“Celebration” – Whole School Prayer Resources

Let us begin this time of prayer with the sign of our faith:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The word of the week is Celebration! We have so much to celebrate from our academic year which is quickly coming to an end! This week, we want positive vibes throughout the school, and grateful hearts, as we celebrate all of the amazing achievements and encounters we have had this year!

Let’s start off by celebrating the visit of the Jubilee Icon that we received the other week. During our “Support” week, we learnt about what the significance of the Jubilee Icon in form time prayer.

This one of a kind Icon went on tour to all 36 schools in the Our Lady of Lourdes Trust over a 3 day period and we were the first school that it visited!…

Thank you so much to the Chaplaincy team for creating a fab welcoming party for the Icon!

The icon interprets Jesus’ teaching of healing and liberation in the Synagogue in Luke 4:16-21, which when Jesus quotes scripture from Isaiah 61:1-2. This passage is particularly relevant to the Jubilee given its emphasis on bringing good news to those who are poor, and liberty to those who are captive or oppressed.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

We have seen lots of hope, bringing of good news and charity work this year here at The Becket School and we are going to continue to build on our end of year celebrations prep this week as we celebrate all we have achieved and the Jubilee theme of Hope! (see email from Ruth and the “do” page for COTW prep!)

Let us finish by praying the jubilee year prayer together…

We finish this time of prayer together, by making the Sign of the Cross.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

We begin by remembering we are in the presence of God as we make the Sign of the Cross…
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There’s so much to celebrate from this academic year and tomorrow you’ll be asked to write your own highlights down in your prayer journals that you want to celebrate and give thanks to God for! But first, let’s hear some inspiration from our peers!…

Word of the week video

Now it’s time to hear some more from your peers, we’d like you to answer these questions in your pairs or threes and then feedback to the group!

What moments do you want to celebrate from this year?

Do you have a funniest moment from this year?

If our form had a theme song for this year, what would it be? (Let us know your answers in the comments below!)

What has helped you stay hopeful during challenges this year?

Let us pray together…

Loving God,
As we come to the end of this school year,
we celebrate the memories we’ve made,
the lessons we’ve learned,
and the people who’ve helped us grow.
Thank You for being with us through it all.
Help us to rest, recharge, and return renewed.
Amen.

We finish our prayer by making the Sign of the Cross…

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Let us begin this time of prayer with the sign of our faith, the Sign of the Cross:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As we come to the end of the school year, in your prayer journals, we would like you to create a “year book” style entry to celebrate the year you have had and all that you’ve experienced – your growth, challenges, joys, friendships, and how God has been with you through it all.

1. Get your prayer journals out and turn to the “Celebration” page.
   
2. Create a doodle of yourself in the style of a Yearbook Page.
   • You could include things that represent you this year—like a football, music notes, a rosary, a book, or a smiley face.
   • Think about what has made this year special and unique to you.
     
3. Underneath your drawing, choose and complete at least one of the following reflection prompts:
   • “This year I learned…”
   • “I’ll never forget…”
   • “This year I’m grateful for…”
   • “God was with me when…”
   • “My motto for this year is…”
     
4. Be as honest and creative as you like.
   You can use colour, draw symbols, or even add speech bubbles.
   You might want to look back over your journal to remember how far you’ve come this year.
   
5. If anyone feels comfortable, you could give students the chance to share their reflections with one another.
   
   

Let us pray together…

Loving God,
Thank You for walking with us through this school year.
For the friends we’ve made, the lessons we’ve learned,
and the ways we’ve grown—thank You.
Help us to remember the good,
learn from the tough moments,
and carry Your love into everything that comes next in our lives.
Amen.

Let us end our time of prayer together by making the Sign of the Cross:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

End of Year Liturgy Prep!

On Friday 25th July we will have our end of year celebrations which is always a joyful and positive celebration of the year we have had! Here are when the celebrations are taking place (please see email from Mr Udoh with finer details for the day)

8:40am – 9:15am – Y7 – 10 Liturgy Prep / End of Year Celebrations

8:40am – 9:15am – Y12 End of Year COTW in the Chapel

11:15am – 12:15pm – Y7 – 10 End of Year COTW

We want each form to start planning and thinking about their Liturgy part so that our celebration can be as special as possible!

1. As is our tradition, every form group is asked to create a reflection for a specific part of this academic year that will be presented in the celebration.

2. Each form will also be asked to contribute a decoration or offering to our prayer display or the sanctuary for the celebration.

Please check the google doc below to see what your form groups preparation task(s) are and please complete these preparations during form time prayer in the next week. 

Jubilee posters for the reflections for all form groups and prayer templates will be available for collection on Monday in the staffroom.  

Click the link below to view your Liturgy prep:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Mfah_2uSlj86HxVeayf2OZ9l3kni1ffLDL3OhBRTqE/edit?usp=sharing

Music

We are going to be blessed with some live music in our end of year celebration and we want everyone to join in to help spread the joy! Here are the songs below to listen to and get learning / practising in your form time this week!

Go out in the world backing track

Go out in the world,
Gotta go out in the world.
Go out in the world, tell everyone the good news!
Go out in the world,
Gotta go out in the world.
Go out in the world, tell everyone the good, good news.

Go and make disciples of all the nations.
Go out in the world tell everyone the good news
Go and make disciples of all his people.
Go out in the world tell everyone the good, good news. 

Go out in the world,
Gotta go out in the world.
Go out in the world, tell everyone the good news!
Go out in the world,
Gotta go out in the world.
Go out in the world, tell everyone the good, good news.

See the Lord is faithful to all his people
Go out in the world tell everyone the good news
See the Lord is faithful, he loves his people
Go out in the world tell everyone the good, good news.