Thursday, 27th November
Sessions starts 10am. Ends 2pm.
You can book your school onto the day by emailing Fr Simon and asking that we reserve X number of places for your school. Before the day we will need to know names of those coming.
Please do try to arrive before 10am as time is already short for the type of day this is so we will need to start at 10am. Although we do appreciate that there are always things that hold up departures from schools and life is never as easy! But as far as possible can you try! You are welcome to arrive earlier and get settled and have a drink etc. Please come to the front door of the house.
Ages
A young person being commissioned as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion in our archdiocese needs to be in year 10. This is a decision made by the bishop and we cannot allow anyone in year 9 or below to be part of the day.
Parking
We will open up the gates in front of the church. There is space there for at least 10 cars. First arrivals go down toward the grotto area (away from Crab St – toward the Greek restaurant). Park on the bend and then cars fill in behind. Bump up onto the kerb so there is room for a car to get past.
Food & Drink
We will not provide lunch. Pupils should bring their own food. We will open the tuck shop if anyone would like a can or chocolate bar.
Uniform
It is up to you if pupils wear a uniform or not. We will be doing a few activities but nothing too strenuous that needs active clothing!
Application Forms
Even if you are coming as a group and I have the names of those attending we will need individual forms for each person who will be commissioned. This is for our records here and also for diocesan records. As someone is being commissioned in a ministry of the Church, we need to have a record of names and places they will be ministering.
You can send forms in before or fill in on the day.
Staff Supervision
There should be at least one member of staff from the school with the group for the day. The staff member need not stay in the room and we can put you in a room to do work if you like. The staff member should also have the medical forms, emergency contacts etc for the pupils in their care (as on a day retreat held here).
As the training is taking place in a school day and pupils are coming from school it is assumed the staff will be responsible for the young people.
Staff who accompany are welcome to be part of the day and then be commissioned as well at the end of the day.
Commissioning
As the day is quite short I will keep things moving as best as we can.
That means I will do a very brief commissioning at the end rather than commissioning during Mass.
The commissioning will be fully valid, but you may want to recreate the commissioning in school? We are happy to give you the rite to re-use.
