We had a great Term 1 at St Joseph’s welcoming new pupils and staff to the school. We had plenty of excitement, learning and fun along they way. Here is a short overview of Term 1:
September 2023:
September saw the return of all the pupils and staff to St Joseph’s VI after the summer holidays. We all enjoyed being back at school and meeting our friends again. Once settled we got together for our first choir practice of the new academic year. We all enjoyed being back together singing again.
We were entertained by Song Tails in school when the group came to visit our school. We all gathered in room 5 to hear the story unfold as we listened to the music throughout.
October 2023:
The start of October (the 5th) saw our long time member of staff teacher Ms (Mary) Tolan retire. We were all sad to see Ms. Tolan retire but we enjoyed singing songs and presenting gifts and cards that we made. Ms. Tolan had a lovely occasion that she enjoyed and we all enjoyed giving her a hi-five as she left the yard.
October also welcomed the return of football. We gathered on the 18th of October to hold our first football training session of the season. This session was organised by Mr. O Dowd who enjoyed putting the girls and boys through their paces at the training sessions. We all look forward to Wednesday afternoons for our football training sessions!!
We were invited to Dominican College on the 25th of October were some of the pupils and staff enjoyed an ABBA extravaganza!! The pupils of Dominican College put on a great show with enthusiasm and great spirit. We don’t know who enjoyed the show more … the pupils or the staff! It was a great occasion for the pupils to attend with a lot of familiar songs to sing along to.
Something very strange happened on the last day of school in St Joseph’s VI- the school was taken over by ghosts, witches, doctors, animals, skeletons and Disney princesses and even the stars from Hocus Pocus!! We all had a great day in school sharing the day with all the characters including a bit of a disco in the yard before we went home.
November 2023:
November was a month where we did a lot of good work. We began our practicing for our Carol Service in December. A lot of the pupils started on their typing / word processing work for Christmas. Pupils with the assistance of Ms Foran created lovely letters for Santa as well as creating lovely Christmas cards. We are sure that they were well received gifts in December.
December 2023:
December is always a lovely time in St Joseph’s VI. All the pupils and staff enjoy all the creativity and difference that comes with the month of December. We were gifted a lovely Christmas tree that the pupils (and staff) enjoyed decorating. Some of the pupils in the classes made decorations for the tree that everyone got to enjoy. A special shout out goes to Ms Niamh Horgan who was the temporary teacher in prefab 1. Ms Horgan completed lovely crafts with the boys and girls in prefab 1 as well as with other pupils in the school – felting, paper crafts and flower arranging to name but a few. Thanks goes to everyone for helping to make St Joseph’s warm and welcoming for the season.
We had some very special visitors from DFB North Strand Watch. We were very excited to see our friends from Dublin Fire Brigade back at our school. We treated them to some festive music with their cups of tea and they treated us to selection boxes and a go of their fire hose. We were delighted that they came and raised our first flag – Cineáltas (Kindness) flag in our school. We couldn’t have had better people to raise our first flag on our newly repaired flag pole.
We were delighted to be able to welcome back the parents and guests to the annual Carol Service which was held in St. Joseph’s Church. The boys and girls from St Joseph’s with special guests from Pathways and Rosmini under the direction and leadership of Ms (Rachel) Donohoe and Mr (Bill) Ahessy performed beautifully. This occasion was very special for all in attendance. On the day we had a special visitor – Dorothy McGinley President from the INTO who joined us in our celebration. Dorothy McGinley also took time out of her busy schedule to talk with pupils and staff and visit classrooms. We wish her luck in her new role in the INTO.
Room 6 had the pleasure of visiting the panto in the Gaiety. The pupils and staff practiced their lines well before attending the Cinderella Panto.
By the time the last day of term 1 arrived we could see that colour and creativity had decorated the walls and corridors of St Joseph’s School. The seasonal art was lovely, bight and cheerful and am sure that it brightened up the homes of the pupils. We were very lucky that at such a busy time Santa Claus found the time to make a visit to St Joseph’s Primary VI. Santa Claus took the time to go around the school to visit each of the classes talking to the pupils and staff and leaving a little gift for all the boys and girls.