St Gerard’s Catholic Primary School

 St Mary’s Cathedral

Image result for st mary's cathedral middlesbrough

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 2024-25

Sunday 20th October 2024

Sunday 10th November 2024

Sunday 19th January 2025

Sunday 16th March 2025

Sunday 6th July 2025

 

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 Peter Taylor

Fr Peter has visited school on a number of occasions and prayed along with the children. Members of the Chaplaincy group led a lunchtime rosary and Fr Peter joined them.

Fr Peter has also supported the Sacramental Programme. He helped prepare children to make their First Reconciliation and is now journeying with them as they make their First Holy Communion.

Fr Peter also visited the EYFS and spent time with them, explains the Sacrament of Baptism, which was part of their Come and See RE work.The children loved taking part in a baptism role play.

 

Fr Steven

Fr Steven is new to our parish community 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.

 

 

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 2nd December 2024 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 17th May 2025 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 2023.  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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parish Catechist

Parish catechists, along with Mrs Taylor the RE lead, support pupils through their Sacramental preparation programme. They visit school on a weekly basis 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.

 

NPCAT

As part of our NPCAT we celebrate together. Gilders from all of our schools worked together to produce a video of our Nicholas Postgate song, Priest Upon the Moors.