Collective worship going from strength to strength at St Illtyd’s

This term has seen a fantastic amount of Catholic Life and Mission and Collective Worship in St Illtyd's. Thanks to our School Chaplain, Mrs Wonnacott, collective worship and Catholicity is going from strength to strength at St Illtyd's.

·       We launched the Jubilee Year at the end of January and have continued celebrating through Masses, liturgies and RE lessons focusing on the theme of 'Pilgrims of Hope.'
·       It was great to see St Illtyd's represented at two unique events at St David's Metropolitan Cathedral.
In December there was a reading of a Papal Bull from the Pope celebrating the joining of the Diocese of Cardiff and Menevia. Also, in February the relics of                           Blessed Carlo Acutis visited the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia.
·       As a caring and loving Catholic community we have been involved in a variety of fundraising events as well as supporting those in need. Our Catholic mission has meant those who are less fortunate have been supported with food and household items.
·       Our links with our primary schools and parishes continue to flourish with joint collective worship and social action.

Please follow us on social media to keep you up to date with the excellent work our Chaplain and pupil chaplaincy teams are doing. Twitter / X - @chs_illtyds

Paul Moriarty, Deputy Headteacher

The Power of Community

"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." – Coretta Scott King

As the colder months drew in last term, pupils from St Illtyd’s and St Peter’s Catholic Primary School met together to assess how they could help the vulnerable within our communities. After some wonderful ideas, pupils decided to repeat a previous successful collaboration, where each school would fundraise to buy supplies to fill bags with winter essentials for those who are street homeless. St Peter’s kindly hosted the homeless bag workshop, providing some lovely refreshments for our hard-working pupils. We were blessed to be visited by Naomi from the SVP Centre, who took the time to speak to the pupils about homelessness in Cardiff and all the work that they have been doing to help those in need. The giftbags were filled with winter essentials, a festive treat and a handwritten Christmas card to spread joy and hope through the Christmas season. Once completed, Naomi took the giftbags back to the SVP Centre ready to deliver to the street homeless within the city centre.

During Advent, we invited pupils from both St John Lloyd and St Albans RC Primary Schools up to take part in some crafting activities. Members of the Year 9 Chaplaincy team helped St Albans pupils craft advent wreaths out of card while chatting about their day and Christmas plans. Fr Alexander joined us and led us in a final prayer in the Chapel. The festive events continued with our very own Christingle workshop with children from St John Lloyd RC Primary School. The Head Girl, Isabelle Haines, helped lead the workshop and assist the younger pupils with the more challenging parts. It was a lovely opportunity for some of our Year 7 pupils, who were past pupils of St John Lloyd, to join the workshop and catch up with old friends and teachers.

As well as working with our primary school community, pupils have been working with members of our local community. St Cadoc’s Church Care Group very kindly donated food to St Illtyd’s foodbank to help fill hampers for struggling families over Christmas. Members of the Year 8 Chaplaincy team worked hard to wrap and fill hamper boxes with food donated by the care group as well as our own pupils. They managed to fill 20 large hampers with food, small gifts and toiletries. Hampers went out to families in our local community as well as to Rumney Forum and St Vincent de Paul Centre.

It is important for our pupils to support the community but also to see that there are organisations out there that are keen to help. A lot of donations of shirts, polo shirts, oranges (Christingle) prizes and gifts were kindly donated by Tesco. Thanks to their generosity we were able to donate items to our primary schools and local organisations.

A Year of Hope

As many of you may know, Pope Francis has named 2025 a Jubilee Year, the pilgrimage of Hope. As a school we will celebrate this year through RE activities, worship, collaborations with both our feeder primary schools and local catholic high schools and pilgrimages.

We launched the year with a Jubilee Liturgy led by members of the Year 10 Emerald Greens. We held a whole school liturgy, inviting each year group to the school hall. Pupils from each year group took part in a procession, reflection and gospel understanding. Every pupil was then tasked to complete their own door of hope, writing a message to display upon the year group doors of hope. It was the first-time pupils have led liturgies on this scale, here is what some of the members had to say:

“I took part in the Jubilee assembly; it was really educational and informative. It was also a good opportunity to see what it was like to experience leading a liturgy. It was a great opportunity, and I’d love to do something similar again.” – Lena, Year 10

“I took part in the Jubilee liturgy, which highlighted the importance of the Jubilee year. It was a good opportunity to lead a liturgy, growing my knowledge on the special church year.” – Lily, Year 10

“When I took part in the Jubilee liturgy, I really enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity to grow my knowledge and understanding of the importance of the year.” – Hollie, Year 10.

The Jubilee Year marks an important event in the history of the Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church, a Jubilee or Holy Year is a special year of forgiveness and reconciliation, in which people are invited to come back into right relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation. As a RE Department and as a school we feel it is important to raise awareness for our students and the wider community of the importance of this year for all of us. By carrying out various activities throughout the year we hope to give our students a sense of belonging to the wider worldwide Church and to develop their own journey towards God as a Pilgrim of Hope during these times. – David Brown, Head of RE

Cathedral Mass – Papal Bull & Carlos Acutis

On 2nd December 2024, a new chapter began as the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the Diocese of Menevia officially became the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia. At a special event, Monsignor Ante Vidović, Deputy of the Apostolic Nunciature, read the Papal Bull from Pope Francis that decreed this unification. Clergy, bishops, schoolchildren, parishioners, and local dignitaries gathered to witness this moment of unity and renewal.

Carlos Acutis

St Illtyd’s pupils and staff were invited to attend the Relic Tour of Blessed Carlo Acutis in February at The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St David. We enjoyed a beautiful Welcome Mass led by Archbishop George Stack, accompanied by the choir of St John’s College. After the Mass we were able to explore the Cathedral, taking the time to read all the information about Carlo Acutis and see the venerated relic. Following on from this, pupils enjoyed a presentation in the Cornerstone from the team who had travelled from Assisi. After an informative presentation the team gave us the opportunity to bless our prayer cards and deliver the intentions from our staff and pupils to them, in order for them to go back to Assisi and place them in the tomb of Carlo Acutis.

Victoria Wonnacott, School Chaplain

St Illtyd’s Christmas Market 2024

At the beginning of December, we welcomed back the St Illtyd’s Christmas Market after a five-year absence. The event was a great success with over 200 people attending. Santa’s Grotto was open for visitors, our very own Rock Band provided festive music, and a hall packed with stalls sold a variety of Christmas gifts and decorations. There was a wonderful, festive atmosphere in the hall throughout. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that came along and supported the event. Thanks to your support we raised a fantastic £445 which will be used towards our new minibus.

Thank you to the following who donated raffle prizes or items for our tombola:

· Iceland staff and customers

· Tesco

· Morrisons

· Lucia Hair

· Danielle

· Pip Aesthetics

· Relax & Reset

· Better Eastern Leisure Centre

· All our stallholders and parents/carers that donated prizes

Luisa May, Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator

Winter Wonderland 2024

At the end of the Autumn term, 58 pupils enjoyed a day out at Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland as part of our Wellbeing Rewards programme. Pupils started the day with an ice skating session at Winter Wonderland at Cardiff Castle. For many it was the first time they had ever tried ice skating, but despite some initial nerves, everyone gave it a go. Pupils and staff then walked to Cardiff’s second Winter Wonderland site on the City Hall lawns where pupils had free time to go on the fairground rides, have food and enjoy time with their friends. The trip was hugely enjoyed by all that attended.