Here at The Federation of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St Joseph Catholic Primary Schools we believe that our mission statement of “Living, Loving and Learning Together with our eyes focused on Jesus” means that we should seek to be actively involved in the life of our local communities.
We join our parish of St John Boste, which includes the churches of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St Joseph’s for Mass throughout the school year and we also visit Brandon Methodist Church for their Advent and Lenten Journeys.
We have a strong relationship with our local Co-op who generously support our work as Fairtrade Schools. We promote and support the Churches Together Advent Carol Service which includes the lighting of our community Christmas Trees. We have regular collections for our local Food Bank, organised by our Mini Vinnies which join with the collections made from our parish churches. This year we are seeking to develop our relationship with our parish Green Team to cultivate natural areas of beauty in our church and school grounds. Both schools have a Twitter page where we post information about community events and initiatives as well as regular posts about school life.
During Lent we host Lenten lunches and at Easter create a Sacred Space alternating between our churches which explores in a multi -sensory way the last week of Jesus on Earth. This is open to members of our community. We host Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day events in school and welcome our wider community to events in school such as Macmillan Coffee Mornings, Christmas and Summer Fayres, Decorated Easter Egg Competitions and Fairtrade Fortnight Breakfasts.
Our Parish
The Federation of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St Josephs serves the parish of St John Boste. This is part of the Finchale Partnership. 
Our parish priest is Father David Coxon. He is a regular visitor to our schools.
The churches of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St Joseph are very beautiful. You can read about them on our parish website page West Durham Catholic Parishes (wordpress.com)
Mass Times are:
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs ,Esh Winning- Sunday at 10.30am.
St Joseph’s, Ushaw Moor – Saturday at 6.00pm;
The Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession is available at St Joseph’s, Ushaw Moor on Tuesdays at 6.15 – 7.00pm, after weekday masses, or upon request to Fr David.
