St. Mary’s C.P. School

"Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:16

At St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Kells, Christ is at the heart of everything we do. Our Catholic faith shapes our learning, guides our relationships and inspires us to serve others with love, compassion and respect.

Our Mission Statement, “At St Mary’s we grow and learn in the footsteps of Jesus”, expresses our commitment to nurturing every child spiritually, academically and socially, helping them to recognise and develop their God-given gifts. We strive to create a welcoming and inclusive community where all pupils are valued as unique individuals made in the image and likeness of God.

Catholic Life is woven through every aspect of school life. Through prayer, worship, Religious Education, charitable outreach and daily acts of kindness, pupils are encouraged to live out the Gospel values and become faith-filled members of society. We provide opportunities for children to deepen their relationship with God through daily prayer, Celebration of the Word, Masses, liturgies and times of reflection.

We are proud of our strong partnership with families, the Parish of St Mary's, Kells, the Diocese of Lancaster and the wider community. Together, we support our children in growing as disciples of Christ who demonstrate respect, forgiveness, justice and care for others.

Inspired by the teachings of Jesus, we encourage our pupils to put faith into action through service, leadership and stewardship of God's creation. Through charitable fundraising, support for local and global causes and participation in the life of the Church, our children learn that they can make a positive difference in the world.

At St Mary's, we seek to ensure that every child flourishes academically, spiritually and emotionally, leaving our school as a confident, compassionate and faithful individual who is ready to embrace the next stage of life's journey and to be a witness to Christ in the wider world.

Our Mission Statement

Our school has its own distinctive mission statement which expresses our shared sense of purpose:

“At St Mary’s we grow and learn in the footsteps of Jesus”

At St Mary’s CP School, Kells, our mission statement reflects the heart of everything we do. We chose the words, 

“At St Mary’s we grow and learn in the footsteps of Jesus”,  because they capture our commitment to helping every child flourish academically, spiritually, emotionally and socially within a caring Christian community.

Following the example of Jesus means treating one another with kindness, respect, compassion and forgiveness. These values are lived out each day through our relationships, our learning, our worship and the way we support and encourage one another. We strive to create an environment where every child feels valued, safe and confident to reach their full potential.

For our children, this mission statement means developing not only knowledge and skills, but also the character and values that will guide them throughout their lives. By learning in the footsteps of Jesus, they grow into thoughtful, resilient and responsible individuals who are ready to make a positive contribution to their families, communities and the wider world. Our hope is that the foundations built at St Mary’s will inspire a lifelong love of learning, a strong sense of purpose and a commitment to caring for others.

During our New Term Mass, Father Kevan presented the badges to our new School Council. He also said a prayer and blessing for a successful year ahead, in service of their school.

St Mary's 90th Birthday Celebrations

Our school celebrated it's 90th birthday in July! We had a wonderful afternoon with our school, parent, family and parish communities.

The Creed

To help the children learn ‘The Creed’ and to have an understanding of this special prayer, the children were asked to displa a piece of artwork that is displayed in our school hall.

Prayer and Liturgy

One of the most important tasks of Catholic schools is to lead children, through celebrating liturgies, towards an understanding and appreciation of prayer and the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. Prayer and liturgy  is an integral part of school life at St Mary’s and  is central to the Catholic tradition.

Laudato Si’ for children

Pope Francis wrote a letter addressed to every person on the planet, asking us all to protect the earth. Will you play your part to protect our common home?

The children at St Mary’s are trying to think of different ways that we can help in the challenge to protect our planet. Our Laudato Si' group work together to carry out Pope Francis' wishes in our school, local and global community.

Symbols in RE

Children across the school learn about the different symbols associated with the Catholic religion such as Lent and Easter. In Year 2 the children found out about the Holy Trinity. They created triangles to help them to remember that God is made up of three parts but is one God.

The Year of the Word

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales  designated 2020 as the ‘The God Who Speaks: The Year of the Word’ to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of verbum Domini- Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation on ‘The Word of the Lord’.

There was a range of activities that took place over the year based on the gospel of Matthew. Here is an example of some  of the work that the children created based on the ‘Journey of Matthew.’

Holy Week

Children across school have been completing a range of activities around Holy Week. They have retold the Bible stories – such as ‘The Last Supper’, ‘Good Friday’ and ‘Easter Sunday. They have also completed art work based on the Stations of the Cross and have taken part in Prayer and Liturgy led by Year 6, where they will reflect upon the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

Decorated Egg Competition

We held our decorated egg competition and the entries were amazing. We have some very talented children at St. Mary’s. We talked about the symbolism of the egg. How it symbolises new life.

Ascension Day – Prayer and Liturgy – Year 4

The Year 4 did a whole school prayer and liturgy via zoom on Ascension Day. This was also shared to our parents on Seesaw. The children thought carefully about this important time in the churches calendar.

Ascension role play

The children listened to the story of the ‘ascension’ and we talked about how Jesus ascended into heaven to be with his daddy. We then acted out how Jesus maybe said good bye to his Disciples before he went back up into heaven to live with his father, God. The children took it in turns to be different roles and thought carefully about how the different people in the story may have felt at this time.

Fratelli Tutti – Year 2 Prayer and Liturgy

The Year 2 class did a whole school prayer and liturgy based on Pope Francis’ message in Fratelli Tutti. They explained to the children how we are all brothers and sisters and need to take care of each other. They based their liturgy on the story of ‘The Good Samaritan’. Their message was that we need to help everybody.

May is the month of Mary

This morning to celebrate the month of May and Our Lady we listened to a very special song: Immaculate Mary. We then listened to and joined in with one decade of the rosary. The children learned all about rosary beads and what they are used for. All of our Reception friends were very respectful and joined in amazingly well with the prayers.