C - 28th Ordinary

Gratitude in Christ

For Celebration of the Word this week, we looked ahead to the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, where Luke describes Jesus' encounter with the 10 lepers. Standing some distance off, the group shouts at Jesus, "Lord! - Take pity on us." Jesus instructs them to go and show themselves to the priests and, as they head off, they discover they are cured! However, only one of them has the sense of mind to return and thank Jesus. He comments, "Only has returned to say, 'Thank you'".

We have focused with the children this week on the "tool" of gratitude. We know that those who hold an attitude of gratitude have better mental health and are more resilient when faced with challenges. Children have been building a culture of gratitude in their classes by looking for missed opportunities to thank others for their service to the school e.g. thanking the Caretakers for unlocking the gates each morning.

French Adventure!

This term, our Year 3 children have embarked on an exciting new journey – learning French for the very first time! With lots of enthusiasm (and plenty of cheerful “Bonjour!” greetings around school), the children have already begun to build their confidence in this new language.

So far, the children have learnt how to greet one another and respond politely, introducing themselves with a smile and a “Ça va?”. They have also been practising how to talk about members of their families, proudly sharing phrases such as “J’ai un frère” or “J’ai une sœur”. To add to their growing vocabulary, they can now count confidently from 1 to 10 in French – a skill that has been woven into games, songs, and lively classroom activities.

It has been wonderful to see the children’s excitement as they discover a new language and culture. From role-playing conversations to joining in with French songs, their enthusiasm shines through. This is just the beginning of their French learning adventure, and we can’t wait to see how their skills develop over the year.

Très bien, Year 3 – keep up the fantastic work!

Flying High!

Last week, Year 6 travelled to Swindon for their residential. What a week we had, albeit cold, we were blessed with glorious sunshine and an itinerary full of fun and exciting activities. Year 6 settled into life at Liddington in no time. The children completed a huge variety of challenging and fun outdoor activities. The high swing was a particular highlight with their screams of delight being heard all across the site. The children also enjoyed fencing, orienteering, high ropes, competitive games of laser tag, abseiling and rock climbing, jumping from a height on the trapeze and whizzing down the zip wire.

Shining stars from the trip include Guy, Theo and Lucas who made an incredibly impressive orienteering team only just beating Mrs Mulreany, Olivia, Harriet B and Isla to the finish point! As well as Malakai who took charge of his group, encourgaing and supporting them. Josh and Sophie who did an amazing job of facing challenges and embracing all the opportunities given to them and Jerome and Emmanuel who did a fabulous job of showing determination and resilience overcoming their fears to do the zip wire. Matty D and Mattias were an absolute pleasure, they were enthusiastic all week regardless of the activity! Ollie and Noah were commended for the support and encouragement they gave to members of the group doubting themselves and not to mention Ana and Emily for getting a bullseye in archery!

This week would not have been possible without all the volunteers of staff to leave their families and homes and accompany Year 6 for the week- thank you is just not enough!

Year 2-Bots

This week in Year 2, each class had a Computing day. We learned that algorithms are sets of instructions given to a computer to make it do something particular. We tested algorithms on each other and then on the Beebots. It was interesting to see how important it is to give clear instructions if we want the computer or robot to do something specific. At the end of the day we had an opportunity to try debugging to work out where things may have gone wrong! The children enjoyed using the Beebots and even had a go at designing their own mats.

Happy World Mental Health Day!

The children have celebrated today by having tea parties in their classrooms and having the chance to sit and talk with their classmates. Mental Health is important every day, but it is fabulous to take time to reflect on this and spend some time with peers on this special day.

We would also like to signpost you to the 'Kids' Kindness Club' by the School of Kindness. It is a free initiative designed to inspire children to practise kindness in everyday life. Here's what it offers:

Free Membership: Kids can join the club for free and receive fortnightly emails filled with kindness-themed activities and news.
Kindness Challenges: Monthly challenges encourage children to reflect on their feelings and promote kindness in their homes and classrooms, with chances to win prizes like book or toy vouchers.
Kind News & Activities: Kids can read uplifting stories and submit their own kind deeds to be featured. Activity sheets are available to help them share their stories creatively.
Competitions: Fun contests like the National Teachers’ Day Challenge allow kids to express gratitude and win prizes.
Self-Kindness Tips: Monthly tips teach kids simple ways to relax and care for themselves, such as mindful breathing and body relaxation techniques.

Check it out at: https://schoolofkindness.org/kids-club

Free Kids' Kindness Club - School of KindnessJoin our free Kids' Kindness Club today. Earn kindness badges, win prizes, read kind stories and (best of all) help us make the world even kinder.

Picture Perfect Patterns

This week, Year 4 have been busy exploring patterns in art! We began by copying and then creating our own pen patterns, experimenting with lines, shapes and colours to see how many exciting effects we could make. Next, the children practised copying a variety of mark-making designs, before moving on to look at how patterns appear all around us in nature – from the spirals in shells to the stripes on leaves.

For our final piece, we were inspired by the famous artist, Piet Mondrian, who used bold lines and blocks of colour in his work. Linking our maths and art skills, the children used place value dienes to build pictures. Each child rolled a three-digit number and then represented it using 100s, 10s and 1s. The results were fantastic – colourful, creative artworks that were also a brilliant reminder of place value! We are so proud of their hard work and imagination.

Autumn Treasures

This week in Nursery, the children have been exploring all things autumn. We've been talking about the changing seasons, the beautiful autumnal colours, the cooler weather, and the signs in nature that show us autumn is arriving. From falling leaves to conkers and crisp breezes, the children have loved noticing the world around them.

This has been a wonderful way for them to begin understanding seasonal changes — an important part of our Understanding the World area within the Early Years curriculum.

5 and a bit

In Maths, Year 1 have been exploring the structure of 5 and a bit. We used double dice frames to represent numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and looked at how many we need to add to 5 to make each number.

Some children explored representing the 'bit' in different ways and then we reflected on the easiest way to see the 'bit' on a double dice frame - e.g. 3 is easiest to see if they are in a diagonal line, 4 is easiest to see when using the four corners. We then looked at representing the 5 and a bit structure using a rekenrek, reflecting on what was the same and what was different.

Celebrating our House & Sports Captains

As we move into a busy and exciting new term, we’re delighted to announce and congratulate our newly appointed Year 6 House Captains and Sports Captains. These pupils have been chosen not only for their enthusiasm and commitment, but for their leadership qualities, kindness and willingness to serve as positive role models to others across the school, encapsulating our school motto: The Way, The Truth and The Life. We are incredibly proud of each one of them.

Our House Captains will take on a special role in leading their house communities. They’ll help with school tours, represent the school as ambassadors, and support younger children by setting a strong example of what it means to be responsible, caring, and enthusiastic learners.

Congratulations to our new House Captains:

Lindisfarne: Jack, Eva and Harriet B (Vice)
Iona: Theo, Gracie and Cassie (Vice)
Canterbury: Olivia MW, Harriet L and Olivia C (Vice)
Walsingham: Lourdes, Josiah and Heidi (Vice)

Meanwhile, our Sports Captains have shown a fantastic passion for sport and physical activity. They’ll be supporting active play, organising lunchtime sports challenges and encouraging all children to get involved and have fun staying active. Their energy and positive attitude will no doubt inspire others to give sport their best.

Well done to our new Sports Captains:

Lindisfarne: Harry, Simeon and Lucas (Vice)
Canterbury: Matthias, Matty M and Joben (Vice)
Iona: Guy, Grace and Seb (Vice)
Walsingham: Sienna SED, Ellery and Alfie (Vice)

We are excited to see the great things you will achieve in your new roles. Thank you for stepping up- you are already making your school community proud.

A Baby for Baptism

Reception were learning about a Baptism earlier this week! Each class re-enacted this special sacrament and afterwards the children were able to role play themselves. Can you remember some of the key words?

Harvest Gifts

Our thanks to the whole St Joseph's family for the generous harvest gifts this week. Our valiant PFSA team organised and bagged the gifts, ready to distribute between local resident on the Aldershot Road and the North Guildford Food Bank (working from St Claire's Church).

The school celebrated a beautiful liturgy this morning, with a reflection from our Chaplain - Ellie Brown - who encouraged the children to grow the seed of gratitude in all areas of their life.

What's on locally?

Report abuse