Pupil Chaplaincy Team
At St Alban & St Stephen Catholic Primary School, our Pupil Chaplaincy Team plays a central role in school life. These pupils are empowered to lead prayer, support their peers, and help shape the spiritual life of our community. Through this responsibility, they grow in confidence, develop their God-given talents, and become courageous role models who inspire others and speak up for causes they care about.
SSAS Run to Bethlehem Challenge
We did it! With Yew class completing the final 100 laps this morning, we have completed the Pupil Chaplaincy Team's fundraising challenge of 1000 laps of our playground – all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem
Most importantly, we’ve been raising money for Christian Aid’s Christmas Appeal along the way. After setting an initial target of £500, our generous school community have managed to raise a whopping £818 for families fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This money will go towards buying vital food for starving families, providing personal hygiene kits to keep children safe and healthy and funding pots, cups, bowls, plates and spoons families who’ve lost everything.
You can still donate at the following link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/ssas-runs-to-bethlehem
December Advent Carol Service at Westminster Cathedral
Our Pupil Chaplaincy Team enjoyed a truly memorable trip to Westminster Cathedral as they joined schools from across the diocese for the Catholic Children’s Society Advent Carol Service. The atmosphere in the cathedral was both joyful and reverent, with the beautiful choir carols filling the space and helping us reflect on the true meaning of Advent. A highlight for us was the lively retelling of the Nativity, brought to life with a real donkey and goat, which made the story feel wonderfully engaging (especially when the goat bleated at relevant parts of the Nativity story)! We even managed to meet the Angel Gabriel and the Angel Penelope outside the Cathedral afterwards!
It was a special opportunity for our Chaplaincy Team to deepen their faith, celebrate the start of the Advent season, and feel part of the wider Catholic community. We were very proud of J from Year 6, who read a prayer beautifully during the service.
November ASCAT All Saints Mass and Synod
Our Year 6 Pupil Chaplaincy Team attended the ASCAT All-Saints Mass and Synod alongside representatives from other schools. This is what is what they had to say about the experience:
'We began the day with a mass for All Saints and singing Bind Us Together, Lord.
We enjoyed creating superheroes to tackle issues in our school. We dressed each other up in superhero costumes made from tin foil and paper plates. Their superpower could stop problems. Some of the names were Argument Stopper and Kindness Avenger.
After lunch, we had to pick the most energetic person in the our group to reenergise everyone with a dance move. We also enjoyed when reading of stories about children our age from all around the world with different problems that needed to be solved. We matched their stories to different branches of Catholic Social Teaching and considered how we could help people that may face these problems.'
October Harvest Festival
Father Michael and our Pupil Chaplaincy Team led our Harvest Festival celebrations. We started with a lovely poem all about the season of Autumn, then the Chaplaincy Team explained why we celebrate Harvest Festival. They also acted out the Gospel story of The Parable of the Sower.
Father Michael talked to us about how we are all farmers and have the seed of faith. We can grow by listening to God’s word and following what He tells us to do.
A big thank you to everyone who kindly brought in food and toiletries for the Pupil Chaplaincy Team Harvest Appeal. These will be collected by the St Albans Food bank this week to help people in need. Thank you for following Jesus’ example by showing love and care to others.