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Welcome to the Autumn Term 2022

Ms Beaumont Leave a comment

Dear Parents / Carers,

Welcome back to the Autumn Term. We have missed you all! This is going to be a very exciting term as we work towards embedding our New Welsh Curriculum. We have already pencilled in a whole school educational trip to Margam Discovery Centre for Reception, Year 1 and 2 for September 21st and 22nd 2022. It might be wise to invest in wellies.

It’s Cool to be in School. School Routines: School times have reverted to 8:50 start and 3:15 finish. Please work with us to ensure lessons can start promptly. Hopefully this year we can have a run at embedding normal daily routines. Please do not book holidays during school term times. Your child will miss building blocks if you take them out of school. NPT Educational Welfare Officers will be working with school to ensure good attendance.

Putting Christ at the Centre Please could you make an effort to take your child to Mass this weekend. Our Parish priests Monsignor Joseph (St Joseph’s) and Father Andriez (Our Lady of Margam) are looking forward to seeing you.

RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) You may have heard a lot about this in the media. In our school we use the scheme ‘Life to the Full’ which is approved by the Bishops Conference of England and Wales. It fulfils the legal requirements whilst being firmly rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have delivered this for the last two years and it is a very good programme which is written to be age and stage appropriate. Themes covered include Created and Loved by God, Created to love others and Created to live in a community.

Free School Meal Offer All Reception aged children can access Free School Meals this year. Please take advantage of this offer. I am waiting for confirmation that offer this will roll out to Year 1 after October half term.

Why pay £2 Snack money? We all have high expectations- In our Catholic school we want every child to be curious and active. We want every child to have the offer of fruit daily. This small pot of money is also used to top up arts and craft resources, watch out for fantastic art work coming your way!

Voluntary Contribution Building Fund( £2 weekly voluntary contribution) As a Voluntary Aided School, we are required to contribute 15% of any major works. As a community we are very proud  of our school and are striving to provide the very best for your child. Huge thanks to those families who have contributed financially. If families are not in a position to pay £2 weekly for the Building Fund, then we completely understand.

We are investigating developing a range of sessions for pre-school children- watch this space! Language and Play Sessions will continue in the Nursery on Friday afternoon, starting next week at 1:00PM.  Please come along and bring your toddlers.

Events for the Diary:          

INSET:  5th September 2022

7th November 2022

22nd and 23rd December 2022

17th February 2022

Term Dates: 

Half Term: October 31st – November 4th 2022

Christmas Holiday: Break on Wednesday21st December 2022

Spring Term: First Day January 9th 2023

Easter Holidays: 31st March – 14th April 2023

Half Term: Monday 29th May – Friday 2nd June 2023

Term Ends: Monday 24th July 2023

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Nasal Flu vaccination

Reception to Year 2 – Thursday 17h November (more details to follow nearer the date).

Individual Photographs

Finesse Photography (individual pictures) Wednesday 16th November

App and Gaming Age of Consent

Mrs Owen Leave a comment

Here are some informative links that explain the content of various games/apps that your child may be playing. More importantly – the age of consent.

TikTok age of consent is 13+

See this link from Common Sense Media with reviews from children and parents about its content.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/tiktok

Fortnite PEGI rating 12+

Read Common Sense Media’s full review of Fortnite, and learn more about how it works. Then find answers below to parents’ most frequently asked questions about the game and how to use it safely

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews/fortnite

Call of Duty PEGI Rating 18+

Please be aware what children may be seeing/exposed to when older siblings or parents are playing this game.

Players use a variety of guns, knives, and explosives to kill other humans, resulting in death, gore, and bloodshed

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews/call-of-duty-infinite-warfare

Poppy Playtime Age Rating details

Recommended 8+

Poppy Playtime is a unique first-person horror adventure game. Likewise, there are many elements in the game that are purposefully designed to creep players out. With any game release that is in the horror genre, adults, as well as parents, are always concerned about age restrictive content.

Tiny Toes Ballet

Mrs Owen Leave a comment
Free Classes

We are very excited and proud to be part of Neath Port Talbot Council Child Development Funding Programme of Activities.

NPT Council has created this programme to bring opportunities to children under 5 and their families who have been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic. And we at Tiny Toes Ballet are so very happy to be offering free sessions throughout March to those children from 6 months to 5 years in Port Talbot, Alltwen, Skewen and Longford.

We hope to bring the fun and magic of tiny toes ballet along with the social interaction of our classes for the children and parents, that have lacked just that throughout the pandemic.

Bookings are open NOW for our March session in the NPT district.

https://www.tinytoesballet.co.uk/swansea

Understanding Mental Health – FREE Solihull parenting courses, for parents, carers, grandparents.

Ms Beaumont Leave a comment

 

BRAND NEW!! Online course ‘Understanding your child’s mental health and wellbeing’ from the Solihull Approach (NHS).

Access for free:

Did you know Public Health Wales have PRE-PAID for every parent and carer in Wales to access a course for parents/carers (access now for life-long access)? FREE (with access code: SWSOL or NWSOL at: www.inourplace.co.uk) for residents in our area. There are courses for parents, carers and grandparents about children from bump to 19+ years.

How do I access for free? Go to www.inourplace.co.uk and register, and then please use SWSOL if you live in South and Mid Wales and NWSOL if you live in North Wales to get free access to all the online courses (funded for residents): or

If, like many parents, you have already used this code, log into your account here and this course will be ready in your dashboard to start whenever you are ready.

Can I tell my family and friends?

Absolutely! Share the news with family members and other families in the area so that they too can take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

How long is it?

‘Understanding your child’s mental health and wellbeing’ itself is in 2 parts (2 modules long in total):

1. Take Part 1….

2. …then take ‘Understanding your child’ OR ‘Understanding your child with additional needs’ (11 modules each taking 10-15 minutes to complete, benefitting from time to digest in between)….

3. …then take Part 2.

If you like this… …you might like the other courses ‘Understanding your teenager’s brain’ (short course) or ‘Understanding your child’s feelings’ (taster course) , or other courses in the series. www.inourplace.co.uk

New Admissions- Become part of the St Joseph’s Family of Schools

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Admissions for Saint Joseph’s Infant School

 

St Joseph’s Catholic Infant School is a Christ centred caring and effective learning community, where pupils aged 3-7 years celebrate through prayer and worship their love of God. Walking in the footsteps of Christ we work together to prepare our children to be resilient, resourceful  learners, to love one another and help others. Our aim is to provide the very best learning experience for each and every child.

 

Saint Joseph’s Infant school has excellent transition with St Joseph’s Junior School and St Joseph’s Catholic Sixth Form Centre, providing a Catholic education from 3-18 years. If you would like to become part of our family of Catholic schools and you would like us to be partners with you, as your child take the first steps in formal education please contact:

Ms Julie Beaumont Headteacher on 01639 882579 or

Email: stjosinf@npt.school

Nursery Classes September 2021 and September 2022  To ensure that we allocate places to Catholic children as is our mission, we are now collecting names for those children born between 1st September 2018 and 31st August 2019 and 1st September 2019 and August 2020

 

 

 

Welcome Back! New Year! Exciting New beginnings

Ms Beaumont Leave a comment

Dear Parents, Carers, and children,

Welcome back to a new academic year, a fresh  beginning for everyone. We are so looking forward to seeing everybody on Monday morning. I hope that you have had a great summer holidays and I’m sure that the children are ready for the exciting new learning and challenges that we have planned for them.

 

 

Organisation of School day for September

 The systems we have in place have been successful in keeping everyone safe. In September, as we transition into a new norm, we will continue with a staggered approach to the start and end of the school day. As we are finishing building work in the front side yard there will be a few changes for the next few weeks.

  Start Location Pick Up Location
Nursery

Mrs Coughlin

 9:00 Nursery 11:30 Nursery
Reception –Mrs Mapp/

Mrs Torrance

 8:55 Teachers will meet children by the Front Ramp (next to my office) to enter into the main yard. Week 1

6th-10th at 1:00 pm

Week 2

13th -17th  at 2:00 pm

Week 3

2:50

 Main playground, left hand side
Reception /

Year 1

Mrs James

 8:50 Main Entrance Year 1 finish at 2:50

 

Reception children Week 1

6th-10th at 1:00 pm

Week 2

13th -17th  at 2:00 pm

Week 3

2:50

 Main playground, right hand side
Year 1/ Year2 Mrs Turner 8:50 Front Ramp 2:50 Front Ramp
Year 2 Mrs Owen

(Miss W)

 8:45 Front Ramp 2:45 Front Ramp

Breakfast Club

Will be available for Years 1 and 2 from Monday 6th September 2021. Whilst Reception children can access Breakfast Club from Monday 20th September. Please complete and return consent from to our Cook Mrs Pat McGimpsey. Drop off from 8:20

Belated congratulations to Pat on celebrating a big birthday during the Summer holidays.

Lunchtime Routines

We hope to return to using the dining hall for lunch. Initially with Reception, then adding other Year groups as the month progresses. Reception children will stay for lunch from day one. School hot dinners are available, or if they prefer, children can bring a lunchbox. Please remember to write your child’s name clearly on the lunchbox to avoid confusion and tears. As a Healthy School, wherever possible, could we encourage healthy choices.

Water Bottle- clearly labelled

Hydration is vital to good learning and wellbeing. Please send your child daily, a clearly labelled bottle filled with water.