@ The School Gate Inside this

issue:

Make £5 Grow 2

Year 6 Tag Rygby 2

Ancient Mayan

Day

3

Rights Respecting

School

3

Anti-Bullying Week

4

Multi Faith Week

In Key Stage 1

4

Y5 Winter Gardens Visit

5

Cinema Visit 5

Handwashing in Year 2

6

Gymnastics

Festival

6

The Polar 7

Year 1 Multi 7

The Dodgeball Tournament

8

Year 6 River Walk 8

Dive Deeper 8

Nativity 2019 9

Head Teacher's

Roll of Honour

10

Dear Parents & Carers It doesn’t seem that long ago since we welcomed the children back from their summer break. The new Reception children have settled in brilliantly and have been well supported by staff and their Y6 Special Friends; I’m sure they’ll enjoy the next 7 years at St Joseph’s. It has been a busy term, and the children across school have excelled in so many areas. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading what they have to say about what they have done. We were delighted with the outcome of our Outstanding Diocesan Inspection in September and I’d like to take the opportunity to share some of the key findings with

you. It told us that “St Joseph’s is a welcoming and inclusive school which is very family-orientated. It is highly valued by those pupils, parents and parishioners it serves. It is an oasis of calm where children are able to develop their faith and understand that, ‘Jesus loves them very much’.” It also added that, “Collective Worship is outstanding. It is at the heart of the school and is enjoyed by all as a joyful celebration of their

Merry Christmas faith.” I’m glad it recognised the school I love working in. I would like to take this chance to publicly thank all my staff for their care and dedication. They are all hard-working and talented; ensuring your children are offered many different opportunities and high quality learning experiences. Can I also thank you for your ongoing support. It is much appreciated and being entrusted with the care of your child is a privilege and one I don’t take lightly. The staff and I wish you all a Happy and Holy Christmas. See you next year.

Mr A Ramanandi

Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham & Newcastle

wear high vis clothes On the 18th of November, Marcus from Cycling Generation came in to school and gave all classes a ‘Be Bright’ lesson.

He taught us how to be visible in the dark and how to be seen. You can

and a flashing head torch or put reflective strips on your clothing or bags and a reflective key ring. You can buy reflective shoes. Everybody had lots of fun.

By Fraser and Jack Yr 5

St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School

The Catholic Primary School serving the Parishes of St. Anne’s, Winlaton & St. Joseph’s, Blaydon

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Year 5’s Be Bright Lesson

Volume 8, Issue 1 December 2019

Page 2 Volume 8, Issue 1

Make £5 Grow On Thursday 5th December, Year 5 had an amazing trip to the Grainger Market to Make £5 Grow. We had spent months planning , from creating a team name to making our products. There were 5 teams. They were called: All Stars, Cheeky Chimps, Rainforest Rockers, Chocolate Chimpanzees, and Silly Snakes. We all made wonderful products. All Stars made marvellous mugs, Cheeky Chimps made mince pies and cookies, Rainforest Rockers made sweet cones, Silly Snakes, done a tombola also they did salt dough as little baubles for your Christmas tree and Chocolate Chimpanzees made orange chocolate apples and candy floss. We had to get up really early because we had to be in school by quarter past eight to catch our bus. Then we arrived at the Grainger Market at about nine o’clock

and went to set up. We were selling next to the Weigh House. Everybody’s products were selling brilliantly. We were all having a great time. As the time went by, lots of our products were selling out very fast. Lots of our family members came and thought we had made fantastic products. While we were selling our products, Tracy (the lady from Virgin Money)

took us on a treasure hunt to find £5 Grow signs all over the Grainger Market. When all of our products sold out, we had to pack up but, the adventure wasn’t over yet. When we packed up we went to enjoy a delicious Happy Meal from McDonalds. We all enjoyed our lunch. When we finished our yummy McDonalds, we went to see Fenwick’s window and looked around Christmas Market. This year’s theme for Fenwick’s Window is Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory. Then we went to catch our bus to go back to school. We had the best time at the Grainger Market but we still had to count up all our money. Altogether we made £352.63. It was so much fun. We have lots of AMAZING ideas of what we can do to spend our money on.

By Isla R and Lacey H Yr5

Year 6 Tag Rugby

and played unfair but our school didn’t. Our school did very well in this event and we tried our hardest. Although only one team made it through to the final every one did their best and that’s what they should all be proud of. The majority of the class scored a tri or tagged someone but if they didn’t they were thoroughly supporting their team.

In 30th of October, year 6 went to Blaydon rugby club to participate in the rugby tournament. We got split into groups A, B, C. We were all on different pitches. When the whistle was blown that was our signal that the game has begun. When it blew the second time it meant game over. There were 18 schools taking part in this event. Some of the schools cheated

Parents and carers came to watch us play and I’m sure they were very proud of how well our teams played. We got picked up at Blaydon rugby club by parents. We won most of the games. Every one played very well and fair and we were all on our best behaviour. Our school does the most practise on tag rugby because we do it every Friday.

By Libby Yr6

Volume 8, Issue 1 Page 3

Ancient Mayan Day

On Friday 8th November Year 4 had an Ancient Mayan day and watched a video about day of the dead. We learned

that boys had green blue and yellow for their grave and the girls had pink and purple for their graves. We made Ancient Mayan masks which were very colourful. Also we made Ancient Mayan pinch pots with Miss Austwick. As we were making our pots,

we had our faces painted by Miss Shepherdson and Mrs Glenton. The faces were made to look like skeletons. We were very scary. We also made some chocolate quesadillas . In the afternoon we went down to forest school and heated up chocolate quesadillas on the fire that Miss Shepherdson made. While there we made hot chocolate with optional cinnamon, it was extremely tasty. After this we watched

half of Coco which is a movie all about the day of the dead. We all enjoyed being Ancient Mayans for the day.

By Isla and Katie Yr4

Rights Respecting School This term, we have been working towards our gold award with UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools. The steering group of RRS looked at the ABCDE of rights. This is what the ABCDE stands for, A=all/universal, B=birth/inherent, C=cannot/inalienable, D=do not/unconditional and E=equally/

indivisible. In October, the steering group of Rights Respecting led an assembly based on the ABCDE of rights. Each class will get a matching game to learn these in their classes. Every class across school made a charter and each child signed their class

charter. Each charter is made up of 5 different rights that the class thinks that are most important. On the 20th November, it was World Children’s Day. This year was the 30th anniversary. World Children’s

Day is the celebration of when all children received their rights. We have done so much this term. We hope to get our gold award!

By Ebony, Jacob Yr5

Page 4 Volume 8, Issue 1

Anti-Bullying Week

At the beginning of Anti-Bullying Week, we all wore odd socks to represent us being different and then after odd socks, we learned

about Anti-Bullying. On the day we had an assembly, we learned about bullying and caring and got our statement to live by. It was about if you see someone getting bullied you must help them. We learnt about cyber bullying and how we can

protect ourselves when we are online. We also learnt how to combat any forms of online bullying and report incidents. We also learnt about whom to tell if we or someone else is being

bullied.

by Nye and Max M Yr5

Multi Faith Week in Key Stage 1 Sabbath. It was hard work kneading and plaiting the dough but it was worth it because it smelled and looked delicious.

When the bread was ready, we set the table with wine glasses, bowls of honey, candle sticks and Challah covers, which we made ourselves, decorated

with signs and symbols of Shabbat. Finally, we gathered as a family to share the meal. It was really interesting learning about Shabbat and we enjoyed

experiencing it together.

By Yr2

As part of our Judaism topic in RE, we learned about the Jewish Shabbat celebration. First, we learned about all of the different signs and

symbols of a Shabbat celebration and found out about the different food and drink Jewish families share and the importance of it. To fully understand what

Shabbat might be like for Jewish families, we had our own Shabbat meal in school. We started by baking

our own Challah bread. This is special Jewish bread and we had to make two loaves ready for the meal. In Jewish families, this would be done before sunset on the

Volume 8, Issue 1 Page 5

Y5 Winter Gardens Visit On Monday the 4th November, we went to Sunderland Winter Gardens. We learnt about animals and plants that live in the Rainforest. One of the instructors was called Alan. There were lots of interesting plants, like the cheese plant and the banana leaf. We sketched some of the plants we saw. Then we drew the plants we sketched in pastels. After that, we had lunch. Then the instructor described some animals from the rainforest and we had to guess what animal it was. Next, she showed us a snake skin and it felt very unusual. It took 3 people to reach the length of

the snake. She also showed us a dead tarantula skin, it looked very hairy. After that, we went into groups and we had a look in

all the different rooms. In one of the rooms there was a place where you could sit down and watch an old fashioned movie when people where mining. There was a room called the Jurassic room where there was a water fall also there was lots of different plants in the room. We also saw some of the fish that would be in the rainforest. After that, we got our coats and bags and went back to school.

We had a great time at Sunderland Winter Gardens.

By Olivia T and Kate C Yr 5

place until a strange army of teddies came running after her and destroying the park. The theme park was falling to bits because in the girl’s real life she had stopped playing with her toys. This had

created a black hole that was destroying the park. To save the day, the girl had to rescue the leader of the park (which was a monkey) and their friendship and love got rid of the black hole. They were then able to rebuild the park and make it successful. The film showed that

friendship and love helps everything. We give the film a 5 star rating because we really enjoyed it.

By Lilly and Archie Yr3

On the 6th November we went to the cinema and watched Wonder Park. It was great fun while we were there because it was fun and pretty scary but we also had a goody bag of sweets to keep us going. The story is about a girl who made Wonder Park with her toys and then it came alive in a special forest. This is how she found out Wonder Park was real because she went on a bus in a forest and found it. She then enjoyed exploring the

Cinema Visit

Page 6 Volume 8, Issue 1

Handwashing in Year 2

As part of our Science topic this half term, we have been learning about the importance of keeping clean. We invited Mrs Grant into school to help us to investigate handwashing.

With a special machine, we checked our hands to see how good our handwashing was. It was surprising to see how many germs we had missed.

Next, we learned the correct way to wash our hands. This time, what a difference when we checked our hands in the light! Now Year 2 are handwashing experts.

By Yr 2

Gymnastics Festival

On the 4th December some pupils from Year 6, Year 5 and Year 4 went to an event called The Gymnastics Festival. There were quite a few

schools at this event and they all had to perform a routine to everyone else. Although it may seem it, it was not competitive and it was all for fun.

We were ninth to perform and there were a range of ages of people that did it from Reception – Year 6. A song played through each performance and it lasted 3-4 minutes while the schools did their thing. Everyone did a great job and all of the routines were skilful and spectacular (especially ours)

but overall it was a great experience and we all hope to do something just as fantastic as that.

By Finlay J Yr6

Getting ready to perform

Volume 8, Issue 1 Page 7

The Polar Express The children came prepared in their cosy pyjamas. The hall had been transformed into our very own Polar Express train and the children were each given a golden ticket, which they used to board the Polar Express. We were greeted by our fantastic train

conductors, who stamped our tickets upon arrival.

All aboard the Polar Express! The children then enjoyed colouring their Christmas pictures with their special friends; they came up with some brilliant designs. Some of the children decided to make some Christmas cards for their family and friends. The children then enjoyed watching the Christmas film whilst on board our very own train. Reception Class and Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and shared biscuits during the film. A wonderful time was had by all!

By Reception Class

Reception Class have made a fantastic start to school, Miss Duffield, Mrs O’Neill and Mrs Lewis are extremely proud of the progress all of the children have made during their first term at St. Joseph’s! Reception Class have been enjoying lots of new exciting activities this term, but we especially enjoyed meeting our special friends and spending an exciting Christmas morning with them during our ‘Polar Express’ day! Reception Class were so excited to begin our festive activities and spend the day with their special friends!

Year 1 Multi Skills to take part in the Key Stage 1 multi skills event with lots of other primary schools in Gateshead. We felt very smart as we had to wear our red school sports kit. There were lots of activities where we practised different skills. We had to run, jump, skip, throw, catch and kick. We worked very well as a team, cheering and encouraging each

We went to St Thomas More

other. We all tried our best and had a great time.

Page 8 Volume 8, Issue 1

Dive Deeper

In November we went on a walk around the Tyne River. We brought our packed lunches and our bags to start the bone achingly long walk which was two hours long. We walked through the Blaydon burn and saw the land declining so we knew that there was going to be a river. We reached the Newburn Bridge and had to cautiously walk across it. When we reached the boating club everyone got excited because we were almost there.

When we got to Newburn Park we put our bags down and went to play at the park for a bit and then we settled down for lunch at about half twelve and then we went to play in the park. We then went to the side of the river to sketch it and shade it in. we then started to walk back and some of us stroked every single dog we saw. On the way back we were all so tired. When we walked back we took the same route and

tirelessly walked back to school. When we got back to school we all slumped against our desks and some of us nearly fell to sleep. We were all tired out and when Miss Cavanagh showed us how far we walked we were shocked. We walked about seven miles! No wonder we were so tired after that. After that long walk we all wanted to go to bed.

By Grace Yr6

Year 6 River Walk

Dive Deeper is when you have got all your answers correct. To know when you can Dive Deeper your teacher would put DD which would obviously be Dive Deeper. Even if you don’t have DD you can still Dive Deeper to get more marks and house points. So if you are one of those people who say to their self I can’t do this, I’m never going to make it, I’m rubbish, just think the

positive. If you get a pink it doesn’t necessary mean you have got something wrong it might mean try and Dive Deeper. Dive Deeper basically means if you have got no pinks you could try and improve your answers to make it better. Another way to improve your work is to either: write a story, write a question which would make you get the

answer you have already got ,get the same answer but a different way , check it , improve it , draw it or explain how you got the answer. All of this will help you to Dive Deeper and get more marks. And remember you always have someone there to help you improve or help you.

By Yr6

The Dodgeball Tournament Our first game we won really quickly so we played a friendly. Our second main game we won and again it was over really quickly. Guess what, we had another friendly as a result. After all of the rest of the games were finished we had to sit down and get medals (everyone got a medal).

On the 3rd of December some of the year 6 class went to a Dodgeball tournament in Blaydon. There were 9 schools altogether. At first, we had 2 qualifying games to see which league we went into. We won one and lost one of those games so this meant we were in the 3rd league.

When we were presented with our medal, we found out that we had won our league therefore receiving a gold medal. Once again St. Joseph’s showed their success and determination at all sports.

By Archie Yr6

Volume 8, Issue 1 Page 9

Nativity 2019

Year 1

Year 5 Year 4

Year 3 Year 2

Reception Class

Year 6

Roll of Honour

All of the above children have received a Head Teacher's

Award since the last newsletter. Well done!

Croftdale Road Blaydon

Tyne and Wear NE21 4BG

Telephone: 0191 414 3108 Fax: 0191 414 2138

blaydonstjosephscatholicprimaryschool@gateshead.gov.uk www.stjosephscatholicprimaryschool.com

Contact us

Diary Time

Noticeboard Your School

PTA The Friends of St. Joseph’s, our Parent Teacher Association, wish to thank everyone for their support this term. They raised

an amazing £426.00 from the Christmas raffle The Friends of St Joseph’s give generously to the school to subsidise class trips and buy resources for the school. Among the many things they have paid for this term they helped fund the cinema and the pantomime trips, provided treats for all the children while they were at the cinema and the panto and paid for the discos at the Christmas parties.

End of Term School closes Friday 20th December 2019.

First Mass of Christmas proceeded by Carols

Tuesday 24th December at 6:30 pm at St Anne’s Church.

Christmas Day Mass Wednesday 25th December at 10:00 am at St Joseph’s Church.

Boxing Day Mass Thursday 26th December at 10:00 am at St Joseph’s Church.

New Year’s Eve Mass

Tuesday 31st December at 10:00 am at St Anne’s Church.

New Year’s Day Mass

Wednesday 1st January 2020 at 10:00 am at St Joseph’s Church.

Start of Lenten Term

School opens to pupils on Monday 6th January 2020.

Reception Class 2020—Closing Date for Applications

Wednesday 15th January 2020

Half Term Holiday

Monday 17th February 2020 - Friday 21st February 2020 inclusive

End of Lenten Term School closes Friday 3rd April 2020.

Isla Yr1 Grace Yr2 Harry Yr3

Gabe Yr4 Jacob Yr5 Polly Yr6 Isabelle Rec Thomas Yr1 Bailey Yr2 Aidan Yr3 Isla Yr4 Fraser Yr5

Ashton Yr6 Lucy Rec Katniss Yr1

Sofia Yr2 Holly Yr3 Ellen Yr4

Logan Yr5 Shaun Yr6 Leo Rec

Amelia Yr1 Louie Yr2 Ava Yr3

Nell Yr4 Liam Yr5 Juliette Yr6

Max Rec Sophia Yr1 Alexa Yr2

Archie Yr3 Aydan Yr4 Jane Yr5

Lily Yr6 Olivia-Grace Rec Andrew Yr1

Ethan Yr2 Monty Yr3 Gracie Yr4 Nye Yr5 Bethany Ba Yr6 Samuel Rec

Nyah Yr1 Evie Yr2 Sofia Yr3 Ava-Mae Yr4 Polly Yr5 Owen Yr6

Freddie Rec Robyn Yr1 Deacan Yr2

Megan Yr3 Henry Yr4 Max Yr5

Jamie Yr6 Jessica Rec Oisin Yr1

Emma Yr2 Libby Yr3 Sophie S Yr4

Jack Yr5 Bethany Bu Yr6 Leila Rec

Sean Yr1 Reggie Yr2 Erin Yr3

Caden Yr4 Kate Yr5 Archie Yr6

Charlie Rec Kaylum Yr1 Neave Yr2

Eve Yr3 Lexie Yr4 Ethan Yr5

Jay Yr6 Aaliyah Rec Dominik Yr1

Daniel Yr2 Layton Yr3 Charlie Yr4

Thomas Yr5 Harry Yr6 Ethan Rec

Jai Yr1 Alfie Yr2 Max Yr3

Matthew Yr4 Grace Yr5 Renee Yr6

Danielle Rec Joshua Yr1 Poppy Yr2

Alfie Yr3 Finley Yr4 Laurence Yr5 Ellie J Yr6