Our Faith Journey

As we journey through Lent- a special time of waiting, our children in EYFS have been enjoying taking the Easter story home with them to share with the family. Our travelling Easter baskets are fun for all of the family and ensure that when every child leaves EYFS, they know the true meaning of Easter. As they tuck into their hollow chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday, they will all understand the significance of that and hopefully be able to talk to you about the empty tomb and rejoice… ‘Jesus is Alive!’

‘He saw and believed’ John 20:1-9

I hope you enjoy looking at the photographs- thankyou to families for sending them in for us to share. I will keep adding to the gallery as we receive them.

A letter from Bishop Malcolm

The Owls received a lovely letter from our Bishop thanking them for their welcome letters. As part of their RE lessons the children took the time to write their letters welcoming Bishop Malcolm to the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. He also shared with them some of his own interests, and we learnt that he has two cats, Betty and Zena! Wonderful.

Advent Around School and Travelling Crib 2022

As we begin our Advent journey together, the waiting and preparations are also starting to take place too. The travelling crib found its first home tonight in EYFS with ‘ a big queue to see baby Jesus!’ (Tilly) We will continue to add photographs of our Advent journey here in school and please also feel free to send in any from home you would like me to share too.

A note of thanks…

We received a lovely card of appreciation from the Royal British Legion, thanking St Mary’s for their support with the Poppy Appeal. Thank you everybody!

We received a lovely letter of thanks this week from our friends at The Well, thanking us for our Harvest offerings this term. Thank you for your kind donations once again St Mary’s. It is a wonderful way to give recognition to our responsibility to give what we can and help those who need it.

Holy Communion 2022

This year we have 4 children from St Mary’s making their First Holy Communion. Please pray for Alfie, Amber, Robbie and Tomask as they begin their journey of preparation. Please also pray for Amelia, Max and Eleanor from Ingleton Primary School who are also joining our children here, for their preparation classes. It is wonderful we are sharing in such a special journey!

 Samaritan’s Purse Shoebox Appeal 2022: Sharing God’s Love

Thank you so much to everybody who very kindly either donated a shoe box or items to make up a shoe box. We were delighted to be able to deliver at least 30 boxes, plus two bags of items to The Well on Friday, along with our monthly foodbank offerings. By sending a shoebox gift with Operation Christmas Child, we are sharing God’s love and showing a child they are special and thought of.

Thank you to Maxim and Layla for their help packing and delivering both the food and the shoeboxes. Just wonderful!

‘Let’s Give Thank for the Harvest’

Thank you to everybody who came along to support our Harvest offerings and prayers. The children read beautifully, sang with their whole hearts and gave with a kind heart too. Thank you so much for the kind donations to the foodbanks and also fresh produce for our elderly neighbours. We delivered it on Friday and were greeted with such gratitude… thank you!

Autumn Term Family Mass

It was wonderful to see some of our families at Mass on Thursday, especially those who have just recently joined our school family. Thank you for giving up your time to come and join us- didn’t the children do so well! Beautiful readers, so reverent and respectful; and for some, their very first visit to Mass. Thank you also to Father Thomas.

Other Faiths Week: Judaism

This week in school we have spent time in our RE lessons exploring other faiths. We looked at the Jewish faith and found out that there are many similarities, as well as differences between our faith and the Jewish faith. I wonder if the children can talk to you about some of them. We know it is important to learn about other faiths and we respect all faiths.

We linked this beautifully to our Trust Virtue: Respect

This week in school we have spent time in our RE lessons exploring other faiths. We looked at the Jewish faith and found out that there are many similarities, as well as differences between our faith and the Jewish faith. I wonder if the children can talk to you about some of them. We know it is important to learn about other faiths and we respect all faiths.

We linked this beautifully to our Trust Virtue: Respect

Prayers in our Local Community

The children in Nursery/Reception – Year 5/6 designed their prayer handprints and prayer tags to hang on the tree outside of St Mary’s Church, as part of the Teesdale Prayer Pilgrimage.

First Holy Communion

We continue to prayer for Alfie, Edward, Robbie, Tomask, Amber, Amelia and Max ( our friends from Ingleton) who are preparing to make their First Holy Communion on Saturday June 10th at 1pm, here at St Mary's, and 11th June at St Osmond's, Gainford. I hope you can join us for this special day.

Food Bank Thank You Card and Letter

Thank you to our food bank leaders Chloe, Kornel and Frankie for doing such a good job to promote the food banks and the importance of giving to those less fortunate.

We received a lovely letter and card from our friends at The Well Foodbank in Bishop Auckland. Thank you so much to everyone who contributes to our weekly Friday Foodbanks- it really does make a difference to people relying on foodbanks each week.

Pentecost Prayers: Journey with Mary