Spiritual life
|
Saint Martin's was founded in 1948 by the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena based in King William's Town, South Africa. Our Catholic heritage is the foundation of our school and influences all aspects of school life. As such, supporting our pupils to develop spiritually and morally is of fundamental importance. Prayer is a normal part of school life as is a focus on kindness, charity and religious development. Divinity (Religious Education) is a core subject alongside Maths, English and Science. All pupils sit GCSE RE.
Year 11 leavers' liturgyOh what an emotional day it was, as we officially said goodbye to our wonderful year 11 students. Not a dry eye in school (maybe this was tears of laughter as well as tears of sadness though). A big thank you to everyone involved and all who prepared the Leavers' Liturgy.
Please remember we are only ever just a phone call away if you ever need our support or guidance. We wish our students all the best in life and wish you well in your future college lives and in your work. You will be missed. The Big Sleep Out 2020Staff and students swapped their comfy bedrooms to sleep rough for the night to raise money for Lawrence House charity that helps homeless young people.
We started our evening with an opening liturgy led by the children. We were blessed to be joined by Bishop Patrick who stayed and chatted with the staff and children. Bishop Patrick delivered the final blessing. The pupils had an opportunity to reflect on the Good Samaritan scripture reading and how they can show kindness and compassion to others. Louise, the manager from Lawrence house joined us and delivered a short talk on the history of Lawrence house and how they support young people. The 54 youngsters and 5 staff put themselves in the shoes of the homeless, with just coats, sleeping bags and cardboard boxes to brave the elements overnight, away from modern creature comfort. We raised an incredible amount ….£4,666.95 
Lenten frugal lunches 2020As part of our service to the local community we supported St Peter's Catholic Church with their lenten frugal lunches. The children were described as *5 waiters and waitresses.
confirmation welcome massOn Friday 28th February, a large group of our young people made an important commitment; they are preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation.
Alton Castle Residential retreatOn Wednesday 26th-Friday 28th February 2020, 33 pupils and 4 staff took part in a residential retreat at Alton Castle in Staffordshire. The centre offers the children the opportunity of taking part in some really exciting outdoor activities whilst considering their spiritual impact too.
Our theme for the retreat was 'Our calling?', and each fun activity gave the children a chance to reflect on the theme. The children took time to consider what they had achieved so far in their lives and reflected positively on where their life journey was going to take them. The friendly staff led the children in night time activities after dinner which ranged from fun team games to meditations. Over the next two days, the children had the opportunity to take part in three activities each. Mountain Biking, Trekking, Survival, and Archery Each night, the children took part in night prayer; rooms were set to be peaceful and calm, with candles burning and quiet music playing. All the children were involved and eager to take part praying for their own families, friends and concerns. To end the trip we all took part in a beautiful Mass which we had learnt new hymns for. The Mass was the culmination of a wonderful few days where everyone involved had been touched, in some way, by the events which took place at the castle. Our trip was a real success, and we are now putting our improved team work skills to use in school. ash wednesday liturgiesAs a school community, we witnessed the beginning of the Lenten season by celebrating Ash Wednesday. It was a thought provoking and uplifting experience. The ashes were blessed by Fr Frank before the Eucharistic ministers distributed them to students and staff.
Pupil led Act of worshipWell done to 8G for leading and preparing today's AOW. This week's theme is Care.
Year 7 class masses 20207V and 7E have celebrated their class Mass. Thank you to everyone who helped to plan, prepare and evaluate.
"During the Mass I felt God's presence in the chapel and it was a beautiful celebration. It really made me feel closer to God" Connor. St thomas aquinas feast day- cmat event.On Tuesday 28th January 2020, we attended our annual Catholic Multi Academy Trust (CMAT) event to celebrate our Feast Day. The event took place at the Ramgarhia Community Centre.
The Key note speaker on the day was Christine Allen, the Director of Cafod. She shared with us Cafod’s latest focus on the Amazon rain-forest and what we can do to combat the huge amounts of deforestation. As part of all of this, each school was presented with a small tree at the end of Mass, which was blessed by Bishop Patrick. HINCKLEY FOOD BANK-advent 2019 appealToday, a small group of The Divinity Team delivered food donated by the whole school to Hinckley food bank. Jim, a volunteer gave the students that helped drop off the food an educated talk about how some people have to make the difficult decision of choosing between “heating and eating”. They learnt that over the past few years, the demand for food banks has increased as rent has increased but salaries have stayed the same; in the UK, there are now more food banks than there are McDonald’s.
As a whole, it was a very rewarding and eye-opening experience to help those in need and we are proud to see that our students have demonstrated one of our core values of kindness by helping those in need within our local community Next year, we hope to donate even more food and with that we need your help. Christmas Mass- 19th decemberToday Fr Anthony, Fr Simon, Fr Frank and Fr Isaac joined us to celebrate the end of Autumn Term. The Three Masses were beautifully led by so many children. A big thank you to everyone who took part.
supporting our local food bank during advent 2019Following a recent donation from the school, children from The Divinity Team visited the local supermarket to source products for Hinckley Food Bank. What a great way to put our Faith in to Action.
Hinckley across groupFor the four Sundays of Advent this year, Chris, Hinckley ACROSS Group's chef, with the support of his team of volunteer helpers, including students from St. Martin's Catholic Academy, has been cooking four course lunches in aid of Hinckley ACROSS Group.
People pay £20.00 per head for a delicious home-cooked, four course meal that includes canapes and mulled wine, starters, roast turkey main meal, sweet, mince pies and tea/coffee. The money raised from this venture supports paying for people with disabilities, who cannot travel via plane, to visit Lourdes, France, on pilgrimage. The cost of a week's pilgrimage, including full board in a three star hotel, transport on a jumbulance, and excursions while in Lourdes, costs around £850.00 per person. Needless to say, this is beyond the reach of some people, so Hinckley ACROSS Group, led by Ian Coe, does a lot of fundraising during the year to support the venture, helping subsidise people's costs, where needed. Last year, for the first time, Chris's idea of the Advent lunches was 'born'! This particular fundraising effort raised a staggering £1,200.00 and some Advent lunch attendees decided, as well as paying their £20.00 a head for the lunch, to sponsor an individual to travel to Lourdes! People's generosity is amazing! This year, Ian had the idea of inviting students from St. Martin's to volunteer their help as waiters and waitresses! Everyone attending the meals so far have commented on the politeness of St. Martin's students and their capabilities as waiting on staff! Well done to all of the team and good luck for the final Sunday this weekend! The Year of the wordAll of Year 7 have now received their copy of Matthew’s Gospel, this is to Mark ‘The Year of the Word’. The bibles are a gift from the Nottingham Diocesan Education Service. A big thanks to the Nottingham Diocesan Catholic Youth Service (NDCYS) team, for delivering them to Saint Martin’s.
Year 7 advent prayer stationsThe theme of the first week in Advent is Hope. It's about looking to the future and reflecting on what we want for our lives and around the world. Year 7 have prepared this week by taking part in reflective prayer stations.
Saffron HouseWe brought Christmas joy to Saffron House this week
The canaan trustKevin from The Canaan Trust visited Saint Martin's. We enjoyed hearing about the charity's work and they help support homelessness in our wider community.
red wednesday-27th NovemberToday our School Community took part in Red Wednesday, an annual event organised by Aid to the Church in Need to raise awareness of those persecuted for their Faith especially Christians.
Jesse, Gaby, Millie, Gabriel, Connor from Year 8 led a beautiful liturgy in the Chapel at 8.30am this morning reflecting on Scripture, Prayer as well as highlighting examples such as Rasha Drazy and her family. This theme was reflected in tutor prayers for today as well as the Collective Act of Worship that took place in assembly. By the statue of Mary, red roses were placed to remember all those who have been persecuted for their Faith. Our students in Divinity, wrote in red pen for their lesson and explored ‘What is Aid to the Church in Need?’ as well as focusing on stories of those persecuted for their faith. the year of the word-bible tourWelcome Naomi to Saint Martin's. Naomi joined us yesterday from The Briars team, delivering a Matthew's Gospel for every year 7 pupil.
National Youth Funday #NDCYSWe are all called to be 'Significant'. Today we celebrated National Youth Sunday.
Extraordinary ministers of holy COMMUNION -Saturday 16th November 2019Congratulations to our Year 11 students Holly, Hannah and Ryan who have now been commissioned as Eucharistic Ministers at St Barnabas, Cathedral Nottingham. They will now be able to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion during school/parish Masses. What a beautiful celebration this morning.... Ryan and Holly have written this report: On the morning of Saturday 16th November 2019, we were privileged to attend a commissioning Mass to confirm our roles as Eucharistic ministers. In the Mass we signed a declaration of the responsibilities we hold as Eucharistic ministers. It has been a great opportunity for us all to become more involved in our school and parish. We all look forward to helping and serving at future masses. We now feel confident and prepared to fulfil our role.
The Briars Retreat-Year 7On 4th November a collection of our year 7 children began their three-day retreat at the Briars Catholic retreat centre in the Archdiocese of Nottingham. The retreat began with team introductions and room allocations, we then began to look into the love God has for us, and the love we should have for ourselves. The next day we delved deeper into the themes of the retreat, as well as going for a walk and celebrating mass together. In the evening the Briars team hosted a disco, which our pupils really enjoyed. We had a wonderful time.
All saints' dayThe Solemnity of All Saints was celebrated by the whole school, on Friday 1st November 2019. We celebrated with a liturgy of the Word and two Masses.
Saints were people just like us. They felt hungry, tired, angry, and disappointed sometimes, just as we do. But the saints did difficult things even when they didn’t want to because they loved God. pupil led act of worship- 'saints'As a Catholic school collective worship plays a fundamental part of daily school life and enables us all to join together as one in prayer and worship. Each week, different children in each form group prepare and lead their Act of Worship.
Remembrance prayer treeNovember is a month of remembrance for all who have died and we are encouraged to pray for them. Throughout November a remembrance tree will be on display in reception. We would like to fill our tree full of people our school is praying for.
singing at saffron House-wednesday 23rd octoberA group of children from our school choir had a delightful afternoon at Saffron House Care Home today. The residents and the children had a fantastic time chatting and singing. We had the pleasure to sing Happy Birthday to two residents.
CAFOD BRIGHTEN UP day- Friday 11TH OCTOBERThank you everyone for your wonderful generosity as we brightened up the world this harvest. We raised £824.52 by being bright and beautiful. A big thank you to Tricia Henderson from CAFOD who delivered assemblies to all year groups .
faith in action-cymfedFaith in Action (The CYMFed National Catholic Award Scheme). The Faith in Action scheme helps identify and celebrate what is really important and to formally achieve recognition for the many different ways the children contribute positively to the community and the catholic life of the school. Pupils will be encouraged to take ownership of projects and develop them according to their own talents and interests. Meet this years team.
MACMILLAN CAKE SALE-FRIDAY 27TH SEPTEMBERA total of £777.15 was raised for Macmillan Cancer research with our bake sale today. We'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who baked or purchased cakes and donated them to the school.
NEW EUCHARISTIC MINISTERSCongratulations to Holly, Hannah and Ryan who completed their formation and training in order to be commissioned as ministers of Holy Communion. #NDCYS
Year 7 welcome Mass- SEPTEMBER 2019Today Fr Frank celebrated Mass with Year 7 students and staff in our first opportunity to all gather together. This was the perfect way for the students to begin their journey here at St Martin's. The students and staff prayed and sang with great enthusiasm creating a prayerful and celebratory atmosphere.
Vocation DayVocare is the Latin word for 'to call'- and as a Catholic school we believe the biggest calling we hear is from God. We are called to be holy, called to follow God in our lives, called to use our gifts at work. A big thank you to all our visitors who joined us for our Year 8 retreat day. #VocationsDay 2019
SAffron house visitOn Wednesday 12th June we visited Saffron House. The session consisted of a little exercise class (throwing and catching the ball) and some quality one on one talking and sharing stories. Another heart warming visit.
Year 8 planning their liturgyYear 8 are preparing their Vocation Day Liturgy, using the Diocesan liturgy planning sheets. See, Think, Hear, Do..
prayer time in the chapelEvery form group from Year 7-10 will visit our beautiful chapel over the few weeks. All form groups will have the opportunity to reflect and pray. Some images from Year 7 - our theme was 'community'
CAFOD- Step into the gap
On Thursday 23rd May 2019, we invited in Niamh from NDCYS. Niamh is spending her year volunteering at The Briars Youth Retreat Centre with CAFOD’s ‘Step Into The Gap’ programme, working with young people and encouraging them to get involved with CAFOD.
Niamh joined us here for the day, leading sessions outside in the beautiful sunshine. It was a fantastic opportunity to think about ways we could encourage other young people to support CAFOD. I think this has helped inspire us as a school community to raise even more money for CAFOD! It was a brilliant day spending time thinking about our responsibility and our power in the world in a fun and interactive way. Year 11 leavers liturgy
Lenten almsgiving
A big thank you to everyone who donated food items for Hinckley Food Bank. We donated 205.5kg which was worth £359.62. #LentenCharity
big sleep out newspaper article-Hinckley times
community and outreach
Another heart warming visit to Saffron House. Bringing old and young together.
SG10 TEAM
SG10 prepared and led the Act of Worship for lower school. #PositiveThinking #RandomActsOfKindness
Lent Prayer stations 2019
During Lent we have had an opportunity to pray, reflect and prepare for Easter. Some images from our Lenten prayer stations.
Stations of the cross-st peter's church
|
|
|
CMAT Launch- MONDAY 28TH JANUARY 2019
Members of our Divinity Team had a fantastic day at Morningsdale Arena, as we celebrated the official launch of our new St Thomas Aquinas CMAT.
|
|
JOINT MASS WITH sT PETER'S HINCKLEY AND ST PETER'S EARL SHILTON-SUNDAY 27TH JANUARY 2019
|
|
cafod world gifts
As a result of our Christmas fundraising, we raised over £300 for CAFOD World Gifts! World Gifts is CAFOD’S alternative charity gifts that transform lives. Each form group from Year 7-11 took part in raising money for CAFOD.
|
|
End of Term Christmas Masses
Advent Food Bank Donations
Advent Lituries
During Advent we reflect on the coming of Christ into the world and prepare for the Christmas season. These are some images from our Advent Liturgies...
Advent 2018
Saffron House
Pupils on our weekly visit to Saffron House in Barwell. Having a lovely afternoon getting creative with the residents.#WorkingWithTheCommunity #CatholicLife #PreparingForAdvent
Advent 2018 & Encounter
What is meant by Encounter?
As Bishop Patrick reminded us in his recent Pastoral Letter, it is about a change of heart
and minds, of having personally encountered Christ and responded to his call in our lives. It is an invitation for each of us to encounter afresh, or even for the first time, the personal love that God has for each of us, to respond and grow as disciples of Jesus Christ and to become faith-filled, joyful and outward-looking missionary disciples through an
openness to the Holy Spirit. Beginning with ‘Encounter’, Bishop Patrick hopes that this ‘Advent and Christmas will be a time, when we all encounter afresh the amazing love of God our Father in sending us his Son and ponder again on Mary’s openness to receiving that love’. (Pastoral Letter, November 2018).
The Gospels are full of occasions of Encounter. Jesus meets people with love. In various
ways, he meets people who are in need of him; in him, they find the love of God made man. Jesus suddenly and dramatically breaks through their situations and they are changed by this meeting, he not only offers his friendship and love, he desires their friendship and love. They are met with a choice: to follow him or to return to the life they had before. Encounters with Jesus lead to becoming a disciple, an intentional follower of Jesus, who is seeking to grow in holiness and likeness of him.
As Bishop Patrick reminded us in his recent Pastoral Letter, it is about a change of heart
and minds, of having personally encountered Christ and responded to his call in our lives. It is an invitation for each of us to encounter afresh, or even for the first time, the personal love that God has for each of us, to respond and grow as disciples of Jesus Christ and to become faith-filled, joyful and outward-looking missionary disciples through an
openness to the Holy Spirit. Beginning with ‘Encounter’, Bishop Patrick hopes that this ‘Advent and Christmas will be a time, when we all encounter afresh the amazing love of God our Father in sending us his Son and ponder again on Mary’s openness to receiving that love’. (Pastoral Letter, November 2018).
The Gospels are full of occasions of Encounter. Jesus meets people with love. In various
ways, he meets people who are in need of him; in him, they find the love of God made man. Jesus suddenly and dramatically breaks through their situations and they are changed by this meeting, he not only offers his friendship and love, he desires their friendship and love. They are met with a choice: to follow him or to return to the life they had before. Encounters with Jesus lead to becoming a disciple, an intentional follower of Jesus, who is seeking to grow in holiness and likeness of him.
The Divinity Team
The Saint Martin's Divinity Team, discussing CAFOD world gifts and The Food bank in preparation for our Advent charities.
The Year 10 Rome Pilgrimage 2018
In November 2018 we have our annual Year 10 Pilgrimage to Rome where we visited great works of Christian Art, had an audience with the Pope, visited the main Basilicas of Rome, has Mass at the English College and much more.
Mass for the commissioning of Eucharistic Ministers
MASS FOR THE COMMISSIONING OF EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS AT SAINT MARTIN'S (WITH SOME NICE PHOTOS OF ST BARNABAS CATHEDRAL IN NOTTINGHAM) with three of our Year 11 Students.
The year 7 Briars Retreat 2018
70 of our Year 7 pupils went on the annual retreat to the Briars Residential retreat Centre in Derbyshire. Here are some photos from the week.....
All Saint's Mass
All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church.
Hymn Practice - LEARNING some new songs for masses this year
The Group with no name!!!!
The group with no name will eventually have a name! However, at the moment this group looks at the Catholic life of the school, planning what we would like to do as a community to develop the spiritual and moral life of the school (PS Now called the Divinity Group)
Welcome to Lucy Chapman
We are delighted to have appointed Lucy Chapman as our new school Lay Chaplain. Most secondary schools have a lay Chaplain to support the Catholic life of the school and support the work of the Priest Chaplain. Lucy worked has a lay Chaplain in Birmingham for 16 years and has happily now moved to Earl Shilton so we have managed to recruit her to Saint Martin's. Lucy also worked at Alton Castle, the Birmingham Diocesan Catholic Youth Retreat Center for a year.
MacMillan Coffee Morning
Thank you to everyone who supported our Macmillan Coffee Morning, especially Mrs Orton who came in to organised the event and all the pupil helpers.
The blessing of our new school Chapel
To mark this anniversary, we will be having various events and other things to mark the occasion. One of the first is the creation of our new school chapel which was be opened by the Bishop on September 21st 2018.
The Year 7 Mass of Welcome
Well done to all our new Year 7 pupils who were so superb on their first day at Saint Martin's
Eucharist Ministers
Will Wright, our Head Boy and Head Girl, Kay-Leigh Pereira and two other Year 11 Students Tallia Jamelynec and Oliver Morgan attended the Adoremus National Eucharistic Congress and Pilgrimage in Liverpool and they have all been commissioned as Eucharistic Ministers.
The creation of our new school chapel
As part of our celebrations to mark the 70th Year of St Martin's school, we have created a new school Chapel. These are some photos showing the transformation from Mr Dixon's RE class to the Chapel. The Bishop of Nottingham will be coming to consecrate it in September.
