Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Blessing of the Advent Wreath

  Mon 29 Nov 2021

  This Sunday 28th November marked the First Sunday of Advent.  On Monday 29th November, Father Colm called to school to bless our Advent Wreath.  We had a number of special reading from pupils in Mr McCarthy's Year 7 Class.  Mr McMullan videoed the service and it will be shown to all the children in school virtually this week.

  

• November Virtual Assembly

  Fri 26 Nov 2021

  This week in St Joseph's we had our October Assembly delivered via Microsoft Teams.

   

  Mrs McDonnell's Primary 1 class created a beautiful Advent Assembly for all classes in school to watch and enjoy.  It focused us all on how we can use this time in the build up to Christmas to prepare for the special day.  It reminded us of the importance of love, joy, hope and peace during this festive season. 

   

  In addition to this Mr Traynor delivered some important messages and there was lots to celebrate with the presentation of our monthly awards and some fabulous achievements in our Accelerated Reading Programme.  Well done to everyone involved!

  

• Children in Need Ice Cream Treat

  Fri 26 Nov 2021

  Many thanks to John Duff from Coco Ice Creams who must have broken a record as he delivered an Ice cream treat to all the boys and girls (and staff) in our school. It was all in a good cause with a donation being made to Children in Need from St Joseph's!

  

• Consultation Deferring School Starting Age

  Wed 24 Nov 2021

  Dear Consultee,

   

  CONSULTATION DEFERRING SCHOOL STARTING AGE

  The Department of Education (DE) has launched a consultation on deferring school starting age. The Department proposes to introduce a new policy and changes to the law to allow flexibility in school starting age for the youngest children in the year group born between 1 April and 1 July. Full details of the proposals are available on-line at

  https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-deferring-school-starting-age

  It is important that the views of educational practitioners are fully reflected in the consultation period. I would therefore encourage all pre-school and school leaders and other teaching and early years practitioners to review the proposals and complete the brief online response survey. Equally, I would encourage you to share these proposals with the wider school community so that the views of parents and governors are taken into account.

  The online survey can be accessed at:

  https://consultations.nidirect.gov.uk/de/deferring-school-starting-age-consultation/

  Hard copies of the consultation documents and response booklet can be made available in

  other formats and languages on request contacting DE:

  By telephone:          02891858113

  By e-mail:                 SchoolStartingAge@education-ni.gov.uk

  By writing to:           School Starting Age Review Team

                                     Department of Education

                                     Rathgael House

                                     43 Balloo Road  Rathgill

                                     BANGOR

                                     BT19 7PR

   

  Comments on the proposals should preferably be made on-line but can also be sent by e-mail or by post to the address above on or before the consultation end date. The consultation period will close at 5pm on Tuesday 4 January 2022.

   

  A summary of the responses to this consultation will be published on the DE website:

  www.education-ni.gov.uk

   

  Yours faithfully,

  Adrian Murphy

• St Joseph's Secures Rural Community Pollinator Grant

  Tue 23 Nov 2021

  Congratulations to Mrs Downey and Mr McKenna for securing the grand total of £9,500 from the Rural Community Pollinator Grant.  This money will be used to develop more of the outdoor learning environment in our school.

   

  Mr McKenna and Mrs Downey will be working together with some of the children in the school to see how we can create an exciting outdoor space for our learning. After the successful development of our Science Courtyard and Sensory Garden we are very excited about the opportunity to develop other areas in our school for use by everyone.

   

  There will be areas of planting, investigative work, Forest School activities as well as encouraging more wildlife to our school. We will also be able to use these areas for the Eco team and with our Shared Education partners.

   

  We look forward to working with our local community to help create this space for us all to enjoy!

  

• Anti-Bullying Virtual Assembly - 'One Kind Word'

  Thu 18 Nov 2021

  Many thanks to Mrs Wray's Year 6 class for their wonderful virtual Anti-Bullying assembly. The children recited, performed drama, sang and delivered a very important message on the importance of 'One Kind Word'.  Well done Boys and Girls!

  

• Eco team initiatives for this school year

  Wed 17 Nov 2021

  The Eco Team have got off to a great start this year, helping everyone to recycle their paper and plastic in the correct bins.

   

  They have also started our Cash For Clobber initiative, where they are encouraging everyone to have a clear out at home and bring any unwanted or unused items of clothing or bed linen to school, so that we can recycle these and help our environment.  There have already been a number of bags brought in to school.  Everyone is encouraged to place their items in a black bag and return to school on or before Wednesday 15^th December for these to be collected. 

   

  Switch-off Fortnight is also underway, with the Eco Team carrying out surveys around the school to see how well we are switching off unused devices.  They have been sharing this important message throughout the school and are encouraging pupils and staff to remember this important message to save energy and to switch off!

  

• Odd Socks Day to begin Anti-Bullying Week!

  Mon 15 Nov 2021

  We started Anti-Bullying Week with an ‘Odd Socks Day’. Children and staff wore a variety of odd socks to school. The emphasis was all about fun, expressing ourselves and celebrating diversity.  Thumbs up for a great start to the week

  

• Only Smarties Have The Answer

  Fri 12 Nov 2021

  It's Friday and we have just finished the first few days of our 'Only Smarties Have The Answer' Friends of St Joseph's Fundraiser.  To date we have had 31 tubes of Smarties returned and a total of £310.20 collected.

   

  Please keep collecting those 20p coins and returning those Smartie tubes.  Let's hit our target of £2,000.  And rememenber, it's not only Smarties who have the answer ....

  ST JOSEPH'S HAS THE ANSWER TOO!

  

• St Joseph's has a World Irish Dancing Champion

  Fri 05 Nov 2021

  Many congratulations to Eloise Bell (Miss Agnew's Year 7 Class) who has just returned from the World Irish Dancing Championships in Killarney.  Eloise finished in an amazing 3rd place in her age category and returned to school today with her sash, medals and an amazing Irish Dancing Globe Trophy.  Well done Eloise - an amazing achievement!