Welcome to the Chaplaincy Team page!

We’ll keep you up to date with everything that we have been doing in school.

Our twitter page for St George’s – Please follow us on twitter @StGeorgesDerby for all the latest news on the Catholic Life of our school. 

Catholic Life and Mission at St. George’s CVA

Listen to our Chaplaincy team talk about our Catholic Life and Mission of our school.

Our Chaplain – Mr Lowson 

Hello, My name is Mr Lowson and I am the school chaplain for St George’s Catholic Voluntray Academy.

I grew up in Sheffield with my two brothers and have lived in many places, including New Zealand and next to Alton Towers! As a child, I went to Church to make my mum happy, but a Year 10 trip to Lourdes helped me understand and live out my Catholic faith. I’ve returned many times as a helper, inspired by the care people show each other.After school, I spent ten years working at Alton Castle Catholic Retreat Centre. I also studied Theology and Philosophy at Newman University. In 2022, I became chaplain at St George’s, supporting the school’s Catholic life and mission.

 Chaplaincy Team

Our Chaplaincy Team Begins a New Journey of Faith

We’re excited to share the beginnings of our Chaplaincy Team’s journey this year! With our sub-groups now in place and a clear timetable set, we’ve taken ownership of changing the prayer tables in classrooms—bringing fresh inspiration and reflection into our learning spaces.

As part of our Mission Week, we explored our school’s mission statement: “Grow in faith, have faith in growing.” Through pupil voice, we gathered feedback from children about their experiences during the week, helping us reflect on how we are living out our mission and deepening our faith together.

We’re also proud to launch our first charity project—gathering a harvest collection from across the school to support those in need in our wider community. This marks the beginning of our commitment to putting faith into action through service, compassion, and care for others.

Harvest Letter For Families

The Thanksgiving Joy of Harvest - Jack Hayford Ministries

Chaplaincy Team 2024 - 2025 Achievements

Our Chaplaincy Team 2024-2025

Harvest Celebrations

We exceed in our giving to the Harvest festival this year. It has been amazing to see how giving we have been as a school and have helped so many people. The Chaplaincy Team did a fantastic job at collecting and delivering all your harvest donations to the Hope and Padley Centre. Thank you to the Hope Centre for letting us visit and see all the amazing things you do for other people.  Thank you so much for ALL your donations, we have made a huge difference to other peoples lives.

The whole school raised £220 for Jeans for Genes. This is fantastic! Here are some of the Chaplaincy in their jeans!!

Remembrance – Celebration of the World

It was so beautiful to see the Chaplaincy team reflect on why it is important remember. We shared with the whole school that we celebrate Remembrance day as a way of saying thank you. We look back back to the past and remember the sacrifice those people made for us. We can also learn from the past as it is important that we talk about it and understand why we wear poppies to help us remember.

Faith in Action

This year, the chaplaincy team are completing the Faith in Action Award. They will complete the pin level and earn credits for actions taken in school and the community. This will contribute towards deepening their faith to as missionary disciples with Christ. We are very busy gathering our 4 action points.

Our first action point is based on how we live a life of serving others. Jesus came to us a leader and a king, but not one we would recognise today. Jesus came to use a servant king, a peaceful ruler, clothed in humility, love and mercy. In our first reflection point, we want to explore what it means to be a good leader and how we can be co-workers with Jesus and be his body on earth.

Adoration and Reconciliation

As part of our Lenten journey and in alignment with Bishop Patrick’s theme of Forgiveness, we guided the entire school in a prayerful Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Alan joined us and offered both pupils and staff the opportunity for Reconciliation. The response was overwhelming, with so many participants that Father Alan graciously returned for a second session to accommodate everyone.

Crowning of Mary

On the 1st of May, we gathered in the hall to honour Mary and reflect on her life. Together, we took part in a Visio Divina, focusing on the joyful mysteries. It was a special time to remember Mary’s significance, not only as the mother of Jesus but also as a guiding and loving figure in our own lives.

Chaplaincy Team 2023 - 2024 Achievements

Here is what our Chaplaincy Team 2023 – 2024 achieved this year.

Harvest

Our school did a fantastic job at collecting and gathering lots of food and essentials for local charities! The Padley centre will be collecting the items and delivering them to the people who are less forunate than us. Everyone came together. It was a great experience. – Year 5 Chaplaincy member.

 Our Visit to the Hope Centre

Our contributions were spilt to between two local charities. We had the opportunity to visit a local foodbank. We saw how they sort the food for other people and make sure it is fair and people are able to get what they need. – Year 6 Chaplaincy member.

Remembrance

Our school gathered together to celebrate Remembrance Day. It serves as a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by people in times of war. We observe this special day to honour and pay tribute to those who selflessly served their countries, protecting our freedom and values. Remembrance Day holds deep historical and emotional significance.

Saint Ralph Sherwin Retreat Day

We were really lucky that we were able to spend our patron: Saint Ralph Sherwin feast day together. Every class completed lots of activities about who Saint Ralph Sherwin was and the life he lived. We linked this to our own Gospel Values for example: Class 10 created Acceptance shields and Class 4 created Posters for Kindness.

We started the day with the Chaplaincy team leading our prayer and ended our day in prayer, reflecting on the day we have had.

Jesus Youth

The Chaplaincy Team were so excited to have Jesus Youth Visit for the afternoon. It was amazing to experience a mini retreat about working together as a team and becoming closer to God. We completed a range of team building activities and we able to end the afternoon together in prayer through adoration.

Chaplaincy Liturgical Prayer

The Chaplaincy Team created a fantastic liturgical prayer about the Catholic life and Mission of our school. It was a ‘This Morning’ special. We spoke to our Chaplaincy commitee and even interview Miss Lewis about the importance of our Praise Act of Worship. This really summed up the life of our school and we were able to remember all the great things we go for our Catholic life and Mission.

Crowning of Mary Liturgical Prayer

On the 2nd May, we celebrated Mary and her life. We celebrated together in the hall, remembering the joyful mysteries through Visio Divina and reflecting on how important she is to us but also as Jesus’ mother.

Chaplaincy Team 2022-2023 Achievements

Here’s what our Chaplaincy Team from last academic year achieved!

Harvest giving

The Chaplaincy Team did a fantastic job at collecting and delivering all your harvest donations to the Hope and Padley Centre. Thank you so much for ALL your donations, we have made a huge difference to other peoples lives.

Remembrance Liturgical Prayer.

Last year, we lost two very important people in our school community. Benjamin Topley and Mrs Karan O’Connor. We reflected on their lives and the lives of others who were lost in the war at our Remembrance service. It was a beautiful way to reflect on the members of the community we have lost and remember them in our hearts forever.

The Chaplaincy were incredible and really comforted the school in our lost, thinking of all their memories and how Benjamin and Mrs Karan O’Connor impact our hearts and lives.

Our Visit to The Hope Centre

Our Charity team visited the Hope Centre and explored how the food bank donations help others. We asked lots of questions and feel very proud that have helped support our local community.

We pray for everyone we were able to help.

First Liturgical prayer of the new year!

Our lovely Chaplaincy led us in a beautiful liturgical prayer for the beginning of our school year. We led school through the story of the Epiphany, when the Magi followed the star to see Baby Jesus, and shared with him Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

We discussed about all the gifts that we are want to share this year.

The Live Simply Award

The Chaplaincy team made massive contributions to completing the Live Simply Award. This is an amazing opportunity for our school and we can not wait to share more things we will be doing towards living sustainability.

The Crowning of Mary Liturgy

In the month of May, we celebrate and honour Mary, remembering her commitment as the mother of Jesus. The Chaplaincy Team led us in a reflective and thoughtful liturgy, with oppotunities to sing and pray with Mary, our Mother.

Chaplaincy Training Day

It was fantastic to gather together with other schools from Derby in our school trust to train and learn how to be Chaplains. It was beautiful to end our day together in Mass and our chaplaincy team did us very proud when they shared the scripture.