Dear Parents/Carers,
We completed all the cinema trips this week and again our children were very well behaved and great ambassadors for the school and I would also like to say thank you to the staff who take care of the children on these trips and to you the parents for making sure all the trips were authorised on time. A special well done to our Year 6 classes who visited Leyton Orient on Wednesday afternoon as part of the national “Anti-Bullying Week”. They were invited by the Leyton Orient Trust and took part in workshops around bullying and then had the opportunity to meet with and ask questions to the club captain Josh Coulson. Everyone at the club was impressed with their behaviour and the mature questions and answers they gave.
Masses and Assemblies
Well done to Class 3H who presented a wonderful first assembly in the Junior School on “Visitors” this week. There are no Masses or assemblies next week in school. The dates for the remaining Masses and assemblies are at the end of this newsletter.
November
The month of November is a time to remember those who have died or have been affected by wars and conflicts. As always in school, poppies and other items will be on sale each lunchtime up till next Monday to raise money for the British Legion’s annual poppy appeal. We ask for a 20p donation for the poppies themselves and the other items have a fixed price ranging from 50p to £1.50. In the first two weeks of November we have already sold a lot of items and raised lots of money for the British Legion. We have also created a display of poppies and other images in the main hall. If you have someone in your family who you would like us to remember, please send their names to me and we will offer prayers during the month of November.
“Poppies and Poetry Workshops”
To mark the remembrance weekend, the children took part in a series of Poppies and Poetry workshops last week by a group called West End Theatre. The workshops ended with a presentation by each class to the rest of the school.
Uniform/PE Kits
Uniform will next be on sale on Wednesday 27th November from 8:50-9:30am and then every second Wednesday during the term. With winter now very much on its way, please make sure your child is coming to school with a suitable coat which remember should be dark blue or black.
Friends’ Association
- Friday 22nd November – Book Swap Day
- Sunday 8th December – Christmas Bazaar 1:00-4:00pm
- Friday 13th December – Christmas Coffee Morning to raise money for Save the Children (tie in with our “Christmas Jumper Day”) 9:00am
- Friday 13th December – Family Film Night 7:00pm
We will be holding more non-uniform days this half term in preparation for the Christmas Bazaar on 8th December. I have listed the dates below and what the children need to bring on each day. They are all on Fridays except Wednesday 4th December. Please note we now want the children to bring particular items which we can sell on the day such as new toys, bottles and items for a Christmas Stall. We would prefer them to bring these items but if they are unable to and still want to be in non-uniform, they should bring £2 which will enable us to buy extra items to sell. I know asking for £2 can be difficult for some families but we want to encourage you to send in the items asked for which you can buy for less than that. So next week ideally we would like everyone to bring a packet of sweets or chocolates. If you can sell additional raffle books at work or to family or friends, please ask at the school office.
- Friday 22nd November – bring chocolates/sweets (or £2)
- Friday 29th November – bring a bottle (or £2)
- Wednesday 4th December – bring something for the Christmas Stall (or £2)
- Friday 6th December – return of sold raffle tickets (or £2)
Your Move Sponsorship
As part of the fundraising for the Christmas Bazaar, we have been contacted by the Walthamstow Estate Agents Your Move who are offering to promote and advertise the event. Many schools and other organisations now use this as a way of promoting their events and raising funds. When I hear back from the company I will be sending everyone a letter asking if you would be willing to allow Your Move to put one of their boards outside your house for around 3 weeks (the 2 weeks leading up to the Bazaar and one week after). They will give the school £10 for every board plus an additional payment. All we will need is your name and address.
The Sun/Collins Big Cat Books for Schools
As part of our on-going aim to get new books for the school library, I have registered the school with a campaign being run jointly by The Sun Newspaper and Collins Big Cat Book Company to provide up to £600 worth of free books for schools. We need to collect 3,500 tokens printed daily in The Sun between 23rd November 2019 and 18th January 2020. I know The Sun my not be your regular newspaper but it would be good to buy copies during this period to get the tokens and directly benefit all the pupils. I will be doing this myself and am encouraging staff to do the same. Registering also means we get access to other free resources to support reading.
After School Activities
The gymnastics club and the clubs run by Dance Stables still have places so you can book through them directly. I would highly recommend both the new Drama Club on Mondays and the Cheerleading Club on Fridays.
Apart from Cooking and Choir, all clubs finish at 4:15pm.
Discovery Education Coding
The pupils do a lot of work on coding in school through Discovery Education. I am pleased to say that the company contacted us this week to say that we are now one of the top 3 schools in Waltham Forest for coding.
Attendance and Punctuality
Congratulations to Class 3K and Class 4P who both achieved 100% attendance this week and to Class 6C who had the best punctuality with 99.5%.
Class of the Week
Well done to Class 3H who were “Class of the Week” for their lovely first assembly in the Junior School on “Visitors” on Thursday.
Before School
Just a reminder to everyone that pupils should not be leaving the playground before the start of school for any reason. This week we have had some children in Years 4 and 5 leaving the playground to go to the shop. Please remind your children that once they arrive in school they must stay in the playground. Also I don’t want the children congregating around the school gate when they first arrive. I know many like to wait for their friends but they are blocking the gate and making it difficult for other pupils and adults to get into school.
Book Week
We are going to have a Book Week in school next week. This will include a visit from the illustrator Simon Murray who will be here next Wednesday. Simon is an old friend of the school and before him we worked with his father the well-known author Peter Murray. Simon last visited the school about 5 years ago and said he would love to come back and work with a new generation of St Joseph’s pupils.
Book Swap Day (Friday 22nd November)
We are going to be holding another Book Swap Day next Friday 22nd November. We held one earlier in the year and it was very successful. The children can bring in books from home that they no longer want (they must be in good condition and suitable for our age group). They will get a voucher for every book they bring in and can then exchange these for other books. So have a look this weekend for books that could be swapped next Friday.
Sonlight Concert
There is an evening of praise and worship with the band Sonlight at St Joseph’s Church on Saturday 30th November from 7:00pm. Entry is free with refreshments after the concert. There will be a collection at the end of the evening for the band’s expenses.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
Future Dates for your Diary
- Saturday 16th November – Open morning for prospective Year 2 parents 10:15am
- Monday 18th November – Book Week in school
- Wednesday 20th November – Simon Murray (illustrator) in school today
- Friday 22nd November – National Literacy Trust Workshops for Year 5 classes am
- Friday 22nd November – Non-uniform day for Christmas Bazaar (sweets or £2)
- Friday 22nd November – “Book Swap Day” in school
- Thursday 28th November – Class 5L Assembly on “St Andrew” 2:30pm
- Friday 29th November – Non-uniform day for Christmas Bazaar (bottle or £2)
- Monday 2nd December – Maths Assessment Week in Years 3, 4 and 5
- Monday 2nd December – Parent Meetings 1:00-3:00pm and 4:00-6:00pm
- Wednesday 4th December – Non-uniform day for Bazaar (Christmas Stall or £2)
- Wednesday 4th December – Class 5O Assembly on “Hope” 2:30pm
- Thursday 5th December – Pantomime of “Aladdin” in school 10:30am
- Thursday 5th December – Fire Safety Talk for Year 5 pm
- Friday 6th December – Non-uniform day for Christmas Bazaar (sold raffle tickets)
- Sunday 8th December – Christmas Bazaar 1:00-4:00pm
- Monday 9th December – Mock SATs Week in Year 6
- Monday 9th December – Reading Assessment Week in Years 3, 4 and 5
- Tuesday 10th December – Carol Concert led by Y3 in church 10:30am
- Wednesday 11th December – Carol Concert led by Y3 in church 7:00pm
- Thursday 12th December – Amnesty International Workshops for Years 5 and 6 pm
- Friday 13th December – “Christmas Jumper Day” for Save the Children”
- Friday 13th December – Family Film Night 7:00pm
- Saturday 14th December – St Joseph’s Infant School Christmas Bazaar pm
- Monday 16th December – Writing assessments today
- Tuesday 17th December – Y4 Shakespeare Concert of “Macbeth” 11:00am
- Wednesday 18th December – Christmas lunch
- Wednesday 18th December – Y4 Shakespeare Concert of “Macbeth” 7:00pm
- Thursday 19th December – Whole School Mass led by Year 5 11:00am
- Friday 20th December – Last day of term (finish at 2:00pm today)
