St Mary's Catholic Academy

We love OPAL Extra!
Our second after‑school OPAL event was another roaring success.
The children had an amazing time exploring, creating and playing together.
Check out the fun we had!

Year 4 marked the annual World Earth Day celebrations by heading out into the sunshine to plant nasturtium seeds in plant pots on the field. We're looking forward to seeing them blossom now... 😊

Year 4 had a brilliant time in the sunshine at Yorkshire Wildlife Park as part of their Biomes topic in Geography. Polar bears, a giraffe, tigers, lions, meerkats, African snails, wallabies and a lizard called Brie were all present!

Wow! What a turnout. Over 19 families joined our Dads Connect session on Monday.
The workshop explored fun and practical strategies to support children’s wellbeing.
It was a joy to see the children having so much fun with their dads and other family members.

Year 6 Putting Faith Into Action!

During Almsgiving Week, our Year 6 pupils volunteered at St Colette’s Pregnancy Support Centre - sorting clothing donations, checking pushchairs, and building and inspecting cot beds.

They learned about the incredible support the centre offers to families in need, and they lived out the message of James 1:22:
“Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his Word; instead, put it into practice.”

We’re so proud of their compassion, teamwork, and willingness to live out Catholic Social Teaching.

Today was our Lenten Reflection Day. Year 5 created some beautiful artwork to represent the 14 Stations of the Cross, and we designed and set up two prayer stations around school for the Lent season.

Year 4 enjoyed a day of activities to mark their Lenten Reflection Day. Following a mass with Father Joe, they wrote their Lenten promises based around the themes of prayer, almsgiving and fasting before taking part in a class-led stained glass art activity and joining a lunchtime prayer bead-making chillout session.

We were delighted to be asked by Nottingham City Council to support their Day of Action in Hyson Green today.

A wonderful team of six Year 6 children gave up their lunchtime to take part in a litter pick - and they absolutely shone.

One of the Waste and Recycling Schools Engagement Officers shared:

“Your students did such a brilliant job and left no piece of litter unturned in their quest to fill our Clean Champion purple bags. They really were a credit to your school.”

Thanks to their hard work, 13 bags of litter are now on their way to the incinerator, where they’ll help generate energy for homes and businesses across the city.

We are so proud of our children for living out our Catholic Social Teaching - showing Stewardship of God’s Creation, the Common Good and Solidarity through such a simple but meaningful act of service.

Click to the end for the before and after photos!