Worship Archive: 2022 - 2023

Father Andrew led us in worship today, he told us the story of the wise man and the foolish man, linked to our Christian value of Justice. He talked about making wise choices. 

How do you ensure you make wise choices? Deciding the right thing to do can be difficult. Sometimes life is complicated and there can be two sides to an argument; that is when we need 'wisdom'.

Learn to do right. Seek Justice.

Worship Group led our worship, thinking about last half terms value of perseverance. They showed us a clip of Derek Redmond when he was running at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and talked to us about how we must persevere in everything. That it isn't about being the best, rather trying our best. Never giving up! 

They had another important point for us, reminding us to be like Derek's Dad. In the clip he ran on the track and helped Derek to finish the race. How can we support our friends to be the best that they can be?

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed Father Andrew into school, our newly appointed Vicar at St Peter's Church. He led our Ash Wednesday Worship and met all the children. Lent is a time of waiting, anticipation and preparing before we celebrate the festival of Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus. The imposition of ashes is a traditional ritual that takes place on Ash Wednesday. Father Andrew used some ash to make the sign of the cross on the children's forehead or on the back of their hand, we were then still for a moment and ask God for his forgiveness. We look forward to working closely with him in the future. He will be back in school next week to lead our worship.

Justice is….

Judging what is right

Understanding what is fair

Standing up for those who need help

Trying to listen to both sides

Informed and wise decisions

Caring enough to take action

Equal opportunities for all

Father God,

your Son Jesus Christ suffered and died for us.

In his resurrection he restores life and peace in all creation.

In a world of sadness and tears, show us your joy.

In a world of hatred, show us your love.

In a world of despair, give us hope.

In a world of disbelief, give us faith.

Give us power in your world to make a difference

and stand up for justice.

Amen.

This half term we will be thinking about the Christian value of Justice.  'Learn to do right. Seek justice' Isaiah 1.17

We will be thinking about treating people fairly, making wise decisions, seeing God's love in action, seeing the whole picture and keeping God's rules.

Meena came to lead our worship this morning. She returned our candle, which has now been blessed at Candlemas and told us the story of Mary and Joseph heading to Jerusalem to present Jesus in the temple. Both Mary and Joseph, and Simeon and Anna all showed perseverance in the story, in different ways.

At that time of their visit there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was eagerly waiting for the Messiah. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, knowing he could now die.

Simeon also said 'He is a light to reveal God to the nations', which is why we call Jesus the 'light of the world' and light a candle in our worship.

Anna, was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.

We had a wonderful time in church celebrating Christingle. All the children were respectful and participated in the service. 

Today we welcomed the PAIS team to lead our worship today. They talked about the Christian Value of Perseverance and reminded us about the story of Moses parting the water and the story of Paul who persevered throughout his life to spread the word of God.

Today Worship Group led our worship, reminding us all about the Christian Value of Trust from last half term. They were confident and clear in their messages. 

Can you be trusted? Are you a trustworthy friend? How do you show this? 

Can you answer their questions? What does it mean to be trustworthy. 

Perseverance is….

Pressing on

Eager to continue

Running the race

Sticking with things

Encouraging each other to keep going

Valuing the support of others

Eyes fixed on the target

Reaching a goal over time

Aiming to complete the task

Not giving up

Commitment to keep going

Ending up where you want to be

This half term we are thinking about the Christian value of Perseverance 'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me' Philippians 4.13 

We are thinking about running the pushing through, running the race of life, keeping going against all odds, doing the right thing, meeting a personal challenge and encouraging others to keep going.

Wednesday afternoon saw our EYFS lead us in our Nativty. Year One were the choir and Year 2 narrated the story. The church was full to bursting but the children didn't let this faze them! They spoke with confidence and thoroughly enjoyed their performance! A huge well done to Gabby and Ellisiah who sang a beautiful angel solo. We were wowed! The Nativity was amazing and everyone enjoyed it. A huge thank you to all the parents for attending and the staff who worked incredibly hard to put everything together.

The Pais team came in to lead our worship this morning. They told the story of Ruth and Naomi and how Ruth put her trust in God, despite things being difficult. The Pais team challenged us in some games, then gave a really difficult challenge for two volunteers! They created a 'super dangerous obstacle course' through which the girls needed to get through - with one of them blindfolded!!! 

Would you put your trust in your friend to get you through an obstacle course blindfolded?

Then they asked us all to think about putting our trust in our friends and what kinds of qualities they need so that we can do so. Then can we work on all those qualities so that our friends can put their trust in us. 

Meena joined us for worship today and retold the story of the Tax Collector, with the help of some actors! She helped us see lots of messages that we can learn from the story, most importantly our Trust in Jesus, even when we have done to wrong thing, he will be there for us. 

TRUST IS….

Taking someone at their word

Relying on someone to support you

Unbreakable promises

Showing that you can be trustworthy

Treasuring good friends

This half term we are thinking about the Christian Value of Trust, 'My God is my strength in whom I trust.' Pslam 18.2

We are thinking about knowing our friends will support us, knowing Jesus is with us in stormy times, standing on God's promises, being trustworthy, not gossiping, trusting God and believing that God has a plan for our lives.

The PAIS team came in to lead our worship on the 12th October.

They talked to us about our Christian Value of Thankfulness. They had a fun game for us to play, involving collecting balls from a ball pool that were all over the floor! One of the teams managed to collect lots of balls and the other team not as many. They talked to use about despite having a little or a lot we must be thankful. God ensures we have everything we need and we must trust that this will always be the case. 

We went into church on the 28th September 2022, to deliver our Harvest Festival Service to the congregation and our families. 

Thank you to everyone who came to support the children. We were incredibly proud of the children and how they performed with such confidence for such a large audience. Especially EYFS, who are still very new to school! We hope you enjoyed the Service.

We thought about Harvest around the world, where our food comes from and a Fair Trade Harvest. As well as leading the congregation in song and prayer. 

Thank you for all the generous donations, which will go to the Burnley Food Bank. These were much appreciated, especially when times are financially challenging. 

PAIS came in on the 21st September to lead us in our worship. They talked about the Christian Value of Thankfulness and shared with us some of their gifts and talents that they were thankful for. 

They chose Sarah, Jannat and Layla to help them in their worship. The girls had to think of some things they were thankful for and mime to the rest of school and see if we could guess! They were great and we guessed everything they were thankful for!

As our PAIS team are Christians from all over the world, next they taught us how to say thank you in lots of different languages! Did you know that we have so many languages in our school, we already knew lots of different ways to say thank you!! How many do you know? 

On the 14th September, we had Father Paul lead our worship. He had some difficult news to share with us, explaining that sadly today was his last service as he would be moving on to help in another church. He bought school a beautiful cross, to put on the wall. I am sure when we look at it, we will remember him and be thankful for the time he was with us. 

Thankfulness is…

Thinking of good things

Happy memories

All creation praising God

Not taking anything for granted

Keeping focused on the positive

Feeling blessed

Understanding the sacrifices people make for us

Living joyfully

Not complaining

Expressing gratitude to God

Saying thank you to those who help us

Showing gratefulness by our deeds

This term our Christian value is 'Thankfulness'. 1 Thessalonians 5.16 tells us 'Always be Thankful'.

We will be thinking about thanking God for people who help us, praising God in creation, remembering to say thank you, giving thanks even when times are difficult, counting our blessings and living fruitful lives. 

We will be thinking about the fruit of the spirit and preparing for our Harvest Festival. 

This is the prayer which Year 6 taught the congregation at church:

The hand prayer

Look at your thumb, it is closest to you.  It can remind you to pray for your friends.

Look at your index finger, we use it to point the way. It can remind us to pray for the people who guide and teach us, people like our parents and carers, the teachers and head teacher in our school.

Look at your middle finger, it is the tallest and can remind you to pray for world leaders and politicians who make important decisions in the world.

Look at your fourth finger, it is the weakest of all the fingers and can remind you to pray for those in need. They may be people you know who are poorly or sad or perhaps people you’ve heard about from the news who are living in war zones or are facing famine or coping with another type of disaster.

Finally look at your little finger, it can remind you to remember to pray for yourself. God loves you and wants the very best for you.

Worship Group led our worship on the 13th July 2022. They were confident and shared an important message about respect with the rest of the school. Of course we always love when Mr Edgar brings his guitar and teaches us a song. Well done Worship Group!

Respect is….

Readiness to listen

Everyone being valued

Showing appreciation

Praying for people

Expressing opinions sensitively

Caring for our environment

Treating property carefully

We welcomed the PAIS team into school on the 25th April. They looked at our Christian value of Friendship and with the help of the children they acted out the story of 3 friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who believed in Jesus. The friends faith was so strong that God sent his angel and rescued them as they serve and trust him. They disobeyed the King's orders and risked their lives, rather than bow down and worship any God except their own.

Friendship is…

Finding things to do together

Relying on each other

Impossible on your own

Enjoying being together

Never selfish

Depending on someone else

Sharing hopes and dreams

Happiness and laughter

Including others

This half term we are thinking about the Christian Value of Friendship. We will be thinking about sticking together, encouraging one another, supporting one another, making time for each other and learning to listen. 

The children led our Easter Service in church on the 30th March 2022. They sang songs, shared poems and prayers they had written and got the whole congregation to join in! 

We loved having the PAIS team with us on the 23rd March to lead our worship! They told us the Easter Story, first the children acted out the events of Palm Sunday, before we watched a video about Easter, thinking about the sorrow on Good Friday followed by the joy of Easter Monday.

It was lovely to welcome Father Paul and Meena in this week to lead our worship. It was Ash Wednesday, Father Paul told us all about Lent and how it reflects the forty days and nights that Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the devil. He then told us all about how the ashes for Ash Wednesday are made - did you know that they are the burnt palm leaf crosses from last year? He then put ash on Meena's head, as they would do in church.

'Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive others.' Colossians 3.13

In a mysterious and amazing way, when Jesus died on the cross He was taking all the wrong in the world upon His shoulders. He paid the price so that we don't have to answer to God for the bad things we have done. We are forgiven. The slate is wiped clean.

Forgiveness is…

Forgetting the hurts

Offering a new beginning

Restoring a friendship

Given and received

Identifying responsibility

Valuing the truth

Ending an argument

Not holding a grudge

Encouraging honesty

Saying sorry

Starting again

We had an amazing visit from the Pais team in our worship today. We discussed how life can be a battle at times, but when we armour ourselves with God's words - we can face challenges much easier. 

We went over to church to celebrate Christingle. We thought about the Christingle and what it means:

• The orange symbolises the world, the planet earth, that we call home. 
• The ribbon symbolises the blood of Jesus, his death is God's love for all the world. 
• The sticks represent the 4 seasons or the 4 points of the compass and are used to attach fruit and goodies to the orange reminding us of the harvest of the world that sustains us. 
• The candle symbolises Jesus the light of the world, come to dispel the darkness of all that is wrong in our world. 

Year 3 and Year 4 went across to church for the mid week service. They took part in the service, thinking about the courage that Jesus showed. The children in Year 4 even taught the congregation a song! We have been learning the song in school, it is called 'My Lighthouse'. See if your children can tell you about it and maybe even teach you the actions at home!

Father Paul led our worship and told us the story of Jesus' first miracle and how his Mother Mary, gave him the courage he needed as he did not feel he was ready. We thought about how we could encourage others in our daily lives. 

Our Worship Group led our worship today. The children planned their worship then delivered it clearly and expertly. We learnt a great deal from them. We also enjoyed Mr Edgar playing his guitar and helping us learn a new song. 

Josh and Lydia from PAIS came to lead our worship on the 10th January 2022. The talked to us about Epiphany and the long journey the kings made to see baby Jesus. We looked at the gifts from the Kings and there meaning. We look forward to the next visit from the PAIS Team. 

'Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.'

Courage is…

Carrying on when things are difficult

Overcoming fear

Understanding and facing a challenge

Risking being our of your comfort zone

Always believing in God’s promises

Going for a goal

Empowered by encouragement

It can take great courage to do something new or challenging. We call it 'stepping out of our comfort zone'. Sometimes just small steps are needed, but they can take us to new and exciting places! 

Kindness is more important today than it has ever been. The isolation of the last year has underlined how little acts of consideration can break down barriers and brighten the lives of the people around us. This is one of the reasons, that ‘One Kind Word’ has been chosen as the theme of Anti-Bullying Week taking place from 15th to 19th of November 2021.

Our Christian value this half term is compassion. In worship we read the story of the Good Samaritan. By telling the story Jesus was teaching us that everyone in need is our neighbour, even when they are not our special friends. We talked about how in school and in the community, we should treat everyone as we wish to be treated.

One kind word leads to another. We are all unique and special and we are going to try extra specially hard to use positive words to encourage one another.

Key Stage Two held a Remembrance Service in the Church grounds, they were very respectful and compassionate in remembering all the brave soldiers who have lost their lives.

'They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.'

Gold Class have then been to the library to visit the wave of pebbles memorial. Over 2,500 unnamed crosses have been planted to remember all those who have fallen in any conflict in defense of the nation. The reason the crosses are unnamed is in keeping with the "Tomb Of The Unknown Warrior" a short description about this can be found on the plaque at the site. On the right hand side at the front bordered in Poppy Rocks kindly donated by Giant Leap Childcare and Learning Centre, Go Outdoors Learning, Pre- School & Holiday Club and St Peter's CE Primary School. Everybody is encourage to attend the main Remembrance Sunday parade, which will meet up on Curzon Street, Burnley, from 10.20am this Sunday.

The children in Year 1 and 2 went to Church to lead the mid week service for the parishioners. They taught them a song from Toy Story 'You've Got a Friend in Me' and talked about being compassionate, particularly noticing a need in others. 

Thank you to Sharon and Pendle Dogs in Need for visiting us. Our Christian Value this half term is compassion and Sharon and her team certainly live out that value every day! They are sensitive to suffering, put the dogs first and make a real difference! They noticed a need in Burnley and Pendle and put their service into action!

St Peter's School are now going to sponsor one of the dogs to help the wonderful work of the charity! PENDLE DOGS IN NEED are a dog rescue serving the areas around Burnley and Pendle (BB postcodes). They help with dogs who have been abandoned, are mistreated or need rehoming for some other reason. They help the dogs in this area and are committed to keeping the dogs in this area. All dogs are initially fostered (or sometimes placed in their kennels) to enable assessment and vet care before moving to forever adoptive homes.

'Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.' Colossains 3.12

Autumn Term 2 2021

Compassion is…

Costly caring

Offering help

Making a difference

Putting others first

Always listening

Sensitive to suffering

Service in action

Interested in others

Offering care and concern

Noticing a need.

We can be so busy with the things that we want to do, the games we want to play and the people we want to speak to that we fail to notice when someone else needs our help. Sometimes, perhaps, we even ignore people on purpose who need our help! We think that helping will change our plans or hold us up. Jesus always put the needs of others before his own. He showed his love for them by being compassionate. 

There might be someone you have noticed recently who is in need. Perhaps that person is sad or maybe going through a difficult time in their life. Perhaps you could write a prayer for them. God knows all our needs and we can trust Him to hear our prayers. 

Father Roger came to visit us from St Catherine's Church. He told us the story of the 'Feeding of the 5000', then expressed his gratitude for all our Harvest offerings. He explained what happens at St Catherine's and how they are used. After half term our School Council will be going to visit St Catherine's to see our generosity in action and help out with lunch service. 

Father Paul led our worship and told the story of the Ten Lepers. Explaining that although all ten lepers were healed by Jesus, which was an amazing miracle only one of them came back to say thank you. He started a poem with us that we have been asked to finish...

Cats and Whales and Puppy Dog's tails 

Thank you God for Everything

Church and School and Swimming Pool

Thank you God for Everything

It's now our job to finish the poem... I wonder what we will come up with? 

We held a Harvest Workshop in Church after school on the 8^th October. Meena and a team of volunteers: Ann, Carol W, Joan, Ethel, Freda and Jason had some fantastic arts and craft activities for the children to participate in. It was a wonderful celebration of all that we have learnt this term. A lot of hard work was put into the event both on the day and in preparation which was very much appreciated. We are extremely lucky to have such strong links with St Peter’s Church. The children got to make leaf wreath's, grass heads, decorate biscuits, harvest corn and contribute towards a large cross which is displayed in church. To end the workshop Meena led us in a short act of worship. Everyone very much enjoyed the event! 

We celebrated World Porridge Day to raise money for Mary's Meals, a charity which feeds more than two million children in 19 countries around the world every school day. In Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the children are normally served steaming mugs of porridge enriched with vitamins to help them learn and grow. That’s why we celebrated World Porridge Day – we know porridge has the power to change lives! We all enjoyed our porridge and our visit from Fran, who works for Mary's Meals. We raised £107.90 for the charity! Well done everyone!

On the 29th September we went into church to celebrate Harvest Festival with the parishioners. We had a wonderful time, sharing such an excellent variety of songs , readings, and teaching everyone about harvest around the world, the farm to fork journey and about Fairtrade. All the children were engaged , involved and so well behaved. We had a large and supportive group of parents/ carers who came to support the children. 

On the 15th September, Father Paul came to lead our first Worship. He told the story of the Generous Widow and how we should give sacrificially. The children loved welcoming Father Paul into our school. 

'God love a cheerful giver.' 2 Corinthians 9.7           Autumn Term 2021

Generosity is…

Encouraging the best in each other

Never selfish

Enjoying helping others

Raising support for a good cause

Offering what we can

Sharing our time and talents

 Inviting someone to join in

 Taking care of God’s creation for future generations

 You first, me last.

Have you ever been generous without telling anyone? 

Remember one small way you have shown generosity to one person. You don't always have to do big things for lots of people.

Have you ever been putt off doing what you are able to do because someone might do it better? 

When has your generosity served to help future generations? 

Education Sunday 12th September

Children and staff worked hard to plan and deliver a special service for the congregation at St Peter's Church. The children thought about our mission statement, ‘Every Child of God Matters’ and how this makes our school distinctive and special.

S We show love for one another, loving others as we love ourselves and have the courage to care in order to keep everyone happy and safe.

T We trust in God, standing on God’s promises and know Jesus is with us in stormy times. We thank God for people who help us.

P We persevere to achieve our goals, keeping going against all odds. We encourage others to keep going.

E We treat people fairly, seeing God’s love in action and make wise decisions.

T We teach others to learn from their mistakes, having the courage to do the right thing and not always the easy thing.

We forgive others as God has forgiven us. We make the right choices, living without lies.

E We are generous and encourage the best in each other.

R We respect one another, valuing others as we would like to be valued. We value difference and different opinions.

S We use our talents to serve others and live for others.

Gold Class and St Paul's Cathedral

Over the last four weeks, Gold Class have been working in partnership with Tom Daggett from St Paul's Cathedral on an outreach project which involved learning some new songs and lots of physical activity. 

As you can hear from the video below, the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as did the staff.

Thank you Tom for a super project.