Advent at Holy Child Killiney

 

Advent is always a very special season in Holy Child, and organising the celebrations and activities for Advent is a task traditionally undertaken by Third Years; this year all three Third Year classes took on this role with pride and enthusiasm. 3A planned a beautiful Advent Assembly and Powerpoint for the whole school, with help from Ms Kelleher. The theme was ‘Let the ADVENTure Begin’ and this was reflected in all the readings, prayers and the blessing of the Advent Wreath. We wrote special cards for each class, and for the staff; in them is a unique Advent quote, an ‘Advent Act of Kindness’ for every class member and staff member to fulfil, a personal festive message to suit the specific group, and details of the time and date for their Prayer Room Advent Activity with our Chaplain Ms. Moiselle. This card was placed in our Advent Calendar, and each class ‘waited’ in true Advent Spirit for their card to arrive.

3 Alpha, guided by Ms Foody, placed 7 lovely Cribs around the school. The Cribs are of different designs,  ranging from African, to French, to one made by our own students in pottery. Each Crib is assigned to a particular year group, or to the staff, and we composed a Prayer to be placed beside each Crib, with blessings for Advent and Christmas. These are like special ‘Prayer Places’ in the school for the 4 weeks of Advent.

Form 3, with Ms Moore, planned the Advent fun activities and, to everyone’s excitement, designed an Advent Board Game based on the Game of Life. The game, for four players, consists of a path which looks like an Advent Wreath, with pink and purple candles, and drawings of Advent and Christmas scenes to represent the Advent Journey. The path begins at Nazareth and ends at Bethlehem; using a dice, and a little Christmas figure, you move along the path; landing on a candle space means selecting an Advent Card, which indicates move ahead, move back, or possibly even go to Herod’s house! Finally, 3 questions are asked outside Bethlehem to win the game. We set up 6 games in the Prayer Room, and each class comes at their allocated time for their Advent fun activities.

It was great fun organising the Holy Child School ‘ADVENTure’; we learned lots about the message of Advent and the meaning of Christmas, and enjoyed the break from serious study.

We hope that everyone’s ‘ADVENTure’ is full of fun and joy, and wish everyone a very happy Christmas.

Mrs E. Moiselle