During Multi Faith and Culture week each year group has studied a different religion.

Year 1 have been learning about Hindusim and have learnt about their place of worship, Holy Book and the Gods they believe in. 

They also had fun learning some traditional dance moves which was performed in assembly.

Our amazing choir have visited a number of care homes over the past year brining cheer to our community.  They have been fantastic and we are so proud of the joy they share to us all.  

During Refugee week children went on a pilgrimage walk around school, reflecting on what happens when a person has to flee their home because of war, natural disaster or fear of persecution. Children took part in prayer and activities based around refugees.  

Some parishioners came from St John Fisher Church came to speak to the children about their upcoming pilgrimage to Lourdes.  They shared the story of Lourdes with the children and invited children to write prayer intentions for them to take and place at the Grotto.

During Lent we try to be more charitable and think of those less fortunate than ourselves.  We raised money for a number of charities including Father Hudsons who help the vulnerable and needy of our city.  

What a lovely day we had celebrating our Lumen Christi Family of Schools. We had a lovely shared prayer service at St Brigid’s church where pupils represented our school. The rest of the school tuned in to the livestream. We created lovely lanterns, art work and crosses for our Lumen Christi Day and also invited families for prayer after school. Thanks to all for sharing in this wonderful celebration. 

Our Caritas Ambassadors put their faith into action last week and visited St Chads Sanctuary in Birmingham. It provides welcome and support for those that have sought refuge.

Last Friday we saw our school and parish communities come together in the school hall to play bingo together. It was a fun filled session, thoroughly enjoyed by all! A huge thank you to all involved and who helped to make it such a successful event.  Thank you also to the Mini Vinnies, who were superb bingo callers and along with Miss Griffin-Parry, help to organise the evening!  

We should recycle clothes where we can and at a time when cost of living is high not only does this support us in being less wasteful it also helps financially too. Thanks to all that supported. 

Thank you Miss Griffin Parry and the Mini Vinnies for organising the chocolate appeal for the collection for the homeless in Birmingham. Thank you to our families for continuing to support the most vulnerable in our society with your generous donations. 

Year 3 Forest School Retreat 

Year 3 have celebrated the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time.  In the afternoon, the children took part in a reflective forest school retreat. The afternoon was filled with lots of fun activities and moments of prayerful reflection. Each child collected a stone, and wrote their name on it. After the children had decorated their stones, we discussed how the stone represented what they had said sorry for during Reconciliation. Following this, the children placed their stones into a basket and felt the weight of that stone being lifted from them. We discussed how this is just like Reconciliation and how our sins are forgiven.

Click here to watch our Holy Week in Handprints Video.  The children have created art work and narration to retell the events of Holy Week.

https://www.loom.com/share/29f27f40b9334867963fb7d5fc6ed98d

Prayers during the Pandemic

Our children and families wrote some special prayers to bring about hope during the pandemic.

Nativity 2020

We celebrated the Nativity in school and shared our performance of the birth of Jesus with our school community 'virtually'.

Live Broadcast of the Rosary with Archbishop Bernard Longley

We had a very special whole school gathering to share the Joyful Mysteries with Archbishop Bernard and the other Catholic Primary Schools in our Archdiocese. It was prayerful and reflective and children and staff listened again to the scripture sharing joyous occasions in the life of Jesus and Mary.

Praying the Holy Rosary

Pupils in Year 1 to Year 6 have been given time and space daily to pray the Rosary in the school hall. Many pupils volunteered their own time to continue in prayer and dedicate special time to Our Lady.

Prayer Garden

Pupils in Key Stage 2 have been using our prayer garden during the enrichment session on Friday afternoons. They have used bamboo along with their artistic skills to create some beautiful hanging prayers based on Psalm 72. Over the coming weeks these will be displayed in the prayer garden, do take a visit for a quiet moment of reflection before or after school if you can.

Parish Afternoon Tea
This was a joyous occasion and a lovely opportunity to join together as a school and Parish community. The Mini Vinnies were superb and raised an amazing £450 for the India SVP project thanks to the generosity of those that visited, donated cakes or made donations through the school or Church. A huge hank you to you all!

Year 3 Retreat Day
This was a truly joyous occasion celebrated in our Parish Centre this week. We were joined by year 3 pupils from St Brigid’s as they also prepare for their First Holy Communion. The day was led by Dan Callow and included opportunities for prayer, music and singing. The children were able to explore their faith further and share this with others. The children were a joy to be with and a real credit to our school.

May Procession

The sun shone for our May procession in school this year! The children really enjoyed taking part and walking through our prayer garden and around our grounds whilst singing to Mary. Thank you to those families that donated flowers for scattering, it really did help to make the occasion even more special. Our Lady has been crowned in the prayer garden, do pop along to offer a prayer there.

Stations Of The Cross- Key Stage 2

Deacon Pascal came and led Stations of the Cross for KS2 in church.  The children participated fully and with reverence.  It was inspiring to have Deacon Pascal lead us in music and prayer. 

Stations of the Cross – Key Stage 1

The children in KS1 led Stations of the Cross.  They looked at the stations and chose one particular one they wanted to colour in.  They took it in turns to share their picture and talk about what was happening.  We took time to reflect on these last few moments of Jesus’ life on earth and the children led us in prayer to encourage us to think about our own lives. 

Holy Week

Our children from the liturgy team led the school beautifully in a prayerful assembly about the events of Holy Week.  There was time for prayer, hymns, quiet reflection and scripture.  Well done to the children for being so reverent throughout. 

Epiphany

The children have been learning about the Epiphany of our Lord. The Epiphany reveals to us that the birth of our Saviour unites people from all backgrounds.

Christmas Carol Concert

At St John Fisher we have an extremely dedicated and talented choir who were invited to take part once again in the parish Christmas Carol Concert. What a truly wonderful gift to hear children sharing the good news through song and in doing so giving their time and talents to God.

Thank you to the children and well done you were fabulous!

Nativity and KS2 Christmas Liturgy

We were entertained and moved by our KS1 and KS2 versions of the Christmas story. Thanks you to the staff and children who helped to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Sophia House Project

During Advent the children received a visit from Theresa Clements who works for Father Hudson’s. She was appealing for donations of toys to be given to a mother and baby who had recently arrived at a local centre for refugees.

As always our families were very generous and always ready to help those most in need. Thank you!

Advent Liturgy

Following on from our visit to St James’ Catholic Primary School the children from our own liturgy group planned, prepared and delivered Advent workshops for each class in KS2. They were focussing on the real meaning of this liturgical season.

The liturgy team led the children beautifully in scripture, prayer and song ready to celebrate Advent in the spirit of love, peace, joy and hope.

Confirmation

On the 22^nd November 2018, we were joined by Bishop Byrne to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation with the children from Year 6. It was a very reverent yet joyous occasion, the children were supported by Fr Cecil and staff from our school.

Thank you to our families for their support and guidance.

Remembrance Day

At St John Fisher we took the time to come together and remember the deceased from all the conflicts around the world. We held a special assembly to commemorate 100 years since Armistice, with a special guest Mr Andrews who is one of our Reception parents. He spoke to the children about being in the Royal Navy including his own experiences and allowed the children to try on his coat and hat. The children asked him some very interesting questions, we finished our assembly with a prayer and a two minute silence to remember all of those people who have lost their lives

Quad Liturgy

At our school we value the importance of collaborative prayer and worship. St James’ Catholic Primary School in Rednal invited our Liturgy Team to take part in a “Peace Workshop” led by their liturgy leaders and Suzanne O’Malley the Three Parishes Coordinator. Some of our staff and children went along for what was an inspiring and reflective afternoon, which was spent thinking and praying for peace in our world.

Our liturgy leaders thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were inspired to prepare something similar for our children in our school.

Harvest Assembly

During October, our Liturgy Leaders led us in a special prayer and thanks, praising God for his marvellous creation.

Our children and their families continue their special impact by donating vast amounts of food and toiletries to St Chad’s Sanctuary; this is a special place for the homeless and refugees. The generosity of our families is a constant source of pride for our school. Thank you!

Month of The Holy Rosary

At St John Fisher we have a great love for the Rosary and it is a central part of our weekly prayer life. During October we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and the children from our Rosary Group led the children in a special time of prayer. Saying the Rosary together as a school, we prayed particularly for the clergy and their vocations during this Year of Priests.

Rosary Rally

The people of St John Fisher Parish took part in a Rosary Rally to pray for peace in Syria.  The children in school were led in decade of the Rosary to link with the parish through prayer. 

Prayer for Peace in Syria

God of Compassion,

hear the cries of the people of Syria.

Comfort those who suffer violence.

Console those who mourn the dead.

Give strength to Syria’s neighbouring countries to welcome the refugees.

Convert the hearts of those who have taken up arms

and protect those who are committed to peace.

God of hope,

inspire leaders to choose peace over violence and to seek reconciliation with their enemies.

Inflame the Universal Church with compassion for the people of Syria and give us hope for a future built on justice for all.

We ask this through Jesus Christ,

the Prince of Peace and Light of the world.

Amen

Holy Month of May

Miss Musto led the children in praying the Holy Rosary during the Month of May.  We also took part in the parish Crowning of our Lady after Sunday morning Mass.  What a wonderful occasion – and we were so lucky with the weather too!

Jo Boyce and Friends Mass

Our choir were very lucky to be part of our 3 parish partnership event with Jo Boyce and Friends.  The children sang beautifully and performed reverently and prayerfully.  Many thanks to the children for their wonderful efforts!

Multi-Culture Week

During our multi-culture week in May, Year 6 visited a synagogue to find out all about the Jewish faith.  They had a fantastic time and found it extremely informative and interesting.

Holy Week Assembly

Our Liturgy leaders led the children in a Holy Week assembly.  They renacted the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples and shared some prayers they had written.   Well done children for being so prayerful and reverent.