Living our Faith - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

At St Julie's Catholic Primary School, our Gospel Values are at the heart of everything we do. Guided by our mission to learn, grow and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we strive each day to live out our faith through prayer, worship, service and care for others. This can be seen in all aspects of school life and in the way we support one another as a loving Catholic community. The school's mission statement emphasises being a caring family school where pupils learn, grow and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

This page offers a glimpse into the life of our school family as we journey together in faith. Through celebrations, acts of service, parish links, charitable work and special events, our children are encouraged to put Gospel values into action and become active witnesses to Christ's love.

Please visit the other Religious Education pages to gain a fuller picture of our faith journey at St Julie's. 

Live Simply

We are delighted to announce that St Julie's has received the CAFOD 'Live Simply' Award. This is a reflection of the school's desire to protect our planet and the people on it. The Award reflects the commitment of the school community to live:

• Simply

• In solidarity

• Sustainably with creation

This is the link to the Cafod Live Simply Website, where you will find much more information.

https://cafod.org.uk/Campaign/How-to-campaign/Livesimply-award

The award is closely linked to the Pope's Laudato Si letter. You can watch the animated version for children here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOgF2Kgel6k&authuser=0

This is the link to the award song. Have a listen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAju0353w9I&authuser=0

 🌎 Live Simply at St Julie's

As part of our commitment to the CAFOD Live Simply Award, we continue to look for ways to care for God's creation, support those in need and make thoughtful choices in our daily lives. By living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with others, we can all play our part in building a better world.

Families can support our Live Simply journey in a number of ways:

🌱 Live Simply this Lent
Can you make a pledge to Live Simply during Lent? Whether it is wasting less food, spending less time on screens or helping others, small actions can make a big difference. Look out for our Live Simply for Lent ideas and visit the Lent page on our website for more ways to celebrate this special season at home.

🥕 Try Meat-Free Meals
Reducing meat consumption can help care for our environment. Why not try a vegetarian packed lunch or family meal once a week? Remember, St Julie's is a nut-free school.

🏪 Shop Local
Supporting local businesses helps our community thrive and reduces the environmental impact of transporting goods over long distances.

☕ Choose Fairtrade
Switching to Fairtrade products helps ensure that farmers and producers receive a fair price for their work, supporting families and communities across the world.

🎁 CAFOD World Gifts
Looking for a meaningful gift? CAFOD World Gifts provide practical support to communities in need and are a wonderful way to show care for others.

Thank you for supporting our Live Simply journey. Together, through small changes and thoughtful choices, we can make a positive difference to our world and live out our Gospel Values each day. ✝️🌍💛

Mini Vinnies

‘Mini Vinnies’ is the junior branch of the St Vincent De Paul Society (SVP) - a long-established Catholic charity with the aim of supporting those in need.

Mini Vinnies are children aged between 7 to 11 (or younger) who are encouraged to embark on their first steps as possible ‘Vincentians for life’. 

Mini Vinnies turn concern into action by:

• Making cards for those who may be sick, isolated or lonely.

• Creating arts and crafts to share with others

• Running food collections for a local food bank

• Fundraising for the SVP and other charities

• Supporting Mary’s Meals

• Holding cake sales to support Willowbrook Hospice

• Delivering Assemblies for our school on The Jubilee Year of Hope.

• Recycling unwanted clothing for local charities

As Mini Vinnies, the children have their own ‘treasured’ Prayer, Pledge and Badge, a dedicated website and a range of bright and colourful documents which guide them in their formative steps – helping and enabling them to become in every sense,  ‘Mini Vinnies’.

Click the link to listen to the 'Mini Vinnies' song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhB_498oRNY

Mini Vinnies Website – see what it’s all about

Faith In Action

At St Julie's we have participated in Faith In Action for many years. The award allows school and the Church to celebrate, recognize and reward all that our children already give to the Church but it also challenges them to deepen their relationship with God and change the world in which they live. The award is aimed at children in Y6.There are four different levels of award: Pin (KS2), Bronze, Silver and Gold. For this reason it has been described as a ‘Catholic Duke of Edinburgh’

Throughout Y6, pupils are given the opportunity to reflect on their faith journey and the opportunities they have had to live their faith. The end of the programme has culminated in a retreat at Lowe House.

In previous years pupils have:

'Buddied' Reception children, supporting them during church events and in school

Worked as altar servers

Worked as class, 'Worship Welcomers'

Prepared celebration events for grandparents/ elderly in our community

Helped to prepare masses

Supported Harvest festival preparations

Contributed to a wide range of fundraising activities

CAFOD

We actively support CAFOD, it is the official Catholic aid agency for England and Wales. They work with partners across the world, wherever the need is. It is greater to bring hope and compassion to poor communities, standing side by side with them to end poverty and injustice. CAFOD volunteers visit school to deliver assemblies, sharing new campaigns with us. We watch the national assemblies and actively support all their new initiatives helping to make the world a better place for all our global brothers and sisters.

Mary’s Meals   

We are working to achieve our Mary’s Meals school accreditation, we will be holding a sponsored run in June, hosting a spooky porridge day to support World Porridge Day and during Lent, we will be making biscuits and selling them to ‘raise some dough’ for Mary’s Meals.

We support the work that Mary’s Meals does around the world, it is a movement that will not accept that a child should go hungry in the world of plenty. They serve nutritious meals in some of the world’s poorest countries. They provide school meals, meeting the needs of hungry children whilst encouraging them to gain an education. We actively collect pennies to pay for these meals, 8p feeds a child each day

Mary’s Meals charity fun run

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our Mini Vinnies' Mary's Meals Charity Fun Run. It was a fantastic event, with pupils showing great enthusiasm and determination.

Thanks to your incredible generosity, we raised over £400, which will help provide nutritious school meals for children in some of the world's poorest communities.

Thank you for helping us make a difference!

Mary’s Meals Breakfast Success!

A huge thank you to our Mini Vinnies, staff, children and families for supporting our Mary’s Meals Breakfast. Thanks to your incredible generosity, we raised an amazing £164!

Everyone enjoyed a delicious breakfast of toast, pancakes and fresh fruit while coming together to support this wonderful charity. Every donation will help Mary’s Meals provide nutritious daily meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest communities.

Thank you for making such a difference through your kindness and generosity.

Angel Star Fish Project

Last week, Elaine and Chris Maloney came into school to talk to all the children about the Angel Starfish Project which over the past 20 years has set up a small school in Cape Town. The Angel Starfish Educare Centre, now employs 5 teachers and 2 additional support-staff members, where disadvantaged children from the local Imizamo Yethu informal settlement are cared for, fed and taught to become responsible adults in life through learning and play.

St Julie’s would like to support the charity by passing on donations of unwanted clothing in good condition. The clothing is then taken to a recycling company who give a monetary return to the charity. Please place your bags of unwanted clothing, adults and childrens, in the school foyer over the next 2 weeks of school. Thank you.