School runs a Breakfast Club for parents who may need to drop their children off earlier than the start of the school day. Children can come into Breakfast Club between 7.45am and 8.30am, and they have a choice of food and drink.

The cost of the Breakfast Club is £1.50 per child per day.

Find out more on our Breakfast Club page.

Getting to school on time is very important. The gates are opened at 8.45am. Children must be accompanied by an adult until they are admitted through the main gate by senior members of staff.

Our day begins as we start everything at St Joseph’s; with prayers. The register is taken and then the children spend the first half hour of each day writing in their class or doing individual and small group work, so it’s vital that they arrive on time. Arriving just five minutes late each day amounts to over 16 hours of school missed!

Every morning the children take part in an act of Collective Worship. This could be prayers in class, whole school assembly, key stage assembly, house assembly or Mass. Collective worship is focused on our Catholic faith.

During the morning, all children focus on English and Maths.

During the morning, children in Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 have a phonics session in ability groups.

The children also have guided reading and individual reading sessions at intervals throughout the day.

All children have playtime at 10:30am. There are different playgrounds for Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Reception and Key Stage 1 children are provided with fruit at playtime. Older children can bring in their own fruit. Year 5 and 6 can buy tuck from the school kitchen.

We have children who act as ‘Playground Friends’. They have been trained and help to look after anyone who is on their own or having problems. There are always members of staff on duty in each playground.

Just before lunch, children say prayers in their classroom. Lunchtime is staggered for each class, which enables all children to make full use of the lunchtime activities.

At lunchtime, children can have a hot dinner or packed lunch. At St Joseph’s, our school meals are provided by City Serve and are very tasty and healthy. See our Lunchtime page for more information, including our menus. Fresh water is provided and plenty of dinner supervisors are on hand to help children cut food, open packets, etc.

During lunchtime, we provide a variety of lunchtime clubs, from Board Games Club to Times Table Rockstars Club.

Immediately after lunch, the register is taken again, and children say a prayer. Children sometimes take part in ‘Pray As You Go’ each day, usually after lunch. This is an online guided audio meditation based on the teachings of Jesus.

During the afternoon sessions, children take part in various lessons including RE, PE Science and Topic. They also enjoy sessions in the library or sometimes in the Prayer Garden. We have thirty laptops available to each Key Stage which are used in a variety of lessons. The children also make use of Kindles and iPads.

Children need to hear stories if they are to develop into good writers. Directly before the end of the school day, children in EYFS and KS1 take part in ‘Reading for Pleasure’ sessions. As a class, they share a book which they may read over a few weeks. Younger children may have individual stories each day.

The children particularly enjoy this time of day and as well as being important for their English skills, it is also a lovely way for them to come together and wind down after a busy day. Our day ends as it started, with prayers.

When it is time to go home, the children are taken into the playground by their class teachers. Reception children are dismissed by staff from the Reception gate. Children in Key Stage 1 and 2 are dismissed from the playground by staff.

Children will not be allowed to leave with unannounced adults, even if the child knows them. If someone different is picking up your child, you must phone the school office to let us know and they must be on your child’s contact list.

Some children attend after-school clubs which are provided by staff or outside agencies. These take place on the school premises and finish at 4.15pm. After School Clubs include Multiskills, Cricket, Tennis, Art Club and Dance.

You can find out more about these on our Clubs page.