Catholic Life
Prayer and Liturgical Life
Whole School Collective Worship
At Bishop Walsh Catholic School we are privileged to have the capacity to seat all of our students in one space to celebrate mass or to hold a service. We have the capacity to seat over 1100 students including all staff members. This creates a reverent and moving experience allowing all of our students to encounter God through the collective faith of our school
Our whole school masses are celebrated by Fr Allen Morris, our school chaplain.
Liturgical Life
Throughout the year there are opportunities for the community to come together in worship and participate in Mass and services. Pupils are given opportunity to participate in the preparation and leading of Mass. Special consideration will be given to key seasons of the Church’s year e.g. Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter.
During the Academic Year there will be occasions for larger attendance of Mass such as All Souls, Advent service, Ash Wednesday, the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. Other larger attendance services feature in the school calendar, these include: Induction and Thanksgiving Masses. The feast day of St. John Paul II is celebrated with festivities with the multi Academy. Voluntary prayer sessions will be offered.
Year group Mass are celebrated on a rotational basis and for every year group. Leavers Masses in the summer term are a key feature of the calendar as we give thanks to God for the journey that our pupils have undertaken and wish them well in their next step.
Other liturgies – Prayer workshops, prayer sessions, sacred space reflections in form time and more.
Our Liturgy Leads – Part of school chaplaincy
This group of pupil’s work alongside Fr. Allen to plan, prepare, organise, celebrate and evaluate Masses and services at Bishop Walsh Catholic School. Any pupil can join this group.
Year Group / Tutor Masses
Central to the spiritual life at Bishop Walsh is the tutor group masses celebrated by Fr Allen. Every year each tutor group in the school has the opportunity to celebrate mass together in our school chapel. This is a great opportunity for our students to reaffirm their connections to their tutor group as a family in faith. The tutor group mass is planned for by the students and they are asked to reflect on the intention and readings of the mass.
Beginning in of the academic year there will now be a new opportunity for collective worship with the introduction of year group masses. Annually, each year group will meet to celebrate mass with Fr Allen and offer up their intentions. This will provide our students with greater opportunities to grow as a community of faith alongside their year group.
Prayer life and Sacred Space Time
At Bishop Walsh Catholic School we are guided by the example of Jesus Christ in our work, worship and relationships. As a Catholic school, we believe there should be regular opportunities for members of our community to encounter Christ through prayer and reflection. The school seeks to encourage new ideas in Liturgy and prayer which will enable interaction with scriptures. We believe that prayer and reflection, both formally and informally, is the foundation of the school’s ethos.
Four points of prayer everyday
Pupils gather and pray as a whole community at the start of the day
Pupils pray and reflect at the start of every SAINT session using sacred space reflection time *See types of prayer
Pupils pray and reflect in RE lessons
Pupils pray a traditional prayer at 3.17pm and go forth for the rest of the day
Traditional prayer rotation for 2022/2023
Term 1 – Our Father
Term 2 – Hail Mary
Term 3 – Glory Be
All pupils and staff have a ‘pocket prayer’ they carry around with them which includes a copy of the school prayer and the traditional prayer fore that term
Other prayerful occasions
Form group prayer workshops take place in the chapel * see example below
Voluntary prayer sessions take place in the chapel on a weekly basis
Staff pray and reflect together in every meeting
Opportunities for reconciliation is offered during Advent and Lent
Types of prayer
Meditation, art imagery, scripture, silence, reflective questions, traditional prayer and more.