December - Advent

Advent - preparing for Jesus

Saint James' lives out its Mission most fully in the seasons of Advent and Lent.

Our Mission Statement is In The Loving Peace, Justice and Joy of Jesus, we achieve. We focus in on love, peace and joy in particular - anyone showing these in school earns a purple point of preparation.

Our prayer tables become purple - Father blesses our Advent wreath and our purple cloths that we take back to the school.

It is a time to pray to prepare. It is a time, like John the Baptist declares, for repentance and preparation. And so, we have a prayer service of repentance. We also take part in daily prayer services using One Life's Open For Advent.

During the season of Advent, St James’ School looks at ways to support our local community. In 2024, we helped both ‘Father Hudson’s Reverse Advent Calendar’ campaign and also the Christmas Shelter which is based at St Catherine Of Sienna School (which opened it doors to the homeless from 24-28th December).

We also celebrate - we create Bambinellis (figures of the baby Jesus ) with parishioners and our prayer friends and Father Srinu comes around the classrooms to bless them!

Of course, as we reach the second half of Advent, our minds turn to the coming of Jesus as a baby. We celebrate with special nativity celebrations and joining with the parish and with Lumen Christi to share the joy of Jesus' coming with parents, parishioners and many others,