Happy New Year to you all onve again! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break filled with joy, rest, and precious family time. It's lovely to welcome everyone back to St Joseph's for what promises to be an exciting and productive spring term.

On our first morning back, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany on 6th January, which marks the visit of the Three Wise Men (the Magi) to the infant Jesus. This beautiful feast is all about receiving and sharing good news, so was the perfect way to start the new year and new school term.

We explored and reflected upon the meaning of an epiphany and the visit of the 3 kings. The children contributed wonderfully and gave superb answers discussing how our school values of kindness, respect and love were reflected in the readings. We want every child to be a bearer of good news - spreading hope, kindness, and positivity throughout our school community and school year.

After a vigorous application process, I am pleased to announce our Senior Pupil Leadership Team for 2026. The applications were of such a high caliber, we used the Autumn term to help us make our final decision! We are grateful to every applicant and the way they ensure St. Joseph's is a great place to learn and grow. These children have been selected to represent their peers and help shape our school's future:

🌟 Head Girl: Ella
🌟 Head Boy: George
🌟 Deputy Head Girls: Halle and Luna
🌟 Deputy Head Boys: Azariah and Foma
🌟 Senior Sports Captains: Jacob and Milena
🌟 Pupil Wellbeing Leader (our first ever!): Michael

We are incredibly proud of all these children and look forward to working closely with them to ensure pupil voice is heard and strategic improvements are made for all children at St Joseph's. They will be champions for their fellow pupils, role models for younger children, and valuable partners in our school's development.

Congratulations to our new Senior Pupil Leadership team - we can't wait to see all the wonderful things you will achieve! We are already very proud of you.

Our spring term Pupil Consultation Meetings will take place on Monday 3rd, Tuesday 4th, and Wednesday 5th February. This is a valuable opportunity to discuss your child's progress, celebrate their achievements, and work together to support their learning. Booking opens from 6pm on Monday on Arbor.

After-school clubs programme begins this Monday. Clubs offer wonderful opportunities for children to explore new interests, develop skills, and have fun with friends. Places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Booking opens on Arbor at 6pm today

The national deadline for Reception and Year 3 applications is Wednesday 15th January 2026. If you have a child due to start Reception in September 2026, or if your child is currently in Year 2 and needs to apply for a Year 3 place at St Joseph's, please ensure you submit your application by this date. If you need any help, please contact the school office, I know many have already.

Your child's curriculum newsletter today, showing what your child will be learning this term. These newsletters outline the key topics and themes, learning objectives, important information for your child's year group and ways you can support learning at home. We hope you find it useful. I am greafu to the staff for putting these togther for you.

As we are committed to ensuring every child receives the highest quality education, we have used recent assessment data and considered individual class needs to make a few adjustments across the Federation. We are always reviewing our practice to remain innovative and ensure our commitment to ensuring every child makes excellent progress from their starting points is realised.

This term there is also adjusted which specialist teaching different year groups receive to build on our strengths and ensuring consistently outstanding provision across every class. Our teachers are excited about these developments, and we know they will have a positive impact on your child's learning experience.

Based on their feedback I have sourced a specialist dance teacher who will be teaching them dance for their P,E. this half term. I hope this makes the children happy and they showcase what they have learned at the end of the half term.

We know tha5 this time of year is difficult for many of our families. We genuinely care about every family in our school community. If you need any support - whether it's related to your child's education, wellbeing, or family circumstances - please contact us. We have strong links with local services and agencies, and we can help connect you with the right support. No concern is too small, and everything shared with us is treated with sensitivity and confidentiality.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership. Together, we will make 2026 a year of growth, achievement, and joy for all our children.

We hope you and your family have a great weekend,

Mrs Ashley and the Team

"I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people." - Luke 2:10

Wellbeing

Welcome back to school. We had a lovely calm return to school this week, but we are also aware that for many people the New Year can be a great cause for anxiety and worry. It is really important that we all look after our mental health as it is just as important as our physical health. We all have times when we feel low, anxious or overwhelmed and it's not always easy to know what to do to feel better. We all have times when we feel low, anxious or overwhelmed and it's not always easy to know what to do to feel better. The NHS has a free 'Mind Plan' that can help you to improve your mental health and give you advice and tips from mental health experts to help you cope in this new year. Follow this link to create your own personal plan for the New Year - https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/

Early Years

Reception have had a great start to the term and our first day back we celebrated Epiphany. We retold the story of The Three kings, the journey to Bethlehem We reflected on the meaning of Epiphany and what Christmas means to us and how we celebrated with our loved ones.

Key Stage 1

This week year 1 have returned rearing to go! They have been enjoying learning about the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes.

Year 1 understand that our world is made up of entirely different shapes all around us. Don't be suprised if they start spotting shapes and telling you about them around your home and in the wider world!

Year 1, you've made a wonderful start to the new year. We're very proud of you.

Lower Key Stage 2

Newsletter.pdf

Year 3 have settled in very well and have made a positive start to the term. This week in mathematics, pupils have been enjoying using practical manipulatives to support their understanding of addition and subtraction.

In science, we have begun our new topic on rocks, and the children have been fascinated by learning about the different types.

Pupils are also thoroughly enjoying our new class text, The Secret of Black Rock by Joe Todd-Stanton, which is inspiring lots of thoughtful discussion and curiosity.

Upper Key Stage 2

We had a fantastic and engaging start to the new year. All pupils have come back ready and excited about the term ahead. We have started our History topic on World War 2, and linked this to our writing. In Maths, we are continuing our learning on fractions. This term, we are also lucky to be having Music lessons from a specialist teacher, who will help us prepare for our end of term play, Macbeth.

Happy Birthday!

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

Nursery: Saana-Leah Year 3: Enzo Year 4: Arshika and Iyla

Year 6: Andrew and Veronica

Staff: Miss Hayter and Ms Douglas

Key Dates

06.01.26

School reopens for Spring Term 8.50am

06.01.26

Holy Feast Day of the Epiphany

3rd-5th February Parents Evening

Information

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