Published September 17th, 2021
The second week back has reminded us that, despite our best efforts, life in school will not be back to normality just yet; sensibly, we have returned to wearing masks in communal spaces and we were so disappointed to postpone Sports Day!
On a brighter note though, House Competition Day was a roaring success and brought with it laughter, joy, smiles and great competition. The results are still being compiled but will be released next week!
Covid Measures – Keeping our Community Safe
It is our priority to keep everyone in our community safe and healthy and following some positive cases we made the decision to revert back to wearing masks in communal spaces – the children have responded in an excellent manner to this and are taking this collective responsibility very seriously.
You’ll also have seen our guidance and advice from our communications yesterday: Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) should be used twice a week when your child is NOT showing signs of Covid.
However, if your child is ill with cold/flu like symptoms, such as a cough, temperature, sore throat, and/or loss of taste or smell, a PCR test should be booked ASAP. A LFT is not accepted as being positive and therefore the guidance is to take a PCR test.
If your child is symptomatic, they must remain at home to isolate, until a negative result is returned; it is extremely important that you update the school on the PCR date and result.
While you are waiting for the results of the test, you child will be marked with an X on their register, this will not count against their attendance. This code has been put into place to ensure that students are not penalised for following Govt. guidelines, whilst helping to keep the St Joseph’s community as safe as possible.
If your child does have to self-isolate, work will be set via assignments in Teams and not via live lessons.
Excellence Evenings
Next week we will be hosting virtual ‘Aiming for Excellence Evenings’ which will keep you abreast of the year ahead for your child. As mentioned last week, the evenings will be covering items such as:
- Curriculum developments
- Enrichment Opportunities
- Assessments, Exams & Study Skills
- Important Dates for the Year
- Reports & Parents Evenings
- HW & Remote Learning
- Rewards
- Sanctions; centralised detentions
- Pupil Wellbeing & Mental Health
The evenings will begin at 6pm and the days are as follows:
- Monday – Yr7
- Tuesday – Yr8 and Yr11
- Wednesday – Yr9
- Thursday – Yr10
The links for the evenings have been circulated this week.
Year 7 Updates
We’re delighted with how Year 7 have been settling into life at St Joseph’s – they are shaping up to be an excellent year group and their maturity in transition has been recognised by many staff!
As is tradition we will be hosting a Year 7 form tutor evening where you can book an appointment with your child’s form tutor to discuss how they have settled in and how things are going.
This year, we will be hosting the evening on Wednesday 13th October between 4pm-7pm and the appointments will be held virtually. Miss Lowe (SENCO) and Mrs Marshall (Director of Learning for Yr7) will also be available for virtual appointments. More details and instructions on how to book appointments will be forthcoming in a separate communication.
Year 7 will also be having their rite of passage House Parties during the week commencing 4th Oct – again more information will follow in a separate communication.
Changing Room Update
The PE changing rooms have undergone a considerable make-over during the summer and are now fully operational! One pupil commented that they are like changing rooms from a spa!
Pupils will still be wearing PE kit to school on days where they have PE and be expected to wear full uniform on other days.
If they have an after-school PE club, they will be expected to wear full school uniform during the day and can use the changing rooms to change into PE kit after school.
The Achievement Points Race
The race is super close!
- 1st – Margaret House with 5,098 points
- 2nd – Vincent House with 4,874 points
- 3rd – Francis House with 4,428 points
- 4th – Teresa House with 4,316 points
Keep the points rolling in and have a lovely weekend!
Mr Rooney