St Mary's Lent
Lent is the season of the Church's year between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. The forty days remind us of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. It is a time when we ready our minds and hearts to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
During Lent, Catholics focus on three things: giving, acting and praying.
Give: Each year, we choose a charity for all of our school community to raise money for.
Act: Some people give something up during Lent; others commit to performing acts of service and kindness for others. Groups of children go out into our community to share love.
Pray: In school, we spend time talking to God during our celebrations of the Word; Canon Adrian comes in to hear confessions and we revisit the Stations of the Cross regularly. Each class has a Lent prayer bag which goes home to a different home each day.
Lent Prayer Bags
Every Lent, our Lent prayer bags go home with a different member of each class each night. They provide an opportunity for families to pray together and reflect on the true meaning of Lent and Easter.
Children have the opportunity to record their thoughts and prayers in a notebook in the bag.
Charity Fundraising
CAFOD Big Lent Walk 2025
In 2025, each class walked to one of the other schools or nursing homes around Flint to deliver Easter messages before walking to church to celebrate Mass together. We were joined by parents, grandparents, carers, representatives from St Richard Gwyn and other parishioners on our walk on a very sunny day. It was glorious!
We bore witness to our faith proudly and carried banners demonstrating why we were walking. As Pilgrims of Hope, we aimed to raise money to fight global poverty. The banners we carried stayed outside church for all of our Flint community to see.
Class 9 went to Ysgol Cornist Park; Class 8 went to Ysgol Maes Hyfryd and Flint High School; Class 7 went to Bod Hyfryd and Rhiwlas Nursing Homes; Class 6 went to Ysgol Croes Atti; Class 5 went to Ysgol Gwynedd; Class 4 went to Ysgol Pen Coch; Class 3 went to Croes Atti Nursing Home and Class 2 went to St Richard Gwyn. Here are some pictures from the walk:
Big Lent Walk
CAFOD Big Lent Walk 2024
Throughout Lent, children walked around our Daily Mile Track every morning and when all of the children's distances walked were added together, it was over 2000km in total!
The whole school walked down to church in the rain to celebrate Mass together.
CAFOD Big Lent Walk 2023
What a tremendous effort the children put in to complete their Big Lent Walks. On the day, the children and staff walked a total of over 800 km all over Flint! We celebrated our end-of-term Mass at Immaculate Conception Church on Thursday 30th March after children in all classes had walked to church via one of the other primary schools or nursing homes around Flint. The children dropped off Easter cards, palm crosses and messages at each of their stopping points and they were warmly received everywhere. The walks formed part of our efforts towards the CAFOD Big Lent Walk.
Some pictures from the day:
Class 10 visited Cornist Park School and were given amazing heroes’ welcomes! The children of Cornist also handed over a very generous donation for CAFOD too.
Class 9 trekked through the mud and mud and mud and rain up to Bryn Edwin Hall. It was a fantastic effort. Each of the children walked 7km on the day!
Class 8 visited Bod Hyfryd and Rhiwlas Nursing Homes where they chatted with residents and sheltered from the downpour!
Class 5 visited Ysgol Gwynedd and Ysgol Pen Coch where they met the school councils of each school and communicated using Makaton.
Class 4 visited St Richard Gwyn and Classes 3 and 2 walked all the way to church for their first class visit there.
Classes 6 and 7 went to Croes Atti Nursing Home and Ysgol Croes Atti respectively. All in all, a great day!
CAFOD DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal 2022
In 2022, we raised money for the CAFOD DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross 2025
In 2025, our Mission Team went on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Immaculate Conception to lead the stations of the cross remotely. They held a live Teams meeting with all of the children at school, who were able to take part by saying prayers between each station. Leading the service at church was particularly useful as the rest of the children were able to see each station and recognise it when they visited again for the Big Lent Walk Mass later in the week. The Mission Team members and friends described each station, explained each station and reflected on each station before saying a prayer. All of children in school said prayers between each station.
Stations of the Cross 2024
In 2024, we recreated the Stations of the Cross in immersive assemblies every day of the final week of the Spring term. After discussion about the events and meaning of each station, children in all year groups were invited to suggest how they might freeze-frame the scene. The result was a series of thoughtfully child-led, poignant images to which all children contributed. By recreating the stations "within" the children in the hall, even those who weren't in the scene were able to play their part as members of the crowds on Calvary.
Stations of the Cross 2023
In 2023, we held an art competition in which children presented an image depicting one of the stations of the cross. The winners were then framed and placed in one of the mounds around our Daily Mile Track. Each class was then able to walk from station to station with their classmates, making an authentic journey of faith. Stations were also open to all family members so that all of our community could join us on our Lenten journey.
Stations of the Cross 2022
In 2022, we took inspiration from the work of Patti Rokus by creating the scenes of the Stations of the Cross in stone. Each class studied Patti's "Rock Art" before designing their own version of each of the stations. They were then recreated in the mounds around school so that each class could visit the stations in their own time. The creativity and simplicity shown was inspiring and allowed us to share the journey together.