It was great welcoming you and the children back this week! It was heartwarming to see how quickly the children settled down to work as if they had been no break at all. A testament to all the team's heard work on establishing clear routines and expectations.

On Monday, Mrs Tope held a parent workshop on Early Reading. Even though there was a low turnout, those who came found it informative. If you need any support with your child's reading, please ask your child's teacher or email the school office.

This week Bikeability Training continued at the school. Twenty-four children in Y5 and Y6 have been learning how to ride their bikes safely on the roads. This is such an important life skill and it was great to have such an uptake.

On Wednesday, we took two teams of Y6 mathematicians to the Umbrella Trust's Annual Maths Quiz Contest. The children represented the Federation brilliantly and one team finished in 3rd place, the other 10th. There were such fine margins between the teams and the children calculated that only one question separated them from the winners! Congratulations to Sophia I, Jojo N., Peter, Paul, Cara, JoJo D, Josiah and Gabriel for showcasing how brilliant you are at Maths and Mrs Winters and Mrs Burgess for taking the children and cheering them on.

Next week, the children in Y1 will complete their phonics screening assessment and the children in Y4 the multiplication checks. The children have made great progress in their learning and we appreciate your continued support.

As you know attendance has been a huge focus this year. We are organising and the end of term a treat for the class in each year group with the highest attendance. We will send information out nearer the time.

You will have received a letter about Cypad. It is a system that allows you to pre-select your child's meals with them in advance. We looked into this because parents fed back that this would be useful and help them and their children to discuss the meals that they are having in school. You can access this via ParentPay (you don't have to pay anything) and it is set up ready to use. Thanks for your feedback, we hope you find this useful.

I hope you and your families have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Ashley and The St. Joseph's Team

Safeguarding

Stranger Danger

It is important for children to be aware as to how they can keep themselves safe at all times.

Rather than giving warnings about certain types of people, teach them how to identify and respond to threatening situations. Children need to understand the difference between strangers who could hurt them and strangers who may help them.

Let them know who they can trust if they need help – such as a uniformed police officer or a teacher. Explain they must tell a trusted adult if they have been approached by a stranger or if they feel uncomfortable about a situation.

Help your child learn to be aware of their surroundings; encourage them to trust their instincts if they have a bad feeling about a place or person; and encourage them to be assertive.

Top Tips

Try using language like this when talking to your child about staying safe:

Staying safe – “Pay attention to what people do. Tell me right away if anyone asks you to keep a secret, makes you feel uncomfortable, or tries to get you to go with them.”

Going somewhere with someone – “It’s important for you to ask me and get my permission before going anywhere with anyone.”

If you have a problem – “Don’t approach just anyone – if you need help, look for a uniformed police officer, a store clerk with a nametag, or a parent with children.”

Early Years

As part of our growing topic the nursery children have been learning what plants need to grow. They have been planting seeds and taking care of them. Carrots, Radishes, Courgettes, Potatoes and broccoli to name a few. We then placed the seeds in the greenhouse and watched them grow into seedlings. When the weather became warmer the children planted them in the garden and have been helping to water them and watching them grow. We are hoping to make some lovely soup when they have fully grown.

Key Stage 1

This week in Year 1 we welcomed the children back after a lovely break. We learned about Judaism and each of us used lolly sticks to create the Star of David. In Art we got started with our new topic and created some sculptures using paper - it was so much fun and aren't they impressive? In English, we continued our work on recounts and made bird feeders. Thank you for all your hard work practicing counting in 2s, 10s and 5s at home - we're improving every day!

Key Stage 2

In year 3 and 4 we are excited to have returned for the last half term in the year and have already made a great start to our learning in this first week back.

In maths, year 4 have been learning all about decimals and using manipulatives to help them understand the different place values involved in numbers that are made up of both a whole and functional part. In year 3, they have been preparing for this by starting their topic of money, where we have looked at the different coins and notes used in the UK as well as how to convert pounds and pence before starting to solve problems involving money.

For reading both year groups, they have started their new book of ‘A bear called Paddington’ by Michael Bond for year 3 as well as ‘Who Let the Gods out’ by Maz Evans for year 4. We hope the children continue to enjoy our reading lessons and build on tier comprehension skills. Year 3 have continued to use dictionaries in order to help their understanding of vocabulary, this week their target word was ‘emigrate’ and in year 4 they had to create an illustration of what they thought Olympus looked like from their story.

In English, year 3 are completing their stories based on a myth, which involves going on a death defying adventure where their main character defeats a monster. Whereas in year 4, they have started their new topic based on the picture book- ‘float,’ in order to reinforce their learning about the water cycle as well as their Geography topic of Rivers for this half term.

Year 3 and 4 are both looking at the topic entitled ‘making connections’ for science in which they have to plan and conduct different scientific enquiries based on the learning they have had throughout the year. Needless to say, they are very much looking forward to carrying out their experiments, we are sure they are going to be amazing.

For RE this week, the children were focusing on ‘Other faiths,’ in particular that of Judaism as it is the origin of Christianity. For both year groups, they focused on the holy book, otherwise known as the Torah and how important it is to Jewish people, creating fact files showing their learning and understanding.

In Year 5 this term, we are learning about how our bodies change as we get older. This week the children have started to make an agamograph to compare how their face looks now to how they think it might look when they reach old age. We have also started to learn about World Religions, our first topic being Judaism in line with the rest of the school. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at a variety of different religions and making connections with Christianity. In our maths lessons, the children are continuing to refine their skills in measuring and drawing angles correctly and will be moving on to solve problems regarding missing angles. Our writing focus is currently developing effective sentences in order to produce a fantasy story, the children are enjoying learning about different literary devices and including them in their writing. We are proud of the high standard of work that they are producing.

Curriculum Focus

History

Last half term the pupils explored a range of eras and civilisations - Maya, Ancient Greeks, Tudors, as well as looked different Monarchs. They produced beautiful work while engaging in exciting lessons. While the children will have a Geography focus this half term, they will still refer to their History learning to fully encompass their Foundation education.

Mrs Winters

Humanities Lead

Music

Music continues to be a staple across the school. We pride ourselves on development the whole child and creative subjects are as high profile as well as subjects considered more academic. With professional musicians teaching music across all key stages, the children are learning about the history of music, as well as physical instruments. On Mondays, there is a ukulele club available for KS2 students at lunch time. As well as this, some of our students have also had the opportunity to learn the steel pans (Year 3 this term). Every Wednesday, our steel pan specialist comes in and also provides a club after school. At the beginning of Spring Term, Boy’s Choir began and has continued with much enthusiasm from its members. Open to all KS2 boys, it provides a place where boys can sing and gain confidence in the musical skills.

Miss Arthur

Music Lead

Exciting News

On Thursday, Mrs Winters and Mrs Burgess travelled to St Thomas Becket with 8 pupils to take part in the Maths Quiz. We competed against seven schools across Croydon and came a very close 3rd and 10th! We are so proud of the pupils and their conduct and are ready to get practising for next year.

Happy Birthday!

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

Reception: Simisola Y2: Khali Y3 : Elijah Y4: Leorah

Y6: Asher & Tae-Vienne

Staff: Mrs Steen-Plomer &

Mrs Mullins who turned 60 on Thursday!

Information

Come and join us for our annual Colour Run!

Supporting you to support your child's emotional wellbeing.

See dates of workshops above.

Key Dates

Friday 24th May - Marian Procession on the field. Parents/Carers welcome (Crowning Mary with flowers)

End of Term- 24th May

Monday 3rd June - Early Reading Parent Workshop YR, Y1 & Y2 (9.15 - 9.45am)

Wednesday 5th June - PGL/RSE meetings for Y6 parents (9.15am and 5.30pm)

Monday 10th June- Friday 14th June- Phonics Screening Check & Y4 Multiplication Test

Friday 14th June - Umbrella Trust Cross Country Competition

Monday 17th- Friday 21st June- KS1 SATs Week

Monday 17th- Friday 21st June - Science Week and Assessment Week

Wednesday, 19th June -Reception visit to Virgo (afternoon)

Friday 21st June Year 4 Assembly (Junior Hall) 9.15am Parents welcome

Friday, 28th June - 2J Class Assembly.

Friday 28th June - St Peter and St Paul Mass, Junior School (2pm)

Wednesday 3rd July Sports Day AM Infant School, PM Junior School

Friday 5th July- 2O Class Assembly.

Saturday 6th July- Colour Run

Monday 8th - Wednesday 10th July - PGL for Y6

Friday 12th July- Reception Trip to Norwood Park

Friday 12th July - Y6 Thames River Cruise

Tuesday 16th July- Reception Class Assembly 9.15am

Wednesday 17th July - End of Year Thanksgiving Mass at Virgo Fidelis (2pm) Family and Friends of the school welcome

Thursday 18th July - Y6 performance for parents (9.30am 6pm)

Friday 19th July- Y6 Leavers Celebration (After school)

Friday 19th July - Year 2 Celebration Assembly

Friday 19th July- Transition Morning (N-Y5)

Friday 19th July- End of year class parties pm

Monday 22nd July - Y6 Mass in the Junior Hall, 5.30pm

Tuesday 23rd July End of Term 2pm

We hope you and your family have a wonderful weekend

The St. Joseph's Team