1. Welcome to St Joseph’s Primary School
Open Night
Tuesday 6 December 2016

2. Pupil Council Welcome……

3. What’s in your pack? Prospectus Primary 1 Newsletters
December Newssheet
Summary of recent parent questionnaires
Cool Kids Information
Application Form

4. St. Joseph’s Primary School
Catholic school
Founded by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary
Boys and girls
Enrolment = 395
Admissions number = 56
14 classes
3 Learning Support Teachers
Literacy
Numeracy
Creative Voices
Happy learning environment
A school at the heart of its local community

5. Surround ourselves with a happy, secure learning environment for all.
Mission statement
Surround ourselves with a happy, secure learning environment for all.
Join together the home, the school and the wider community.
Promote academic and cultural excellence.
Support and provide for everyone’s individuality.

6. The Northern Ireland Curriculum
Language & Literacy
Areas of Learning
Mathematics & Numeracy
Thinking Skills/Personal Capabilities
The World Around Us
The Arts
The Northern Ireland Curriculum
Cross Curricular Skills
Religious Education
Physical Education
Personal Development & Mutual Understanding

7. The little extras……. Cool Kids: Wraparound Care….
8am – 9am
2pm – 5.30pm
July & August
Wide variety of extra curricular activities…
Miniversity, Monkeynastix, Spanish, Go Media, Dance and Drama, Music Academy, Football, Gaelic, Hurling, Choir, Folk Group, Cookery, Art Club
A school in the community…
Linen Centre
Island Arts Centre
The River Lagan
Wallace Park
Castle Gardens
Lisburn Racquets’ Club

8. The little extras……. Buddies Eco Council Pupil Council Sustrans
Educational Visits
Links with local post-primary schools
Residential trips
Community Relations projects with Harmony Hill, Brownlee and Forthill Primary Schools
Parent Workshops: Literacy, Numeracy and ICT
Digital Leaders…..

9. Digital Leaders

10. Digital Leaders

11. Our Academic Record High standards of academic achievement
Key Stage Two Outcomes at June 2016
Maths 96% Level 4+
English 94% Level 4+
GL Assessment 2016
Grade A …over 50% of our pupils achieve a Grade A in GL Assessment
An average of 49% of our pupils achieve Band 1 in AQE
78.5% Primary 7 transferred to grammar schools in September 2016

12. ETI Inspection Report May 2016
Areas of Strength…
The children are well motivated and display positive dispositions to their learning
Almost all of the children make progress in line with or above expectation in Literacy
The teachers foster an interest and enjoyment of reading across the school
A caring and inclusive ethos permeates school life
Achievements of children are acknowledged regularly
Wide range of after school activities
Active PTA
Areas for Development…
Mathematics: Problem Solving and the use of practical materials to enhance learning
Differentiation
Stabilise leadership and management
Develop ICT across the curriculum
School Improvements so far…
Action Plans for school improvement
ICT Investment…£29 840…80 ipads, wi-fi across the school, 15 apple TVs, professional development training for teachers from Iteach
Adapted literacy and numeracy planners to include differentiation and extension
Staff training in Mathematics problem solving
Introduced ‘Mathletics’ for all pupils
Effective ways of monitoring improvement…classroom observations, Collegiate book discussions, pupil voice, data, trusted colleague networking

13. ETI Interim Follow-Up Visit
Leadership team and coordinators have definitely carried out a high quality job
Positive ethos within the school
Saw 7 lessons and all 7 lessons were good or better
Children all very engaged in lessons…developing a wide range of thinking skills and personal capabilities…saw children who were all very used to working in groups
They saw lots of differentiation…in the planning and in the delivery…children’s learning adapted to meet their needs
Classroom assistants worked well in helping with differentiation…innovative ways of working with classroom assistants
Positive culture …open to change
Wide range of CPD available to staff
Could see coordinators had the chance to feed first hand evidence to governors
House System…rounded culture and ethos ..

14. Criteria for Selection
Have or have had a brother/sister, half-brother/half-sister step brother/step sister, enrolled in St. Joseph’s P.S & indicate this on the application form.
Are children of current (2016/17) permanent employees (teaching, ancillary, auxiliary staff) of the school & indicate this on the application form.
Who are the eldest or only child in the family, reside in the Parish of Blaris and have listed St Joseph’s as their first choice Primary School
Are members of the Parish of Blaris and have listed St Joseph’s as their first choice Primary School
Whose parent is a past pupil of St. Joseph’s P.S.
Reside outside the parish of Blaris

15. Sub Criteria for Over Subscription
Children will be admitted on the basis of the initial letter of their surname as written on their birth certificate in the order set out below:
B A X F R C V Y G Z Q U E P W M T L D K H I N J S O
Surnames beginning with the same initial letter, the subsequent letters of the surname will be used in alphabetical order.
In the event of two identical surnames, the alphabetical order of the initials of the forenames will be used

16. Parents……………
It is your responsibility to provide all relevant information on the application form and attach your child’s birth certificate.
Proof of name and date of birth (birth certificate) and proof of address of the parent or legal guardian of the child (utility bill/bank statement) must be attached to the application form.

17. Application Forms Select choice of schools
Maps of the parish available for checking
Hand form in to 1st choice school
Wednesday 11 : closing date for applications
Thursday 27 April 2017:Letters issued by the school for which your child is accepted
June 2017: Open Afternoon for you and your child

18. Waiting List Policy
If a place becomes available after official letters are sent out in April:
Applications initially refused
New applications
Late applications
Applications with new information
……….are all treated equally & published criteria applied
If you want your child to be placed on the waiting list you must contact the school by 30 April 2017
This waiting list will be in place until
30th June 2017

19. A day in the life of Primary 1……