Dear Parents/Carers, It was wonderful to welcome you and the children back to school this week. The children settled back…
11 June 2021
Welcome back to the last term of this academic year. It has been an eventful year and we look forward to a busy term celebrating our achievements and planning for the future.
I am proud to inform you that the school has been awarded the Quality Mark for English and Maths. It is an acknowledgement of our high standards in reading, writing and maths. The inspection took place on the 17th May and Mr Kelly, the inspector had the opportunity to speak to pupils, parents, governors and staff. Evidence of work, progress and attainment was submitted to evidence standards. Mr Kelly was very complimentary and noted that the school continues to have high expectations, with a clear vision underpinned by ‘moral purpose’.
Please do read the inspector’s report
Marian procession
Thank you for your generous donations of flowers the last term for our Marian procession on Friday, 28th May. Father Anthony led the service and each child placed flowers at Our Lady’s altar. It was a beautiful service and our first whole school celebration. Year 2 children led the procession and crowned our lady with a crown of flowers. All flowers donated have been taken to Lewis House, local retirement homes on Beulah Hill. The residents were thrilled with the donations.
Do have a look at the wonderful pictures of the procession
School library
I am delighted to share that our school library is now open and children have visited to share books and ideas on how we can use it. Their ideas are excellent and include, homework clubs, study support groups and a great deal more. Pupil voice is active again and driving our school development. My thanks to Margaret Bailey (Chair of Governors) for cutting the ribbon to open our Library and to Father Anthony for blessing it. Mr Navarro, Mr McEvoy and Mr Piscoe have refurbished the space and organised the resources to turn a standard room into a haven for reading.
One of our plans is to use the library for parent coffee mornings where you can gather to offer mutual support, discover ways to support your child’s learning and develop your own interest and study. My thanks to Mrs Francis for volunteering to work with us on this project. Everyone is welcome and your ideas are appreciated, so please do email me on [email protected] to register interest.
Thank you for your donations to our Library Fund. We are quite a bit behind our target of £5,000 so please do login to your Parent Pay account (every student has an account and all parents were sent these at the start of the academic year – please contact the office if you have lost or misplaced yours) to make a donation. Every little bit does help. A donation of just £5 buys 1 book for your children’s learning. All money raised will go towards the purchase of books and other resources to promote reading for pleasure and will ultimately benefit our children.
Click here for pictures of the opening
Steel pans at St Joseph’s
Year 4 had their first lessons learning to play steel pans this week. Mrs Douglas was delighted with their energy and enthusiasm and is confident that they will thrive and be able to lead performances next term. It is a delight hearing them play and despite it only being their first lesson, their tone and sound were amazing.
All being well, I hope to share a clip of them playing in next week’s newsletter.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a parents’ steel pans group to perform at our events? If you’re interested please email me on [email protected]. We are already thinking about a staff group and afterschool club for next term. So, parents come on board!
Science workshops
Years 5 and 6 attended a workshop via zoom, hosted by The Cedars school in conjunction with Benjamin Franklin House and the Royal Institution. This was an excellent opportunity for our children to engage with other pupils. We look forward to future events and working with The Cedars and Laurel Schools in September.
Careers programme
A key element of our school vision is based on high expectations for all pupils and nurturing in them self-confidence, resilience and the belief that they can aspire to any profession they choose. A fundamental part of this is to provide our children with opportunities to engage in workshops and with people from a wide range of professions and from diverse backgrounds. We are currently working with Urban Synergy to arrange virtual workshops and assemblies before the end of term and for next year.
We have registered with the Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programme to support our vision for career development across the school. In the next academic year, a greater emphasis will be placed on careers and planning for the future. We have registered to take part in a competition around ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ run by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The driving force for our curriculum is based on a motivational quote from Elizabeth Marvel, ‘If our children see it, they can be it’.
Online safety webinar for parents (22 June 2021 – 5:00 p.m.)
Ms Allery will be running a webinar offering support on how you can ensure your child access the internet safely. Topics covered will include, use of parental controls, social media and gaming.
PTA
The PTA have been busy in the background working with the school to plan events for this term. We will be hosting a ‘virtual zoo’ event on the 12th July 2021, details will be shared over the next two weeks.
Looking ahead to the autumn term, we are planning to organise a firework evening on 4th November 2021, so please do support us. It can only happen if we have lots of volunteers to help with the organisation, both prior to the event and on the day. The PTA would love to hear from you with your ideas, and offers of support, so please do email them on [email protected].
150th anniversary
This is a momentous moment in our school history and September 2021 will see the launch of our year of celebrations to commemorate this anniversary. We have already begun to plan events to be held over the year and a Mass celebrated by the Archbishop and our Parish priests in April 2022.
Click here to see the list of events
Celebrating nature
I am delighted to announce the winners of our competition held last term. It was a difficult decision, but Mrs Bailey and Mrs Langford Jackson chose the following entries.
1. China Wright (2J)
2. Alice Walton (3LJ)
3. Diego Ordonez Triana (5C)
In recognition of their winning entries, children will receive a copy of a new children’s book ‘Twitch’ and will join a zoom meeting with the author M.G Leonard, on Tuesday, 15th June.
Thank you to everyone who sent in entries that have all been displayed in our Library. It has proved so popular that we will be holding a regular photographic competition based on differing themes.
Uniform and summer
Please note that girls summer dresses must be pink stripes and not checks. Please refer to our uniform list and visit our supplier’s online shop. I appreciate it has been difficult during the current pandemic to purchase new uniform items. As we only have 6 weeks remaining this term, please do not go to any unnecessary expense to purchase uniform but please ensure your child has the full school uniform ready for September. The PTA will try to host a second-hand uniform sale before the end of term.
Our uniform suppliers also have school summer hats in stock. Please ensure your child wears a school hat to school and applies sun cream to protect their skin from the sun.
Inset day
Please remember that we have an inset day on the 18th June. Staff will be in school for training, but school will not be open to pupils. Please do remember to continue with the Time to write activity set.
Have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing you at the school gates before and after school.
Mrs L Fernandes
Headteacher
Important dates for your diary
- Inset day – Friday, 18th June
School will be closed to children, but staff will be in for professional development training sessions - End of academic year – Thursday, 22nd July 2021
Please note that this is a day earlier than previously advertised as the school was open to pupils on Friday, 12th February. It was not used an in inset day.
Diary dates:
- 25.6.21 – Y5 football competition at Trinity
- 28.6.21 – Healthy Week
- 29.6.21 -1st Holy Communion Mass for children in school
- 30.6.21 – Shooting for school promotional video (including with a drone camera)
- 2.7.21 – Sports day (juniors a.m. infants p.m.) – Provisional date
- 7.7.21 – Open day for prospective parents
- 7.7.21 – End of year reports sent to parents
- 7.7.21 – Parents/Teacher meetings booking system open. Parents can book an appointment to speak to the class teacher for 10 minutes via zoom.
- 9.7.21 – Transition Day – children to spend the day with their new teacher. New Parents’ Day: 9.30 a.m. – Reception 10.45 a.m. – Nursery
- 12.7.21 – 16.7.21 Parent evenings – Year group dates to be confirmed
- 20.7.21 – Provisional date for Y6 Leavers Mass – Virgo Fidelis
- 22.7.21 – End of term 1.30 p.m.
The above dates are subject to change, depending on safety guidelines and Public Health England advice.
