Newsletters

Friday the 5th of February

In April 2020, Captain Sir Tom decided to try to raise £1000 for NHS charities by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday .

He raised over £33 million !

This week, we heard that  sadly , Captain Sir Tom had passed away , he was being treated in hospital for pneumonia and coronavirus.

Captain Moore, truly was an inspirational person, he shared his thoughts on the pandemic...

"We will get through it in the end but it might take time, at the end of the day we shall all be ok again...the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away."

Challenge ; 

Can you set yourself a challenge of doing something 100 times to raise awareness of something you care about / This could be an exercise like Sir Tom, drawing , doing something to help your local environment....be as creative as you can......

Write about your challenge or take pictures and send to your class teacher .

Results of the online learning survey :

Thank you so much to all of you who completed our recent remote learning survey. I know these are busy times for everyone, so I am really grateful that you found the time to do this.

I know I have said on a number of occasions that this new way of working is so new to all of us – therefore your opinions are so essential in moving things forward. The results of the survey were really positive and informed us that the opportunities that we are providing are working well at the moment.

There was useful feedback, concerning changes and developments which could be made, namely:

  • Introducing an element of “live teaching,” into our weekly timetable
  • Giving more consideration to less screen time.

We have discussed ways in which we can approach these areas, in the very near future.

Live Maths Session – via Google meet:

We haven’t previously gone down the route of “live lessons,” as many schools may have, as we feel the offer and opportunities we have at St Joseph’s give families the flexibility to use the sessions to suit their own circumstances. Also we have found that by using Purple Mash/Oak Academy our teachers have a really good grasp of where each child is in terms of their understanding. This information will be vital, when we finally all return to school.

However, as always we are open to suggestions and from Monday, each class will have a live maths session. Class teachers will be emailing you individual details, to explain how this will work for your child shortly. Please note, that if your child is unable to attend the session, they will still be able to access the learning and of course can get in touch, if they need further help or support.

Wellbeing Sessions:

We are currently looking at ways in which we can introduce a dedicated “non- screen,” session on a weekly basis. We would still like there to be a focus to these and ideally would like them to be times, which the whole family could share and enjoy. We aim to have something up and running for after the half term holiday.

 

 

                                         

Image result for covid 19

                              

Lateral Flow Testing :

You may have seen in the media that the Government has rolled  out Covid-19 mass testing for staff working in primary schools across the UK .

The testing programme is designed to help schools continue to operate more fully for the duration of the pandemic. As a school community we hope that regular staff testing will help limit the disruption to home and school life, as well as children's learning, by reducing the spread of the virus. This is because testing will identify those members of staff who have the virus but do not have any symptoms. Schools have been supplied with lateral flow devices (LFD) test kits so that staff can self-swab at home, twice per week. 

Return to School :

We have no further information relating to when schools in England shall reopen fully. As soon as we do have this information, we shall let you know.

 

Candlemas: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord: Tuesday 2 nd February.
Thank you very much to Fr Chris Posluszny and Shalom World Media, and to all of you who came together, either in school or at home, for the Mass for the Feast of the Presentation on Tuesday. It was a beautiful service which I hope that you 
were able to enjoy.
The Mass is still available on the St Marie’s Cathedral Youtube channel, which can be accessed through
www.stmariecathedral.org , going to ‘Mass and Worship’, ‘Welcome to Live Stream Mass’ and clicking on the ‘play’ button. 

Nursery : Josiah , has this week gone over and above with his online learning . He made a whole family of gingerbread men !

Reception : Ethan, for finding fun and creative ways of doing his home learning each week.

Y1: Orla ,  works incredibly hard whether at school or at home. At home she has been helping her younger brother JG (nursery) with his learning. O has persevered with her work, understanding that mistakes can help her learn.

Y2: Will , for always making an extra effort to complete the activities to his best ability and being keen to show me how he works on his next steps to make aspects of his learning even better.

Y3: Rose , for excellent engagement . She always attends every Google meet session, she leaves lots of comments after she has completed every piece of work, and has really challenged herself with her choice of activities . She is working incredibly hard.

Y4: Dominic, for litter picking ! He spent 45 minutes picking up litter from his local area - he intends to now spend 1 hour a week doing this in the future . 

Y5: Riha,   always tries her absolute best with her work. She listens to  feedback and improves her own work, and has enjoyed doing our reading challenge this week of reading in every room of the house! 

Y6: Dominic , for making such a huge effort with his home learning this week . He wrote a lovely autobiography, carried out a very interesting maths investigation and still found time to sen in some great photos of his fun in the snow !

oThis is a prayer which children can use , to remind them that prayer can happen at any time, in any way! Why not pray it together with your child at home:

Dear God,

As I breathe in and as I breathe out,

help me to remember you.

Help me to love you and love others.

Amen