Dear Parents/Carers,

First Holy Communion

Can the governors, staff and pupils of St Joseph’s wish all the children receiving their First Holy Communion on Sunday 30^th June,  a happy and holy day. The First Holy Communion Mass is at 10am.

Nick Buck – runner up for Bristol Caretaker of the Year 2013

Well done to Nick who was a runner up in this citywide competition. Nick wishes to thank all those who nominated him and for your on-going support.

Recent Blog Highlights

There are lots of pictures, from each class, of our recent whole school Art Day where all classes focused on creating self-portraits.  All children sketched their own portrait and then created a new portrait in the style of a famous artist. I have included some pictures in this newsletter.

Topic Presentations

As you all know, these are short presentations where the children tell the story of their learning in their most recent topic. In the summer we also invite parents into class for 20 minutes, following the presentation, to look at their child’s work from the whole school year. These presentations are in dates for diaries.

Non-Uniform – Message from Y6B

We realise that we are having a non-uniform day the week before, but we would like to hold another one on the 5th July. This is a part of our fundraising day for St Joseph’s Home in Cotham. St. Joseph’s Home is run by the Little Sisters of the Poor and does an amazing job caring for older people in our community. All support is very much appreciated.

St Brendan’s - The Big Arts Picnic

St Brendan’s Catholic Sixth Form College in Brislington is holding the Big Arts Picnic on Wednesday 3^rdJuly 5.30-8.30pm, where there will be dance, drama, live music, musical theatre, film screenings, face painting, games, BBQ, cakes and much more.

Attendance

Well done to Miss Phillips, Mrs Ford and Mrs Joseph’s classes with 98% attendance and to Mrs Rollings and Mrs Bell’s classes with 97% attendance. All classes that get 99% or 100% attendance get a special non-uniform day.

Charity Fundraising

This has been a priority for the school this year and we all greatly appreciate your on-going support. These projects have enriched the educational experience of our children, but most importantly our community is demonstrating its care for others in need. As I said last week, all classes will be sharing stories about their charitable work in this newsletter. Here is our contribution from Year 4:

This year Y4J has been raising money for Asthma UK. Our target is £600 by the end of the year and so far we have raised £501.  This has been from a sponsored activity day where we’ve sponsored ourselves for silence, skipping, hopping, times tables, bouncing a ball and lots more.

We held a charity fundraising fair where we had a cafe, treasure hunt, games and stalls.

Now we are going to have a stall at the Summer Fair where we are going to sell books, games and DVDs plus a few surprises up our sleeves.

Help us reach our target!

By Jake and Allena.

And here is our contribution from Year 6P:

Throughout this year of fundraising we’ve managed to accomplish many amazing things which in the future will change lives hugely.

In our class we were trying to raise money for the fantastic ‘Comic Relief’ – a life changing charity that specialises in helping children and families who are poor, seriously ill or live in harsh environments.

Mrs Patton suggested that we do a tricycle marathon and we all willingly agreed, along with suggesting that people could pay to guess how many laps we would complete and that they could sponsor us if they wanted to.  We also had a secondary activity ‘Sweet Guessing’ where you could guess how many sweets were in a tub for 20p a go.  Every morning we were randomly selected to go around with a sandwich board advertising our activities.  Soon enough the day came when we had to ride our tricycles through rain and heat.  We were split into five groups to work in shifts throughout the day and by 3.30pm we had cycled over 1000 laps, where we raised over £330.00!  As well as that, we raised well over £100 in the ‘Sweets’ activity.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable activity, despite the horrible weather, and everyone was proud of what we did.

By Ben, Evie and Dean.

School Uniform

The summer holiday is a good time to stock up on school uniform, so can I remind parents and carers that it consists of a white polo shirt, navy blue sweatshirt, cardigan, fleece, grey trousers/skirts or blue/white gingham dress.  

Also, children must wear footwear (black shoes or black trainers) appropriate to the school environment and activity.

The school uniform is ordered through Initially Yours, and their email address is enquiries@initiallyyours.co.uk.  Their telephone number is 0117 9673847.

St Joseph’s Summer Fair – July 6^th –12.00-3.00pm

Before we know it, the Summer Fair will be upon us. If you wish to have a stall or put an advert in the programme which, this year, will reach even more people, then please contact Andrea on 07711 574722. We would also welcome anyone who would like to help out on the day. If you can spare an hour or two to help on a stall, please leave your details in the office.

Medical Appointments

A reminder that if your child has a dentist’s or doctor’s appointment during school hours, could you please put a request in writing in advance for the attention of the class teacher. If we are not notified in advance any time missed will need to be recorded as unauthorised.

Year 6 leaver's Lunch

The year 6 leaver’s lunch will take place on Friday 19th July. The cost is £2.20 and the menu the children have chosen as their favourite is jerk chicken and chips or pizza and chips.  For pudding they have chosen brownies.

Sports Day

This is planned for Wednesday morning, 10^th July. If Sports Day needs to be cancelled, we will inform parents on the school blog and by text. More details about Sports Day will be in next week’s newsletter.

Celebration Assembly

There will be a celebration assembly on Monday 1^st July, at 3pm, where the following children will receive their Headteacher’s Award:  Sydney-Kay Haberfield, Issy Woodruff, Taychon Graham, Tasha Wines, Michal Oledski, Robyn Westlake, Lorenzo Hancock, Melita Teny, Ruby Dudley, Zahra Smallwood and Nathan Adamski.

These children will receive Superstars Sports Awards:

Dates for Diaries

Monday 1st July (9.10am)                           –          Year 1 Topic Presentation

Tuesday 2nd July (9.10am)                          –          Year 2 Topic Presentation
Friday 5th July (9.10am)                               –          Year 3 Topic Presentation
Saturday 6th July                                          –          Summer Fair
Monday 8th July                                          -           Year 4 Topic Presentation
Wednesday 10th July at 9.30am               –          Sports Day
Thursday 11^th July                                         -           Y3 Caerphilly Castle            
Friday 12th July                                             –          Year 5 Topic Presentation
Thursday 11th July                                        –          Reports to parents
Wednesday 17th July                                  –          Y6 Performance (evening)
Thursday 18th July -                                     -           Mass for Catholic Education at Clifton Cathedral
Thursday 18th July                                        –          Y6 Performance (afternoon)    
Thursday 18th July                                        –          Meeting with parents to discuss reports
Wednesday 24th July                                  -           Leavers Mass and end of term
Monday 2nd September and
Tuesday 3rd September                              –          INSETs (school closed)
Wednesday 4th September                       –          Start of Term 1

Best wishes

 

Matt Condon
Headteacher