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!

Today we took delivery of our 30 micro:bits, USB cables and battery holders.  These were presented to Miss Walsh (our ICT co-ordinator) and her Year 4 class.The resources have been created with 8 to 11 year-olds in mind and will help to promote coding work throughout the school.  The staff, pupils and Digital Leaders look forward to exploring the potential of this new ICT resource throughout the school year.   

Year 4 children are really enjoying exploring their new topic ‘Chocolate’. They have been investigating how chocolate is made and have explored the journey of the cocoa bean.

As part of this topic, they have been looking at the artist Jackson Pollock who used ‘Drip Painting’ to create artworks. They melted chocolate and used it to create Jackson Pollock style artworks! It was great fun and the best part was eating the chocolate artwork once the chocolate had returned to it’s solid state.Y

The focus during week 1 was on building shelters outdoors - the girls and boys had great fun and came up with some very creative ideas.

We are delighted to welcome Gerard back to St Joseph's  to work with our Year 3, 4 and 5 children on the development of many fundamental skills as part of the Gaelfast Programme. 

We are very fortunate here in St Joseph's to be part of this programme and the many benefits it has for the children and staff in our school.  Today all the boys and girls had great fun indeed!

Election fever hit St Joseph's this week with the first of out two election campaigns for Pupils Council and Eco Council.  Next week we have elections for Digital Leaders and the Faith Group.

Congratulations to all those who have been elected so far and good luck to all next weeks candidates!

The Friends of St Joseph's held their AGM on Wednesday 20th September.  Our elected committee for members for 2023/24 are:

Chairperson Mrs Jennifer Kerr

Vice Chairperson: Mrs Rachel Lee

Treasurer/Secretary: Ms Jennifer McLernon

Teacher Rep: Mrs Louise O'Doherty

First Fundraiser of the Year - BLINGO!

The Friends first fundraising event this year get your bling on and join us for a night of Blingo with a sprinkle of  sparkle in St Claire's Hall Glenavy on Friday 6th October! Ticket order forms will be sent home in schoolbags very soon.  We hope lots of you will join us and make our first fundraiser of the year a resounding success!  Bring your drinks and nibbles, gather up your friends and come along for some fun and the chance to win some super prizes! 

We would like to thank all those who came along this evening.  If you feel you could help in some way, please telephone the office and leave your name and a contact number and a member of the Friends Committee will be in touch.

Thank you for your continued support!

Today the boys and girls who joined our school from other schools at the beginning of this academic year met with Mr Traynor and Mr McMullan for a chat about how they were settling in to their new school and classes.  There were lots of stories told about good times and new friendships formed, all whilst enjoying a few morning treats.  We wish the boys and girls many happy years in St Joseph's!

Many thanks to Canon Colm for celebrating our beginning of the school year mass with our pupils from P4-7, our staff and wider school community this morning.  It was a very fiiting way in which to ask for God's blessing on our school community as we embark on another school year. 

We pray that it will be another successful year in St Joseph's which brings good health and happiness to all.

Mrs McDonnell and Mrs McCallum's Primary 1 classes have been touring our school to help familiarise them with our school surroundings.  Today both classes popped in to say hello to Mr Traynor in his office and he was delighted to welcome them all.  Such wonderful smiles on their faces and lots of stories to be told. 

They even sang a song before heading back to their classrooms. 

We wish them lots of happy years and great memories as they journey throughout our school.