Congratulations to the children who participated in the South West Antrim Cumann na mBunscol Indoor Hurling tournament reaching the semi-final of the Cup Competition.  Excellent skill, team work and behaviour on display today.  Well done boys - we are very proud of you all!

Thank you to the Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey for visiting our school today to deliver some trees as part of the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough initiative to plant one million trees in the borough. 

The mayor alongside representatives from our Eco-Council planted a 'Red Devil' apple tree at the front of the school.  We look forward to watching it grow and bear fruit in the months ahead.  Many thanks to Mrs. Downey and our Eco Team for organising this visit!

Congratulations to our past pupil Adele O’Dornan who will be appearing with the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland in the upcoming series of Peace Proms concerts.  

Ireland’s renowned Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland (CBOI) is set to captivate audiences across the nation with a sensational series of seventeen Peace Proms concerts commencing at the University of Limerick on January 27th and continuing to Dublin, Belfast and Waterford. Established in 1995, the CBOI has been at the forefront of music education while promoting peace, unity, and tolerance on the island of Ireland. 

These inspirational concerts will feature 35,000 children from every corner of Ireland and Northern Ireland, collectively forming the Children’s Peace Choirs who will perform alongside the 130-member internationally acclaimed Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. Under the direction of the distinguished conductor Maestro Greg Beardsell and led by Dundalk's own violinist Richie Dunne, this event promises to be an awe-inspiring celebration of youth, music, and talent on an epic scale. 

We wish Adele the best of luck with this amazing opportunity!

Congratulations to our Year 7 pupils who celebrated their Service of Commitment today during the first school mass of 2024. This is an excellent beginning to their Confirmation preparations. 

Confirmation will be celebrated on Thursday 29th February in Mater Dei Church.

This year all staff and pupils have been taking part in the Nerve Centre's Primary Partnership Programme. Our focus has been to enhance educational standards across the school’s curriculum through the use of animation within ICT.

To date we have completed Phase 1 of the Empower Partnership Programme with the Nerve Centre and have just received our school certificate to mark this milestone, proudly displayed here by our Digital Leaders.

The Educational Support Centre Ltd to inform us that 'Let's Move On', an estate agency based in Crumlin, had very kindly sponsored the delivery of a number of Education Information Booklets to our school.  The booklets entitled 'Safety Comes First' explore the themes of fire safety, internet advice, bullying and road safety and show that by working together we can ensure that we provide a safer and more enjoyable place to work and live. 

Today the Pupil Council delivered a copy of the booklet to every class in school.  Many thanks 'Let's Move On' - We appreciate you doing this for St Joseph's!

Tomorrow, Saturday 6th January, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. 

The Epiphany is a special date when we celebrate how a star led the Magi - also known as the Three kings or the Wise Men - to visit the baby Jesus after he had been born.  On the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany members of our Faith Group added the Three Wise Men to our school crib to mark this special occasion. 

A prayer for this Special Day:

Father of light,
Today you reveal to people of faith your Word made flesh.
Your light is strong, your love is sure.
Draw us beyond the limits of this world into your eternal life.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

We are delighted to begin our New Year by announcing that the Down and Connor Catholic Schools' Support Service have been in contact with us to inform us that we have been awarded the Spirit of Catholic Education Award for the development of our Sacred Space in school.

We are so proud of our school.  Our caring and inclusive Catholic ethos puts our children at the centre of all we do - what lovely news to begin 2024!

Please find below a link to our Christmas News @ St Joseph's for 2023.

https://sway.office.com/CU8DHhX02HeJdX4P?ref=Link

We would like to wish our school community a happy, peaceful and safe Christmas break and every blessing for good health and happiness in 2024!

From all at St Joseph's!