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.
The NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. programme make sures our pupils have the knowledge and understanding they need to stay safe from abuse. I’m pleased to tell you that we will be working with the NSPCC. This is a nationwide programme for every primary-school-aged child in the UK and Channel Islands. With the help of their friendly mascot Buddy, they’ll be presenting an assembly to the children in our school as well as a workshop.“NSPCC has helped me to build the confidence to tell people about my worries and problems.” Child’s feedback.
What is the Speak out. Stay safe. programme?Through child-friendly, interactive assemblies and workshops their specially trained staff will give our children information about how to keep themselves safe from harm and how to get help if they have any worries, sensitively discussing issues, without using scary words or adult language. We have studied the content of the materials and heard from other schools who have participated and are extremely confident that they are appropriate for foundationl-aged children. By the end of their visit, children will feel empowered – knowing how they can speak out and stay safe.“My daughter thought the volunteers were fantastic, really real people, very warm and friendly.” Sally, Prestatyn If you would like any more information about the Speak out. Stay safe.You can come in to speak to me or visit the NSPCC website nspcc.org.uk/speakout
Talking PANTS with your childrenThe NSPCC’s work in schools will help encourage conversations about staying safe – and they have a number of child-friendly materials to help you carry on the conversation afterwards. The guide uses the rules of PANTS to teach children that their body belongs to them and them alone. You can find out more and download the free resources at nspcc.org.uk/pants. If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website nspcc.org.uk/parents
Our Missio group have carried out a school walk to think about how we can improve our learning environment.
On Tuesday 18th June we would like to invite all children to wear old clothes, bring gardening gloves and a scented plant such as lavender or rosemary.
After a garden tidy up, flowerbed weed, we will be planting the plants around the school. We will be caring for our school environment. If you have any spare plant pots or plants that would enhance our learning areas, please contact Ms Beaumont. If you have a few spare hours on Tuesday and could help out, please contact Ms Beaumont. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
New guidance from Curriculum for Wales on Effective environment highlight exploration of the environment is a key driver for development of a sense of belonging and an appreciation of the world around them.
Important Information for Tuesday 18th June.
Children should
Wear old clothes
Bring a scented plant eg. lavender? Please make sure that plants do not have thorns and are safe for children to be around.
Bring gardening gloves and a trowel
Do you have plant pots etc that we might reuse?
Could you spare an hour to help? If so contact Ms Beaumont
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.
