We are Pilgrims of Hope - We are Pilgrims of Hope - We are Pilgrims of Hope -
Catholic Life Blog
27th April - 2nd Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday
Every year on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.
Sr Faustina was only a young child when she knew she wanted to be a nun, but her parents wouldn't let her. One night, Jesus appeared to her saying "How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting me off?"
She left without even telling her parents where she was going and went to Warsaw where eventually she was able to enter the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy.
Jesus visited her again and told her of a painting he wanted her to paint him in the image she saw. A painter was found and the image painted.
21st April - Pope Francis RIP
We were so sad to hear of the death of Pope Francis this morning. How wonderful that he made it through to Easter Sunday and could participate a little in the Triduum.
We have created an Altar of Remembrance in our front entrance and we will be giving the children and our school community the opportunity to write prayers for him
May he rest in peace.. Amen
20th April - Easter Sunday
He is risen! Alleluia, Alleluia!
This morning, after Mass and to celebrate the singing of Alleluia for the first time since Lent began some of our children helped us to bring the Alleluia back out of the box it has been in.
19 April - Easter Vigil
We are delighted that a member of our staff and one of our children were welcomed into the Catholic Church this evening.
Miss Brennan was Confirmed and then received the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the very first time. It was a beautiful evening and we are so proud to have been part of their journey. We will continue to keep them in our prayers.
Easter Triduum
For the next three days we hold the Easter Triduum. There are three opportunities to come before the Lord to remember His sacrifice for us.
On Thursday evening we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper where we remember Jesus washing the feet of His disciples and giving us the very firsts Mass.
Friday is Good Friday and although Mass is not celebrated on this day, we gather at 3pm to commemorate Jesus' death on the cross.
At the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening, we will gather together in darkness to listen to the Word of God before all our candles are lit and we rejoice in the Resurrection.
17 April 2025
Chrism Mass at Lancaster Cathedral
This morning in the Cathedral, priests from all over the diocese gathered for the Mass of Chrism. In this Mass, Bishop Paul blesses the Oils of Catechumen which will be used in all parishes for the next year in the Sacraments of Baptism, Ordination, Confirmation, the Sacrament of the Sick and the Last Rites.
All the priests gathered to renew their priestly vows.
04 April 2025
Pilgrims of Hope artwork
As part of the Jubilee year, children were invited to make a piece of artwork based around the Pilgrims of Hope theme. These children were winners of our competition, and their artwork will be put forward to the Diocese competition where a local artist will work alongside Bishop Paul to choose the overall winners.
We are very impresses with their amazing artwork and wish them all the best in the competition.
03 April 2025
Sacrament of Reconcilliation
After Mass, Fr Nithin stayed to hear the First Confession of the children who are making their First Holy Communion this year. Although the children were very nervous, Fr Nithin sat down with them first and talked to them to help settle their nerves.
03 April 2025
End of term Mass
This morning we came together as a school for our end of term Mass, celebrated by Fr Nithin. We dedicated the Mass to Mrs Clayton, one of our midday supervisors who is leaving us after 28 years. We wish her all the best and home she enjoys her time to herself.
02 April 2025
Lenten Prayer Stations
As part of our Lenten journey, each teacher planned a prayer station based on a saint whose feast days falls during Lent.
Mr McGoldrick started the day with an Annunciation prayer station for the whole school before the children went back to their classes to continue their journey.
We learnt about St Patrick, St Oscar Romero, St Joseph and St Katherine Drexel. Each class teacher had set their classroom up with their prayer table as a focal point for the children.
It was a lovely, prayerful way to start the day.
25 March 2025
Feast of the Annunciation
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her she had been chosen to be the mother of a very special son. God's son, Jesus.
St Pius X is part of the Mater Christi Trust. the Mother of Christ Trust and so today is also our trust's feast day.
This morning, Mr McGoldrick held a very special Celebration of the Word all about the Annunciation and over the next week the c children will be looking more closely at the Annunciation and doing some art work to share.
24 March 2025
Carlo Acutis and Reconciliation
This morning, Mr McGoldrick led a Celebration of the Word on Carlo Acutis and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Some of our children are preparing to make their First Holy Communion this year, and in the next couple of weeks will be making their First Confession. We are very excited to be part of their continuing journey towards Christ.
20 March 2025
Year 4 Mass
This morning, Year 4 went to church to take part in the parish Mass.
There were four very nervous children who had volunteered to read and did so beautifully. A member of the parish said how impressed she had been listening to them because she knows how hard it can be to concentrate sometimes!
18 March 2025
St Joseph
On 19th March, we celebrate the feast of St Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.
This morning Mr McGoldrick led a Celebration of the Word all about St Joseph and we learned that when the Angel told Mary that she was going to give birth to a baby, Joseph stood by her even though the child would not be his.
We remember the love that Joseph showed for Mary and Jesus as he looked after them during their time on earth.
14 March 2025
Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes tour - Dioceses 100th Celebrations
This morning, our head pupil and deputy head pupil went with Mr McGoldrick and Mrs Cotgreave to deliver the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes to its next school - Our Lady of the Rosary in Dalton.
We took part in a small welcoming service and hope that the children in Dalton get as much joy out of the statue as we did.
12 March 2025
Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes tour - Diocese 100th Celebrations
We were excited to receive the state of Our Lady of Lourdes from the children and staff from St Columba yesterday. We held a short service of welcoming before the statue was placed in the prayer room, in the centre of our school. We will keep the statue until Friday when we will continue it on its journey around the Diocese by taking it to Our Lady of the Rosary school in Dalton.
10 March 2025
St Patrick
This morning, Mr McGoldrick led an assembly all about St Patrick, whose feast day is next week.
We learned how, when he was small, he was stolen by pirates and taken to Ireland where he was made to look after sheep. In a dream he was told that there was a boat waiting at a harbour for him, and when he arrived the boat was indeed there! He went back to England and eventually became a priest.
He never forgot about Ireland and in time, went back to preach Christianity to the King and Queen.
We learnt that green is the colour we most associate Ireland with because of the many hills, and that the three leaf clover, Irelands national flower reminds us of the Holy Trinity - 3 leaves making one plant just as the Holy Trinity is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, three in one.
We also celebrated our children in each class who have worked extra hard in their RE lessons.
06 March 2025
Year 3 Mass
This morning Year 3 went to St Mary's to celebrate Mass.
Although they don't carry out any of the ministries because we are keen for them to get used to being Mass first, they are always very prayerful. 7 of the children will be making their First Holy Communion in June and we very much look forward to them being able to receive the Blessed Sacrament and take part in the Mass fully.
05 March 2025
Our Lenten Journey
Each class has a Lenten journey poster in their classroom to colour in to help us follow Jesus to the cross.
The prayer room has one too.
05 March 2025
Ash Wednesday
Deacon Steve came into school this morning to lead our Ash Wednesday service and to distribute the ashes to our pupils and staff.
Mr McGoldrick helped him and all the children treated the occasion with a great amount of reverence. We sang "Jesus Remember Me" as the ashes were given out and it was a very moving and prayerful time.
Thank you Deacon Steve.
.04 March 2025
Putting away the Alleluia for Lent
This morning, Mrs Cotgreave led an assembly on the beginning of Lent. We learnt that all our prayer table cloths and the priests vestments will change from green (Ordinary Time) to purple (for Lent)
Mrs Cotgreave explained that during the Ash Wednesday service the next day, all the children and staff will receive a cross on their forehead made from the ashes of the palms used in church last Palm Sunday. We learnt that the cross symbolises the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and the Lent reminds us of the 40 days which Jesus spent in the desert.
Then, Mrs Cotgreave reminded us that we don't sing Alleluia in Mass or our Celebrations of the Word during Lent, but that we fast from it for forty days making it all the more special when we sing it at the Easter Vigil.
Two of our KS1 pupils held the Alleluia up for us as we sang it for the last time, and our Head Pupil put it away in the box which will be placed in the prayer room until Mrs Cotgreave takes it to Mass on Easter Sunday morning to bring it once more out of it's boxt with the help of the children at Mass.
26 February 2025
"Restore all things in Christ"
This morning, Mr McGoldrick led an assembly about our school mission statement, the main three points of which are
Christ at the centre
A family within our community
Shared Gospel Values
He told us that our school motto "Restore all things in Christ" comes from Pope St Pius X and that it means to live and act as Christ did.
Christ should be the centre of our school, and so our prayer room is in the centre of our school. Today Mr McGoldrick unveiled a brand new statue of Christ the Sacred Heart which is in our prayer room, watching over us as we go about our school lives, with Mary, His mother on the opposite side of the room.
Children and staff are encouraged to come to the prayer room at break or lunchtimes to spend a quiet moment with God, in prayer or just listening to the music playing.
24 February 2025
First Holy Communion
Tonight was the first session of our First Holy Communion programme.
We are delighted to have eight children taking part, and we are looking forward to helping them on their continued journey to Christ, ready to receive this most wonderful of Sacraments.
Please keep our children in your prayers.
24 February 2025
Pope Francis
This morning, during hymn practice, we prayed especially for Pope Francis who is very poorly in hospital in Rome.
We will continue to keep him in our prayers.
11 February 2025
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
In our class based Celebration of the Word this morning, each class listened to the Annunciation reading from Luke, when the Angel Gabriel came to tell Mary that she would be having a baby.
Our weekly word is Trust, and the classes understood that Mary had to trust the Angel and God, that everything would be ok.
After that, each class prayed a decade of the Rosary. Two of our Year 5 girls led the decade in their class.
10 February 2025
Whole School Celebration of the Word.
This morning, Mrs Ward led a lovely assembly all about Carlo Acutis. Carlo is due to become a saint in April, and we he is an inspiration and good example for us going to Mass.
Carlo died when he was very young, but in his short life he went to Mass every day that he could so that he could receive the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion.
Some of our children are making their First Holy Communion in June and we hope that they are inspired by the story of Carlo.
06 February 2025
Year 5 Mass
This morning, our Year 5 readers were so wonderful that a parishioner who regularly reads wanted to tell them in person how impressed she had been, rather than just passing it on through a member of staff.
What a wonderful thing!
We are looking forward to training some of our Year 5 to be altar servers in the coming months and can't wait to see them on the altar.
24 January 2025
Pilgrims of Hope launch
The Pope has announced that the theme for this Jubilee year, will be Pilgrims of Hope.
Today, Mr McGoldrick led an assembly on what this means for us. We watched a video about a young girl whose mother was part of the Glitter Club in her town. The group were given chickens to help them earn money to pay for their c hildren to go to school.
Our key words are Deep Faith, Lively Hope and Active Charity.
We look forward to lots of activities based around the Pilgirm of Hope theme in the coming months.
23 January 2025
Year 6 Mass
Our first school Mass of the year with Year 6 at St Mary's. As always they took part in as many ministries as they could - reading, serving, praying and singing. All of them were treated with great prayerfulness and respect, but enthusiastically too.
Every time we take our classes to church, we are told how lovely it is to see and hear the children in Mass - and today was no exception. Our Year 6 children make us proud every day.
09 January 2025
Start of term Mass
This morning Fr Manny joined us for a whole school Mass to start the new year.
To connect with our Epiphany Day on Tuesday, we heard the story of the Three Kings journey to Bethlehem and learnt that there are more Kings in the story than you first think!
All the children knew the Three Wise Men were also Kings, and they remembered that Jesus is King as well. The others were Herod and Caesar Augustus.
Fr Manny told us that even though He had just been born and was the smallest, Jesus is still the most important King in the story.
07 January 2025
Epiphany Day
We started our school term learning all about the Epiphany when the 3 Wise Men followed the star to Bethlehem to visit the new baby Jesus.
Each class came to the hall to be led on the journey by Mrs Wright, complete with a beautiful star to lead the way. They visited Herod's Palace, the desert which the Wise Men travelled through, looked at the gifts they brought at the stable and then each child received a heart to take home with them.
"Lord in a year that's about to start, help me to love you with all my heart."
18 December 2024
Spirit of Christmas
Some of our Year 6 joined with St Bernard's, St Columba and Sacred Heart school at the Spirit of Christmas celebration.
They joined in singing some heartwarming songs and also helped with the readings.
They were impeccably behaved and as always we are very proud of them,
December 2024
Posada
Our Posada sets have visited lots of houses this year.
Thank you to everyone who has sent us pictures, we have really enjoyed looking at them.
On Christmas morning we will take a set to Mass at St Mary's to finish their journey.
12 December 2024
KS2 Nativity - The Choir
Our choir have worked so hard practicing their songs and it definitely showed!
Here is a video of them singing the beautiful (and not all that easy!) Carol of the Bells. We are so proud of them.
12 December 2024
KS2 Nativity
There was beautiful singing,
There was wonderful reading.
There was some expert dancing.
And so amazing jingle bells!
All in all, the KS2 Nativity was a joy to behold.
Each class took part in the traditional Nativity by telling a part of the story, and then singing a song.
After the story was told, the choir treated us to three gorgeous songs which they have worked so hard on.
Then all 4 classes sang their own Christmas song. We ranged from the traditional and enthuisastic Jingle Bells to the lively Jingle Bell Rock, from the classic It was on a Starry Night to an updated version of All I want for Christmas.
Finishing off with a final three songs from the whole of KS2, it really did make everyone in the hall feel very Christmassy!!
11 December 2024
EYFS and KS1 Nativity - Little Lambs
No St Pius X Nativity would be complete without the 'aw' factor and every year, our Little Lambs never fail to provide it. With a beautiful rendition of Mary had a Little Lamb and Jesus was His name, they really were wonderful.
11 December
EYFS and KS1 Nativity - Year 2
Year 2 narrated our performance with wonderful clear voices.
They opened the performance with a beautiful rendition of Bring in the Wreath as they lit our Advent wreath. They joined in the singing of all the songs and then helped to end the show on a very peaceful note as they sang Away in a Manger.
11 December
EYFS and KS1 Nativity - Year 1
Our Year 1 choir were incredible and so confident! They remained on stage the whole way through the performance and sang beautifully. They even did actions to the songs!
11 December 2024
EYFS and KS1 Nativity - Humph!
Weeks of rehearsal paid off when today we had two performances of Humph!
The story was about a very grumpy camel called Humphrey, who only ever said "Humph!" One day he and his friends were chosen to take three kings to see a very special baby who had been born.
The baby was so special, that even Humph got excited and forgot to say "humph!""
Our Reception class actors were amazing!
09 December 2024
The hall is Nativity ready, with our beautiful crib in place, the piano decorated and a lovely new banner gifted to us from one of our parent.s
We can't wait for the Nativities now!
04 December 2024
After such a lovely day learning about witnessess to the birth of Jesus, our family Advent craft night was the perfect end to the day.
We made lanterns to show that we try to be always ready for Jesus when he comes.
Mr McGoldrick read us a Gospel story about the 10 bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom who was late. Five of them were ready, with oil in their lamps and their wicks trimmed, while the other 5 were not ready and so were not allowed to see the bridegroom.
He explained to us that we are the bridesmaids and Jesus is the bridegroom.
Thank you to all who came to join us.
04 December 2024
Today, we had a visit from Mrs Wright who talked to all the classes about Advent and the Christmas story.
Instead of looking at it from the traditional characters in the story, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men, the children were encouraged to look at other witnessess to the birth of Christ - a shepherd boy, a wiseman's servant and an innkeepers wife.
01 December 2024
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent.
iIn school our prayer table cloths have been changed to purple and our Advent Wreath is displayed in our hall. In assembly, Mr McGoldrick lit the first candle.
This candle represents Hope - our Hope in the coming of the Christ child,
28 November 2024
This morning Year 3 went to Mass for the first time as a class.
Although they didn't read on this first occasion, they were very prayerful and behaved beautifully. We are very proud of them and can't wait for next year when we will be able to join some of them on their First Holy Communion journey.
20 November 2024
Our entrance hall has been brightened up even more by this lovely image of Pope Pius X. It takes pride of place on the wall and is very striking when you enter the building.
20 November 2024
Today, Pope Francis announced that during the weekend of 25-27 April 2025, Carlo Acutis will be made a saint! We are very excited to be able to witness this wonderful event.
18 November 2024
This morning in assembly, we learnt more about Mary's Meals and what they do to help children in areas of the world where there is not as much food as we have, and who are not able to go to school like we do.
We learnt that to feed one child one meal at school for a whole year, costs just £19.95. That works out at about 10p per meal!
It reminded us just how lucky we are to have access to food and schooling without even having to think about where it comes from.
Over the last year we have raised £440.14 for Mary's Meals, meaning that we have helped feed over 20 children!
15 November 2024
Today we all dressed in blue to raise money for Mary's Meals.
14 November 2024
Year 5 Mass
This morning, Year 5 attended Mass at church. Fr Nithin spoke to them about Jesus being our leader.
Our readers were, as always, very confident, clear and prayerful.
11 November 2024
This morning we remembered all those who have died in war.
The Rotakids had researched some people from Barrow who had died in the war and we remembered them as we put Gospel Value beads into our heart box.
Mr McGoldrick also reminded us that November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory and so members of staff were invited to place a bead into the box too, to remember members of their family who have died.
21 October 2024
This afternoon we had a visit from CAFOD to talk about the work they do in Africa. They told us how they help people who have not been able to go to school, to learn a new craft to enable them to work and earn money to be able to send their own children to school. We heard about a lady who had learnt how to sew and man who was able to sell furniture that he had made.
21 October 2024
As part of their RE lesson on Baptism, Year 2 visited St Mary's to take part in a role play Baptism with Fr Manny.
He explained all the different parts of the Sacrament - the oil, the water, the white baptism shawl and the candle. Our baby was very well behaved and didn't cry once!!
Afterwards, our VIP helped to light a candle at the new altar to Carlo Acutis and we prayed for all children in the world who are ill,
17 October 2024
This morning Year 4 went to church for Mass - the feast of St Ignatius of Antioch!
While they were there, they noticed a new side altar had been set up in memory of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the 15 year old who is due to be made a saint soon.
14 October 2024
New Lectionaries
We were delighted to receive our new Lectionaries, ready for beginning to use them in Advent.
14 October 2024
This morning, Mr McGoldrick held an assembly all about Blessed Carlo Acutis, a 15 year old boy who died in 2006 and who is to be made into a full saint soon.
Our parish has taken Blessed Carlo Acutis as inspiration for the coming school year and we will be doing lots of things to remember him leading up to his canonisation, hopefully next year.
The official website for Carlo is full of information about him and his life.
https://carloacutis-en.org/
08 October 2024
Young Prayer Leader training
This afternoon, Mrs Wright came in to speak to Year 5 about being Young Prayer Leaders. They learnt how to decide on a theme for their Prayer and Liturgy and how to look up the Bible references.
Each group planned a Prayer and Liturgy session which we will be using over the course of our school year.
03 October 2024
Harvest Festival
The whole school came together this afternoon to celebrate God's harvest and all the people who help it to grow and deliver it to our shops.
Each class performed a song and then our wonderful collection of food for the Barrow Foodbank was brought up.
Thank you to all our parents who came - as Mr McGoldrick said, some schools do not get the amazing support from parents that we get and we are truly blessed with our parents.
03 October 2024
Year 6 Mass
This morning Year 6 went to Mass at St Mary's. The Gospel reading was about Jesus sending out some of his followers to spread the word about Him.
Father Nithin explained the story to them by telling them that like people on social media, Jesus had followers. He sent out just 72 and now there are over a billion in the world.
26 September 2024
Year 3 trip to St Mary's
This term, Year 3 will go to Mass for the first time as a class, in church. We took them to church today so they could see what it was like and ask any questions about it.
Their questions were very sensible and Mrs Cotgreave was delighted by them. They listened very carefully to her answers - which often prompted even more questions!
They learnt how to come into church prayerfully and to say hello and goodbye to Jesus in the tabernacle by genuflecting at the end of their bench and each of them did it beautifully, with great reverence and awe.
After they had looked at the chapel dedicated to Our Lady, Mrs Cotgreave took them up into the choir loft and even played the organ for them!!
13 September 2024
We have two new prayers to learn. One at the beginning of lunch, and one at the end. After the Celebration Assembly this morning, we came back to the hall to practice them and also to remind ourselves of some of our traditional prayers - the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be.
We will be saying one of these prayers at all our Prayer and Liturgy sessions during our school week. The prayers can all be found in the School Prayers section of this website.
https://stpiusx.sites.schooljotter2.com/catholic-life/school-prayers
Afterwards, because we celebrated Our Lady's birthday last Sunday, Mrs Cotgreave led the school in a decade of the Rosary to pray for all our loved ones.
It was a beautiful way to start our Friday and we look forward to lots more opportunities to come together to pray as a whole school.
11 September 2024
On Sunday, 08 September, we celebrated Our Lady's birthday in church.
This morning, Mr McGoldrick led an assembly about Our Lady. He told us that Mary had loved Jesus, her son, so much that she had even watched over him as he died on the cross.
Her love, faith and service to God are an inspiration to us all.
06 September 2024 - Whole school start of term Mass
What better way to end our first week back at school than by coming together for Mass? It was a very hot Friday afternoon, but the children were still very prayerful and sang beautifully.
We were very proud of them.
17 July 2024 - Year 6 at St Bernard's end of term Mass
This afternoon, we took Year6 to St Bernard's to celebrate Mass with our other primary schools, and Year 7.
It was a special occasion - we were sad it couldn't be in the Abbey as originally planned, but it was lovely to see other schools and some familiar faces amongst the Year 7 pupils, as well as some ex-staff.
Thank you to Fr Nithin and Deacon Steve for celebrating Mass for us, and to everyone at St Bernard's for inviting us to share Mass with you.
We wish all our Year 6 the best at their new secondary school. We pray that they will take our Gospel Values with them through the rest of their school time and onwards into adult life.
It's been a real joy watching them grow from shy and retiring Reception children to the confident Year 6's they are now. Good luck Year 6 and remember
11 July 2024 - Year 6 Leavers' Mass
Father Nithin came this morning to celebrate a whole school Mass for us to mark the end of another busy school year.
More importantly, the Mass was said especially for our Year 6 who will be leaving us next week to go on to their next great adventure - secondary school!
Our readers, servers and offertory procession were all made up of Year 6 pupils who performed them with great respect for the ministry. Those who didn't have a specific job were prayerful and set a wonderful example for our younger pupils on how to behave during Mass.
We have one final Mass with Year 6 next week, the Abbey Mass organised by St Bernard's before we have to say goodbye to them for a final time,
04 July 2024 - Year 3 Mass
This morning Year 3 attended Mass in church. They listened to the story of Jesus curing a man who couldn't walk.
After Mass, Mrs Cotgreave talked to them about why we are prayerful when we enter church, and about God being truly present in the tabernacle even when Mass isn't being said.
She explained the importance of remembering why we come to church and why others come to church. They talked about how when we go to Mass we go to see Jesus,
They they asked some really good questions about the church building and some of the items around that they could see.
27 June 2024 - Whole School Mass
We were so excited to be able to go to church as a whole school today! This is the first time since our own church, St Pius, closed in 2013 that we've been able to celebrate Mass altogether in church.
As lovely as Masses in school are, Mass in church is always very special.
From our littlest Little Lamb to our oldest Year 6, our Nuture Nest children and our staff the whole school was there and behaved beatifully.
Our readers read clearly and our servers served with great reverence. (Can you tell how proud we are of them?!!)
20 June 2024 - Year 4 Mass
Year 4 attended Mass at St Mary's today. In the Gospel, we heard the story of how Jesus taught us the Our Father prayer. Fr Manny asked them if they knew why the priests invites us to pray it during the Mass using the words "We dare to say...." because often dares are dangerous.
He explained that even though God is Almighty and our creator, that we still, basically, just call him Dad!! "Our Father, who art in Heaven.."
After Mass Fr Manny spoke to the children and explained some of the symbolism in the decoration of the school.
06 June 2024 - Year 6 Mass
As our school year starts its final half term, Year 6 had their final class Mass of their time in St Pius. We are so proud of the way they behave in church - their respectfulness, prayerfulness, singing, reading and their prayer responses are all wonderful.
We hope they will always remember the times they have spent in prayer with us and know that God is always with them, no matter where they go in life.
04 June 2024 - Year 1 Visit to St Mary's
Today, our Year 1 class visited our parish church of St Mary's as part of their RE lesson.
Fr Nithin showed them lots of very interesting things and they learned some new words - genuflecting, tabernacle, pulpit and lectern to name but a few.
They were even allowed up in the choir loft where Mrs Cotgreave and Mrs Roberts sing in the choir every Sunday morning at Mass! Mrs Cotgreave opened the organ for them to look at it and they were amazed with the number of keys on it.
Fr Nithin explained to them that on the sanctuary, there are carvings of angels to symbolise that what happens on the sanctuary is coming from heaven and that we as a congregation sit in the pews which symbolise the earth. He told us that we listen to the word of God before the exciting moment when the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus, and that the priest represents God.
12 May 2024 - First Holy Communion
What a wonderful day it was for our First Holy Communion!
6 of our children received the Sacrament of Communion for the first time after several weeks of dedicated preparation.
The children had obviously listened very carefully during their preparation because they were all very prayerful and respectful and we were very proud of them
Hopefully this will have been the first of many occasions when they receive the Body of Christ in Holy Communion.
09 May 2024 - Feast of the Ascension
Today we came together as a school to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension in Mass. Fr Nitin told us that just as we have to be fit and healthy to travel the world, so our souls have to be fit and healthy to enter Heaven to be with Jesus. We all said we wanted to go to Heaven eventually, and promised to try our best to be good.
As always, the children made us very proud with the way they behave during Mass and it was a lovely way to start the day
Sacrament of Reconcilliation
In preparation for their First Holy Communion, our children have made their first Confession. Always a nervous time, they all said afterwards that it wasn't scary! Good to hear!!
01 May 2024
Marian Procession
May is the month of Our Lady - a whole month dedicated to the Mother of Christ. Every year we hold a May Procession, where we crown our statue of Our Lady and present flowers to her.
We were so lucky to be able to do this right at the beginning of May this year and have the most beautiful weather!
All the children, from nursery to Year 6 took part and it was a joyful occasion.
Mrs Cotgreave now has the flowers in the Prayer Room, along with the crowned statue of Our Lady and it's very colourful!
MAT Feast Day - The Feast of the Annunciation
As our Academy is named after the Mother of Christ (Mater Christi) it seems fitting that the Feast of the Annunciation has been chosen as our MAT feast day.
On this day, the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her that she had been chosen to give birth to the baby Jesus and Mary said "Yes!"
Her 'Yes' has been turned into a beautiful prayer called The Angelus.
To celebrate our feast day this year, all the classes made angels or images of Our Lady.
22 April 2024
Happy 50th Birthday to us!!!
We had a lovely day for our 50th birthday today. We were delighted that Bishop Paul was able to come to school to celebrate Mass for us in the morning, along with Fr Manny, Fr Nithin and Deacon Steve. Fr Ajish even came back to join us and it was lovely to see him.
The children served, read and sang beautifully and the Bishop was a great hit with them - particularly when he told them that it wasn't always easy to be good and that they could tell their parents that he had said that!!
After Mass, we had some refreshments provided and served by our parishioners and had the chance to catch up with some ex members of staff and ex pupils. We had lots of photos to look through and it was great to see some of our teachers when they first started teaching at St Pius and even some of our staff members who were pupils here.
The Bishop was able to go round each of our classes to meet the children and was even treated to a hug from on our our Reception children!
It was a very exciting day, and we hope the children will remember it for a long time - and maybe in ten or twenty years time they will be the ones joining us as ex pupils with many happy memories of their time at St Pius.
Easter Sunday 2024
We come together at Mass to celebrate the Resurrection and with the help of some of our children, we brought the Alleluia back out of its box ready to sing at Mass once more.
We hope all our St Pius family have a peaceful and blessed Easter, with lots of family time and, of course, chocolate!
Holy Week 2024 - Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil
Today we remember Jesus being placed in the tomb and there is no Mass said during the daytime. In silence, the earth awaits the Resurrection.
The Easter Vigil begins at 8pm with the blessing of the new Paschal Candle in a fire lit outside church. This candle is then taken into the dark church and each parishioner is given a candle lit from the Paschal Candle, slowly filling the church with light.
We listen in darkness to readings and psalms and then, in a blaze of light and bell ringing with sing the Gloria.
Holy Week 2024 - Good Friday
On the afternoon of Good Friday, at 3pm, we come together to listen to the Passion of the Lord and to remember His death on the cross.
The priest brings a covered cross into the church, and proclaims "This is the wood of the cross, on which our Redeemer dies." The congregation respond "Come, come, let us adore." This happens three times, at the back of church, in the middle and at the front. Each time the priest proclaims, he uncovers a part of the cross until it is totally uncovered.
The congregation are then invited to venerate the cross - by kissing the feet of the image of Christ, by bowing or by kneeling.
Today we do not celebrate Mass - Good Friday is a solemn and the most sacred of all the Triduum. The altar has been stripped bare at the end of the Maundy Thursday Mass and no hosts are consecrated - instead the priest will use hosts that were consecrated at Mass on Maundy Thursday.
We gather at 3pm as this is the hour that Jesus died on the cross.
Holy Week 2024 - Maundy Thursday
At the end of Holy Week, starting on Maundy Thursday evening, we hold the Easter Triduum - from sundown on Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
On Maundy Thursday we commemorate the The Last Supper, the final meal Jesus shared with His disciples which was the very beginning of what we know today as Mass.
It's also the time He washed the feet of His disciples to show that He was there 'not to be served, but to serve' and the priest will wash the feet of 12 members of the parish to show that he, like Jesus, is a servant.
At the end of this Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the main altar to the Altar of Our Lady where parishioners are invited to 'watch and pray' in silence, as Jesys asked his disciples to do in the Garden of Gethsemane.
28 March 2024
Chrism Mass at Lancaster Cathedral
18 March 2024
St Patrick - patron saint of Ireland
Today, Mr McGoldrick led an assembly all about St Patrick, whose feast day is 17 March.
His bible reading was from the Book of Isaiah (12:2)
God is my saviour, I will trust him and not be afraid"
Mr McGoldrick told us that St Patrick had been kidnapped as a child and taken to Ireland where he was made to look after the sheep but that one night, in a dream, he heard a voice telling him that there was a ship waiting for him. When he woke, he found the ship and returned home.
When he had another dream telling him he was needed in Ireland, he went back as a Bishop to help people convert to Christianity.
He believed that the voices in the dreams had been God telling him what to do, and he trusted in Him.
Mr McGoldrick told us that even though Patrick had been taken away as a child from his home, his faith in God had grown stronger in his time away looking after the sheep.
His prayer, a prayer that Christ will be beside us in everything we do is shown below.
Living out our Gospel Values - Compassion
Today we were very sad to learn about a boy in one of our fellow MAT schools who has died suddenly.
Some of our children made a card to send to his school to let his friends know that we are all thinking about them and the rest of the school at such a sad time.
First Holy Communion 2024
Some of our children have begun their preparation for making their First Holy Communion in May.
We are looking forward to helping them on their journey to receiving Christ in the Eucharist and ask you to remember them in your prayers.
14th February 2024
Ash Wednesday
Before we broke up we talked about Ash Wednesday being the beginning of Lent. Mrs Roberts and Mrs Cotgreave led an assembly about how we do not sing or say Alleluia during the whole season of Lent.
To remind ourselves of this, we have put Alleluia in a box for the 40 days of Lent and on Easter Sunday, Mrs Cotgreave will take it to church and bring it out of the box so that we can once more sing our glorious Alleluia's.
At our first assembly after half term, we will sing "Praise to you O Christ, King of Eternal Glory" and we will sing this in Mass and at Monday assemblies until we break up for Easter.
1st February 2024
Year 5 Mass
This morning Year 5 attended Mass at church.
Fr Manny talked about how sometimes we get weighed down by our problems, but that we should give our worries to God to deal with and not let them weigh us down.
We should trust that God will always be there to help us
January 2024
Year 6 RE
Year 6 have been exploring the different parts of the Mass this term, and they invited Fr Manny and Fr Nithin in to talk to them about it.
They helped them to understand the beginning of Mass, the Offertory, the Consecration and the Holy Communion and the meaning behind the Mass as the Eucharist.
The children loved having their two visitors and learned a lot from them.
18th January 2024
Year 6 Mass
This morning Year 6 went to Mass at school. We heard a reading from St Mark's Gospel about Jesus preaching to the people from a boat on a lake. Fr Nithin told us that sometimes God doesn't give us things that we pray for, because He knows we don't really need them - like speed boats or high performance cars! He told us that Jesus talked to the people from the boat so that they couldn't continue to ask for things, but instead, would have to listen to what He had to say to them.
Listening for God speaking to us is sometimes more important that asking Him for things all the time.
05th January 2024
Epiphany Assembly
Mr McGoldrick led an assembly this morning about the Feast of the Epiphany which we will celebrate in Mass on Sunday
He brought some presents he and his family had received for Christmas and asked us to think about who the presents might have been for. Some were for children, and some were for adults,
We thought about the gifts that the three kings had brought to Jesus - gold. frankincense and myrrh - and wondered if they were the sort of presents we would normally think to bring to a newborn baby.
Mr McGoldrick told us that the gold represented the baby Jesus as a King, frankincense reminds us that he is priest and myrrh was to foretell his death on the cross.
Happy Christmas!
25 December 2023
At the Vigil Mass on 24th December, we lit the final candle on the Advent Wreath. The white candle, also known as the Christ candle, represents purity and the life of the sinless Christ.
This morning, one of our Posadas which have been travelling around the school arrived at church and was placed in front of the stable.
We wish our staff, families and wider school community a very happy and peaceful Christmas.
End of term Mass
15 December 2023
After a hectic few weeks with Nativity rehearsals, pantomimes and our wonderful Nativity performances, it was lovely to all come together for Mass - an oasis of calm.
From Reception to Year 6 our children sang and prayed beautifully and our servers from Year 6 and Year 5 were perfect.
It was a lovely way to bring the term to a close.
14 December 2023
KS2 Nativity
Our traditional Nativity was performed by KS2 with great joy. With singing and readings, tney told us all about the Christmas story, from the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary to the three kings arriving with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
This was followed by some enthusiastic Christmas songs - Year 3 treated us to Jingle Bells, Year 4 sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Year 5 did a rousing version of The 12 Days of Christmas (always a crowd pleaser!) and Year 6 finished off with a beautiful rendition of Winter Wonderland.
Our choir sang 3 beautiful hymns and we finished with the whole of KS2 lifting the roof with "The Virgin Mary had a baby boy" and "Rejoice with us this Christmas" Our Facebook page has a short clip of this last one and it's definitely worth the search!
Well done KS 2 - another amazing Nativity.
12 December 2023
EYFS and KS1 Nativity
We were treated to an amazing performance of "Away in a Manger", a Nativity play about Maurice the Mule who REALLY didn't like things in his manger which shouldn't be there - a spiders web, a mouse playing hide and seek, a hen laying an egg and a bird building her nest. Then one day, some very special people arrived in his stable, and although he didn't understand it at first, Maurice soon learned just how special they were.
Well done to all our performers who read, acted and sang so beautifully.
11 December 2023
Family Advent craft
We had a lovely turn out for our Advent craft night. Our families made Advent wreaths and then we had a short prayer service led by Mr McGoldrick We listened to a reading from the Gospels and lit our school Advent wreath while we sang our Advent song and we finished with a prayer. It felt like a very special evening.
04 December 2023
Year 3 Advent Art
As part of our Advent preparations, Year 3 have made some wonderful digital artwork wreaths.
30 November 2023
Year 6 Mass - Feast of St Andrew's
This morning, Year 6 went to church for Mass. As it was the feast of St Andrew, one of the disciples of Jesus, we sang "Follow me, Follow me" and listened to the story of how Jesus had called the fishermen Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Him.
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 41:19)
Father Manny talked about how special Jesus must have seemed to them for them to follow Him, even though they didn't know who He was and encouraged us to have the same faith in Jesus.
Our key words were Trust and Respond - Trust in Jesus and Respond to His call.
17 November 2023
Year 3 Mass.
This morning Year 3 celebrated Mass in church for the first time as a class. Father Nithin talked to them about some of the things in the church and answered some of their questions.
We're looking forward to some of them making their First Holy Communion in May next year when they will be able to receive Jesus in the form of the Blessed Sacrament at Communion every time they go to Mass.
November - Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
We are creating a Remembrance Tree in our prayer room. Children and staff are invited to write the names of loved ones who have died and add them to our tree. Some of our Year 6 boys collected some real leaves to write on.
01 November 2023
Feast of All Saints
Thank you to Fr Nithin for coming into school to help us celebrate the Feast of All Saints. He talked to us about some different saints and said that the best way to become a saint is to pray.
19th October
Year 4 Mass
Year 4 attended Mass at church this morning. We are always very proud to take our children to church as they pray and sing beautifully. Lots of parishioners tell us how lovely it is to see the children.
11 October 2023
Year 5 Art Day - Gospel Values
Year 5 have had a visit from artist Sophie Martin, who helped them create some beautiful crossed based on our Gospel Values.
Month of the Holy Rosary
As part of our celebrations of the Rosary during October, we are holding rosary sessions in our prayer room.
Mrs Ward in Rome
Over the Summer, Mrs Ward was lucky enough to have a trip to Rome.
She had a very special time, because she was invited to an audience with the Pope. She took with her a crucifix and a set of Rosary beads for the school, as well as some Rosary beads for Mrs Cotgreave which the Pope blessed.
08 September 2023
Start of term Mass and Rosary
This morning, Father Manny came to celebrate Mass with us, for the Nativity of Mary, mother of Jesus.
Our new Year 6 servers were very excited to serve (if a little nervous!) but they did a wonderful job.
After Mass, we came back together as a school to recite a decade of the Rosary, for Mary's birthday. We prayed for all those we know who are poorly.
04 August 2023
From Miss Wright to Mrs Boylan!
Weddings are always exciting, but when it’s a member of our school it’s even more so!
We have been practising hymns for Miss Wright’s wedding over the last few weeks of school, and safe to say, we definitely did her proud.
The children were so well behaved in church and their singing was beautiful. Many guests spoke to staff later to say how much they had enjoyed it.
It was so lovely to be able to take part in such a special and joyous occasion.
Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Boylan, and thank you for including us in your very special day.
18 July 2023
St Bernard’s Mass
Usually held in the grounds of Furness Abbey, the weather was just too nasty this year and so our Year 6 joined St Bernard and some children from the other Catholic primary schools in the area in St Bernard’s hall instead.
Bishop Paul celebrated the Mass and it was very special to take our Year 6’s who are leaving us soon, some of them to go to St Bernard’s.
12 July 2023
End of term and leaver’s Mass
As always, we celebrated a Mass at the end of the term. We prayed that everyone has a safe summer, and that our Year 6 children who are moving to secondary school have a smooth move to Year 7, and that they will always remember the things St Pius has taught them about the Gospel Values and loving each other, and God.
Good luck in your new schools Year 6 and remember - you will always be part of the St Pius family!
29 June 2023
Confirmation
3 of our Year 6 pupils were confirmed this evening, along with nearly 40 other young people from our parish.
Confirmation is when we get to say ‘Yes’ to God ourselves, rather than our parents and godparents as at Baptism. We renew our baptismal promises and take a Confirmation name.
Afterwards, we had a little get together in the parish centre where Bishop Paul presented them all with a certificate.
09 June 2023
Corpus Christi
Fr Nithin joined us this morning to lead our Eucharistic Adoration and procession for Corpus Christi.
It was a very special moment as Fr Nithin and our altar servers processed around the hall with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance. All the children made the sign of the cross as it passed, and they were all very prayerful and reverential.
Thank you for joining us, Fr Nithin.
25 May 2023
Year 6 Mass
As we prepare to say goodbye to our Year 6, it was lovely to be able to celebrate Mass with them in church. This was their final class Mass at St Pius.
They read beautifully and our altar servers, as always, did an amazing job
22 May 2023
May Procession
We held our May procession this afternoon. Each child has made a flower and they have been made into bouquets from each of the classes.
Don’t they look colourful?
Afterwards, Mrs Cotgreave took them into the prayer room, where they made her smile every time she looked at them.
21 May 2023
First Holy Communion
This morning, 5 of our Year 3 boys made their First Holy Communion at St Mary’s.
As always, it is a privilege to be able to help the young people on their sacramental journey, and we hope they continue their journey with Christ for the rest of their lives.
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18 May 2023
Feast of the Ascension
This morning, Fr Ajish came to celebrate Mass with us in the hall as a whole school.
The feast of the Ascension is when we remember Jesus being taken up into heaven 40 days after his death and resurrection.
We love Mass all together, but today was tinged with sadness, as were saying goodbye to Fr Ajish who is moving to Ambleside to be Parish Priest, and chaplain for Castlerigg Manor, part of the Lancaster Diocese Youth Service.
We presented him with some gifts and wished him well as he starts his new adventure.
Don’t be a stranger Fr!
24-28 April 2023
St Pius X School birthday
Our school’s feast day is 21 August, and so we are never in school to celebrate it. This year, instead, we celebrate on our school’s birthday – 22nd April.
Each of the classes learned about St Pius in their RE lessons, and Year 1 led an assembly for their parents all about St Pius, who was Pope from 1903-1914.
As with all the best birthday celebrations, and holding with St Pius school tradition, we had a visit from the ice cream van!
09 April 2023
Easter Sunday
This morning, at Easter Sunday Mass, we brought our Alleluia back out of its box ready to sing and say it again at Mass once more.
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
06 April 2023
Chrism Mass
Today is Maundy Thursday and this evening we will celebrate Mass in remembrance of the Last Supper.
This morning, however, at our Cathedral in Lancaster, the Bishop and all the priest from the Diocese gathered to celebrate Mass. The Bishop blessed the oils which will be used in all the sacraments over the coming year.
After that, all the priests renewed their vows. to God and to the Bishop
Can you spot Fr Manny and Fr Ajish on the photos?
29 March 2023
End of term Mass
Our whole school Masses are always very special, but today we had something else exciting.
Miss Spiers is getting married over the Easter holidays and we surprised her by inviting her soon to be husband and her son in to school so that Fr Manny could bless their forthcoming marriage.
We hope they all have a wonderful day and we look forward to hearing all about it when Miss Spiers returns to school as Mrs Ross.
To add to the special Mass, our Little Lambs joined us at the end so that Father Manny could give them all a blessing. They behaved beautifully and were very prayerful.
24th March 2023
Mater Christi Multi Academy Trust feast day
At the beginning of the year, St Pius joined the Mater Christi MAT, with lots of other Catholic schools in the diocese.
The Feast of the Annunciation (when Mary said ‘Yes’ to the Angel Gabriel) was chosen as the trust’s feast day.
After a lovely day with Margaret Wright, we held our Angelus Day. Every class made a third of a triptych (3 religious pictures put together, often as a backdrop to an altar in church) and the children all coloured in their own as well.
We came together as a school to say the Angelus, a special prayer to Our Lady.
One of our triptychs has gone to the Mater Christ MAT office, one will be displayed in the hall and one will remain in the prayer room.
02 February 2023
Candlemas
Today is officially the last day of Christmas in the calendar of the Catholic Church. Year 4 were lucky enough to be attending Mass at St Mary’s this morning.
They took new candles for the prayer tables in each of the class rooms and the prayer room, and Fr Manny blessed them for us.
The children very carefully processed into church with lighted candles. Christ be our light!
06 January 2023
Epiphany Mass
We celebrated Mass as a whole school today, for the feast of the Epiphany. We love to come together as a school to sing our praises to God and pray for each other.
15 December 2022
Traditional Nativity
KS2 performed a traditional nativity this evening, with Bible readings, carols and poems. They have all been practising for weeks and did such a wonderful and prayerful job.
After the Nativity, each class performed a Christmas song they had chosen – Year 6 were especially excited to be rocking it with Wizzard!! We finished with a rousing rendition of We Wish you a Merry Christmas.
We wish all our pupils, families, staff and governors a very Happy Christmas!
14 December 2022
Whoops!!
Today, our wonderful EYFS and KS1 performed their Nativity – Whoops-a-Daisy Angel. This is the story of an angel who never gets things quite, but even so, one day is trusted with a very important job.
She has to tell everyone about the birth of Jesus. Whoops-a-Daisy Angel did the job so well that all her friends were very proud of her.
We are also very proud of our children and all the staff who worked so hard to put on this fantastic performance.
12 December 2022
End of term Mass
Today we had our whole school end of term Mass. We prayed that everybody has a safe, happy and holy Christmas.
Fr Ajish blessed our beautiful new nativity scene as we sang Away in a Manger
27 November 2022
Advent
We have a new advent calendar in the prayer room. Every day, a new figure will be added to the Nativity scene.
21 November 2022
Jesse Tree
We were delighted to have Margaret Wright back with us to help us get ready for Advent by telling us the story of Jesse
12 November 2022
Some of our choir sang at Pam and Chris's wedding today. We were very proud of them!
Congratulations to Pam and Chris on your wedding day and thank you for asking us to be part of your special day.
10 November 2022
Year 6 Mass
Today, Year 6 attended Mass at St Mary's with the parish. Our altar servers were very excited to be able to serve in church and they did a wonderful and prayerful job.
31 October 2022
All Saints
November 01 is All Saints day when we remember all those who have died and gone to live in heaven.
We celebrated Mass as a whole school the day before, so that we could learn a little about it.
October
Month of the Holy Rosary
October is dedicated to Mary and the Holy Rosary, so in the prayer room at break time, we have had the opportunity to pray a decade of the Rosary.
05 October 2022
Harvest Festival
Today we had our Harvest Festival – each class had prepared a song or a poem, and Year 6 led us in our prayers.
We collected food for the food bank and Year 6 will be taking it there soon.
22 September 2022
Tour of the Relics of St Bernadette
Mr McGoldrick and Mrs Cotgreave took some children from Years 5 and 6 to Lancaster Cathedral for a very special reason.
The relics of St Bernadette have been brought from Lourdes and are being toured round the whole country.
We were so excited to learn that they were coming to our own Diocese Cathedral at Lancaster, and organised a trip to see them.
St Bernadette was born in 1844 and when she was a young girl, Our Lady appeared to her 18 times. At first nobody believed that Our Lady was appearing to her, but eventually they learned that she a was telling the truth and Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage for Catholics, particularly those who are sick, or those who are praying for those who are ill.
The children in school had made a book of prayers and we placed this at the foot of a statue of Our Lady. We also took a candle with our school logo on it and put it with the candles of other schools.
13 September 2022
Whole school Mass
What better way to begin our new school year than with a whole school Mass? Our children are always so well behaved during Mass, and pray and sing beautifully. We continue to be very proud of them.
18 July 2022
St Bernard’s Abbey Mass
Every year St Bernard’s hold a Mass at Furness Abbey and our Year 6 were excited to be able to attend this.
It was very hot, but staff were on hand with umbrellas for shade and plant demisters to mist the children with!
It was wonderful to be in such a beautiful setting with the other Catholic schools in the area, and to attend Mass celebrated by Bishop Paul.
26 June 2022
First Holy Communion
We always feel so privileged to be able to help our children on their journey towards a closer friendship with God and today at Mass, we were able to celebrate a very special milestone as 5 of them made their First Holy Communion.
They were all very prayerful and it was a beautiful occasion.
14 June 2022
Corpus Christi
Today, Fr Manny came into school to lead our Eucharistic Procession and Adoration for Corpus Christi.
He brought the consecrated Host from church and placed it in a monstrance before processing it round the hall past all our children and staff.
It was a very prayerful moment.
06 June 2002
Rosary on the Coast
This morning we took part in Rosary on the Coast (but from the hall!) to pray for peace in the world
27 May 2022
May Procession
Today we held our May Procession.
We gathered in the hall to pray the rosary, and the processed outside to where our statue of Our Lady is.
Outside Mr McGoldrick read us the passage from St Luke’s Gospel where the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her she was going to have a child who would be the Son of God. Though afraid Mary replied
"I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me as you have said (St Luke 1 38)
Each class had made flowers and after we had crowned the statue with a floral crown, everybody brought their flowers up to present to Our Lady.
It was a beautiful occasion and the handmade flowers made it feel very special. After the service, Mrs Cotgreave displayed all the flowers in the prayer room. It made it very colourful!
26 May 2022
First Holy Communion – Round 2
Our second round of First Holy Communion preparation began this term, and our 5 children today made their First Confession.
Fr Ajish came into school and we lit some candles in the prayer room to make it feel special. Each of the children lit a candle in the hall and said a quiet prayer.
17 April 2022
Happy Easter!
At the beginning of Lent, we took our Alleluia and put it in a box to remind us that as Lent is a solemn time, we do not sing or say Alleluia within the Mass. This morning at Easter Sunday Mass, two of our children helped to bring it out again.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
16 April 2022
Some of our Polish families took part in a special Polish Easter tradition in church this morning.
They decorated baskets and filed them with such as eggs, ham, salt and pepper and bread. They are brought to church and the children present them on the altar and the priest blesses them.
20 and 27 March 2022
First Holy Communion
Over the past 2 weeks, our children have made their First Holy Communion and we were so excited to be able to join them at Mass for their very special moment. We hope they will continue to receive Christ in the Eucharist at every opportunity.
02 March 2022
Ash Wednesday
Our Lent began by joining the parish Mass for Ash Wednesday on the live-stream. Mr Marshall was at church ready to receive his ashes, and then to bring some back for us all to receive too.
Mr Marshall, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Cotgreave placed a small cross of ashes on the forehead of everyone in school to remind us all that God made us from dust. They said “Repent and believe in the Gospel” and we responded “Amen”
07 February 2022
First Confession
Our 5 children who are preparing for First Holy Communion went to church today to make their First Confession.
Fr Manny spoke to them and made them feel welcome (and less nervous!) before hearing their Confessions on the Sanctuary. They all lit candles afterwards and then Fr showed them the Confessional box where Confessions are usually heard.
24 January 2022
First Holy Communion
Our First Holy Communion sessions have started, and we have 5 children who are preparing to receive the Holy Eucharist later in the year. Please keep them in your prayers.
06 January 2022
Epiphany
We joined the parish on the live-stream Mass for the Epiphany. It was strange for the children, but they rose to the occasion.
14 and 15 December 2021
Nativities
We were delighted to be able to perform live for our parents this year. KS2 performed a traditional Nativity before each class sang a Christmas song they had been practicing.
KS1 have been working very hard to learn all the songs from their Nativity Hump! They acted, read and sang their little hearts out!!
08 December 2021
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Some of choir joined with the other Catholic school in Barrow to take part in Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. After Mass we went into the church garden to sing carols by candlelight. The children were all beautifully behaved – if a little cold
07 December 2021
Jesse Tree Day
Today we were visited by Margaret Wright, who talked to the whole school about the Jesse Tree. We learned the story of Jesse, who was the father of David, Israel’s greatest King. Jesus came from the family of David.
“The royal line of David is the tree that has been cut down, but just as new branches sprout from a stump, so a new king will arrive from among David’s descendants” (Isaiah 11 1)
Each class then made their own Jesse tree, decorated with symbols and pictures all about Jesus family.
08 September 2021
Hymn Practice
We’ve been having our usual Wednesday morning hymn practices, but having only one class in a week. It’s been lovely, but we really enjoyed this morning when we all came back to the hall to sing some hymns together.
One of our favourite is Sing it in the Valleys!!
24 June 2021
Mass in person
It’s been a long time since we were able to come together in church to celebrate Mass and our Year 4 were the first class to be able to do so.
It was lovely to be able to go back into church with them, and we look forward to being able to celebrate Mass as a whole school before long.
December 2020
Nativity
We should be posting pictures of our school Nativities, but due to our Year Bubbles in school, we are still unable to be all together.
The children have worked hard to learn some Christmas carols and although we were not able to have parents and friends in to watch our Nativity, we did video each class and put them all together into a video for you to enjoy, which we will share on ClassDojo
First Holy Communion
It felt very strange to be holding our First Holy Communion Mass on a Wednesday evening in November rather than a Sunday morning in May, but what a lovely evening it was!!
It was very special to be in the church tonight as we witnessed our children receiving Christ for the first time in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
There were only a few of us there, but the church felt full of prayer.
01 October 2020
First Confession
It’s been such a long time coming, but wonderful to celebrate the children’s First Confession today. They were all so prayerful (if a little nervous!) and we are very proud of them,
26th June 2020
Hearts at Home
During the month of June, our RE challenge for the Feast of the Sacred Heart was for the children was to make a heart out of something at home. We were thrilled with all the hearts that came through, and the number of different types of things they used to make them – from lego to sand, from bird seed to toy cars!!
We gave Dojo points to the person who Mrs Cotgreave thought best showed what our hearts stand for – love. He made a heart out of bird seed, showing he cared for God’s creatures. Well done!!
24th June 2020
Rosary
This morning, Mrs Cotgreave led the Rosary with a small group of children. We prayed for a swift end to the Covid pandemic and lockdown so that we would all soon be back in school together.
07th February 2020
Our Lady of Walsingham
The statue of Our Lady from the shrine in Walsingham is touring the country and Mrs Roberts, Mr Marshall and Mrs Cotgreave took some of our children to Lancaster Cathedral to see it.
We were welcomed by one of the nuns from Walsingham, who told us the story of Our Lady of Walsingham, and then Bishop Paul came into the Cathedral and spoke to us as well.
As he was talking to us, Benediction started, so we all knelt and took part.
18th October 2019
A parent and two pupils presented Mr McGoldrick with a wonderful gift today. The parent hand finished it herself. It’s beautiful! It’ll be taking pride of place in the entrance.
18th October 2019
Yesterday we had a lovely day learning about the Rights of a Child. Thank you Desiree from CAFOD/CAFOD Lancaster. We learned so much. The day started with a whole school assembly followed by workshops throughout our Key Stage 2 classes.
17th October 2019
Two of our students were spotted looking at our Catholic Life display during their lunch time. They were discussing the sporting event one of them had taken part in and a trip to church with the choir that the other had taken part in. They were very proud to be on the board.
15th October 2019
Our pupils did us proud once again! Tonight, St Pius X helped lead an evening of the Parish Novena. What a spiritual and prayerful evening
14th October 2019
Meet our new Year 6 Prayer Leaders.
14th October 2019
Prayer Club
Our pupils have enjoyed making rosary beads at break time in the Prayer Room.
11th October 2019
Year 4 had a wonderful Mass at church today.
In preparation for the parish Novena, the children lit a candle, prayed and reflected on the icon of ‘Our Lady of Furness’.
The Novena is nine nights of prayer dedicated to Our Lady where we offer prayers for the needs of the Church and our community. They're beautifully prayerful and spiritual. There will be readings, hymns, prayers and of course candle lighting. Lasting about 30-45 mins.
Five nights will be led by our parish schools. Children from St. Pius will be leading on Tuesday evening starting at 6.30 pm.
All are welcome and it would be fantastic to see as many families there as possible.
10th October 2019
Year 2 have started the process of making a 'Wonder Tree'. Any wondering thoughts or questions they have during RE can be written onto a leaf and hung onto branches in our classroom and these will be referred to throughout the year. We had lots of wondering questions about the religious stories we have been learning recently. We were very lucky that Father Manny was in school to help us with these!
9th October 2019
What a wonderful job Reception did in their R.E lesson.
7th October 2019
Some of choir did an amazing job singing at the Confirmation Mass tonight. They did themselves and the school proud.
5th October 2019
What a busy day Friday was!
Year 3 and 4 started the day with a beautiful Mass to celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, which included a blessing of our food bank donations.
The whole school celebrated National Poetry Day by writing and performing poems inspired by Pope Francis’ letter, Laudato Si’, a call for us to look after our environment, ‘our common home’.
In the afternoon, we all learnt about the life of St. Francis of Assasi.
And to top it all up we brightened up our clothing to raise money for CAFOD!
Year 6 were fantastic, supporting younger children throughout the school.
5th October 2019
We love it when parents and parishioners stay for a brew ☕️ and biscuit
5th October 2019
Four of our teachers were commissioned this evening at the Education Mass by Bishop Paul.
3rd October 2019
Our new writing in the entrance.
30th September 2019
MacMillan Coffee Morning ☕️
The final total was £156.34 (updated total). Thank you for supporting the event.
29th September 2019
Family Mass
What an amazing turnout! It was a lovely Mass and all the children were extremely well behaved and polite.
25th September 2019
Nursery are very excited about their first Mass on Sunday 29th September. They are very enthusiastic to bring their personalised invitations home! Mrs Steele really enjoyed helping out! We are looking forward to welcoming all of our families joining us this Sunday at St Mary’s Church (Duke street) at 11 o’clock
2nd September 2019
Today the staff had a lovely INSET, led by Sr Margaret at Boarbank Hall, thinking about Christian Ethos. It was a lovely way to begin a new academic
21st August 2019
Today is the feast of St Pius X. This photo was taken at the underground Basilica in Lourdes a few weeks ago. It depicts the Pope celebrating Holy Communion with children.
16th July 2019
Kinamba Community Project
Here are some photos of the children in Rwanda wearing our uniform. Old uniform can still be donated to this project. Please drop old uniform at the School Office.
21st June 2019
Our Year 6 pupils were fortunate enough to be invited to attend and take part in this today. Thank you for the invitation.
20th June 2019
On Monday Fr Manny led a Eucharistic Adoration service, which incorporated a Corpus Christi Procession.
20th June 2019
Fr Manny delivered some altar server training for some of our junior pupils this week.
19th June 2019
On Friday we held a retirement mass for Mrs Lynn Pinkney, who worked at St Pius X for 15 years. Enjoy your retirement!
22nd May 2019
The bag2school collection is after half-term. Are you having a sort out?
21st May 2019
A new addition to the St Pius X family. Congratulations
19th May 2019
Don’t forget your cake donations for tomorrow. The School Council have organised a charity cake sale in aid of Mary’s Meals and St Mary's Hospice.
Cakes will be on sale for the whole school tomorrow break time. Cakes will be 50p each.
18th May 2019
We were presented with a Tree of Friendship
16th May 2019
Year 3 had a lovely morning at Mass at St Mary’s followed by a crowing of Mary
14th May 2019
Craft club have made their own Decade of the Rosary to celebrate Mary's Month of May
10th May 2019
Earlier this week Mrs Gill led a lovely assembly about Mary, Our Mother. The month of May is dedicated to her.
What can the children remember from the assembly?
24th April 2019
The final load for the Adlent Calendar Foodbank collection took place today. We collected the most food from across the Primary Schools.
18th April 2019
Reception and nursery had a lovely time today making yummy chocolate nests for Easter
18th April 2019
The winners of our Easter Garden competition. There were some amazing entries. Well done to everyone who entered.
18th April 2019
Year One had a lovely afternoon Easter egg hunting
18th April 2019
What a lovely assembly this morning, Happy Easter everyone
18th April 2019
Happy Easter from Little Lambs
18th April 2019
Our nursery class looking after God's animals. This is Gordy a duckling saved by one of our nursery children.
17th April 2019
Easter Fayre
16th April 2019
Great fun at toddlers this morning having fun making chicks
2nd April 2019
Spring is in the air.
23rd March 2019
Our second Foodbank collection weighed in at an amazing 85kg. Keep your donations coming.
22nd March 2019
Our choir did an excellent job singing at Barrow Market Hall - thank you for having us. We received lovely feedback from the market manager.
In addition, our tombola stall raised over £120
20th March 2019
We hung our homemade bird feeders out today for the birds
22nd March 2019
Year 4 had a fabulous morning at the Trinity Church Centre. Thank you to everyone there for making us feel so welcome.
12th March 2019
The food bank have been and made their first collection. Wow! What an amazing amount - so many people from the local community will benefit from this. This is impressive... keep it coming.
12th March 2019
Reception and Year 2 siblings with their food bank contribution for Adlent. They also got Easter eggs but they brought those in yesterday.
6th March 2019
Today Fr Manny led a lovely Ash Wednesday service to begin the season of Lent. #CatholicSchool
What are you and your child giving up for Lent?
25th February 2019
Wear pink for Miss Carter day.
14th February 2019
We really enjoyed Ostley house today
12th February 2019
Yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Mr McGoldrick shared the story of Sister Bernadette Moriau - the 70th official miracle to take place at Lourdes. He had the pleasure of meeting her at the British Lourdes Medical Conference a few weeks ago.
Can your child remember anything about the story?
19th December 2018
Our children looked festive in their Christmas jumpers on Friday. We raised just over £116 for Bay Hospitals Charity, our local children’s ward.
7th December 2018
A selection of our choir are sing at Barrow Market today.
5th December 2018
It was lovely to see Church full for our Christmas performance. The children were fabulous
24th November 2018
Earlier this week Fr Manny came to school to carry out Altar Server training.
16th November 2018
Congratulations Miss Light & Family.
Elijah Godfrey was born yesterday weighing 6lb 10oz, at 12:54. They came home today and will hopefully make a visit to see the children and staff next week
16th November 2018
Today Fr Manny spoke to the children about the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament ahead of our Holy Hour next week. The children were astonished seeing the Monstrance for the first time.
Can your child tell you what the Monstrance is used for?
11th November 2018
It was lovely to see so many children and their families today at our first Family Mass. Unfortunately, we didn’t get many photographs but the children did a great job and it was lovely coming together. #WeAreTheChurch Lancaster Diocese
9th November 2018
Thank you to all the parents and family members that joined us on our trip to the cenotaph. We have been learning all about Remembrance Day and why we wear poppies. We took our hand made poppies and crosses to lay and pay our respects. Then sang our special song and said a prayer for the soldiers who lost their lives.
6th November 2019
We raised an amazing £155 total from our Bag2School collection.
2nd November 2018
Work has started on our Gospel Values tree. We can’t wait to see the finished product
19th October 2018
Our Assembly looked nice and bright this afternoon for Brighten Up Day. We raised £131 for CAFOD
18thOctober 2018
Our choir look smart. They were testing out the choir ties ahead of the Confirmation Mass tomorrow night.
5th October 2018
Little Lambs would like to remind all nursery and reception families about their welcome mass this Sunday. It will take place at 11am at St Mary’s Church. We hope to see you all there.
27th September 2018
We had a lovely assembly led by Desiree for CAFOD Lancaster today.
13th July 2018
These three wonderful children did a great job at the Novena last night.
6th July 2018
Denim 4 Dementia
29th June 2018
These five special children made their First Holy Communion this morning during Mass. What a wonderful celebration.
21st June 2018
Look what turned up at school this week! #FindAPebble
10th June 2018
Some of our children made their First Holy Communion this morning. Congratulations. ⛪
26th May 2018
Year 3 enjoyed taking part in the May procession at St Mary’s church yesterday morning.
13th May 2018
It was a pleasure witnessing these two young men being Baptised today.
11th May 2018
Yesterday, Fr Manny celebrated Mass at school for the Ascension of the Lord
9th April 2018
Mr McGoldrick has the pleasure of attending the Episcopal Ordination of Mgr. Paul Swarbrick this morning.
1st April 2018
A great walk and Mass
30th March 2018
Reception
Mrs Hurley, Mrs Woodend and all the children would like to wish everyone a very happy Easter.
29th March 2018
Our finished posters from RE day.
29th March 2018
St Pius X Corporal Acts of Mercy Volunteers did a great job of sorting donations for Barrow Food Bank. They have fulfilled their first act - Feed the Hungry
29th March 2018
Mrs Steele’s and Mrs Keen’s Easter egg raffle raised £106 for CAFOD
28th March 2018
We had a lovely RE themed morning on Holy Week today. Each class took a different day and carried out activities to create a poster for display.
27th March 2018
Some of our First Holy Communicants made their First Confession today.
26th March 2018 - Learning about Palm Sunday
Today we learned about Jesus arriving in Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Here, some of our children are acting out His arrival in Jerusalem to the people waving palm leaves and shouting "Hosanna!"
23rd March 2018
Thanks to everyone at the Trinity Church Centre. Year 5 had a fabulous time. We wish we could have stayed longer!
As a bonus we also added two miles to our Hundred Mile Challenge by walking there and back.
22nd March 2018
What a fabulous Easter Fair
18th March 2018
This wonderful lady organised a fantastic race night for the Parish. She has agreed to do a race night for the school.
17th March 2018
Happy St Patrick’s Day from St Pius X.
16th March 2018
Year 3 and 4 enjoyed Mass this morning.
11th March 2018
Happy Mother’s Day to our wonderful parents and carers...
1st March 2018
Little Lambs celebrating St David’s Day.
16th January 2018
We have had a very exciting morning. Our classroom had been frozen over night! Some of today’s activities included unfreezing toys that had been trapped in blocks of ice, fishing in our icy water tray, painting with frozen paint and making igloos from sugar cubes.
We had lots of fun and talked about how we need to look after old people during the winter months and what we can do to help them.
Below is a link to Age UK. It offers advice on how to help your elderly family members and neighbours.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/our…/campaigning/spread-the-warmth/
16th December 2017
Our choir did a great job this morning singing with the other Catholic schools.
15th December 2017
The school choir sang at Ostley House today. They were amazing!
14th December 2017
Today was St Pius X's first RE Day. We had great fun learning about Advent and about Mission Together - the Bishop's chosen charity.
14th December 2017
Christmas Jumper Day #ActionForChildren
6th December 2017
One of our Year 6 girls brought this advent wreath in that she made at home following our Advent assembly. Can the children remember what the first candle represents?
2nd December 2017
Year 5 were so very well behaved when they attended St Mary’s for Mass on Friday. They also had a lovely time enjoying juice and biscuits afterwards ⛪
1st December 2017
The finished tree. Do you like it?
28th November 2017
Two members of our school (Y3 & 6) volunteered to help the elderly do their Christmas shopping.
21st November 2017
Getting prepared for the Christmas Fayre in Year 6!
20th November 2017
Well Done to all our parents who donated to this worthy cause
17th November 2017
Today Mr McGoldrick and Mrs Roberts were commissioned as Eucharistic Ministers for our Parish.
17th November 2017
It was lovely having Mass at church today. The children were a credit to the school. They had time to pop to the parish rooms for a juice and biscuit.
12th November 2017
It was lovely to see some of our Nursery and Reception children and families at the welcome Mass this morning.
10th November 2017
Our new piano backing made by Keaton's Grandma