Inspired by the life of St Joseph, we live, love and learn together...

Giving the school community the opportunity to encounter God is one on the key aspects of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School.  It is our mission to encompass encountering God in all that we do.  

As Catholic Educators we aim to...

Search for EXCELLENCE

Nurture the UNIQUENESS of the individual

Strive for the education of the WHOLE person

Value education for ALL

Develop MORAL principles

Encourage our children to be WITNESSES of the world

Celebration of Mass

Liturgical life is an integral part of our coming together as a Catholic community. Our pupils are fully involved in the planning of Masses and Liturgies, they enrich our collective worship by reading, singing and welcoming.

Collective Worship

Pupils join staff and parents in regular acts of collective worship- these take different forms for example a whole school assembly on a Monday, classroom prayers, a Wednesday singing praise assembly, class based collective worship on a Thursday and a whole school merit celebration assembly on a Friday.  Our rota of assemblies is in addition to our programme of Masses and Liturgies across every term. 

RE Teaching and Learning

We view RE- Religious Education teaching and learning as our core of core subjects. A minimum of 10% of our curriculum time is spent on RE and this does not include our collective worship times or our SMILE incorporating Catholic RSE.

School Chapel

We are blessed to have a small but special school Chapel, this provides a peaceful place for staff and students to reflect and have some quiet time. 

Prayer

Prayer life is central to our school community.  We pray together at the beginning, middle and end of every school day, during RE lessons and during assemblies.  We pray and support each other in times of need and we prayer to have time to talk and develop our relationship with God. 

Supporting the Community and Charity

We teach the children that to be active in their faith is to take action. There are several fundraising events during the year as well as activities to support local communities and charities. As a Catholic community we place great focus on being of service to others, in the way Jesus taught us. A beautiful example is how, every Christmas, each class prepares cards for parishioners and each class sings carols in local care homes. 

Liturgy Leaders

Each class has two designated Liturgy Reps who then work together to support all elements of RE across the school.  This includes supporting the planning of Liturgies and Masses. 

Retreats

We aim to provide a retreat day for Year 6 pupils annually.   Retreat days offer a unique opportunity for pupils to take a step back and look at their lives as well as being able to deepen their relationship with God- we feel this is a special transitional element for Year 6 to have the opportunity to take part in. 

SMILE Curriculum incorporating RSE

Our SMILE curriculum (our name for PSHCE) is rooted in the Catholic Social Teaching and social justice themes. This curriculum is bespoke to St Joseph's and incorporates Catholic Relationships Education. We feel SMILE is a wonderful additionality to our RE curriculum. 

Deanery, MAT and Diocese Links

We have strong links with other Catholic schools in our Deanery, MAT and Diocese.

Pastoral Support

One of the key roles of our Pastoral Lead is to provide pastoral support to the school community. The Pastoral Lead is available for all pupils, staff and parents as a listening ear.

LOVE is at the core of our mission, the person of Jesus is at our heart:

"Love God AND your neighbour." (Matthew 22:36-38)

"Love God IN your neighbour." (Matthew 25:40)

"Treat others as you would be treated." (Matthew 7:12)