Introduction
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School is a caring school at the centre of its parish. We are a multi-cultural, welcoming school, with children from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.
Inspired by the life and messages of Jesus, and believing that every child is made in the image and likeness of God, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School is just like a family, where everyone is welcomed; where everyone is loved, respected and cared for; where everyone is helped and encouraged to achieve their very best and where Christ is at the heart of everything we do. Since September 2021 we have been a part of the St. Teresa of Calcutta MAC, a Multi Academy Company (MAC), in accordance with the agreement formulated between the Archdiocese of Birmingham and the Department for Education.
As a one form entry school, we have capacity for 210 pupils with 30 pupils in each year group (from Reception to Year 6).
When a child starts at St Joseph’s they usually join our Reception Class. In the foundation stage, we offer a wide variety of experiences and opportunities for pupils. Our pupils’ personal, social and emotional development is key, and our dedicated EYFS team ensure that all pupils’ needs are catered for. Child-initiated learning is a fundamental part of our EYFS practice.
At Key Stage 1, a high emphasis is placed on the development of reading and phonics, which are both essential to future success in school. We follow the Essential Letter and Sounds Programme to deliver our phonics and pupils achieve well by the end of Key Stage 1.
In Key Stage 2, we focus on developing our pupils’ skills across the curriculum and in English, Maths and RE in particular. Our fundamental aim is to ensure that all of our pupils are given the skills to learn effectively throughout their lives. When they leave our school, our pupils are always well prepared for the future.
At St Joseph’s, we offer a broad and balanced curriculum that is creative, fun, and full of interesting and vibrant learning experiences for all our pupils. We ensure that our curriculum is enriched with visitors, visits, events and activities to inspire in each child a joy for learning.
At lunchtime, we have lots of fun activities for pupils to take part in such as Games Club, Dance and Times Tables Rockstars and we have a number of after school clubs on offer to enrich the learning experiences of our pupils. We also have a Breakfast Club which runs each day for all pupils.
Mission Statement
Jesus light our way on our faith journey. Be our guide, our joy, and our hope, as we learn, live, love and pray together.
Our Values
- We value the way in which all children are unique, made in the image and likeness of God, and our curriculum promotes respect for the views of each individual child, as well as for people of all cultures and faiths.
- We value the spiritual, moral, and physical development of each person, as well as their intellectual and physical growth.
- We value the importance of each person in our community. We organise our curriculum so that we promote co-operation and understanding between all members of our community.
- We value the rights enjoyed by each person in our society. We respect each child in our school for who they are, and we treat them with fairness and honesty. We aim to enable each person to be successful, and we provide equal opportunities for all the children in our school.
- We value our environment, and we aim, through our curriculum, to teach respect for our world, and how we should care for it for future generations, as well as our own.
- We value the importance of each child using their God-given talents to reach their full potential.
Inclusive School
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School is a fully inclusive school. We believe in inclusion in mainstream school wherever possible, to enable all pupils, whatever their educational need, to achieve their full potential.
Our SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) is Mrs West. She identifies and monitors children who are on the Special Education Needs Register, to ensure that all of their needs are fully met in school. Mrs West works with the class teachers and relevant outside agencies to provide support for provision. Parents are fully informed regarding their child’s progress, and regular review meetings are held throughout the year.
Pupils who have special educational needs are primarily supported within the classroom by the year group team. Year group staff are aware of the needs of the pupils, and, with input from Mrs West, they maintain a termly provision management map, which details how individual needs will be met through the use of an Individual Target Plan (ITP). Progress is closely monitored, and appropriate interventions and additional support are available to pupils who need it.
We also have a Pastoral Family Support Lead in school, Mrs Gowen, who works to support children with various issues such as behaviour, emotional issues, social issues and also life changes, such as bereavement and transition. She works with children in small groups, one to one, and in the classroom, and also works closely with families and outside agencies to provide any support that is needed, both for the child, and for the family.
Mrs Koumi is our Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) who has direct responsibility for academic interventions. She provides support to children in small groups.
Both Mrs Gowen and Mrs Koumi are members of our pastoral team.
British Values
British Values are promoted through the gospel values of our school in the manner that Jesus taught us – to love one another.
We actively promote and model democracy by:
- Ensuring that our children develop knowledge of, and respect for, public institutions and services, eg. visits to/from Police, Fire Service.
- Teaching our children how they can influence decision making through the democratic process through class voting, assemblies and activities during times of elections (local/general).
- Encouraging pupils to become involved in decision making processes and ensuring they are listened to in school, through Pupil Voice, an ‘open door policy’ for the Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher, consultation groups and liaison between staff and pupils.
- Teaching children how public services operate and how they are held to account, eg. through Vocations week.
- Demonstrating how injustice can be peacefully challenged, eg. through the examples of the Gospels, by teaching about inspirational figures such as Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King.
We actively promote and model the rule of law by:
- Ensuring school rules are clear and fair, eg. through our consistent Behaviour, Care and Discipline policy.
- Helping children to distinguish right from wrong, eg. by using the example of Christ when dealing with behaviour that is not acceptable.
- Promoting respect for the law and the basis on which it is made, eg. through visitors such as PCSOs, Police, MP into school.
- Helping children to understand that living under the rule of law protects individuals, eg. through our RE curriculum, through focus weeks, visitors.
- Having a behaviour policy that is linked to restorative justice, eg. that is based in the Christian value of forgiveness.
We actively promote and model individual liberty by:
- Encouraging and supporting pupils in developing their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence through our Catholic ethos, our way of treating people, investing in meeting the needs of all children, providing equality of opportunity, and understanding the needs of all children.
- Encouraging pupils to take responsibility for their behaviour as well as knowing their rights, through linking rights with responsibilities and having a fair and consistent Behaviour, Care and Discipline policy.
- Challenging stereotypes with welcoming visitors into school to talk about disability awareness, anti-bullying, anti-racism and vocations week.
- Implementing a strong anti-bullying culture.
- Following the UNICEF Rights Respecting School agenda.
We actively promote and model respect and tolerance by:
- Promoting respect for individual differences through our Catholic ethos and RE curriculum and also through assemblies and masses, multi-cultural weeks and multi-faith weeks.
- Helping children to understand and respect their own and other cultures and ways of life, through RE, Geography, International Links, multi-cultural weeks and multi-faith weeks.
- Organising visits to places of worship eg. Churches, Gurdwaras, Jewish synagogues.
- Discussing and celebrating the differences between people such as differences of faith, ethnicity, disability, gender and different family situations such as being a looked after child or a young carer.
