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Our GIFT Team, with Miss Copp’s help, have created a wonderful new Prayer Trail around our school. Take a look…..
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 Last week we celebrated a very special mass in memory of Mrs Gelezinis. We were joined by her family as we prayed and sang some of her favourite hymns to Mary. The following lovely words of tribute were read by Jac, on behalf of the children….
‘Hello everyone, I’m Jac and I was lucky to be in Mrs Gelezinis’ class last year. She helped us learn, made us laugh and always put us first. I’d like to share some of the happy memories that Year 5 & 6 have of Mrs Gelezinis. It’s impossible to think about Mrs Gelezinis without thinking about reading. She was always so patient with us when we struggled with a word, it’s a miracle she never lost her patience! Our time spent reading was special. She always encouraged us and always took the time to ask how we were. I’m sure there is not one person who can remember making Peppermint Creams with Mrs Gelezinis. They were so tasty and she made it so much fun. If you were lucky enough to help her wrap them, she made sure we pinched a couple as part of her ‘taste test! As you can imagine, Mrs Gelezinis name has caused a few of us some problems. It’s tricky to say, never mind spell!! She even let some of us call her Mrs Lamborghini because we couldn’t say her name, and she didn’t mind at all. There aren’t many Evertonians in St Joseph’s. But thankfully for Matthew McDonald, Mrs Gelezinis was a huge fan. He can recall the countless occasions where they only had to rely on each other for the support they desperately needed. Mrs Gelezinis has played a special role in our time here at St Joseph’s - from knitting, to giving the best advice, we always knew Mrs Gelezinis was someone we could rely on. We miss you Mrs Gelezinis, we appreciate you and we will never forget you. Thank you.’ Thank you to all parishioners and School Governors who came along to our Coronation Lunch. Thank you to the Kitchen team for biscuits and cake. Thank you to Year 6 pupils who served our special guests. Thank you to the staff team for your usual flexibility and positivity. Finally, specials thanks to Mrs Aspinall and our Year 6 bakers for the fantastic scones.
The Pentre trip, in Year 4, is all about challenge - three days and two nights where each child faces their own unique combination of challenges. It may be being away from home or eating new foods, canoeing or clambering through a gorge, keeping kit and clothes organised or making your own packed lunch, or just being constantly on the move rather than sat in front of a screen. Each child will take away something different from their trip but each will have been challenged and found that they can do things they worried they couldn’t (even the adults).
Thank you to the children for their excellent behaviour and positivity and huge thanks to Mrs Laing, Mrs McGowan and Mr King, for giving their time and commitment to make this trip possible. Mr J Wilkinson This week, we celebrated Careers Week. This event was taking place across all Ysgol Eirias feeder primary schools (Pen y Bryn, Cystennin, Llandrillo yn Rhos and Nant y Groes). In our school, it was organised by our Year 5 teacher, Mr Weigh and what a superb job, he did. There has been great enthusiasm from the pupils all week and most importantly lots of chatter about what they want to be when they grow up.
Throughout the week, we have been delighted to welcome a host of parents, grandparents, friends of the school, friends of friends and many others, who have come in to talk to all classes about their job. For each session, the children have been preparing questions and have completed a wide variety of work related activities. At the same time, all classes have been learning the essentials about managing money, in an age-appropriate manner. The week culminated with children invited to come in dressed for the career they hope to have when they were older. (I’m not so sure it’s the greatest news that several members of staff came dressed for alternative careers!) A massive thank you to Mr Weigh and the staff for their hard work in organising this event. And an even bigger thank you to everyone who gave up their valuable time to come in and inspire our children to think about the jobs they would like to do. This week many children may have taken the first step towards a happy and fulfilling career. Mr J Wilkinson  This is what community looks like.
On Saturday we came together for a Lent walk to raise money for CAFOD. The event was organised by Miss Copp, with the support of Governors, PTA and Parish. It was attended by children, staff, parents, grandparents, parishioners, our Parish Priest, members of the PTA, School Governors, babies and dogs. I’m coming together, our community raised over £500 to help CAFOD support other, less fortunate communities, overseas. A slight error in diary planning meant Comic Relief, Science Week and a Family Sharing Assembly collided. The result? Wacky Science Hair Assembly Day. It was busy.
The day featured a wide range of exciting Science activities, with pupils rotating around various classrooms (more pictures to follow). Our staff were joined by Science staff from Ysgol Eirias and Mr O’Kelly, a school Governor and retired surgeon, in planning and delivering learning to celebrate National Science Week. Of course there was also a variety of interesting hairstyles and wigs on display (pupils and staff), as we celebrated Wacky Hair Day for Comic Relief. Thank you for all your donations - we will let you know how much was raised asap. Finally, in the afternoon, we opened our doors (eventually) for a first Family Sharing Assembly since before CoVID struck. There were queues around the corner to see each class share a small part of their week’s learning. The highlights (as is often the case) were the sheer joy on so many pupil and parent faces plus the confidence of our young people (big and small) to perform in front of an audience. Thank you to all who joined us and to the PTA for refreshments afterwards. If pupil voice says ‘yes’, we’ll have another one very soon! So, we might not have planned to pack so much into one day, but it certainly felt worthwhile at 3.30pm. A big thank you, tonight, to a rather tired staff team. Mr J Wilkinson  Last Thursday was ‘International School Meals Day’. It is sometimes easy to forget how fortunate we are to have such lovely meals, cooked for our children, by a great team. Also, to appreciate that, by September, all children in Welsh primary schools will receive these meals for free. As you as parents/carers will know full well, it’s not always easy to persuade our children to eat a wide variety of foods and to clear their plates but the kitchen staff and lunchtime supervisors work really hard to encourage pupils to eat well.
Continuing the cookery theme, next Tuesday ‘Can Cook, Well Fed’ will be starting a series of slow cooking workshops with a group of parents. We are delighted to participate in this initiative and hope it is a great success. For anyone struggling to put meals on the table, St Joseph’s Church continues to offer their ‘Food Hub’ on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10am and 12.30pm, or by appointment (email stjosephscommunityfoodbank@gmail.com). Donations of food, Slow Cookers, electric blankets and hot water bottles are gratefully accepted. Finally, why not help cut food waste by visiting the ‘Zero Waste Fridge’ in St Joseph’s Community Centre on Thursdays (11am-12.30pm) and Fridays (9.30am-12 noon)? There was so much going on this week, it was hard to keep up. On Wednesday we celebrated Dydd Gwyl Dewi with Eisteddfodau for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 plus Year 5 and 6 joined the Annual Colwyn Bay St David’s Day Parade and service in St Paul’s. The day was full of beautiful singing, poetry recitals, dawnsio gwerin, Welsh themed activities in class and handwriting and art competitions. We were joined, at the Eisteddfodau, by many parents in the morning and afternoon who, beforehand enjoyed a cup of tea, chat and a chance to view children’s work. On Friday we celebrated World Book Day. There were lots of wonderful costumes, including probably the best staff entries for many years! Children were read stories by different teachers from across the school and completed a range of reading activities during the day. Foundation Phase pupils visited the Reading Cafe and were joined by parents and grandparents. This was a brand new event, this year, organised by Mrs Roberts. With the shared books there was, once again, the chance of a cup of tea and chat. The week ended with our assembly, where we were joined by School Governors, Mr Mulholland and Mr MacClean. They presented certificates to all who entered our ‘Reading in Unusual Places Photo Competition’ as well as Book Tokens for the winners and runners up. It was certainly a busy week. We hope you and your children enjoyed it as much as we did. I’m off to put the kettle on. One important group of people, often overlooked, in our school community are Governors. As unpaid volunteers, they play a crucial role in developing mission and vision, supporting strategic direction and monitoring school development.
The last few weeks have provided many examples of the ways in which, this small group of people make a big difference. For example, this week the Finance and Staffing Committee have been desperately trying to ensure that we can set a budget for 2023-2024, without significantly impacting pupil learning and well-being. Our Vice-Chair has been assisting in finding a solution to a challenging problem. Our Mission and Purpose Committee are currently planning for our CAFOD Family walk. Last many Governors attended our ‘Fr Frank Goodbye Assembly’ and shared much appreciated positive feedback with staff and pupils. Our Chair carried out an extensive Health and Safety Inspection. Finally, another Governor is taking a lead role in developing the financial awareness element of our revised Curriculum for Wales. All of this happens on top of the half-termly full governors meetings and sub-committee meetings. On behalf of pupils, staff and parents, it feels like a good time to acknowledge their generous support, dedication and effort. Mr J Wilkinson |
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