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MAY 13TH2013

FOR PARENTS, CARERS, FAMILIES & PARISHES

S1: Dare to TravelOne aspect of our interdisciplinary course, LifeSchool 360, is that pupils undertake personalised learning in the form of ‘dares’.

Recently Miss Blacklock’s class focused their dare on travel and in doing so planned their own school trip. Two of the pupils involved (Agnes McColligan and Caeliann Pearson) provide their insights here.

“As part of the S1 LS360 Dare to Travel class, we, the pupils, researched, planned and organised a trip to Heads of Ayr Farm Park.

The planning involved using all of the ten skills embedded within the

curriculum, to not only find out what is involved in planning a trip but also to decide as a class where to go and who would take charge of certain tasks.

We asked the office staff to kindly prepare the official paperwork, we booked a coach, reserved our tickets and found out what was involved in a risk assessment. Soon we were all set to go.

At the park, we played some team games, fed animals from all over the world and had a lot of fun. The park lent itself well to our travel theme and we completed a booklet requiring us to discover more about the animals, their native countries and even answer some questions in French!

When completing our self-evaluations as a class, we discovered that we all

enjoyed ourselves, especially the team competitions and being outdoors learning and having fun.

Thank you to Miss Blacklock and Mr Ritson who helped us organise the trip and make the most of our time when we got there. Judging by the amount of times they were on the zip wire and slides, they may have even had more fun than us!”

INSPIRE AND TRANSFORM

Ben Davis,Acting Headteacher

Grassyards RdKilmarnockKA3 7SL

01563 526144

www.saintjosephsacademy.co.ukTwitter: @StJoAcad

Heads of Ayr Farm Park visit: as you can the fun at the Farm Park ranged from the energetic to learning about the animals on the farm (below) and all organised by the pupils

Design work: The image to the left is a piece of design work completed by Caitlin O’Rourke in S2.

In common with the senior pupils’ work displayed here last week she has focussed on textile design and has produced a magnificent sofa cover. There were a number of skills required to produce this image and it is impressive that a pupil in S2 has worked hard to create this.

Well done to Caitlin and to the staff in the Art, Design and Technology department for all the inspiration.

Mount Carmel celebrates Golden JubileeAt the weekend the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel celebrated 50 years. The church was opened on May 12th, 1963.

The anniversary was celebrated with a social event on Saturday evening at the Park Hotel and a special Mass at 6 pm on Sunday.

Congratulations must go to the pupils in the choir from Mount Carmel Primary School who performed two musical pieces so well after Communion and to pupils who participated as altar servers.

U-18s hungry for trophiesHaving reported last week that the U-18 team was poised for success we are delighted to report today that they are in not one, but two finals.

The first takes place this Fridayat Dam Park, Ayr and is the Ayrshire Cup Final against Kyle Academy. The second is the East Ayrshire Cup Final against Stewarton - time, date and location are yet to be confirmed. Please make every effort to come

and cheer the boys to what we hope will be yet more victory.

Enspire FestivalEnspire, Kilmarnock’s first Festival of Ideas, has launched formally with over 30 speakers and performers coming to St. Joseph’s on June 9th. The festival was conceived and designed by a team of S4 Enterprise pupils. You can find out more about the festival by following us on Twitter @StJoAcad and by visiting the blog at www.saintjoseph’sacademy.co.uk/enspire. You can also reserve tickets online by visiting http://enspire.eventbrite.co.uk. Please support this extraordinary venture.

OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL1963 - 2013 GOLDEN JUBILEE

Home Room Weekly Reflection: Nelson MandelaOn May 11, 1994 Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first black President of South Africa. The year before, he and the then President (F.W. de Clerk) jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to establish democracy and racial harmony in their country. Nelson Mandela was elected President 4 years after being released from 27 years’ captivity in prison. Two years after his election, Nelson Mandela made a State Visit to Britain. In her Christmas broadcast that year, Queen Elizabeth commented that President Mandela was an inspiration to many people, showing how we can all accept the facts of the past without bitterness, and learn to see new opportunities as more important than differences and disputes of the past. Let us pray:We know, Lord, that throughout our lives each of us will experience problems and difficulties. Give us courage and strength at those times and prevent us then from looking only at ourselves. Keep our vision wide so that, even in times of difficulty, we may still be of help to others. Help us not to be bitter towards people or situations, but empower us to take the initiative and break the cycle of hatred, bitterness, and evil actions. Help us to transform the difficulties that come our way into opportunities for personal growth and service of others. Amen.

PARISH MASS TIMES St. Matthewʼs: 10.00 am, Fr. Chambers ! ! St. Josephʼs: 6.00 pm (vigil), 11.00 am Fr. LathamSt. Michaelʼs: 12.00 noon, Fr. McGhee ! ! Our Lady of Mount Carmel: 9.00 am, Fr. McGheeSt. Paulʼs: 9.30 am, Fr. Lawson ! ! ! Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick: 6.00 pm (vigil), Fr. McGrattanSt. Sophiaʼs: 11.30 am Fr. Lawson ! ! St. Thomas the Apostle: 9.00 am, Fr. McGrattanOur Lady & St. John: 6.00 pm (vigil), Fr. Chambers !St. John the Evangelist: 10.45 am, Fr. McGrattan

CalendarS3 work experience takes place over the next two weeksMay 27th Bank HolidayMay 28th S3 Diploma of Achievement awards evening, 7 pmJune 6th SQA exams finishJune 6th & 7th S5/6 returnJune 9th Enspire FestivalJune 19th Sports DayJune 20th P7 Parents’ Evening 7 pmJune 19th - 21st P7 InductionJune 25th S1/2 awardsSchool Uniform: BlazersAll parents should have received, either on paper or by email, a detailed parental update last week. Part of this document contained details regarding the purchase of school blazers for next session.

Parents are asked to ensure that their child(ren) has a blazer. There are now three affordable ways of doing this: second hand (from £20), new polyester (from £30) and new wool (from £70). A senior tie will also be available for next session.

SQA Exam Timetable

Here is a list of forthcoming exams for S4 - S6. If, during exam leave, you feel that your son or daughter requires special arrangements due to injury or a change in their circumstances, please contact the school immediately. The full timetable can be accessed on the SQA website: www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/ExamTimetable2013.pdf

14.05 History (Std Grade, Intermediate & Higher); Italian 23.05 Business Management (all levels)15.05 Biology (all levels) 24.05 Administration (Higher)17.05 English (Intermediate) 27.05 Physics (all levels)20.05 English (Higher and Advanced Higher) 28.05 Computing (all levels)21.05 Drama (Intermediate and Higher); Graphic Communication (Int & Higher)22.05 Maths (all levels) 29.05 French (all levels); Product Design (all levels)