St Mary’s Catholic Primary School

We are a Catholic School in Harrington, Workington. Our school was built to replace the original 19th century building, which was in Church Road, Harrington.

Everything that happens here at St Mary's, is informed by the Gospel Values and the teachings of Jesus. We are a loving, caring community. We see each individual child as a special part of God's creation, with special gifts and talents.

It is our aim to lead each child to promote his or her own learning and development, achieve high standards and have high expectations of themselves. Our responsibility is to help prepare our children to be a positive part of God’s creation and a responsible member of society. At our school each individual grows in the knowledge and love of Christ, where all are treated with respect, where a commitment to justice underpins all that we do and teach, and where the presence of God is reflected in our daily routine. 

At St Mary’s, we recognise the importance of partnerships with our parents and the whole community. We believe that this collaboration provides an education that is based on the values of living life through Christ. As a staff we are proud of our shared dedication to maintain our excellent standards; we want our pupils to learn, to grow and to be inspired by Gospel values, so that they can reflect God’s love in their everyday lives.

Prayer and Liturgy

One of the most important tasks of Catholic schools is to lead our children, through celebrating liturgies, towards an understanding and appreciation of prayer and the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. Prayer and liturgy  is an integral part of school life at St Mary’s and  is central to the Catholic tradition. Our children (from Key Stage 2) plan and deliver their own Prayer and Liturgy in class.

Our Mission Statement

Jesus said: 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” The second resembles it: “You must love your neighbour as yourself.”

(St Matthew Ch. 22 v. 37 - 39.)

St Mary's School intends at all times to make

Christ's Commandments central to every aspect of

school life. St Mary's School exists to provide a safe,

caring atmosphere of mutual respect, in a Catholic,

Christian context for all involved in its mission.

Each individual will be led to his or her full

potential spiritually, physically, socially and

intellectually so that all may grow to know, love

and serve God more fully and to value themselves

and others.

We constantly share these ideals with the children. The words of the Mission Statement have been expressed in the following way so that they can be more easily shared with the children:

WHY WE ARE HERE

Jesus told us to love God

and love one another.

We do this by showing respect

and by caring for each other.

We want all of us to do our best

at all times and

take pride in ourselves because each of us is special to God.

Interview with Fr Philip

Fr Philip visited Year 6 to discuss their Class Saint – Maximillian Kolbe.  He told us that Maximillian was one of his favourite Saints because of the way he had lived out his life. He shared with the children that due to a sacrifice that Maximillian had made (saving a man’s life) that man had went on to have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren therefore contributing to God’s greater family.

Fr also talked with the children about Maximillian’s early life and how from a child he knew he was to dedicate his life to Jesus. When he was 12 he had a vision of the Virgin Mary where he was stood holding two crowns. One red and one white – both representing love.

 One was devoting your life to God, living by his values and the other was sacrificing your life for God’s love – Mary asked him to chose one - Maximillian chose both.

Fr Phillip shared with the children that he had visited the concentration camp in Auschwitz in, which Maximillian was a prisoner and how there is still a candle that burns and never goes out – this symbolisies that even in the darkest and hardest of times, there is still the littlest bit of light, that little bit of hope.

Remembrance Service

On 10^th November, Year 6 led a Remembrance Service for the whole school to remember those who fought for: freedom, justice and peace. We spent time thinking about and remembering, with thanks, those who have given their lives in sacrifice so that we can live in a more secure and peaceful world.

First Holy Communion

The sun shone and we were blessed with a truly wonderful day as these children received Holy Communion for the first time. Congratulations to you all. 

Confirmation

Congratulations to those children receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. We are very proud of you and wish you well as you embark on the next step of your faith journey. 

 Singing the Rosary with Mrs Wright 

We are very lucky to regularly welcome and work alongside Margaret Wright from the Diocese of Lancaster, Education service. Mrs Wright has delivered many special events, Prayer and Liturgy sessions and CPD here at ST Mary's and it is always a pleasure to welcome her to our school. 

In October Mrs Wright visited us to "Sing the Rosary." She worked with each class talking about the Rosary, reciting parts of the rosary together and teaching the children a song. At the end of the day the whole school came together to perform their part of the Rosary together - this was a very special moment. 

Rise up & Walk

Fr Christopher led our first family mass at St Mary's on Saturday evening. We had a brilliant turn out from the families and we were so proud of all of the children, especially those who read the bidding prayers.

On Monday, the first day of the mission, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal visited St Mary's to begin their Rise up and Walk mission. Each class in school had created a display in the hall on their understanding of "Rise up and Walk." Fr Christopher and Brother Jonathan led an assembly and spoke to the children about their mission and God's love for us all. Together we recited the mission prayer and to end our assembly Fr Christopher taught us a new song; "God is a good God." The older children shared this with the Early years children during our celebration assembly on Friday.  

“Following in the Footsteps of The Holy Family”

Mrs Wright visited us in school to celebrate a ‘Holy Family’ day in school. She carried out Godly Play with each class based on the story of the Finding in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52) and then held a whole school celebration at the end of the day to showcase all of the fantastic work carried out by the pupils based on the theme.

EYFS painted pictures of their families and discussed the love they had for them. Key Stage 1 talked about extended families, they discussed family members who didn’t live in their homes and understood that Jesus had an extended family too. Year 3 and 4 explored the ‘Holy Family’ and discussed who was part of their parish’s family: they talked about the different roles people have within a parish. Year 5 and 6 focused on the idea of a ‘Global Family’: Year 5 recreated work produced by Hannah Dunnett which focuses on psalms and Year 6 looked at the important work carried out by the Pope’s charity ‘Mission Together’ who support children around the world. They found out about different children and countries who benefitted from the support of Mission Together and prayed for those in poverty.