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

• Farewell Baby Oisin and Good Luck!

  Tue 14 May 2024

  Today we said farewell to Baby Oisin and his mum as we celebrated the end of another very successful Roots of Empathy Programme. 

  The children have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Oisin over the past 27 weeks and watch how he has developed and grown during this period of time. 

  We thanks Oisin's mum Ciara for sharing the precious first year of Baby Oisin life with us and for the valuable contribution their presence has made to the lives of the children in our Year 5 class.  We also thank Mrs. McDonnel for co-ordinating and delivering the programme in school.

   

  #wewillmissyou! 

  

• Eco-Council Organise Summer Dress Sale

  Mon 13 May 2024

  Our Eco-Council organised a Summer Dress Sale in the school hall today, thanks to a generous donation of school dressed from Crumlin Community Collective.  The dressed were on sale for £2.00.  There are still dresses available for purchase from the school office with many sizes available.  With the summer weather approaching the Eco-Council encourage you to call into the school office and grab yourself a bargain while the stock lasts!

  

• Gaelfast Friday

  Fri 10 May 2024

  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!  

  

• St Joseph's Awarded Green Flag

  Thu 09 May 2024

  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.

   

  

• Year 4 RH/COB Come Dine with Me

  Wed 08 May 2024

  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 Pray to Mary

  Tue 07 May 2024

  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.

  

• Nerve Partnership Project

  Tue 07 May 2024

  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. 

  

• Year 1 Hungry Caterpillar's Picnic

  Fri 03 May 2024

  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!

  

• INTO Camogie 7-a-side Tournament

  Thu 02 May 2024

  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.

  

• Accelerated Reading Success

  Wed 01 May 2024

  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!