Many, many thanks to all who organised and supported our Coffee Morning for Macmillian Cancer Care. There were so many beautiful cakes, tray bakes and buns on display.

There was a great atmosphere in the hall with so many staff (past and present), volunteers from 'The Friends of St Joseph's', grandparents, parents, past pupils and friends from the local community who popped in to show their support.  

We finished off the morning with a bun sale in school with lots of treats being enjoyed by the boys and girls.

Draw Winners were:

Ellie Mae McCaffery

Joanna Campbell

Daire O’Doherty

Sandra Kelly

Clara Traynor

Christine Carberry

Mrs McAree

We are delighted to announce to date £900 has been raised for this very worthy cause.  We will announce the final total next week.  Again many thanks to all - what a team effort and what a great morning!   

#greatteameffort  #welldoneandthanks 

Congratulations to our newly elected Digital Leaders for 2024/25. 

During the course of this year the Digital Leaders will become involved in a number of projects to include:

• Helping to promote Online Safety within the school;
• Promoting the use of iPads and ICT devices in all year groups;
• Promoting our Nerve Centre School Partnership Programme;
• Taking part in an exciting new project to become a Dream Space Ambassador whereby they will attend online training and build confidence in passing on the knowledge and skills acquired to other members of our school community.

We look forward to watching these boys and girls taking the lead in all things digital helping other in our school navigate the digital world safely and creatively.

Today we celebrated our Year 4-7 September Golden Assembly.

Miss Walsh's Year 4 class led our assembly on 'What Makes a Good Friend'.  The children were excellent and their assembly entertained us with readings, drama, and music.  As we begin a new school year they delivered a very timely messages about the importance of being a good friend.  They told us about the importance of friends being trustworthy, having patience, being loyal, respectful and kind. 

They also told us that:

'If you see someone without a smile, give them one of your'.  

Afterwards pupils were presented with certificates for Pupil of the Month and the newly elected Pupil Council and Digital Leaders were presented with their badges.  We also had a number of pupils who brought in medals, certificates and trophies from home to celebrate achievement outside of school.  

Well done to all our boys and girls - a great start to the school year. 

We are very proud of you all!

Congratulations to the girls and boys who have been elected on to the Pupil Council for 2024/25.  During the course of this year they will:

• Survey and carry forward ideas from their peers in class to the pupil council and wider school community;
• Meet with the school principal to discuss and review our school motto and vision;
• Promote and raise awareness and understanding of the importance of ‘Fairtrade’, Road Safety and Awareness Days, for example, Autism NI, Anti-Bullying Week etc;
• Recognise and promote resources and activities which explore children’s health and wellbeing through initiatives such as ‘Take 5 Fridays’;
• Work towards helping our school achieve the ‘Educating the Heart’ award from Children in Crossfire;

Under the guidance of Mrs. Wray we look forward to seeing how the children's ideas develop and grow throughout the school year!

Bonjour, dia dhuit, guten tag, hola!

Today we celebrated European Day of Languages.  Pupils engaged in a variety of activities; there was art, singing, dancing, dressing up, visits to our local Shared Education partner schools and lots of children learning and speaking a variety of European languages.

A fun day of learning was had by all!

Today we celebrated our Year 1-3 September Golden Assembly with our Year 1 pupils joining us for assembly for the first time - they were amazing!

Mr. McGrattan's Year 2 class led our Year 1-3 Assembly on the theme of  'New Beginnings'.  The children focused on many of the new things which come our way as we embark on a new school year and how we should embrace all of these and enjoy these new experiences.  The boys and girls in Year 2 spoke so confidently and their singing was just wonderful.  A lovely assembly indeed to mark the end of our first month back to school.

Pupils were presented with certificates, birthday badges and we also had a number of children who brought in medals, certificates and trophies from home to celebrate achievement outside of school.  

Well done to all our boys and girls - a great start to the school year.  We are very proud of you all!

Thank you!

Many thanks to the Friends of St Joseph's for their cheque presentation of £4,000 towards our school funds!  We are delighted with the total presented and will put it to good use. So far we have purchased a new Interactive Whiteboard for Mrs. Campbell's Year 5 classroom and license rights for the access to the online Jolly Phonics Scheme and staff training on the speech and language programme, Talk Boost.

Friends AGM

The friends of St Joseph's will be hosting their AGM on Tuesday 24th September at 6.00pm in St Joseph's.  This is a great opportunity to become actively involved and help build  upon much needed resources which will benefit all the   children in the school.  Our PTA is a fun and lively organisation who have successfully raised thousands of pounds to purchase equipment and learning resources for the children in our school.  At the meeting the committee will be selected and plans for the  upcoming year will be discussed.  Please come along and support your school!

First Fundraiser of the Year - Smarties Challenge!

This September ‘The Smarties Challenge’ is back!

Each child will be given a tube of Smarties to enjoy. Once the tube is empty we ask that you  start collecting those 20p coins and place in the  Smartie tube.

Please return your Smartie tube to school  on or before        

Friday 27th September.

Let’s raise some money towards school funds which will be used towards the purchase of Interactive

Whiteboards.

And please remember it’s not only Smarties who have the answer ….. St Joseph’s has the answer!

In addition to some lovely plums and blackberries, we've had a bumper crop of cooking apples this year.  Today some of our Primary 7 pupils picked some of these apples from the trees in our forest school area. 

The pupils then took a selection of apples to our canteen manager Rick and asked if he could use them to create a tasty dessert.  Rick thanked the boys and girls and told them to call back on Monday promising that he'd have a tasty treat for the children to try made from our school grown produce!

#Having some qualitree time with my besties.

#We couldn't have picked a better day!

Election fever hit St Joseph's this week with the first of out two election campaigns for Pupils Council and Digital Leaders.  Next week we have elections for Eco-Council and the Faith Group.

Congratulations to all those who have been elected so far and good luck to all next weeks candidates!

Our Year 5 pupils enjoyed a visit from the NI Waterbus.  The Waterbus is a double decker bus, which has been transformed into a mobile education unit.   On the Water Bus today our Year 5 pupils met H20, our Water Wise Super Hero, who introduced children to the Wonderful World of Water.

Pupils learned through presentation and demonstration about a range of water issues such as the water cycle, water for health, water sources, water and wastewater treatment, water conservation and water in the developing world.  There was an interactive presentation on the lower deck explains how NI Water collects and cleans water and wastewater and explores how we can all help to look after this vital resource.  On the upper deck of the bus there was a small cinema used to show videos and presentations. Year 5 watched as Flo and her friends explained the water cycle and how this amazing cycle never ends. They also discovered simple ways to save water at home and school and compare how we use water here in Northern Ireland with people in the developing world.

It was a great way to introduce the topic to the Year 5 boys and girls.  Thank you Waterbus NI.