The Season of Lent
It has been a beautiful week for worship in school as we've celebrated Ash Wednesday with the distribution of ashes and looked ahead to the 1st Sunday of Lent.
The children responded with exceptional maturity and respect during our Ash Wednesday liturgy as we explored the ancient symbol of ash/dust/soil from the Old Testament and explained how this both shows our dependence on God and the need to repent for our sins.
We also engaged this week with the theme of temptation, as we looked ahead to the First Sunday of Lent (Year C). We learn that Jesus spends time in the wilderness praying, fasting and avoiding temptation in order to give more to his ministry. During Lent, we are called to do the same!
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!
Or Happy St David's Day!
St David's class have been learning about their saint today and some of the things he did in his lifetime.
The class spent the morning doing lots of different activities related to Wales and St David and loved making their own Welshcakes (yum!)
Shrove Tuesday, with a difference...
Ladybird Class have been very lucky today. Not only have we celebrated Shrove Tuesday and St. David's Day but we have been talking about a Bulgarian festival – Martenitsa. A special thank you to Boris’s family for letting us know about the festival and providing the children and staff with Martenitisa – a red and white woven thread to symbolize the wish for good health.
On 1st March, people in Bulgaria give each other these woven threads as a gift to wish them good health in the upcoming spring and year. The day is called Baba Mart Day (meaning Grandma March). The tradition involes saying, "Goodbye" to the winter and welcoming in the new circle of life and spring. The threads should be worn until either the last day of spring or when you see signs of swallows or blossoming trees. Then the threads are either hidden under a stone or hung from fruit trees.
Spotting the Signs!
Today in Sign Club, we learned how to sign the story Where's Spot? We have now finished learning our alphabet and can sign our names! Do you remember the BSL signs for your name? We have now moved on to emotions. It is fantastic that Years 3 and 4 can now sign full sentences! We would love you to send any videos of you signing along to khilborn@stjosephs.guildford.com
Where’s Spot.movSay, "Ahhhh"
Linked to our PSHE topic of keeping healthy, Year 2 were very lucky to have a visit from a dentist this morning who taught us all about keeping our teeth healthy, the importance of brushing our teeth thoroughly twice a day and visiting the dentist for regular check ups. We then got to try cleaning teeth to see if we had the correct technique.
Tackling Temptation
In Witness Worship this week, Mrs Osborne treated us to an amazing window into the world of the British rapper, Stormzy. It was so inspiring to hear about how temptation had affected his life and the role that God (and books!) played in helping him to resist temptations.
We saw how easy it is (with the help of some chocolate buttons) to give into temptation ourselves. It helped to prove that even the smallest actions in our lives can be vulnerable to that persuasive voices in our heads that encourages us to made poor choices.
We have all been working hard this week to make Lenten promising that we help us to pray, fast and give more, with the aim of beating temptation.
March Wellbeing Newsletter.pdfPutting our children's wellbeing first
As part of their regular updates and hot topics, our wonderful pastoral team (Mrs Catchpole and Mrs Sewell) have put together a newsletter for March, focus on the skill of resilience.
You can find out even more on our Pastoral Support page at any time:
March’s ‘Right of the Month’ and ‘Wellness Warrior Challenge’ is:
Article 6: You have a right to life, survival and development.
During this month, we celebrate Earth Hour on the 26th March. This is a WWF event to raise awareness for climate change issues across the globe. We will mark this occasion by switching off our lights, whiteboards and plugs to save electricity on Friday 25th March.
Perhaps this month, measure your family’s carbon footprint and make some simple changes to your lifestyles.
Or read WWF’S top 10 tips for eating more sustainably...
Remember, small changes can make a big difference to reducing climate change.
World Book Day 2022
In the face of temptation...
5N's wonderful assembly demonstrated how temptation can come in many forms. They told the story of St Augustine and his monks suffering lots of temptations when travelling from Rome to England to convert people to Christianity. It was helpful to realise that even great people struggle with temptations but with perseverance, we can achieve what we set out to.
A brilliant message and a confident performance St Non's Class - well done!
From the PFSA
WE NEED YOU POSTER V2.pdfLocal Opportunities
TNT Parties - Leaflet.pdf