Junior Chaplaincy Team
We have a thriving Junior Chaplaincy Team made up of eight pupils from across Years 3 to 6. The team meet every Monday to plan and lead their own whole school Acts of Worship. In addition to this they provide invaluable class based support; training and guiding class liturgy groups in planning and leading weekly class based acts of worship. They are also responsible for promoting and developing the spiritual environment of our school, including the monitoring of Sacred Spaces and liturgy box resources.
Pupils interested in serving as Junior Chaplains complete a letter of application before they are elected by their teachers and classmates. At the beginning of their year of service, they are lucky enough to share in a special Reflection Day where they meet with other chaplaincy teams from the family of Catholic schools. During the day, they engage in a range of fun activities designed to help them learn what it means to be chaplain, culminating in a special ‘Commissioning Service’. These are some of their thoughts:
“We have good fun and work together as a team to think of different ways to share the Word...We teach people what it means to be like Jesus”
Mini Vinnies
Our Mini Vinnies are selected from our outgoing Junior Chaplaincy Team. These children work incredibly hard to promote the work of St Vincent de Paul by helping to promote the charitable activities of our school, always remembering that their role is to ‘put concern into action’. Their activities include:
They too share in a special Reflection/Formation Day, designed to help them understand the origins of their work and to encourage future charitable endeavours, including our new project working with the homeless charity ‘Emmaus’.
We are always keen to identify new projects and welcome any suggestions as to how we can serve our parish community better - you know where we are if you need us!
Thank you so much for welcoming me into your lovely school. I have learnt so much and I will never forget my time at St Mary Queen of Martyrs.
Catherine Suret