Friday 16th December 2022

A Final Message from Mr Carry

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It is with great sadness that I write my final message in last newsletter of the calendar year.  I want to pass on my heart-felt thanks and appreciation to so many different groups of people associated with the school and its local community. To all school staff, past and present: who have supported me and other colleagues since St. Joseph's first became part of the St. Nicholas Owen Catholic Multi Academy Company back in October 2014.  Their loyalty, dedication and energy has been exceptional in supporting the children and young people to be the best they can be on their education and faith journey. To all volunteers, including our Governing Body, as well as parent volunteers and members of the PTA: for their continual commitment and time to support all children here at St. Joseph's.  To Fr. Pat, Fr. Gary, Fr. Des, Fr. Philip and Deacon Tom: for their spiritual guidance to staff, parents and children. To colleagues from across the Emmaus CMAC schools and wider Central Team: for their ongoing support, expertise and guidance during prosperous and challenging times.  Finally, to the children of St. Joseph's: for being wonderful, shining examples of young people living out the Catholic faith through their interactions with one another.  We are truly blessed here at St. Joseph's in so many ways. 

St. Joseph's will always be a school close to my heart, since this was my first as Head teacher/Principal.  It has enabled me to develop and grow as a leader of a Catholic school and now I have been given the calling to take on a new challenge as the Principal of St. Brigid's in Northfield which is part of the Lumen Christi CMAC.

I feel that St. Joseph's is in a very good place with such hard-working and committed groups of people at its centre, and I know that Mr Wilkes will provide the support and new direction as we begin a new calendar year ahead.

I want to thank you all for your kind words over the course of this week and wish you all a very Happy and Holy Christmas. 

God bless and take care.

Mr Carry (and Ted) xx

Final Advent Reflection - Wednesday Word

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Each year on the last Sunday of Advent, we look to Mary, our heavenly mother. The Gospel tells us something about Mary who was chosen
by God to be the mother of his Son, Jesus (the name ‘Jesus’ means ‘the LORD saves’). 
Mary accepted God’s will with a thankful heart; she is a perfect example for all people – someone full of thoughtfulness, kindness and joy.

How can you show thoughtfulness and kindness and bring joy to others in this final week of Advent?

Perhaps you can: give lots of smiles; cheerfully do what your parents or teachers ask you to do; be a good and patient listener; get involved with a charity that helps to feed some of the poorest children in the world (e.g. visit marysmeals.org.uk or Cafod.org.uk); help someone who may be struggling in some way. You may like to finish your time of prayer by saying together, on behalf of another person, a ‘Hail Mary’ or the Rosary.

 

Parish Information - Advent and Christmas Masses

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Fr. Philip would like to invite children from the parish to be involved in our Christmas Masses which will be as follows; Christmas Eve (Saturday) at 5pm and 8pm, and Christmas Day (Sunday) 8.30am and 11am.

A letter was emailed out last Friday with more information.

If your child/ren would like to be involved please complete and return to the presbytery by the end of term, and Fr. Philip will be in touch the week before Christmas.

Dates for your diary - January 2023

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Tuesday 3rd January - Staff In-service Training Day (INSET) - school closed to children

Wednesday 4th January - Children start the new term

Friday 6th January - Epiphany of the Lord

Sunday 8th January - Baptism of the Lord

Sunday 22nd January - Sunday of the Word of the Lord

 

 

 

 

 

NHS Winter Toolkit for Schools

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Stay Well This Winter

Cold weather can make some health problems worse and even lead to serious complications.

There are a number of things you can do to help including getting your winter vaccinations and using the NHS 111 service first for any urgent medical need.

Please find below important information from the NHS to help you and your families stay well this winter. 

Stay Well This Winter Leaflet 

For more information visit our Stay Well This Winter page.

Evening and weekend appointments available at your GP Practice

A range of appointments are available on evenings and at weekends.

Additional appointments will be available between 6.30pm and 8.00pm Monday to Friday, and between 9.00am and 5.00pm on Saturdays for all patients.

You may be offered an appointment at your GP surgery or another location nearby. This may be a:

  • a face to face appointment
  • a telephone consultation
  • a video consultation

To book an appointment between these hours, please call your practice.If you need an appointment out of hours, please telephone your surgery and listen to the out of hours information on the answer phone message.

For more information on accessing your GP Practice please go to Primary care is open and here for you

Please also see below video from Dr Mo Mandiratta

Pharmacy - Your first choice for help, advice and treatment for common conditions 

If you or your family become unwell, you may not always need to see a doctor or get a prescription. Local pharmacies offer many of the same services local GPs do.

Community pharmacists are qualified health professionals who can offer expert advice on lots of minor ailments and conditions. They can help you with common problems such as coughs, colds, aches and pains, as well as perform health checks and screenings and treat minor injuries and ailments.

Many pharmacies are open until late and at weekends. You do not need an appointment. 

Living with Covid Guidance

On Tuesday 29th March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the next steps for living with COVID-19 in England from Friday 1st April.

Free COVID-19 tests will continue to be available for specific groups, including eligible patients and NHS staff, once the universal testing offer ends on Friday 1st April.

Updated guidance will advise:

·         adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature

·         children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend

·         adults with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious. For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice will be 3 days.

For education and childcare settings from Friday 1st April:

·         regular asymptomatic testing is no longer recommended in any education or childcare setting, including in SEND, alternative provision and children's social care settings. Therefore, settings will no longer be able to order test kits

·         residential SEND settings may be advised by their local health protection team to re-introduce some time-limited asymptomatic testing. This would be an exceptional measure, for targeted groups of staff and pupils or students (secondary age or above) in the event of a possible COVID-19 outbreak. These settings are scheduled to receive an automatic delivery of contingency supply test kits during the week commencing Monday 28 March

·         the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will publish new guidance. Most of the specific COVID-19 guidance for education and childcare settings will be withdrawn from GOV.​UK on Friday 1 April. The operational guidance on the testing in education settings document sharing platform will also be removed on the same day.

Link to The Wednesday Word

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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.

Prayer of the Week - Advent

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Virtues Focus - Faith-filled and Hopeful

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Children at St. Joseph's are growing to be Faith-filled in their beliefs and hopeful for the future.

Pope's Francis' Monthly Intention

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DECEMBER

For volunteer not-for-profit organisations

We pray that volunteer non-profit organisations committed to human development find people dedicated to the common good and ceaselessly seek out new paths to international cooperation.

 

 

Emmaus CMAC
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Ofsted

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