains have created Lenten Calendars, which they have shared with each class. Every day, there is reflection, prayer or activity to complete.

Our new school Chaplains were commissioned by Fr Frank on Thursday 2nd December.

On Monday 29 November, the Chaplains from Year 4 and Year 5 went to Corpus Christi in Weston Super Mare for a Chaplaincy Training day led by Louise White. During the day, we learnt how to lead collective worships, and activities to do with classes. We also discussed different prayer activities we could try in school.

St Joseph’s celebrated Harvest Festival on Tuesday 5th October.  The chaplains led the school assembly for KS1 and KS2.  In their assembly, they explained what Harvest is and why it is important.

They also collected items, such as food and toiletries from all the classes, which will be donated to Bridgwater Food Bank.

In addition to this, we asked everyone to bring in £1 for wearing green clothes to raise money for CAFOD.  CAFOD are a charity that help people all over the world who are in need.  The money we raised today by ‘going green’ means we have helped people in all countries across the world. Thank you so much for your support and for your donations!

 

During the Month of  May, chaplains ran workshops for their own classes linked to Mary.

In Year 5, the children created paintings of Mary, and found scripture from the Bible about Mary.

Year 2 took part in a Mary procession

Year 6 ran workshops for their class on the Mission together Rosary. The children in the class learnt about the Mission together rosary, and the different colours represent different continents. They also draw their own rosaries, and learn about the mysteries. At the end of the session, the chaplains ran a reflection, where the whole class joined in with saying part of the rosary. Here are some examples of our work.

Lent through a Lens Competition

During Lent, St Joseph’s took part in a Lent Photography Competition set by the charity, Missio (Mission Together).  This competition was open to the whole school, and children were asked to take a photo of something that they thought represented Lent.

The School Chaplains then judged these entries and chose their favourite photographs as the winners.  Well done to the winners, Max and Zuza in KS1 and to Roxy and Lola in KS2

Here are some of the examples of the photos we received.                          Lent through a Lens competition

In November, the Year Chaplains created an Advent Calendar for each class.  Each day during Advent, there was an activity or reflection to complete.  Here are some of the examples of the calendars and photos of activities from some of the classes.

“On Friday 4 October, some of the chaplains took part in a Chaplaincy training day arranged by the Diocese. Chaplains from across the Dunstan Partnership came to St Joseph’s for the training.

At the training, we learnt more about what a Saint is, we worked in groups to discuss what it took to be a Saint. Later in the morning, we learnt about Cardinal Newman and how he was going to be canonised because he helped people with medicines and taught people about God.

Finally, Anne led a reflection and a Chaplain from St Joseph’s helped with this”. Connie, Year 6 Chaplain

​​​​​​​Month of Mission

During October, the Chaplains led workshops about October, the Month of Mission. Each group of Chaplains planned a lesson which included discussing what a Missionary is and looking at different missionaries from St Theresa of Lisiuex to Sister Sonia.

The Chaplains then explained about the Mission Together Rosary and the significance this has.

Each class then completed activities about how they could become a missionary by doing little things. They also used the Mission Together Rosary to think about what the different colours represent and wrote their own missionary prayers and poems.

On Friday 18 October, the Chaplains organised a non-school uniform to raise money for Mission (Mission Together). They also organised a cake sale for the afternoon to raise money for the charity.

In November, the Year 6 Chaplains made up Christmas Shoeboxes to send to Albania, Bulgaria and Hungary as part of the Blythswood Shoebox Appeal 2019.

For St Joseph’s Christmas Fair, the Chaplains ran a stall selling prayer candles. They made the candles during our chaplaincy sessions and then sold them and the money raised was donated to WWF (World Wildlife Foundation).