Dear Parents/Carers, This week we have shown what a great community we are and really lived out our Mission ‘Together…
20th January 2023
Dear Parents and Friends
Despite the cold and icy weather, the children have happily come into school oblivious to the cold. It’s always a delight to see you all at the front gate at the start and end of the day and, thank you for all your lovely comments this week on the announcement of my retirement. As I said in my letter, St Joseph’s is an amazing community of wonderful people and most importantly amazing children. I know with your support it will continue to thrive and build on current strengths.
It’s hard to believe we’re already at the end of week 3 with only 3 weeks to half term. One of the highlights of this term is our ‘Wellbeing week’ – Monday, 6th to Thursday, 9th February. Mrs Phillips and Ms Ugbo will share details shortly. We hope you will join us for some of the activities.
Learning beyond the Classroom
A group of year 5 pupils were offered the opportunity to attend STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) sessions at The Cedars School. Their first session was on last Saturday and our children loved the challenges and interaction with other primary students.
I was pleased to be nominated and chosen to take part in the STEM Masterclass at Cedars School. The staff and children were friendly, it was nice to mix with children who were picked from other schools, some children came all the way from Brighton.
I enjoyed the first science lesson, it was fun and am looking forward to seeing what we do in the next lesson. The juice and biscuits were nice!!” (Luca)
Stemettes is an organisation that promotes STEM activities for girls. Their website has details of events you can attend and ways to promote a love for STEM. Do take a moment to visit the site here
Visit from a past pupil
Kaliam visited the Juniors to talk about his experiences of playing football and working with young people. He spoke to the children about his life at St Joseph’s and how the school helped him to prepare for his future. The children asked brilliant questions and Kaliam shared that when he was at school he did not always make good choices and work hard. However, he realised to do well he needed to take on responsibility for himself and work hard. We are so proud of him and thank him for giving up his time to visit. He will be returning to school during our Primary Careers week in March.
Parental Engagement
Parent and Child group
Thank you to the parents who attended the Parent Champion training session led by Louise Fuentes on Wednesday. Feedback was positive and we now plan to move to the next stage where our Parent Champions run sessions. We hope to start after half term and will keep you updated. Do please spread the news to any parents/carers/friends who would like to attend. All are welcome, even if you don’t have children at the school.
Duffus Community Foundation – Tuesday, 24th January 2023 at 9.15 a.m. (Garden Hall)
We would like to welcome everyone to our Parent Coffee Morning where Helen Alemseged will be speaking about the work of the Duffus Community Foundation. Helen will be delighted to answer any questions you might have about wellbeing and also give some tips about how we can help our children grow up to be happy and resilient young people.
Parental Neurodiversity Webinars
This interactive workshop is aimed at parents and carers of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental differences (e.g. Autism, ADHD, DCD/Dyspraxia) or would like further information. Dr Joanne will share ideas about – positively empowering families. She will share specific strategies and tips for supporting your child at home, in a Neurodiversity-friendly way. There is also a Q and A session, with an opportunity to address specific questions about supporting young people
A Parental Neurodiversity Webinar will take place on Monday 6th, February 2023. There are two sessions, one in the morning and another in the evening. Please see the links below.
The link for the morning session is Webinar booking AM
The link for the evening session is Webinar Booking PM
PTA
The PTA will be sending out information about future events which will include a Pancake sale on Shrove Tuesday, Easter Egg hunt, and a Family Quiz evening. Details to follow next week. They will be hosing a coffee morning before the end of term so please look out for information and come along to support them.
RE Newsletter
‘We all have a duty to do good’ Pope Francis
Our new RE topics for this term based on our Scheme of work ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life’ are outlined in the attached document. Please click on the following link to access them.
RE Topics Spring 1
The children are encouraged to live out their faith in every day life in their interaction with others both in and beyond the School Community. Our children’s knowledge is deepened in RE sessions but is applied to all aspects of school life and promoted through our school values.
I am proud of the way our young people lead liturgies, assemblies and foster their relationship with God through prayer and quiet reflection. We encourage them to think of what Jesus would say to them in any situation and use his words to guide their actions.
Do please make time to look at the overview for topics this term
Each week children have a question at the start of the week to discuss and respond to It links to RE and current topics in the news. Children have the chance to discuss topical issues and relate it to their knowledge and understanding of work covered in RE. We discussed it with the children and they felt it would be a good idea to post a question in my weekly newsletter for your to look at with your child.
This week’s question is
We would like you to discuss the question as a family and encourage your child to record their ideas using art, writing or a poster. Any work produced can be emailed to me on [email protected] or handed to your child’s class teacher. I look forward to hearing their answers.
Mass Readings for Sunday – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time January 22nd 2023
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalm 27
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23
St. Sebastian’s Feast Day – 20th January
Children from this house enjoyed celebrating their feast day and participating in an Assembly. Click on the following link for information about St Sebastian.
Celebrating achievement and hard work Headteacher’s and Attendance Award
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At St Joseph’s we aim for at least 97% attendance.
| Year group | Merit Certificate
and Nursery -Stars of the week |
Attendance |
| Nursery | Simisola and Ibrahim | 83.6% |
| RP | Amiel and Ava | 92.1% |
| RH | Ryan and Ishmael | 98% |
| 1E | Klaus and Kalli | 95.7% |
| 1S | Maggie and Sofia | 100% |
| 2O | Trisha | 93.5% |
| 2J | Juan and Marie | 96.1% |
| 3S | Israel and Hallee | 97.7% |
| 3T | Foma and Jacob | 94.3% |
| 4J | Emmanuel and Bella | 94.4% |
| 4O | EJ and Marcos | 96.4% |
| 5S | Raphael and Luca | 92.9% |
| 5E | Amanuel and Jaidan | 94.6% |
| 6P | Nathanael and Harrison | 95.5% |
| 6H | Kanayya and Ricardo | 94.2% |
Congratulations to the following classes for the highest attendance this week
Class 1S and 3S
Mrs Fernandes
Headteacher
