A warm welcome back to all our families, and an especially big hello to those joining St Joseph’s for the very first time! As we begin the new academic year, I am delighted to share some exciting news and updates with you.

A Positive and Settled Start

It has been wonderful to see our pupils return to school with such enthusiasm and positivity. Thanks to our consistent routines and high expectations, all children have settled quickly into their new classes. Our staff have worked hard to create calm, welcoming and structured learning environments, helping every child feel safe, confident and ready to learn.

The children looked so smart in the beginning of year assemblies and this is a huge thanks to all of you. We know that consistency in routines and clear expectations are key to building a successful school community so we revisited our core values of LOVE, RESPECT, KINDNESS AND EXCELLENCE then discussed how we live our Catholic values. Thank you for your ongoing support in reinforcing these values at home.

When I asked the children to reflect upon what they need to grow and develop, Tyler impressed us all by saying 'failure.' There was sense of wonder in the hall and when asked to elaborate he stated 'You need to fail and make mistakes so that you can learn from them and do better...Failure makes you grow.' The hall was filled with applause. It is clear that he and his peers are ready for Y6. We are looking forward to seeing how they act as role models this year.

Commitment to Safety and Wellbeing

The safety and welfare of our pupils is always our top priority. In the 1st week, we undertook a full safeguarding review to ensure our procedures meet the latest statutory guidance and best practice.

In addition, this week we had comprehensive health and safety audit. As a result of everyone’s hard work and commitment, we are proud to announce that St Joseph’s has been awarded the prestigious Health and Safety Award for the second year running! This recognition demonstrates our dedication to providing a safe and secure environment for all members of our school community.

We are a woodland school, and the storms have really impacted our outside areas. Please beware of the leaves. The premise team are working hard to improve the site and we appreciate feedback for areas of improvement.

Welcoming New Members to Our Team

We are delighted to welcome two new members of staff who have joined us this September. Miss Davis joins us as a class teacher, bringing fresh enthusiasm to our teaching team. We are also pleased to introduce Ms Douglas, our new School Business Manager, who will be working closely with staff and families to support the smooth running of the school.

Both Miss Davis and Ms Douglas have already made a fantastic start, and I know you will join me in welcoming them to the St Joseph’s family.

Looking Ahead

We are looking forward to an exciting and successful year, filled with new opportunities and achievements for every child. Throughout the year, we will continue to work together to nurture our pupils’ academic progress, wellbeing, and personal development.

Please do keep an eye on our newsletters. Next week key dates will be populated at the bottom for the year to come. Your partnership and support are vital to our children’s success, and I look forward to working with you in the months ahead.

Thank you for your continued trust and commitment to our school community.

With prayers and best wishes,

Mrs Ashley and the Team

Wellbeing

We are happy to be continuing our partnership with Off the Record this academic year. They are a charitable foundation that offer free expert support to children and parents alike. If you have any concerns about your child's wellness please let any staff member know and we have extensive resources to support thhem and your family.

One of the themes that we will be focusing on this year is Kindness. We will be encouraging the children to be kind to others and rewarding random acts of kindness. We will be creating a 'Tree of Kindness' that the children will be able to add leaves to if someone has shown them kindness. We have also got some workshops and an assembly booked that will show the children what a difference being kind to someone can make - we never know what is going on in the lives of others, but an act of kindness can make such an impact to someone who is struggling with their everyday life and feelings.

This term, we will also be taking part in some events to raise awareness and money for mental health causes. We will be wearing yellow in school on World Mental Health Day to raise funds for YoungMinds, and on this day I will be taking part in a Firewalk to raise funds for the Mental Health Foundation. More news on these events will be shared in the near future.

Mrs Phillips

Wellbeing and RE Lead

Early Years

In reception this week there has been lots of exciting learning happening inside and outside of the classroom. Self portraits have also been happening and we have been looking into mirrors and thinking about our facial features and how to represent ourselves through drawing and painting. Creating self portraits is an opportunity to talk about ourselves and appreciate our everyone is unique.

Key Stage 1

Year 1 have been excited to meet their new teachers and go into their new decorated classrooms. The children have been doing an amazing job of settling in to the new term, revisiting the culture of the school and understanding the class rules and expectations. It is wonderful to see how keen, kind, respectful and enthusiastic all of the children are. The team are truly proud of all of the children and are looking forward to another exciting and promising year. Well done year 1!

Lower Key Stage 2

Year 3 have had a fantastic start to the year with many new and exciting experiences in their very first full week. They have been learning new routines, created their class rules and have begun to learn new skills including reading with prosody. They particularly enjoyed making observational drawings in Art and building Stone Age Teepee's.

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5 have come back raring to go! We have started reading Cosmic in English, and written balacned arguments for longer or shorter summer holidays. They have wowed us with their Maths knowledge on Place Value. In RE we have started our topic on Creation, where the children have looked at different artists interpretation of it.

History

At the start of every term, the whole school focus on History. All the children have started their topics for this term, which range from How am I making History? in Year 1 to Apartheid and Nelson Madela in Year 6.

Throughout the year each class will take a trip with History focus to try and bring History to life.

We have personalised our lessons to suit the needs and demographics of our school, offering a diverse curriculum for our children.