Dear parents/Carers, We have had a wonderful end of term. We held a special Stations of the Cross Service in…
8 October 2021
Our superhero has done it again!.
Congratulations to Mrs Mangan for completing the London Marathon in just over five hours, a fantastic achievement and the fact she was still smiling and bounding with energy was remarkable. Mrs Mangan, you are St Joseph’s very own legend and we are in total awe of you and your achievement.
Mrs Mangan shared her experience with all the children at our celebration assembly today. She reinforced the message of ‘finding your brave’ and aiming high to achieve your dreams. She proudly wore her St Joseph’s cap and carried the good wishes of everyone in our community with her whilst completing the 26.2-mile run. There is still a chance to sponsor her in aid of St Christopher’s hospice
Please click on the following link to donate to her fundraising
Thank you, Mrs Mangan, for all you do for our children to inspire them to aim high and work hard to achieve their goals. You lead by example and I am sure you have inspired children to be future marathon participants.
Nasal flu vaccination form
The nasal flu vaccine will be offered to all school-aged children and will be delivered in school on the 8th of November. It will be administered by NHS nurses in school but only if you have consented to it.
Register your consent online by clicking here
Click here for the NHS letter with further information
It is important to be fully informed before making your decision.
Nut-free zone
Please remember that we are a ‘nut-free’ zone and children must not bring in sweets, chocolates, or any food item containing nuts. Kindly remind your child that they should not be handing out sweets or chocolates to other children. If it is their birthday, party bags are not allowed in school, the main reason being that many of our children have severe allergies. You are welcome to donate a book to your child’s class library if you wish to treat the children.
Fruit snacks
Infant children are given fruit snacks. If you have a child in the Junior school please encourage them to bring in a fruit snack for morning break.
Parent/teacher contact evenings – Tuesday, 19th & Thursday, 21st October
The booking system will open on Wednesday and a text will be sent to you with a link to book an appointment. Parent meetings will be face to face with your class teacher and you will have the opportunity to look through books. Meetings will last for 10 minutes so please do be considerate to parents who are waiting. Should you need to further discuss information, an appointment can be made for a later date after half term. If you are unable to attend on the allocated days, please see your child’s class teacher to arrange a mutually convenient time.
First Holy Communion Mass
Thank you to Father Anthony for celebrating Mass on Tuesday, 5th October. It was a beautiful service with the school coming together to celebrate all the children who have made their First Holy Communion. I was delighted that we were able to welcome parents and friends to join in the Mass.
The children led readings and our junior choir sang like angels. Thank you to Mrs Gallagher and Miss Langford Jackson for organising the children.
Our heritage focused month
Monday saw the start of our new topic. Children have been looking at significant people from the past and present who have helped to shape modern-day society. We will be celebrating Black History month and the cultural diversity of our school community.
Please refer to Ms Ugbo’s letter and the school calendar on the website for details.
We would like to create a St Joseph’s cookbook filled with family recipes from around the world, so please do send in your contributions to [email protected] or hand in a written recipe to Ms Ugbo in year 5. If you would like to come into school to talk to children about your culture and family traditions, please do email me and I will pass on your information to Ms Ugbo. We have a wealth of culture in our school and need to celebrate it.
I was delighted to see many of you come in today to read with your child, there was a wonderful atmosphere and children loved being read to and sharing books.
Shared meal – Wednesday, 13th October 3.00 p.m. – 4.30 p.m. (Junior Hall)
As part of celebrating our heritage, we are encouraging parents/carers to cook a traditional dish and share it with the school community. Please note we are a nut-free zone and you will need to include a list of ingredients.
Parental engagement
The school is working with a group of parents to compile a parent questionnaire to establish parents / carers’ interests. I know we have a community of talented people with a variety of skills and interests and we need to hear from you. A short questionnaire will be emailed to you and paper copies available at parent evenings, you will also have the choice to complete the questionnaire online. I look forward to reading your responses. Working together gives us strength and having the vision to look beyond one’s individual needs, but more as a community will empower us all to succeed.
Online safety workshops
Keeping children safe online continues to be a key priority. It is advisable for parents to continually monitor children’s use of devices and online platforms. Where ever possible children should only access online information with an adult present.
Please see Mrs Gallagher’s letter
World mental health day – #Take10toRead – Mrs Langford Jackson
Sunday 10th October is World Mental Health Day. In order to recognise and celebrate this, the children in the Infant and Junior school took part in a live ‘meet the author’ event on Friday. Tom Percival described how reading is good for our well-being as it helps us to be creative, imaginative as well as helping us to learn new things and connect with other worlds and nature. Tom’s engaging presentation encouraged the children to read for 10 minutes a day (or more if they wanted to).
St Joseph’s Wellbeing Ambassadors have devised a competition and have sent home a piece of paper for every child in their class to draw and colour a picture from their favourite story / book. Please encourage your child to complete this and return to their class teacher by Monday 18th October.
Harvest festival
The children attended an assembly presented by the school council, linked to Harvest. John from the Brixton and Norwood food bank attended and talked about how we can help the homeless by donating food items. Misha (Head boy) and Blessing (Head girl) presented John with a cheque for £100 on behalf of the school. This was money raised by the pupils last term.
Please see the attached letter from Ms Ugbo, outlining ideas of food items to donate. It makes a significant difference to this charity. Thank you for your generosity.
Fireworks night – Wednesday, 3rd November 2021
Tickets are selling fast so please do not delay in purchasing them. Ticket sales will be closed on Sunday, 24th October 2021, so do purchase your tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Tickets will not be sold at the gate
Prices are as follows:
£6.00 per adult (16years and above) ; £3.00 per child (aged 3 -15 years)
Click here to buy your tickets
Food and refreshments will be on sale, together with an array of glow bands and other illuminated accessories.
Please do email the PTA on [email protected] if you are able to help on the day; we need lots of volunteers.
If you have bought tickets on Parentpay or via Paypal on the school’s website, they will be available for collection from the PTA during the parent / teacher contact evenings on 19 and 21 October. Please do not ask the office for your wristbands as we do not have them.
The PTA will also be selling tickets via their card machines during the parent / teacher contact evenings.
Clubs – 2nd Half of the Autumn term
Bookings will commence next week and Reception children will be able to apply for places.
The St Joseph’s portal
I am delighted to announce that following consultation with parents, Governors, and Mrs Johnson and Mr Navarro’s hard work over the summer holidays, we will be launching our new communication school portal, unique to St Joseph’s, after half term.
It will initially be open to parents of children in Nursery, Reception and Year 1 and will be offered to other years over the course of next term.
It will be accessible on any web browser, smartphone, tablet or computer and will allow parents, using one login, to access:
- News / events
- School calendar, including events specific to your child / family
- Notices & messaging
- Consent and data collection forms
- Registers & Absence reporting
- Accident reporting
- Attendance record
- Relish Meals including pre-order
- Booking and payment for clubs and trips
- Parent / teacher video conferencing
- Access to key policies & documents
- Homework reminders
School library
The children are thoroughly enjoying visiting our school library. We are very proud of it and are now able to allow children to take books home to share with you.
It will operate as a normal library; children will be issued with library cards and if books are not returned, parents / carers will have to pay the cost of a replacement.
Children will continue to visit the library weekly and may keep a book for as long as it takes them to complete reading it. I ask that you support them in looking after the books and remind them to make sure they are not damaged or marked on return.
One of our school priorities is reading for pleasure. Infant children will continue to bring home a scheme book, together with a class library and a school library book. Juniors will bring home class/library books. Children may also bring in their own books to read in school.
You can help by taking your child to the library regularly so they have access to a wide range of texts. Remember the famous quote
‘The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go’
– Dr. Seuss
Keep reading with your child every moment you have, it’s the best gift you can give them.
Have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing you at the school gate
Best wishes
Mrs Leonore Fernandes
Headteacher
Click below for this week’s pictures.
