Prayer and Liturgy

"Everything starts with prayer. Love to pray - feel the need to pray often during the day and take the trouble to pray."

St Teresa of Calcutta 

At St Martin de Porres Catholic Primary School, everything we do is centred in prayer. We endeavour to provide quality experiences of prayer and liturgy to nurture each child's faith and spiritual development. 

We pray in school daily in a variety of ways: through saying traditional prayers; virtual and in-person retreats; moments of reflection or meditation; singing; and the celebration of the Holy Mass. We encourage children, as well as school staff, to lead and plan prayer at both planned and un-planned times during the week at the school day. This enables us all to grow closer to God. 

Weekly Schedule of Prayer & Liturgy 

Each Monday we gather together as a whole school family in an assembly focussed on the teachings of the Sunday Gospel. We pray together, listen to scripture and the children and staff are challenged to 'go forth' in mission throughout the week with one of the key messages or teachings we learn together. 

On a Tuesday, Fr Mario joins us from our parish church to celebrate Mass with the school. Each class takes it in turns to plan and lead Mass. The children have an active part in the Mass - they read, altar-serve, bring the offertory, and joyfully sing and pray throughout. After Mass, when they return to class, the children spend some time reflecting on Fr Mario's homily and his teachings. 

On Wednesday, the teaching staff plan and lead 'Songs of Praise'. A prayer service that prepares us for the upcoming Mass and where we learn and pray worship songs and hymns. 

On Thursday, the children take responsibility for prayer & liturgy in their classes. The children use a planning grid to think about key scripture and prayers they wish to use and then they lead their class. At St Martin's, we are all growing closer to God and it is important that we all take responsibility for developing each-others faith.

Finally on a Friday, we gather once again as a whole school to celebrate the gifts and talents that God has given us. We take time to thank God for the wonderful things that has happened through the week, and we celebrate the spiritual, academic and sporting achievements of children across the school.

Prayer & Liturgy Policy 

Daily Prayer 

In addition to Collective Worship opportunities we have daily, children pray regularly within the school day. Each day begins with prayer, we pray before and after lunch, and we end our day in prayer. 

Prayer is often spontaneous and will be linked to curriculum topics that are being taught or national and community events. These could be joyous or sorrowful.

Each year group has specific prayers to learn, so that by the end of their time at St Martin's, the children will know a wide range of prayers and be able to say them off by heart. 

See 'School Prayers' for more information.