19 March 2021

Happy St Joseph’s day to everyone

Fortunately, we were able to celebrate Mass in year group assemblies and the children received a special blessing from Fr Anthony in both the infant and junior playgrounds. Fr Anthony blessed the statute of St Joseph’s he gave us at Christmas.

My thanks to Fr Anthony for making time to visit us and for continuing to keep us in his thoughts and prayers.

A big thank you also to the kitchen staff for baking cookies for the whole school to enjoy.

 

Prayer to St Joseph

Teach us to listen and not be afraid to trust
as you did in God’s promise.

Teach us to love courageously with a heart
that is free and just.

Teach us to protect one another and all
that belongs to God.

Teach us to dream a world where all are neighbours;
a vision illuminated by God’s light.

Teach us to keep the Word of God close to our hearts, and to proclaim it in word and action.

Teach us to be gentle with our power and
strong in our tenderness.

Teach us to be for all persons a living lesson
of goodness and truth – a blessing for all
generations to come.

 

Gardening

Thank you for the generous donations of outdoor plants, bulbs and seeds sent in last week. The children have been busy preparing the soil, planting and have enjoyed every minute of working and learning outside. I am sure you will see the results of their hard work over the next few weeks, as bulbs begin to grow and shoots appear. They are justifiably very proud of their efforts contributing to the improvement of our school environment. Fabulous work!

We also have a mini pond and Year 5 have promised to look after it and take care of the frogspawn.

Click here for this week’s pictures

It has been an action-packed week of great learning, gardening and dressing up in red to help raise funds for Comic relief. I am delighted to announce that we have raised £300 and a cheque will be sent to Comic relief.

 

Library

Our Library is developing according to plan. Thanks to Mr McEvoy’s skilful carpentry, we now have a separate dedicated library area with an arch to define the entrance. Thanks also to our local electrician, Mr Johnson, who installed energy efficient LED lights in the ceiling, making the room much more pleasant to sit in and read.

The room will be painted in the Easter holidays and we are hoping our new furniture will arrive early next term. All being well, we hope to be able to use the Library early next term. Looking to the future, we are planning on hosting some parent child reading sessions, inviting you in to spend time reading with your child.

The possibilities are endless but we do need your help and all ideas are welcome.

 

Parking

Thank you to those of you who continue to park in neighbouring roads with due care and consideration to others.

Unfortunately, on Thursday, a vehicle (picture attached) was parked at the top of Woodend (leading to Crown Dale) facing the wrong way, going against the one-way system. The driver then proceeded to do a ‘U’ turn when leaving.

Understandably a local resident was extremely concerned and reported it to the school. This does not support our school ethos of respect and needless to say it is unsafe and dangerous.

 

PTA

The PTA will be holding their AGM on Thursday, 25th March 2021 at 7.00 p.m.

For security reasons, the Zoom link will be uploaded onto Google Classroom (meaning only St Joseph’s students can view it) on Wednesday morning.

 

News to celebrate

Pupils in Years 2-5 used their last week of home learning earlier this month to write their own original stories, as part of a short story competition run by McCarthy Stone.

Their stories were shared with the homeowners at Lewis House to read and enjoy, and they then selected a winner.

Congratulations to Cara Durie who was awarded first prize for her wonderful story entitled ‘The Young Detective’. A brilliant achievement and we look forward to the sequel. Well done Cara!

 

The world’s greatest library competition

Mrs Tope and Ms Bickmore encouraged children to send in their creative ideas for the world’s greatest Library. Children had the opportunity to present their ideas through writing, models, art work or any other medium of their choice.

We were delighted with the response and the winners were Teniola, Sebastian, Anaiah, Sienna in the infant school and Segan, Frank, Lucia, Isobel and Arianna in the Junior school.

 

Assistant Headteacher

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Charlie Defty as our new Assistant Headteacher.

Mr Defty will be joining the school after Easter but will be visiting the school next Thursday and Friday, so you will get a chance to meet him. He will be part of the Senior Leadership team and work with all our children.

 

The future

It is an exciting time at St Joseph’s, as we continue to develop and grow. We have invested time and finances into developing the premises to support teaching and learning and there are more projects to come.

The junior playground is our next big project which will take place in the summer. Plans are to resurface the area with new markings and defined areas.

Children will be involved to present their ideas as their voice is key to the playground design.

The children have made an excellent start since returning from lockdown and class teachers will continue to plan lessons and teach to ensure gaps in learning are addressed. I know you will work with us to continue supporting your child, by reading at home and completing homework set.

I wish you all a happy and safe week and look forward to seeing you at the school gates.

 

Mrs L Fernandes
Headteacher

 

Merit awards for the week

  • Nursery – Sophie & Divine
  • Reception – Osiris, Aaron D, Marie & Anna
  • Year 1 – Tejeri, Hallee, Aisha & Karter
  • Year 2 – Zac, Erin, Kailem & Ema
  • Year 3 – Michael S, Sophia, Isabelle & Ariana
  • Year 4 – Eliana, Alexander, Lotti & Nathaniel
  • Year 5  – Joslyne, Oyin, Anaya & Taliyah
  • Year 6  – Lucia, Gorgeous, William & Adniel