St. Cuthbert’s Primary has been involved in a variety of activities over the past two weeks to celebrate Catholic Education Week. The theme this year was ‘Proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel’. Last weekend, senior pupils represented our school at St. Cuthbert’s Church participating in the liturgy of the word.
Pupils explored the theme in a variety of ways.
Primary 1 made Thank You cards for people in our school community who lived their life following gospel values. They visited many adults within the school saying Thank You for their efforts, giving them a card and a little chocolate. Primary 2 learned about Pope Francis’ Five Finger prayer and Primary 3 focused on words used by Pope Francis to help them understand the meaning of the gospel.
Pupils in our upper school looked for examples of how people in the wider community lived their life following the gospel. They created posters and pieces of writing.
Very appropriately this week our Primary 6 and 7 pupils all participated in a retreat day to Newmains Pastoral Centre. They were accompanied, for the first time, by senior pupils from John Ogilvie High School. These students are participating in the Caritas Award programme. Both days were extremely successfully and staff reported that all involved had enjoyed a very spiritual day that enabled all to take time and reflect on their faith journey.
However, the highlight of our week had to be Thursday morning. We welcomed Bishop Toal to our school for a full morning. Bishop Toal was appointed to Motherwell Diocese in June 2014. The bishop is visiting all primary schools within the diocese to meet staff and pupils. Bishop Toal visited all classes within the school. This was a wonderful opportunity for our pupils and staff to meet and speak with the bishop in their own school. Bishop Toal explained his role within Motherwell Diocese and invited questions from our pupils. He was most impressed with our children who, as always, were a credit to their families and school. Every child listened attentively and asked some very good and interesting questions. Primary 1-3 children sang Give me Joy in my Heart beautifully and certainly demonstrated to Bishop Toal that they know how to proclaim the joy of the Gospel. Bishop Toal led prayers in each class, en Español in Primary 5, and gave his blessing to staff and pupils. He then joined all staff and Father Bogan for lunch.
We are very grateful for Bishop Toal’s visit to our school and look forward to celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation with him and our senior pupils on Monday 23rd March.
Finally, our school community came together on Friday afternoon to celebrate our Catholic Education Week assembly. Through prayer and song, we reflected on our learning and considered how we will continue to proclaim the joy of the Gospel as a school community.
Many thanks for reading my blog,
Mrs Hendry
