Our Role as Mini Clares Members
“It is up to you, young followers of Christ, to show the world that faith brings happiness and a joy which is true, full and enduring”.
Pope Benedict XV.
The Mini Clares are a group of Year 5 and 6 children who have come together to give joyful witness to Christ in our school. The Mini Clares, inspired by the patron of our school to help the poor and vulnerable and to put Christ at the forefront of their lives, took St Clare's name for the team. The Mini Clares help our school community to grow in faith together through helping with the delivery and development of the prayer life of our school. They teach the school community about different Saints and promote the use of our school chapel as a prayer space. The team helps the school and parish family to celebrate special liturgical events and they support with the preparation and delivery of prayer and worship sessions and assemblies. The Mini Clares, as part of the school's Caritas mission, support the school community in our fundraising efforts for local, national and international charities, such as Caritas and Cafod. The Mini Clares are determined to inspire others and to help them deepen their connection with God, just as St Clare did for her community at San Damiano.
Throughout the year, Mini Clares run prayer opportunities and Caritas events to promote our faith and inspire others to give charitably to our brothers and sisters.
Mini Clares worship
Bird Feeders January 2024
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Matthew 6:26
The RSPB are currently running the Big Schools' Birdwatch and are encouraging children to count and identify the birds that they see. In order to encourage birds to visit our school grounds, we have made bird feeders using cheese, apples and raisins. We hope it brings a variety of birds to our school and helps to feed God's creatures during these cold months.
14th December 2023
Advent Stations
Today, our Mini-Clares led the key stage 2 children in prayer and liturgy. They set up six prayer stations linked to the Christmas story - Mary, the manger, the Advent wreath, the journey, the homeless and the animals. At each station, the children reflected and prayed for different people including the homeless, new born babies, Our Lady and the rejected. The children considered how they will shine during Advent like the star that shone over the stable in Bethlehem.
30th October 2023
At our after school group tonight we have been busy preparing for upcoming religious events. We made a large poppy wreath to be displayed in school during the month of November; we prepared Advent home packs to be shared with families during the season of Advent; and we continued to make Rosary Beads for saying a decade of this special prayer for our friends in Uganda.
25th September 2023
Laudato Si Assembly
Today our Mini-Clares led their first whole school assemblies of the year. They focus of the gathering was to remind everyone of Pope Francis's call to look after our common home in his Laudato Encyclical. The Mini-Clares discussed what a beautiful world we have - it is a special gift from God and, as such, we have to make sure that we care for it. There are so many ways in which our world is being harmed through for example de-forestation, climate change, use of fuels and pollution. We discussed the ways that we could help care for the world by walking instead of using a car, switching lights off, turning off taps and spending less time in the shower, not littering and planting more trees. All these small acts will make a difference.
In October, we lead decades of the Rosary every Friday. We also taught all of the classes throughout the school about the Rosary and how to pray it.
RE Rosary
Our Mini Clares collected the harvest from around the school. They sorted the food into different categories and took it to our church's food bank to donate to people in our community who are in need. Fr Dariusz was thrilled with our generosity.