The Liturgical Year
At Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, the children are made aware of the many events and feast days celebrated throughout the Liturgical (church) year. Each class has its own prayer space and display which reflects the colours of the Liturgical Year. The children celebrate the Liturgical year through collective worship, the use of resources in the prayer room and through the taught scheme of work. The school entrance display also reflects this calendar of events.
- Each of the seasons of the Liturgical Year has its own particular celebrations, colours, liturgies and styles of prayer.
Liturgical Colours
- Green: Ordinary time (Symbolising hope, eternal life, Holy Spirit)
- Purple: Lent and Advent; Reconciliation; Funerals (Penance)
- White: Christmas and Easter; Feasts of Our Lord, Mary and the Saints who were not Martyrs; weddings and funerals; Confirmation (Purity, joy, triumph)
- Red: Feast of Our Lord’s Passion; Palm Sunday; Feasts of Martyrs and Pentecost (Passion, blood, fire, God’s love, martyrdom)
- Gold: This can replace white or green but not purple (Joy)
How we celebrate the Liturgical Year (through the academic year):
Celebrations during the Liturgical Year- Autumn Term
At Our Lady of Lady Catholic School, we mark our new academic year with a Mass, praying for our school community in the forthcoming year. During Mass, a representative from each class will receive the school motto, as the whole school then go forth to live out the School Mission Statement.
Autumn In each class, the Prayer tables are green as it is Ordinary Time. The prayer focus is linked to the topic, In the Beginning, the Liturgical Year and the theme of our monthly prayer (listed below).
September: Month of Creation World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation- Laudato Si
October: - Harvest Thanksgiving; Month of Mission; Month of the Rosary: October is the month of the Rosary. Children will learn about the Rosary as a form of prayer. We celebrate Harvest Festival, with an assembly led by a Cafod speaker and a food collection to support Finchley Food Bank.
November: Month of Remembrance
We have a book of names of the people, who we have loved and have died. They are prayed for during our November Liturgy and All Saints Mass, with the book kept in the prayer room. Each Year group complete a saint study as a Homework on their designed saint and say a daily morning prayer to this saint for the month of November.
December/Advent/ Christmas: This is the season to prepare for Christmas. We decorate the prayer room with symbols and traditions of Advent, including the Advent wreath (which we light in the four weeks before Christmas) and the Nativity.
Prayer tables will be changed to purple (from the first Sunday of Advent). Celebration of the Nativity is through drama with the EYFS and KS1 classes. Both EYFS and KS1 classes visit St. Mary’s Church for Advent. The whole school gather for a Carol Concert, with children from all classes leading the Advent Liturgy of Readings, singing and praying. Y3 attend the Nativity Service at Westminster Cathedral.
Celebrations during the Liturgical Year- Spring Term
Spring Prayer tables are white/gold for the Christmas season, then green for Ordinary Time after the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord.
January - We have a Mass to celebrate the Epiphany (visit of the Wise men); Feast of the Holy family
February - Candlemas: Celebration of light and Jesus’ presentation in the Temple. We celebrate your school’s Patron Saint’s Day, Our Lady of Lourdes Feast Day (11th February) which is also World Day of the Sick, acting out the story of Lourdes.
The children learn about Shrove Tuesday traditions through the Religion topic, From Lent to Easter. To mark the beginning of Lent, the school has a Mass on Ash Wednesday, with the distribution of ashes. This season is to prepare for Easter. It is an opportunity for prayer and the Sacrament of Penance. Year 4, Year 5 & Year 6 participate in Reconciliation Services and have Confessions from the Parish Priests of the three local parishes (St. Mary’s Church, St. Alban’s Church and St. Philip’s Church).
Stations of the Cross are displayed in the Prayer Room, for each class to visit and pray as part of their Lenten journey.
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Classes in KS2 visit St. Mary’s Church to take part in the outdoor Stations of the Cross. Year 3 and Year 4 prepare a dramatization of the Easter story for the whole school.
March: Feasts of St David, St Patrick and St Joseph
Holy Week Prayer activity which children can take part in with their families is set on Seesaw.
Celebrations during the Liturgical Year- Summer Term
Summer Prayer tables are white/gold for Easter season until Pentecost and then change to green after Pentecost Sunday for the Ordinary Time.
KS2 classes participated in an Easter Liturgy in the playground.
A Mass of Thanksgiving is said for the children in Year 3 who have made their First Holy Communion, with the children leading the readings and prayers.
May: Month of Mary - Our daily morning prayer is to Mary, Our Mother.
Ascension: Celebration of our Lord’s return to Heaven. This event is covered in our Religious Education Unit of Faith, Scheme of Work and classes visiting the Prayer Room.
The school marks this Holy Day of Obligation with a Mass.
June: Pentecost: Celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
This event is covered in our Religious Education Unit of Faith, Scheme of Work and classes visiting the Prayer Room.
Spirituality day: Each year, a day is set aside near Pentecost which allows the children a time to reflect and pray. Children take part in prayer activities throughout the day. They raise funds on this day to support the Catholic Children’s Society.
Corpus Christi: Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Ss Peter and Paul: This feast day is celebrated by Mass in the school.
Leavers’ Mass: Children in Year 6 lead the readings, prayers and singing in a Mass at St. Mary’s Church. It is a Mass of Thanksgiving for the time they have spent at Our Lady of Lourdes learning and growing in faith together.
