February has been a wonderfully busy month in nursery as we explored People Who Help Us. We enjoyed an exciting visit from Crumlin Fire Service, created fire‑engine art, and welcomed several fantastic parent helpers—including a nurse, a hairdresser, a data scientist, another nurse, and an engineer training to be a pilot—who all shared their skills with the children. Enya’s talented Mum also helped each child create a self‑portrait on fabric and sewed them into two beautiful buntings now decorating our front porch. The children learned about many helpful community roles through play, made pancakes with Miss Brazier on Pancake Tuesday, and celebrated Chinese New Year with a colourful dragon. A big thank you to Ellie’s Granny for the lovely flowers and to Amelia’s Mum for the delicious fruit platters. Much appreciated!

We were also delighted to receive our TinyLearners Award, recognising our support for the specific developmental needs of preterm children and our commitment to helping every child thrive.

Congratulations to our girls and boys in Primary 1 and Primary 2 who received the weekly Headteacher Award during the month of February for a variety of wonderful traits. 

Everyone Matters, Every Moment Counts – and our February Superstars are deserving proof of this.

We are very proud of them all! 

Over the past number of weeks, our Year 3 pupils have been paired with enthusiastic and supportive Year 7 reading buddies as part of our Paired Reading Programme. Meeting three times each week for half‑hour sessions, the children explored a specially selected range of books designed to nurture confidence, enjoyment and a lifelong love of reading.

Paired Reading, which includes two key stages — Reading Together and Reading Alone — is widely recognised for its positive impact on pupils’ fluency, comprehension and attitudes towards reading. Throughout the programme, it was wonderful to see our older pupils model expressive reading, guide discussions, and encourage their younger partners to take the lead.

Today, we were delighted to mark the end of the programme with a celebration event. Year 3 and Year 7 pupils received certificates recognising their commitment, teamwork and progress, followed by some well‑earned treats.

A huge well done to every child involved — your dedication and enthusiasm have made this initiative a great success.

“A word after a word after a word is power.” — Margaret Atwood

Mr. McKenna’s Year 5 pupils have been taking part in the Creative Connections Project, an arts‑based programme designed to develop children’s creativity, confidence and collaboration through hands‑on experiences in visual art and drama.

As part of the project, pupils worked with Emma, exploring a range of art techniques. They learned how to create their own charcoal, used it to produce expressive drawings, and also designed and decorated their own masks. These sessions encouraged creativity, experimentation and enjoyment in art-making.

The class also had the opportunity to collaborate with Ciaran, who led engaging drama workshops.  Pupils explored performance through movement, role-play and group activities, with a focus on participation, being active and building self‑confidence. They learned about the drama process and enjoyed working together in new and imaginative ways.

Year 5 are looking forward to continuing their work on the Creative Connections Project over the coming weeks. We would like to thank Emma and Ciaran for their enthusiasm, expertise and the wonderful experiences they have provided so far.

Year 4HF visited CIPS yesterday for another fantastic ICT session. Their Digital Leaders led us through coding with Micro:bits. We worked in groups to write code for our names and even got to experiment with drawing scripts blocks and sound blocks! 

During our visit to CIC, the Year 7 pupils from Mrs Lawlor's class explored this year’s theme of languages and transition to secondary school. Mr Tracey introduced the children to a range of Spanish words and phrases, and the Year 8 pupils supported them through games and activities that helped build confidence in using the language.

For our second session, the partner schools visited St Joseph’s. Shirley from Ulster Scots delivered an engaging workshop on Ulster Scots history, language and culture. The pupils loved learning new words, phrases and songs — and were amazed at how many Ulster Scots expressions they already use without realising!

Both sessions offered meaningful learning experiences and supported the children’s transition work.

Our February Golden Assembly for Years 4–7 provided an opportunity for us to gather together and celebrate everything that makes our school community so special. We were delighted to welcome Mark from Trócaire, who spoke to all our Year 4-7 pupils.  He helped us learn about Trócaire’s important work around the world, introduced this year’s Lenten theme and shared the story of the family featured in this year’s Lent campaign. Mark also explained how our support can make a real difference and showed the children simple ways they can get involved.

We also used the assembly to celebrate lots of good news in school. We presented our Pupil of the Month and Accelerated Reader awards, recognised achievements outside of school, shared a few important messages, sang “Happy Birthday” to our February boys and girls, and looked ahead to the rededication of Mater Dei Church coming up in March.

As part of our Lenten journey, we launched our Copper Coin Challenge.  During Lent, we will be encouraging our pupils to think about others and to help children who may not have the same opportunities they do.

With spring just around the corner, we are excited for another busy and successful month in school. Spring is on the way—bring on March!

We were delighted to welcome Lynda and Katie from Children in Crossfire to school today to lead a workshop with our Eco and Faith Teams as part of our journey towards the Compassionate School Award.

Today’s workshop focused on developing pupils’ understanding of children’s rights, fairness, and access to water. Through a series of practical and thoughtful activities, pupils explored:

• Fair and unfair situations
• Needs and wants
• Rights and responsibilities
• The creation of an action plan to guide our progress towards achieving the Silver Award by June 2026.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that St Joseph’s has been awarded the Bronze Level Compassionate School Award. This recognition celebrates our commitment to Global Citizenship and Education for a Harmonious Society (GCE/ETH).

Staff and pupils were very proud to receive the Bronze Award today from Lynda and Katie, and we look forward to continuing this important work as we begin our journey towards the Silver Award.

Well done to everyone involved!

Today our Year 1–3 pupils gathered to celebrate their February Golden Assembly, beautifully led by Ms Blease’s Year 3 class. The children delivered a vibrant and uplifting assembly all about the season of spring, reminding us that this special time of year is full of new beginnings, new life and new hope.

As part of their assembly, the Year 3 pupils gifted each class a bright bunch of daffodils—a classic sign that spring is on its way and that there is plenty to look forward to in the weeks ahead.

We were delighted to congratulate our weekly Principal’s Award winners in Primary 1 and Primary 2, and to present our Primary 3 Pupils of the Month with their certificates. We also celebrated all of our February birthdays, acknowledged a range of achievements outside of school, and finished the assembly with a beautiful collective song.

Well done to all our boys and girls for another joyful and meaningful celebration. March is nearly here—bring on spring!

This morning, we held the very first meeting of our Knit and Natter group, bringing together members of our school community for a relaxed hour of knitting, chatting and enjoying a cuppa. It was lovely to see this wonderful tradition alive and well, with great skill on display and some beautiful garments already beginning to take shape.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along. All are very welcome to join us every Tuesday from 9.30am–10.30am in school. Whether you’re an experienced knitter or a complete beginner, there will always be a friendly face and a warm seat waiting.

We are also excited to share that later this school year we plan to extend this skill to our Year 7 pupils by offering a lunchtime knitting club—another great opportunity for our children to learn a traditional craft and enjoy time together.

We look forward to many more mornings of wool, warmth and wonderful conversation!