Catholic Schools Week

31 January 2022

St Mary's University College students celebrated Catholic Schools Week on School Experience

Blathnaid Trainor, BEd 4 student, celebrated Catholic Schools Week with Year 9B

at Thornhill College, Derry.

Our school held a Bake Off on the theme of ‘contributing to living life to the full’.

We choose 'Care for Creation' for our themed cupcakes from Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Sí, creating iced birds and trees, alongside printing ‘CSW 2022’ and Laudato Sí into the Cupcakes. The RE Department won the Bake Off, so the above picture shows us holding the winner’s trophy alongside other cupcakes supplied for the celebrations of Catholic Schools Week.

After reflecting upon how we can ‘Live Life to the Full’ with God, on Monday, I invited the students in 9B to complete a class display board, which would outline how each of us intend to live this out in our own lives. Many students chose John 10:10, whilst others chose a quotation of their own to showcase this.

On Tuesday, 9B focused their attention to 'Living Life to the Full Together'. We talked about what makes meaningful friendships and relationships and reflected on the challenges we faced during the pandemic. Students completed a ‘Together Chain’, whereby they wrote on a piece of paper what it means to them to be a good friend and how to live life to the full with our friends and family. Students wrote about being kind to others, encouraging others to do what they love, supporting each other’s differences and to 'do onto others as you would have done onto you'. We reflected on this spirit of togetherness as a class and as a school community. Finally, we decorated the letters ‘CSW’ and a heart to use in our Catholic Schools Week 2022 display corner.

Amy Sloan, BEd 4 student, celebrated Catholic Schools Week with Year 8

at St Mark's High School Warrenpoint.

Archbishop Eamon Martin’s video encapsulated the essence of this year’s Catholic School’s Week living life to the full as recorded in John 10:10. Reflecting on his message and the designated themes for each day pupils explored how ‘Faith, Hope and Love’ (1Cor13:13) are the key attributes that enable us to live the life God gave us, to the full. Pupils created a poster identifying ways in which example of Jesus’ ministry can be integrated into their lives through their God given talents. We sang the hymn ‘Faith, Hope and Love’ together. This lesson incorporated elements of dogmatic, kerygmatic and experiential approaches enshrined in Religious Education.

Cliodhna Shannon, BEd 4 student, celebrated Catholic Schools Week with Year 8

at St Mary's High School, Newry.

For Catholic Schools Week 2022, we focused on the theme for Wednesday Celebrating Being Together Again, to mark Grandparents’ Day. The year 8 girls enjoyed our class discussions about being separated from their family and friends during lockdowns and the joy of being reunited with their loved ones, especially their grandparents. The pupils wrote letters to their grandparents highlighting the love they share, how they felt during their times of separation, and their favourite part about being reunited again.

Emma Ruddy, BEd 4 student, celebrated Catholic Schools Week with Year 8 RS pupils

at Sacred Heart Grammar School, Newry

In line with Wednesday’s theme Celebrating Being Together Again we created a classroom activity for Year 8 pupils ‘hands meeting again’. Pupils discussed how grandparents and the older people in their lives are positive role models for them, and shared personal stories of how they celebrated being reunited with their loved ones again. To mark Grandparents’ Day pupils traced their hands and wrote about an older person or grandparent that they had been separated from during the pandemic on one hand, and their own names on the other, to celebrate being together again.