Exemplar narrative 1:

St Mary’s, Coatbridge:

We started by discussing the name of our school (St Mary’s) and who our patron saint is.  Through the use of the internet and books about Saints, we found out what our patron saint looked like, why they were special and we looked at the special prayers we say to them.  We learned the first verse and chorus of one of their hymns which we would sing at the end of our prayer times.  We established that our school is our own community and that we pray to our patron saint to watch over us and to take care of everyone in our school community.  

We took a walk around the school building and grounds to see all the people who belonged to our school community. Through discussion, children told of their perception of each person’s role. In pairs, the children then took photographs of each person and interviewed them about their role within our school’s community.  Each pair reported back to the class about their findings.  We displayed these in the class.  Through this we realise that we are all one family and that this family is only a small part of God’s big family and the family of the church.  

The children made their own prayers thanking God for each of these people and for all the things that they do in our Catholic community.  They asked God and our school’s patron saint to watch over them.  The children‘s prayers were read out as part of our conclusion to prayer times, and in the infant assemblies we thanked God for giving us these people to help us.

From here we looked at our parish.  We visited the church and met our parish priests and deacons.  They told us their roles and how they helped the people of the parish and how they look after our school community.  We discussed the events we celebrate in the church (Mass, Baptism, Reconciliation, First Communion, Confirmation, funerals) and how each of these sees us all coming together as a community and praying together as part of God’s family.  The parish priest showed the children his vestments and told them how each vestment is worn for different celebrations.

Through role play and mime activities, the children developed a greater understanding of each of these roles.

Resources used:

             The Children's Book of Saints by Louis M. Savary

              A Child’s book of Saints by Christopher Doyle and Maria Cristina Lo Cascio

              http://www.loyolapress.com/all-saints-day.htm

              Hymns to Mary

              Hail Mary