Dear Parents/Carers,
Shelagh
Williams retiring as Chair of Governors
Shelagh Williams, the school’s Chair
of Governors, has stepped down as Chair after many wonderful years in this
crucial role, supporting and guiding the school and our community with her
wisdom and care. Shelagh remains as part of the governing body as Vice Chair
and will be supporting our new Chair of Governors, Bob Edwards.
We thank Shelagh for everything she
has contributed to the school.
Christmas Disco
Two
of the Y1 parents will be organising a Christmas disco again this year. Due to
limited resources this is currently planned for infants only, but if any
parents would like to collaborate to extend it to the juniors please contact
Laura Bradshaw Price (07792 282650) or Catherine Ruffles (07876 143832).
Admission
Policy 2017 Consultation
This
policy is available on the school website or from the school office. Can any
feedback be put in writing addressed to the School Governing Body via the
school office.
Attendance
Well
done to Y2, Y3 and Y6 with 99% attendance last week. Also Y1 and Y5 had good attendance with 98%.
Super
Science £10,000 Giveaway
St Joseph's has registered with the Super Science giveaway with
the Bristol Post and Renishaw. Our school is in with a chance of winning
£10,000 towards science equipment. Please start collecting the tokens in the
Bristol Post between Wednesday 4th November and Tuesday 8th December. Remember
to tell friends and family to save their tokens too!
Two of our Y1 parents
will be organising a Christmas disco again this year. Due to limited resources,
this is currently planned for infants only, but if any parents would like to
collaborate to extend it to the juniors please contact Laura Bradshaw Price
(07792 282650) or Catherine Ruffles (07876 143832).
The school choir’s adventure with ‘The Divine Paradox’
“The Divine Paradox of Human Beings in Paradise”, a
new piece written by Andy Sheppard, acclaimed international jazz saxophonist,
was performed last week at St George’s concert hall.
For St Joseph’s choir this was an exciting night as
we were the chosen children’s choir to take part in the premiere of this
work. Our adventure started last summer
when Andy Sheppard came to school to do a workshop with the then Y6s. Together
they wrote the main melody and the lyrics to, what eventually became, Part 7 of
the whole piece. The choir were then
invited to sing alongside the 180 members of Gurt Lush adult choir led by Sam
Burns, jazz vocalist Celestine Walcott Gordan, international percussionist Michel
Rabbia and bass player Will Harris. What an honour!
The school choir began learning their music at the
start of the academic year, they attended a Saturday morning rehearsal with the
rest of the musicians and before we knew it, the concert was upon us. The concert hall was almost full to capacity
and the atmosphere was expectant and electric.
The music was toe-tapping and unusual. To illustrate this mesmerizing
and compelling piece there were huge projections cast onto the back of the
stage, produced by Sara da Costa, as the tale of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from
Paradise unfolded. In particular, the
children enjoyed watching the amazing antics of the percussionist and were
mesmerized by the projections. When it
was their turn to perform they did so “professionally”, with energy and
enthusiasm despite the late hour.
Special mention must be made of our two “Butterflies”, Elle and Tash,
who sang a solo bravely and confidently in front of an audience of 500!
Photos of this event, the rehearsals, reviews and
also the lunchtime concert at St Mary Redcliffe in the same week, can all be
found on the school blog. I finish by
saying how proud I am of all the members of the school choir, for their
dedication to learning the music, turning up to rehearsals, beautiful behaviour
and attitude and for staying awake so late on the actual night. Without them there would be no choir! A huge thank you also goes to Mrs Joseph, and
the parents who helped us, again without you, it could not have happened.
And so, we look forward to our next event: Carol singing in Cabot Circus on 3rd
December to raise money for the choir charity, ‘Ronald McDonald
House’. But first a rest, so happy Half
Term to all the choir.
Mrs C Marsh
Admission Policy 2017
Consultation
This policy is available
on the school website or from the school office for consultation until 31st
January 2016. Can any feedback be put in writing addressed to the School
Governing Body via the school office.
Parents
E-Safety Training
A big thank you to all the parents who attended last Wednesday's
training. We had some really interesting discussions and some important issues
were raised.
In particular we discussed social media and how children still often
fail to understand that when they post information or video online:
·
That this content is often available to anybody in
the world (e.g when using YouTube) and, once online, it's online forever!
·
That when children communicate with others on line,
they cannot always be sure who they are texting or talking to. Sometimes people
pretend to be people they are not.
If parents would like to complete the online E-Safety Training online,
you can do so by using the following link:
This link is live on the newsletter blog.
Please discuss your child's use of technology at home and let us know if
there are any issues or questions we can help with. We are discussing these
issues again in class.
Technology is great, but we want to educate children so that they can be
safe living in the digital world.
St Joseph's 'Be
Safe Day' 2015
Recently I discussed safety with our Year 6 pupils. We had a great
discussion and I was really impressed with their knowledge and understanding
and they also had some great questions and ideas. One great suggestion (from
Irene) was to have a whole school day where we focus on safety so we are having
a 'Be Safe Day' on 6th November. The day will include:
·
A visit from our Police Community Support Officers
talking about how children can look after themselves.
·
A visit from Avon Fire and Rescue talking about
fire safety at home.
·
A visit from the RNLI talking about their work and
being safe at the seaside.
·
A visit from Sustrans talking to children about being
seen whilst cycling in the winter months. Sustrans will also be running some
short cycle skills training sessions for children of all ages.
·
We will have a ‘Bling Your Bike’ competition and a ‘be
safe, be seen’ non uniform day raising money for this year’s Bishop’s charity
‘Missio’, supporting missionary work around the world.
·
Year 5 and 6 will be visited by the NSPCC talking
to them about personal safety.
Celebration Assembly
There will be no celebration
assembly on Monday 2nd November as we are having a Mass for All
Saints in the school hall at 9.30am. You are all welcome to join us for this
Mass.
Dates for Diaries
Monday
2nd November
- Start of Term 2
Monday
2nd November 9.30am - Mass
for All Saints in school hall
Tuesday
3rd November -
Y1 Playspace trip
Friday
6th November - School ‘Be Safe Day’
Friday
6th November
-
Y2 Playspace trip
Thursday
12th November
-
Reception and Y1 trip to
@-Bristol
Friday
13th November
-
INSET (school closed)
Wednesday
2nd December
-
Choir to Cabot Circus
Wednesday
16th December
- Carol
Concert in church at 2pm
Friday
18th December
-
Christmas Mass in Church
Friday
18th December
-
End of Term 2
Thursday
26th May 2016
- INSET (school closed)
Have a great holiday.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Condon
Headteacher
No comments:
Post a Comment