On Wednesday 19^th of October the children in Years 3 and 4  travelled to St Lawrence College in Ramsgate to take part in the Children’s Bookshow with other local schools.

The exciting day started with a train ride from Broadstairs Station to Ramsgate, which was a new and exciting experience for some children. We then made the short walk to auditorium at St Lawrence College.

The children were entranced by the talk given by the writer and illustrator Neal Layton. He demonstrated how he illustrates books, from initial discussions with the author to experimenting with different media that compliments the stories. We enjoyed Neal reading from a couple of his own stories and were thoroughly entertained with his tales of inspiration interspersed with comedic recollections of his own childhood. The question and answer session was very engaging and interactive, as children were invited to probe further about the life and work of a working children’s author. At the end of the morning every child was given two books to take home and enjoy – ‘The Tree’ by Neal Layton and ‘Please, Mr Magic Fish’ by Jessica Souhami.

Mrs Sandwell, Year 3 Teacher, said – “The love of reading is so important in order for children to be successful throughout their school lives. It has been widely researched that impact of regular reading leads to higher attainment, so if a passion for reading in encouraged, it can benefit all areas of the child’s learning. The Children’s Bookshow is a great opportunity for children to see and hear from a real writer, it provokes class discussions and stimulates great opportunities for writing”

The Children's Bookshow is a charity that inspires children with a love of reading. For the past 20 years they've introduced children to world-renowned authors such as Michael Rosen, Kwame Alexander, Valerie Bloom and many more through their programme of theatre events and in-school workshops.

It was a great morning full of inspiration, musical interludes, jokes and fun – the children of St Joseph’s can’t wait for the next opportunity!

This week, Year 2 went to St Peter's School for a whole day of everything Science! The first part of the morning started off with using scribble bots. The children changed the colours and patterns that were made by attaching different materials to the robot. Next up the class visited their forest school and explored what resources they could use to make their own nature art 🦋. After that, Year 2 got to take part in a stomp rocket activity. Children were testing out which rocket flew the highest🚀. The last mission of the morning was to see how we could rescue a superhero by finding materials to help them float🦸‍♀️. During the afternoon, we visited the science lab to build our own marble run in groups. This supported the children working as a group to see who could make their marble run last the longest. What a fantastic day! 

What a fantastic start to the year we have had in Year R! Lots of ‘Enjoyment’ had in forming new relationships and learning new skills, especially with our Physical development. Physical development is one of the four specific areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. It is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness. This half term we have been focusing on developing children’s fine motor control and precision which helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. We have been doing this through setting up fine motor carousel tables where the children strengthen their fine motor skills by using tweezers, threading and other small tools such as tweezers and hammers.

The end of summer was celebrated this week with our annual Harvest Festival, where pupils mark the end of the growing season and give thanks for a bountiful summer.  It is also time when our pupils remember those members of our local community who are not as fortunate by bringing in contributions of food which will be sent to our local food bank at St. Austin and St. Gregory in Margate.

As well as celebrating we also reflected on the links we have with our own Parish Church, Our Lady Star of the Sea by hosting a harvest tea for the elderly of the parish.  An afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones and cakes was provided for around 25 parishioners and older members of our community, all served by our Year 6 pupils.  Entertainment was provided by each year group who had prepared special songs.

Our Harvest Festival is always an opportune time within school to reflect on what we have, and the need for generosity and compassion for those who are unable to share in this fruitful season.

It was an absolute joy for our Year 6 pupils to join together with other schools within KCSP as we celebrated our Trust Mass at Aylesford Priory last Wednesday. The Archbishop was delighted to celebrate Mass for us and, as he said at the time, ‘it was a magnificent sight to look out on the 1400 of us gathered together as a family of schools and to remind us all that each one of us is valued and part of 'One Body in Christ'.

It was a bright and sunny day  to celebrate Mass, followed by a picnic on the lawns of the Priory.