Listening to Christ

In worship this week, we looked ahead to the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A), where we heard the famous parable of the sower. Jesus explains that, no matter how good the seed, the farmer's crop depends on the soil it grows in. Where seeds try to take root in poor soil or amongst weeds, there is little hope of a harvest. Jesus urges the people, "Listen, anyone who has ears."

Receiving advice and feedback can be a challenge for anyone, especially if our heart isn't in it! One of the challenges we have as parents is helping the children to be motivated and responsive to our feedback - making our efforts to support their progress insistent whilst remaining warm and supportive, so their hearts are open to our words. I hope your end of year reports have provided a good framework to share some words of wisdom with your child.

A - 15th Ordinary

Beginning to end

As the end of the academic year approaches, the children of Year 4 have been in a reflective mood. It is a time of mixed emotions, looking back upon their learning journey so far and also excitement about what is yet to come. We have used a spiritual reflection on the liturgical year called Godly Play to help the children think about beginnings and endings. For every beginning there is an end, which can bring feelings of sorrow, but that also means for every ending there is a beginning which brings excitement, curiosity and anticipation. The children responded in their spiritual journals and the depth of thinking and the range of links to time, seasons and scripture that they made are astonishing. We are so proud of the progress the children have made this year across the whole curriculum and wish them well as they continue their journey in St Joseph's in Year 5.

Old Friends

This week Reception and Nursery met up on the field for a morning of fun and games. In typical English weather style, it rained as soon as we reached the field! However, the children enjoyed this opportunity to shelter under trees and the gazebo while they had their chocolate muffin treat. When it cleared up, all the children loved playing with new and old friends. It was fantastic seeing the Reception children (usually the youngest at school events) get to demonstrate how much they have matured over the year, showing the Nursery children where to go and what they could play with.

We are Called by Name

As the end of the school year fast approaches, Year 6 took some time to reflect on their role in the world by looking back at their time in primary school and forward to their time at secondary school at the Wintershall Retreat Centre. We began the retreat with a walk down to the St Francis Chapel where we discussed the theme of 'looking back and moving forward' through an encounter with Jesus drama where we heard the story of the blind man. The children then went into groups to explore the stunning grounds and take part in a range of creative stations to encourage and facilitate a deep level of reflection.

The children were encouraged to consider how they have grown over their time at primary school, many children commenting that they used to be shy but now feel more confident or that they were less scared to try new or challenging things. We then used stones to represent our burdens or actions we were sorry for- throwing them in the lake to get rid of them. One of the most enriching tasks was to consider those at St Joseph's that have inspired us and to make sure we say THANK YOU. We also had a fantastic time trying a range of complicated poses balancing on one leg, the majority of us ending up in a heap on the floor. We soon realised that this task was much easier with the support of our friends and that a challenge is just an opportunity in disguise! We discussed themes of listening and peace as well as all our hopes and dreams which we wrote on paper and then released as paper aeroplanes.

We ended the afternoon by sharing the book 'God's Name' which teaches us that God is like a mirror and everyone who looks in it sees a different face. We then completed a range of creative activities that focused on this idea. The final reflection linked back to the theme and importance of names. Each child had their name called and we lit a candle for every person asking that as we go out from here, away to the next part of our journey, God will be with us, in whichever way we need.

Our thanks to Wintershall for the wonderful reflective atmosphere they created and the creative ways in which they supported the children. Thank you also to the parents who helped us on this trip - we couldn't do this without you.

Great Fire of London.mov

Lighting up learning

This week Year 2 have had a sensational ending to the Great Fire of London unit! We marked 2nd September 1666 with a day of fun, festivities and fire! The children took part in bread making, art, music and dance! The knowledge the children have picked up is incredible - they understand the reasons why the fire started, how long it went on for, and what happened afterwards to prevent it from happening again. We have put together a selection of photos and videos from the day, accompanied by the children singing.

Ready for Big School

The past few weeks, Nursery have been busy preparing for transitions to school. We have reintroduced 'The Colour Monster', and read a story called 'The Colour Monsters goes to School'. This story reminds the children of different feelings and how they are linked to a colour while telling a story about how nervous the colour monster was when going to school for the first time, yet he had the best day and ended up feeling happy, calm and loved (yellow, green and pink).

Our role play areas have been turned into mini schools, with paper, pens, books and various uniforms. The children have enjoyed dressing up in summer dresses and PE t-shirts whilst learning independent dressing skills.

To support the transitions to school, the children attending St. Joseph's all spent some time in their new classrooms with their teachers for a story morning. They all came back full of excitement and smiles. Some children have also had a tour of our school, where they saw the lunch hall, the office, Mr Collins’ office, the prayer garden and where they might do PE.

Year 3 in Print

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Year 3 explored print! All the children were very excited to learn how to create a monoprint, a relief print and an impressed print. There were different paper types, coloured ink and bayers (rubber rollers), which were used with styrofoam, card and laminate plates. Each process required slightly different steps before a final print was created. After trying each process for themselves, the children designed their own nature-inspired print. They were allowed to decide on their printing method, ink and paper colours. Although there was a range of final results due to the nature of print, they all had a brilliant time!

Taste of Success!

This week, Year 1 have had fun in DT making fruit salad! First we tried fruits to decide which we wanted to include, then we practised different preparation techniques - peeling, chopping, grating and juicing. After designing our fruit salad and how we wanted to prepare the fruits and present it, we had time to make, and of course test, our creations. The result? Delicious!

Reflecting on our finished results, some children were very pleased, some would change the fruit next time, some would add more of a variety and some children felt they needed to practise their grating skills a little more!

Allotment Gold!

Amazing news from the Guildford in Bloom team, who visited the school earlier this week. Our beautiful school allotment (located on the Aldershot Road site), that is tended by the committed gardeners of Allotment Club has been awarded GOLD for 2023. The judges commented on the range and quality of the produce grown and the children's knowledge of the plot. What a result!

St Patrick's Face the Challenge

Our thanks to RP for an awesome class worship this week. Taking last weekend's theme of facing obstacles, St Patrick's Class showed us how (with faith and perseverance) we can overcome any challenge. The children sang, danced, signed and acted to share with us the important message that God wants us to give everything a go in our wonderful lives. God bless you RP!

Time for Crumble

This week, Year 5 have been doing their final computing unit of the year and it is an exciting one! We have introduced them to physical programming and the use of Crumbles as a programmed electrical circuit. During this unit, we have made lighthouses complete with a programmed multicoloured flashing light at the top to warn boats of potential dangers!

Award Winners

Congratulations to our Year 6 award winners for their dedicated example to the community. The award themes range from story-writing to sports and from artistic expression to citizenship. We are very proud of all our Year 6 leavers and a special mention to these young people who were the lucky award winners.

Feeling Good!

At St Joseph's, our school motto is "The Way, The Truth, The Life", and Year 3 have truly been living all aspects of our motto in one fantastic day this week!

During the morning, the children rotated around three separate activities - a wellbeing room, with colouring and craft activities, a board games room, and outdoor activities, during which time the children could use a mixture of P.E. and playground equipment to devise their own games.

This was followed by a picnic lunch on the field, before we headed off on the coach to our P.E. activity, Ninja Warrior. The children enjoyed a busy afternoon on their giant inflatable and tried the Ninja Warrior course for themselves, with many of them managing to defeat "The Wall" - an impressive achievement!

It was such a lovely way to end the school year, to see all the children living out the school motto, following The Way of Christ with their wonderful kindness and offers of friendship and support throughout the day, enlightening their minds and seeking The Truth by challenging themselves to create and imagine new games and ways to play together, and embracing Life with their perseverance and determination, particularly during our afternoon trip.

We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a fantastic year. Well done, Year 3!

Islamic Expert

In RE today, Reception had a special visitor; Mrs Bhatti. She came in to talk to us about her beliefs and religion as a Muslim.

The children were very curious to explore the different ways to pray and worship. In Islam ‘Allah’ is the name of God. The children were able to listen respectfully and ask powerful, wondering questions.

Weaving Wonders

Year 2 embarked on an art project focusing on the skill 'Texture' this week. They created a woven wall hanging from yarn where they overlaid and overlapped stitching and smaller materials to create an animal face of their choice. The outcomes were remarkable!

Celebrating St Martha

St Martha's feast day is 29th July so 3M spent the morning celebrating their class saint. As the patron saint of cooks, hospitality staff and those whose role it is to serve others, we were delighted to be joined by Mrs Stockbridge from the catering team and caretaker Mr Sparrow who explained their own roles and responsibilities to the children. Both explained how their jobs help to serve us all in our St Joseph's community. The children had many questions and we are so grateful to them for taking the time to visit us. The children then decorated biscuits as part of their celebrations, responded to readings and prayers to St Martha in their Spiritual Journals and painted some amazing watercolours.

Shakespeare Rocks!

Congratulations to Year 6 for a stunning Leavers' Production of Shakespeare Rocks. Singing and dancing through the life of the Bard, we laughed and cried in celebration of this remarkably talented cohort. God bless you all!

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