St Gerard’s Catholic Primary School
St Mary’s Cathedral
St Mary’s Cathedral is at the heart of our school. We regularly have the opportunity to visit the Cathedral as part of our RE lessons, Called to Serve links, CAFOD campaigns linked work, liturgical celebrations and masses. We are extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to celebrate whole school and Parish masses alongside our Parish community.
We have regular ‘Family Masses’ at St Mary’s Cathedral. These are celebrated Ona Sunday at 10am. It is wonderful to come together and celebrate as a parish.
Family Mass dates for 2025-26
Sunday 5th October 2025
Sunday 9th November 2025
Sunday 18th January 2026
Sunday 15th March 2026
Sunday 5th July 2026
Weekly mass times and additional services can be found by visiting the website for St Mary’s RC Cathedral Middlesbrough.
Bishop Terence
Last year, we were delighted to welcome Bishop Terry to our school. All of the children really enjoyed listening to and asking Bishop Terry a range of questions about his life and role as our bishop. During his visit, Bishop Terry blessed our new school library and the new Reception classroom.
Canon Paul Farrer
Canon Paul Farrer is the Dean of the Cathedral and he regularly visits our school and spends time getting to know the children.
Canon Paul worked with some of our Y5 pupils when they visited St Mary’s Cathedral as part of their Mission topic.
Fr Steven
Fr Steven is our parish priest and we have been delighted to warmly welcome him into our school community. He visits school regularly and has spent time with the children both in class and at playtime. We look forward to journeying with him as we celebrate our Catholic Life. He has been a fantastic support to both the children and parents, throughout this year’s sacramental program. He has worked alongside school staff to deliver elements of preparation for both the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion. He has supported the children whenever they have visited the cathedral to either attend mass or support parish events such as leading the parish Stations of the Cross or attending a prayer service for Pope Francis.
Sacramental Preparation
Canon Paul and Fr Steven work very closely with the school and our families throughout the year and helps run our Sacramental Programme, preparing our children to make their First Reconciliation and Holy Communion.
As a school and parish we prepare and celebrate children making the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. These take place in St Mary’s Cathedral.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation takes place during Advent, this year it will take place on Monday 1st December 2025 at 6pm in St Mary’s Cathedral.
The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist takes place during the month of May, a month dedicated to Mary, Our Lady. This year it will take place on Saturday 16th May 2026 at 10:30 am.
Parish priests are supportive of our pupils as they prepare for the sacraments. The Y4 children were delighted to be able to make this next step in their faith journey. These children celebrated their First Holy Communion in May 2025. It was a wonderful school, parish and family celebration.
As a school, and parish community we continually prayer for all of these children.
Parish Community Links
Volunteers from St Mary’s Cathedral regularly come into school to work alongside the children to support and enhance their understanding of the parish.
All pupils attend Ash Wednesday mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. This year they made the special pilgrimage to the Cathedral, as part of their journey with Jesus to the cross. They remembered that 2022 is in the Year of Pilgrimage.
During Lent, all pupils also attend an additional mass with the parish community. They journey towards the cross with them. In addition to this, the Chaplaincy group journey the Stations of the Cross with parish members and support the parish CAFOD Lenten Lunch.
Children led the evening Lenten parish Stations of the Cross. This was a wonderful, prayerful journey. It was wonderful to prayer as a school, family and parish community.
Mrs Taylor (the RE lead) and Miss Bain (the school catechist), along with parish catechists, support pupils through their Sacramental preparation programme. They take part in sacramental sessions, in school to help deepen the spiritual life and their understanding of the sacraments. The children love to listen share their spiritual growth with members of the parish community.
Throughout 2024-25 Fr Steven supported the sacramental group, he is continuing to so this year.
NPCAT
As part of our NPCAT we celebrate together. Children from all of our schools worked together to produce a video of our Nicholas Postgate song, Priest Upon the Moors.
Members of our Chaplaincy group represent St Gerard’s at the annual NPCAT Christmas Concert. We gather together to prepare for the birth of Jesus, we journey together in faith, hope, peace and love.
