Dear parents/Carers, We have had a wonderful end of term. We held a special Stations of the Cross Service in…
3 December 2021
You have been very supportive this term and the children have had a successful autumn term.
Thank you for your support and understanding this week in regard to postponing the movie night. Having taken advice from Public Health England and the Local Authority, we have decided to postpone all our school events until the spring term 2022.
All Nativity plays will be recorded, pictures will also be taken and shared with parents on google classroom. We are hoping to live stream the plays on Wednesday morning at 10.00 a.m. (Classes S and O) and in the afternoon at 1.45 p.m. (Classes E and J).
The Junior Carol Concert will be filmed and shared with parents.
The EYFS play will be filmed on Tuesday, 14th December at 10.00 a.m.
Our Christmas lunch day will go ahead as planned with staggered sittings.
I totally understand your disappointment at not being able to see your chid in person at our events. It was not an easy decision to make and like you we were looking forward to all our Christmas plays and celebrations. I hope you will understand that we need to take these precautionary measures for everyone’s safety.
We are reverting back to year group bubbles as from Monday and children will have to stay in allocated parts of the playground. Drop off (8.45 a.m.) and pick up (3.00 p.m. – Infants and 3.15 p.m. – Juniors) arrangements will be the same. Positive cases are on the increase in Croydon and we have had a number of positive cases in school. Under current regulations, we are not requested to report cases or send bubbles home. Should a child or adult test positive for the Omicron variant, Track and Trace will contact the school and other close contacts.
I urge you to be cautious and if your child is unwell, please do not send them into school, but keep them at home and take a PCR test if they continue to be unwell. I request that you kindly wear a mask when on school premises and maintain social distancing. It is important that we take all necessary precautions to try and keep everyone safe so we can all enjoy a happy Christmas with our friends and family.
Clubs and other school events this term
We will be cancelling lunchtime and afterschool clubs as from Monday. Fees paid can be carried forward to next term’s clubs.
Christmas Fair becomes the first-ever Spring Fair
It is with much regret that we have to cancel the Christmas Fair following advice from Public Health England. Whist I know this is really disappointing for everyone and particularly the children who wanted to sell their merchandise at the fair, it is in the best interests of keeping everyone safe. We are liaising with the PTA to re-plan events and re-launch them in the spring term – in the first-ever St Joseph’s Spring Fair.
As this new event takes shape, we will keep you informed but we hope we can count on your support, as we take this opportunity to also ‘build back better’ in the Spring!
Career Pathways
Mrs Kelly (Sophie’s and Riley’s mum) visited the school on Monday, 30th November 2021 to talk to the children about her job as a train driver. It was fascinating to hear about all the skills that are needed to do her job. Tyler in year 5 stated “I didn’t realise what you need to do to drive a train. You have to be focused and concentrate and know about so many different things, it was really interesting.”
Thank you Mrs Kelly for making time to visit the children I think you have inspired some children to find out more about your job and others related to it.
This is part of our drive to deliver a career pathway for Primary children. By inviting speakers in from a variety of jobs, we are exposing children to new experiences and ideas. If you would like to come into school to speak to the children about your job, please email me on [email protected]
Children’s Enterprise – St Joseph’s Dragon’s Den
As part of our enterprise curriculum, representatives from each class were asked to present their business ideas to a panel of ‘Dragons’, Mr Arindam Das and Ms Zainab Zorokong, who interviewed the children to find out about their business ideas. The children had to present a persuasive pitch to earn £20 to invest in their business. I have to say they did brilliantly and we have some strong future CEOs.
Thank you to Mr Das and Ms Zorokong for giving up their time to ensure the children had an enjoyable and valuable learning experience.
Click here for short bio’s of our two ‘Dragons’
News to celebrate
Football
Our KS2 footballers played against St Cyprians at St Joseph’s on Monday, 29 November 2021. It was an exciting match and I am delighted to say that our boys won 6-0. Mr Abrahams is doing a fantastic job at coaching them. The boys displayed excellent sportsmanship and teamwork. Well done and we look forward to future fixtures.
Indoor Athletics
Our team enjoyed competing in this tournament at Harris School in Crystal Palace on Thursday, 2nd December 2021. Mrs Mangan, Ms Mangan and Mrs Odewale accompanied them and true to our School games values, the children displayed resilience, determination and found their brave to perform to high standard. They qualified to go through the next round, to be held early in 2022. Congratulations children, a brilliant achievement.
Year 4 raffle ticket sale
Year 4 sold raffle tickets to raise money for our enterprise project and the lucky winners are Sean and Alice from year 4.
Year 2 Tower of London
Year 2 visited the Tower of London as part of their history and geography topic. They had a wonderful time and their visit brought their learning to life. We received many compliments about their behaviour and enthusiasm. My thanks to Ms Chrusciak and Mr Abrahams for organising the trip and to the staff and helpers for supporting.
Year 6 residential trip
If your children are in Year 6, please respond to Mr Defty’s letter sent out this week relating to the above trip, I hope that all the children will be able to attend. The trip is a fantastic opportunity for children to engage in a range of team building activities that promote wellbeing, fitness and positive social interaction.
Please do email Mr Defty if you have any questions: [email protected]
2nd Sunday in Advent
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
(Psalm 46 10-11)
This Sunday is the second Sunday of Advent. Children continue to bring home a ‘Posada’ (Spanish for ‘inn’). It is a miniature nativity crib sent home each day. The Posada is taken home by each child for one night. When your child brings the Posada home, we ask that you spend time talking about Advent, say a prayer together and return it to school the next day, so another child can take it home. This is a wonderful way to prepare for Christmas.
Do read Tyler’s and Savannah’s work in year 5 which is in the photo montage celebrating this week’s work
Looking forward
Whilst it is very disappointing not to be able to welcome you into school for all our important events, I hope you will continue to support the school in keeping everyone safe so that we will all be able to share Christmas with our families and friends.
Please be assured that it will not spoil the Christmas fun our children will have in school and we will do our best to end the term on a happy note.
We need to look forward to next year and to rescheduling our school events, possibly to a winter or spring festival. The children will have lots of opportunities to develop their enterprise projects and continue it into the spring term.
Let us enjoy the last few weeks of term by continuing to work together in a supportive way so we can all look forward to a happy and safe Christmas break.
Mrs L Fernandes
Headteacher
Click below for this week’s pictures.
Future events
Please do add the following dates to your diary. Sometimes we may need to change dates but advance warning will be given.
10.12.21 – Own clothes day; bring £1
14.12.21 – EYFS (Nursery and Reception) Nativity at 10:00 a.m.
15.12.21 – Class 1S and 2O Nativity at 10:00 a.m.
15.12.21 – Class 1E and 2J Nativity at 1:45 p.m.
16.12.21 – Christmas Lunch
17.12.21 – End of term. SCHOOL BREAKS UP AT 1.15 P.M.
