On Wednesday 16 September, Fr Peter Hopkinson, from St. Mary’s, Burnley came to celebrate our Welcome Mass for the whole school.
In his homily, Fr Peter told the children how good they were at reading and performing in public, especially in front of all their peers.
He remembered the first time he got up to read in public at St. Joseph’s College, Upholland – he was very nervous and made a lot of mistakes. Fr. John Baron who was the Drama and Classics teacher at that time took him to one side and made him practice in front of some photographs, pretending he was addressing the people in the photographs. This helped him to grow in confidence and not be afraid of addressing people in public.
His gift of public speaking needed nurturing and that is what he thanked the staff and parents of Oakhill for doing with all the children – nurturing everyone’s gifts and talents so that they may grow and shine brightly in the world in which we live.
We prayed for the plight of refugees; our family and friends and thought about the many opportunities that lay ahead of us in the year to come.
At the end of Mass, Fr Peter thanked the parents, the staff and the governors for all that they do at Oakhill in nurturing and caring for the students. May God bless you all in everything that you do.