St. Joe’s in the Bristol Evening Post – WATCHDOG PRAISES ‘CARE AND COURTESY’ OF PUPILS

Pupils at a Catholic primary school in Fishponds have been praised by the education watchdog Ofsted for their excellent behaviour.

Inspectors said St Joseph’s was a satisfactory and improving school where children showed care courtesy and support to one another. They noted significant improvements in maths and an improving trend in other subjects.

The report said “The leadership team are successfully creating an exciting learning environment and there is good evidence that this is beginning to have a satisfactory effect, particularly on the achievement of boys.”.

Headteacher Matt Condon said he was pleased Ofsted had recognised the work the school was doing to improve the learning for its 269 pupils.

“We have found that children are enjoying learning more because they are learning more through visits, special projects, new after school clubs and exciting topics as well as having their success celebrated in school and on the school blog. Children are now taking more responsibility for their learning and say they really enjoy coming to school.”

“This is a great foundation to build on to achieve greater success in the future. We will continue to work together to ensure all aspects of the school improve.”

St. Joe's Singing!

Merry Christmas from the Polish Club

Christmas card competition

Well done to everyone who entered the Christmas card competition on our Challenge Website, there were lots of brilliant designs. The competition was part of the Prince's Rainforest project for schools. The winners being George H, Lewis H and Marrisa.

Below are some of the best designs.

Reception Nativity

The Reception class are ready for their Nativity performance. Today they performed a dress rehearsal in front of the whole school. It was very great. The children remembered their parts and sang the songs beautifully (with only a bit of help from the juniors).
Tomorrow afternoon is the first performance for parents and there is another on Wednesday morning.
Good luck children!

Everyman's Land

Well done and congratulations to all those who performed in the 'Everyman's Land' production at the Colston Hall on Wednesday. You sang beautifully and it was a wonderful performance. Thank you to all those who helped and supported the production.

Christmas excitement!

This week Year 2 have been getting very excited about Christmas. To get ready we have been practising our carols for the concert next week, creating Christmas cards on the computer and even designed a new sleigh for Santa!
We decided that, as we haven't had a white Christmas for a very long time, Santa's sleigh might be improved if it had wheels. So year 2 have investigated designs and materials that could be used on Santa's sleigh and have made a design. The axles were the most difficult part of the design.
Some of Year 2 have already made and painted their sleighs and the rest will do theirs next week.

Basketball

This term in PE Y5/6C have been undertaking basketball. The children have really improved their passing and shooting skills. Below is some footage of some good play in today's session.

Year 5/6 Science Week

Last week Year 5 & 6 had a science week. The children had lots of fun undertaking various observation and investigation activities.

African drumming

Today year 5 & 6 gave a brilliant African drumming performance. They showed off what they have been learning in music this term. Below are various selections of the performance by the three classes.

PTFA Christmas Social

The Christmas social on Friday was a great night. Thank you to everyone who supported it, and to those who helped run it and tidy up afterwards. A special thank you must go to the girls who ran the children’s bar so brilliantly, and to Mrs Joseph for all her help & support.

For Ethiopia

We have recently received information back from the Charity For-Ethiopia regarding the fantastic amount of money raised. From your generous sponsoring of Mrs Josephs sky dive, we have been able to help the school in Addis Alem to rebuild their well. A big thank you to everyone who contributed and well done Mrs Joseph!!

Below is a video of Mrs Joseph's sky dive to prove that she actually did do it!

The David Bracey trophy

On Tuesday afternoon, some of the children in the Tag Rugby club represented the school at Cleve RFC in the David Bracey trophy.
The afternoon started with the children having a training session with some local coaches.



After this the matches began. Despite a somewhat slow start, the team improved dramatically throughout the matches scoring a number of tries. What was evident early on in the tournament was the quality of their passing.



Thankyou to all the parents who helped with the transportation of the children to and from the event. Without this we would not have been able to take part. An additional thankyou to those who were able to stay and cheer the team on.

A big thankyou must go to Trevor Wallace. He has been running the Tag Rugby club this term as well as coaching the side on the day.

Advent

Y5/6P have been looking at the Advent Wreath and discussing why it is made the way it is. The class then focused on the first week in advent and how, during that week, we are asked to look out for Jesus in our everyday lives. Below are examples of the writing produced following the discussions.

To See God
To see anyone, is to see God.
To walk outside, is to see God.
To see a pebble, is to see God.
To see a tree, is to see God.
To see the Wendy House in your garden, is to see God.
God is always with you.
(Ashley)

We can look for Jesus everyday, because we see Jesus in all the people who do good things for us. We should always keep him in our hearts. If you help someone, it's like you're helping Jesus. You might see Jesus in happiness, a good laugh. Today, I saw Jesus in my friend because, when I was upset, she lifted my spirit up a bit and she made me feel happy.
(Justyna)

To hear God is to laugh together.
To see God is to look into your heart.
To feel God is to feel kindness all around.
(Jack)

We look, not with our eyes but with our hearts. To look at Jesus is to look into your heart. Jesus is not visible, but we know when he is near. Each day he is with us in our hearts and our love.
(Elliott)

The Advent Wreath
There are three purple candles on an advent wreath,
The three purple candles are a sign of grief.

There is one candle coloured pink,
It makes you look forward and makes you think.

There is also a candle coloured white
Jesus, the light of the world- A beautiful sight.

The base of the wreath is always green,
The evergreen God, you have never seen.

The base is a circle
The unending love of Jesus and God's miracle.
(Anna)

We see Jesus when we meet someone. We see Jesus in our hearts. We see Jesus in our friends. We see Jesus in our Mum, Dad and Grandparents. We see Jesus in happiness. In smiles. There is Jesus in laughter. We see Jesus in everybody. Today, I saw Jesus when someone helped me. I saw Jesus in my teacher. I saw Jesus in kindness. I saw Jesus when my mum got me breakfast. We see Jesus everyday, every night and everywhere.
(Oliver)

Let there be light

As part of our topic work in Year 2, the children have been exploring electricity. I was impressed with how much the children know about being safe with electricity. The children were challenged to use components to make the bulb light up. They enjoyed the challenge and were able to use wires, a battery and a bulb to create a working circuit. Next week we might see if we can include a switch.

VE Day party

On Friday Year 5 & 6 celebrated the end of their topic on World War two with a VE Day party. We had great fun with war time food, songs, games and dancing.

Evacuation boxes

During the course of our topic on World War Two, Year 5 & 6 children have been bringing in evacuation boxes. The children imagined that they were an evacuee today, selecting items from home to place in a box. These items were things that are important to them, or activities to amuse themselves whilst evacuated.

Dear Bristol City Council

In Year 2 we have started our new topic of 'Journeys'. Earlier this week the children did a traffic survey to find out if the roads around our school are busy or quiet. They discovered that Lodge Causeway is a busy road. Today we have been talking about how the children travel to school and discovered that lots of children thought Lodge Causeway is too dangerous to cycle or ride their scooters to school. Therefore, they thought up ideas of how to make the road safer so that they can cycle or scooter to school. The children have written their ideas in letters, which we are going to send to the council. Perhaps our letters will lead to a cycle lane on Lodge Causeway!

A celebration of learning

Year 2 celebrated their learning today. With help from the microphone, the children told the rest of the school about some of the activities and skills they had learned during their 'Food' topic last term. These included tasting, cooking and using kitchen utensils, creating a menu using Microsoft publisher, creating fruit faces in the style of Giuseppe Acrimboldo in real life and on the computer, using shape and tone to draw vegetables and bottles. It was amazing to hear about all the learning that had taken place in just 1 term!

I spoke to some of the Year 2 children afterwards about the skills and activities in the topic. Here is what they said:

Mikenagh
"My best skill I learned was how to mind map."

Ruby
"My favourite bit was making the fruity face."

Nadia
"I enjoyed making the fruity face on the computer."

Anique
"I liked walking to the park for a picnic."

Joe
"I found making 3D food packages fun but hard."

Lewis
"The hardest part of the topic was writing open questions to ask Zoe, the school cook."

New after school clubs

There was a real buzz after school on Thursday with two new after school clubs, cookery and fencing! As you can see from the photographs the children really enjoyed themselves.

Sukkot

As part of our Judaism week we have been learning about the Jewish festival of Sukkot. We have learned that during this festival Jews build small huts, called Sukkahs, in their garden to remember thier ancestors, who were led to the desert by Moses. Here is what Mikenagh wrote about Sukkahs:

I like Sukkahs becuse I like the green leaves. The Jewish peopel bilt Sukkahs becuse to make shelters. They need to make them becuse to celbrate Sukkot.

Well done Mikenagh

Year 2 Psalms

This week in Y2S we have been learning about Judaism. We started off by learning about the Psalms that are in the Jewish Bible. We listened carefully to Psalm 8 being read and also being sung by a Jewish choir. The children then had a chance to write their own version of the Psalm. Here are some of the children's Psalms:

Wen yoo put the stars and the mone I can see how grat yoo r. Wen yoo mac th tres and the fllawers I can see how grat yoo r to mee.
By Meigan

When I'm doing so good I can see how great you are. When I ride on my bike I can see how great you are. When I see my friends I can see how great you are. When I see a good draaing I can see how great you are.
By Maciej

Wen I see you meyd the wold, I can see how great you ar. Wen I see you meyd the skay and the sun in the skay, I can see how great you ar.
By Sandra

Well done!

Stars of David

As part of our Judaism week, my class have been drawing their own Stars of David. Not only did we learn that it is one of the most important symbols to the Jewish community, but we were also able to use our Maths skills. This has meant a lot of practice with rulers, angles and equilateral triangles!



Although finding it quite tricky to begin with, all of the children produced a really good effort. Here are some good examples.

Remembrance Day

Today we held a special Remembrance Day assembly to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts. Year 5 & 6 read out prayers, poems and sang the peace song to commemorate the day. It was also a chance for Year 5 & 6 to show off some of their World War two topic work.

New Challenges

Congratulations to those children who completed last term's challenges and received prizes. This term's exciting challenges are now available on our challenge website stjosephschallenges.ik.org


This terms special challenge is to design a Christmas card as part of the Prince’s Rainforests Project for schools. You will have to be quick as entries need to be in on the 24^th November 2008. There are also lots of new web challenges -why not create your own Super hero comic?

Our Celebration Assembly

Today we had a special assembly. Mr Condon talked about inviting people to special events and how we should try and invite all people to our celebrations.

At the end of the assembly Mr Condon told us that Father Eric started as a priest in Fishponds 30 years ago when Mr Condon was a pupil at this school!

The School gave Father Eric a big card and a special present to thank him for 30 years of love and care towards the school and the community. Congratulations Father Eric!

Year 2 has a visit from the school cook

Today Year 2 had a visit from Zoe, the school cook. The children prepared for her visit by writing some open questions to ask her.

When she arrived she talked to the class about her job and the foods she cooks. After that, the children asked her lots of questions about food preparation, types of food and how to cook different things. It was great to hear how much the children have learned about food.
Thank you Zoe for coming in. We really enjoyed it!

Y5/6P Poetry

The following group poem was produced after our lesson on personification, metaphor and similes.

SUN

I am the sun,
I burn away the darkness
With my blazing spirit.
The planets are my children
Surrounding me day and night.

I am a flower without any petals.
I am a clock without hands.
I am a face, gleaming with light.
I am a balloon, high up in the sky.
I am the one who gives you light.

Callum, Sam, Charlotte, Rhianna.

World War II Dunkirk

During their topic on World War II, Y5/6 looked at what happened at Dunkirk. They tried to imagine how soldiers, or rescuers, would have felt at that time and wrote diary entries. Below are two of the entries from Y5/6P

Dear Diary,
Standing here, near the edge of the cold, turquoise sea, my feet sinking in the sand and my spine vibrating, I am desperately hoping that I will be rescued by tonight.
Seconds pass, minutes pass- even hours pass and still no boat. I am scared, scared that I might be one of the unlucky ones - not being rescued, not going home to my family.
Thoughts after thoughts, my head can't take it any more. Then, in the middle of a flashback - Yes! A 15 man boat. I am one of the lucky ones.
Rhianna

Dear Diary,
I was really, really scared. I haven't seen my family yet. I am shaking. I was standing on the sandy beach. My feet were sinking into the ground. "Lord, take me now." I said. Then the sea was crashing against my feet and I saw a boat coming to collect me. I was really glad.
Anna

Y2 helping people to recycle

This week in ICT Year 2 have been creating posters to encourage people to recycle. The children remembered lots from last week's recycling workshop and used some new skills to create their posters, including changing the font of their writing. Here are some examples:


Do you recycle?

Fantastic food sorting

In Y2S we have been doing lots of sorting this week. The children have been sorting foods made from plants and foods made from animals as well as matching up animal based foods with the correct animal that they are made from.



During the group work the children were using their good co-operation and communication skills. Well done Y2S!

International Singing!

What better way to learn languages than to sing them! That's what we were doing in Singing Assembly this week. We sang a counting song in French - what accents! and started to learn a Polish playground song, helped by all the Polish children. More on that one later...

Book Week

This week was International Book Week and, to celebrate, many classes met up with each other to share their books and read together. On Friday, the Reception class and Y5/6J spent a happy afternoon sharing their books. We really enjoyed reading to each other and getting to know what we all like to read. We won't be waiting for the next Book Week but will arrange another meeting soon!

Our recycling recount

Today we did a Big Write about yesterday's materials workshop. We were learning how to use time connectives to show the order that things happen. Here is what Dean wrote:

Firstly when Hellen the rubish-techer came in we had a chat about rubish and were it goes. After that we did some rubish drama and Hellen turnd us into steal-cans and we went into the steal-cans resicling facttory. First we got crusht. Then we went into the in-furus and wrer melted.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Today Year 1 and 2 had a visit from Helen, the recycling lady. She explained about what happens to our waste. We learned about what items can be recycled, what happens to a can when it is recycled and why we should use our brown and black bins.
We even got a chance to make a fridge magnet to help us remember what we should put in our brown and black bins.

Can you rememeber what items you can recycle?

Creative writing in Mrs Bell's group

Today, Mrs. Bell's Read/Write group wrote this fantastic piece of descriptive writing together.

One dark moonless night I was walking faster and faster down the lane. When suddenly there was a ghostly figure. The mysterious figure was dressed in black from head to toe and he was carrying a big, red bag.

He took lots of things out of his massive bag, they were covered in blood. I felt sick!

He stared at me with his large spooky red eyes. I sprinted away as quickly as I could. What a terribly scary night.

What an impressive piece of writing. Thankyou to Cole fot helping to put it on the blog!

Cricket

Over the past few weeks Y5/6C has been receiving cricket training from a professional coach. The children have had fun working on skills such as batting, catching and fielding. Check out the videos below, we may have some cricket stars of the future!

Book Week

This week is book week. Children from different classes have joined together to share stories. Below are some photos of children from Y5/6C & Y2S enjoying books together.






Did you know 2008 is the national year of reading?

Below are some website links

Click here for some online picture stories

Click here to for reading challenges -Why not take a book quiz?

Click here for reading ideas

Get blogging!

Last week Year 2 learned how to find this blog on the internet and how to read and add comments to the stories that are published. It's lovely to read all the comments that they made. You too can make a comment on any of the stories in this blog. Start by clicking on the blue 'comments' link at the bottom of the story you want to comment on. Happy blogging!

Year 5 and 6 have been writing stories about what it must have been like in an air raid during World War Two. Morgan's story really captured the atmosphere. Here's an extract:.

Charlie didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t find his mum or his brother Tom. “Why? Why do I have to go there?” The air raid warden just looked very angry.
“Just do it!” he said sharply. So Charlie did.

Nervously, the boy scampered down to the shelter and shut the door behind him. Charlie thought his heart was going to come out of his chest. Do this; do that; he didn’t know who to listen to. The eight year old boy was all alone. People running around; no one took any notice of poor Charlie. With that, he saw his brother, Tom. “Come on, you lazy thing,” said Tom. “Mum’s been looking for you everywhere.”

Courageously, Charlie walked outside to meet his mother. BANG! “Aww!” said Charlie, “what was that for?”

“That was for not listening to me when I said ‘bombs’,” said his mother.

As Charlie walked into his house, he heard a faint explosion in the distance. Charlie turned round. All around was silence. “Mum! Mum!” There was no reply. He had done it again: lost his mum and brother Tom. “Mum, Mum. Please reply, Mum. I’m scared! MUM!”

What a brilliant piece of writing! Well done, Morgan.

3D shape drawings

In maths this week Year 5 & 6 have been finding out more about shapes. In this lesson the children needed to create various shapes from cubes. The children were asked to draw their shapes in 3D from different views. Some of the children enjoyed the task so much, they have set themselves a project of producing more 3D pictures.

Year 3/4's stories in familiar settings

Mine and Mrs Mantle's Literacy groups have been looking at stories set in places that we are familiar with. This week we've taken our groups out into the playground to see how it can be so different when it is empty and when it is full with children!



We then used this as inspiration to write the setting of a story. Here is an extract of Agnel's story.


The sky was baby blue with fluffy white clouds in the breezy, cold, peaceful playground. In the background I could hear sirens and motorcycles. Butterflies fluttered around drinking pollen. The autumn leaves swooshed around. Sunlight was beating on the ground. Trucks passed quickly, birds sung their beautiful songs.

Excellent descriptive writing Agnel!

Reception's Class Pets!

As well as having 30 new children in Reception, we are also looking forward to the birth of hundreds of baby snails! The little white eggs, which look like polystyrene balls appeared in their cage this morning. Anyone with any tips or desire to home one (or more) of these delightful, low maintainance pets can speak to Mrs. Rollings.

Our trip to post our letters

Today, we had lots of fun walking to the post office to buy some stamps so that we could post our letters home. We were really sensible walking to and from thew post office and some people who saw us were very impressed with our behaviour. When we got back to school, we watched a video showing us what will happen to our letters next.

Year 5 Science

Today year 5 looked at materials and investigated which materials let light pass through them. The children had fun with the investigation and enjoyed looking at the materials more closely using microscopes and magnifying glasses.

Year 2 Healthy Picnic

Yesterday morning Year 2 went down to the field for a picnic. The children all brought a healthy packed lunch with them to eat and we played some games and did some exercise. Luckily the sun came out just as we started our lunch.

The fun continued in the afternoon as we did 3 interesting activities. We learnt skills, such as grating, to help us design and make fruit faces. We also did a taste test to see if we could taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty. And we made a healthy meal out of plasticine. It was a very exhausting day!

Y5/6 visit to WW2 Experience, Swindon

Today Year 5 & 6 went to Steam - Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon.

Here we experienced what it was like for children who were evacuated in the Second World War. We also looked at how families were affected by the war and how it was important to 'make do and mend' in wartime shortages. It was a fantastic fact filled day!

Y5/6J Peace Day Assembly

Today Y5/6J gave an assembly to mark International Peace Day. The class produced some inspiring prayers and poems on the subject of peace. Below is some footage of their performance which the class created with Mrs Workman.

The face of Y5/6C

We have been thinking about ourselves in RE. We are all different with many talents and qualities to offer. This picture was created by the children cutting up photos of themselves and then sticking them together to create one face.

A tasty investigation

This week year 2 learnt about what happens to materials when they are heated and cooled. In a very tasty investigation we heated up some chocolate, butter, syrup and cornflakes and made crispy cakes. It was great to hear the children using lots scientific vocabulary. Mmmmmm yum.

My classroom

At the end of the last school year I received a present from Liam M in my class (Y5/6C). This present was a CD which contained a 3D design of my classroom using Googlesketchup. The design is so good that it needed to be shared on the school blog. The attention to detail is incredible. Below is a selection of photos taken of the 3D design.

Brilliant work Liam!

Year 5/6's Learning Grows!

Over the last week and a half the whole school has been talking about LEARNING. The children have been exploring what it takes to be a Successful Learning and what they need to do to be more successful. Year 5/6 have created this amazing model showing which allows them to develop their learning further.

A focus for the whole school this term is 'reviewing and improving our learning'. What a great start!!!!

Year 3/4 go with the flow

Year 3/4 gathered in the playground this afternoon to witness how water flows and creates its own path.



It was a good start to our new topic on 'Rivers'.

Success in learning

Today in Y2S we were discussing what it really takes to be a successful learner. The children came up with some great ideas. In numeracy the children demonstrated that they are successful learners by understanding what they were learning about and working with other learners. Well done class!

Ready for a challenge?

New challenges are now available for this term on our website: www.stjosephschallenges.ik.org


There are lots of prizes to be won. Give your entries to your class teacher or myself -Mr Conlon.
Please include your name and class. Closing date is Thursday 23rd October 2008. Good luck!


Special challenge - Around the world
(Geography/Art challenge)




Take on the science soup can derby challenge!

Hello

Welcome back to St. Joseph's everybody. All the children and staff seemed happy working in their new classes.

This afternoon we had a start of term assembly where I talked to the the school about how were are all different and special and that's why God loves us all!!

It was great to see the whole school together after our break.

Goodbye

As well as saying goodbye to the year 6 children, we said goodbye to Mrs Bevan, Mrs Leaworthy, Mrs Staples, Mrs Graham, Miss Wright and Mrs Nicholson. We wish them all the best in the future and thank them for all their hard work for the school.

Leavers mass

It was an emotional farewell to our year 6 children and several members of staff. It was also a time to celebrate the achievements of the school year.

Choir

What a brilliant year for the school choir! They have been giving lots of performances recently. Here are some videos of them singing in assembly.

Well done the Choir and Mrs Marsh!

Year 6 Performances of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes

Year 6 produced some outstanding and enjoyable performances of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. The children have worked hard adapting the popular story into a playscript, adding lots of their own material. It was a real team effort with all the children playing a part. Their brilliant personalities really brought the play to life.

Well done!

Miss Geach's Multi Skills Club

Tuesday was the last session for Miss Geach's after school club. The children have been working on ABC'S; Agility, Balance, Co-ordination and Speed.

This last session was a chance for the children to demonstrate the skills that they have learnt over the course.
Well done children (and Miss Geach) for all the effort and hard work!

Infants sing up at Vassals Park

All the infants went for a trip down to Vassals Park on Tuesday to sing some songs. We sat down for a healthy picnic on the grass before standing in a big circle and singing. The children sang very nicely and did all the actions to the songs. After that we all went into the children's play area to use the equipment. It was great to see all the children using their social skills and co-operation whilst playing.

Thank you to all the parents and friends for your help in walking to and from the park and your help when the children were playing. Your help makes a big difference to these trips.

Year 6 Playground Project Winners

The winning project was produced by 'The Renaissance' Team. I was impressed by the quality of their presentation skills and their clear ideas. Their project pack included clear plans, diagrams, costings, market research and had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve.

Well done 'The Renaissance!'

Winners of the Playground Project - by Mr Condon

As you know, Year 6 have been very busy recently working on a playground project. The aim was to present a bid for improving the school playground.The children worked in teams consisting of a Project Co-ordinator, Budget Manager, Health & Safety Officer, Surveyor, Designer, Log-Keeper and Market Researcher. The children were were regularly joined by Mr Terry, a Volunteer from the finance sector HSBC (who was also in civil engineering) who helped the children particularly with budgeting, presentation skills and team work.The children needed to measure, design, budget, undertake market research and investigate health and safety issues regarding the playground.

Earlier this week, each team presented their proposal to myself and gave me the opportunity to ask questions. I was amazed with the way in which the children organised and presented their ideas. Sometimes as a Headteacher I need to present ideas and information to groups of adults, so I know how difficult it is. Each team demonstrated that they had considered the needs of the school in depth and had put their imaginative ideas into detailed plans. But which team had the most effective proposal?

I will be meeting Year 6 to share my judgement later today!

St Joseph's Sports Day

Today was our Sports Day. Each child competed in a variety of events. There were running races...



A jumping event...



A throwing event...



And a personal best event. This involved the children trying to beat a record they had set earlier in the week on a walking course.



The children had a great time, especially those from St John as they were the winners! Well done St John!



Thankyou to all the parents and friends who came to Sports Day, and to everyone who helped out with different roles to make the day such a success. A big thankyou must go out to Mrs Tuohy and Mrs Mooney who did a sterling job with calcualting the scores.

Olympic Gold medalist visits St Joseph's!

We were all extremely lucky today at St Joseph's when we were visited by an Olympic Gold Medalist! Ed Coode, who was part of the Great Britain 'Four' rowing team that won Gold at the Athens Olympics, very kindly came in to show the school a video of the race and then spent some time answering questions from KS2 children.






It was a great inspiration to all of the children and very timely as it's our 'sports week' and we will be having our own 'Olympics' on Thursday with the St Joseph's Sports Day.



A big thankyou to Ed for taking the time to come into School to talk to us-and for bringing in his Gold medal!

St Joseph's skipathon!

Today all of the children from St Joseph's took part in a British Heart Foundation 'Jump rope' skipathon. By doing this they were raising money for the BHF, as well as sports equipment for the school.
Mr Sherwin and Mr Conlon were surprisingly good skippers!






A big well done to all the children who took part and and a big thankyou to Mrs Petela for running the event.
Remember to keep all the sponsorship money coming in!

Sports week

Skipathon for the British Heart Foundation is on Monday 14th July

Sports Day will be on Thursday 17th July at the school field off Forest Road. It will begin at 9.30pm -weather permitting.

Hinduism Day

On Tuesday the whole school spent the day learning about Hinduism. In Y1/2S we had already read the Ramayana story of Rama and Sita and spent some time turning it into a play. Hinduism day gave us a chance to make masks for our play and to perform it to the reception class. Some of the children were a bit nervous about their performance but everyone tried their hardest and the reception class enjoyed it. Well done!!!

What was your favourite part of the story?

PTFA Summer Social

It was great to see so many people enjoying themselves at the summer social last Friday. Here's a few photos of the night.

Y5/6C making rakhi

Y5/6C have been looking at some of the Hindu festivals for Hinduism day. We looked at the festival of Raksha Bhandan, which celebrates the relationships between brothers and sisters. The festival is marked by the tying of a rakhi, or holy thread by the sister on the wrist of her brother. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to look after her. Below are some photos of our class making rakhi.

Playground project

Year 6 has been very busy recently working on a playground project. The aim being to present a bid for improving the school playground.


The children worked in teams consisting of a Project Co-ordinator, Budget Manager, Health & Safety Officer, Surveyor, Designer, Log-Keeper and Market Researcher. We were regularly joined by Mr Terry, a Volunteer from the finance sector HSBC (who was also in civil engineering) who helped us particularly with budgeting, presentation skills and team work.


The children needed to measure, design, budget, undertake market research and investigate health and safety issues regarding the playground. All the teams produced fantastic professional presentations, learning a lot from a tough project.

Doubting Thomas

Mr Tilmouth's year 3/4 class did an amazing assembly today based on St Thomas. The acting was phenomenal and the audience were able to hear every word thanks to the loud voices that the actors and readers used.

It was really nice to see so many parents and friends coming in to watch the children perform their assembly.

A hop, a skip and a jump

The infants were getting ready for Sports Day this afternoon. The children were working really well in thier teams and showed good co-operation. The playground was a hive of activity with 4 classes doing different activities and a small year 6 group checking their bikes before their cycle-safety class.

The children have been talking about how they have been getting ready for Sports Day at home too so it looks set to be a very competitive day indeed.

Polish Club

Today we were making a plan of the school. Sebastian and Klaudia were hard at work drawing it out.

The rest of the group have made a page telling us about our school teams of St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke and St John, and how to collect team points.
Our teams in Polish are:

St Matthew - Św Mateusz (Shvyenti Mateoosh)
St Mark - Św Marek (Shvyenti Marek)

St Luke - Św Łukasz (Shvyenti Wookash)

St John - Św Jan (Shvyenti Yan)

Joint choir workshops and concert

Friday 20 June was a really exciting afternoon for St Joseph's choir. Two choirs form Bristol Grammar School came and joined forces with us and together with their singing teachers, we learned rounds, partner songs and brand new songs. At the end of the afternoon, parents came and listened to our collective voices. BGS sang two wonderful songs based on poems by Edward Lear with a piano duet accompaniment. St Joseph's choir sang 'Believe', a powerful anthem about your hopes and dreams by Howard Goodall, and a second song called 'Ghosts' by Gareth Malone (of The Choir BBC2 fame). Together we sang the rounds and partner song learned in the workshops and a three part song called Simple Gifts, also by Howard Goodall which was particularly moving. The concert ended with Shalom, a song of peace and unity.
We really look forward to more singing with these choirs, as we had a wonderful time and learned so much.

The traveller returns!

The Year 3/4 classes had a bit of a surprise today down at the School field. The 'Traveller' that some of them had met in Vassalls Park a couple of weeks ago returned with some of the stories that we had written for him. The stories told how 'it' had come to being in this world and what its own realm was like!



Jack and Will read out their fantastic stories to both the traveller and the rest of Year 3 and 4. At the end the traveller spoke! It simply said 'poems' in a croaky voice! We can only presume that we now need to write some poems to help 'it' return home!

Polish Club

Every Wednesday the Polish children from our school meet up at the Club, where they are able to speak in their native language, whilst learning English. Here they are creating a bilingual Welcome Book. This week they were working on the school's Golden Rules.

Mashed Potato

Today we have been making mashed potato with the potatoes we have grown in school. First we dug out the potatoes, then we washed them. Mrs. Marley put them in the boiling water to cook them and then we took it in turns to mash them. We added a little bit of butter and some parsley from our planting area and tasted it. We served it with carrots and lettuce from our garden. Delicious!

A walk in the park

Today the infants all went down to Vassalls Park to do some learning out of the classroom. The year 1/2 classes are investigating habitats in science at the moment and so the children recorded in a tally chart all the animals they could find by the stream. There were snails, slugs, caterpillars, beetles and even some ducks! The children are going to compare their results with a survey they have already done in the playground to see how the different habitats are different.

All the investigating made the children hungry. It was great to see the children eating such healthy lunches. Well done kids! While we were eating, we had a surprise visit from Miss O'Toole. She brought her children Laurie and Alexia to say hello to the children.

After lunch Y1/2F and Y1/2S set to work again. This time the classes searched for natural objects to create large pictures. Mrs Ford's class created a tree and Mr Sherwin's created a spider. After we had taken the photos, the natural objects were taken back to where they had been found.

There was fun and games in the play area in the afternoon. All the children played nicely with each other on the equipment. There was lots to play with.

Finally, we walked back to school wearing our high visibility jackets so that cars could see us and slow down.

Well done children for your wonderful behaviour on the trip and a big thank you to all the parents who came and helped us on this trip. We really appreciate your help!

Year 6 Retreat at Ammerdown

Today Year 6 had a retreat at Ammerdown. We spent some time reflecting on the past and our hopes for the future. We particularly thought about moving on to our different secondary schools. We had a peaceful day creating stained glass windows, singing songs and writing and saying prayers.

Time for reflection

Stop, look, listen, think!

Today key stage 1 children have been learning about road safety. We all had a talk from Mr Louis Taylor. He taught us about how to stay safe when crossing the road. we learnt 4 very important words. STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, THINK. He showed us how to use these words when crossing the road. He taught us actions to help us remember them.

The talk was funny because he used magic to help him teach us.

When we got back to class we talked about the things we had learnt and practiced the actions.

KS1 Road Safety Visitor

Today a visitor came to talk to us about road safety. We learned about STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and THINK! He also talked to us about what to wear to be seen, how to cross the road safely and to make sure we always keep are eyes and ears open when we are by the road.



We even met Billy Bigboots and the teachers turned him orange!

Forgiveness Poem

A wonderful poem by Shannon in Year 5 -

Forgiveness smells like a new life.

It sounds like a fresh river falling down the stream.

It feels like the peace and love flowing all round the earth.

It looks like the whole world and all the little children uniting with each other.

A mysterious traveller!

On Monday, mine and Mrs Bell and Mrs Nicholson's Literacy groups went to Vassalls Park in search of an unknown being! We had heard rumours that a mysterious individual had been spotted in the park. We visited one of the sites where this 'visitor' had been seen and were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of 'it' across the stream, before it was frightened into the woods! It appears that it is rather timid.

After some further exploration of the park we caught another sighting and followed it into the woods. We found it sitting on a fallen tree.



As we approached the being it started to make some strange sounds. Then, it gestured toward Will and pointed at a Scroll lying on a stone in front of it. Will bravely picked the scroll up.



It appears that 'it' is a lost traveller and we have to help it find its way home by writing tales of its journey. We must return in one week and one day if we are to be rewarded for our efforts!
As soon as the traveller started to shake we decided to leave. We didn't want to upset our new friend! We now have a week to try and help the traveller find its way home!

Challenge Website

Congratulations to last term's Challenge Website prize winners. Below in the slideshow you can see the winners for the special challenge -The Bristol art competition. Liam M's stunning Suspension bridge designs using ICT, Alana's 3D Balloon design and Samantha's many images of Bristol. They all look superb!


New challenges are now available for this term at http://www.stjosephschallenges.ik.org/

The special challenge for this term coincides with St Joseph's Sports week. There are many other challenges such as Euro 2008 maths data handling and writing postcards from your favourite fictional characters.


Closing date is Tuesday 22nd July 2008. Good luck!

An unexpected visiter in Y1/2S

Today some of the children found a spider in the corner of the classroom. At first, the children got very scared and excited but then they realised that he wasn't going to hurt them. We discussed how we should treat all of God's creatures and decided that we could leave the 8 legged minibeast on his web.

Singing assembly

Here is a video showing some of today's singing assembly.

Photos of the Infant Party

Singing Workshop

On Wednesday 11th June me (Olivia) and Sam went to St Annes Park Primary School for a song writing workshop. We were sent by Mrs. Marsh. When we got there we were greeted by Kate Courage. Later on we met a lady called Marilyn, she would be writing most of the songs for the production of ‘Everymans Land’ which the school choir will be taking part in. The children there (including us) wrote one of the songs called ‘The Bluebacks.’ Most importantly we had a great day!

This week in Reception we have been learning about materials. We had foil, fabric, newspaper, wood and plastic. We had to predict which material would keep teddy dry, we then got to test our predictions. On Friday we are going to write about what we learnt.

Weaving

We have been brightening up the courtyard by weaving different coloured fabrics through the meshing. We also learnt how to tie knots to stop the fabric from sliding theough the netting.

Year 1 Friendship web

All week in year 1 we have been learning about friendship and building bridges as part of our RE topic. The children have been talking about friendships, making mind maps of what our friends do for us and we have made a class friendship web. We used string and made sure that we all had hold of a piece of the string. The children then wrote about what the friendship web meant to them.

'' We made a friendship web together using string. This shows that we are all friends with each other'' Issy

''The web makes me think of how much I like school because all my friends are kind.'' Rebecca

Tomorrow we are going to write a class prayer to help us to remember to be good friends.

Tomorrow we are going to be writing a class prayer to help us to be good freinds to everybody.

Year 2 planting sunflower seeds

The Sky Room

This afternoon Ellie, who will be coming to St. Joseph's in September, came to visit the school. She has named the Reception outside area, "The Sky Room" What a great name! Inside Mrs. Rolling's Class some children were creating number patterns on the interactive whiteboards. Next door in Miss. Wright's class the children were talking about friendship and were making their own "Friendship Bricks". The children were talking about all the things good friends do.