700 children from 10 Primary and Secondary schools in the Watford area came together on Monday 30 June in the Watford Colosseum for a Deanery Schools Transition Day. Years 6 and 7 pupils sought to bridge the gap between primary and secondary school and joined together to represent the deanery as one Catholic community, rather than as ten individual schools.
Two secondary and eight primary schools took part: St Michael’s, Garston and St Joan of Arc, Rickmansworth secondaries with primary school pupils from Holy Rood, Watford; Sacred Heart, Bushey; St Anthony’s, Watford; Divine Saviour, Abbots Langley; St Joseph’s, Watford and St Catherine of Siena, Garston.
Activities during the morning were facilitated by Sixth Formers from St Michael’s and St Joan of Arc, including writing letters of thanks to those teachers, friends and peers who had helped the students through their final year of primary or first year of secondary school. Team games and group fun were coordinated by a team from Westminster Youth Ministry whilst in the lobby, prayer tweets were devised using iPads (see @WatfordDeanery for the tweets) and practice held for a flash mob event which took place at the end of Mass.
In the afternoon, all met for Mass in the main arena celebrated by Schools and Youth chaplain Fr David Reilly. Reflecting on the Gospel reading (Mt 7:24-27) in his homily, he spoke about building strong faith on strong foundations like the wise man of the parable. All of the students were wore t-shirts designed for the day to show their unity as in the deanery during the service.
Liam Lynch, chaplain at St Joan of Arc Secondary School, Rickmansworth, who had organised much of the day said: ‘Organising an event for 700 11 and 12 year olds was challenging and caused a few sleepless nights in the build-up. However, with the dedicated support of the seventy Sixth Form leaders who ran the day plus the tireless commitment of the staff who were present we hope that all the students had a meaningful and fun day. The support of the Diocesan Youth Team was incredible in the planning and delivery of the day. Special thanks must go to Fr David Reilly, the Diocesan Youth chaplain, for celebrating such a beautiful final Eucharist, Giovanni Marseglia and the St Michaels and St Joan of Arc combined orchestra and choir for the music as well as Stephen Wheatley, headteacher at Holy Rood School for pulling the whole event together. However it would not have been the fantastic event it was without the participation of the amazing pupils of the Catholic schools of the Watford Deanery.’
The next transition day will be held in 2016 when the current Years 4 and 5 pupils will be in their final year of primary and first year of secondary education.
For more photos of the day, please click HERE
