22nd July 2010

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the last newsletter of this academic year. It has been a year of challenge and success. All the children have worked hard and are becoming even more successful in their learning.

PTFA Summer Festival
A big thank you to everybody involved in organising a second fantastic Summer Festival and thank you to all of you who came. Our dedicated PTFA did an amazing job and I hope they are all very proud of what they achieved.

Foundation Stage Outcomes
In particular this year, the children have made good progress in their Emotional Development and their Knowledge and Understanding of the World. They will be great Year 1 class!

End of Key Stage Results – Key Stage 1 (level 2 is national expectation)
This year’s Year 2 children have made amazing progress and have attained more in most areas, than in previous years:
Reading level 2+ =83% Level 3 = 33%
Writing level 2+ = 80% Level 3 = 7%
Maths level 2+ = 93% Level 3 = 20%

End of Key Stage Results – Key Stage 2 (Level 4 is national expectation)
English level 4+ = 78% Level 5 = 30%
Maths level 4+ = 83% Level 5 = 43%
This year we are very pleased that our children are making better progress than in previous years. 90% of children made 2 levels (or more) progress in English and 93% of children made 2 levels (or more) progress in Maths.

We are also very pleased that many more children are achieving the higher levels with an amazing 43% achieving level 5! Well done Year 6.

New Office Layout
We are improving the office environment to help us provide an even better service to the school community, especially parents. So, our admin staff will be located in 2 offices giving them more space to deal with their everyday tasks and, more importantly, more space to deal with your enquiries warmly and efficiently. The changes have meant that the headteacher’s office space will also be relocated. These changes have enabled us to focus on and increase security at the front of the building to ensure that the environment is as safe as possible for our children. If your enquiry is about money or premises then you need to see Eva our Bursar. If your enquiry is about anything more general you need to see Liz our School Secretary.

There will also be a new library area, our staffroom will be given a facelift and our medical room will be relocated and improved.

Please join us for a cup of tea and some cake on Thursday 9th or Friday 10th September at 3.15 when my admin team and myself will show you around. I also hope to put some pictures on the Blog, updating you all on progress!

Our year - A Reflection by Year 6 -
· “I’ve made an effort to be more sociable and to trust people and consequently I have made a lot more friends”.
· “Knowing my levels and how to achieve them has made me more confident in my abilities”.
· “Our ‘Around the World’ and ‘Going for Goals topics have made me much more confident about where countries are in the world”.
· “Knowing my next steps has helped me to achieve level 5 Literacy”.
· “I’m proud that although I had to leave St Joseph’s for a few months, when I returned I carried on as if I hadn’t been away, and was also treated the same”.
· “At camp I overcame my fear of heights when I did the zip wire.”
· “I enjoyed our Art based Topic ‘Pop Art’ when I tried my hardest to improve my techniques”
· “I feel more confident when writing in different genres”.
· “I’ve learnt I can do anything if I put my mind to it”.
· “I’m pleased with my achievement in Maths as I have learnt different ways of approaching problems and calculations”.

We are very proud of Year 6. Good luck for the future in your new schools.

WATER WALK 2010 – So far you have raised an AMAZING £889.71

Purple Mash – Home Learning
We are delighted to launch a new web based programme Purple Mash.(www.purplemashcom). It has hundreds of activities to help children develop their knowledge and creativity. To use it simply follow the link on the school website and use the log on details below for full access. Username:pupil@c46524, Password: Fig 3

Thank You
I would like to thank all children, parents, staff and governors for all your hard work and support. We look forward to making 2010-2011 an even better year of learning.

Leaver’s Mass is tomorrow at 9.30am in the Church. The first day of term (September 1st) is a Staff Training Day. School will reopen on Thursday 2nd September.

Have a safe and happy holiday
Matt Condon, Headteacher.