WEEKLY UPDATE: EDITION 20 2019/2020

PAGE ONE: THOUGHTS FROM THE HEAD Dear Parents, Despite the rain, we have many moments of metaphorical sunshine this week, and even one whole day with the real thing. As you will see in these pages, staff and students really took advantage of a break in the rain to prepare the Orchard and green house for later spring planting. I look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour when we head into the summer months. This week we have also enjoyed reflecting on last summer’s examination successes, as we have looked in detail at the Department for Education results. More detail will be on the school website at the beginning of next week, but the percentage of pupils achieving GCSES at Grade 5 or above in Maths and English was an excellent 67% against a national average of 40% and a average of 39%. The best performing state-funded school in Cornwall achieved 40%, and St Joseph’s was ahead of many South West Independent schools – including a number with selective intake– by a wide margin. The school’s Attainment 8 score was also in the top two in the county – an outstanding achievement for a non- selective school. Attainment 8 measures a student's average grade across eight subjects and is designed to encourage schools to offer a broad, well-balanced curriculum. With St Joseph’s scoring 57.2 against a national average of 44.7 and a Cornwall average of 45.4, it is clear that this balance is being very successfully struck. Click here for full comparisons. These successes do not come overnight, nor by accident. They come through the hard work of many, and the school environment being one that provides the foundation for the children to build their futures. Moving forward, we have a number of events that I just wanted to bring to your attention:

 PTA Coffee morning: do pop into the dining room on the morning of the 3rd March for a tea or coffee and a chance to chat with other parents. This will run from drop off until 9am, and then there will be a PTA meeting for anyone who wishes to take part. The PTA would love as many parents as possible to join them.

 Family Fun Quiz: I am delighted we have seen a big enough uptake to ensure that the quiz on the 6th of March will be going ahead. There is still time to book a table—just sign up in the foyer, or email either [email protected] or [email protected] to book your places. I am delighted that we even have one team made up of last year’s Year 11s who have entered.

 Mary Poppins: tickets are available for our performances at the end of term. Do book and bring your friends and families, the evening promises to be a fantastic opportunity to showcase the children’s skills.

 Open Day 13th March – please do spread the word to friends and families to come along – parental recommendation is such a positive force, so thank you all for this. Have a wonderful weekend, do stay safe whatever the weather brings. With best wishes, Mr Scott St Joseph’s School Weekly Newsletter Page 1

EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Year 10 Photo Shoot

Just before half term the Year 10 photography students set up their own photo shoot in the Textiles room! They have planned their outfits and their images will be part of their Portrait project. This was a great team building exer- cise and lots of fun!

Year 11 Design and Technology

Our Year 11 Design & Technology students have started to make their GCSE projects. They have 35 hours to create an outdoor educational game aimed at younger pupils. To help with their projects they met with the Reception Class pupils who have given them some great ideas.

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Congratulations Olivia……. Olivia Shute took part in the Cornwall County Championships which took place over two weekends in February in Penzance and Bodmin. After qualifying for 13 events, Olivia achieved 9 personal bests and came away with medals in the following:-

Age group Bronze 100m backstroke and 5th place junior medal Age group Bronze 50m breaststroke and 4th place junior medal Age group Bronze 200m backstroke Age group Bronze 50m backstroke and 6th place junior medal

Olivia now turns her attention to the Swim Wales Long course National championships in April in Swansea followed by the South West Regional championships.

In between all of this Olivia has been busy raising money for Little Princess Trust by cutting her long hair which took place on Saturday 15th February, Olivia has raised £1221.51 and £230 towards breast cancer research!!

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Well done Eva……..

Stars of the Eva is now level 8 in British Gymnastics Week proficiency awards. 24th—28th February She worked really hard to get this, and KS1: Alfie Williams I think you can see from her wonderful KS2: Coco Godden smile just how KS3: Erin Callaghan much it means to her. KS4: Daisy Wraith

Well done to you all!

May Bank Holiday Reminder….. A reminder; the May Bank Holiday is now Friday 8th May 2020 and not Monday 4th May. This change was made Nationally to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day

An Inspector Calls….

Year 11 are currently revising the play An Inspector Calls and have been creating games to help them re-cover key charac- ters and themes. We are all looking forward to our trip to the theatre next week where we are seeing the play in perfor- mance. At the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.

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Pancake Day

Reception Class had a hard decision to make today when choosing which toppings they would like on their pancakes!

Orchard Work in the Spring…..

Spring finally came to the orchard today and KS1 started work clearing the beds ready for some planting. The children all worked hard as a team pulling up the weeds and carrying the buckets to the compost bin.

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Senior School Core Subjects Weekly Wonders:

English: Henry Mason for working well in English; effort, focus and quality of work has improved. Maths: Megan May for her outstanding memorisation of Pi.

Science: KS3 Iris Lucas for a creative and scientifically accurate story about an imaginary planet & KS4 Pippi Harris for the conscientious way she approaches all work set.

Royal Cornwall Museum Year 5 have had an amazing day at the Royal Cornwall Museum in , taking part in an Egyptian mummy workshop.

We have seen and handled Egyptian artefacts, performed a weighing of the heart ceremony and made a mummification ‘shopping list’ on papyrus. The class demonstrated great knowledge and were able to deepen their understanding of the lives of Ancient Egyptians.

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Ten Tors Training

Thank you to Clare Keenan for delivering First Aid training to our Ten Tors pupils. The pupils learnt and carried out CPR; gained valuable first aid skills including hyperthermia treatment; all very relevant for everyday life and when walking on a moorland environment.

Stay and Play

The sun was shining this week for our Stay & Play Outdoor School group. We made bird feeders from old milk cartons to help look after the birds! We are looking forward to learning more about Spring over the next few weeks

Pre-prep Science Club We had a lovely time at the Pre-Prep Science club this week. We learned about the density of oil, water and food colouring and made lava lamps by adding effervescent vitamin tablets. Lots of fizzy fun!

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2019 GCSE Results - Attainment 8 Score

Attainment 8 scores are based on pupils’ performance in eight qualifications. These are English and maths, up to three subjects from the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) list, and students’ three highest scores from a range of other qualifications, including GCSEs. English and maths are given double weighting to reflect their importance. The EBacc subjects are: English, maths, history or geography, combined sci- ence (which counts as two passes) and a language. In addition, students must take both English language and literature. Scores from the Department of Education are below. St Joseph's School 57.2 Independent Non-Selective Truro High School For Girls 50.7 Independent Selective Okehampton College 48.1 State Secondary 47.2 State Secondary Mount Kelly 46.9 Independent Selective Looe Academy 46.2 State Secondary Cornwall Average 45.4 UK Average 44.7 Launceston College 44.6 State Secondary Tavistock College 44.6 State Secondary Budehaven 44 State Secondary 42.3 State Secondary 42.3 Independent Selective Saltash School 42.2 State Secondary Sir James Smith School 41.6 State Secondary Holsworthy College 40.8 State Secondary Liskeard College 40.7 State Secondary Callington College 40.5 State Secondary Shebbear College 39.3 Independent Non-Selective Blundells School 38.5 Independent Selective Kingsley School 33.4 Independent Non-Selective Exeter School 19.7 Independent Selective Plymouth College 18 Independent Selective You can search results and find all data above by visiting https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ department-for-education

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2019 GCSE Results Grade 5 or above in English and Maths

St Joseph's School 67% Independent Non-Selective Okehampton College 48% State Secondary Mount Kelly 46% Independent Selective Wadebridge School 40% State Secondary Looe Academy 40% State Secondary UK Average 40% Cornwall Average 39% Launceston College 39% State Secondary Bodmin College 37% State Secondary Tavistock College 37% State Secondary Shebbear College 37% Independent Non-Selective Budehaven 36% State Secondary Sir James Smith School 31% State Secondary Callington College 27% State Secondary Liskeard College 26% State Secondary Holsworthy College 25% State Secondary Kingsley School 21% Independent Non-Selective You can search results and find all data above by visiting https://www.gov.uk/ government/organisations/department-for-education

Well done to our Year 11s, their teachers and parents for these wonderful results. It has been lovely seeing pupils engage with posters showing how well Year 11 did around the school, and taking pride in the achievements of their peers.

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SENCo Coffee Morning—save the date…… Our next coffee morning will be held on Friday 20th March for Senior School Par- ents to come and have a chat with the SEN Team. The focus will be on sup- porting exam prep at home as well as strategies for anxiety linked to exams. In order for us to arrange refreshments for the morning, we would greatly appreciate it if you could confirm your attendance by Wednesday 18th March on the [email protected] -e mail.

School Uniform There are a number of school uniform items missing including PE and swimming kit that may have been misplaced into other pupils’ bags—could parents please check their children's bags for any such items. These can be handed in to Reception and they will be reunited with their owners. In addition, a number of thrift shop items (PE socks, swim hats, shorts etc.) have been loaned to pupils but have not yet been returned. Could parents also look out for these items and return them to Reception as soon as possible. Many thanks.

Portal Notices Documents uploaded to Portal this Subject Document Type Year Groups involved Sent on DofE silver letter School Letter Yr 9 and 10 28 Feb 2020 DofE silver hike - Mrs Cutler School Letter Yr 9 and 10 28 Feb 2020 Year 3 Newsletter spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 3 27 Feb 2020 Year 3 Topic Web Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 3 27 Feb 2020 Year 6 Topic Web Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 6 27 Feb 2020 Year 6 Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 6 27 Feb 2020 Year 5 Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 5 27 Feb 2020 Year 5 Topic Web Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 5 27 Feb 2020 Year 4 Topic web spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 4 27 Feb 2020 Year 4 Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 4 27 Feb 2020 Year 2 Topic Web Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 2 27 Feb 2020 Year 2 Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 2 27 Feb 2020 YEAR 1 Topic Web Spring 2 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 1 27 Feb 2020 Year 1 Newsletter Spring 2 Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year 1 27 Feb 2020 Reception TOPIC WEB Spring 2 2020) Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year Reception 27 Feb 2020 Reception Newsletter spring 2 (2020) Junior Topic Web/Newsletter Year Reception 27 Feb 2020 2019.20 options form Yr 8 Important Reference Year 3 26 Feb 2020 Plymouth Argyle after school club Spring term 2020 2 Sport Junior School and Yr 7 Girls 26 Feb 2020 Coronavirus information letter (002) Important Reference Whole School 26 Feb 2020 Easter Bonnet Competition 2020 Events Whole School 25 Feb 2020 St Piran letter 2020 Music Year 4 25 Feb 2020 Notices sent out this week: Subject Year Groups involved Sent On DofE silver letter Yr 9 and 10 28/02/2020 Wednesday 11 March 2020 - U11 Netball and football v Polwhele and Petrocs @ St Josephs Selected Yr Groups 27/02/2020 Tuesday 10 March U15 Girls Football v Launceston College @ Launceston College Selected Year groups 27/02/2020 Year Reception Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year Reception 27/02/2020 Year 1 Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year 1 27/02/2020 Year 2 Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year 2 27/02/2020 Year 3 Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year 3 27/02/2020 Year 4 Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year 4 27/02/2020 Year 5 Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year 5 27/02/2020 Year 6 Topic Web and Newsletter Spring 2 2020 Year 6 27/02/2020 2019.20 options form Yr 8 Year 8 26/02/2020 Plymouth Argyle after school club Spring term 2020 2 Junior School and Yr 7 Girls 26/02/2020 Coronavirus information letter Whole School 26/02/2020 Easter Bonnet Competition 2020 Whole School 25/02/2020 Year 4 St Piran letter 2020 Year 4 25/02/2020 St Joseph’s School Weekly Newsletter Page 10

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