Newsletters

Dear Parents/Carers/Grandparents,

RE: Friends of St Joseph's.  Can you help?

I'm writing to you to let you know about a few of the great things the Friends of St Joseph's volunteers have supported with in the last year and to ask for your support in 2019.

The Friends volunteers have one aim - to raise the funds to provide equipment and events that the school budget cannot support.    In order to raise funds the friends currently run the Summer Fair and initiatives such as the Christmas/Mother’s Day/Father’s Day presents, Raffles and School Discos.  We also want to also help promote a good sense of community at the school which benefits not only the children but parents and carers.

We are now looking to plan fundraising events and initiatives for 2019 and WE NEED YOUR HELP!

What we are looking for;

1) Ad hoc volunteers to support events and initiatives such as the Summer Fair / Christmas Discos / BBQ's and any new ideas!

This could entail just simply volunteering at an event or you might have a bit more time and want to get more involved and help with new ideas/plan events.  We would really like a large number of these who can commit as little or as much time as possible, there's really no pressure, if you can help at one thing per year it helps.  We rely upon volunteers to run events, especially the Summer Fair.

2) We are looking for a class year volunteer champion per class. 

This would entail being the co-ordinator for the group of parents/carers/grandparents in your child's year group.  This person would need to be happy asking their group of volunteers for help for events/getting new ideas through whatever communication method works best be it speaking to people in the playground or a WhatsApp group for those who aren't frequently in the playground as they might work full time for example.

Contact details

E-mail us as - friendsofstjosephsprimary@gmail.com  

Don’t forget to like our Facebook - "Friends of St Joseph's" page   https://www.facebook.com/friendsofstjosephsprimary/

Mothers Day Sale:

A huge thank you to all of the  mums, from the FRIENDS who  spent a whole day in school making sure that the children were able to buy a special treat for their mums for Mothers Day.

Looking Back

April 2019

When we return from the Spring break, we shall almost be at the end of  Lent and will be  preparing  to celebrate Easter, so now is a good time to reflect on our Lent journeys. Here is a reflection that children will use during the Holy Week , which you might like to discuss or repeat with your child:

At the start of Lent they were asked to consider how they could give, act and pray more through Lent.

Have they managed this? What was easy or difficult about it?

By drawing close to Jesus they learned to resist temptation and trust in God.

What have they been tempted by? Were they able to resist?

They learned that looking at Jesus and spending time with Him helps us change to become like Him.

Have they noticed themselves change?

They learned about God’s mercy for them and how they should show mercy to others.

What opportunities have they had to show mercy?

They learned about God’s limitless love for them and how He asks us to be peacemakers.

How does it feel to know God loves them? What situations have they brought peace to?

Throughout Lent we have focussed on the theme ‘Draw Me to Your Presence, O Lord’, where children have learned that by spending time with Jesus, we change to become more like Him and will be able to shine His light out into the world.

It doesn’t matter how we feel our Lent journeys have been. It is never too late to draw close to Jesus. Below is an example of this, with a dramatised story of the thief on the cross, who in his last moments drew close to Jesus. You might like to reflect on this story during the holidays, particularly on Good Friday.

The Thief on the Cross

 “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

I am a thief. I know that I’ve done bad things in my life. As I dragged my cross up that huge hill, I knew this was fair. This was what I deserved.

Even when they drove the nails into my hands and feet and I cried out in pain, I knew this was fair. This was what I deserved.

But there was another man sentenced to death who people were calling the ‘King of the Jews’, the ‘Messiah’. The Roman soldiers and the crowd all laughed at him and they whipped him until he bled. I don’t know how, but deep inside I knew this man hadn’t done anything wrong. This man was truly the Messiah.

And they nailed him to a cross just like mine. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t what he deserved.

Another criminal hanging on a cross shouted insults, saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” Through gritted teeth because it hurt so much to talk, I said to this other criminal, “You and I have done bad things and are getting exactly what we deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then I turned to the man in the middle, I think his name was Jesus. There was kindness in his eyes, despite the pain I knew he was feeling. In his eyes, I saw love and warmth and compassion like I’d never known in all my life. I said to him, “Jesus, remember me. Please, remember me.”

Jesus answered, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And I knew he was speaking the truth.

Prayer

This Easter, change me Jesus into who you made me to be.

Jesus my King,

I give you my everything.

Thank you for all of your donations for the "Kindness Day." The children looked beautiful in their bright coloured clothing.

The donations will now be sent to the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal and to CAFOD.

Science Week :

Today in assembly the children were all very excited to find out which class had been judged the winner, of the "bridge competition." Mrs Harrand set every class in school the mission , to build a bridge from nothing but spaghetti and marshmallows. The children as ever were creative, inventive and enthusiatstic and the teachers ... a little too competitive , to the point were some of them were almost disqualified for cheating !

The winners for this challenge were Y3 .

We would like to invite you to join us in church, on Thursday 18^th April at 1:30pm, for a performance of Born for This.  The Year six class will be leading this performance, with support from the Year 5, 4 and 3 classes.  Last year this was a very special and moving reflection on the significance of Holy Week.  We do hope you will be able to join us for this.