Our Parish

We are incredibly lucky to work in the Parish of Our Lady of the Valley. We are surrounded by the beautiful Hills of Pendle. Our School is situated right in the heart of Clitheroe town centre, a perfect spot to become involved with all community projects. We pride ourselves in developing strong parish links. Our Headteacher Zoe Mabbott, believes in working together to benefit the whole community. Working with the local community in different ways supports our Catholic Social Teaching (CST) within school and models to children what  being part of a community is all about, after all every opportunity is a learning one. The community in Clitheroe bring a wealth of experiences and knowledge that we are privileged to share with the children. At SSMJ we have worked hard to develop those links and we are involved in lots of community projects like: 

*Laudato Si' - Gardening projects in the local area Parish and School working closely together, something very close to our hearts.

*Regular Mass at SSMJ

*Live Simply Fun Day 23/9/23

*Placing of the Wreath by our Head Boy/Girl on the Fallen Soldier statue - Remembrance Day 

*Community Performances - where the community are invited for children's performances

*Coffee Mornings to raise money for charity

*Fairs - Christmas & Summer

*Making use of the local area and resources - Panto at The Grand, Castle Visits, Tesco, Library Visits and the Mosque. 

*Tree planting in the local community

*Singing in local areas - Tesco, Care Homes, Sainsburys, Salvation Army

*Volunteers to accompany children on trips and listen to children read

*Visitors in from the local community to talk about different projects e.g. Slave Trade

*Carol Concert - planned for 18/12/23 where the community and school are coming together to sing

*Nearly New Sale 27/1/23 inviting people to share in living sustainably. 

*Three Parish Event 29/2/24 - three school communities joining together to celebrate our distinctively Catholic ethos. 

*CAFOD Reflective Walk - 17/3/24 - Planned by Laudato Si' Parish Group

Little Church

Seedlings

Live Simply Parish Fun Day 

The Parish and the school have been working very hard together to organise a 'Live Simply Parish Fun Day' for the community. There are going to be lots of exciting things including activities organised by SSMJ Women's Group, SSMJ PTA, SSMJ Little Church, Clitheroe Mosque and SSMJ School Staff and its a chance for the community to come together and enjoy a lovely afternoon.

Nearly New Sale - Laudato Si' Parish

We hosted our Parish Laudato Si' 'Nearly New Sale' and we raised £165 on Saturday 27th January 2024. Thank you very much to all our wonderful helpers for donating bags of items, setting up, selling through to tidying away. A brilliant example of our community working together. It was a great way to spread our message about 'Living Simply'. 

Bags 3 Schools then collected the remaining items and we raised another £65 towards our total. What a very successful event.

CAFOD Big Lent Walk 17.3.24

Children and adults took part in a short reflective walk for CAFOD. It was lovely to hear all the reflective Bible readings, short prayers and poems which were read by parishioners and children along the way. Thank you to the Laudato Si parish group for organising this event for our children. 

Out and About in the Parish

The children, parents and staff are very active in the local Parish. Click below to see the development projects SSMJ have been involved in around the local area. 

Parish of Our Lady of the Valley, Ribble Valley Lancashire

Catholic Communities of Clitheroe and Sabden

Our school has strong links and is well supported by the community of the Parish of Our Lady of the Valley under the care of Father Paul Brindle. Please click here for more details.