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

• Year 7 Attend Les Miserables at Antrim Grammar

  Wed 22 Jan 2025

  Our Year 7 pupils and staff had a very enjoyable morning attending Antrim Grammar's production of Les Miserables.  It was lovely to meet some of our former pupils and see many of them shine on stage.  A great morning indeed - thank you Antrim Grammar for the invite and congratulations on a wonderful production! 

  

• Catholic Schools Week Assemblies

  Tue 21 Jan 2025

  Catholic Schools Week runs from Sunday 21st January  until Saturday 27th January.  The purpose of the week is to promote the contribution that Catholic schools make to our society. 

   

  The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2025 is: ‘Catholic Schools: Alive in Christ’.  Today our pupils gathered together in assembly to recognise and celebrate the unique contribution our Catholic schools make to the well-being and flourishing of our pupils, staff, parents and wider school community.

   

  Our Year 1-3 assembly was led by Mrs. McDonnell's Year 1 class and our Year 4-7 assembly was led by Mrs. Matthews' Year 6 class. 

  At both assemblies the children delivered a lovely message which focused on how we can use the gifts of love, honesty, forgiveness and respect within our family, friends, school and parish communities.  Indeed, when we do so, we are alive in Christ!

   

  We also used this as an opportunity to mark achievements gained both in and outside of school and collect Pebble Points as part of our whole school reward system. 

   

  Well done to all the boys and girls.

   

  #catholicschoolsweek #aliveinChrist

   

  

• Paired Numeracy Programme

  Tue 21 Jan 2025

  Today we launched our Paired Numeracy Programme.  Our Year 4 pupils have been paired with a Year 7 pupil for the duration of the programme and will engage in a number of sessions to reinforce a range numeracy concepts.

   

  Today they explored activities related to the 2 and 5 times tables, use of the 100 Square and completed some numeracy problem-solving using 'Hit the Button' on their chrome books. 

   

  We look forward to all children involved with the programme having an enjoyable and rewarding numeracy experience

  

• SW Antrim Cumann na mBunscol Allianz Hurling Tournament

  Fri 17 Jan 2025

  Congratulations to our Primary 6-7 hurlers who fought hard to reach the semi-final of the Shield Competition at the SW Antrim Cumann na mBunscol Allianz Hurling Tournament. They played outstanding games displaying great skill, teamwork and determination.  Well done boys!

  

• A&N Borough Council Boys' Soccer League

  Thu 16 Jan 2025

  Our soccer team embraced their three games during this week’s round of the Antrim and Newtownabbey Boys’ Soccer League with enthusiasm, sportsmanship and skill!  Over three hard fought games our hard-hitting strikers scored 3 goals in total securing two draws and a narrow loss in their final match.  Well done boys - we look forward to Round 2!

  

• Roots of Empathy Baby Visit

  Thu 16 Jan 2025

  Today Baby Nora made her first visit of 2025 to Mrs. Campbell's Primary 5 children.  This was Nora's fourth visit this year and the girls and boys noticed a number of changes in Nora since her last visit. 

   

  Under the guidance of Mrs. McDonnell, our Roots of Empathy instructor, the boys and girls explored the theme of 'Relationships'.  They also had the opportunity to observe, ask questions, discuss and draw conclusions.  Baby Nora was a little tired at the end of visit and the children finished off by singing a lullaby and saying goodbye.  We look forward to welcoming Baby Nora and her mum back to St. Joseph's in February!  

  

• Year 4 Shared Education

  Thu 16 Jan 2025

  Today the children in Miss Walsh's Year 4 class took part in their first Shared Education lesson with children from our partner schools in Crumlin Integrated Primary and Gaelscoil Ghleann Darach. 

  The Ice-Breaker activities led by our Year 7 pupils provided a wonderful opportunity for the girls and boys from each of the schools to get to know each other in a fun and interactive way. 

  New friendship were definitely made and the children are looking forward to meeting up again when they will be taking part in a series of lessons which will focus on the coding programme Scratch.

   

  #WorkingTogetherForABrighterFuture

   

    

  

• Year 7 Service of Commitment

  Wed 15 Jan 2025

  Congratulations to our Year 7 pupils who celebrated their Service of Commitment today during the first school mass of 2025. This is an excellent beginning to their Confirmation preparations. 

   

  Confirmation will be celebrated on Thursday 6th March in Mater Dei Church.

  

• Dr. Bike (aka Johnny from Sustrans) Visits St. Joseph's

  Tue 14 Jan 2025

  Dr Bike (aka Johnny from Sustrans) was in school today to inspect and check all the bikes in the bike stands to ensure that they were safe to cycle. 

   

  It was great to see so many bikes and thankfully they’re mostly all in working order – some needed a bit of air in their tyres, some needed the brakes tightened – but it was lovely to see everyone collecting their bike at the end of the day knowing that it was safe and ready to use.

  Johnny worked all morning checking the bikes and was delighted to see so many bikes in school today!

   

  Here’s to lots of safe cycling over the next few months!

  

• SW Antrim Cumann na mBunscol Quiz 2025

  Tue 14 Jan 2025

  Well done to our pupils who represented St. Joseph's at the SW Antrim Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Quiz 2025 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.