Advent is a hugely busy time of year for the Archdiocese of Liverpool Schools Singing Programme. Advent 2025 was no exception and, in fact, was the Singing Programme’s busiest ever! 

The term culminated in the annual Schools Advent Services at the Cathedral on 10 December. The choir for the services was made up of nearly 1,200 children from 25 partnered schools, all the way from Widnes to Burscough. 

The Choral Directors also led or assisted partner schools in 18 different local services, concerts and performances in school or churches during Advent. These performances involved over 1,500 children and ranged from Christingle services to carols in local care homes. The young people involved furthered their spiritual development and made a difference to their local communities by sharing their talent. 

The Schools Singing Programme also runs area-based choirs in the archdiocese, Knowsley Catholic Children’s Choir and Widnes Catholic Children’s Choir. Both choirs combined to take part in the Celebration of Christmas concert hosted at the Cathedral on Saturday 13 December where they performed for an audience of over 1,400 people. 

The programme was founded in January 2022 and has grown to partner with 37 schools, with nine Choral Directors currently delivering 74 hours of provision to over 4,000 children each week, making it the largest Schools Singing Programme founded since the creation of the National Schools Singing Programme. There are plans to further expand over the coming months to cover more areas, including establishing new area-based choirs and assisting schools in forming the spiritual life of young people in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.