The Peace of Christ

As we looked ahead to the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) we encountered the theme of peace this week. Jesus encourages his wider group of followers - 72 of them - to head out into the local towns and villages to spread the Good News. He instructs them to make their first greeting to their hosts, "Peace to this house!" We quickly learn that Jesus' kingdom is achieved through patient, self-sacrificing, forgiving peace...not war. We are not called to force our opinions, beliefs or values on others.

In the same spirit, we have been challenging the children this week to be people of peace. We explored in Gospel Worship how a single-minded, ambitious, exclusive desire to win (to overcome our opponents or defeat the competition) leads only to division and unhappiness on the playground. To enjoy the opportunities that friendship can bring, we must be ready to make the sacrifices that peace requires.

C - 14th Ordinary

HOUSE MUSIC COMPETITION 2022

(From Mrs. Azavedo-Habgood – ‘Head Judge’/Foundation Governor)

WOW, what an amazing morning! I’m still smiling just thinking about it.

Well done and thank you to everyone who took part in St. Joseph’s House Music Competition. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen, in particular Mrs. Jopson, Miss Cook & Mrs Gonella who masterminded this music extravaganza.

It was a privilege to be invited to sit on the panel of judges with Matt & Jonathana Veira . I was told that we were in for a treat and we certainly were. The atmosphere in the hall was electric and filled with anticipation, with the whole school and family members of the finalists gathered to experience a feast of music and to show support.

Much to the delight of everyone, the staff opened the competition with an enthusiastic and impressive performance of ‘Joseph’s Coat’ from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It was wonderful to hear the new House Songs sung in-between each category of finalists whilst the judges deliberated. It was a real treat to have my fellow judges perform ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ before the results were announced.

Thank you to all the children who entered the competition without whom it wouldn’t be possible. You should all be very proud of yourselves. Thank you parents for supporting and encouraging your children.

Congratulations to all the finalists, especially to the winners of each category! Everyone should be applauded for their efforts and performances on the day in front of a large and lively audience. We judges were very impressed! It was a pleasure to listen to the children (from various Year Groups and of different abilities), sing and play a range of musical instruments with a diversity of genres. Hopefully they have inspired others to sing and play too.

We are blessed at St. Joseph’s School to have community members with many amazing gifts and talents. It is wonderful to be able to share them with others. Music is so uplifting and powerful. Everyone should give it a go. I am really looking forward to next year’s House Music Competition.

Blog - Music Day Thursday 23rd June 2022

Infant Sport Stars

Congratulations to our remarkable infant sports stars. All children in Reception, Years 1 and 2 enjoyed a fun-filled day of sporting challenges. All children took part in a number of competitive races - from short sprints to complex obstacles races - before engaging in a range of action stations. The sun was shining, the atmosphere was uplifting and it was great to see all children kept active and engaged throughout their sessions. Well done to all!

Junior Sports Champs!

What an incredible day of sporting prowess at the Spectrum to celebrate Junior Sports Day. Despite the drizzly start, Years 3 & 4 set the tone with their impressive commitment and determination, later followed by Years 5 & 6 (who brought the sunshine with them!) Children took part in sprint, distance and relay races before engaging in a series of sporting stations: long jump, chest push, football dribble etc. It was a fantastic day, with great parental support and a beautifully inclusive vibe. Congratulations to all involved!

Rugby Royalty

Our thanks to the motivated parent team for making this magical rugby moment come true for our Year 4 & 5 girls. Here's the St Joseph's squad with Leanne Infante (Bristol Bears and England) and Marlie Packer (Saracens and England) at the end of a great afternoon. The team mixed really well with girls from other local schools, played with smiles on their faces and showed really good ball handling skills. Well done to all involved!

Emmanuel's Locks

Emmanuel is making a massive sacrifice to help some amazing people who are fighting or have fought off cancer. He is going to donate a long length of his hair to the Little Princess Trust. We are immensely proud of him!

In his words:

"Everyone that knows me knows how much I love having long hair. But having long hair isn't the most important thing. And I have so much of it, I can share it with children who sadly have lost theirs. I am also doing this to raise money to help families of children who are poorly.

If you can spare some pennies to sponsor me, I would be so grateful. I will continue to grow my hair for a while to get to an epic length and hopefully raise lots of money before cutting and sending it off."

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/emmanuelslocks

Spelling Bee

The competition was high in Year 2 this week for our annual Spelling Bee. All children were challenged with spelling the Year 2 Common Exception Words and, from this, we managed to narrow it down to a finalist from each house from each class.

We put the finalists to the test by asking them to spell some very difficult words out loud to the rest of the year group. A huge well done to all of them for their bravery and courage!

1st place - Noah from 2B (50 house points for Lindisfarne!)

2nd place - Mia from 2F (25 house points for Canterbury!)

3rd place - Charlotte from 2O (15 house points for Iona!)

Well done to all of Year 2 for their hard work, it was a tough competition!

There's a buzz in Year 6!

As part of our Electrical Systems DT project, we explored a variety of steady hand games and then challenged the children to design, build and evaluate their own. As we were designing, we thought carefully about the user, purpose and functionality of our design as well as making sure it was innovative and authentic. This links beautifully to our Electricity Science unit. In our Science, we then hypothesised and tested a range of circuits and used what we had learnt from our DT to inform our predictions.

Good Shepherd

Here are some stunning photos from the Diocesan's annual Good Shepherd celebration. It is a rare opportunity for school communities across Arundel & Brighton to come together and share in liturgy, prayer and picnics! Our deepest thanks to Rydes Hill School for kindly arranging our transport and to St Thomas of Canterbury School for keeping us company during the day.

Children from the Spiritual Council in Years 3 & 6 represented us on the day, contributing our own interpretation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the offertory. We then had the wonderful opportunity to choose another school's heart to bring back to St Joseph's - a precious reminder of our family of Catholic schools across the diocese.

Let there be light!

This week in Year 3 Science, we started our new unit, 'Light and Shadows.'

The children identified light sources and conducted a two-part investigation to prove whether light is needed to see an object.

In part 1, the children made a black tube and sellotaped it. Then they collected a cube and placed it inside the tube before pressing it to the desk, ensuring there was no light. Can you predict what they could see when they looked down the tube?

Then in part 2, the children cut a hole into the tube near the bottom. Once pressed to the desk, the children looked down the tube again. The light hit the object and was reflected towards the eye so we could see it.

We, therefore, proved that light is needed to see an object. The children were amazed!

Looking back...

As part of our PSHE unit, Year 6 have been reflecting fondly on their time at St Joseph’s, sharing our favourite memories and thinking about what makes our school so special.

This week, we created information posters about a day in the life at St Joseph’s. We plan to share these with Year 5 on their transition morning to get them excited about moving up!

Peace in 1U

Our thanks to St Ursula's Class for a beautiful worship this morning, focusing on the power of Christ's peace. The children shared with us the impressive sense of calm Jesus can bring to any situation - storms at sea and arguments on the playground. They helped us to understand that feeling calm and peaceful inside can help us to spread peace on the outside too.

Their awesome rendition of "My Lighthouse" was a real joy and taught us all that God can quell any storms: the ones within and the ones outside too.

Great job 1U!

Perfect Peace

Congratulations to this week's Witness Award winners:

Justin
Zoe
Amelia
Alton
Suyash

All of these fabulous young people have demonstrated a real commitment to peacemaking in our school - ensuring their class communities can enjoy the blessings of a peaceful day. Well done and God bless you all!

GC Open night 2022 poster.pdf

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