Jingle all the way!
Huge thanks to our wonderful Parent Teacher Association and staff who worked so hard to pull off a fantastic family movie night. Thanks also to Father Andrzej and Margam Parishioners for allowing us to use their recently refurbished hall. Pjs and sleeping bags were non negotiable!
A real team effort, thanks also to those who helped clean up at the end of the evening.
The Catholic Pupil Profile is a key instrument by which the virtues taught by the Catholic Faith are expressed in the schools of our Diocese. Based on the Jesuit Pupil Profile, they seek to help us form young people (and ourselves!) in those good ways of living by which our mind and character become ‘good’. Becoming ‘good at being human’ is a main goal of Catholic education, and our tradition helps us see that in order to achieve this we need to ‘train’ our minds, hearts, words and deeds in goodness.
Using this tool well also means we fulfil the expectations Welsh Government has for formation in the four ‘Core Purposes’ of the New Curriculum (where these apply, i.e. in our Welsh schools), as well as forming key virtues needed for fulfilling expectations of RSE in both England and Wales. The Catholic Pupil Profile is therefore a key part of ‘living and learning’ in our schools. It aims to propose a simple but challenging statement of the qualities we seek to develop in pupils in our Catholic schools.
The Catholic Pupil Profile consists of eight virtue pairs that come from the both the gospels and from the Ignatian (Jesuit) spiritual tradition. These virtues are not, of course, unique to Jesuit schools or to Catholic schools – these words come from our tradition but are fundamentally human virtues shared by all human beings. They express what it is to be a good person living a virtuous life.
At St Joseph’s, we use the Catholic Pupil Profile virtues in all areas of school life to instil positive behaviour through weekly Headteacher Awards, assembly themes, collective worship, and our pastoral behavioural system. We believe in an holistic approach to the education of our learners.
Huge thanks to all who contributed to our Harvest Food Bank Appeal and to Jack and his parents help in transporting the goods to the food bank. We have been assured that this food is urgently needed and will go back into our own community of Port Talbot.
What’s going On
Working together – one family in Christ
Loving and Compassionate. Huge thanks to all who sent in one of 48 Shoe boxes that have now been collected from school. Thanks also to everyone who sent in food for the Food Banks Harvest Appeal. PTA and children are going to help distribute the food.
Parents and teachers met today to plan activities for the coming months.
Harvest Pumpkin Carving: Come along and have some fun carving and decorating pumpkins. Please bring a small / medium pumpkin to carve with your child. Venue: Dining Hall Y2 Mrs Owen Monday 23rd October 9:10 am Y2/1 Mrs Turner Tuesday 24th October 9:10 am Y1/2 Mrs James Wednesday 25th October after assembly 9:40 am Reception Mrs Torrance Thursday 26th October 9:10 am Please bring: small pumpkin, carving set (eg. Poundland- plastic), stickers to decorate |
| Brighten Up Harvest Friday 27th October: Non school uniform day. Children are invited to wear harvest colours and bring £1 for School fund. |
Poppy full of Prayers: Come and join your child to design a poppy remembering those in our families who have died. Venue: Dining Hall Y2 Mrs Owen – Tuesday 7th November at 9:10 Y2/1 Mrs Turner – Wednesday 8th November at 9:10 Y1/2 Mrs James – Thursday 9th at 9:10 Reception Mrs Torrance – Friday 10th November at 9:10 Please bring copies of small photos that you might want to add to you poppy. Template will be provided. |
CAFOD Crazy Hair: Friday 17th November children are invite to wear CRAZY HAIR. Please send £1 which will be sent to CAFOD and money will be directed towards families fleeing conflict, support parents fighting climate change, and stand with communities overcoming poverty together. |
Polar Express Christmas Film Night Date to be confirmed, hopefully 6th or 7th December. Venue: Margam Parish Hall Children to dress in PJs and dressing gowns. Bell, pop corn and drink will be provided on purchase of Polar Express Ticket. |
Language and Play: If you know of any families with pre school age children, please invite them along. Could you help along with parent Rachael to help run sessions for pre school on Wednesday afternoon 1:15- 2:30? Please contact Ms Beaumont if you can help out. Start date: Wednesday 8th November |
Christmas Raffle – Heads Up Following the success of previous years, we would like to ask parents to send in small colourful gifts to make up several Christmas Hamper prizes. Mrs Owen’s Class: Red Mrs Turner’s Class: Gold Mrs James’ Class: Green Mrs Torrance’s Class: Gold Mrs Coughlin’s Class: Red |
Christmas Dinner Jumper Day 7th December. All are invited to wear Christmas jumpers and hats. Optional NSPCC donation |
Visit to Father Christmas to be confirmed, as is visit from Father Christmas to school. We are looking to buy an inexpensive selection box for all children to receive. |
Christmas Concert provisionally planned for Tuesday 12th and or Wednesday 13th December. Venue to be confirmed (Comprehensive School or St Joseph’s Church hall.) To be confirmed. |
Charity begins at home…
To celebrate Family Fast Day, children are invited to wear own clothes and bring in tinned food and toiletries for local Food Bank on Friday 6th October.
Family Fast Day is on Friday 6 October.
If you would like to send in a donation you are very welcome.
Come together as a parish, so that families like Meera’s can get help from doctors and other local experts when they need it most.
Dr Nasha’s mobile medical clinic gets life-saving help to where it’s needed most, fast – so when her team arrived in Meera’s village after it had been destroyed by flooding, she rushed to the clinic to get her children the treatment they needed.
Thank you for all your support!
Join us in praying this Harvest as we celebrate God’s gifts and seek to respond with gratitude and generosity.
Generous God, we thank you
for the gifts you have given
for all people to share.
We plant seeds of hope
and nurture them as we seek
a harvest of plenty for all.
Forgive us for the times these seeds
fail to take root in our hearts.
We grieve when homes and crops
are washed away by floods,
when lives are uprooted by disaster,
or trampled by fear and greed.
Living God, you lead us
to a new way of being.
Move us to help one another
in our times of need,
to care for the earth and
to love one another,
sharing your harvest with all.
Amen.
Catherine Gorman/CAFOD
Dear parents and carers,
Have you any clean, good quality coats that you would like to recycle?
Answering Pope Francis’ call
Less is more… it is a way of living life to the full.
Please bring cleaned, coats week beginning Monday 25th September. Coats are to be taken free of charge. I would be grateful for help manning the Recycle Rail. Many thanks, Ms Beaumont
Our phonics scheme in St Joseph’s Infant School is Read Write Inc
Children begin their reading and writing journey with Read Write Inc. Phonics.
They learn their sounds and how to blend sounds to read.
Once children have completed the Read Write Inc Phonics scheme and are confident learners they move on to Read Write Inc, Language and Literacy, continuing to develop their comprehension and writing skills through a diverse range of fiction and non fiction texts.
As well as completing a range of Activities in Language and Literacy, children work on their spelling through a range of online and group spelling strategies.
Parents films
The films below show you how we teach children to read and write with Read Write Inc. Phonics.
The films will help you and your child practise together at home.
If you have a question for the Read Write Inc team, please get in touch with them via our Facebook or Twitter pages and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Supporting at home
With Read, Write Inc we are using pure sounds, (‘m’ not’ muh’, ’s’ not ‘suh’, etc) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.
These first sounds should all be stretched slightly. Try to avoid saying uh after each one: eg /mm/ not muh, /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh.
m – mmmmmmountain (keep lips pressed together hard)
s – sssssnake (keep teeth together and hiss – unvoiced)
n – nnnnnnet (keep tongue behind teeth)
f – ffffflower (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out sharply – unvoiced)
l – llllleg (keep pointed curled tongue behind teeth).
r – rrrrrrobot (say rrr as if you are growling)
v – vvvvvvulture (keep teeth on bottom lip and force air out gently)
z – zzzzzzig zzzzzag (keep teeth together and make a buzzing sound)
th – thhhhank you ( stick out tongue and breathe out sharply)
sh – shhhh (make a shhh noise as though you are telling somebody to be quiet!)
ng – thinnnnngg on a strinnnngg (curl your tongue at the back of your throat)
nk – I think I stink (make a piggy oink noise without the oi! nk nk nk)
These next sounds cannot be stretched. Make the sound as short as possible avoiding uh at the end of the sound:
t – (tick tongue behind the teeth – unvoiced)
p – (make distinctive p with lips – unvoiced)
k – (make sharp click at back of throat)
c – as above
h – (say h as you breathe sharply out – unvoiced)
ch – (make a short sneezing sound)
x – (say a sharp c and add s – unvoiced)
You will find it harder to avoid saying uh at the end of these sounds.
d – (tap tongue behind the teeth).
g – (make soft sound in throat).
b –(make a short, strong b with lips).
j – (push lips forward).
y – (keep edges of tongue against teeth).
w – (keep lips tightly pursed).
qu – (keep lips pursed as you say cw – unvoiced).
The short vowels should be kept short and sharp:
a: a-a-a (open mouth wide as if to take a bite of an apple).
e: e-e-e (release mouth slightly from a position).
Thanks to our hard working Parents and Teachers, our Welcome Back disco was a huge success and attended by almost all of the children in our school. A special vote of thanks to Parish Priest of Margam Father Andrzej and his events team in Margam Parish for allowing us to use the parish hall.
Thanks to our ex-pupils for manning the door to efficiently.
Great News! We will be able to offer a Nurturing Programme for parents and carers.
It’s aim to support parents and carers to get the best out of family life.
Where: St Joseph’s Infant School, Water Street, Port Talbot, SA12 6LF
When: Wed 20th September at 9:00
Contact details: 01639 882579 or speak to Mrs James or Ms Beaumont
Check out familylinks.org.uk for more information on
The Parenting Puzzle book and the Nurturing Programme
What is the Nurturing Programme?
Children are rewarding, stimulating and fun, but looking after them can be
stressful and challenging.
The Nurturing Programme helps deal with those challenges so
that you can have a calmer, happier life.
A tried and tested programme, it helps us think about what we do,
why we do it and how it makes us feel.
What does it cover?
Over the 10-week Programme, you will look at lots of different topics, including:
Understanding why children behave as they do
Recognising the feelings behind behaviour (ours and theirs)
Exploring different approaches to discipline
Finding ways to develop co-operation and self-discipline in children
Learning the importance of looking after ourselves
Practical information What does it cover?
Over the 10-week Programme, you will look at lots of different topics, including:
Understanding why children behave as they do
Recognising
the feelings behind behaviour (ours and theirs)
Exploring
different approaches to discipline
Finding ways to develop co-operation and self-discipline in children
Learning the importance of looking after ourselves
Partners are welcome and it’s also fine to come on your own
or with a relative or friend
There are ten 2-hour sessions with a tea and coffee break
8-10 parents are invited and there are two Family Links trained group leaders
You need to come to all ten sessions as they fit together like a puzzle
Thanks to Amy, Eleanor, Kelly, Rachael, Jessie, who attended the meeting on Thursday 7th September 2023. Apologies from Carina and Carly.
Event for Autumn Term
All children and parents are invited to a Welcome Come Back Disco in Our Lady of Margam Parish Hall, 13th September from 5 – 6:30 pm. Entrance £2. Sweets, drinks, crisps and glow sticks will be on sale. Please could a responsible adult stay with children.
Recycling Uniform – Pope Francis’ asks us to look after our common home
Thanks to our team of willing parents, uniform will be put out in rail (outside when possible/ in entrance when not) to be recycled. Please take coats and uniform free of charge. If you have good quality uniform/coats to recycle please send in washed and ironed on a hanger if possible.
Proposed activities for 2023-24
Autumn
Christmas Movie Night- pop corn and hot chocolate (Margam)
Singing in Care Home/ hospital (ideas welcome)
Giving something back -Shoe Box /Gift Tag / Mr X /Local Community
Food Bank – local
Spring Term
Easter Disco
Easter egg hunt
Easter Bonnet
Charity Danceathon
Easter Service
Beach Walk
Summer Term
Festival of colour – multi cultural celebration
Fete
Beach Walk
Teddy Bears Picnic
Next Meeting: 11th October 2023 at 9:00am.