Watch Out .... lots of spooky things going on in St Joseph's today! 

HAVE A SAFE AND RELAXING HALLOWE'EN BREAK!

Our witch was called Tabitha this year!

Today we celebrated our October Golden Assemblies.

Mrs. McConkey's Year 2 class led our Year 1-3 Assembly on the theme of 'Autumn' and Mrs. Downey's Year 5 class led our Year 4-7 Assembly on the theme of 'Respect'.  The children were excellent and their assemblies informed and entertained us with readings, drama, poetry and  music and delivered very timely messages.

Pupils were presented with certificates for Pupil of the Month and Accelerated Reading.  We also had a number of pupils who brought in medals, certificates and trophies from home to celebrate achievement outside of school - we even had the Captain's armband from a recent Man. United match!  

Well done to all our boys and girls - we are very proud of you all!

Congratulation to all our Year 3 pupils who celebrated their Service of Enrolment today at morning mass in Mater Dei Church.  They were all amazing.  Many thanks to the Year 3 staff for preparing the children, to Canon Colm who led the mass and service and to all those family and friends who came along to the share in this occasion with the children.  Well done girls and boys.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made a shoebox for our recent 'Drop Inn' Appeal.  The 'Drop Inn' charity were delighted with your generosity when they called today to collect the shoeboxes.  Well done to Mrs. Loughran and our Faith Group for organising this very successful charity event - there will be lots of boys and girls delighted with their gifts just in time for Christmas.  Thank you!

Mrs. Campbell's Year 5 class were very excited to host their second meeting with this year's Roots of Empathy baby and 'tiny teacher' Nora.

Along with Mrs. McDonnell they spent time during this visit learning about all the things she can do and how she can tell her mummy how she is feeling. It was a lovely afternoon in addition to helping the children learn about empathy and dealing with emotions.  

We look forward to our next visit from Baby Nora and her mum, Mrs. Kealey!

This week all classes have been taking part in activities and events to mark Maths Week Ireland.  We have been taking part in online quizzes, problem solving tasks, outdoor activities, ICT tasks, visit from the bank and researching mathematicians all in an effort to promote a positive attitude towards the learning of maths!  

We will be hosting a Hallowe’en Capers and Fancy Dress in school on Friday 25th October. Pupils will partake in a number of Hallowe’en activities to include artwork, storytelling, and party games. Pupils will also be watching a short presentation to alert them to the dangers of Fireworks and Sparklers and how to stay safe over the Hallowe’en Holidays.

Our ’Name the Witch’ competition will start on Monday 21st October and run until Thursday 24th October. Our Pupil Council will visit the classrooms on this days. It is 20p per guess with a Hallowe’en Sweets Hamper for the winner!  Name of witch to be announced on Friday 25th October.

#WitchWayToTheSweets

Congratulations to the Year 7 boys and girls from our Shared Education Partnership who as part of Community Relations Week worked alongside Tesco Crumlin on Saturday 14th September to help raise awareness of the work of Air Ambulance Northern Ireland (AANI). 

In total a fantastic £1289.13 was raised for this very worthy cause.  Today Miss Agnew (Shared Education Co-ordinator) and some of our Year 7 pupils, along with other pupils from our Shared Education Partnership, went along to Tesco's Crumlin for the cheque presentation to representatives of the AANI charity.  Well done everyone!

#WorkingTogetherForABrighterFuture

We were delighted with the response to our Hallowe'en Costume Swap whereby used costumes that are ready for a second life are given a new home.  In addition this gives everyone a chance to save some money all while keeping waste out of our landfill sites.  It's a win-win situation both for the pocket and the environment.  Everyone certainly got into the spooky spirit!   

The money raised from our Costume Swap will be used to purchase some plants to enhance our outdoor science classroom.  There are still some costumes available for those who still want to have a look. Well done and thank you to everyone who donated a costume and helped with this project.

It was a spook-tacular success!

Well done to those boys and girls who represented St. Joseph's at the first Cumman na mBunscol event of the year; the Year 7 Mixed Camogie & Hurling Event held at TÍr na nÓg GFC in Randalstown.