Great fun was had by the boys and girls today on Gaelfast Friday.  We as a school really appreciate these sessions which are so beneficial for fundamental skills development. 

The emphasis on today session was on kicking and then on to a conditioned game using the kick pass.  Many thanks to Ryan and Oisin both senior footballers with St James Aldergrove who have also been attending Friday sessions and coaching the children - a really good example of club school links.  Also great to have a spell of really good weather which means we can make good use of St James Aldergrove pitch - thank you!  

We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in being awarded our Eco-Schools Green Flag. This is the 6th Green Flag we have been awarded by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.  The Eco-School’s team were very impressed with our school’s work.

They conveyed their congratulations in writing to all concerned - staff and pupils alike, and not forgetting the caretaker and many parents who helped our school achieve its environmental targets.  We will hold the flag for two years and will be reapplying in March 2026.

The assessors made the following comments about the strengths of our school evident in the assessment visit:

• The implementation of different waste initiatives throughout the school has seen a considerable reduction in the use of SUPs with more pupils using refillable bottles, and more recycling bins have been placed in key locations around the school.
• Following the successful Hallowe’en costume and Christmas jumper swap, the uniform swap was a fantastic way of not only reducing textile waste but also helping with the current cost of living crisis. Cash for Clobber is yet another way of ensuring unwanted clothes don’t end up in landfill while offering a financial incentive.
• Excellent use of the outdoor spaces to grow your own produce with every class having their own particular area. The introduction of the after schools Forest Schools club is a further way to improve pupils’ experience of learning outdoors.

We look forward to attending the Awards Ceremony in Belfast for the presentation of our Green Flag on Wednesday 19th June.

Many thanks to all the family members who joined our boys and girls in Mrs. Haughian / Ms. O'Brien's Year 4 class for a beautiful meal in the canteen.

For the third Wednesday in a row Rick and his staff in the canteen 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.

During May we remember Mary in a special way. In school we make a May Altar in the foyer of our school with pictures of Mary, a candle and beautiful Spring flowers collected from the grounds of our school. We would add some Rosary Beads and we would say the Hail Mary or a Decade of the Rosary - 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Mary's and 1 Glory be to the Father. 

Thank you to the children in Mrs. Lawlor's Year 6 class for creating the lovely art work for our May display in the foyer of our school.  Our Faith Group will be working hard to ensure that our outdoor Sacred space reflects this theme for the month of May.  We look forward to lots of sunny weather to be able to enjoy this very peaceful space in our school.

As part of our Nerve Partnership Programme we were delighted to welcome Ruth and Donna from Nerve Belfast into our school. Ruth and Donna worked with 5 different classes and provided support to class teachers to host a variety of lessons centering on the desirable feature of Digital Art & Design. 

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.