Author: Mr Pearce

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Lent 2021

Listen to this blog post here- Lent 2021 Blog Post

My first thought on Lent 2021 is that lockdown 1 started during Lent 2020! It’s crazy to think that a year has gone by.

Over the centuries, Catholics have not only celebrated the faith in the Church and through the Liturgy. This is the high point of our prayer- the Mass is the ‘source and summit’ of the Christian life. Catholics, however, have also celebrated the faith in the home with prayers, recipes and parties! I have noticed even more of this spirit even among my non-Catholic neighbours this year.

Window decorations for significant days show that the religious instinct to celebrate what is important is still within us, even if we have not yet made it to the fullness of truth in the Catholic faith. Maybe this is also because, during times of trial, we all need to keep our spirits up!

Given all that we have gone through, we could fall into the trap of seeing Lent as a tedious trial that we just don’t need at the moment. Who is going to voluntarily do something difficult when so much else is going on?!

Let’s take a brief look at why this view would be missing the point and why Lent can be a time of refreshment and positivity!

Penance

During Lent we do penance. Penance is when we make satisfaction for our sins. When we go to confession we make a resolution to turn away from sin and turn back to God (Repentance) and our Penance makes this desire visible and puts it into practice.

From the beginning, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God,  sin has messed up our relationship with God, creation and others. So the Church gives us the antidote to each problem-

Prayer- Prayer reconnects us to God who is the source of love and peace. During Lent we make a special effort to take up some additional prayer, even something really small, and we become rooted in the one who made us, loved us, died and rose again for us.  (If you don’t pray much, how about a Hail Mary when you get up and when you go to bed? It’s a start 🙂 ) Image result for fulton sheen prayer and fasting

Fasting-Fasting disconnects us from our unhealthy attachment to material/created things. What are the things that I turn to instead of God? What are the things that take up so much time and attention that I neglect my duties or my family?

Almsgiving (Giving)– Giving to others teaches us to love our neighbour even when it costs us. We all like to help people who help us, but this can be a bit selfish. What about showing love to those who may not give anything in return. You could give to charity, give money, give your time…Pray about it and see what God sends your way.

In conclusion, Lent provides us with an opportunity to disconnect from the things that give us a short term happiness and reconnect to God who is our ultimate joy.

In RE, young people will be learning about the significance of 40 days in the Bible- always a period of purification, turning to God and getting rid of the baggage that weighs us down.

Someone who is getting fit has a goal and they use their will power to turn away from unhealthy food and turn towards exercise, we have the goal of realising our spiritual potential- holiness, sainthood. Penance isn’t a negative thing, it is just like getting fit but for our soul.

At the end of our 40 days of purification and conversion we will be ready to contemplate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus who emptied himself for love of us and calls us to love him in return.

 

Lent Resources

Ash Wednesday Service for use at home

Resources for prayer and growing in the faith

 

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Feedback during Online Learning

Turnbull young people have been submitting some outstanding work for RE during the last few weeks. From S1 exploring the literary styles in scripture, S2 analysing the person and natures of Jesus to S4 and 5 creating presentations on the sanctity of human life to S6 analysing the Nicene Creed and refuting the Arian heresy…I have been so impressed by their commitment to their learning.

Feedback is a key component of learning in any classroom and in RE, pupils often reflect on their engagement in self and peer assessment, formal and informal learner conversations, use of learning intentions, success criteria and PLP learning statements to track the learning and set new goals.

We are not in a classroom at the moment, however, so how can a young person gauge their success and areas for development within the online RE context?

Here is a list that was drawn up in our S2 RE tutorial this morning.

 

RE Online learning:
Feedback

–Traffic light grades– Red/Amber/Green. Green means that you have met the success criteria, Amber means you have met some but not all and you need to self-asses your work against the success criteria and plug any gaps. Red is very rare- no one has been given a red yet! Your teacher would be in touch to help you before it came to this!

–Written comments (**?)– two stars and a wish- short comment from the teacher. This is usually given for more substantial tasks. Sometimes pupils may expect a written comment every time but written comments are only one method of feedback and aren’t always the best fit.

–Verbal feedback during tutorials– common challenges or tricky bits are explained during the tutorial. Where appropriate, I am now recording audio of the lessons and issuing them to pupils as a podcast that can be revisited.

–Live marking during lesson– the teacher uses example work (with the name of the pupil removed!) to show desirable aspects of work and things that could be improved.

–MS Forms– Percentage Mark is given automatically, correct or incorrect answers show you your strengths and areas to revise and pop-up messages give hints along the way

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Advent Learning and Teaching in RE

Advent is one of my favourite seasons of the Church year and every year I discover new layers of meaning in the prophecies of the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New Testament. There are also so many beautiful ways that the liturgy and devotions unwrap the layers of the greatest gift ever given.

This year is the first that all of the BGE classes have all been engaging with our brand new courses.

S1 started by studying life in Palestine at the time of Jesus’ birth and its place in salvation history or ‘God’s Timeline’. By applying their literacy and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), pupils engaged with a variety of Biblical and video resources to gradually build up a picture of the political, cultural and religious climate for the people of God at that time. S1 had a good idea of what God’s people were expecting from the Messiah and began to think about how Jesus fulfilled this.

S1 then went on to explore ways in which we practice our faith in Advent, dividing the learning into ‘Liturgy’ and ‘Devotions.’

S2 built on what they learned last year by studying the Old Testament prophets in the last part of November. They worked in groups to track God’s Timeline, analysing the messages of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos. They saw that God is always faithful despite his people’s infidelity ad recognised the promise of the Messiah, the rescuer.

S2 continued to work in their groups through December to explore the clues of what the Messiah- The Anointed One- would be like. They studied the figures of the Old Testament who were anointed- Priests, Prophets and Kings and began to explore how Jesus would be the ultimate priest, prophet and king.

S2 concluded their study by analysing the O Antiphons and selecting ones that complemented their learning. Sadly, we could not sing them this year but maybe next year’s S2 will get a chance!

S3 expanded their prior learning by exploring the concept of Covenant in more depth. Applying their HOTS, pupils engaged with Biblical texts to identify the Covenant characteristics that they had learned. Again, by tracking salvation history and the development of the covenant through Noah, Abraham and Moses, young people then drew conclusions about the New and Eternal Covenant that Jesus was going to institute.

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Unusually, S4 were in school for lots more of Advent this year due to the Absence of prelims. They followed the first episode of Word on Fire’s Catholicism series, deepening their understanding of the role of the Messiah and the paradoxical way in which God chose to rescue his people.

Advent Adoration

In harmony with the curriculum, our chaplaincy programme offered opportunities for prayer and meditation on our need for the coming of Jesus in our own lives and in the world. This was most powerfully evident in our Advent Adoration on Monday lunchtimes- the Advent of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament at the heart of our school.

Prayers and Devotions

In place of Mass, which is not possible at this time, pupils and staff joined in morning prayers, novenas and other devotions. An adapted version of our Bearing Gifts retreat was undertaken for each class, reflecting on the Annunciation, the poem ‘In the bleak midwinter’ by Christina Rosetti and ending with the Angelus.

What can I give him poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part, yet, what I have I give him,

Give my heart.

Family Learning

Advent is a season that is very rich in liturgy ad devotions and so our families were provided with a one-stop-shop for living Advent in the home. This blog post featured prayers, crafts, recipes and even playlists of traditional and modern Advent music!

Advent Service

On the last day of term we joined for an Advent Service on Teams in which we reflected on the promise of the Messiah, his Advent to us in the present and our readiness for his coming in glory at the end of the world.

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Illuminating Festive Physics!

“And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”- so goes the first chapter of the Gospel of John. The Greek root of ‘Word‘ is Logos or ‘mind.’ Our faith teaches us that all things were made through the Word- the divine mind- and this is the reason why the universe is intelligible.

 

 

As part of our Advent learning, the RE department tea med up with Science department to look at the Star of Bethlehem which was to repeat on the 21st of December for the first time in 800 years!

Just like the Shepherds, men of the true faith at the time, were led to Jesus through a vision of the angels, our young people had opportunities to learn and pray the readings and liturgy of Advent, meditating on the significance of the Incarnation.

Just like the wise men, who used material science and academic study of the Old Testament prophecies, our young people studied the science behind the Star of Bethlehem and were immersed in the study of the prophets. 

Our young people reflected on Advent of Jesus in the past, present and future and the many ways in which we have an Epiphany- God revealing himself to us in so many ways.

This project was a reminder to us that Truth, whether communicated literally and numerically or symbolically and prayerfully, all finds its convergence in the Logos, The Word Made Flesh: Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life.

Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, 1423, tempera on panel, 283 x 300 cm (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

 

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Advent Family Learning

This Sunday is New Year in the Church! It is also the start of the season of Advent. Our young people have been learning about the history of God’s people and the ups and downs of the relationship between Him and His people. His people, as we often do, strayed from their bond with Him but God is always faithful. He sent prophets to call the people back and they told of a rescuer who would bring healing and salvation.

In Advent, rather than prematurely celebrating Christmas, we take time to focus on the darkness of the world in need of the rescuer (the Messiah) when Jesus was born and the darkness of our lives without Him too. This is a time to learn to wait for God like the people of Israel did. If we do this, the joy of Christmas- the coming of the Light of the World will be even greater!

Here are some ways that you and your family can make the most of Advent.

General info about Advent

Create/buy an Advent Calendar- Don’t just eat the sweets! Read a short bit of the Advent story and think about it through the day. Share your thoughts at dinner.

Make or buy an Advent Wreath and light it when you are al at home. 

Make a Jesse Tree and learn about each figure it depicts

Daily readings- Use an app like Universalis of iPieta to read the daily Mass readings. Even if you just pick one, you will enter into the Advent season at a deeper level. 

Family Rosary– Advent may be a great time to begin praying as a family after dinner or before bed. Start with a decade of the Rosary (5mins). This will change your lives!

Make an advent playlist (Traditional / Modern) and avoid Christmas movies- save them until Christmas! This is not to kill the fun but increases the anticipation for Christmas!

Attend Mass more often if you are able.

 

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Red Wednesday 2020

In keeping with our longstanding partnership with Aid to the Church in Need, Turnbull High School celebrated Red Wednesday- a day to raise funds and awareness for Christians who are persecuted for their faith.

Our usual events were not possible this year but pupils made donations and wore red, the colour of martyrs, with their uniform to show solidarity with those who are oppressed, tortured and killed for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Following what has become a Red Wednesday custom across the UK, we lit up our oratory Red.

Our Aid to the Church in Need group led the event and did a great job with advertising. Joined by Fr Monaghan and Mr Pearce, the group also joined to pray the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, meditating on the suffering of Jesus and the suffering His Church.

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Patronal Feast Day 2020

Our Patronal Feast in 2020 was unusual for two reasons: the COVID restrictions prevented our customary celebrations and it was the first time that our feast day has fallen on a weekend!

As I am sure you know by now, no challenge holds us back at Turnbull and so we celebrated the Vigil of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and joined together through the miracle (!) of Microsoft Teams.

The day began with a service that was prepared by the S6 Caritas Class, following the theme of Catholic Education Week; Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Staff and students prayed together from their classrooms as the service was delivered through the smart board. The Caritas pupils challenged us to reflect on this unique claim of Jesus and our fidelity to following him as the only way to the Father and Truth incarnate.

To conclude, we renewed our Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that was first made by Archbishop Tartaglia during our 40th anniversary and the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima. His Grace kindly sent a video greeting and reflection and imparted his blessing on our School community. We were also thrilled to receive a lovely video message from the young people of St Matthew’s Primary school who were so articulate and kind. One day, they will be celebrating our Patronal Feast Day!

Period three, the Caritas class led the recitation of the Holy Rosary from different locations around the school where we have images and statues of Our Lady.

Last period all pupils engaged in a fun, inter-house quiz that was prepared by the Caritas pupils and as I type, Mr Cuthbertson is tallying the scores to determine this year’s winner.

As we raise our hearts to God, we reach out our hands to our neighbour and this year was the first year that we have collected baby clothes for the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative who help young families who are struggling.

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