21 January 2022

Another busy but productive week

Our assembly focus has been around ‘trust’ leading to some great discussions and insightful answers from the children. They all identified that trust comes with mutual respect and this should be shown towards everyone. Years 5 and 6’s ‘time to write’ task focused on this topic and I have to say I received some excellent writing.

Pupil voice continues to be strong and we will take on board the children’s suggestions. I will be meeting with the children over the next few weeks to involve them in a project to further promote our school values with everyone in our school community. This will involve discussion around road safety, particularly parking, behaviour in the playground and how we can empower the children to have a positive impact on everyone in our community.

Merits to celebrate

Last week’s newsletters featured some wonderful quotes from Year 5 about their love for reading and how it is promoted through the school. Every morning children across the school engage in reading activities from 8:45 a.m. and it is positively impacting standards in reading and writing and on pupil engagement. The school has invested in purchasing quality texts for the library and multiple copies for the classroom. Please do make time to read with your child and share their library book. Kindly note that books must be returned by the due date and there will be a charge for copies damaged or lost.

I have had the pleasure of reading some excellent writing across the school. Children are engaged and the use of drama, art and peer discussion is contributing to strong outcomes. Children have more opportunities to edit their work and this is supporting independent learning across the school.

Here’s an extract from a piece of writing from Kieran in 5E. It was linked to the text, ‘Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell.

They moved as quickly as their overworked bodies allowed until the moon and the stars shone on the clearing of silver moss that came with a delightful honeyed smell of homemade cakes. When Fred worked, something in him began to come into focus: next to the chirping and the howling of monkeys, under a moon so bright it outshone the stars in the midnight sky. It was a whizz. It was fizz. It was a ding. It was a ping. It was a plan! (Kieran 5E)

Year 3 have created a ‘tree of challenge’ outside their classrooms. Children have set three goals related to personal development and learning challenges. It encourages self-reflection and helps children to aim high, whilst supporting each other to achieve their goals

The tree of challenge is about year 3 setting up challenges for ourselves to achieve by the end of the year. We wrote them down on coloured paper and hung them on the tree. When we achieve our challenges, we can set more challenges. The tree reminds us of what we need to do. (Muna Y3)

Wellbeing week 7th – 10th February 2022

We are in the process of confirming arrangements for this week and hope to be able to run outdoor events where you can come into school to work with your children. This may include morning fitness sessions, gardening and a number of other activities. Details will be shared shortly.

St Joseph’s App

Thank you to all the parents who have logged on to St Joseph’s App and for the positive feedback. There have been some small teething issues (which is to be expected) but they have all been helpful as they have picked up where we had incorrect details for parents, as well as improvements for the developers for the next time they upgrade the app.

The app currently offers the following:

News / events (under “News”)
School calendar, including events specific to your child / family (under “Calendar”)
Consent and data collection forms (under “Forms”)
Attendance record & Absence reporting (under “Parent Portal”)
Relish Meals including pre-order (under “Hub”)
Booking for clubs and trips (under “Forms”)
Useful documents for parents such as the parent handbook and school prospectus (under “Digital Library”)

For a short presentation on the app’s features, as well as an instructional video, please go to the following page on the school website: Existing Parents > Parental Support > St Joseph’s App.

Remember that if you have children in the infants and juniors, in order to switch between the schools, go to downwards yellow arrow (top of the screen) to toggle between the schools. You can also choose between 10 different languages via “App settings”, as well as decide what sorts of notifications you would like.

We will continue to post information on the school website as well, but over time, we will move all of the pupil-specific information to the school app as it is secure and specific to you.

From 1 February 2022, we will start using the “in-mail” function of the school app (see the envelope symbol) to send you messages. St Joseph’s App will then become your main source of information from the school – instead of checking multiple email addresses, or multiple phone numbers for text messages, just open the school app and it will all be there
From 1 March 2022, we will cease to send notifications by text messages, other than in the case of an emergency such as a snow day (for example). Text messages do have a cost to the school (which does add up and divert resources away from your children), whereas messages sent via the app are free
During the second half of the Spring Term, we will be hosting parents evenings via the school app. The app will be the booking system AND the video conference system so you no longer have to log in to a Zoom
In the Summer term, we plan to move our cashless money system from Parentpay to the St Joseph’s App. The app has a built-in payment system called sQuid which is a better system for handling payments than ParentPay (sQuid has a “purse” system allowing you to store funds that can be used for payment of items, but importantly, makes refunds quicker)

Clubs

We have now started to provide refunds for club sessions missed last term. In many cases, as parents have booked clubs for the Spring Term, we have simply reduced the new term’s club price by the amount we owe you to speed up the process.

If your child has a sport after school or lunchtime club, please do send them in to school in their PE kits.

Music lessons

Mrs Chamberlain-Kent is pleased to be able to offer music tuition for a violin or cello. If you are interested please click on the letter below and return it as soon as possible.

Letter regarding violin and cello lessons

Giving back to the wider community

Mrs Luri, Mrs Mangan and Mrs Phillips will be taking part in the London Winter Walk to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. The walk will take place on Saturday 29th January 2022. The walk is a Half-Marathon (13 miles or 21km) beginning at the Oval. The route will take them eastwards through the streets of London over Tower Bridge and to the halfway point in Southwark Park, then back along the Thames to finish back at the Oval. Please see the links below if you would like to sponsor the ladies.

Mrs Phillips’s justgiving page
Ms Luri’s justgiving page
Mrs Mangan’s justgiving page

Have a safe and happy week and I look forward to seeing you around the school.

Click here for this week’s pictures

Mrs L Fernandes
Headteacher