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

• Being Well Doing Well

  Fri 22 Mar 2024

  We are delighted to be part of a new EA programme called 'Being Well Doing Well', creating a whole school approach to Emotional Health and Wellbeing.  All school staff came together this week to meet our link advisor for 'Being Well Doing Well', Mr. Stuart Kennedy, who held an information session for us all.

   

  We have always valued the health and well-being of all members of our school family - children, staff, parents and the wider community.  Social, emotional and physical health and wellbeing has been a long standing item on our School Development Plan, and something we value and try to improve continuously, so we are really looking forward to strengthening this through the support of the 'Being Well Doing Well' programme.

   

  Follow the link below to find out more about the 'Being Well Doing Well' programme and to access the information video provided by the EA.

  https://www.eani.org.uk/services/being-well-doing-well-programme

  

• Sanctuary Garden at Easter

  Thu 21 Mar 2024

  Now that Spring is truly upon us and the days are getting brighter, our Faith Group have been working very hard with Mrs. Loughran to ensure that our outdoor sacred space is ready for the season of Easter. 

   

  They have completed a Spring tidy up, and using their Forest School skills, have added some beautiful art work depicting the Easter Story.  We also thank Mr. Kelly for making our wooden cross and Mrs. Mirza for working with the girls and boys in the group to create a beautiful  sign to ensure that all within our school community know that they are welcome to come and pray, reflect, relax, or simply unwind in this peaceful outdoor area.   

   

  'We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it is our garden that is really nurturing us.'  Jenny Uglow

  

• Year 5 Fire Safety Visit

  Wed 20 Mar 2024

  On Wednesday 2oth March, two firefighters visited our Year 5 children to complete our annual Fire Safety Talk.  The children participated in discussions and educational conversations about how to prevent fire in the home.  In addition, they discussed with the Fire service, what measures to take in the event of an emergency fire situation.

  The firefighters gave the children TWO challenges:

  • To make sure they could remember their home address incase they had to make a 999 call and request the help of the Fire Service.
  • To make sure all smoke alarms were tested at home and were working properly.

  All children received a ‘Safety Team’ pack to discuss with adults at home

  

• Annual Music & Orchestra Recital

  Wed 20 Mar 2024

  Congratulations to all those boys and girls who took part in our Annual Music Recital in the school assembly hall.  We enjoyed a range of performances from our School Orchestra, Guitarists and individual soloists.  A wide range of musical instruments were represented to include the violin, cello, trumpet, obeo, flute, guitar and piano.

   

  What amazing talent we had on show - we all all very proud of the girls and boys today.  Many thanks to Mrs. McDonnell (Music co-ordinator)  and Mr. Heron (EA Music Tutor)  for all their hard work with the boys and girls throughout the year. 

   

  Well done to all involved!

  

• Green Day Celebrations

  Fri 15 Mar 2024

  Today we celebarted the feast day of our patron saint, St Patrick - there was an amazing sea of green throughout the school and much fun had!

   

  Happy St Patrick's Day from Everyone at St Joseph's!

   

  Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!

  

• St Patrick's Day Concert

  Thu 14 Mar 2024

  An amazing concert for St. Patrick's Day from our Year 2 children and Irish Dancers. The atmosphere over the three shows was unbelievable and really made us feel very proud to come from Ireland and celebrate our national saint in style.

   

  Well done girls and boys - what dancing, singing, reciting and acting.  Indeed, what a show! 

   

  #superproudofyouall

  

• Book Fair at St Joseph's

  Wed 13 Mar 2024

  Thank you to all who supported our Annual Book Fair which was held in our school to help mark World Book Day.  Any commission money received from the purchase of books will be used to order additional books to support our Accelerated Reading Programme! 

  

• Ulster Scots Shared Education Lesson

  Wed 13 Mar 2024

  Today Year 7EA came together with our partner schools to celebrate the diversity in our culture.  Following on from our Irish and Spanish lessons,  we invited a few members from the Ulster Scot’s Society to join us today to explore the musical and costume traditions and the history of the language and how it is incorporated into how we speak today.

   

  Alan played the bagpipes and showed us the traditional costume for parades and special events.  Matthew explained the history of the Ulster Scots settlements, origins of the language and how we use these words nowadays and he taught us a funny song called 'Ye canne push yer Granne off the Bus!'  We enjoyed a tasty breakfast too and got out to play in the outdoor learning area.

   

  We had great fun learning and playing together!

  

• Adobe Creative Workshops

  Tue 12 Mar 2024

   As part of our World Book Day celebrations a number of our Year 6 and 7 pupils had the opportunity to participate in an Adobe Creative Workshop led by Adobe trainer George.

   

  The children used the online programme Adobe Express to create posters of their favourite books.  This provided them with an excellent opportunity to develop their skills in utilising different design tools, text editing and picture formatting.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and produced some excellent posters to highlight and showcase some classic books which they have enjoyed reading.

  

• NI Water Visit Year 5

  Mon 11 Mar 2024

  Year 5 had a visit from NI Water.  The workshop provided all of the Year 5 children with an opportunity to learn first hand about the vital services NI Water provides  .The presenters were keen to tell the children lots of interesting facts about water, how they deliver it to our homes and then treat the wastewater before returning it safely to the environment.  A very informative and engaging session - Thank you NI Water!