We began Mission Week Ireland today with a Prayer Service in the foyer of our school, led by the Year 4 and 5 representatives of our Faith Group.  We will continue to pray each day this week that we as a school community will be more socially and globally responsible.  Mission Week will culminate this Friday when we celebrate the Children's Mission Day of Prayer in school.

St. James Aldergrove have organised a programme of Gaelic football coaching in school for our boys and girls this year.  This programme started today with a 6-week block of coaching for our Year 4 and 5 children.  Many thanks to John Jones, Louise Brady, head coach Ryan and his assistant coaches for providing these valuable skill development sessions with the children.  They had a great time today and look forward to the weeks ahead!

Many thanks to the team from Core Kids for the delivery of their online fitness lesson.  Our Year 5 pupils thoroughly enjoyed participating!

Congratulations to our newly elected Faith Group for 2024/25.  Today they received their badges from Mr. Traynor and Mrs. Loughran and can be seen pictured here beside Miss Agnew's Year 7 display which celebrates the season of Creation.

In St. Joseph’s our Faith Group has a very important role.  Our group helps everyone in the school to understand our faith better.

The Faith Group will meet regularly with Mrs. Loughran to find ways that we can help promote the Catholic Ethos in St. Joseph’s.  During the course of this year they will be:

• Maintaining and updating Sacred Spaces within the classroom and in our school garden;
• Promoting meaningful prayer times within our classrooms;
• Leading prayerful meditation within our classes;
• Helping to promote charities;
• Helping to promote Sacraments and other religious celebrations throughout the year.
• Working towards achieving our third Spirit of Catholic Education Award

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

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!