Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Sportshall Athletics Champions!

  Wed 05 Feb 2025

  On Tuesday our athletics team took part the Sportshall Athletics district final at Shenfield High School. They took part in twelve separate track and field events, achieving fantastic results including a good number of personal bests. It was a fast paced, exciting and noisy event and we are delighted to announce that St. Joseph's were victorious and came home with two trophies: Overall District Sportshall Athletics Champions and Small School Sportshall Athletics Champions. Congratulations to the whole team! We are very proud of you. 

   

  The team will now move on to take part in the Essex Small Schools Sportshall Athletics Final on 19th March in Southend.

  

• Well done Oliver!

  Tue 04 Feb 2025

  We are extremely proud of Oliver who was selected to represent Essex at the Eastern Regional Final of the Sportshall UK Championships at University of East Anglia Sportspark.
  
  Oliver came 1st in triple jump and 1st in 'over and under'. He was particularly proud of his triple jump. Well done Ollie! 

  

• Meet our new school dog - Muffin

  Wed 15 Jan 2025

  We had a very special visitor to school yesterday - Muffin. Muffin was assessed by Jenny from The Dog Mentor and passed, meaning that she is suitable to work in school to support children with their learning. School dogs have been proven to enhance educational, social, emotional, and therapeutic outcomes for children. 

   

  The Dog Mentor Programme has built on the benefits of the human-animal bond by providing children positive experiences with dogs. Since 2012, implementation of The Dog Mentor Programme in schools across the UK has proven to have significant impact on many children’s lives. These positive impacts follow the premise that improving communication within schools will improve behaviour.

   

  Welcome to the school family, Muffin!

  

• The Feast of the Epiphany

  Mon 06 Jan 2025

  We returned to school today after the holidays. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

  The 6th January is the Epiphany when we celebrate the arrival of the Magi at the manger. Fr Gary led a special assembly explaining the feast and the gifts that the wise men brought. He then blessed each class with holy water and we marked our doors with: 20 + C + M + B + 25. The three letters stand for the names of the magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar as well as for Christus Mansionem Benedicat.

  May God be with us in our learning and friendships this year as we seek to do his will:

  in word, in deed, in love.

  

• Whole school trip to the pantomime!

  Fri 13 Dec 2024

  On Tuesday, the whole school enjoyed a trip to the Towngate Theatre to see Jack and the Beanstalk. It was a truly magical day and lots of fun and laughter was had by all! Oh yes it was!

  

• Neal Zetter, author and poet visit

  Thu 05 Dec 2024

  Today we had a very special visit from Neal Zetter, a children's author and poet. Neal read and performed several of his poems to the children, all of which were interactive and engaging. The children then had the opportunity to buy some signed copies of his books. See Neal's YouTube channel to watch him perform some of his poems: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5_EwLCKSK_g43gXm3pNd1Q

   

  

• Drum assembly

  Wed 27 Nov 2024

  Today we had a very special (and loud!) assembly led by Paul Francis, a professional drummer from The Rhythm Academy. He was incredibly inspiring and the children enjoyed learning about the different drum types and the sounds they can make. We also discovered we had some hidden talent in our midst with Kit from Year 4!

  

• Christmas shoeboxes

  Sat 23 Nov 2024

  Thank you to all of you who have brought in Christmas shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. We have got quite a collection already.

  The shoeboxes are being collected on Monday 25th November, so please get packing an make sure yours is in school first thing on Monday morning!

  

• Parents' Phonics and Early Reading coffee morning

  Fri 22 Nov 2024

  It was good to see many parents here for this half term's coffee morning when we shared how we teach phonics and early reading. The presentation is on the website in the curriculum tab for those who missed it. 

  Thank you to Mrs Freire-Norman for all her hard work in preparing an presenting this and for all she has done to implement our new phonics programme.

  

• School council meeting

  Fri 15 Nov 2024

  We held our second school council meeting today where we discussed lunch times. The school council felt that behaviour is good on the playground although there are some arguments about football. They would like more playground equipment, especially balls.