B - 28th Ordinary

Riches in Heaven

In Gospel Worship this week we are running with the theme of treasures. In this weekend's Gospel (28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B), Jesus encounters a rich young man. He is eager to know how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus reassures him; following the commandments and making compassionate choices are very good and important. However, to truly enjoy treasure in heaven we must first be prepared to trust in God and do away with what we don't need on earth.

It's not that being rich or enjoying luxuries is a problem in itself - it isn't. However, our dependence on these earthly treasures makes it far more difficult for us to value the true gifts of God's Holy Spirit. Being prepared to go without makes us all the more ready for the joys of heaven to come.

World Animal Day

Thanks to the committed efforts of Amelia and Adela, St Joseph's celebrated World Animal Day on Monday 4th October. Coincidentally, this is also the feast day of St Francis of Assis - a man famed for his enlightenment to doing away with his earthly treasures. We dressed up in animal themed costumes and heard from Ross, our friend from the WWF, why it is important to mark this special occasion and continue taking care of our planet - which is God's precious gift to us. We raised a grand total of £673 for the WWF!

WWF.mov

To the rescue...

On Tuesday, Year 2 enjoyed a visit from a member of Surrey Fire and Rescue Service who led a workshop with each class around fire safety. The children thoroughly enjoyed this interactive experience, had many questions and were inspired by the work that firefighters carry out!

World Poetry Day

To mark World Poetry Day this year, the staff of St Joseph's wanted you all to know why they love this community so much...

Staff Poem.pdf

Year 1 Beware!

St David's class have been singing about a terrible beast with terrible claws... Beware of the terrible Gruffalo!

Gruffalo Song

At St Joseph’s, we were recently accredited the gold award for being a Rights Respecting School. Each month we will have a focus that you may like to discuss at home with your children. There will also be some ideas for activities which you might like to do and even show at school.

This month’s focus is all around Mental Health Day which is celebrated on Sunday 10th October 2021.

The 'Right of the Month' is:

Article 24 - You have the right to the best possible health

Mental health is just as important as physical health but sometimes harder to understand as we cannot necessarily see when someone is hurting.

Please see some ideas below:

Why not create a picture or model of a brain and record the things that make you feel happy and safe?
Take notice of your surroundings to help boost your mood.
The changing season and light can affect everyone’s mood. Why don’t you take a walk after school or at the weekend with your family? Can you notice all the wonderful changes autumn brings?
You could write a list of all the things you're thankful for.

Stone Age Year 3

On Wednesday 6th October, the children of Year 3 went to Buster Farm. After an exciting coach ride, the children entered the Stone Age. First they gathered in "Horton House", around a real campfire and discovered how the house had been made whilst showing their knowledge of the Stone Age by answering our guides' questions. They discovered it was very smoky inside the house and were fascinated by the animal skin rugs they got to sit on.

For the rest of the day the classes got to experience four activities they would have done in the Stone Age. They explored how to 'bash' chalk to make a powder before they added straw and water to make a wattle and daub wall. As the children moulded their lump to go onto the wall, cries of "It's disgusting!" could be heard as it was a very wet mixture. Another child exclaimed that bashing the clay was "hard work".

Then the children became archaeologists digging up pieces of flint and items of bone that came from cows, sheep or pigs. Using a trowel, they worked carefully to remove the soil to discover different items before washing them and cleaning them off with a toothbrush. They were fascinated by their discoveries and eagerly showed them to their friends.

Two more creative tasks followed: making clay pots was very popular with all the children even though the clay was very wet and sticky! Children (and adults) were fascinated to use leaves to turn chalk green before decorating it with a sharp piece of flint. Many of the children said, "It was an amazing day!"

The Treasures of Harvest

Rounding off our week's theme on treasures, we celebrated our Harvest Liturgy today. Giving thanks to God for the many precious treasures we enjoy everyday, it was humbling to see the donations of goods that families had offered - thank you!

We took time this morning to reflect on the experience of the Rich Young Man and to celebrate our capacity to be generous with our treasures.

Year 6 then delivered the harvest goods to our neighbours in need while the remaining donations were offered to North Guildford Food Bank.

Our Generous Witnesses

Congratulations to our Witness Award winners this week, for showing that they had the capacity to be generous with their treasures and offer them up to those in need:

Elana
Lilly
Olivia
All of Year 5!

Sign Language Lessons

No installment from our club this week (due to parents' evening) but the staff are eager to spread the word, or rather the signs, and encourage the community to consider the importance of sign language.

Report abuse