Our Primary One children were treated to a fabulous picnic with so many new foods to try at their caterpillar's picnic. The boys and girls had a wonderful time nibbling at all the tasty pieces of colourful food on the table. What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon in school!

Well done to this fantastic group of girls who travelled to Portglenone today for the annual INTO 7-a-side Camogie Tournament.  The girls played their hearts out and did themselves proud finishing Runners-Up in the Shield Section of the tournament.  A great day was had by all in attendance.  Many thanks to St. Mary's PS Portglenone for hosting today's event.

Congratulation to all those girls and boys on who have made fantastic progress on their accelerated reading journey.  We had a number of pupils who received certificates for 100,000 and 500,000 words read.  We had 7 new Word Millionaires and 2 Multi-Word Millionaires, Scarlett with over 2,000,000 words and Aoife with 3,000,000 words read - our first ever triple word millionaire! Keep up the great work boys and girls - you are doing so well! 

Well done to our pupils today who represented St. Joseph's at the SW Antrim Cumann na mBunscol Quiz 2024 hosted today by St. Brigid's Ballymena.  The children performed very well and showed a wonderful knowledge in Irish culture, politics, history, geography and Gaelic games.  Our attendance at the quiz does indeed show the commitment of St. Joseph's to supporting the ethos and events of Cumann na mBunscol both on and of the pitch. 

At the end of the quiz the pupils were presented with a book celebrating 50 years of Gaelic games in primary schools.  This book will be placed in our school library for all to read and enjoy!

Many thanks to Mark from Trócaire who came along to school this morning.  We presented Mark with a cheque for £800 which was raised from our Lenten Copper Coin Challenge.  This challenge was part of our Trócaire Lenten Campaign for 2024.  We know that the money raised will be used to good effect and look forward to supporting this very worthy charity in the future.   

Many thanks to all the family members who joined our boys and girls in Mrs. Loughran's Year 4 class for a beautiful meal in the canteen. Rick and his staff had prepared a beautiful feast for everyone to celebrate and eat together before we celebrate the Sacrament of First Communion together on Saturday 18th May.

We had a very special performance in school this morning thanks to M & M Theatrical Productions.  They enchanted us with their adaptation of the classic children’s novel ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  Frances Hodgson Burnett's wonderful story 'The Secret Garden' beautifully depicts the sheer delight that children take in nature and its positive effect on their mental and physical health.

The children loved having the opportunity to experience the wonder of a live theatre performance.  Thank you M & M Theatrical Productions for putting on this wonderful show for us.

Many thanks to Wendy Donaldson, an LMC (Livestock and Meat Commission) demonstrator, who came to school today to demonstrate a recipe using Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured Beef with our Year 7MMC.  Liz encouraged the children to sample what she had cooked, talked to them about the ingredients used with the emphasis on choosing local food, cooking from scratch, and of course how the ingredients used contribute to a healthy diet.  All pupils were also given a Beef and Lamb Recipe Book which contains lots of delicious dishes.  The children had a great time - many thanks again Wendy!

Congratulations to our girls and boys in Mrs. McDonnell's Year 1 class who led our April Golden Assembly.  The children did an excellent job delivering the message of the importance of saying thank you; thank you at home, in school and within our community.  They also spoke about the importance of saying thank you to God and how we can do this at Mass each Sunday.  They finished with a wonderful uplifting song which had all the children - and the adults - singing along with them.

We continued our assembly by giving thanks for the many wonderful talents and gifts our children have.  We had a number of wonderful achievements on stage this week in judo and in Irish dancing at the Belfast Championships.  We finished our assembly by wishing all those boys and girls who had recently celebrated a birthday a very happy one and then all in Years 1-3 joined in with singing 'The Rain Came Knocking' which quickly changed to 'The Sun Came Shining'.  Let's hope the sun does indeed come shining as we move into the month of May! 

Congratulations to Niall who represented his school and club at the Cumann na mBunscol half time game during the Antrim v Wexford Hurling Championship match in Corrigan Park, Belfast on Saturday afternoon.

Well done Niall and well done to Antrim on this magnificent victory!