At the heart of this holy season is an invitation from the Father to return to him with all our heart.  This is an opportunity to seek healing and to know the transforming mercy of God.  Here at school we have been speaking with the children about our Lenten journey to the cross as part of the Ten Ten Virtual Pilgrimage this year. 

Earlier this week, the children were able to reflect once again on what a pilgrimage is and the purpose of such a spiritual journey, namely: prayer, penance, solidarity and charity.  The three key aspects of our Lenten journey which allow us to be come closer to God were also explored under the headings of:  Looking to God (Prayer), Looking to Ourselves (Fasting) and Looking to Others (Charity).  These will be explored further as we continue our Lenten journey to the cross over the next 40 days.

Yesterday we celebrated the 25^th anniversary of World Book Day. Our day began with a whole school “Book Swap’ which was a huge success.  The children were really excited at the huge selection of books that had been donated and had lots of fun choosing new books to try. Thank you to everyone who took part and a special thank you to our Year 6 Reading Ambassadors, Lola and Luke, and their able assistants (Lauren, Molly, Lara and Alexia) who coordinated everything. The rest of our day was taken up with music, art and drama activities based on a brilliant book called ‘Once Upon A Tune’ by James Mayhew. Have a look at the fabulous photos already uploaded onto our school Instagram account and look out for some more in the next few days.

It is with great joy to announce that Ms Lawson and Mrs Dodd have returned back to St. Joseph's School after their periods of absence.  The children are very excited about welcoming our teachers back to the daily life at St. Joseph's.  We continue to keep Mrs Lawlor in our prayers at this time and wish her a speedy recovery.

Due to a lack of parental response, this term's Parents' Evening Sessions for Reception up to Year 5 have been moved to Tuesday 15th and Tuesday 22nd March both from 3.30pm-5.30pm.  Parents will have received notification to complete the Google Forms template on Friday so that the school is able to plan either a 'hybrid' approach or face-to-face sessions based upon parent responses.  Further details with the booking of sessions will be announced early next week. The meetings for parents of children in Year 6 will be undertaken later on in the term on Tuesday 29th March and Tuesday 5th April at the same times. 

Please be aware that your child's PE days may have changed for this half term due to the external provision from RB Gym and Sport.

On Monday 21st  February, the Prime Minister set out the next phase of the government’s COVID-19 response ‘Living with COVID-19’. COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), accessed through option 1 of the DfE COVID-19 helpline, will be decommissioned from Friday 1st April 2022. The UKHSA advice service was introduced in September 2020 to provide advice to education and childcare settings on the action they should take to respond to positive cases of COVID-19 in their setting.

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.

Loving God,

We pray for the people of Ukraine,

for all those suffering or afraid,

that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,

for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world, that in this moment of crisis,

we may reach out in solidarity to our sisters and brothers in need.

May we walk in your ways, so that peace and justice

become a reality for the people of Ukraine

and for all the world.

Amen.

Children at St. Joseph's are growing to be Intentional in the way they live and use the
resources of the earth, guided by conscience; and Prophetic in the example they set to
others.

MARCH

For a Christian response to bioethical challenges

We pray for Christians facing new bioethical challenges; may they continue to defend the dignity of all human life with prayer and action.