St. Joseph's Academy Weekly Newsletter Issue 23.3

Ben Davis, Acting Headteacher Grassyards Rd Kilmarnock KA3 7SL

ST. JOSEPH’S ACADEMY Weekly Newsletter

01563 526144

ISSUE 23.3

www.saintjosephsacademy.co.uk Twitter: @StJoAcad

JUNE 5TH 2015

INSPIRE AND TRANSFORM: NURTURING FAITH-FILLED WORLD CLASS LEARNING

FOR PARENTS, CARERS, FAMILIES & PARISHES

St. Joseph’s at the Caritas Awards in Glasgow

CARITAS AWARDS IN GLASGOW

P7 Induction Programme

Over the past three years a highlight in the calendar for every

It is always a pleasure to see the young people from schools across

Catholic secondary school in Scotland has been the Caritas

our Learning Community and other non-associated primary schools

Award Ceremony. This year the event took place at the Clyde

when they join us for their induction days. These days represent the

Auditorium in Glasgow with over 1000 young people from

culmination of a whole year of activities and have been carefully

across the country receiving an award from the Bishops’ Conference. The Caritas Award, which is also recognised by the SQA, honours young people’s faith and service to their school, parish and local community. This year we had 28 S6 pupils receiving the award. They were accompanied by proud

planned and led by Mrs. Shearer, DHT. This year was no exception.

Over the two days the pupils enjoyed time in classes, got to know their teachers better and were able to participate in Sports Day. Also, they were led in mental health and wellbeing workshops by a team of S5 pupils exploring ideas such as ‘what is happiness?’ and ‘how can I help someone if they are sad?’. On Thursday evening they attended a

parents and family members and looked resplendent in their

Mass, said by Father Chambers, and a Parents’ Information Evening at

uniforms as you can see from the front cover photograph. St.

which they shared their experiences and parents and carers were able

Joseph’s also stole the show as one of two schools who

to meet with Pupil Support staff.

contributed music to the event. The Vocal Group performed a

Senior Induction Day

beautiful version of Seasons of Love, complete with harmonies.

S5 and S6 pupils returned in huge numbers on Friday to resume

The senior instrumental group performed two pieces: Stevie

courses and start new ones. They were led through a day long

Wonder’s ‘I Wish’ and a Celtic rock arrangement of Coldplay’s

induction programme that reviewed their options, provided them with a

‘Fix You’ which brought the house down. You can hear all these performances on our school Soundcloud: https:// soundcloud.com/stjoacadarts/sets/caritas-awards-2015

SHAPING OUR GLOBAL FUTURES CONFERENCE

new timetable and explored what they could expect from the school over the next year. In addition, S6 had a special focus on servant leadership and using their skills to contribute to the school community through various activities.

STOP PRESS: St. Joseph’s Launches iPads

We were delighted to welcome author Derek Brown to the

Friday afternoon saw us launch our new iPad initiative that will

school last week. Accompanied by Carol Craig from the Centre

see every pupil in the school issued with a device for personal

for Confidence and Wellbeing, Derek was launching his new

use in the new session. The special guest for the launch was

book Shaping Our Global Future: A Guide for Young People.

our very own Bishop Nolan of Galloway, pictured below getting

We hosted about 50 senior pupils from schools across Miss Woodward and S6 East pupils

a lesson in mobile technology from S1 pupils. He was

money with a bakeinsale and South Ayrshire all of whom raising were engaged

by Derek

accompanied by Allan Brown and Corri Wilson (both new

this week. examining the global wonders and challenges of human

MSPs) and Fiona Lees and Alex McPhee. More next week!

development. In this session he focussed especially on Telecommunications with pupils learning about the impact of new technologies and planning a campaign to address these.

FURTHER NEW APPOINTMENTS

In addition to the appointments we made two weeks ago we have also brought more new staff into the school in the last week, all of whom will be starting in August along with Mr. Cardle, the new Headteacher. Mr. Davis leaves on June 26th to take up his post at St. Ambrose Barlow RC High School.

This week we appointed Miss Lauren McCullagh, currently at Williamwood High School, to Principal Teacher of Science and Mr Neil Henderson (from James Hamilton Academy) to Principal Teacher of IDL, Technologies and Enterprise.

Another busy week

Above left: S2 English pupils completing their presentations; above right: pupils from across East Ayrshire with author Derek Brown examining future global challenges and opportunities; Middle and bottom:the S5 Talk About It pupils leading workshops for P7 on promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.

Talking About Learning Seven staff from St. Joseph’s were among 30 teachers from across Scotland presenting at the Talking About Learning conference in Livingston last week. Mrs McIntosh, MIss Horrey, Mr Whyte, Mrs Fulton, Miss Ramsey, , Mrs. Lindsay and Miss Woodward all led discussions, accompanied by S3 pupil Sandra Wicik who talked about her IDL project. You can see some of them in action here. The event was organised by BOCSH/ SCEL for teachers.

S3 Parkour Boys to speak at Learning Festival The pupils who have been part of the Parkour project are pictured above as part of the publicity for the Scottish Learning Festival, 2015, at which they will be appearing.

East Ayrshire Athletics Championship Look how many pupils took part in the EA championships. Excellent performances and participation all round.

East Ayrshire Relay Winner Pictured above is Kudzai Tapatapa storming along the track to honours in the S2 Relay competition. The full team is pictured below.

Sports Day Winners Pictured here are the winners from the recent Sports Day event. From top left to right from top clockwise they are: Caitlin Kelly, Eilidh New and Laura Jedrusiak (S1); Connor Shaw, Kyle Anderson and Oscar Jessop (S1); Aimee Walker, Keira Raymond and Skye Leitch (S3); Petra Kurcikcova, Beth Samson and Hildah Mtwali (S2); Jordan Padilla, Sarin Campbell and Michael Murray (S3). Also participating, but not pictured, were teams from the new S1 as part of their induction days.

St. Joseph’s wows the Caritas Awards The vocal group from the school provided a musical interlude during the prestigious event last week.

IMPORTANT DATES…………………………………………………

June 15th Sir Tom Hunter Enterprise competition

June 8th Parent Council 7 pm

June 16th S3 Diploma of Achievement Evening

June 8th S6 Leavers’ Day event & Mass

June 18th S1 & S2 Awards Ceremonies

June 10th St. Columba’s Day: House Mass

Jun 18th Senior Prom, Marr Hall

WEEKLY HOME ROOM REFLECTION: Day for Life 'Day for Life', which took place on Sunday, May 31st, is the day in the Church’s year dedicated to celebrating and upholding the dignity of human life. The Church teaches that life should be protected and nurtured from conception to natural death. There have been remarkable medical and technological advances so that the chronically ill can receive life-saving treatments. We can be truly thankful for such advances.

And yet at some time or other we will all die. These same advances have led to more complex decision making about appropriate treatment.

At the end of life, there are two thoughts which can help guide us all.

No matter how hard it may be sometimes, it is important that we try our best love life. Every person is loved by God and every life is a precious gift never to be destroyed or neglected. It is also important that we accept that everyone will die. It is important too to remember that all lives are worth living, regardless of the challenges people may face – great disability, hardship or illness does not remove a person’s right to life and they should not be made to feel that they are a burden on those around them. We all need to prepare to face life-threatening crises.

Perhaps we should ask ourselves what we would do if we knew we only had one hour left to live. Who would we speak to? What would we try to put right? What would our priorities be? Thinking like this does not need to be morbid – it can help us to better appreciate the precious gift of life that we have and all too often take for granted. Life itself is a gift from God, and we must treat it with the greatest respect.

Let us pray: O God all life is in your hands help us to cherish this so that all people live and die in dignity and love. Amen.

PARISH MASS TIMES St. Matthew’s: 9.30 am, Fr. Chambers St. Joseph’s: 6.00 pm (vigil), 11.00 am Fr. Latham St. Francis Xavier, Patna: 5.00 pm (vigil) St. John the Evangelist: 10.45 am, Fr. McGrattan Our Lady of Mount Carmel: 9.30 am, Fr. McGhee St. Michael’s: 4.30 pm (vigil) St. Paul’s: 11.30 am, Fr. Chambers Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick: 6.00 pm (vigil), Fr. McGrattan St. Sophia’s: 6.00 pm (vigil) Fr. Chambers St. Thomas the Apostle: 9.00 am, Fr. McGrattan