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

• Wear It Red Day

  Fri 09 Feb 2024

  Many thanks to everyone who supported our 'Wear it Red' Day for defibrillator and mental health first aid training .  There was a sea of red across St. Joseph's. A great day was had by all.  Enjoy the Mid-Term Break!

  

• Valentine's Dinner Menu

  Fri 09 Feb 2024

  Today we held our annual Valentine's Day Special Dinner in the school canteen.  Many thanks to all the canteen staff for hosting this meal today - WE LOVED IT!  We would like to extend a special thank to Mrs. Maggie Darragh who has been running the canteen since last September.  Maggie leaves us today and we wish her the very best of luck.  We welcome Mr. Ricky McCann who the EA have appointed as our cook in charge and hope that he has many happy years in St. Joseph's! 

  

• Children's Mental Health Week

  Thu 08 Feb 2024

  The theme for Children's Mental Health Week 2024 was 'Your Voice Matters'. Your Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express  themselves.  When we feel empowered, this can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Children and young people who feel that their voices are heard and can make a difference have a    greater sense of community and self-esteem.

   

  The week started with the Pupil Council meeting Mr. Traynor to discuss the theme and explore how the voice of the pupil council can be a positive one for change within our school. Indeed every pupil in the various Year Groups was involved in the programme of activities to explore and promote the theme.  Have a look through the photographs to see what we have been up to from Nursery through to Year 7.

   

  

• Safer Internet Day

  Wed 07 Feb 2024

  Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. Each year we cover an online issue or theme that speaks to the things young people are seeing and experiencing online.

   

  Safer Internet Day 2024 took place today 6th February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.

   

  Our Digital Leaders introduced Safer Internet day to the whole school via a virtual assembly.  They had also been working hard to create a number of tasks for our pupils to complete on the day to include:

   

  • P1-P3: Colouring competition page, inked to the story of Mo & Jaz. 
  • P4-P7: Just2easy collage activity.

   

  Prizes will be awarded to the winning entries in each category.

   

  This year our school was delighted to join @bitcni @Allstate and @PoliceServiceNI for a special online event with thousands of children from other schools to learn how to stay safe online.

   

  In addition each class completed an online safety activity to reinforce acceptable online behaviour.

   

  Parents are invited to play their part by visiting: www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers

  to explore the wealth of information available.

   

  

• Little Healthy Me Programme

  Tue 06 Feb 2024

  Many thanks to Francesca from Action Mental Health for visiting our school on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week to deliver 'The Little Healthy Me' Programme to our Primary 1 children as part of planned activities to support Children's Mental Health Week 2024.

   

  'The Little Healthy Me' Programme is a vibrant and engaging trauma informed, mental health promotion programme which explores emotional health, healthy lifestyle choices and pathways to effective support through imaginative and interactive play and song.  The girls and boys were fully engaged and really enjoyed the programme delivered over the three days.  Thanks again Francesca!

  

• Art and Design Factory Workshop

  Mon 05 Feb 2024

  To celebrate the start of Mental Health Week, this morning pupils in our three Primary 4 classes joined a live virtual Art lesson, with 93 primary school classes taking part.  They had a wonderful time time exploring the beauty of Monet's masterpiece, Path in the Wheat Fields at Pour Ville'.  They studied the world of seascapes, complementary colours and created beautiful mixed media artworks following step by step guidance from Sinead McDermott.

   

  The children thoroughly enjoyed this therapeutic activity whilst raising awareness within themselves of the importance of embracing calm activities to help with their mental health. Our Primary 5 and 6 children hope to complete the activity later this week. Well done boys and girls and thank you to Sinead!

   

  #childrensmentalhealthweek

  

• Term 2 After Schools Clubs

  Fri 02 Feb 2024

  Have a look through the photographs below to see the variety of After-School Clubs which were on offer this week to includes Soccer, Hockey, Gaelic Football for boys and girls, Hurling and Nature Rangers. 

   

  Great skill and teamwork and fun for all! 

  

• Community Litter Pick

  Fri 02 Feb 2024

  The various classes involved in our Shared Education Partnership Programme were out in force today to show care and commitment for the environment and our local area by completing a community litter pick.  In addition to having a good morning's fun, 19 bags of rubbish were collected and successfully taken for disposal.  Well done to all who took part - great community team work on display!

  

• National Storytelling Week

  Thu 01 Feb 2024

  This was National Storytelling Week.  Stories teach us about the world. They allow us to step into someone else’s shoes and feel empathy.  They help us to relax and escape and they can help develop essential literacy skills.

   

  As part of our programme during National Storytelling Week, Mrs. Matthews' class, in partnership with poet and author Steven Camden, have been working on creating a storytelling project designed to inspire a love of story creation and storytelling.

   

  The project kickstarted with a live interactive story building event.  Follow-up classroom resources, courtesy of the National Literacy Trust, have been supporting pupils to create their own story world.  We look forward to reading the final stories produced and sharing these with other groups of children throughout our school.

   

  "A book is a gift you can open again and again."