Huge thanks to Father Krzys who visited today to lead our whole school assembly.
We gathered, we listened to the Word, we sang our Alleluias, ” Stay awake! Be ready! You do not know the time when the Lord is near! The Lord is coming soon!”
Father Krzys shared the story of St Nicholas whose feast is tomorrow. Every child was then presented with a treat. A selection box. Many thanks for our link Governor support in our faith formation.
Whole School Christmas Party
School lunch is free for every child in our school; Reception to Year 2. Please take advantage of this amazing offer. Today, huge thanks to all our lunchtime supervisors and kitchen staff especially our School Cook Pat who provided a fantastic Christmas party lunch.
What is Missio in St Joseph’s Catholic Infant School?
We are the hands, the feet and the voice of Christ on earth, in our school, our homes and in the world.
Missio is run by children.
2. It is our school Council.
3.Three children are elected in each class. Their job is to make decisions and feed information and ideas back to their classmates.
Our School Missio Council 2024-5:
Year Two pupils help with the day to day running of our Missio work.
Autumn Update:
Missio Voice:
School
Missio Council voted to create for a memorial for David Ejimofor.
After much discussion Missio council decided to buy a bench which would be put in the front school yard. They also voted which bench to buy. Monsignor Joseph kindly visited school and blessed the bench (November 2024). A beautiful prayer service marked this very special occasion. David and Mrs Maria Ejimofor mother of David and her family will always have a place in our prayers.
Special Assembly On Thursday 5th December our RE Link Governor Father Krzys will be visiting school to deliver an assembly on St Nicholas. He will be sharing some of the stories from his homeland of Poland. A special gift was given to every child in school last year. Watch this space!
Party Lunch for everyone Also on Thursday our School Cook Mrs Pat McGimpsey (Auntie Pat) will be busy preparing a Party Lunch for the whole school. Every child, including those who usually choose to be packed lunch, is invited to take part. Christmas jumpers and hats would add some festive cheer to the day.
On the menu:
Sandwiches – ham or cheese
Pizza
Cocktail sausage
Crisps
Drink
Ice cream
Christmas Stars Message: Please fill in and return Christmas messages of love, which will be hung on the school Christmas tree. This is part of Missio’s mission to reduce waste. Celebrating our school diversity -it would be fantastic to have messages of love in as many languages as possible.
Christmas Raffle: Thanks to those who have sent gifts to make up a Christmas Raffle Hamper. Please send gifts of Gold. Red and Green into school. Examples of gifts are in the collage below.
Missio group voted to buy a bench where we could sit, find some peace, pray and remember David. You will remember that Maria and Alex Ejimofor, tragically lost thier son in the Summer of 2023. After a vote Missio have chosen the style of bench which we have now bought. Mr Coughlin (Andrew the Fixer) has put it together. Today we have placed the bench in the sunniest spot in the front playground. It is in a space for all to use.
Could you help develop this quiet space?
Children have decided that it would look more inviting with more pots of plants around it. Missio wondered whether our families would like to get involved.
Do you have any spare pots and plants that you would like to donate to add to David’s Cwtch? Please let Ms Beaumont know and send them in.
Keeping you in the Loop. Focusing on children’s wellbeing
Following Circle time activities across the school, the issue of discipline has been discussed. This would be an opportune time to remind all parents of a change in the Law. As a Rights Respecting School and under Safeguarding guidance school has a duty to keep children safe.
Physical punishment is no longer allowed. Smacking is no longer allowed. Please work with us to focus on positive reinforcement strategies to develop emotional regulation and good behaviour.
Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020
What has changed?
•The Act came into force on 21 March 2022. It does not create a new criminal offence, but it abolishes a defence of “reasonable punishment” in the existing criminal offences of assault and battery against a child.
Physical punishment includes smacking, hitting, slapping, shaking or otherwise punishing a child using physical force.
•It has been illegal in schools, children’s homes, local authority foster care homes and childcare settings for some time. It is now illegal in the home environment.
Did you know:
The change means all physical punishment of children is now illegal in Wales, including by parents, carers and anyone acting in loco parentis in any setting in Wales. Guidance from Safeguarding training is that it should be reported directly to police on 101 or 999.
Thanks to those friends of St Joseph’s Infants who were able to make our catch up and coffee meeting this morning. During our catch up we discussed the following:
Planning activities for the coming year
2. Charities and events that we might support
3. Community engagement events
4. Celebrating our wide cultural diversity
Living Life to the Full
Overview for coming year
Term 1
Community engagement :Pumpkin Carving Tuesday is planned for 22nd- 25th October. Help will be needed to clean up the dining hall please.
Extra-Curricular: Spooky Harvest Disco – the date has yet to be confirmed (4th/11th November). Venue to be confirmed – possibly Margam Parish Hall or St Joseph’s Junior.) Help will be needed to buy glow sticks, tattoos ,cup drinks, crisps. Time 5-6:30pm. Help also needed for the clean up at the end.
Extra- Curricular: Christmas Film Night. Ideas for the choice of film please, learning from last year a shorter film might be better. Venue to be arranged. Date to be confirmed, suggested week beginning 2nd December.
Visit by Father Christmas: Ideas for where is our bargain buy of selection boxes please.
Additional Dates for the diary:
Friday 29th November Crazy hair- could we incorporate the use of butterflies? EB Butterfly skin -raising awareness and money.
Thursday 5th December School Christmas Lunch. Everyone is invited to wear Christmas jumpers
Thursday 12th Christmas Jumper Day, all invited to wear Christmas or favorite jumper.
Christmas Raffle is on the horizon! Please start collecting red, gold, green gifts to include in hampers.
Life to the Full is intended to be a partnership between home, school and church. We know that Catholic schools already do fantastic partnership work with parents and their local parish, see below how this programme is intended to fit in with and support those partnerships.
Life to the Full is intended to be a partnership between home, school and church. We know that Catholic schools already do fantastic partnership work with parents and their local Church, so this programme is intended to fit in with and support those partnerships.
Knowing that the English and Welsh government have statutory requirements for Relationships, Sex and Health Education (schools in England) and Relationships and Sexuality Education (schools in Wales), but that faith schools are able to teach RSHE/RSE in line with their faith’s beliefs can sometimes feel a bit confusing and overwhelming, especially when schools want to communicate clearly with parents.
What is covered by statutory RSHE/RSE and what does this mean in terms of what schools can and should teach, and what right do parents have to withdraw their children from lessons?
Schools in Wales
In primary and secondary schools in Wales, Relationships and Sexuality Education is statutory and therefore, parents do not have a legal right to withdraw their children from statutory sexuality education. It is, of course, good practice for all schools in Wales to share with parents about the resources you intend to use for Relationships and Sexuality Education to build confidence and trust through transparency.
What does the Catholic Church say about engaging parents?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church perfectly sums up the core principle that the Church gives us with regard to engaging parents when teaching their children about RSHE:
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children.
CCC 2223
The Catholic Church further expands on this by saying that God has given each family its own specific and unique mission, and that the role of the school is to complement the educational responsibilities that have been bestowed upon parents.
According to the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome:
‘Catholic tradition teaches that God has bestowed on the family its own specific and unique educational mission… The educational task of the family and that of the school complement one another in many concrete areas.’
So, parents are the first educators of their children. It is their right and responsibility to inform and educate their children in matters relating to human growth and development, particularly sexual development. Therefore, schools should always seek to work in partnership with parents and carers. The teaching offered by schools should complement and not replace their primary role. In doing so, we are fulfilling the mission of the Church and enacting the Home-Parish-School triangle: supporting the Church in its duty to educate on these matters, and assisting parents in their duties.
How does Ten Ten Resources enable schools to support parents?
As part of Life to the Full, we have created an Online Parent Portal. This section of our website is available to all parents whose child’s school uses Life to the Full. The Online Parent Portal provides a summary of each lesson, links to specific content and suggestions for further engagement at home. Every school is given a unique username and password which they can distribute to parents to provide all-year-round access to the portal.
Since September 2021, Ten Ten has been running online training courses for teachers, governors and parents. These training courses provide opportunities for further engagement and understanding on matters related to Relationships, Sex and Health Education.
Occasionally, we receive requests from parents (via their schools) for full access to the programme as part of the consultation process. Since April 2022, we have been able to provide online access to the full programme of resources, for a limited period, so parents can actively engage in the consultation process. All requests for full access must be made via the school, not directly with Ten Ten Resources. If there is a parent/carer in your school requesting access, then please complete the online form found on the Parent Access section of this website.
