Festivals

At St Michael with St John we celebrate the key religious festivals of the Christian calendar.  Our children experience a wide range of Christian festivals including; Harvest, Remembrance Sunday, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. 

In addition, we also celebrate the key religious festivals of other faiths.  Please see below for further information:

ADVENT

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:12

The season of Advent marks the start of the Christian year.  It is a season of expectation and preparation as we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus and reflect on why this is an important time of the year for Christians.  Advent falls at the darkest time of the year, and the natural symbols of darkness and light are powerfully at work.  We have an ‘Advent wreath’ in school to mark the Sundays of Advent, lighting a new candle each week.  In addition, we make 'Christingles' which are also a symbol of light.

CHRISTMAS

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.”  Matthew 2:10

At Christmas time we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus and reflect on why this is an important time for Christians.  In our Collective Worship, we shared the following stories from the Bible and linked this to our value PEACE:

• The Promised King (Micah 5)
• Mary, Martha and Lazarus (Luke 10)
• The First Christmas - The Birth of Jesus (Matthew 1)

Our children always enjoy sharing their Christmas performances with the whole school community.  Our younger children perform the Nativity and tell the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem.  Our KS2 performances have looked different this year due to Covid-19 and we have been unable to hold our annual Carol Concert.  We hope you enjoy our very different Christmas performances, including the fun side of Christmas! 

Please click on the link below to view the Christmas Collective Worship that Father Nicholas led.  Also, by clicking on the pictures below you will be able to watch our wonderful Christmas performances!

EASTER

 "He is not here; he has risen!"  Luke 24:6-7

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar.  It celebrates Jesus rising from the dead, three days after he died on the cross.  In Collective Worship, we have shared the following Easter stories from the Bible:

The Great Parade - The Story of Palm Sunday (Matthew 21)

An Important Meal - The Last Supper & a Betrayal (Matthew 26)

A Dreadful Day - The Story of Good Friday (Matthew 27)

A Happy Day - The Story of Jesus' Resurrection (Matthew 28)

Father Nicholas shared with the children the importance of Lent and Easter for Christians.  The slides for each collective worship can be viewed below:

Father Nicholas led a most inspirational Collective Worship with us all, sharing the Bible story 'A Dreadful Day', which tells the story of Jesus' crucifixion.  He shared how Easter is a celebration of peace overcoming pain.  Even though some of the things that happened in the last week of Jesus' life were hard, painful and difficult, Christians understand that the whole process that Jesus went through in his death and in his resurrection, as described in the Bible, are about overcoming what is painful and bad in the world, in order that we should all be able to experience peace.

Please click on the picture below to see some of the lovely work our children have completed this Easter!

ST GEORGE'S DAY

At SMSJ we celebrated St George's Day in school.  Please see below our special whole school collective worship in which we learned about how St George became the patron saint of England.  

EID UL FITR

Eid is a very special time for the vast majority of our families.  We had a very special collective worship to learn about the meaning of Eid-ul-Fitr, a Muslim celebration to mark the end of Ramadan.  Our children made some excellent contributions about how they celebrate Eid with their families.   

Please click on the images below to watch our very special Eid videos!