St Paul's Catholic Primary School, V.A.

Our Faith Journey at St Paul's

Catholic Life and Mission

"Pupils have roles and responsibilities that they enjoy. Pupils selected to be Mini Vinnies help to promote the Catholic life and values of the school. Leaders prioritise and promote virtues, such as hope , forgiveness, tolerance and respect. As a result, all pupils value and celebrate difference. One pupil told inspectors, 'St Paul's is a kind school. People look after one another. We respect each other.' "(Ofsted Section 5 Inspection November 2021)

Our Whole School Assembly on our Mission. 

2024 -2025

Summer term

Liverpool Pilgrimage 19/6/25

On Thursday 19th June, our choir, musicians and Mini-Vinnies, staff and governors enjoyed a pilgrimage to Liverpool. We visited Liverpool Metropilitan Cathedral and enjoyed a special singing service led by Mrs McGurk with pupils from St Pauls, West Derby and St Cecelia's. 

In the afternoon, we were invited to St Cecelia's Catholic Primary School where Mrs Agate and her team gave us a great welcome. The children enjoyed a school tour, an art activity making Jubilee flags and some sporting activities. A wonderful day was had by all! 

On Wednesday 21st May, we were invited to The Good Shepherd Celebration at Leeds Cathedral. Bishop Marcus led a lovely service, supported by St Patrick's Birstall, that was based on the theme of the Jubilee Year 2025. The children from St Patrick's led us in a series of readings and hymns aschildren from each school were given the opportunity to meet Bishop Marcus and talk to him about their Lenten Fundraising. St Paul's raised £500 for The Good Shepherd Appeal during Lent and our Year 5 pupils told Bishop Marcus about our 'Break the Rules Day' and other fundraising activities. 

Leeds Irish Health and Homes invited our choir and musicians to a Tea Dance at Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School. Our children performed at the event and then spent some time chatting to the clients of LIHH and asking them what they enjoyed the most about these events. Our children thoroughly enjoyed the visit and have asked if we can attend the next event hosted by LIHH! 

On Wednesday 30th April, Fr Dennis celebrated an Easter Mass with the whole school, families and parishioners. At the end of Mass, our Year 6 children proudly received their Confirmation certificates. 

On Sunday 28th April, our Year 4 children attended the parish Mass to enrol for their First Holy Communion which will take place in June. After Mass, the children and thier parents met with Fr Dennis for their first session in preparation towards their next Sacrament. 

Our Lenten Journey 2025 

We began our Lenten journey in school on Ash Wednesday. Our KS2 children joined our parishioners at St Paul's church for the 9.30am Mass to receive their ashes. Reception and KS1 children took part in a special service in school and were proud to wear their ashes. 

Our children then led a beautiful Family Mass on Sunday 9th March where they did all the readings, bidding prayers and even a special homily ~ Fr Yemane was very impressed! Our wonderful musicians and choir were expertly directed by Mrs McGurk. So many of our parishioners took the time to speak to Mrs Gaffey and Mr Bowker to say how much they had enjoyed it and how amazing our children were throughout the Mass. 

On Friday 14th March, Year 2 led a wonderful class assembly on the theme of Lent and gave us all a special opportunity to pause, reflect and focus on the importance of Prayer, Almsgiving and Fasting. 

Fundraising

During Lent, our staff and children have been thinking of interesting ways to raise money for our three chosen charities CAFOD, The Good Shepherd Appeal and Zarach. Our Year 6 children have been selling toast at breaktime. Year 5 teamed up with Year 1 to organise games of 'Guess the name of the Teddy' and 'Guess how many sweets in the Jar'. Year 2 and Year 3 worked together to host lunchtime Lego and Games clubs and Year 4 and Reception have hosted Film Club. On Friday 28th March, or School Council planned a 'Break the Rules Day' where children had 8 rules that they could break for 50p per rule. Our Mini-Vinnies have alos been making and selling bracelets to sell at break time. They also organised a Pyjama Appeal for Zarach who gift new pyjamas to children with every bed bundle they deliver. We donated 74 pairs of brand new pyjamas! 

Our wonderful school community has raised just over £1300 during Lent. We are so delighted to be able to help our chosen charities and make a difference to the lives of others. 

Holy Week in school

During Holy Week in school, our children have planned and led child-led worship in class, in our outdoor classroom and in our Prayer Garden. On Tuesday, Fr Dennis visited school to hear the confessions of our Year 4, 5 and 6 children. On Tuesday afternoon, our Year 5 MIni-Vinnies visited Golden Acre Park to take part in the Stations of the Cross. This was a very special occassion shared with groups of children from all of our Trust primary schools. 

All week our Key Stage 2 children have had the opportunity to experience our Lent Prayer Stations where they could spend some quiet time at break or lunch reflecting and thinking of how they can say sorry, forgive and help others. 

On Thursday, our whole school came together to do our Outdoor Stations of the Cross. Fr Dennis led us as we walked around the grounds of our school, pausing to listen and reflect on each Station of the Cross. For our last station, we gathered at the entrance to the church where members of our choir sang a special song in Latin that translated to, 'By the cross and all the wounds You suffered, grant us freedom in Your love.'

The final special event for Holy Week was our Passion Play led by Year 4 in church. It was a moving and emotional performance with wonderful story telling through music, singing, acting and dance. 

We are so proud of our Lenten Journey this year. 

Pilgrimage to Sacred Heart Primary School 

On Wednesday 19th March, Mr Bowker, Mrs Conlon and our Year 4 Mini-Vinnies visited Sacred Heart Primary School to take part in Lenten Prayer Stations with children from all of our Trust primary schools. The children had a prayerful and reflective afternoon visiting diiferent stations on the theme of Lent.    

First Reconciliation 

Congratulations to our Year 3 children who made their First Reconciliation on Saturday 15th March 2025 at St Paul's Church. Thank you to Father Yemane for celebrating the special sacrament with the children.  

Celebration of Cultures and Traditions Week February 2025

We are very proud to be an inclusive and welcoming school. We recognise that many of our families have relatives in different countries, speak different languages at home and experience different cultures. During the week beginning 10th February, we have been celebrating this wonderful diversity in school with a focus on learning about different faiths, cultures, traditions and languages. The children have enjoyed learning about different beliefs, customs, foods and special celebrations and have taken a lead role in teaching others about their families. 

Mark 10 Mission at St Paul's

On Tuesday 23rd January, we had the pleasure of welcoming Greg from the Mark 10 Mission to St Paul's. We invited children from all of the primary schools in the St Gregory the Great Trust to work with Greg to 'unpack the Word'. The children who attended were representing different groups in their schools including Mini Vinnies, Faith in Action, Religious Education Leadership Teams and Prayer Leaders. 

Greg delivered a moving Collective Worship based on the The Good Shepherd and then spoke to the children about how they could use the skills and strategies to deliver their own child-led worship. The workshop was interesting and informative and all the children and staff involved thoroughly enjoyed it. 

We look forward to welcoming Greg back to school in April to work with classes at St Paul's to enhance our experiences of class worships. 

Jubilee 2025 

St Paul's are delighted to celebrate the Jubilee Year 2025. Read more about our journey this year as Pilgrims of Hope under the 'Jubilee Year 2025' tab. 

Our Advent Journey 2024 

During Advent, our children have planned, organised and taken part in a range of activities to reflect on, and to bring the true meaning of Advent and Christmas to the forefront of their minds. 

Our Advent journey began with Advent Day on Friday 29th November in school. We gathered together as a whole school to begin our Advent journey for the children in Year 5 to lead us in a beautiful and moving Advent Garden service, where they spoke and sang about the true meaning of Christmas and how we can prepare for the birth of Jesus. 

Our children then continued their Advemt Day in class, they made their class Advent wreath, decorated the classrooms and thought about their Advent promises. 

The First Sunday of Advent (Sunday 1st December) was a a wonderful celebration of our Family Mass where the children led all of the readings, singing and special parts of the Mass. 

On the 5th and 6th December, Forge Education set up beautiful prayer stations in the church hall. Each class was given an opportunity to explore a reflective and immersive space for children to connect with their faith, express their thoughts, and learn about prayer. Each station was linked to a theme of Advent and part of the Christmas story.  They helped our children to explore spiritual ideas through creativity, mindfulness and reflection.

On 6th December, we also enjoyed a beautiful class assembly led by Year 3 on the theme of Advent. The children read and sang beautifully about how we get ready for Christmas as Christians. 

During Advent, our school choir visited our local care homes, Yew Tree Court and sang to the residents and delivered sweet treats. They also visited St Gemma's Hospice Day Centre to sing Christmas Carols to the patients. Our choir also gave up their free time on Sunday 8th December to sing at the Light up and Life ceremony at St Gemma's and sang for the patients in the wards. You can watch the ceremony and hear our beautiful choir via this link: https://www.st-gemma.co.uk/events/light-up-a-life/.

The choir and staff sang at our local Sainsbury's after school one evening, to raise money for our chosen charities St Gemma's and Zarach. We raised almost £300 in an hour! 

On Tuesday 10^th December, Year 5 hosted a Christmas jumper exchange where they organised the sale of pre-loved Christmas jumpers for a donation to charity. This was in in line with our school focus on Catholic Social Teaching and in particular,  Year 5’s work on being co-creators, living simply and looking after the environment.

During Advent, we also enjoyed three special Advent services. Reception Class led a fabulous Advent assembly, Key Stage 1 performed The Ordinary Ox Nativity and then Key Stage 2 led us in a beautiful Advent Service at church. 

We celebrated Mass as church as a whole school on the last day of term and we finished the day with a big family gathering for Carols around the Tree. 

Confirmation 

During Advent, on Wednesday 18th December, our Year 6 children received the Sacrament of Confirmation at Leeds Cathedral. Bishop Marcus led a lovely service for our parish and Fr Yemane was also there to support our children. We shared this wonderful celberation with children from Immaculate Heart and Holy Rosary. 

Mini-Vinnie Toy Appeal

During the last week of Advent, our Mini-Vinnies organised and launched a Toy Appeal asking for brand new toys to donate to the SVP Centre on York Road, Leeds. Our children wrote to the parents and made posters to display around school. They collected a huge amount of new toys and then delivered them to the centre. Caroline, the centre manager, gave the children a short tour of the centre, showing them the piles of toys waiting to be wrapped and delivered before Christmas. 

The SVP centre is a safe hub dedicated to changing lives through advice, support, education and community. You can read more about the centre at https://svp.org.uk/stvincentsleeds/about-us.

Remembrance Day 2024

Our wonderful Year 4 children led a moving whole school collective worship on Remembrance Day. The children spoke respectfully and eloquently about why we remember in November. We were delighted that so many of our parents and grandparents could join us for this special event. 

Year 5 and Year 6 children also led Class Collective Worhip on the theme of Remembrance. Each class also completed work about Remembrance Day including making poppies, writing poems, building remembrance gardens. 

Live Simply Award 2025 

The Parish Live Simply Group was formed during 2023 in response to Pope Francis’ encyclical  ‘Laudato Si’, where he requests us all to Live more Simply, more Sustainably and in Solidarity with the Poor. To achieve the Live Simply Award, a series of nine actions was agreed and approved by CAFOD in November 2023 and we are now in the process of developing and implementing these actions to enable us to apply for the Award sometime in 2025. This cannot be undertaken purely by a small group; therefore, we invite all areas of our Parish Community to join us. If you feel that you are able to support this group, please contact: tony.obrien@hotmail.com

At school, we have been supporting the parish group to achieve some of their actions. Patricia Ryder, a member of the parish Live Simply Group and now a school volunteer, has been spending time in school working with our children and teaching them more about living simply. Our children have enjoyed designing a picture collage of a community event and creating a beautiful Harvest hamper using foraged resources. 

Harvest Festival Mass - 9th October 2024

We celebrated a beautiful Harvest Festival Mass in church with Fr Yemane. We were humbled by the heart-warming words from Sir John Battle (a patron of the SVP) about how the St Vincent de Paul society support families across Leeds. By donating everyday items, such as a simple tin of beans, families are given hope that they may be able to keep going for a few more days. How wonderful to know that our small donations are making such a big difference to the lives of others. Thank you to all of our families for donating to the Harvest collection. 

Mark 10 Mission Rosary Challenge October 2024 

October is the month of the Holy Rosary and this October, our children will be taking part in the Mark 10 Mission Rosary Challenge. Our children (and staff) will pray a decade of the rosary every day at school. A decade of the Holy Rosary is: 1 x Our Father, 10 x Hail Mary and 1 x Glory Be. 

During each decade, we pray with a Mystery of the Rosary. Mysteries are moments in the life of Jesus and Mary. There are four sets of five Mysteries: The Joyful Mysteries, The Glorious Mysteries, The Luminous Mysteries, The Sorrowful Mysteries. 

The Mark 10 Mission team travelled to Lourdes in July to film the videos for this years challenge. 

Could you take part in this challenge at home? Please follow the link to join in:https://www.themark10mission.co.uk/rosary-challenge

Mini Vinnie 10 Year Anniversary Mass - Wednesday 18th September 2024 

On Wednesday 18^th September at 10am, our new team of 20 Mini Vinnies attended a special 10^th Anniversary Mass of the Mini Vinnie apostolate in the Leeds Diocese at Leeds Cathedral. During this Mass, our new Mini Vinnies were officially commissioned in to their new role by Bishop Marcus. 

This is an important responsibility in our school and we are very proud that so many of our Year 4, 5 and 6 children have volunteered and applied to become a Mini Vinnie. As part of their role, your children will need encouragement and support from you at home. Further information can be found at https://svp.org.uk/mini-vinnies. 

A recording of the Mass can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcTvuljEsI&list=PLpNYfR7LSy4PFbjTjr4DHFTvT3bVx9Yin&index=5

Catholic Social Teaching Launch September 2024 

We have started our year with a launch of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). 

Catholic Social Teaching is defined for children as ‘how our Catholic faith guides our actions. It comes from scripture, letters written by popes and holy people and the examples set by Christians throughout history.’

It is the part of Catholic teaching that addresses matters of social, economic and ecological justice. For primary aged children, CAFOD is leading the way in education on CST as part of it’s continued aim to tackle injustice. During the RE conference in July 2024, Mrs Gaffey met Susan Kambalu. Susan is a CAFOD worker and was inspirational when speaking about CST and is passionate about our children leading the way and ‘being the change that we want to see in the world.’

One of her key messages that she asked us to pass on to our schools, was that if some people in the world do not have what they need then this is wrong; it is not ‘less fortunate,’ it is completely wrong. Susan asked us all to focus on the language of injustice, unfairness, most vulnerable, poverty instead of ‘less fortunate’.

Our children have explored the themes of CST through Drama, Art and Religious Education and this work will continue throughout the year. Each class has been allocated a principle to focus on: 

 
Further information can be found at https://cafod.org.uk/education/primary-teaching-resources/cst-resources-for-children. 

This two minute video is a perfect, child friendly way to start a conversation at home about Catholic Social Teaching: 

https://youtu.be/dLHvosRUfQc
 

2023/24 

Lent 2024 

During Holy Week, we had a focus on prayer and reflection. Our children took part in Lenten Prayer Stations in small groups. We then did our outdoor Stations of the Cross as a whole school , led by our teachers and Year 3. On Holy Thursday, Year 4 presented their outstanding Passion Play.

Our Lenten journey for 2024 has focused on prayerful reflection, almsgiving and love for our neighbour. Bishop Marcus, in his pastoral letter, quoted The Holy Father, Pope Francis, and we have used his words as our mission for 2024.  

Our Lenten Promises

Some lovely Lenten promises from our children.

Pilgrimage and Prayer

Mr Bowker and Mrs Gaffey took some of our children to Sacred Heart CPS VA to visit their Lenten Stations of prayer. It was a beautiful and reverent, prayerful and reflective morning. Thank you to Mr Masley and Mrs Bates for inviting us.   

First Reconciliation

Congratulations to our Year 3 children who made their First Reconciliation on Saturday 23rd March 2024 at St Paul's Catholic Church. Thank you to Father Dennis and Father Yemane for celebrating the special sacrament with the children.   

The Importance of Going to Church

Our children learning about the Holy Mass and how to pray in church. 

Red Wednesday

In November we joined Father Henry to think about Red Wednesday and persecution all around the world.  

Advent 2023

During Advent, our children have planned, organised and taken part in a range of activities to reflect on and to bring the true meaning of Advent and Christmas to the forefront of their minds. 

Our Advent journey began with Advent Day in school when our children made their class Advent wreath, decorated the classrooms and thought about their Advent promises. 

The First Sunday of Advent was a a wonderful celebration of our Family Mass where the children led all of the readings, singing and special parts of the Mass. 

On Monday 4th December, Year 5 led a beautiful Advent Garden to remind us how to follow the light of Jesus and share our light during Advent. 

During Advent, our children enjoying taking the Travelling Cribs home to share with their families and they also enjoyed taking part in our Advent Prayer Stations. 

Our school choir visited our local care homes, Yew Tree Court and Cramner Court and sang to the residents and delivered sweet treats. They also visited St Gemma's Hospice Day Centre to sing Christmas Carols to the patients. 

We also enjoyed three special Advent services. Reception Class led a fabulous Advent assembly, Key Stage 1 performed The Twinkly Nativity and then Key Stage 2 led us in a beautiful Advent Service at church. 

We celebrated Mass as church as a whole school on the last day of term and we finished the day with a big family gathering for Carols round the Tree. 

Our work with the SVP charity 

On 15th December, our Mini-Vinnies and school choir were invited to visit the SVP Centre in Leeds 9 following our generous Harvest Festival donations. Before the visit, our Mini-Vinnies organised a Toy Appeal to collect new toys to give out to children who rely on the centre for support. The staff and children enjoyed a tour of the centre and Caroline (the centre manager) told the children about the important work that centre does for those in need in the community and how our donations would be used. Our children then sang in the SVP shop and for the visitors who were at the centre for a special Christmas lunch. 

Remembrance Day 2023 

Our wonderful Year 4 children led a moving whole school collective worship on Remembrance Day. The children spoke respectfully and eloquently about why we remember in November. We were delighted that so many of our parents and grandparents could join us for this special event. 

Our Year 6 children also planned and led a class collective worship on the theme of Remembrance Day 

Harvest Festival

We celebrated a beautiful Harvest Festival Mass in church. Father Yemane used the opportunity to 'quiz' the children about St Luke, as the day fell on St Luke's feast day. We were also humbled by the heart-warming story about how the St Vincent de Paul society support families across Leeds. By donating everyday items, such as a simple tin of beans, families are given hope, and a light at the end of what is often a very dark tunnel. Thank you to all of our families for donating to the Harvest collection. 

Mark 10 Mission Rosary Challenge - October 2023

October is the month of the Holy Rosary and this October,  we joined The Mark 10 Mission's Rosary Challenge. Our children (and staff) prayed a decade of the rosary every day at school. A decade of the Holy Rosary is: 1 x Our Father, 10 x Hail Mary and 1 x Glory Be. 

During each decade, we prayed with a Mystery of the Rosary. Mysteries are moments in the life of Jesus and Mary. There are four sets of five Mysteries: The Joyful Mysteries, The Glorious Mysteries, The Luminous Mysteries, The Sorrowful Mysteries. 

Our children thoroughly enjoyed this challenge and have asked if we can do other prayer challenges throughout the year so watch this space for our next challenge! 

Helpful parishioners!

Our pupil's take a leading role in activities which promote the school’s Catholic Life and mission both within school and in the wider community. On Sunday 14th May, some of our pupils stayed after Mass to help Mrs Bowyer (a parishioner, former governor, and volunteer in school) to sell 'Sunflowers for Ukraine' to raise money and ask our parishioner to pray for peace in Ukraine. We are so proud of how well these pupils represented St Paul's today.