Friday 4th February 2022

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Peter (after a night of failed fishing) is finally successful and realises his true calling because he listens to and follows Jesus’ instructions. It is important to make the right choice about who or what we follow in life. Simply following our desires and feelings, which often change, can leave us feeling unsatisfied. Jesus invites each and every one of us to make following him our most important priority. We follow Jesus whenever we are kind, try to make peace, and make others feel welcome. Choosing to follow him is not always easy but it really does guide and help our families to keep growing in wisdom and love.

Children's Mental Health Week is taking place on 7-13th February 2022. This year's theme is Growing Together.

We will be encouraging children (and adults) to consider how they have grown, and how they can help others to grow.

On Friday 11th February, we will be celebrating 'Happy Hair Day' at school in support of the fundraising for Year 5's Pyramid Concert the week before half term.  We ask that a £1 donation through ParentPay for children who wish to take part. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Safer Internet Day 2022 will be celebrated on 8th February with the theme ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’.

On Thursday, we welcomes a special visitor to St. Joseph's. Perry, the official mascot of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, and his team spoke with the children in Key Stage 2 about the Commonwealth and the upcoming games which will take place later this year in Birmingham. Perry also visited our Reception and Key Stage 1 classes too. Our ten Year 6 'Change Makers' were also introduced to the school community.  These young leaders will not only be role-models to others, but will also support in the delivery of the Commonwealth Connections Project across the school. This project supported by the British Council and Birmingham Education Partnership will provide our children with the opportunities to link with other young people from across the Commonwealth, and to develop their knowledge of the arts, sport and citizenship.  St. Joseph's and the other five schools in Dudley are linked with six schools in Sri Lanka.  Our Change Makers will be attending a special media event next Tuesday, where they will continue to develop their leadership skills with the athlete mentors and virtually meet some students from Sri Lanka. For more information about the Commonwealth Games, please click on the following link: Home of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Starting from Monday 24^th January 2022 all school dinners must be pre ordered and paid via ParentPay.com.

Children in Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 are entitled to universal free school meals, however you are still required to pre order your child's meal. This also applies if you child is entitled to free school meals.

On your child's ParentPay account go to Make or view bookings, then choose which meal option you require from the selection listed.

Confirm your booking.

To top up your child's school lunch account, click on school lunch where you will be able to add credit to your child's account. Each day your child has a school dinner their account will be debited £2.40.

You can start pre ordering for next week's dinners on your ParentPay account.

All orders must be placed by 8am at the latest each morning.

It is very important that all meals are pre ordered.

Congratulations to the following children for being chosen for Good Work or for displaying the Catholic virtues (Curious and Active) this week.  Well done to St. Mark's house for gaining the most points too.

The PTA would like to say a huge "THANK YOU" to all our parents for supporting the PTA Christmas Raffle. The monies raised has allowed the PTA to pay for the Christmas pantomime including snacks for all the children, as well as the wonderful visit from the poet James Carter.

The school has well-established the Walk Once a Week (WOW) programme in association with Living Streets for a number of years.  This helps to support our parents and the school in enabling  the children of St. Joseph's to be physically active on a daily basis.  The current Chief Medical Officer guidance is that children should be physically active for 60 minutes, with 30 minutes of this at school and 30 minutes outside.  Last year, St. Joseph's was in the top 20 schools across the West Midlands for the number of 'active travels which is a fantastic achievement for a small school such as St. Joseph's.  For completing at least one active travel per week, the children can achieve the monthly reward badge.  We are also hoping that the WOW mascot, Strider, will be visiting the school along with another special guest in the near future.  In the meantime, for further information about the reward badges for this year, please click on the following link

https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/get-involved/wow-badge-facts-2021-22 

I am sure that you are aware of the Government's plan to reduce Covid restrictions further within education settings from Thursday 27th January, including the removal of wearing face coverings in communal areas.

However, further guidance from Dudley MBC has been published in association with the Local Public Health Protection Team, as follows:

The number of cases of Covid-19 remain high across the borough, with the largest number of cases in the 5-19 age group. This is leading to a number of outbreaks in education settings.

When necessary, local authorities can introduce local measures to reduce transmission in settings and help keep students and staff safe.

Therefore, in response to an outbreak in an education setting, Dudley Public Health advise that the following measures are maintained:

1. Facemasks are worn in communal areas where social distancing cannot be maintained (this only applies to staff and visitors in primary schools).

2. Any child identified as a close contact by NHS Test & Trace or Dudley Public Health (either within their education* setting or household), should undertake 7 days of Lateral Flow Device tests (LFD). If the result is positive, they should isolate for 10 full days, in line with the guidance.  A child can end their isolation period before the end of 10 days  by taking an LFD from 5 days after the day symptoms started (or the day the test was taken if the child did not have symptoms), and another LFD test on the following day. If both these test results are negative, and the child does not have a high temperature, the child may end your self-isolation after the second negative test result. *only applicable to those 5 years of age or over

Due to the increasing number of cases and outbreaks in certain classes, we will continue to advise parents on site to wear face coverings and for staff members to continue to do so in communal areas within school.  Any visitors will also be asked to wear a face covering in communal areas too.  Thank you for your continued cooperation with this matter.

The latest isolation guidance which came into force on Monday 17th January, is as follows:

Further information on self-isolation for those with COVID-19 is available.

We have all experienced challenges and difficulties during this pandemic, but sometimes we may need support from someone else or know of someone who may need additional help.  Dudley MBC have created a 'Support for Families' leaflet which signposts local services to parents. We have also included an updated list of support for parents via a range of local and national agencies.  These documents can be found within the Covid 19 tab on the school website home page.

The Wednesday Word can be accessed via following link: The Wednesday Word Primary School Resource | Catholic Church.  Please go through this with leaflet with your child so that they become more familiar and understand the focus of the Gospel each week.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for calling us to follow you. Please help us to be
your faithful followers – helping our world to become a better place. Amen.

Children at St. Joseph's are growing to be curious about everything; and active in
their engagement with the world, changing what they can for the better.

February                 

For religious sisters and consecrated women

We pray for religious sisters and consecrated women; thanking them for their mission and their courage; may they continue to find new responses to the challenges of our times.