At home in Christ

In worship this week, we looked back to last weekend’s celebration of Pentecost - the birthday of the Church. It is the moment that so many of the children have explored in RE lessons, last half term, when we celebrate the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit on the believers who would make it their life’s mission to spread his Good News.

We hear in the Gospel that Jesus tells us: “We shall make our home in you.” This phrase is at the very heart of our mission - we believe that God resides in all human beings; we are very precious in his eyes! However, we must also have the confidence of faith to know that we are precious. When we can trust that God has made his home in us, when we can learn to become comfortable in our own skin, when we can believe that he has called us to be of service to our world right here in this moment, then we can make our home in Christ too.

C - Pentecost

Nursery Royalty

There was a lot of excitement in the nursery on Monday. The nursery children and staff all dressed up in red, white and blue or as Kings and Queens. There were lots of activities, such as decorating crowns and flags, matching the tea cups and finding the corgis. This was followed by both classes joining for a Jubilee picnic and eating like Kings and Queens. The children were all presented with their own Platinum Jubilee medal with the nursery name on it , this will help the children remember where they were when this event happened. A great time was had by all.'

Going places in Year 2

Before half term, Year 2 spent time learning about how vehicles move. We learnt all about wheels, axles and chassis. We then had to make a model emergency vehicle that would be able to carry a small pot of water to put out a mini fire. We were challenged with measuring and sawing dowel to make axles, attaching these to our vehicles with axle holders (straws) and adding wheels. There were some amazing creations!

Growing up!

The children in Reception have been enjoying growing and looking after plants for our outside area. They have taken care of lots of herbs which they can use in the mud kitchen. Today the children also enjoyed using the iPad to take their own pictures of them looking after the plants!

Learning from the master

Year 3 took part in an amazing Art day led by Honey Dearsley who is an accomplished artist and teacher. The focus of the day was Global goals, the children used their knowledge of the seventeen Global goals to create some powerful artwork. Each child made their own small exploding origami book which involved using their folding skills and then decorated it to represent each of the global goals with a picture or symbol which was meaningful to them. Alongside this the children worked in groups focusing on one global goal with each child creating a triangular tile which was then pieced together to create two large year group exploding origami books representing each global goal.

All involved were amazed at what we can create in a day when we work together and feel inspired. The children ended the day having that ‘wow’ moment when their large book was revealed. The Art day was the perfect way to teach the children new skills as well as show them that Art is powerful and for everyone.

CB - witness assembly

Power of the Spirit

Miss Basham led this week's Witness Worship, sharing with us how the power of God's Holy Spirit, at home in us, can make a tremendous difference to the lives of others.

Miss Basham introduced us to Fr Balashowry - a missionary priest in India who works for the Salesians. Fr Balashowry was moved with pity at seeing the needs of street children in Hyderabad and established the Don Bosco centre - where children could learn, play and pray. When no other home was available, he found a way to show these vulnerable children that God loves them and resides within them through his own actions and determination.

What an inspiration! - Thank you Miss Basham.

June's Right of the Month is:

Article 22 You have the right to special protection and help if you are a refugee. A refugee is someone who has had to leave their country because it is not safe for them to live there.

During this month, many celebrate World Refugee day on the 20th June.

This day honours the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.

Did you know the following people were refugees:

Freddie Mercury – Lead singer of the band Queen, fled to England from Zanzibar in 1964.

Rita Ora – Singer, came to the UK as a refugee from Kosovo as a baby.

Judith Kerr – Children’s writer, “The Tiger who Came to Tea” “When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit” was a German-Jewish refugee.

Albert Einstein – One of the world’s most famous scientists was a German-Jewish refugee.

You may like to think about any refugees you know, or how you can support the current refugee crisis.

Lots of refugees are separated from their family and friends, why not take some time to catch up with a friend or family member you do not see as often. Go out for a walk or catch up over hot chocolate - talking is great for your mental health!

The taste of success!

In English, Year 2 are learning about the book 'The Disgusting Sandwich'. As an introduction to this we made sandwiches and enjoyed a picnic on the Infant Field where we got to taste our creations. The verdict was that our sandwiches were in fact delicious, not disgusting like the one in the book!

D-d-d-dinosaur!!

Uhoh... something strange happened in our Reception classrooms again. This time we discovered muddy dinosaur footprints on the floor, a letter and even a CCTV clip of dinosaurs in the classroom! Having kicked off our new topic on dinosaurs, the children were excited to tell us what they already know, which turns out to be quite a lot! Did you know T-Rex dinosaurs were longer than a bus?

We read the story 'Dear Dinosaur' all about a boy writing letters to his dinosaur friend at the museum. This inspired us to curate our own museum in class with facts, take a look.

What do you know about dinosaurs?

Words of Wisdom

As part of our Freedom and Responsibility topic, we have been looking at how God wants us to behave. He gives us the freedom to make the right choices. This week Year 5 have been studying the words of Isaiah 58: 3-8 and asking, "How do you think God wants us to live?" If you followed this advice how would it make you a better person? The children analyzed the meaning of the scripture for the world today and then used Isaiah's words to help them create some fabulous pieces of artwork to show the meaning of the scripture too.

For Her Majesty

The whole school enjoyed a typical British picnic (soggy) on Monday, along with our festive dress up, to celebrate Her Majesty - Queen Elizabeth II's 70 year reign. It was a momentous celebration and we look forward to receiving a book for every school child about the platinum jubilee from the Department for Education.

Flying high in Year 4

This week in Year 4 Science, we have been looking at the scientific skill of questioning. We used the dispersal mechanism of the sycamore seed to elicit questions about how we could improve on nature by getting our helicopters further and faster. We had great fun answering our questions through experimentation.

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A sneak preview from the Year 6 residential...

The Power of the Spirit

Well done to St Francis Class for an exceptional class assembly this week - their first assembly during their time at St Joseph's. 2F wowed us with song, dance and story to help explain the story of Pentecost and the reality of the spirit at work in our lives.

They explored how bright ideas are an example of the spirit influencing our actions and helping to make the world a better place. What an inspiration!

Witnesses to the Spirit

Congratulations to these fine young people, all of whom have demonstrated a confident sense of God's Holy Spirit at work in their lives and our school.

Henry
Harvey, Adela & Ashely
Mariana
Edward, Sienna & Lilian

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