Working as the School/Parish Link is exactly as it sounds - a link between Our Lady's School and Our Lady's Parish in Wellingborough, which is made up of Our Lady’s church in Ranelagh Road and St. Edmund Campion church, next door to our school. It is very important that there are strong links between home and school and parish to ensure the best opportunities are available for the children.

The children are taught how the Catholic Church is made up of people - not the church buildings. It is us who make the Church strong and this is one of the reasons children are encouraged to attend Mass whenever possible - not only on Sundays, but also on Tuesday lunchtimes, if they so wish.

Tuesday Lunchtime Mass gives children in Key Stage 2 the opportunity to participate in the Mass through the many roles they can undertake.  They may choose to take a turn at being altar servers, acolytes or readers or one of the many other jobs that they grow to learn about over the weeks. This helps the children to grow in their understanding of what Mass means to them - whether they are children who were baptised as babies or have yet to be baptised, or who practise another faith - everyone is welcomed by Father Paul and not a single Tuesday goes by without myself and Mrs. Houston, our RE Governor, feeling proud of all the children.

Prayer is very important in our School, including special prayers of the Church, such as The Rosary and The Stations of the Cross. The children learn about prayer in many ways.  Our Key Stage 2 children love writing their prayer intentions on our Prayer Board and these are often included in our prayers during Assembly.

Helping others less fortunate than ourselves is one of the strengths of our school and the children regularly raise money for the homeless living on the streets of Northampton.  We reach out to the homeless twice a month by distributing food and other essentials.  This project is led by Mr. Hawkes and supported by myself, Mrs Pitts, Miss Lonergan, Mrs. Guttormsen, Mrs. Dickens as well as several of our pupils’ parents and Mr. Tew.  We always welcome new volunteers.

We also ask the children to bring in items for our Food Bank Friday appeal.

Our Year Three and Year Six teams work closely with Fr. Paul and his parish catechists to prepare the children to receive the Sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation and are always happy to answer any queries you may have about these special occasions.

Parishioners regularly contact me with queries regarding our school and parents will frequently speak to me with queries about events and things related to the parish. It is a privilege to work with the children through my role as Parish Link - I consider myself lucky to be able to carry out this role. 

Mrs Hobbs