Today marks the beginning of Maths Week Ireland.  Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Lawlor our Mathematics and Numeracy Co-ordinators have been promoting this special event.  Today they launched Maths Week Ireland by assigning each year group specific mathematical activities to focus on, in addition to our weekly mathematics and numeracy work.

Year 1 - Maths Trail around the school;

Year 2 - Directing Bee Bot to unlock number combinations;

Year 3 - Crack the Code Problem Solving Challenge;

Year 4 - En-Counters: Problem Solving Teamwork Challenge;

Year 5: Outdoors Maths Hunt as part of outdoor learning;

Year 6: Exploring Izak9;

Year 7: Freckle and Researching a Mathematician of their choice.

Lots of Mathematical learning and fun to look forward to this week in St. Joseph's - more photos to follow.

We celebrated the Children's Mission Day of Prayer with the Faith Group leading their final Prayer Service for Mission Week Ireland.   Today they gathered in Mr. Traynor's office for the service.  This was followed by breakfast treats for the girls and boys who led the service in a very reverent manner.  Each class in school was asked to pray a decade of the Rosary.  The Faith Group then presented the children in Year 1 with a Guardian Angel medal and the children in Year 7 with a set of Mission Rosary beads. 

Many thanks to Mrs. Loughran and our Faith Group for leading us in prayerful reflection this week.

Our Term 1 Fire Drill was completed today as part of our Child Protection and Safeguarding Week in school.

Year 1 having fun and learning lots through their Forest School and Outdoor Play activities.

Our Accelerated Reading Programme has got off to a flying start this year.  Lots of wonderful progress being made by the boys and girls in Years 5-7.  Congratulations to those children who have achieved the target of reading 100,000 and 500,000 words during September.  The children were presented with their certificates today at assembly.  Keep up the great work and remember:

"Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have." Lloyd Alexander

The boys and girls in Primary 3 have been learning all about space in their topic work. Today they had a very special surprise, as an alien, landed its spaceship on the roof of our school and came to visit all the children! The children thought of lots of Who, What, Where, When and How questions to ask the alien. What a great visitor to have .......... it was truly out of this world! 

Congratulations to our newly elected Eco Council for 2024/25.  Today they received their badges from Mr. Traynor and Mrs. Downey at our Year 4-7 Assembly.

In St. Joseph’s our Eco Council has a very important role.  This year we are also going to focus on the following project:

• Working towards our 7th Eco-School Green Flag;
• Promote the Active School Transport Programme; 
• Organising Eco Events - The first event will be our Hallowe'en Costume Swap on Wednesday 16th October @ 1.30pm in the Main Hall;     
• Litter picking around the school grounds;
• Recycling our food waste appropriately/ Growing more fruit and vegetables;
• Reducing the use of single-use plastic within our school;
• Maintaining and developing our outdoor spaces/science courtyard classroom/school gardens for teaching and learning.

We look forward to seeing how the children's ideas develop and grow throughout the school year!

What a talented bunch of girls and boys we have here in St. Joseph's.  Today at our Year 4-7 assembly the children shared with us their achievements in a variety of extra-curricular activities which they take part in outside of school.  There were certificates, medals, badges and trophies galore today showcasing achievements in showjumping, soccer, Gaelic football, hurling, swimming, Irish dancing and Hip Hop!  We even had a signed top from the All Ireland Armagh team!  Well done everyone - Keep up these great efforts!

Many thanks to all our Nursery parents for attending the Nursery Curriculum Evening and to the Nursery staff for organising a very informative and enjoyable evening for all in attendance.  

Today our Pupil Council launched our 2024 Safeguarding Week in school.

What’s happening during our Safeguarding Week 2024

1. School leadership will evaluate provision using the NSPCC Safeguarding Self-Assessment Toolkit.

2. Any remaining staff (teaching and non-teaching) will receive their updated Safeguarding & Child Protection / Medical / First Aid training update(s). 

3. Our termly Fire Drill will be carried out.

4. There will be a Year Group focus on an aspect of Road Safety (topics covered will include crossing the road, playing at home, pedestrian crossings, bus travel, riding your bike, walking in carparks, and the use of mobile phones and music players) and People Who Help Us/ Who Can I Talk To?

5. Weekly Key Stage Assemblies on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week will promote messages relating to Road Safety and who the children can talk to if they have a worry or concern.

6. We would encourage all parents who have not already done so to download the ‘Safer Schools NI’ app in order to stay up to date with all online safety guidance.  Instruction on how to this this have been included in our October Newsletter which can be accessed in the 'Parents' section of our school website.

We look forward to a successful and informative week.