As part of our KCSP Online Science Day, Year 5 and Year 3 have been experimenting with biscuits. Which biscuit is the best to dunk? Does the width of the biscuit effect the time it takes to disintegrate? Are multitiered biscuits super strong? Great fun was had and for those dunking the chocolate digestives they had to have arms of steel as the biscuits took up to 10 minutes to break!

Meanwhile Year 2’s experiment was to observe the effects of different liquids on preventing apples from turning brown. They coated four apple slices with difference substances…. vinegar, orange juice, apple juice and lemon juice, and left them for five minutes before recording and drawing any visible changes. The class concluded that lemon juice was the best liquid for preventing apples from going brown.

‘Aim High, Achieve Together’

WORLD BOOK DAY

The whole school community came together to celebrate World Book Day when a host of characters descended upon St. Joseph’s.  Always a popular event on the school calendar, the theme for the day was a favourite character from a book or pyjamas ready for a bedtime story.  Children and staff arrived in the guise of Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Paddington, Joker, Willy Wonka and many many more. It was impossible to choose a winner as all the costumes, masks and painted faces were amazing.

There were book based activities throughout the day plus ‘live’ online performances  by award winning authors Helen Stephens and Michael Rosen.  At the end of the day parents were invited to come to school to read with their child for pleasure and to have a tour of our book-themed decorated classroom doors. Year 3 were announced as the overall winners with their magnificent “Firework Maker’s Daughter” themed creation.

Days like these really focus the children on specific areas of learning and we hope the flair and enthusiasm shown on the day will translate to a lifetime of enjoyment from books, whether fiction, non-fiction, prose or poetry. 

Thank you to all parents and carers who helped make the day a roaring success by creating and providing the brilliant costumes.

Week beginning 18^th March we will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair so if you haven’t already spent your World Book Day Tokens, these will be redeemable against any book that you purchase.

A ‘Book Week Bake Off’ organised by our PTFA  kicked off the World Book celebrations at St. Joseph’s this week.  Children were invited to bake and decorate a cake at home in a book theme and bring it to school for judging by the amazingly talented Nicola from ‘The Little Brown Fairy Cake Shop’ in Westgate.  Our passionate bakers spent the weekend whipping up their creations and recreating their favourite books in the form of an edible delight.  A star baker was chosen from each year group and received a book.   The overall winner was Stanley from Year 2 with his  Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Nicola also presented Stanley with a voucher which he says he will be using to treat his family to some scrumptious cakes from Little Brown Fairy Cake Shop in Westgate.

Head Teacher Mrs. O’Halloran thanked the PTFA for organising this popular event which allowed us to showcase the talent and skills of our aspiring bakers.

Reception children took advantage of the better weather this week and went on a walk to look for signs of spring.  They noticed that the sun was shining and it felt a little bit warmer than usual.  They looked carefully at the trees and noticed the buds forming, there were daffodils, crocus, daisies and snowdrops too.  Listening carefully, they could hear lots of birds singing – sure signs that spring is most certainly in the air!

Understanding the seasons and seeing the effects of sunshine making the plants grow is an essential part of Early Years learning.

‘Aim High Achieve Together!

This week Year 6 have spent a very interesting morning at Dreamland for a 'Safety in Action' event run by SALUS. Kent Police, the Fire and Rescue Service, Coastguard and Community Wardens were amongst those services delivering safety talks.

The children completed tasks about communication, what to do in case of fire, personal space, making friends, electrical and road safety, risk taking, smoking, drugs and alcohol. All vital information before making the exciting and sometimes challenging transition to secondary school. With a greater awareness it will enable our children to become more independent and know how to protect themselves from the risks associated with everyday life.

As always, our Year 6 children conducted themselves impeccably.

'Aim High, Achieve Together''

Tuesday 6th February began with a whole school assembly dedicated to 'Safer Internet Day'. This special celebration, which takes place in February of each year, aims to raise awareness of a safer and better internet for all, and especially for children and young people.

With a theme of "Together for a better internet", children and young people can help to create a better internet by being kind and respectful to others online, by protecting their online reputations ,and those of others, and by seeking out positive opportunities to create, engage and share online.

Parents, Carers and Educators play a crucial role in empowering and supporting children to use technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively by educating them to use technology safely and positively, and by acting as digital role models. Everyone has a responsibility to make a difference online.

Year 2 have been making the most of the warmer weather this week by taking their Science lesson outside. They had fun exploring their local habitat and taking notes on the animals and plants they came across. They found woodlice, caterpillars, ladybirds, snails, spiders, daisies, ivy and sunflowers to name just a few!

‘Aim High, Achieve Together

Last week we joined in with the national NSPCC Number Day, a special day dedicated to raising funds for the NSPCC while having fun with numbers. The children were invited to dress up and had fun taking part in all sorts of mathematical activities whilst raising money to support the NSPCC's vital work in protecting children.

The winners of our “Dress for Digits” costume competition were Samuel in Reception Class for a wonderful domino, Alice from Year 2 for a delightful dice and a supercool Cashpoint Machine from Ethan in KS2.

Thank you to everyone for your support and hard work with costumes, it was a lovely day which culminated in a National Times Table Rockstars competition. Number Day is a fabulous way for children to apply their Maths skills to everyday life.

We Aim High and Achieve Together!

YR and Y1 walked to the church of our Lady Star of the Sea on Thursday afternoon to meet Fr. Daniel. He showed us the Baptismal Font and we counted the candles on the sanctuary. There were 15 altogether. We then took turns to look in the small chapels. We noticed that Mary was holding a lighthouse and Fr. Daniel told us that she is holding the Light of the World. We had one last look at the crib before it will be put away until next Christmas. Fr. Daniel told us that we are always very welcome to come to church and invited us to come again.

Thank you to the Kent School Health Service for delivering a presentation to our Year 3 pupils today. The presentation included some top tips on how children can ‘stay safe’ and ‘keep healthy’. They were also given some fun activities about what they can do to take care of themselves and look after their physical and emotional health. Every child went home with a booklet so that they can get the most out of the presentation, including how parents can contact Kent School Health with any concerns they may have about their child’s wellbeing.