The children gathered in the hall this morning for our weekly Merit Collective Worship to celebrate our achievements. Merit certificates are awarded to children for their special efforts in their learning during the week. Well done to you all!

Thank you to all the parents who came along to our KS1 and 2 maths parent workshops this week. It was a great turn out and everyone got really engaged in the practical activities alongside learning more about the Maths Mastery approach and how parents can support their children at home.

Today, the pupil's who receive piano lessons at school, put together a performance for their parents. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they played their favourite christmas song. The proud smiles on the parent's and children's faces made it quite a magical moment. Click here to watch the performances.

It has been a wonderful 2 weeks for the Y5 & 6 boys football team, last week they managed an excellent 4-0 win over Castle Hill in the 2nd round of the District Cup. Goals from Kamil x 2, Thanujan & Elijah. This week the boys took part in a Kingston Qualifier against 6 other schools to earn the right to play in the finals on the 17th December. The boys blew the competition away scoring a maximum 30 points and winning 6 out of 6 games scoring 18 and only conceding 3 in the process. An excellent team display which the boys should feel very proud of. The hard work now starts as we compete in the borough finals on 17th December against the top 8 schools in Kingston.

Last week's Family Science Quiz nights were Super Science-tastic!!!

Thank you to all the families who took part! 

A huge congratulations to the...

KS1/EYFS winners : Poitre, Robert, Anna and mum!!

&

KS2 winners: Michael Mann and Family!

(as well as lots of runner up families)

To join in the fun and win spectacular prizes be sure to sign up to the next Family Science Quiz.

Team SJP had a very successful Sportshall athletics competition finishing 3rd place. The event which consists of multiple track & field events involves 20 schools in Kingston. A very special mention to our girls team who managed to accumulate the most points finishing 1st place, the boys finished 4th resulting in a combined total of 3rd place. The girls team won every single sprint race and even the 4 x 1 relay beating much bigger schools in the process a massive achievement. There was some brilliant individual displays from some children but overall the whole team done extremely well and can be proud of their achievements.

Year 4 returned on Friday weary eyed after an action packed 3 days at Sayers Croft. The children set off from St Joseph's on Wednesday for their first residential trip and for most of them their first time away from their parents. The children were a real credit to the school and behaved extremely well throughout the activities. The first challenge the children faced was to make their own beds this took lots of planning and essential teamwork to finally find the right end to put the duvet. Once the beds had been made they took part in orienteering which took place across the site so the children familirised themselves with the area. Later that night after dinner children enjoyed a campfire and a little sing song. Children began the next day with a hearty breakfast as they took part in 4 different activities including caves, rock climbing, ropes course & challenge course. All activities encouraged the children to discover new things & improve teamwork and communication. On the second night children enjoyed a nightwalk through the forest ending with a movie night and hot chocolate. The final day saw them enjoy 2 more activities with den buiding and a blindfold trail providing great entertainment. As we said goodbye to Sayers Croft the children have left with positive experiences that have helped them develop confidence and the ability to try new things.

All children in the school were invited to enter the anti-bullying poster competition on the theme of 'choose respect'. We had chosen a child from each class to be an Anti-bullying Ambassador and one of their most important jobs was to help choose the winners of the poster competition.  There were so many wonderful entries and it was clear that children had put enormous effort and thought into them, which made it very hard to choose.  In the end, the ambassadors chose the posters that had something a little different from the others on them. 

On 12th November 2018, St Joseph's celebrated the start of anti-bullying week with an 'Odd socks day'.  Many children came into school with socks of many colours and patterns to celebrate diversity and difference.  We are all very proud of the anti-bullying work that the school does - keep it up everyone!  Parents will today receive information about anti-bullying and what to do if you suspect your child or someone else is being bullied.  Please see Ali Keen or Helen Mayhew if you do not get this leaflet.

Want a chance to win £25,000 EVERY WEEK and raise money for the school at the same time? Yes - then sign up to our school lottery. This is a new project being managed by the PTFA.

'Your School Lottery' is the UK’s ONLY lottery organisation DEDICATED to helping schools raise money. This is an opportunity for staff, parents, families and the community to make a huge difference to our school. We believe that 'raising money within the community for the community' is a great way for  everyone to benefit. All monies raised for the school is used to help improve educational facilities for your children.

Cost = £1/week for the chance to win a guaranteed weekly prize (the more members, the bigger the prize).

Also, you will be entered into a separate draw for chance to win £25,000 EVERY WEEK.

How to sign up

1 - www.yourschoollottery.co.uk

2 - Scroll down to 'support your school' and click on 'play now'

3 - Enter St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

4 - Select the correct school (see our crest)

5 - Click 'support now' and register your details.

Remember - if you're not in, you can't win!