What a wonderful week we've had at St Joseph's! Our children have been busy with a range of enriching activities, from spiritual preparation for Easter to sporting achievements and professional development opportunities.

Father Tomasz and a guest priest, kindly visited our school to hear confessions with the children as part of their preparation for Easter. This was a meaningful opportunity for our pupils to reflect on their faith and prepare their hearts for the celebration of Easter. We're grateful to both preists for their time and spiritual guidance.

Supporting Other Schools

On Monday, I had the privilege of conducting a support visit to Howard Primary School to assist them with their Mental Health and Wellbeing provision and Ofsted preparation. It was wonderful to share expertise and collaborate with colleagues from other schools to strengthen our collective approach to supporting children's wellbeing.

Mental Health Leaders Training

On Tuesday, I led training for 16 mental health leaders across Croydon. This session focused on developing effective strategies and approaches to support pupils' mental health and wellbeing. It's vital that we continue to build capacity across our schools to ensure every child receives the support they need.

Football Success

Our boys did brilliantly in the Croydon Football Contest this week! They showed excellent teamwork, sportsmanship and skill throughout the competition. We're very proud of their efforts and achievements.

Our infant football team also had a fantastic time representing St Joseph's at the Catholic Umbrella Trust tournament. They played with enthusiasm and determination, and it was wonderful to see them enjoying the experience whilst developing their football skills.

St Joseph's Day Celebration

We had a lovely St Joseph's Day celebration honouring our school's patron saint. Thank you to all the parents who joined us for this special occasion. Your presence helped make it a truly memorable celebration for our whole school community.

DfE RPA Audit Success

We're delighted to share that we achieved blue ratings in some areas of our DfE RPA (Risk Protection Arrangement) audit – an amazing achievement! This demonstrates our commitment to maintaining the highest standards in risk management and compliance across the schools. Thank you to all staff who helped me to secure this excellent outcome. The ratings are red, yellow, green then blue.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Ashley and the Team

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." - Psalm 28:7

Wellbeing

With the Easter holidays fast approaching, this can be a time of great anxiety for many families but it is also a time when we should focus on the wellbeing of everyone. It can be difficult to keep the children amused during the holidays, but there are lots of free activities that you can take part in. Free Easter activities for kids in 2026 include city farm visits (Hackney, Mudchute), free museum entry (British Museum, V&A, Science Museum), and themed trails like the Battersea Power Station Elephant Trail. Families can also enjoy free craft workshops, library events, and nature activities in Royal Parks, with many activities running from late March to mid-April. Some highlights for the holidays are:

The Passion of Jesus (Trafalgar Sq): Free open-air play on Good Friday.
Battersea Power Station Workshops: Free LEGO® Easter Fun, face painting, and workshops from April 1st-12th.
V&A Museum: Free nature and mindfulness activities.

Early Years

We received 10 eggs last Monday and put them in an incubator. They hatched on Wednesday and Thursday and we saw rapid growth and change. We have been responsible and learnt how to care for the chicks. We changed them, topped up their water, gave them a lot of food including cucumber and apple. We let them have a run around and held them very gently and carefully.They went back to the farm and we will miss them but have really enjoyed having them and we have learnt so much and we appreciate God’s wonderful world and the miracle of life.

Key Stage 1

This week in Year 1, the children have been busy learning about subtraction. We have been exploring what it means to take away and find out how many are left.

The children have been practising taking away small numbers and explaining their thinking to their friends and teachers. It has been wonderful to see their confidence growing as they solve subtraction problems together.

Well done, Year 1, for working so hard and showing great enthusiasm in maths this week!

Lower Key Stage 2

Year 4 have been busy developing their instructional writing skills this term. We began by exploring how to write clear and precise instructions, thinking carefully about sequencing, vocabulary, and how to make each step easy to follow. To put our learning into practice, the children wrote their own set of instructions on how to make paper boats. They then swapped instructions with a partner and followed them to create their boats, checking for clarity and accuracy. It was a fantastic way to see how effective their writing was, and the classroom was filled with creativity, teamwork, and lots of successfully (and sometimes amusingly!) constructed boats.

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5 have had a busy half term. Last week we had an amazing time at Wonderlab! A big thank you to our parents who came along with us. This week, we have been preparing for our Cake Sale and our Poetry Recital. Thursday, we celebrated St Joseph's Day and finished our amazing Macbeth stories.

PE

It was a busy and exciting week for our football teams, with both the boys’ and girls’ teams taking part in tournaments. The girls played their first games together as a team and performed brilliantly, showing great teamwork and enthusiasm as they begin to build towards their upcoming league fixtures. Meanwhile, the boys competed in a Croydon Schools tournament against 27 other teams and delivered an outstanding performance to win the entire competition. A fantastic achievement for everyone involved!

RE

We had a lovely Epiphany liturgy to start our term and are now looking forwards and making plans for the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is on the 18th February this year, which is during the half term holidays, and we will begin a variety of activities when the children return to school. We will send out further information nearer the time but this will include mass on 19th March (which is St Joseph's Day) and the annual Y3 Easter production. During this period we hope to raise money to support CAFOD and the Catholic Children's Society.

Happy Birthday!

Everyone at St. Joseph's wishes you the happiest of birthdays

Year 6: Jacob Year 5: Yanshi Year 4: Matvii, Khumalo and Joseph

Year 3: Amir, Maurice and Sienna Year 2: Angel and Ibrahim

Year 1: Zion-Elijah and Eric Reception: Mabel and Khari Nursery: Oliver and Ashley

Staff: Mrs Parry and Mrs Veneri

Key Dates

23.02.26

Year 5 West Norwood Library Trip

06.03.25 (tbc)

World Book Day

Dulwich Book Fair in Infant School

Year 1 Library Trip

09.03.26

Reception: get eggs/chicks for 2 weeks.

12.03.26

Yr 5 Science Museum Trip

11.03.26

Yr6 Girls Catholic Football Tournament

19.03.25

St Joseph’s Day - Whole School Mass

20.03.26

Last Year 4 Swimming Lesson

26.03.26

Stations of the Cross in the Junior Hall

15.04.26

Yr 5 Hampton Court

21.04.25

RH West Norwood Library Trip AM

Year 5 West Norwood Library Trip

23.04.26

6P West Norwood Library Trip

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