Autumn Edition 2016 Suggested

donation

50p

2

CONTENTS p3 Letter from Mrs Arundell

p4-5` Faith Friends

p6-7 Interview with Sr Chris , Sr Penny and Sr Susan

p8-9 Our Jewish Visitor

P10-11 Ten Ten Theatre

p12 Prayer Corner

p13 PSHE award

p14 Thank You Thursday

p15 New additions to St. Mary’s

p16-7 Poetry Corner

P18-19 Y1 Artwork

p20 Providence Row: Letter from Sr Susan

p21 Your Voice:

p22-23 St. Mary’s Remembers

p24-5 Harvest Mass

p26-7 Black History Month

p28-29 Holy Communion Breakfast

p30 Fr John visits Year 3

p31 Y3 Class Mass

p32 - Class L Mass: Mercy

P33: Pope Francis’ Five Finger Prayer

p34-5 The month of the Rosary

p36 RE in Class A

P37 CAFOD

p38-9 Liturgical Dance in Y2

P40-41 Our Hindu Visitor

P42-3 Silly Sock Day and CAFOD

P44 Samaritan’s Purse

Bolivia has a population of nearly 11 million people, most of whom are

Roman Catholic.

The main language is Spanish, but people also speak Quechua and

Aymara which are native Indian languages.

The capital city is La Paz and is the highest capital in the world.

Bolivia’s animal species include llamas, jaguars, Andean condors,

caimans, sloths and piranhas.

Bolivia is landlocked – it is bordered by Brazil, Peru, Paraguay,

Argentina and Chile.

Bolivia is home to Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest lake that is deep

enough for a boat to sail on.

The Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat and contains the

largest deposit of salt on the planet.

Pope Francis has asked us all, during the Year of Mercy, to think about the

Corporal Works of Mercy, one of which is to feed the hungry.

On Thursday 6th October, all the children and most of the teachers wore

colourful, silly socks to school to support CAFOD’s work in Bolivia. We all

paid £1 to wear whatever socks we wanted. Some people had decorated

theirs with colourful pom poms, others wore odd socks or brightly coloured

football socks.

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America and many of the

children there do not get enough food and are very malnourished. The

climate makes it very difficult to grow food.

The money that we have raised will support communities in Bolivia to grow

enough food for themselves by providing seeds and teaching them how to

grow food and build their own greenhouses.

By Harry Williams

3

Dear readers,

Welcome to our second edition of our Faith Friends magazine. This first term has

indeed been memorable for a variety of reasons. We have had a number of special

visitors who have come to share their faith with us including Jon Leigh to tell us

about Judaism and Aruna to teach us about the great festival of light, Divali.

Of course, we have new Faith Friends this year who have helped to put this

magazine together. The Faith Friends from last year are still very active around the

school and continue to offer up their break and lunch times to help with Thank You

Thursday and other tasks. The Y5 Faith Friends have already been busy setting up

focal points, selling poppies after school and organising interviews and articles. None

of it would be possible without the continued support of Mrs Kingdon who works

with the Faith Friends every week and who works tirelessly in the background setting

up displays,, supporting with the transition of resources and inspiring us with ideas.

The rest of the children have been busy settling in and enjoying creative tasks in their

RE lessons including Drama, Dance, Art and Poetry. You will be able to see some of

their work here, although it is only a very small sample of the great work being

produced around the school.

Since the last magazine there have been new additions to the windows and walls. Be

sure to look out for the stained-glass window of Our lady designed b a Y6 pupil last

year. A collage of the Food and Fellowship evening is also on display in the dining

hall thanks to Sr Penny and Sr Chris.

Happy reading!

With every good wish,

Mrs Arundell

4

Faith Friends Our Faith Friends have been very busy helping our school and community.

Sorting food and essentials for those in need.

41

Aruna told us the

story of Rama and

Sita

She dressed some of the

teachers up in very

beautiful Hindu clothes.

Aruna showed us some Hindu

symbols. This one is called the “

Su-Asti” and means “Everything

is good.”

We listened to Hindu music and

even did some dancing. We en-

joyed learning about this

interesting faith.

40

Hinduism

We were very fortunate to have Aruna, a

Hindu visitor, come to speak to us at St.

Mary’s.

She showed us some Divali cards and

taught us to say Happy New Year .

She brought lots of Hindu art-

work including Rangoli

patterns. There were lots of

artefacts for us to see too.

Aruna told us about this

festival of light and how

Hindus celebrate it.

5

Our Faith Friends are: Ann-Marie, Victor, Abdul, Emily,

Lauren, Donald, Layla and Kitty from Class L.

Organising displays

Selling poppies

6

Sr Chris and Sr Penny have always been a great support and inspiration to

us.and know so much about the school Our Faith Friends decided to

‘interview’ them to find out much more about them and what they do.

“I used to be a teacher in a school run by the Sisters of

Mercy in Abingdon. I loved working alongside the Sisters

because they always had time for people. Even when they

were very busy they would stop and listen and take a great

interest in everyone. They also seemed to have a deep joy and peace, even when

things were difficult. I wished I could be like that. I liked to join the Sisters in their

Chapel for prayer in the morning and evening. There came a time when I wanted to

become a Sister myself. I have never regretted making that decision.”

- Sister Penny

Bread for the Homeless Life on the streets

Being alongside people

Caring for God’s earth

Visiting the sick and elderly

What made you

want to become a

Sister of Mercy?

39

PARENT VIEW “Fantastic, lovely show., great expression. Really a good

experience for the children to be able to express them-

selves and build confidence.” (Nicola Niblett)

“It’s lovely to see the intensity on the children’s faces. They obviously

enjoy it so much. Thank you. Fantastic work.” (Mary Duffy?)

“It is nice to see what the children have been working on in class. It was lovely to watch.” (Emma Matren)

“Very enjoyable to watch, was great to see my son doing this.

Thank you. Well done, not easy I’m sure.” (Kevin Snelling)

Some of the children performed their liturgical dance during

the school Harvest Mass.

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When I danced I felt encouraged and full of strength. I felt special inside myself. Mrs Hayes taught us Liturgical Dance. I like Liturgical Dance because it is re-laxing, calm and joyful. I know God and Jesus will guide me because they are always with me. I felt nervous on Tuesday because at the performance I felt like I was going to forget the moves. The song we danced to was called Deliver Me. The music was calm and peaceful.

By Shannon Perera, Class F.

When we performed our Deliver Me Dance, we had to first learn the ac-tions because we were going to make our own dance using these actions. My partner was Amelia. All the other children had different partners. These are some of the actions, jump and hide, loving and caring, madness and deliver me. We showed our dance to our mums and dads. My dad came to watch me with my brother. We did pathways in our dance. My favourite action was jump and hide but it was hard to hold it.

By Gabia Ramirez, Class E

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“I enjoy being alongside people and I hope that way I can make a difference. As a

Governor of St Mary’s I love to attend school events and see the children doing so well.

Another part of my role is to support young women who are training to become Sisters of

Mercy. Sister Geraldine used to live here when she was training and I enjoyed going

with her to events where young people can explore their faith. Hospitality is also

something I enjoy. Catherine McAuley who was the Foundress of our Order encouraged

her Sisters to offer “a comfortable cup of tea” – it was one of her sayings- so we like to

keep up that tradition. I spend much of my time re-cycling the donations of food and

clothing which people kindly give us so that we can help people who are in need.”

-Sister Chris

“One of my main works as a Sister of Mercy involves

supporting women and men who are homeless and living

on the streets. These people find themselves homeless

for many reasons like not being able to pay their rent, relationship breakdown, using

drugs and/or alcohol. They live at our hostel called "The Dellow Centre" where we try to

support them with their problems and eventually help them move on. When they first

come to the hostel they are hungry and dirty, they have no clothes and very often they

are stressed and unwell because of their situation. We are able to offer them food,

clothing, toiletries and a place to stay, because of all the donations by so many very

generous people. While they live at the hostel we give them opportunities to study, do

voluntary work and get help in preparation for their eventual move to more permanent

accommodation.” -Sister Susan

What do you

enjoy about

being a Sister of

Mercy?

What kind of work

do you do as a Sister

of Mercy?

8

In October Jon Leigh came in and talked about Judaism, He

talked about Jewish celebrations and one of the celebrations

was Passover.

He talked about all the different foods that you have at Passover,

like matzah and bitter herbs and he talked about dipping and

leaning, We also learnt that Hebrews don’t eat pork, and only

eat fish with scales.

The four children at the Passover meal who ask the questions

are the wise, the wicked, the one who understands and the one

who doesn't understand. The question is “Why is the night

different from all the other nights?”

37

On 14th November we were visit-

ed by a CAFOD volunteer,

Mark Scully, who led assemblies

about CAFOD and how we can

help the poorest communities in

our world.

During the Year of Mercy, Pope

Francis has asked us to look

after Planet Earth, our

common home.

Reflect:

What can you do today to take care of our world?

How can you help our poorest communities this Christmas?

36

In Class A we are learning about God’s family. This is our display.

9

Jews spell God : G-d because they think it is disrespectful to

write his full name. They go to Jewish school where they learn to

read and write in Hebrew.

At the end of the session, Jon gave us a blessing. He read the

words from the prayer book because they don’t learn the

prayers. Instead they say them as there is more chance of

getting it wrong. He wore his prayer cap and shawl and told us

the significance of each.

We loved having Jon in. We got to sing a Jewish song about

Passover and ask him lots of questions. (By Faith Friends).

10

Today we had a visit from the Ten Ten Theatre

Company who performed a play, Heathy Heart. It

was based around an eleven year old girl called

Monkia who was struggling to be nice to her family

and classmates. There were lots of themes running

through the play such as family, identity and what

makes people healthy and happy.

35

We pray for Miss Jackson’s mother, that she is at peace now with God. May

we be inspired by her faith and the love of the Rosary.

Lord hear us

We pray for Miss Jackson, that she will be filled with hope, peace and faith

at this difficult time.

Lord hear us.

We pray for our own mothers who work so hard to take care of us. May God

give them great strength, health and love.

Lord hear us.

We pray for all those who are sick and dying at this time. May God grant

them healing and courage.

Lord hear us.

We pray for our own personal prayers and intentions. We unite them with

those of Mary our mother as we say… Hail Mary…

34

October

and the

month of

Mary

We had a prayer service in

memory of Mrs Jackson who

really loved the Rosary and had

great devotion to Our Lady.

We hope that we will be inspired

by her example and say the

Rosary often.

We remembered all those in the

school who have lost their loved

ones

The children wrote some prayers

and read them out.

The Book of Remembrance has

been placed in the foyer with the

names of our deceased relatives

and friends. We will continue to

keep them in our prayers.

11

The play helped us realise how it is possible to build up

relationships rather than destroy them and to discover friendship in

unexpected places and to believe that everyone is valuable in the

eyes of God.

12

Faith Friends help to set up focal points for prayer and they help with

Prayer group also. They have been talking about their favourite prayers

to share with the school. Here is one of them.

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring your love

Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord,

and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

O Master grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

In giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we are born to eternal life.

St. Francis loved nature and saw God’s fingerprint in all

of Creation. He called animals and parts of Creation his

brothers and sisters.

Look around at God’s wonderful world.

Where can you see God today?

33

RE displays and focal areas

Pray together with Parents:

Pope Francis’ Five Finger Prayer

32

Class L Mass

All members of Class L had a part to play in our special

class Mass in the convent where we thought about the Year

of Mercy and how we can be “Merciful like the Father.”

Each member of the class made a

leaf for our Mercy tree. On each

leaf was written what we would

like God’s mercy for as we were

sorry and wanted to turn over a

new leaf.

Each child also wrote on a

flower for our Garden of

Mercy poster. On the

flower was written how

we can be merciful like

God and forgive those who

have wronged us.

These were than taken up for the Offertory.

13

The PSHE award is awarded to someone in the class who is helpful,

showing a good example to others and caring to students in the class.

The teachers don’t pick this child. The pupils vote for the child. The

children explain in assembly why they voted for these children. Their

classmates say they were chosen because they were helpful and

responsible, they helped to cheer them up when they were sad, they

always have a smile on their faces or because they are peacemakers and

try to help solve problems in the playground. This makes them a good

friend.

By Sherley, Victor, Ann-Marie and Megan

Class L

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_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

On Thursday we run a fun club for the students at

lunchtime and breaktime. We do it with the Infants and

the Juniors. We help by handing out Thank You notes and

spend our breaks helping the younger children with their

writing. At the end of the day we hep to give these notes

out around the school.

People thank the cooks, cleaners, Mrs Kingdon, teachers,

family, friends and God. When people receive the messages

they feel very happy. It makes their day shine as they

know someone is thankful for what they do. It makes

people feel like weight is carried away by kindness.

By Y4 Faith Friends

Dear Miss McCann,

Thank you for putting fun into all our

lessons.

Suranne

Dear Miss Collins,

Thank you for being such a good

friend and teacher to me. I really

appreciate it.

Love, Maisie

Dear Mrs Bone,

Thank you for being a lovely

teacher.

Love Daisy

Dear Verity,

Thank you for being a lovely

friend and sister.

From Matilda

To Miss O Donnell,

Thank you for being helpful around

the class and being kind and helping

everyone.

From William

31

Class G wrote a poem together to celebrate families. We per-

formed it at our Class Mass.

Families are there for you,

ACTION: Fingers … big heart to little heart

Anchors in life’ storm.

ACTION: Hands gripped … roll hands

Memories are made with them

ACTION: Point to side of head… thumbs up

Introducing each other to Jesus’ love

ACTION: Hands spread outwards… prayer

hands

Life without them would be so boring

ACTION: Thumbs up … thumbs down

Years will pass. They will still love me!

ACTION: Hands together… move one away.. then hands on heart

30

In Year 3 we are learning about the

Christian Family and how we fit

into it. It is a very important year

for us as most of us will be making

our First Holy Communion. There-

fore we have looked at other im-

portant Christian times we have

had so far – one of them being our

baptism. We learnt about the sym-

bols involved in baptism and their

meanings. Do you still have your

baptismal candle?

Year 3 – Cla

ss H

Part of being part of the Christian Family is being part of a

parish. Father John came in to tell help us understand the

job of our Parish Priest. We asked him lots of questions:

Feeling thankful at Harvest time, we

thought it would be nice to tell God why

we are grateful for our families.

Here is one of our prayers:

Dear God

Thank you for my family. I love them because they help me. If I find

anything hard, my mu or dad will always be there to guide me. This

makes me feel really happy. I would also like to thank you for my

sisters who play with me and share their toys with me. This makes

me feel loved.

What is your favourite

job?

Where do you go to learn

more about the Par-

ish?

How do you make the

bread and wine in to

the body and blood of

Christ?

Did you have to study to

be a priest?

What do you do when you

go home after Mass?

15

Food and Fellowship collage

In the Summer term, we celebrated our first Food and Fellowship evening. There

was lots of food from around the world to share and lots of helping hands. Sr

Chris and Sr Penny put together a few of the photos from this fun evening and,

with the donations from the last faith friends magazine, we were able to but a huge

montage for the dining room as a reminder of the great diversity in our

community.

Stained glass window of Our Lady

During RE week when we looked at the

Year of Mercy, every child in the school

was given the opportunity to design a

stained glass window on Our Lady of

Mercy. The pieces of art were superb and it

was difficult to choose a winner. In the end,

the Sisters chose Isabel Daly as the overall

winner and her picture was made into a

stained glass window which overlooks the

middle stairs. I am sure you will agree that

it is very striking and memorable.

16

Here are some Haikus written by various children in Class L

Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve ate the fruit

Then they were banished.

Finley Mansell

They had everything

God said “Don’t eat the apple”

They disobeyed God.

Archie Snelling

Adam ate the fruit

They disobeyed our Father

Original Sin.

Madison Condon

Nutritious apples

They disobeyed loving God

Original Sin.

Sherley Macaj

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The following Sunday we had our Communion Breakfast straight after mass and we were so happy to see each other and tell each other about our wonderful celebrations we had enjoyed the week before. We thanked the catechists who had worked so hard each week teaching us and we celebrated with nice food and a special cake for us all.

Sunday 26th June 2016 – Communion Proces-

sion

This was another special day as Finley and I

attended a Communion Procession at Lesnes Abbey in Abbey Wood. We were

both very excited to be part of a procession like this. Whilst we sang hymns

and listened to readings as we followed the priests and walked over the holy

ruins and grounds. I felt special that day but in a different way to my communion day. This day was to celebrate with all of the children of

Greenwich and Bexley deaneries there were so many children in their

communion outfits it was a very peaceful and happy day.

Tuesday 12th July – Communion Breakfast at St.Mary's:

Year 3 were very excited as it was the day of our Communion Breakfast at school. We were all looking forward to celebrating our First Holy Commun-ions as a whole year group. It was lovely to see each other all dressed up in our Communion outfits. Father John delivered mass to us, all of the juniors, teachers, teaching assistants and Miss Jackson. We sat on benches facing the rest of the school and felt very special with everyone looking at us and cele-brating mass together. After we had received communion for the first time at school and mass had ended we went into the dining hall and had a little party. We enjoyed sitting down eating together and even had a dance, we had so much fun! It was a really wonderful day!

28

First Holy

Communion

My Parish:

My Parish is Our Lady Help of Christians in Mottingham. This is the church

where I received Baptism my first sacrament and attend mass every week. In October 2015, I was really looking forward to the classes to prepare me for my

second sacrament my First Holy Communion. I was a little bit nervous, be-

cause I was not going be attending the lessons with my school friends at

Christ Church, but I was really happy when I went to the first lesson and

recognised my friends that I have met at mass and I was really pleased when I

saw Ruby from my class was there too!

I found the classes very interesting and a very good way to prepare me for this very special occasion. I worked very hard in my communion book at the clas-ses and at home, which I enjoyed discussing many of the stories with my fam-ily. The catechists set a competition of who had the nicest, neatest book after all the lessons were completed in May and I won first prize!

Sunday 15th May 2016 - My First Holy Communion Day

I felt magical that day, wearing my special white sparkly dress, veil and tiara. I also

wore a very special necklace that I got from my Godfa-

ther in Ireland. And a prayer book and rosary beads I

received from my Grandparents and Godmother.

When I walked into the church I thought about what a

special day it was, because it would be the first time I would receive the body and blood of Christ. When I

walked up the aisle to do the First Reading I was a bit nervous as the church was full of people I didn’t know,

but when I looked at my family and friends I enjoyed reading it. When we were singing the hymns and going

through the mass, I felt very special, being brought closer to God. After the ceremony my family and

friends came back to my house and we had a lovely

party to celebrate this special occasion. It was a truly wonderful day!

17

Creation poems Class L

In the beginning God made:

Adorable animals

Fluffy kittens

Soft budgies

Lovely food

Hungry cheetahs

Tired people

Lovely penguins

Swimming fishes

Cosy seals

And ME!

By James Linford

Calm and cosy homes for bees

Rosy red apples growing on trees

Extremely hot sunny weather

Amazing parrots with colourful bright feathers

Tiny little birds flying away

It’s time for Spring, it’s May

On the land and sea

Now I see God in you and me.

By Poppy Wood

18

God’s Great Plan Year1 have enjoyed learning about the Creation.

God has made a wonderful world for us to live in.

We are grateful for all the beautiful things God has made for us. Look at our display.

What things can you see that God has made?

I wond

er why

God made

so

many be

autiful

things…

27

I enjoyed learning about Bob

Marley for Black History Month.

It was fun because I learnt he

was an amazing singer and an

amazing person as he helped

with lots of other things.

Rose

I enjoyed Black History

Month because it really

showed that everyone should

be treated equally and fairly.

No matter what!

Ciara

I think Black History Month helps

you remember how black people

were treated and reminds us never

to treat people that way again. It

shows us it is unfair to treat people

badly because of how someone

looks. Lottie

I enjoyed learning about St

Josephine Bakhita. It was

interesting and it made me think

of all the people that have done

good deeds for others.

Finley

It is good to learn about Black

History month as we learn about

how black people had to stand up

for themselves. One of us could one

day stop racism for all people who

are judged for their race or the

colour of their skin. Lexi

It is a good thing to learn about

black people who have made the

world a better place. It is im-

portant because there was a time

that it wasn’t talked about and we

recognise that these people made a

difference. Owen

Year 4– I and J

26

In the past, people were treated differently because of the

colour of their skin. Black people were not seen as equal

and were not treated in the same way as white people. For

example, they had to sit in different seats on a bus or public

places like the cinema. Lots of people knew that this was

wrong and wanted things to change.

In 1926, in America, a man called Carter G. Woodson intro-

duced a “Negro History Week,” which later turned into Black

History Month. In 1987, the first Black History Month took

place in the UK.

To celebrate the achievements of black people around the

world, past and present, the children were asked to research

the life of a black person who has made a positive impact. It

could have been a writer, an artist, a politician or a historical

figure that changed perceptions about black people. The

children produced a variety of projects using things such as

power point presentations, storyboards, poetry, reports and

pieces of art.

19

Year 1 Harvest Art Work At harvest time we thank God for all our food. We

thank God for the seeds, soil, sun and rain to grow the crops. We looked closely at different harvest fruit and

vegetable. We used some chalk and oil pastels to blend the colours.

20

PROVIDENCE ROW HOUSING ASSOCIATION

The Dellow Centre

80-82 Wentworth Street

London E1 7SA

PARENTS/ TEACHERS/ CHILDREN/ STAFF

Dear parents, teachers, children and all the staff of St. Mary's,

On behalf of all at the Dellow Centre, where we are working to try

to improve the lives of men and women who find themselves

homeless, I thank you for your great generosity. We really

appreciate all your efforts in donating the non-perishable food,

bedding, towels, mugs, plates, cutlery and other items that have

all been a tremendous help to us at the Centre.

We are truly grateful to everyone for your wonderful generosity,

Sister Susan

25

Due to the generosity of the families at St Mary’s, we collected lots of food to give to those less fortunate than us.

Thank you for all

your donations

24

Year 5 led the school in the Harvest Mass. We wrote

bidding prayers and performed the Gospel as a drama.

The Gospel was the Parable of the Sower, and we

reflected on how we can

make sure that we are like

the seeds that grow in the

rich soil. We should make

sure that we follow Jesus’

teachings and that we are

always kind to one

another.

Throughout the year we have heard Pupil Voice through books and lessons as well as feedback about different events. Here are some of the comments you have made about teaching and learning in RE and PSHE in the school.

I love our religious debates in class

and learning about Talents. Miss

Collins really helps us to dig deep into

the parable so everyone understands it

more.

Matthew C

Like writing

poems about the

topic because we

get to think

deeper about the

people God

works through.

Jacob

Class K

I love listening about Mary’s

feelings like when she was

pregnant. It gives me a good

feeling in my heart as if Mary is

sitting there with me.

Evelyn

Class H

I really enjoy when RE is linked to poetry and art because I get to express myself.

Olivia Class N

22

St Mary’s Remembers … Throughout the month of November we will be thinking about all those that have died in wars or within our own friends and family groups. We have gathered a list of names of souls we would like remembered as a school and written these within a book of remembrance displayed in the school foyer.

We hold these people close to our hearts and remember them in our daily class reflection.

This is also remembered in our All Saints Mass which we have had as a whole school.

Dear Lord

We pray for those who died

During the war

make sure that they are all safe

and free from any harm.

Please help those who are

Suffering and witnessing wars

that they will be safe. We

especially pray for all the

Innocent people who have

Died and had there homes destroyed

Please look after them.

Thank you or our safety and help us

to never forget their bravery.

Amen

By Agatha Burrows

23

St. Mary’s Faith Friends also sold items to raise money for the

poppy appeal. We thought about all of those that fought and died

in wars and how this money could help them and their

families. Class N Remembrance Poem

When we look at poppies help us to

think.

All those soldiers how died for us

to live.

Let us have sympathy for those

who died

For all of us to have a great life-

When we go to bed -

\Let us be thankful because we

won’t get a

bomb over our head

Help us to keep in mind

All those who died

Written by Jessica Alele