The Liturgical Year at Holy Rood

As a Catholic Primary School, we carry out many celebrations, liturgies and events to mark various events in the Liturgical Year. The Liturgical Year is the celebration of a series of religious feasts and seasons. It is the calendar of the Catholic Church. Take a look at what the Liturgical Year looks like at Holy Rood.

2024-2025 The Liturgical Year at Holy Rood

July 2025 - Leavers' Mass

At the end of another busy and wonderful school year, we came together as a school community to celebrate our annual Leavers’ Mass – a treasured tradition where we say goodbye, good luck, and most importantly, “see you soon.”

Fr Gerard from Holy Rood Church kindly joined us once again to lead this beautiful and heartfelt Mass, which took place in a spirit of reflection, gratitude, and celebration. It was a meaningful opportunity for pupils, staff, and families to give thanks for the year we’ve shared and to send our Year 6 children off with love and prayers as they prepare for the next chapter in their journey—secondary school.

Our Year 6 pupils led parts of the Mass with reverence and maturity, and their words and presence reminded us all of the incredible growth we’ve witnessed in them over their time at our school. We are so proud of the individuals they have become and know they will continue to shine wherever they go.

The Mass was also a time to thank members of staff who are moving on, recognising the dedication and care they have given to our school community.

As always, this celebration was not only a farewell but also a reminder of the strong bonds that remain between us. The Leavers’ Mass marks the start of our summer break with a message of hope, gratitude, and togetherness. We wish all our leavers every success and happiness in the future—and remind them they will always be part of our school family.

July 2025 - Year 3 Thanksgiving Mass

On Tuesday, we were delighted to come together as a school community to celebrate the Year 3 Thanksgiving Mass – a beautiful occasion that brought together the entire year group and their families. It was a special opportunity to give thanks for the children’s faith journey so far and to celebrate their growth, both spiritually and personally, during their time at school. The Mass was made all the more meaningful as some of our children received the Blessed Eucharist for the first time at school – a truly memorable milestone in their faith journey. A huge thank you goes to the Year 3 team for all their work in preparing and organising the Mass, and to Fr Ben for leading such a thoughtful and reverent celebration. We are also so proud of the children, who participated so beautifully – leading the readings and offertory with such confidence and reverence, and singing with joy and enthusiasm. Thank you to all the families who joined us for this special celebration – your presence and support made the occasion even more special. The children looked wonderful in their best clothes and Holy Communion outfits, and it was a joy to witness such a proud and prayerful moment in their lives. Thank you also to Mr Obillo and Deacon Liam for providing us with such amazing music and also to our wonderful Year 6 Altar Servers.

June 2025 - St. Alban Feast Day

It was wonderful to welcome a sea of blue and yellow to school on Monday as our Alban class children came dressed to mark and celebrate St. Alban’s feast day. It is important for all of us to continue reflecting on the life and work of our class saints and how we can learn from them to deepen our relationship with God, acting in a way that shares our faith with pride and courage.

June 2025 - Pentecost

On Monday, our school gathered to celebrate Pentecost during assembly. Mrs. Willis began by sharing some special items from home — her beloved 'Piggy' cuddly toy, a gift from her older sister when she was a baby; a picture of her Grandma, who is now in Heaven; and her son George’s blanket, something he sleeps with every night. She explained how having a small, meaningful object nearby can bring comfort by reminding us of loved ones we miss and giving us hope that we will be reunited one day. We then reflected on how Jesus gave us something similar — the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us pray, guides us, and comforts us. We are reminded that God is always present, and we can experience Him through prayer, reading the Bible, and participating in worship. God is continually at work in our lives and will return one day, but for now, we hold on to the comforting promise that He never leaves us. Our assembly also explored the significance of Pentecost, which is celebrated 50 days after Easter and is known as the birthday of the Church. To mark this special occasion, we celebrated with banners, balloons, and even a chocolate cake, and the whole school joyfully sang “Happy Birthday” to the Church. It was a wonderful way to learn, reflect, and celebrate together as a community!

April 2025 - Easter

We mark the joy of Christ’s resurrection as a school community in so many different ways, and it has been wonderful to see the Easter joy alive in our school following our return to the Summer Term. It is so special to be back at school so soon after Easter Sunday, and we began our week with an Easter liturgy for the whole school on Tuesday. On Thursday, our wonderful Reception children led a thoughtful Easter Garden blessing liturgy with their families and Fr. Ben from St. Michael’s High School. Later that same day, a very special Easter family celebration took place for our Nursery children and their families. To conclude this week of Easter celebrations, the children enjoyed an Easter Bonnet parade and a whole-school Easter Egg hunt on Friday!

While this week of various events to celebrate Easter together comes to an end, let us remember that the joy and celebration of Easter—and our risen Lord—continues!

March 2025 - Stations of the cross

To conclude this Spring Term, our Chaplaincy team, along with the support of Ms Boyle, led the school in a ‘Stations of the cross’ liturgy. This began with everyone coming together in the hall for a short prayer service. Then, the chaplaincy team led each class through the Stations of the cross using artwork they have produced. Thank you to our Chaplaincy team for all they continue to do to support the prayer life of our school, particularly during important liturgical seasons like Lent. 

March 2024 - Year 4 Passion Play 

On Thursday this week, the very talented children of Year 4 performed their Easter production, ‘The Servant King’, which tells the story of the passion of Christ. Told through narration, acting and song, the children led their family members through the events of Holy Week. Telling the story with respect and reverence, the children also allowed their many God-given talents to shine through. A huge thank you to Miss. Carlon, Miss. George and Mrs. Elliott for preparing the children so well. Finally, thank you to the children for their commitment to learning their lines and songs, and for their commitment to help us all take time to reflect on this hugely important event in the life of Jesus, as a reminder of the gift of eternal life and salvation.

March 2025 - SPEC

Over the course of two weeks, our wonderful Year 5 children set off with their own classes to the SPEC retreat in Pinner where they stayed for two days and one night. Led by staff from the Diocese of Westminster Youth team, the children engaged in a variety of spiritual activities to learn more about their faith, as well as celebrating Mass, adoration, stations of the cross and special times of prayer throughout their stay. They also engaged in treasure hunts, drama, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Nature Art

Outside of these activities, they also spent a lot of fun time together as a class family with free play, a campfire, and a movie night to build a bank of memories which we hope will last for a long time.

March 2025 - Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday, Fr Gerard came to celebrate Ash Wednesday mass with KS2. This was followed by an EYFS and KS1 liturgy led by Mrs MacLabhraí. To mark Ash Wednesday, all children were invited to receive a cross made of ashes on their foreheads. This Catholic tradition is an outward sign to others that we are sorry for the things we have done wrong, are seeking forgiveness from our loving Father, God, and want to spend the period of Lent fixing our relationship with God. Thank you to all the children who participated in mass, led readings and to Fr Gerard for helping us celebrate this Ash Wednesday Mass.  

December 2024 - End of Term Advent Liturgy 

To end the Autumn Term, we gathered together in prayer and reflection. We listened to a reading from Isaiah telling us that we must be ready and waiting as the time is near. We reflected on how we, at Holy Rood School, have prepared ourselves for the birth of Jesus in school over the course of Advent. We concluded with bidding prayers and a special prayer for the intention of keep us all safe over the Christmas break.

December 2024 - Nativities 

Throughout the course of December, we have been blessed to have not just the pleasure of one Nativity but of three! These have been led by our Nursery children, Reception children and Year 2 children. Throughout each of these nativities, we have been reminded of the true story of Christmas and the true meaning that Christmas holds for us, as Catholics, through drama, singing, dance, prayer and readings.

December 2024 - Key Stage 2 Carol Service

On Tuesday evening, our KS2 children performed their hearts out at our annual Carol Service at Holy Rood church. For everyone there, it was a beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and why during Advent it is so important to bring our minds and hearts back to the stable, to the Holy Family and to the Hope that Jesus’ birth brings to us all each year. And to quote Christian in year 6 once again, this is the most wonderful time of year as long as we ‘choose to make it so’. Thank you to everyone across the school involved in supporting the children in their performance on Tuesday evening and to all the families and friends who came to watch.  

December 2024 - Year 1 Crib Blessing

Our Year 1 children shared a very special liturgy on Wednesday with their families and Deacon Liam to bless their homemade Nativity cribs. This first liturgical celebration with our families of the season of Advent in Holy Rood is always a very special one and a wonderful way to begin our festivities. The children spoke and sang with such confidence that everyone in the audience left with a smile on their face and joy in their hearts. Thank you to Deacon Liam for coming and blessing our very special cribs, to our Year 1 teaching team for all working so incredibly hard to help the children to prepare for this liturgy and to all the year 1 families for supporting the children in creating such gorgeous nativity scenes. Our school’s corridors are now even more beautiful than usual as they are festooned with your beautiful cribs.  

December 2024 - Advent Liturgy

On Monday morning, our children and staff came to an Advent Liturgy on the theme of ‘Waiting’. We spoke about the different things we wait for in our lives and how we feel differently dependent on what we are waiting for, for example ‘bored waiting’ for the bus or ‘worried waiting’ to see the dentist. During Advent, this is a time of ‘Hopeful Waiting’ for the birth of our Lord and by lighting the first candle of Hope on our Advent Wreath, we are reminded of this every day.  

November 2022 - All Saints' Day ASCAT Mass

On Monday morning, to mark the feast of All Saints as a school in the All Saints Catholic Academy Trust, our Chaplaincy team joined pupil and staff representatives from across the ASCAT family of schools to celebrate Mass together at St. Alban and St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in St. Alban’s. This was a very special celebration of the Eucharist, and a wonderful reminder of the community of faith we are part of in our Trust family.  

October 2024 - St. Newman Feast Day

On Thursday 10^th October, we celebrated St. Newman Feast Day as a whole school. St. Newman in an important saint to us as one of our classes are named after him. It was a wonderful sight to see a sea of red (the symbolic colour of St. Newman) walked into assembly to mark the Feast of St. Newman, represented by our Newman classes across the school. Mrs Willis led an assembly to talk about this very special Saint and why he was chosen as one of our class saints for Holy Rood school.  

October 2024 - Harvest 

Once again, we held our annual collection for our local foodbank, Watford Foodbank. We were amazed with the sheer amount of food and toiletries collected through the kind donations from you, our families, in our school community. In total we donated a whopping 212kg! Your kindness will now provide those most in need with essential food and toiletries and remove the worry of where the next meal will come from. It truly is putting Jesus’ teaching into action.

Thank you also to our Chaplaincy team for helping Ms. Boyle lead the school in a Harvest assembly on Monday morning and for helping Ms. Boyle to collect all the donations.

 We also celebrated this by having an assembly led by our Year 5 children who helped to remind us to thank God for all the gifts he has given us.  

September 2024 - Start of Year Mass - The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

On Monday morning, Mrs Mac Labhraí led a whole school liturgy on the theme of our school feast day. Mrs Mac Labhraí spoke to the children about the importance of the cross as a representation of God sharing his most precious treasure, His son Jesus, with the world.  She also reminded the children that the crosses on our cardigans and jumpers, within our school badge, shows the world that each and every child is the treasure of our school. The staff of Holy Rood promise to care for every treasure every day as best we can and see God in every