St Joe's Blog

St Joe's Blog

Wednesday 27 October 2010

A day at school -Victorian style!

On Friday 15th October, Class Y5P visited Blaise Castle Museum as part of their project on Victorians.

The children dressed in period costume and had the opportunity to experience what lessons might have been like in a Victorian classroom. They wrote on slates, learned a poem by heart and did maths that involved some knowledge of pre-decimal money. However, before this the children had to undergo the hand and shoe inspection that Victorian pupils had to go through every day.

During the second part of the visit, the class were able to handle some of the Victorian artefacts and learn how they were used.

It was a lovely visit and was enjoyed by everyone.

Friday 22 October 2010

A Mass for Mary


Wednesday 20 October 2010

Circuits and conductors

Recently Y4C have been investigating circuits and conductors in science. The children have enjoyed making circuits to light a bulb or buzzer. We have explored what materials make good conductors and devised a test to discover how to change the brightness of a bulb.

Haunted house stories

A few weeks ago Y4C were writing Haunted house stories to coincide with their 'no place like home' topic. The class produced some fantastic descriptions. Below is a sample from Joel's brilliant story.

Slowly, pushing the rusty old iron gate open, I gradually got closer and closer. It started to rain, it was so hard it was like a bullet from a gun. Something came into my vision it was two meddling statues ready to pounce. Venturing on the weather got worse and worse when I got closer. I had no choice but to enter. What's going to happen? The house was abandoned.


I jumped through the window and I went in a room. The fire flame flickered as a blaze. The wet window spluttered the room with water. The candles were lit everywhere, I looked very closely and there was a toy car and a treasure chest.

Wartime Fun - Making cakes, darning socks and playing games










Tuesday 19 October 2010

Pakistan Flood Appeal

On Friday Y4/5J held a Toy Sale in aid of the victims of the Pakistan Floods. We raised over £80. I was very proud of the way the children conducted the sale, including their willingness to set up and stay late. Thanks too to the parents who helped.
Thanks to those of you who brought toys in to sell and thanks to those of you who bought. I am sure that our contribution will be appreciated by the children of Pakistan.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Sunday 10 October 2010

Can snails find their way back home?

Y4C are going to investigate whether garden snails can find their way back home. We read an article on the BBC website saying that snails have a homing instinct and have decided to find out if it is true. If you would like to join our investigation please let us know what you find out.


Friday 8 October 2010

An Invitation




Dear Parents and Children,

On Friday 15th October we are going to have a Bring and Buy Sale to raise funds for the victims of the Pakistan floods. Fields and crops have been ruined not just for this year but also next year as they will not be able to sow the seeds. Lots of families in Pakistan no longer have homes and have to sleep in tents.

You can bring in some toys that you no longer use and you would like to donate for the Bring and Buy Sale so you can help towards helping the people who suffered in this terrible disaster. The toys have got to be in by 14th October. Don`t forget how lucky we are compared to them. PLEASE HELP US!

The sale will take place from 3pm on Friday 15th October

THANK YOU.

Yours sincerely,

Ollie Louch, on behalf of Y4/5J.




An Assembly for Pakistan

This morning Mrs Joseph's class presented a moving assembly about the flood disaster in Pakistan. The children told a story of personal disasters (many not being too serious), the disaster in Pakistan, thanks to God for whar He has given us and hope for the future. Next Friday the class will be running a Bring and Buy sale to help people in Pakistan. We hope you can all support this event.














Thursday 7 October 2010

A surprise on the walk to school

Those walking to school today are in for a bit of a shock. As part of our walk to school week we have


a very tall man to walk with us up the road.
-- By Mr Sherwin

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Designing houses using Google sketchup

Y4C have been designing houses using Google sketchup. The class picked up the skills very quickly, with the following homes created after just one lesson! Many of the homes even have a swimming pool!


Tuesday 5 October 2010

Interesting websites

Today in assembly Mr Sherwin showed the school a couple of websites he had seen mentioned on Tim Ryland's blog. The first site was a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel and the school was able to zoom in and look at the wonderful paintings on the walls and ceiling that are all about parts of the bible. The other site, telescopic text, demonstrated how to edit and improve a sentence to make it more interesting. Click on the hyperlinks if you would like to visit the sites yourselves.

Friday 1 October 2010

Please bring groceries for the offertory at Sunday's Mass . The Mass starts at 10am.





Preparing for Harvest Mass







This Sunday the Parish is celebrating Harvest Mass with Bishop Declan. This morning we were getting ready to sing at this Mass.