Friday 25th March, 2011

Dear Parent/Carers,

Polish Easter Egg Competition

For this competition children have been asked to decorate their own egg in a traditional Polish way. Photographs of these eggs are on the school blog. Children can decorate their eggs either with multi-coloured pens of paints or through the traditional way of boiling the egg with red onion, which colour the shell a browny red, and scratching a design on the egg. The competition costs 50p to enter and the closing date is Tuesday 29th March. All proceeds go to the PTFA fund and the winners and prizes will be announced in the Polish Easter Day assembly on the 30th March. Polish Easter Day will include a special assembly in the morning and Polish refreshments at the end of the school day.

Attendance

A good week last week! Mrs Ford’s class had 96%, Miss Wright’s class had 97%, Mr Conlon’s and Mrs Bell’s classes had 98% attendance and Mrs Patton’s class with an amazing 99%!

Fr Pat De Wolf – Golden Jubilee Mass Fr Pat De Wolf, who was the Parish Priest at St Joseph’s for many years, has just celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Priest and will be celebrating with us at St Joseph’s Church on Sunday 27th March at the 10.00am Mass. Everybody is welcome and there will be a celebration afterwards.

School Meals

Choose school dinners for a week commencing Monday 28th March, to Friday 1st April, by completing the form sent home in the week and your child could be in a position to win an iPod touch.

Parents Evening - Appointments

For parents evenings over the last couple of weeks, many parents were unable to make appointed times and have requested to meet teacher at other times after school. We feel very strongly that working in partnership with parents is really important and always do our best to be flexible and meet parents when convenient. However, I have noticed that an increasing number of parents are requesting different appointment times which teachers are finding difficult to manage. In future parent’s evenings I would expect all parents to do their upmost to arrange and keep appointments on the set parent’s evenings. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

Class Assembly

Miss Wright’s class assembly is on Friday 1st April at 9.15am. All parents welcome.

Lepra

The final amount raised for the leprosy charity Lepra is an outstanding £905.69. Well done to everyone who supported this cause.

Crimestoppers

If you have information about any crime you are concerned about, please phone the police on 0845 456 7000 or you can call anonymously to the independent charity CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111. For general information about Neighbourhood Watch nationally see the www.ourwatch.org.uk website.

Celebration Assembly

There will be a celebration assembly next Monday 28tht March, where the following children will receive their Headteacher’s award: Rachel Butcher, Irene Raju, Mathews Manuel, Poppy Kelliher-Swash. As always, parents are welcome to attend this assembly.

Dates for Diaries

Tuesday 29th March - Closing date for Easter egg competition
Wednesday 30th March - Polish Easter Day (assembly and refreshments)
Friday 1st April - Y1 Class Assembly
Friday 8th April - Easter Mass in Church
Friday 8th April - End of Term 4
Tuesday 26th April - Start of Term 5
Monday 6th June - INSET Day – school closed
Friday 1st July - INSET Day - school closed
Friday 15th July - INSET Day - school closed

Best wishes



Matt Condon
Headteacher

Friday 18th March

Dear Parent/Carers,

St Joseph’s Day

St Joseph’s Day is tomorrow (19th March). There is a change to St Joseph’s Mass next week. We will now be celebrating this very special day on Wednesday, 23rd March with a Mass in the school hall. This Mass will begin at 11.00am . All family and friends are welcome.

Polish Easter Egg Competition

We are announcing this competition in Monday’s assembly. Children will learn about the Polish custom of decorating Easter Eggs. Children will then be able to decorate their own egg, in this Polish tradition, and enter them a PTFA Easter competition. We will post pictures of Polish Easter eggs on the blog and the closing date for the competition is Tuesday 29th March with the winners announced in the Polish Easter Day assembly on the 30th March. Polish Easter Day will include a special assembly in the morning and Polish refreshments at the end of the school day.
Video to Celebrate Year of Education
As part of the events organised for The Year for Catholic Education, on Wednesday evening there was an exhibition of RE work in Clifton Cathedral feature work and a video from St Joseph’s. The video featured pupils from our school talking about how ‘together in God’s family we love, grow and learn’. The Diocese are planning to show the video on their website soon. We will show the video (which is only 6 minutes long) just after school, in the hall next Friday.

Sickness

If your child is unwell and unable to attend school, could you please telephone the office, who will then let the class teacher know. It we are not informed, an absence cannot be authorised by the school.

Also if your child is an after school club, but is unable to attend, please let the office know. This is so we know you child is safe.

Fr Pat De Wolf – Golden Jubilee Mass

Fr Pat De Wolf, who was the Parish Priest at St Joseph’s for many years, has just celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Priest and will be celebrating with us at St Joseph’s Church on Sunday 27th March at the 10.00am Mass. Everybody is welcome and there will be a celebration afterwards.

Crimestoppers

If you have information about any crime you are concerned about, please phone the police on 0845 456 7000 or you can call anonymously to the independent charity CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111. For general information about Neighbourhood Watch nationally see the www.ourwatch.org.uk website.

Attendance

Well done to Miss Wright’s class with 100% attendance last week!!! They will be able to wear non-uniform Thursday 24th March. Also well done to Mr Conlon ’s class who came a very close second with 99%. Overall attendance and punctuality is improving with your support.

Team Points Winners - Non-Uniform

St Luke were the winners for team points last term and will be able to wear non-uniform on Friday 25th March.

Internet Consent Forms

Internet letters were sent to all families on Wednesday, 2nd March. We have had only half a dozen returned this week. Unfortunately if we do not receive your child’s completed internet consent form, they will be unable to use the internet in school. The internet can be a valuable learning tool.

Celebration Assembly

There will be a celebration assembly next Monday 21st March, where the following children will receive their Headteacher’s award:
Angus Wallace, Tasha Wines, Satn Smith, Talia Scott, Mariah, Agnel Aliyath and Mikenagh Quirke
As always parents are welcome to attend this assembly.

Dates for Diaries

Saturday 19th March - St Joseph’s Day
Wednesday 23rd March - St Joseph’s Day Mass
Thursday 24th March - Miss Wright class non uniform.
Friday 25th March - St Luke’s non uniform day
Tuesday 29th March - Closing date for Easter egg competition
Wednesday 30th March - Polish Easter Day (assembly and refreshments)
Best wishes
Matt Condon
Headteacher

Friday 11th March, 2011

Dear Parent/Carers,

Parents Evening - Appointments

If you are unable to keep an appointment to see your child’s teacher, could you please inform the school so the message can be passed on. This week several meetings were missed without teachers being informed.

Lent and Prayer Books

These will be given out to all children at the start of next week. These books have been presented to the school by Bishop Declan to help us celebrate the Year of Catholic Education. The books will stay in school for now, so that children can use them in class. The children will then bring them home later in Lent to help them pray at home.

Fr Pat De Wolf

Fr Pat De Wolf, who was the Parish Priest at St Joseph’s for many years, has just celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Priest and will be celebrating with us at St Joseph’s Church on Sunday 27th March at the 10.00am Mass. Everybody is welcome and there will be a celebration afterwards.

St Joseph’s Day

The feast of St Joseph (19th March), is this year on a Saturday. We will be celebrating this very special day on Tuesday 22nd March with a Mass in the school hall. This Mass will begin at 9.30am. All family and friends are welcome.

Red Nose Day

As part of the PTFA celebrations, please bake or bring in some cakes on Friday 18th March.
Children can also make a contribution of 50p and ‘wear something funny’. Also £100.00 has been raised by the sale of red noses.

Attendance

All the children who received 100% will be having tea and cakes next Wednesday afternoon with me. Also well done to the 5 classes who attended over 95% last week.

It’s great to see attendance getting so much better this year. Thank you all.

Team Points Winners - Non-Uniform

St Luke were the winners for team points last term and will be able to wear non-uniform on Friday 25th March.

Internet Consent Forms

Internet letters were sent to all families on Wednesday, 2nd March. We have had fewer than 50% returned. Unfortunately if we do not receive your child’s completed internet consent form, they will be unable to use the internet in school. The internet can be a valuable learning tool.

Celebration Assembly

There will be a celebration assembly next Monday 14th March, where the following children will receive their Headteacher’s award: Cameron Wallace, Eddy Brain, Angus Wallace and Madeleine Khan-Slade.

The Year for Catholic Education

As part of the events organised for The Year for Catholic Education, there will an exhibition of RE work in Clifton Cathedral during the week beginning March 14th. This will feature work from St Joseph’s.

On Wednesday 16th March from 7pm, pupils from different schools will be present in the cathedral to present an evening of drama, dance, and music on the same theme as well as explaining their work and its implications. This evening will feature a short video featuring children from St Joseph’s.

Dates for Diaries

Monday 14th March - Mrs Joseph’s class – visit to Bristol Harbour
Tuesday 15th March - Bike It Breakfast (8-9am)
Wednesday 16th March - RE presentation at the Cathedral
Thursday 17th March - Parents Evening
Friday 18th March - Y5P, Y4/5J and Y4C to see exhibition in
Portland square
Friday 18th March - Red Nose Day
Saturday 19th March - St Joseph’s Day
Wednesday 23rd - St Joseph’s Day Mass
Friday 25th March - St Luke’s non uniform day
Sunday 27th March - Fr Pat De Wolf Golden Jubilee Mass

Best wishes - Matt Condon, Headteacher

Friday 4th March 2011

Dear Parent/Carers,

A message from Mr Sherwin –

The final week of last term was e-safety week and the children learned about how to stay safe on the internet. One of the issues that arose during the week was the number of children using the internet independently and the number of children using social network sites, such as Facebook. Despite the rules of Facebook stating that you must be 13 years old, there seems to be a growing trend of young children creating accounts. The school computer network blocks social network sites at school but children are still accessing them at home. To try and help protect those children that are on Facebook we have explained to them how to set the privacy settings so that only people they know and trust can see their personal information. To do this click on the ‘account’ menu on the left side of the webpage, and select ‘privacy’, then select friends only for all options.

As technologies change and develop it’s difficult but important to have discussions with your children about what they are using on the internet to ensure that they are accessing appropriate materials and keeping themselves safe. Now is the perfect opportunity to have a discussion about what your child is using on the internet and how you can help protect them. For more information go to http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ or contact the school.

INTERNET LETTERS WERE SENT OUT ON WEDNESDAY. THE SLIPS MUST BE RETURNED IF CHILDREN ARE TO USE THE INTERNET IN SCHOOL. Thank you for those already returned.

The Year for Catholic Education

As part of the events organised for the year for Catholic Education there will an exhibition of RE work in Clifton Cathedral during the week beginning March 14th. The exhibition which will consist of art work, written pieces, models and multi media work has been created by pupils from around the diocese under the title, ‘I have come that you may have Life’. On Wednesday 16th March from 7pm pupils from different schools will be present in the cathedral to present an evening of drama, dance, and music on the same theme as well as explaining their work and its implications. If you are able please come and support the young people and the work of our schools by visiting the cathedral during the week or attending the evening events.

School Meals

The menu for next Wednesday will not be a roast, it will be replaced by fish fingers as it is Ash Wednesday.

Red Nose Day Cake Sale

As part of the Red Nose Day celebrations, we will be holding a cake sale. Please bake or bring in some cakes on Friday 18th March. The PTFA will sell them after school to raise money for Comic Relief.

Parents Evenings

These are being held over the next 2 weeks. At the last parent evenings, school governors spoke to many parents about the usefulness of the mini reports that were given out at these meetings. As a result of this consultation we are no longer using this format to share information. Teachers will give detailed verbal feedback about progress and next steps in learning. We are reviewing the format of end of year reports and the views of parents will influence how we report on progress in the future.

Special Attendance Celebration Assembly

As part of Monday’s Celebration Assembly, we will be celebrating children whose attendance is 98% and above:
Summer Allen, Evie Attwood, Jane Campus, Thomas Coombs, Rungkan Downes, Oliver Dunne, Kelsey Ford, Vanessa Johnson, Vivian Johnson, Fortune Jumbo, Ceris Lee, Jeleil Manmohan, Samuel Masenyama, Gabriel Matorres, Ty Mitichell, Lea Scott, Joel Shelvi, Kamal Smallwood, Joseph Staddon, Geroge Stenner, Aaron Tarr, Jordan Toy, Eoan Tuohy, Benjamin Underhill, David Wabissa, Vanessa Wabissa, Joseph Cachia, Lauren Helm, Samantha Masenyama Hannah Maslowski, Charles Russell, Jake Turner, Benny Emmanuel, Micah Gayle, Daniel George, Emediong Jumbo, Oliver Kelliher-Swash, Liam Kelly, Joseph Lambe, Nathan Long, Bethany Prasad, Elizabeth Rice, Talia Scott, Luke Staddon, Jessica Vadhyanath, Owen Webb, Oliver Wiecioach-Giles, Zahra Smallwood, Allen Vincent, Isabella Poole Muskan Rehan, Rahim Rehan, Stan Smith, Dean Turner, Aleena Vincent, Isabel Matthew, Alexander Ailyath, Harrison Bains-Doyle, Erin Brooks, Stan Doling, Harvey Clement, Lewis Hodder, Hannah James, Madeleine Khan-Slade, Loredna Parrinello, Reuben Reji, Liam Rice, Kavita Sahota, Shaun Snaden, Emily Wiercioch-Giles, Isabella Woodruff and Norbert Kulesza.

The following children will also be receiving Headteacher’s Awards –
Jane Campos, Olivia Jim, Ruby Webber, George Stenner, Micah Gayle, Shaun Snaden, Chloe Bowden and Liam Rice.

As always parents are welcome to attend this assembly.

Dates for Diaries

Monday 7th March - Special Attendance Celebration Assembly
Tuesday 8th March - Parents Evening
Wednesday 9th March - Ash Wednesday special assembly
Wednesday 9th March - Year 6 visit to The Royal Opera House
Monday 14th March - Mrs Joseph’s class – visit to Bristol Harbour
Thursday 17th March - Parents Evening
Friday 18th March - Y5P, Y4/5J and Y4C to see exhibition in
Portland square
Friday 18th March - Red Nose Day

Best wishes


Matt Condon
Headteacher