|
As we come to the end of a complete Spring Term (Who would have thought that would be something to celebrate two years ago?) I thought we’d just have a quick look around the school. This morning, I walked from Nursery to Year 6 and took a few pictures - nothing special, just everyday school. I know many of you would love to do the same and we hope regulations in summer term will allow parents on site. For now, a few photos will have to do….. Finally, I want to mention a group of people who often go unnoticed and certainly don’t get too many thank-yous. This term we have only been able to keep classes open thanks to an army of supply teachers and teaching assistants. Most mornings start with Mrs Pritchard ringing Jack at the agency and begging him to magic the staff we need to cover another day. And he keeps delivering, not only the numbers we need, but good staff too. Staff who care about the children, take pride in their work and embrace working in St Joseph’s, even if it is for just one day. To Jack and each supply teacher or teaching assistant who has joined us this term, thank you. I suspect we will see some of you again in the Summer Term!
Have a happy, Holy Easter everyone and we’ll see you all on Tuesday 26th April. Mr J Wilkinson
0 Comments
 Today, we wore red and collected money for Comic Relief. This will be used to support those in most need and we thank you for your contributions.
So, we helped people outside our school, but the week has also drawn my attention to children within our school with additional needs. St Joseph’s has always strived to offer the best education for these children and the work of those who support them sometimes goes under the radar. There’s a saying, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. We’ve been missing a few staff, this week, which gave me the opportunity to see, first hand, the impact of the work to support these children. This work takes patience, skill, experience, empathy, humour, resilience, understanding and much, much more. The highlight of my week? One small child, in the not too distant past, didn’t have many words or make eye-contact, was asked, ‘Where shall we go now?’, they looked up and replied, ‘Bikes’. Just one word told me everything I needed to know about the work being done in our school. Thank you to all - you make that difference each day. Mr J Wilkinson  On Thursday many of our youngest children got to see inside a building they have been walking past for two years.
The return of Foundation Phase to school mass in St Joseph’s church was a wonderful occasion. Behaviour and respect were wonderful. The children listened well to Fr Vimal, they sang with enthusiasm, quietly said their prayers and looked in wonder at all around them. Year 2 children, who were chosen to read, did so clearly and confidently despite being a first time for many of them. Younger children brought up offertory gifts without a hesitant step. After mass, excited children pointed out the wonderful stained glass windows, the crucifix hanging from the ceiling and the shining gold on the altar. They said they wanted to come back to church again very soon. It was good to be back. A picture paints a thousand words and lots of pictures tell a long story. This week was action packed……..
Year 4 went to Pentre for three days of adventurous activity and were a credit to the school. We celebrated Dydd Gwyl Dewi with music, craft, food and fun. Year 5 and 6 went on a special parade, with other Colwyn Bay schools, where they displayed wonderful banners made last year. We made and ate pancakes. We celebrated Ash Wednesday in our wonderful church. We listened to, wrote and read stories and even had a visit from a local author for World Book Day. We carried out activities and made displays for Fairtrade Fortnight. As you can see, as Spring and daffodils bloom, we too have been growing in love this week.  This week, I had the privilege of spending some time in our Breakfast Club. Sadly, in the busyness of the school day we fail to notice things that are right in front of us. From 8.10am Monday to Friday approximately 50 children each day benefit from a free healthy breakfast and many parents are able to head to work. Three things struck me while I was there. Firstly, the way the staff have it organised is fantastic - it is a fine-tuned routine. Secondly, all the children are incredibly well behaved and cooperative. Finally, and this is the one that really made me stop and notice, the children sit, eat, chat, draw, play and smile throughout the session! It may be just a small part of our school, one you may not even know about, but sometimes it’s the little things that matter most.
Mr J Wilkinson Our Breakfast Club is free and available to all children from Reception to Year 6 It can be accessed any time between 8.10am-8.30am. There is no need to book and your child can attend whenever necessary. Forms available on request. Two things stood out, for me, this week. Firstly, the wide variety of exciting and engaging learning activities taking place, throughout the school. Many classes celebrated Chinese New Year (the Year of the Tiger). There was craft, dance, music, stories, cookery and more - half the school a blaze of colour. There was also a class with Fr Vimal, a visit from Beca Roberts of the Carneddau Scheme and a Zoom call with an archaeologist. A select, lucky few, even got to learn about darts in the Headteacher’s Office!
Who wouldn’t want to be here? Which brings me to my second point. Not everyone finds it that easy to come to school. For many/most school is…. friends, fun, learning and easy. For others it is hard. What struck me, this week, was that for each of these children, who find it hard, the support required is often unique. I am proud to be a member of staff in a school where everyone searches for (and usually finds) the key to getting children through the gate and into the classroom, where they can enjoy activities like those listed above. For some, it might be a kind word and an extra apple in Breakfast Club, for others a cup of tea and a listening ear in Crumpet Club. It might be a welcoming smile from a member of staff or a rattle of the drain, at the front gate, to summon a trusted friend. Each child’s needs, different and every discovered solution, precious. Sadly, we don’t always find the answers, and failure to do so hurts, but we will always keep trying because it is definitely worth coming in for the learning, in our classrooms, each day. Mr J Wilkinson On Tuesday, this week, we celebrated ‘Dydd Santes Dwynwen’. Children in each class produced some fantastic creative work, both inside and outside the classrooms.
If you’d like to know more about Santes Dwynwen, there was a summary in the Daily Post this week (link below) https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/st-dwynwens-day-tragic-tale-22851127 As promised, this week, we’ll have a quick look at what Years 3-6 have been up to.
For Year’s 5 and 6 it’s been an exciting but tiring week, as they’ve been swimming every morning and will be doing the same next week. This meant empty plates and second helpings, at lunchtime, and one or two tired pupils by home time. On top of swimming Year 6 found time to write setting descriptions in Language work and explored ratio and loop cards, outside, in Maths. Their new topic this Term is ‘Our Changing World’, and they’ve started by learning about recycling. For Year 5 the new topic is ‘Out of this World’. This week they have learnt about our Solar System and why the invention of the telescope was so important. They've also started to transform their classroom by creating a space themed display and hanging the planets from the ceiling. Children in Year 4 have been busy learning about timelines in history and people who help us, in their Come and See RE work. They’ve also been carrying out hand washing experiments! Finally Year 3 have been learning to recite ‘Stori Dewi Sant’ and listening to the Snowdon Overture by Gareth Glyn. They then had to interpret and reflect on the music in pictures and/or words. It’s been another busy week and our ‘Criw Cymraeg’ also had time to introduce resources to ensure everyone is ordering their lunch in Welsh. Da iawn pawb. #tyfumewncariad So, let’s dive head first into the Spring Term with a look around the Foundation Phase classrooms.
Nursery’s new topic is Nursery Rhymes. They made New Years resolution stars, created stars in the Twinkly play dough, sieved the sand for hidden stars, completed dot to dot number constellations, wrote ‘s’ for star on the whiteboards and made stars on the light board. The new topic in Reception is fairytales and their first story was the Three Little Pigs. They built houses outside for the pigs, created different parts of the story in play dough, stuck the correct materials on labelled houses and wrote key words. Year 1 took a stroll through the seasons, kept warm with their Hot Chocolate stand, made woolly hats and enjoyed other Winter themed activities. It was a great first week back and the staff were delighted to see the children. Year 2s new topic is ‘Weather’. They created tally, bar charts and used J2e to create pictograms of their favourite weather. They designed, built and evaluated snow forts made using marshmallows and sticks (They showed great team work) Finally, they researched snowfall in Wales and the amount of snow on Snowdon. As you can see, children and staff in Foundation Phase have been very busy, already, this term. Next week, we’ll have a look round Key Stage 2. |
|
- Hafan/Home
- Newyddion/News
- cefnogaeth i rieni/parent support
- Dysgu o bell/Distance learning
- pontio/transition
- Fideos/Videos
- Dogfennau/Documents
- Polisiau/Policies
- Cefnogaeth Maths/Maths support
- CRhA/PTA
- Clwb 200 Club
- Cysylltwch â ni/Contact Us
- clwb frecwast/breakfast club
- cylch chwarae/playgroup
- Early Years Easter
- Hafan/Home
- Newyddion/News
- cefnogaeth i rieni/parent support
- Dysgu o bell/Distance learning
- pontio/transition
- Fideos/Videos
- Dogfennau/Documents
- Polisiau/Policies
- Cefnogaeth Maths/Maths support
- CRhA/PTA
- Clwb 200 Club
- Cysylltwch â ni/Contact Us
- clwb frecwast/breakfast club
- cylch chwarae/playgroup
- Early Years Easter
RSS Feed