Members of the school parliament helped Mrs Burgess, the school cook, to make a simple vegetable soup. Children were encouraged to try this at lunch time and think about our global neighbours across the world who do not always have enough food or food choices.
To celebrate the Feast day of St Thomas Aquinas, we have been thinking about ordinary people called to be Saints. In the build up to the Feast day, all year groups have been learning about a range of Saints. A special mention to the children who attended the Mass today who served on the altar and took part in the offertory. Well done to everyone!
All donations for our Christmas Jumper Day this year went to our chosen charity, Shelter. The children also took part in a sponsored Santa Dash! We raised an incredible £1193!
Year 6 provided musical accompaniment for a Christmas meal organised by VAR and Lands’ End for elderly and vulnerable local people. The choir sung carols and there were instrumental performances from some of the children too!
We had a beautiful Liturgy to welcome the Trust’s Travelling Crib into school. The children listened to the Christmas story and wrote their own prayers about their intentions or for those in need during this season.
Our staff and children made beautiful Advent wreaths which were blessed by Father Stephen at Mass at St Joseph’s. The wreaths now take pride of place around school.
Our Y4 children enjoyed learning about the Jewish faith and the Torah. They learnt about the 10 Commandments and made their own scrolls. They even wrote in Hebrew text! In EYFS, the children heard the story of Hanukkah, made Menorah candles and played with Dreidels.
This year we supported Children in Need by holding a cake sale and the children came dressed in spotty clothes with crazy hair! We raised an amazing £378.15!
Some of our Year 4 children raised money for Cancer Research, a charity close to their hearts. They sold home made goodies, such as cakes, bracelets and aeroplanes!
Our Mini Chaplains attended the Rosmini Centre for their annual retreat. The children devised an action plan for the year ahead and took part in a range of team building activities with other schools from our trust. What an exciting day they had!
Two of our children wanted to raise money for a family friend in India who needed life saving surgery which was going to be very costly. They sold brownies and biscuits after school to help towards the cost of the operation.
Our Year 6 children led a beautiful Remembrance Liturgy and our children made some lovely poppies for our display. We also raised £162.82 for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
The children in Y1-6 attended Mass at St Joseph’s on Wednesday for All Saints’ Day. The children in Y1 spoke to father Stephen after Mass
about Baptism and the Y6 children also stayed behind to share some of their work with the parishioners.
For Harvest Liturgy we celebrated with a Liturgy lead by the Mini Chaplains. The children in EYFS had a Harvest party too! Children came dressed in bright clothes for CAFOD and we had so many generous donations for the Rutland Food Bank. We raised £206.45 for CAFOD!
Early Years had a Pentecost party at school. They made Pentecost hats and talked about how they show God’s love through their actions.
We had a lovely afternoon celebrating the King’s Coronation and English Martyrs Day. Children took part in lots of fun art activities and some took part in a special Coronation orienteering course! Children were treated to a special Coronation buffet lunch followed by Mass in school led by Father Stephen and then the children celebrated in their classrooms with cake!
The children and staff braved the elements to complete our Lenten sponsored walk to raise money for the Earthquake Appeal. Well done everyone! Children also came dressed in green and made cakes for a cake sale! We raised an amazing amount – £376.67!
In the Month of Mary, we held a beautiful Liturgy dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. The children all brought an individual flower and created a magnificent cross of flowers to honour Mary on this special day.
We had our first Mass of 2023-2024 at St Joseph’s Church today. A special well done to our new head boy and head girl who read the school prayer beautifully.
All the children in school had a workshop delivered by Will from CAFOD on Catholic Social Teaching. They were all inspired to think about how they could make small changes to make the world a better place. The children thought carefully about how our mission statement and school virtues reflect this.
We welcomed the parishioners into school this for a Christmas party. They enjoyed mince pies, performances from some of the children and were presented with a gift from our reverse advent calendar.
Our Mini Chaplains held a beautiful whole school liturgy to celebrate Epiphany. They re-enacted the story of the Magi through drama and read confidently and clearly. The children reflected on joyful journeys and journeys that were difficult to make.
© 2025 Copyright St Thomas Aquinas - Catholic Multi-Academy Trust | STA-CMAT is a limited company by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number: 08090890)
