During Advent, each Year Group ran a Fayre to raise money for their Year Group charity. There was a variety of stalls on offer and the total raised over Advent was near to £1800. Each Form also contributed to making hampers which we delivered to the Justice and Peace Refugee Project in Newcastle. Also, Our Sixth Form students wore their Christmas Jumpers to raise money for Save the Children.

In December, Year 7 attended their retreat at the Emmaus Youth Village. The theme of the retreat was ‘ The Adventures of St Paul’ and a variety of activities provided the opportunity to reflect on this theme.

On 24th January 2023, St Mary’s hosted a Holocaust Memorial Evening. The theme this year was ‘Ordinary People’ and the guest speaker for the evening was Mrs Noreen Plen.

In RE, Year 13 students have been studying a Faith in Action unit. Mark from CAFOD came into school to speak to students about the work of CAFOD.

Christian Union meet every Tuesday lunchtime. The group is led by Josh Sorenson (Year 11) and Louie Caisley (Year 13). Games are played at the start of the session and then a theme from the Bible is explored by looking at particular passages from the Bible and discussing them. Snacks are then shared to round off their time together.

Last term, all Year 12 students took part in a Day of Aspiration with the theme of Significance. The purpose of the day was to allow students to come together as one community and reflect upon their aspirations for the future. The day included a variety of activities such as choosing their most inspiring person and presenting their choices to the rest of the group. There was also the opportunity to reflect on what passions they have, what they feel the world needs and what their own personal strengths are. Taking all this into consideration, the students were then asked to find the common threads and through this they could discover their significance in the world.