Congratulations to the boys and girls in Year 7 who celebrated their Service of Light on Wednesday evening.  It was a beautiful service which added so meaningfully to the final preparations for the Sacrament of Confirmation which will be celebrated on Thursday 29th February in Mater Dei Church.

There have been lots of amazing individual and class achievements with our Accelerated Reading Programme during Term 1.  The word count continues to rise along with the number of Word Millionaires. 

Today it was the turn of Mrs. Campbell's Year 5 class to celebrate as deserving class winners from Term1.  There were rewarded with an          ice-cream party for their efforts. 

Keep up the excellent reading ...... who will be our class winners in Term 2?

#watchthisspace #lovetoread

Well done to all of our boys and girls who competed in our soccer tournament held today in school.  Many thanks to Crumlin Integrated Primary for bringing along two team to compete.  The girls and boys had lots of fun and there was great skill, determination and sportsmanship on display.  Congratulation to the winning team who contested two very worthy finals.  Many thanks to Ms. McLernon and Mr. Doherty for organising and to Crumlin Residents Collective for providing refreshments.

Albert Einstein stated that 'Play is the highest form of research'. 

St. Joseph's Primary School is fully equipped with an engaging and well resourced Rainbow Room which is designed to support pupils through the mediums of play in a nurturing environment.

This week our SEN and Classroom Assistants engaged within training on 'The Power of Play'. Throughout the session they explored the guiding principles underpinning therapeutic play and delved into the medium of sand each creating their own scene using symbols from the rainbow room.  Moving forward we hope the rainbow room will provides a safe space for a greater number of children to communicate and work through feelings, fostering emotional growth and resilience through the support of our school staff. 

The boys and girls in Year 3 have been working hard on fractions recently. They have been finding the half and quarter of a shape and a number. They celebrated all of their hard work by having a pizza party in their classroom! They had a special delivery of pizza and cut it into halves and then quarters.  The best bit was definitely eating the pizza afterwards!

#Year3lovefractions

Many thanks to everyone who supported our 'Wear it Red' Day for defibrillator and mental health first aid training .  There was a sea of red across St. Joseph's. A great day was had by all.  Enjoy the Mid-Term Break!

Today we held our annual Valentine's Day Special Dinner in the school canteen.  Many thanks to all the canteen staff for hosting this meal today - WE LOVED IT!  We would like to extend a special thank to Mrs. Maggie Darragh who has been running the canteen since last September.  Maggie leaves us today and we wish her the very best of luck.  We welcome Mr. Ricky McCann who the EA have appointed as our cook in charge and hope that he has many happy years in St. Joseph's! 

The theme for Children's Mental Health Week 2024 was 'Your Voice Matters'. Your Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express  themselves.  When we feel empowered, this can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Children and young people who feel that their voices are heard and can make a difference have a    greater sense of community and self-esteem.

The week started with the Pupil Council meeting Mr. Traynor to discuss the theme and explore how the voice of the pupil council can be a positive one for change within our school. Indeed every pupil in the various Year Groups was involved in the programme of activities to explore and promote the theme.  Have a look through the photographs to see what we have been up to from Nursery through to Year 7.

Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. Each year we cover an online issue or theme that speaks to the things young people are seeing and experiencing online.

Safer Internet Day 2024 took place today 6th February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.

Our Digital Leaders introduced Safer Internet day to the whole school via a virtual assembly.  They had also been working hard to create a number of tasks for our pupils to complete on the day to include:

• P1-P3: Colouring competition page, inked to the story of Mo & Jaz. 
• P4-P7: Just2easy collage activity.

Prizes will be awarded to the winning entries in each category.

This year our school was delighted to join @bitcni @Allstate and @PoliceServiceNI for a special online event with thousands of children from other schools to learn how to stay safe online.

In addition each class completed an online safety activity to reinforce acceptable online behaviour.

Parents are invited to play their part by visiting: www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers

to explore the wealth of information available.

Many thanks to Francesca from Action Mental Health for visiting our school on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week to deliver 'The Little Healthy Me' Programme to our Primary 1 children as part of planned activities to support Children's Mental Health Week 2024.

'The Little Healthy Me' Programme is a vibrant and engaging trauma informed, mental health promotion programme which explores emotional health, healthy lifestyle choices and pathways to effective support through imaginative and interactive play and song.  The girls and boys were fully engaged and really enjoyed the programme delivered over the three days.  Thanks again Francesca!