'It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.'  Mother Teresa

St. Joseph's launched our Trócaire Charity Campaign 2025 at the beginning of Lent.

Copper Coin Challenge:  For 4 weeks during Lent all classes were collecting 1p and 2p coins.  We have been amazed at the response with a fantastic £437 being raised in coppers in such a short period of time.  Congratulations to all the classes on such a sterling effort - the saying 'Every Penny Counts' certainly does ring true on this occasion.   A special congratulations to Ms. Blease's Year 3 class who were the highest collectors in Years 1-3 and Mrs. Matthews' class who were the highest collectors in Years 4-7.  After Easter both classes will be awarded with a party supplied by Mr. Traynor.  Many thanks to 

Holy Week Charity Campaign:  During Holy Week our charity campaign continued.  There were lots of activities organised to include Bring a Toy Day, Nursery Easter Bonnet Parade  and Name the Duck - this year it was called 'Fluffy'.  Nine children guessed correctly and after a raffle it was won by Conor Smith P4 with all children receiving an Easter Egg for great guessing. 

Year 7 Entrepreneurial Afternoon:  Our Year 7 pupils were amazing and organised a host of stalls making, decorating and selling a variety of products.  They were just amazing - fabulous creativity and entrepreneurial skills on display.  Mr. Traynor was delighted to have received the Easter Egg prize for guessing the correct number of sweets in the jar - there were 285 and he guessed 284, just 1 off.  The total raised so far from this very successful afternoon; a fabulous £494.40.  Dragon's Den better watch out!

We look forward to announcing our final total when we return to school after the Easter Break.  Well done to all and thank you for your continued generosity and support.  It means so much!

'For it is in giving that we receive.'  St Francis of Assisi

Many thanks to our Year 6 children on their wonderful Easter assembly.

They presented 'The Passion of Our Lord' to the children in Years 4-7 and to parents, family and friends in a very meaningful and powerful manner which allowed all present to reflect on the key days and moments of the Easter season.

Thanks also to the Year 6 staff who guided the children in what was a very poignant and reflective ceremony.

 'Let the children come to me! Don't hinder them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.'

'Because by thy holy cross, thou hast redeemed the world'.

Did some bunny say it's nearly Easter?

Such eggsitement in our Nursery Unit today with some 'cracking' Easter bonnets on parade. Congratulations to all who took part.  The Easter Bunny hid some very special treats along the way.  However, all the boys and girls searched very hard and managed to find where he had hidden all those lovely chocolate eggs! 

After some outdoor party games everyone headed back to the Minor Hall where the children were treated to a special musical performance courtesy of Jo Jingles and guess what? - The Easter Bunny made a surprise visit to the hall and danced along with all the nursery girls and boys.  He certainly is a great dancer!

Thank you so much to the parents, grandparents, family and friends who came along and took time and great care to create the wonderful pieces of art the children wore.

HAPPY EASTER FROM ALL AT ST. JOSEPH'S NURSERY!

We celebrated the end of another very successful term with our End of Term 2 Easter Golden Awards for Years 1-3 and Years 4-7.

Today's assemblies allowed us to reflect on the importance of the events of Holy Week and on the important charity work which we had completed during the season of Lent for our chosen charity Trócaire.  We also had the presentation of our Term 2 subject awards, April Pupil of the Month certificates, Term 2 Principal Endeavour certificates, Accelerated Reading Certificates, Graded Music Certificates and prize winners for our Cumann na mBunscoil Week competition.  Achievement in a variety of extra-curricular areas outside of school was also acknowledged and celebrated. Mr. Traynor also spoke to us about the importance of staying safe during the Easter Break and wished all the pupils and staff a very Happy Easter.

Well done everyone - a super talented bunch of children we have here at St. Joseph's! 

At St. Joseph's we embrace the Cumann na mBunscol spirit. We endeavour to provide lots of in-school opportunities and activities to promote Gaelic games and foster an ethos and atmosphere in which everyone can learn, play and grow together.

During Cumann na mBunscol Week we continued with this vision and used this week as an opportunity to reflect upon the many benefits that being part of SW Antrim Cumann na mBunscol has for our pupils and school as a whole.  As a school community we are proud of this rich tradition and the successes both individually and as a school St. Joseph's has achieved since the beginning of Cumann na mBunscol back in 1971.  On a beautiful sunny week it is great to see and hear the children engaged in coaching, after-school football, hurling and camogie, in addition to taking part in the 'Fun for All' Gaelic football sessions.

We extend congratulations to our Year Group winners of the various Cumann na mBunscol competitions ongoing throughout the week and look forward to many more years as part of this remarkable community!

#WhereWeAllBelong

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 Monday morning as we begin our final week of Term 2.

“One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and – pop! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.”
― Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Listen to the story by clicking on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75NQK-Sm1YY

Now that Spring is truly upon us and the days are getting sunnier and 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. 

Firstly they completed a Spring tidy up.  Next using their Forest School skills and a selection of natural materials they created some beautiful art to depict the events of Holy Week.  At our Easter assemblies this week they will use their art work  to ensure that all within our school community are familiar with the events of this special week and remind all within our school community that they are welcome to come and pray, reflect, relax, or simply unwind in our peaceful outdoor sacred area.   

"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” — St. Francis of Assisi

From 42 competitors across Key Stage 2 we are down to the final 4 of the St. Joseph's Chess Tournament 2025.  During the first week of Term 3 our final four will battle it out to decided 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in this year's tournament.

Congratulations to:

Ryan: Favourite Chess Piece - The Rook because you can 'castle' and you can use the 'ladder mate' move.

Oisin: Favourite Chess Piece - The Pawn because you have eight of them and you can promote them to another piece when moved to the end of the board.

Emily: Favourite Chess Piece - The Pawn because you can promote it and it is very good for defence.

Noah: Favourite Chess Piece - The Knight because I can 'fork' with it.

We look forward to the 2025 St Joseph's Chess Final! 

"Chess is everything: art, science, and sport.'' - Anatoly Karpov

Today our Term 2 Nature Rangers Club finished for Term 2.  Nature Rangers have been very busy this term. We have been problem solving and getting creative while building our dens. This was done in teams so not only did we have to learn to work together and compromise, we also had to articulate our own vision and ideas to others.

We have also been bug detectives, armed with our magnifying glasses and going on a minibeast hunt. Lots of insects and bugs were found and we were very careful not to disturb any of them or destroy their natural habitat. We also talked about where the minibeasts tend to live and this led to us building some new bug hotels the following week, providing some well thought out habitats for all the minibeasts we had discovered.

To celebrate St Patrick's day we once again got creative and used natural materials we found outside to create homes for our leprechaun friends. Not only were fantastic little houses created from sticks, stones and grass but some of our nature rangers even made a whole village to keep those leprechauns entertained!

As Spring arrived we talked about the birds who are singing all around us now. We went looking for some nests and talked about what made a good one and what materials the birds were likely to use. We designed our own nests and then used clay to make one as a little treat to take home to our own gardens. We painted them and filled them with natural materials foraged from our nature garden. 

Our nature rangers love their art and bark rubbing was a big hit with everyone. We brought crayons outside and explored all the trees to create a lot of differing colourful patterns. Great fun was had exploring all the different textures of the wonderful variety of trees outside. We also developed our whittling skills every week, using sticks we foraged from the ground and enjoying seeing the colour and texture change as we worked away. 

We learned a lot and developed a lot of new skills, but more importantly we explored our wonderful outdoor area and had a lot of fun with our friends every week. 

Congratulations to our girls and boys in Primary 1 and Primary 2 who received this weeks Headteacher Award for a variety of wonderful traits.  We are very proud of them all!