Houses at St Joseph's
How does St Joseph's house system promote British Values?
At St Joseph's being part of a house is very much a part of school life and is far more that wearing a specific colour of PE t-shirt! Being in a house is about participating in a community and supporting each other. The house system here at St Joseph's is very well established with multiple generations of the same family having been in the same house. Even staff are placed in houses, which all adds to the feeling of community and healthy competition!
Children are placed in one of four houses (Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Kestrels) in Reception class and from that moment they can start earning marbles (one marble = one house point) daily for their house. Many, if not all of these marbles are awarded when children demonstrate attitudes and behaviours that are in line with British Values or our school virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. For example, a child who is consistently showing kindness and consideration towards others is demonstrating 'Mutual Respect and Love'. Likewise those that push themselves and aspire to achieve reflect the value of 'Individual Liberty' and those that consistently respect the school rules may be rewarded with marbles for abiding by the 'Rule of Law'. Children have the opportunity to demonstrate 'Faith' in all that they do at St Joseph's but thoughtful responses and participation in liturgical prayer sessions and class prayer time may also be rewarded with house marbles. Of all of the British Values, the value of 'Democracy' is especially apparent in our house system. Every September there are year 6 House Captain elections and children in lower years vote for the leader of their house. The role of House Captain is very varied but includes counting and presenting the house points weekly, being a role model for younger students and encouraging students to play an active role in their house - often by voting for specific house events - democracy in action!
House Captains Academic Year Sept 22- July 23
Following some fantastic speeches and closely fought elections we now have a new group of enthusiastic house captains for this academic year. Well done to all children who put themselves forward for these roles - your confidence was lovely to see. Congratulations to the following successful candidates.
Autumn Term 2022 House Winners
Congratulations to the Hawks who earned the most house points in the Autumn Term - September to December 2022. The Hawks house captains are now busy planning some exciting celebratory treats for early in 2023!
A Review of Hawks Treat
On the 20th January, Hawks enjoyed their house treat. We really enjoyed escaping the school hall and eating the delicious doughnuts. We hope to keep working hard in order to get another treat again soon, as this treat was something that we won't forget!
Please look at the photos of out treat.
George (House Captain)
Spring Term 2023 House Winners
Congratulations to Eagles who earned the most house points for the Spring Term 2023. Bea and Isla came up with some fabulous ideas for the house treat and the Eagles voted and decided upon a water fight on the school field. This will happen in the summer term when the weather is water fight friendly. Watch this space.....
House Captains Academic Year Sept 2021- July 2022
Here are our very excited house captains being presented with their badges. Congratulations to all of you!
Falcons - Jack Brown and Maya Britton
Hi Falcons,
It's your house captains, Maya and Jack.
We are very happy to have been voted! We will make sure that all your voices are heard and that everyone gets a say. We will make sure that the treats that we win are the best they can be!
Falcons are:
F - Fun
A - Aspirational
L - Laughing
C - Confident
O - Opinionated
N - Never give up
S - Superb!
Hawks - Michael McGinley and Hamish Harper
Hi we are Michael and Hamish (your cool House Captains),
First of all, we would like to thank all the Hawks for all the amazing effort and support you gave us nominating us both for this role.
We wanted to be House Captains because we want to encourage the Hawks to be the best version of themselves.
Secondly, we are both very competitive and we help you to try and win sports day, the house singing competition and house treats. We will always listen to your suggestions.
We would like to ask if you could try and get those marbles raining into the pot!
Thank you
from Michael and Hamish
(the best Hawk House Captains).
Kestrels - James Turp and Freya
Hello we are James and Freya your Kestrels house captains.
We need Kestrels to be the best house it can be because we are the best and we need to be raining marbles down into the marbles jar. Kestrels are the only house so far that has won the house singing competition 3 times in a row!
As house captains, we would love you to be...
K = Kindness
E = Empathetic
S = Sharing
T = Terrific
R = Resilient
E = Eager
L = Light- hearted
S = Super
Eagles - Francesca Di Stazio and Faith Bowen
Hi Eagles!
Thank you for voting for us to be your house captains this year. Eagles are like Gryffindor in Harry Potter - we are a strong house with big ideas! So we promise that we will rise to the top this year and never give up. This year, we are going to set you a challenge to get as many marbles as you can in your classes. We will remind all of your teachers to reward you with marbles for good work.
Hope we can speak to you all again soon. Looking forward to the upcoming competitions (which we will win!).
E - agles
A - re
G - reat
L - istening
E - xtraordinary
S - mart
Health Week July 2022
As part of Health Week 2022 the House Captains were charged with organising a house race. After a raid of Mrs Hamlin's haberdashery box, they decided to transform plastic hockey sticks into horses - the House Grand National was born! Congratulations to Hawks who reigned victorious and won the House carrot trophy. Please see the photos below.