Prayer is an important aspect of our school. We aim to have at least 3 specific times of the day to reflect on our relationship with God and be reminded of our place in the world and the positive changes that we can make. At the start of each day in form all pupils begin with a prayer. This might be pupil led or delivered by the form tutor. Pupils are reminded on the theme of the week, which is set by the Salford Diocese.
Whole School Mass
Each June, we rejoice as a community during our Whole School Mass of Celebration. The most important and special day of our school year as we come together as one in prayer. We are here to celebrate our pupils, as young people and as adults. We celebrate our school community, our teachers, our staff, our friends, our parishes our governors. We celebrate St. Cecilia’s and everything that we stand for. How we discover, develop, and rejoice in our talents, the talents of others and the impact we make as young people and adults to society and the wider world.
October Holy Month of the Rosary
The Rosary is an ancient tradition. It dates back to the 14th Century and was started by Saint Dominic. The word Rosary comes from the Latin word Rosaria, which means a crown of roses. October is a Holy month devoted to Our Lady and the Rosary. The pupils at St. Cecilia’s are each day gathering in the chapel to focus on the Joyful, sorrowful and luminous mysteries of the Rosary.
Pupils will bring their own Rosary beads and take part in a short liturgy each day focusing on one of the mysteries. This gives our pupils the chance to explore the gospels, grow in our faith as we come to understand more about the life, the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. ‘We look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary’.
October Holy Month of the Rosary
October Holy Month of the Rosary
Pupils will learn the St Cecilia’s School prayer in year 7, which will be practiced in form time and assemblies:
Staff at St Cecilia's lead prayer three times a week during morning briefing. We also have staff morning prayer on Thursday, led by our School Chaplain (Mrs Bretherton) in the Chapel. Throughout the academic year staff also have para liturgies so they are reminded about the distinctive Catholic nature of the school and are invited to recommit to the life of prayer as food and fuel for our journey with the Lord, and so become missionary disciples. Each para liturgy concludes with a prayer and final rededication of service to the St Cecilia’s community.
At the beginning of the academic year, we welcome year 7 for a special mass. This usually takes place a few weeks into the Autumn Term and is a great opportunity to reflect on the progress our new pupils have made. Two of our year 7 pupils decided to write about their experience of the evening: “The teachers had an open mass to welcome us into the community to make us feel welcome. At the welcome mass we had a range of hymns to sing. They were: Shine Jesus Shine, Here I am Lord, Kingdom of God, and let there be love. We had some brave year 7s come to the front and read the Bible, as well as the bidding prayers. Since we are a Catholic school, we had Holy Communion. This is one of the most important parts of mass where we have the body of Christ. Mr Nelson opened the evening, and our Head of Year (Mrs Lucas) welcomed us. At the beginning of the evening our palms were sweaty, and our stomachs filled with butterflies because some of us had to read and sing in front of everyone. However, we did this with pride and are proud to be part of Saint Cecilia’s”. The choir kindly surprised us at the end with a song they had been working on from Disney’s Moana:
Our Advent service enables us to collectively reflect upon, pray for and anticipate the coming of Jesus.
In preparation for Lent, on Ash Wednesday pupils receive their Ashes as part of a special liturgy where we all prepare ourselves for the weeks ahead and remind ourselves of our own mortality.
In the lead up to Easter, our pupils have experienced the pilgrimage of Jesus during his Passion through the Stations of the Cross. This involves collective readings, carefully chosen music and images to depict this special journey.
We celebrate the next stage of our Year 11 Catholic journey, where they move on to share their gifts wit the world, when we rejoice as part of Celebration Mass each May.
See Below Our Departmental Scriptures:
Departmental Scripture
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