St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Frizington

On Sunday, Father Paul shared that the Caritas group of St Mary’s and St Joseph’s are fundraising to support the Sightsavers International Appeal.

This week in school, Evelyn will be leading a small collection to help support this important cause.

Every donation, no matter how small, can make a real difference:

£5 can help protect 30 people from blinding trachoma.
£9 can help pay for a trichiasis operation.
£20 can help protect 20 families against trachoma and river blindness.
£28 can help pay for sight-saving cataract operations.
£4 can provide cataract consumable kits for 5 operations.

Thank you, as always, for helping our children live out our mission:
We care, we belong, we learn together in faith.

St Mary's and St Joseph's Catholic Parish,

Read Fr Paul's reflection on this Sunday's readings:

Our readers have made their best efforts to proclaim the Word of God clearly and accurately. So already the Holy Spirit has been at work among us, opening our ears and hearts to what we need to hear. You don’t need to wait for me to stand up and give my homily. I can only reflect on my response to the readings and it won’t necessarily be the same as yours.
It is harder to see a clear theme in today’s readings. The response to the psalm:-’We are His people, the sheep of His flock’. Pulls together the first reading:-‘You shall be my treasured possession among the people’. And the beginning of the Gospel:-‘When Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’. But then we have St Paul pointing out that Christ did not wait for us to be good before he came among us; He came among us as we are to bring healing and reconciliation. And then we have in the gospel the naming and sending out of the Apostles.
My reflections on all this is that we have security - we belong; we are a people beloved by God. That is our supreme identity. He looks on us with love though we are far from perfect. He sees that we are often lost, confused and anxious and He wants to put that right. But then something that I find most intriguing. It is members of that same flock who will be the agents of His healing and peace. People who are at the same time imperfect; themselves wounded and weak. We can identify the Apostles with their successors - the Pope and the Bishops - and their role in the Church is clearly vital, assisted as they are by priests and deacons. But they cannot be everywhere and do everything. And so we remember that our baptisms we were anointed with Chrism - the sign of Christ’s authority; and when we were confirmed - as our young people will be later this month, sent out with the grace of the Holy Spirit to carry out the work of the Apostles. So we are all members of God’s needy flock and also the agents of His love. There will be times when we call for help and times when we give help.
I hope your reflections on the reading were quite different from these! The Holy Spirit works differently in all of us!

Image: Salvator Mundi (“Savior of the World”) by El Greco. Split Cathedral Treasury, Croatia.

FRIZINGTON VILLAGE LITTER PICK – THIS SATURDAY!

This Saturday, Friends of Frizington are holding a village litter pick. It would be wonderful to see our families, friends, parishioners, pupils and community members coming together to help care for our village.

📅 Saturday 6th June
⏰ 10:00am – 12:00pm
📍 Meet at St. Joseph's Community Hall

As a Catholic school community, we are inspired by Pope Francis' message in Laudato Si' to care for our common home. By working together to keep Frizington clean, tidy and welcoming, we are showing respect for God's creation and pride in the place we live.

Tonight, our after-school Eco warriors started the pick in our local area.

This is a child-friendly event and everyone is welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Whether you can spare 20 minutes or the full two hours, every helping hand makes a difference.

💚 Help us make Frizington sparkle.
💚 Meet new people and enjoy some fresh air.
💚 Be part of something positive for our community.

We hope to see lots of familiar faces there!

🌿♻️💚

Fantastic art from Class 1!

Today, the children took inspiration from the famous artwork The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, created in 1831.

Using their collage skills, the children carefully created textured waves before adding depth and tone with watercolours. We were so impressed by their creativity, with some children adding their own unique touches to their masterpieces, including beautiful sunsets and imaginative backgrounds.

The children showed great concentration, artistic flair and pride in their work. We are sure you will agree that their finished pieces are simply wonderful! 🌅🌊✨

Well done, Class 1! We can't wait to display your fantastic artwork.

This afternoon I had the absolute pleasure of joining a beautiful Key Stage 2 Prayer and Liturgy session, thoughtfully planned and led by three of our Key Stage 2 children.

Focusing on the Holy Trinity, the children created a truly prayerful experience for their peers. They included both Visio Divina and Lectio Divina, carefully chosen hymns and reflective music, helping everyone to encounter God in a meaningful way.

As a special act of kindness, they shared a note with each child and gifted them a piece of clover they had picked during their lunch break, representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The feedback from the children was wonderful:

💭 "They made a very calm and peaceful space which helped me to speak to Jesus and say my prayers."

💭 "I liked the calm music, the way we sat and how calmly they spoke."

💭 "They read the words so clearly. It really helped me to think and focus."

Moments like these remind us that our children are not only growing in knowledge but also in faith, spirituality and leadership. We are so proud of the reverence, care and thoughtfulness they showed in helping others draw closer to God.

Well done and thank you to our young worship leaders. You truly helped us to pause, reflect and spend time with Jesus today.

🌟 Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check 🌟

This week, our Year 4 children completed their Multiplication Tables Check (MTC).

The MTC is a statutory assessment taken by all Year 4 pupils across England. It is designed to check children's rapid recall of multiplication facts from the 2 to 12 times tables. The online check consists of 25 questions, with just 6 seconds to answer each one and a 3-second pause between questions.

This year, we have had a real focus across the school on developing children's number fluency, times tables knowledge and rapid recall of key maths facts. It is a challenging assessment – one that would certainly test many adults too!

The children came into the check well-prepared, relaxed and resilient. We have been incredibly impressed by the determination, focus and positive attitude they have shown throughout the year. We are so proud of the hard work, commitment and growth mindset they have demonstrated every step of the way.

To celebrate all of their efforts, we enjoyed a well-deserved lunch time trip to the Spar and Thompson's Bakery for a special treat!

Well done, Year 4 – you have made us all incredibly proud with your fantastic work ethic and perseverance.

Have a go yourself https://talkingtimestables.uk/y4_ks2_mtc_practice_tests_multiplication_tables_check.php (similar but not the real one!!)

Bee Thompson