Friday 21st June 2019

This coming Sunday, the Church celebrates the great feast of 'Corpus Christi' - these two latin words mean 'the Body of Christ.'  The gathering of Jesus and the people at The Feeding of the Five Thousand was not just a huge, miraculous, open-air picnic.  It was a sign of the Eucharist which Jesus would establish with his disciples at the Last Supper. Jesus makes the same offer to nourish us today, especially when we receive Holy Communion - a sacred moment, when we receive a gift from heaven - we receive, Jesus.  This helps us become closer to Jesus and closer to each other - to keep growing in goodness and love.  At Our Lady and All Saints on Sunday (10.30am), there will be a Mass of Thanksgiving for the Year 3 Communicants who received the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time last Saturday.  It is an opportunity for the parish and school to celebrate this wonderful occasion together. 

Thank you to our School PTA members for their hard work in preparing for this year's Summer Fayre. Please come along and support this event tomorrow from 12noon until 3pm.  All monies raised will help to enrich the lives of our children here at St. Joseph's.  Thank you for your continued support.

I am pleased to announce our teacher allocation for 2019-20.  Mrs Dodd has been appointed as a teacher to work alongside Mrs Piercy in Reception next year.  Mrs McCole will also take on the role as School SENDCo due to Mrs Rowley's retirement. A reminder that our 'Meet the Teacher' event will take place on Wednesday 3rd July starting at 9.15am.  This will be an opportunity to meet with your child's new class teacher.  There will be three 10 minute sessions to allow our parents with more than one child to speak with the different class teachers.  The children will then spend the afternoon with their new teacher as part of our transition programme in preparation for next year.  Our new Reception parents will also be meeting with Mr Carry, School Staff, Academy Committee and PTA representatives plus other members from our wider community on the same day at 6.30pm. 

Next week is National School Sport Week. Our annual School Games Day (Sports Day) will take place on Thursday 27th June.  Reception and KS1 will be competing together starting at 9.15am, followed by KS2 at 11am.  There will not be a picnic this year as all events will take place in the morning.  Refreshments will be on sale for parents during organised by our catering staff.  If the event has to be cancelled due to inclement weather, the alternative date for the School Games Day will be Tuesday 9th July (am).  We are also hoping to offer tennis taster sessions to Years 2 to 4 pupils on Monday 24th June which will be led by Mr Kirk Woodhall from Stourbridge Tennis Club. We also encourage our parents and children to try and walk to school or park and stride especially during this week too.  Let us see whether we can improve on the 130 children who managed to walk, scoot or cycle during May.

The mental health charity for young people, Place2B, have created guidance to support parents and their children with the transition from primary to secondary school.  The section entitled 'Getting Ready to Start Secondary School' which includes help and practical tips can be found via the following link:https://www.place2be.org.uk/what-we-do/parent-carer-resources/ready-for-secondaryhigh-school.aspx

Following the sad death of Mrs Mooney, who was our Assistant Head Teacher in 2015, some children voiced how they would like to do something in her memory and it was suggested by a pupil to do a race because of her love of sport. There sprung the idea for a "Race for Jude".

Jude is the son of Mrs Marrey who is a current member of staff. In previous years we have raised an amazing £4,030 to help towards Jude's medical expenses and to purchase a specially adapted bath. We would like to increase this amount and this year's Race for Jude will take place on Wednesday 26th June during National School Sport Week. A letter with more information and a sponsorship form has been sent home. Thank you in advance for your continued support and generosity.

Children in St. Joseph's School are growing to be intentional in the way they live and use the resources of the earth, guided by conscience; and prophetic in the example they set to others.

As the key Wednesday Word is 'nourish', we think about the prayer we say together at school before lunch.  Bless us, O Lord, as we sit together.  Bless the food we eat today.  Bless the hands that make the food.  Bless us, O Lord. Amen.

That priests, through the modesty and humility of their lives, commit themselves actively to a solidarity with those who are most poor. 

Reminder: School will be closed on Friday 28th June a MAC wide Inset Day.