Newsletter

27th June 2025

Attendance

National: 94.8% Our Target: 95%

Our whole school attendance this week: 95%

Infant School: 94%

Junior School: 95%

Our School Winners are: RH - 92% & 4J - 97%

Well done to the children and parents in these classes!

Attendance

Our whole school attendance this week: 95%

Infant School: 94%

Junior School: 95%

Our School Winners are: RH - 92% & 4J - 97%

Senior Pupil Leadership Team

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

Key Dates

Check our Instagram page for updates throughout the week!

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope all the men in our community had a wonderful Father's Day thank you to all of you who joined us this morning for our Father's Day Breakfast. It was heartwarming that so many of you came and seeing the children's faces that you had given of your time was truly amazing. Our Deputy Head girl, Jael cried tears of joy because her dad could make it and was in her school. At St. Joseph's we are truly blessed that we have males in varying forms, present and working with us for the betterment of their child's development. Thank you all for all you do and I pray that God continues to uplift, reinforce and strengthen you all as you teach life lessons and are role models to the next generation of children. A huge thank you to Father James for attending too.

We always have so many enriching educational experiences going on. This week and last we celebrated Science week and Mrs Steen-Plomer organised for The Bird Man to come in! I almost forgot I had a poorly foot when an eagle unexpected came towards me. The children(and staff) burst into laughter as I grabbed my stomach in surprise! Fun and memorable learning experiences are what we are all about! In addition some years groups took part in Sky's Art week too, more information is below.

As you all know, I suffered a serious injury to my leg. I have been at school increasingly more (much to the leadership team's relief). I am gradually building up to full time so I am working at school and home so that I can make a full recovery. 3 months down, 9 more left. Kimya and Ruben Y1 took the time to remind me that they have been praying for my leg. Their sweetness made my day. Thanks to all the children for their prayers and cards they made.

In the Easter holidays, I had the pleasure of meeting The Honourable Mark Brantley, Primer of Nevis, whilst I was in Toronto, Canada. He gave an inspirational speech about the importance of heritage and progression. It made me reflect on how I cultivated a culture of belonging for all at St. Joseph's and question how we continue to ensure that all stakeholders can show up as their full selves. On a personal note, it made me reflect on how I ensure my son knows and has a thorough understanding of his cultural background. We will be having discussion about this in the new year as we enhance our curricula offering.

Thanks for all of you who sent in messages for all the team in Thank a Teacher Day on Wednesday. Messages are still coming in and I know it has uplifted us in a challenging week of staff sickness. Thank you all so much!

There are several bugs going around which has seriously impacted our staff this week. if your child is vomiting you must keep them home for 48hours after the last time they vomited. They should be able to tolerate food and be recovered. I would like to thank our support staff for their flexibility this week. Without them St. Joseph's wouldn't be able to achieve the excellence we do.

Lastly, as you know SEMH (Wellness) is very important to us at St. Joseph's hence I brough in service to promote, develop and support our children's and staff's emotional and social needs such as Relaxation Therapist, Bereavement Support, Play therapists and now Off the Record Mental Health service. If you want to discuss your child's wellness with us please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance in person or via the office.

I am an advocate for mental health and wellness and as such I put myself forward to be the Mental Health Service Cluster Leader for a collective of 16 primary and secondary schools across Croydon. I am delighted to let you know that I was successful and now the Cluster lead for this group. This is great news for our Federation as it has secured us much needed funding and also promotes our excellent practice. We will as share expertise and practice with our schools in Croydon and beyond!

I hope you and your family have a lovely weekend in the sunshine,

Mrs Ashley and the Team

Senior Pupil Leadership Team

My name is Jael and I am the Deputy Head Girl.

On Friday, 20th June, we had a special Father's Day brunch. The chefs prepared a lovely English breakfast for the dads and their children. It was a very smart idea because it was a great time to spend together. It was a very memorable morning.

Thank you to the team, especially Miss Johnson, Chef Mo and Mr Teles for making this such a special event.

Jael.

Inclusion

Early Years

This week, reception learnt all about Baptism. The children were fascinated to learn what takes place during a baptism and understood that this a wonderful way to become friends with Jesus. We also shared the story of all the people who helped to look after the church, to show their love for Jesus and care for one another by keeping the church clean. We role-played baptising our dolls by making the sign of the cross, blessing with holy oil and welcoming them into the church family.

Key Stage 1

This week, year 1 had an exciting time at Crystal Palace Park. As well as a reward for being a stellar year group this academic year, this was to support their geography topic 'What it is like to live in Shanghai'. Children will have further opportunities to explore physical and human features within their local area through out the term. Following the trip, children were surprised to learn that parks are a human feature as they have been built by humans. So, as well as having lots of fun, lots of learning took place too!

Lower Key Stage 2

Year 4 concluded Science week with our bubbles investigation where the pupils tested the theory that a stronger concentration of liquid would produce smaller bubbles. They then experimented with using their hands as a medium to create bubbles, successfully blowing lots of large bubbles once they had practiced their technique.

In class we have been learning about the features of a non-chronological report, a cross curricular activity where they have been researching some of the longest rivers in the world.

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 6 have been busy preparing for their PGL trip, as well as practising for their end of year production - The Greatest Showman. All children are taking part - whether singing or acting or both - and have been giving us great directorial input. We cannot wait to see the final show!

Next week we are away at PGL - Isle of Wight. It's always an amazing trip, and wonderful to see the children find their brave.

PE

We were proud to take a number of our gifted and talented athletes to the Croydon Schools competition. A big well done to all who took part and represented the school so brilliantly. Ten of our athletes managed to qualify for Finals Day, and a special congratulations goes to Marcos in Year 6 for winning the ball throw competition — a fantastic achievement! Huge thank you to Mrs Burgess for the help throughout the week.

At the Junior Catholic Athletics event, our pupils showed great determination and team spirit. A huge thank you to Mrs Lopeman, Bruno’s mum and Daniel’s mum for kindly helping on the day. Massive congratulations to Jacob for winning the Year 5 sprints, and to both of our winning relay teams: the Mixed Boys relay team (Joshua, Nathanael, Gabriel B and Jerry) and the Year 5 & 6 Boys relay team (Roman, Gabriel S, Daniel F and Jacob). To finish 7th overall without any Year 6s is a brilliant result — well done, everyone!

Finally, at the Infant Catholic Athletics competition, we took 15 pupils to St Thomas Becket, where they demonstrated fantastic teamwork, determination and sportsmanship. The children performed brilliantly throughout, finishing 4th overall — just 12 points shy of a podium place. A special well done to Harper for securing 2nd place in her individual sprints! Thank you to Miss James, Coach Nyron and all the parents and carers for help on the day.