Prayer & Liturgy
At St John Evangelist, prayer is at the centre of everything we do. Prayer and Liturgy is to ‘offer meaningful encounter with the living God that reveals his transformative love and truth and leads to a deepening of faith and action (Prayer and liturgy directory, 2025).’ This means not just going through the motions, but growing in understanding, experience and devotion.
Throughout the children’s school journey, they will engage with a range of prayers and ways to pray. Please have a look at the prayers your child is learning and share these at home together. The children will have a prayer to learn with you weekly as part of their homework.
Take a look at the school’s Annual Provision of Prayer which maps out planned prayer, opportunities to develop staff and pupil formation, Mass, Celebrations of the Word and Feast days.
Celebrating the Mass
Children celebrate Mass at the start of each term, during special times of the year and each class attends on a weekly rota.
Children also take part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Advent and Lent.
We have trained readers and Altar Servers that support Fr Rajiv and Fr Dan during the celebration of Mass.
Child-Led Celebration of the Word
The Prayer and Liturgy Directory describes a Celebration of the Word as ‘a celebration which focuses on God speaking to us through the scriptures, and which creates space and form for our response’. This is lived in all we do at St John Evangelist. With the necessary support, children plan and lead their own celebration of the word in all classes from nursery to Year 6.
Weekly Family Prayer Sessions
We are very fortunate that our Parish Priests visit one class each week and lead a family prayer session which family members are very warmly invited to join.
