End of Term Community Mass - Monday 13th July 2020

We would like to thank Canon Shaun Lennard for a lovely Mass celebrating the end of the term.

The theme of the Mass was 'Hope' and Canon Shaun reminded us that we find hope in the presence and love of Jesus Christ. We are people of hope and our hope comes from Jesus.

We pray, with God's help, that our light may shine more clearly in the world.

Thank you to all of you who joined us from home - pupils, parents, staff, governors and our wider school community.

"I liked that even though we are all apart, we were able to take part together." - Erin, Year 3

Mass for Schools - Thursday 18th June 2020

On Thursday 18th June, Cardinal Vincent Nichols celebrated a Mass in Westminster Cathedral for our school communities. 

Our KS2 classes took part in the Mass in their classrooms. To prepare for it, they set up prayer tables at the front, with some writing out prayers to place upon their table to remember during the Mass. 

In his homily, Cardinal Vincent spoke of three things that we need to remember to thank Jesus for. 

They are...

• To thank Jesus for giving us a purpose in life.
• To thank Jesus for teaching us how to pray.
• To thank Jesus for promising that he will always be with us. 

At the end of Mass, the Cardinal wanted to send on good wishes and prayers to the children heading to secondary school next year. 

Thank you Cardinal Vincent for a lovely Mass. 

Good Friday Service 2020

In school, we had a service for Good Friday as part of our assembly.

The children in school decorated a heart with their own special prayer to place on a cross at the front of the Hall.

We invited any pupils, parents, staff and governors at home to make their own special prayer to place on the cross so that, even though we are apart, we can be joined together in prayer on this very important occasion.

Thank you to all who sent in a prayer for our service.

End of Term Mass - 3rd April 2020

We would like to thank Canon Shaun Lennard for a beautiful and moving mass celebrating our school communities.

We are blessed to have such a wonderful Catholic community serving the educational and pastoral needs of our children and families.

The mass was offered for our local Catholic Schools Community.

In September we held our community mass at NBS and each school had part of a jigsaw to decorate.  During mass we were invited to complete this jigsaw and it made a heart.  This heart symbolises the ‘love’ we should have for each other and humanity.  It is also one of the Gospel values which Jesus taught us too.  A very poignant value to have and to express during this difficult time.  The heart jigsaw was delivered to the parish and was used as part of the liturgy.

A candle was lit for each school to allow us to focus on our community and pray for our sick and vulnerable during this crisis. 

Thank you to all of you who joined us from home - pupils, parents, staff, governors and our wider school community. It is wonderful that even apart, we can all gather together as one with God during these difficult and uncertain times. 

In the Nativity play, I was the storyteller and I've got a really important job to do. It was to tell the story of the Lord. The king was not happy when he heard that a new king was born. The king wanted to make a plan to get rid of the new baby king, so he can still be the king.

- Kachi, Year 2

In the play, I was a wise man. I had to say we have brought gold, frankincense and myrrh for the baby. I had to travel and follow the star. I enjoyed the play. 

- John, Year 2

Our school's 60th Anniversary Mass was celebrated by Bishop Paul, Fr Norbert and Fr Livie. First, we had a procession of symbols. We had a picture of the sisters of Mercy because they built our school. Then, the first school register was brought up to remind us of the first school pupils 60 years ago. Next, the statue of St Philip Howard was brought up. The Year 6's brought up our new school banner. Finally, we had the new class bibles for our prayer tables in our classes. After the procession, we had the Mass and after the Gospel, in the homily, Bishop Paul taught us sign language for 'We follow the path of Jesus by loving, learning and doing our best'. At the end of the Mass, Bishop Paul blessed the symbols with Holy Water. My favourite bit was when we sang 'The Servant King' because I love the tune and the harmonies. 

- Wesley, Year 3

We had a lovely Mass to celebrate Mrs Ryan's retirement and her many years of Catholic teaching in our school. 

We will be very sorry to see her go. 

There was a lovely surprise at the end with a performance by the Zimbabwean Ladies' Choir from Marychurch. A huge thank you to them!