A - 3rd Lent

The Voice of Christ

In this weekend's Gospel, we will hear the fascinating encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. After hearing Jesus' voice, and the message of living water he wanted to share with her, we know the Samaritan woman's life was transformed. Through her testimony, many others in her community came to believe in Christ Jesus too, "We have heard his voice."

We have reflected with children this week on the Fundamental British Value of democracy - the concept that we all have a voice and can use it to express what we and others need. By using our voice in the right way, we can help to build God's Kingdom. Children told us this week how they have used their voices to make a difference: cheering on friends in sports competition, offering constructive feedback in writing lessons and showing care and comfort in times of distress.

Getting into character...

Today at Nursery we had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day! The children came dressed as their favourite book characters, including Stick Man, firemen, superheroes, Moana and even the Big Bad Wolf. It was wonderful to see so many creative costumes and to hear the children talk about the characters and stories they love.

Throughout the day we explored lots of different books and enjoyed reading many stories together. The children listened carefully, joined in with familiar parts and shared their own thoughts about the stories.

Celebrating World Book Day is a fantastic way to encourage a love of books and reading from an early age. It also helps children to hear and learn a wide range of new words, supporting their language development and imagination. We had a lovely day sharing stories, dressing up and enjoying the magic of books together!

We love reading!

It's been a week of celebrating books! We have been so lucky to have Subject Revolution in to deliver some workshops for us. The hall was transformed into a series of sets depicting a spooky castle. Children had to solve clues by using their reading skills in order to defeat the dragon!

Later in the week we celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as various book characters. We took part in 'Drop Everything and Read', meaning the children had to stop what they were doing and get reading whenever they heard a bell! We also had bookmark making, story telling and other activities across the school. St Joseph's loves to read!

Athletic Action

On Wednesday afternoon, our Year 3 and 4 Sportshall Athletics team travelled to Spectrum to compete against eleven other local schools. The excitement was high, and the team were ready to show just how hard they have been working in training. Over the past few weeks, the children have been supported by some fantastic Year 5 and 6 helpers and our expert parent helper, Mr Gillies, who have encouraged them and helped them refine their skills. (Read more about their interesting afternoon below!)

The team performed incredibly well in both their track races and field events. From speedy sprints and relay races to standing long jump and throwing events, every child gave their absolute best and showed great determination and teamwork throughout the competition.

We were absolutely overjoyed when the final scores were announced and it was confirmed that St Joseph’s had come first (for the first time ever in this age category!) The children’s dedication and hard work truly paid off. We are so proud of every single member of the team - well done! We must also extend a huge thank you to our parent helpers and Year 5 & 6 helpers during the afternoon, who ensured the afternoon ran smoothly. What an incredible St Joseph's community we have!

Stepping Up...

Also on Wednesday afternoon, as our Year 3 and 4 Sportshall Athletics team were proudly accompanied by five fantastic children from Years 5 and 6 - Seb, Alfie, Harry, Mikolaj and Mason - who have supported Miss Cogger and Mrs Eadie throughout the entire season (helping to run trials in minus seven degrees, to assisting at every training session, and finally joining us at last week’s event) there was a surprise in store...

The young leaders from a local secondary school who were due to help had not turned up. Without hesitation, our five boys stepped in, showing maturity and responsibility far beyond their years. The event simply could not have gone ahead without them. They set up and packed away equipment, organised children for races, supported during events and demonstrated each activity, communicating clearly with the adult event organisers.

We could not be prouder of how they represented St Joseph’s and it was a pleasure to hear from the event organisers how amazing they were. Seeing their genuine excitement when St Joseph's were announced in first place was truly heart-warming. What an incredible group of children - thank you for your dedication and commitment to others this term.

Spreading our wings!

Linking with our learning about the history of flight, Year 1 had a fantastic time at the FAST Museum in Farnborough! We learnt so many historical facts about flight, including Samuel Cody's first flight, as well as how aeroplanes are flown. The children got to experience sitting in the pilot's seat of a helicopter, go underground and touch the oldest jet engine!

Thoughtful Thinking for Lent

What a joy to see Year 5 shining in their RE lesson on the Examination of Conscience this week. The children worked together to design meaningful Lenten reflections for younger pupils, offering structure, ideas and reminders to carry out a successful Examination of Conscience. Their collaboration was hugely effective and the creativity and care are clear in every piece of work — a wonderful example of faith in action.

More athletic success!

Year 2 did us proud this week when they represented the school at the Guildford Spectrum Sportshall event! 22 children from across the year group took part in the multskills event, which involved a mixture of throwing, running and jumping. The children really were a credit to the school, showing fantastic team spirit and behaviour.

Year 6 Compose Their Way to Happiness

Year 6 have been exploring an exciting new music unit this half term, all based around the song Happy by Pharrell Williams. We began by listening closely to the track and learning about its genre, thinking about what makes upbeat soul‑pop music so distinctive.

To help us sing confidently, we’ve been practising breathing techniques and vocal warm‑ups, building control and expression before performing the full song together. The children have shown brilliant teamwork and enthusiasm throughout.

Now we’re taking the next step by learning to play the melody on xylophones. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be experimenting with creating our own short melodic patterns to play alongside the song, developing both our performance and composition skills.

It’s been wonderful to see Year 6 approach this unit with such energy and creativity- there’s plenty more music-making to come!

Parts & Wholes

We have recently been working on fractions in maths. We began by looking at unit fractions (with 1 as the numerator) and have just started to look at equivalent fractions. Children are becoming increasingly confident and articulate at describing how fractions show us the number of parts out of a whole, and that helps us to compare and order them.

Democracy in 4L

Congratulations to St Luke's Class for an inspiring Class Worship this morning! - The children taught us all about democracy and how this means we should get involved, use our voices and make our needs known. 4L gave some powerful examples of prophets and modern day heroes who have used their voices to help make the world a better place - people like Sean Devereux who used his voice to empower the people of Somalia in the 1990s. Thank you St Luke's Class for using your voices to lead us worship this morning!

Signs of Spring

Reception have been enjoying the signs of Spring! We have loved the blossom growing on one of our trees and have been trying to capture it in different ways.

Using our Voices

Our focus on the Fundamental British Value of democracy has also led to conversations this week about the Catholic Social Teaching principle of subsidiarity - the idea that the voices of people at all levels of a community should be able to influence its priorities and direction, especially the voices of the most vulnerable. Children this week have astounded us with their use of voices and choice of language to help build up our community and make our school an even better place. A special word of thanks to these Witness Award winners who have made that extra special effort this week! - Well done to you all.

What's on locally?

Online Safety Poster 2026.pdf

Report abuse