What is the School Council?
St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School wants pupils to play an active and positive role in all aspects of their school life. A school council provides a meaningful way in which pupils can voice their opinions and have their views taken into account in decisions that impact upon them. The ideas and views of pupils need to be taken into consideration, as pointed out by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12 (respect for the views of the child),
Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.
Our school council, is a group of children that represents the views of all our pupils. It gives our children the opportunity to have their voices heard and be part of the whole school community.
Who are the School Council representatives?
A new school council is elected each year and is made up of representatives from each class, from Year 1 to Year 6. All school council representatives are elected by their peers at the beginning of each academic year and work alongside a designated member of staff.
School council aims:
- To meet regularly so that pupils have a place to voice their concerns, opinions and thoughts.
- To encourage all children in school to suggest ideas and improvements.
- To ensure that any suggestions or concerns are listened to and acted upon.
- To organise whole school and class events.
- To organise charity days.
- To make sure our school is a happy and safe place for all of our children.
What have we been doing (2022-2023)?
This is a list of activities carried out by the School Council, so far this year:
- We promoted Anti-Bullying Week by celebrating Odd Socks Day on November 14th. We put posters up around the school about the event, and helped by discussing it in during a whole school assembly.
- We also promoted World Hello Day during an assembly, and through the distribution of various activity sheets linked to the event. Beginning with a simple greeting on World Hello Day, people around the world send a message to leaders, encouraging them to use communication rather than force to settle conflicts.
- We also discussed about the need for buying some new football goals to be used in the junior yard. An old goal was measured and we selected a set of new football goals from a sports catalogue.
- We also discussed about the possibility of having ‘girls only’ football playtimes, as some of the girls didn’t want to play football with the boys.
The Mini Vinnies
Eco
We are now part of the Dragon Bags recycling scheme. The aim of the scheme is to help every school in Wales achieve their fundraising goals, as well as diverting textiles from landfill at the same time. ‘Daffi the Dragon’ is the company mascot and you can see him on the Dragon Bags drop box in the school hall. Our Eco warriors will be working hard to raise awareness of textile recycling and deciding on the best use of the funds raised by creating an action plan for the year ahead. The service pay £50 for one filled drop box. I’m sure together we can exceed this!
So what items are accepted …
Shirts / Trousers / Shorts / T-shirts / Jeans / Skirts / Jackets / Jumpers / Hoodies / Joggers / Bags / Belts & Ties / Boots, Shoes & Trainers / Gloves / Jewellery / Swimwear
Unfortunately the following items are not accepted…
Pyjamas / Slippers / Workwear / Ripped or Stained clothing / Bath Ropes / Printed Items / Uniforms
Once the drop box is full and loaded onto the Dragon Bags van the journey could take them to any corner of the world. Different items will end up in different climates. One thing all the clothes will have in common is that they will be going to a place where they will provide clothing to people who need it.
We thank you in advance for your support!
Eco Warriors Code
Eco warriors, here to help,
Can you save the trees and kelp?
Ocean floors are full of plastic
When it’s gone it’ll be fantastic!
Are you picking up your litter?
Reduce your use of glue and glitter!
Recycle as much as you can!
One world, one planet, one chance
Reuse all things to keep the balance!
Eco Warriors Mission Statement
We are here to save the environment, the world and our school. We are the Eco Warriors! We will strive for a cleaner school environment; use less electricity, plastic and paper; and have as many children walking to school as we can!
The school Eco Club is made up of pupils and staff. Two pupil members are elected from each class from Year 1 to Year 6. Every year we carry out an environmental survey of the school and create an action plan. We have proudly gained our Silver Award certificate.
We are now making headway towards our Green Flag.
Here are some posters our Eco Warriors have created to spread the message of what we want to achieve.
Help out at home
- Sort and take out your recycling
- Make a bird feeder
- Do a litter pick in your local area
- Plant a tree
- Keep fit with daily exercise
Celebrate your eco achievements with us as we work towards the Eco-Schools Green Flag!
Criw Cymraeg
Helo! We are the Criw Cymraeg of St. Joseph’s Primary School. We are so delighted to announce that we are working towards our “Arian” (Silver) Siarter Iaith Award! We are one of only a few schools in Neath Port Talbot to be doing this. We are very excited to be helping the school to continue to be more bilingual and to establish a better Welsh ethos.
We think being bilingual is extremely important because;
- It’s fun!
- It improves your chances of being employed in the future.
- Over two thirds of the world’s population are bilingual.
- On average bilingual pupils achieve higher English exam results than pupils who speak one language.
- Academic research has confirmed that bilingual pupils are more creative and score higher in IQ tests.
- Bilingual people in Wales earn more on average in comparison with people who speak one language.
We want to try and help all the pupils in the school become more confident at speaking Welsh in school and at home. We have introduced a Welsh speaker of the week certificate for all classes. Who will be awarded this week?
If you want to find out a Welsh word or check spelling, try Ap Geiriaduron.
How can I help my child?
Sut allwch chi help’ch plentyn?
Below are some basic phrases to use at home.
Days of the Week
Monday – Dydd Llun Tuesday – Dydd Mawth Wednesday – Dydd Mercher Thursday – Dydd Iau Friday – Dydd Gwener Saturday – Dydd Sadwrn Sunday – Dydd Sul
Months of the Year
January – Ionawr February – Chwefror March – Mawrth Aprill – Ebrill May – Mai June – Mehefin July – Gorffenaf August – Awst September – Medi October – Hydref November – Tachwedd December – Rhagfyr
Greetings
Good morning – Bore da Good afternoon – Prynhawn da Good evening – Noswaith da Goodnight – Nos da Goodbye – Hwyl fawr
Why not try some Welsh APPS at home – they are all free!
*Cyw (3-7 year olds)
*Llyfrau Bach Magi Ann (3-7 years old)
*Campau Cosmig/Compau Cosmig 2(7-11 years old)
*Codi Hwyl
* Trica Chlic
Wales has a vibrant musical history and thriving contemporary music scene. If you can try to listen to some Welsh music at home with your children this will be bendigedig! Here is a list of some famous Welsh artists:
*Tom Jones
*Shirley Bassey
*Catatonia
*Stereophonics
*Katherine Jenkins
*Duffy
*Charlotte Church
*Manic Street Preachers
*Bonnie Tyler
*Candelas
*Alys Williams a’r band
*Swnami
*Luke Evans
News
On Wednesday 1st March Criw led our Eisteddfod celebrations to honour our patron saint of Wales. Throughout the week all classes worked on a range of different Welsh activities including signing, dancing, art, drama, poetry and story writing to name a few. We had so much fun and learnt lots!
To mark the day we wore our St. David’s Day costumes and one of Wales’s national emblems – a daffodil or a leek and enjoyed Welsh cakes during breaktime. Criw held a competition where they judged the tallest daffodil and the heaviest leek. A huge thank you to all entries. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place certificates and prizes were awarded during celebration assembly on Friday to end the week.
On Wednesday 8th March Mrs Aston our Welsh TDO spent the day with us working with all classes sharing ‘Gwrando’ activities through fun games, supporting our Welsh language skills. She has kindly volunteered to come in and work with Criw Cymraeg and groups of children to teach us some new Welsh Language yard games to enjoy soon. We can’t wait for her next visit and we are very thankful for her support. Diolch!
Who are the Mini Vinnies?
The Mini Vinnies are our new pupil voice group at St. Joseph’s. ‘Mini Vinnies’ is
the name for a St Vincent de Paul Group for primary aged children. They form
part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society England and Wales, a voluntary
organisation dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms. Mini Vinnies meet to
pray, discuss and support however they can to help make a difference in their
communities.
The Mini Vinnies at St. Joseph’s meet once a half term with Mrs Brooks.
Our Mini Vinnies have made a huge difference to the local community and
beyond. They have collected food for the Harvest appeal which was given to the
less fortunate in our local area. They organised a collection for the SVP Shoebox
Appeal which sent to Romania.
During the Spring term, our focus will be on “Make Poverty a Priority”, saying
prayers and collecting food items for Neath food bank.
Well done Mini Vinnies, we are very proud of you.