Good Evening and welcome to the SJSJb- Day 4- Dragons and Disco Edition!

Another fun-packed day here at Little Canada on the Isle of Wight, the children woke this morning to an unfamiliar sight- clouds. An overcast day here soon turned into another absolute belter, our last full day of activities blessed with more sunshine, laughter and memories.

Each group was straight away into its first activity, with groups 1 + 2 working on orienteering for the very first time in many cases. The children were instructed in how to orient a map, recognise different parts of the key and then their challenge was to find as many ‘stations’ as possible in the time provided. Among the standouts in this challenge were David, Declan, Sonny and Justin in Mr Coffey’s group, with Mr Hoyes impressed particularly with Beulah, Ashlyn, and Rebecca! The children worked incredibly well in their groups, taking turns with each job within the group and hitting a huge number of stations across the entire site. Not long after this was the one they had all been waiting for however. The creek was prepped for the arrival of the entire St Joseph’s contingent. It was time to race.

DARING DRAGONS

Across the word there are many storied rivalries. England- Wales in rugby. Liverpool-Everton in football. USA-Europe in the Ryder Cup. However all of these pale in comparison to the annual Dempsey-Fisher Dragon Boat Regatta in Little Canada Creek. Both crews and their captains had been training for this event for months, with special diets and regimes aimed at getting everyone in peak condition, no-one wanting to leave anything on the lake in this legendary competition. The children were prepared and ready. At the call “Dragon Boats are you ready?!” The reply rang out from all on the water “We were born ready!!!” The Fisher boat blew Dempsey out of the water in the first run, going in to a 1-0 lead by half a length. In the second run however they were faced with a serious reality check, the Dempsey boat fighting back to take it by a nose to level the scores at 1-1. It all came down to a straight shoot-out. It was then that Fisher showed their true 5-in-a-row pedigree, channelling the Mrs Byrne spirit and knuckling down under pressure to take the last leg in a thrilling competition. An incredible competition saw Fisher retain a trophy that has not seen Dempsey class in many a year. In the end of course, the real winner was Dragon Boat Racing, with both sides shaking hands and sharing congratulations (and commiserations of course) in  a true display of sporting spirit.

TREMENDOUS TEAMWORK

There was no time to rest on laurels however, as it was then to lunch, another innings in the ongoing cricket before we were off to our next round of activities. With groups working on Climbing, Fencing, Abseiling and the infamous Sensory trail, there was plenty of challenge to be had. Dylan has had no fear whatsoever on the ropes work, scaling heights with a single hesitation, while Katie has been keeping her entire group cheered with her positive energy, Mr McInroy reports, with Sophia and Daniel S also proving to be naturals at Archery! Mrs Kingman was delighted with Laura P and Mariana on the climbing wall, overcoming their fears to show everyone how it was done. Both Jayden and Raphael, PGL veterans, have also impressed with their willingness to help those who may be a little unfamiliar with the goings on here on the Isle of Wight, prepared at all times to drop in a little hint or expertise to help their team-mates. Well done boys! James, Daniel A and Oge have all impressed her with their work throughout the week! Mrs Kingman also noted how helpful Charleigh had been all week, doing everything she could for those around her be it in the cabins, in the dining hall or on activities, truly showcasing the St Joseph’s values to everyone who has come into contact with her. Mr Coffey was pleased to be able to note some brilliant work in a completely new discipline for his children, with David and Tolu in particular catching the eye with their reactions and instinct in the sport of Fencing- future Olympians perhaps?

DANCEFLOOR O’CLOCK

With such a busy afternoon it was back to the cabins after dinner to get ready for the hotly anticipated final-night Disco! It was a whirlwind scene of excitement of outfit changes, fragrance testing and hair styling, and that was just the boys’ cabins!  SJSJb is pleased to announce that as ever, St Joseph’s are dominating the dancefloor, continuing the legacy handed down by many a year six cohort from our school. As SJSJb is writing this blog the beat of Ed Sheeran, Cotton Eyed Joe and someone called Bieber is shaking the table, and it is reported from the frontline of the action that Justin is throwing moves like they are going out of fashion (Mr Hoyes apparently commenting he “taught him all he knows about the Macarena”). Please see the accompanying photos to see the children looking sharp and ready for the night while also enjoying the many activities they’ve been admirably accomplishing all day.

Tomorrow holds the last two activities for the children, before our journey home from the Isle of Wight and from a week that the children will never forget. The sun is just beginning to drop down here on Little Canada, so it is time for the SJSJb to see if there are any moves left to be dropped on the dancefloor in the main hall.

Wishing all at home a pleasant evening,

Good Evening and welcome to the SJSJb- Day 3!

It has been another glorious day on the Isle of Wight, with sunshine in abundance and a very welcome breeze helping to sail through another fun-packed day!
The children woke up after an absolutely spectacular evening on the beach, our PGL Leader creating an amazing bonfire right at the water’s edge as dusk began to fall, with songs and spooky stories ending a memorable evening which the children and adults will remember for a long time to come.

Once more, the children were up, bright eyed and bushy tailed (mostly) at 6.30, the flurry of organised chaos as each cabin strove to improve their scores, with Chief Inspector McInroy and the clipboard of destiny edging closer and closer as the minutes went by. Mr McInroy was pleased to report to the SJSJb that a great deal of progress had been made, though each day the bar gets higher. Today’s highlights included one cabin singing a welcome song to the inspection team, another greeting with “Good Morning” in a reported five different languages. Rumours of cabins working on a greeting dance are as yet unconfirmed- the SJSJb will follow this story closely. Again, however, the children have been working hard to help each other, with countless examples of teamwork and organisation smoothing helping to make the process easier for everyone.

HIGH WIRE HEROES

Before long it was on to activities, with today’s timetable including zip wire, archery, trapeze, and “All aboard”. With three of the four activities previously mentioned all involving heights and ropes, the children of St. Joseph’s are rapidly becoming expert in harnessing, helping each other brilliantly to adjust and tighten straps as needed when getting both in and out of the required safety gear. The children have also worked to assist the PGL instructors, backing up their work by belaying the climbers, being a backup belayer or simply ensuring that all ropes are looked after carefully. Several groups attempted the “All aboard” activity, with three children each separately climbing the same pole to a small platform above, where they engage in a trust exercise of holding each other and leaning back to support each other at the top before each making their way down safely. The trapeze has often been labelled the most difficult of the rope activities, as once a similar pole has been scaled, the children must leap into the air with the goal of catching the trapeze, and so many children today impressed with their bravery- even if some did not make the leap, to make the platform itself is an amazing achievement. Laura L says “It was fun, when you get up there it takes a while to think if you are going to make it- a good tip is to count down from a number, close your eyes and do it!”

ARCHERY ACES (Mr Hoyes Strikes Back) AND AEROBALL.

Various groups worked on archery today, with all of the children making rapid progress at this deceptively difficult discipline. Regular followers of the blog may remember a certain game of monkey football in which Fadriss overcame the mighty Mr Hoyes in a close fought contest before reporting the win to the SJSJb. Once again challenging Mr Hoyes to an archery contest, Mr Hoyes reported a win for his side with a score of 24-15. Fadriss was unavailable for comment at the time of writing, though surely a deciding event is on the cards? Meanwhile in Aeroball, Ewere and Gibson triumphed in this game of skill, bounciness and sheer aerobic fitness- Well done boys!

SENSORY TRAIL SQUALL

The highly unusual localised weather around the sensory trail continues according to Special Reporter Wayne, who explained that once more, as his group was working its way solidly through the tea-working exercise in apparent sunshine, the participants found water creeping down their necks and over their heads at various points. The Met office is investigating.

SURPRISE VISIT STUNS ST JOSEPHS

As the children were working on their 3 session of the day a familiar figure broke the sunshine. Was it a bird? A plane? No! It was Mr Macauley! The children were delighted to see their headteaacher, who had travelled down to share in their school journey and check in on all of the latest activities and hear their news and stories. Mr Macauley visited each group and saw them overcoming some of the many challenges they have faced this week, though was sadly unable to take on Mr Coffey’s group’s offer of joining the activity due to not having the appropriate clothing for the task. (The SJSJb will be writing a strongly worded letter to PGL management arguing the case that participating in a full suit and tie on a zip wire would be, if nothing else, extremely cool.)

The children have continued to show excellent character, determination and fellowship as they continue their adventure here on the Isle of Wight, with some free time to relax in the shade finding simultaneous rugby drills, cricket and football matches, hair braiding classes, skipping and gymnastics- all contributing to a lovely atmosphere moving in to Thursday.

Many questions remain to be answered as the children move now into the latter stages of their journey. What new challenge will they overcome? Will the children remember that colour co-ordinating towels is a sure fire way to score highly in the fiercely contested room inspection awards? Can Fadriss get a comeback win? Just what is dabbing? Who will win the annual Fisher-Dempsey Dragon Boat race on the lake? Stay tuned to the SJSJb to find out more tomorrow!

This is the SJSJb signing off on day three, wishing all back in London a pleasant evening.

SJSJb, Little Canada, Isle of Wight.

Good Evening and welcome to the SJSJb- Day 2!

Our previous update left us facing the first our night in the cabins at the end of a busy yet exhilarating day, yet there was more to come with such terrors as the Giant Swing, the Zip Wire and of course, the much dreaded, terrifying and doom-laden… Room Inspections.

The children were soon to bed and after one or two hurried conversations were asleep, to be cordially woken by the golden tones of Mr Hoyes at a prompt 6.30 in the morning, given 30 minutes to have their cabins (and themselves) ready to be inspected by chief inspector McInroy and his much feared clipboard of destiny. With points given for a wide range of categories such as greeting, neatness of beds and teddy bear organisation, competition was fierce, with Shannon, Gabriella, Daniella, Kezia, Efe and Toluah early favourites for the win this week with an unprecedented mark 6/10 on day 1. It is not all about the competition however, as the cabin environment helps the children see the value of co-operation too, with Lottie’s bed being made by Tavy because Lottie was waiting for the shower, a lovely gesture which goes a long way to building that team ethic. Samuel noted too that he was helped by his friends Gibson and Tolu, helping him tidy and make the bed while he got himself ready.

With inspections done, it was time for a big breakfast before moving on to the day’s activities, testing a wide range of skills with events such as the Catwalk, the Giant Swing (More on this later), Fencing, Sensory Trail, and Archery among others keeping our children on their toes at all times (occasionally when 20 feet in the air).

As always, these activities bring out the absolute best in our children and it is great to see them recognising the challenge and being willing to push themselves that bit further than perhaps they thought they could, encouraged as always by their peers. Ovo was particularly worried about the giant swing but overcame his fear to do it not once, but twice! Katie did a brilliant job of calming Valentina down on the same apparatus, and if the echo of a scream bounced around London at roughly 10am this morning it may well have emanated from Gabriella, who also did brilliantly to do the giant swing but most certainly let her feelings be known all the way though! Gibson, meanwhile, suggests that his screaming, while equally as loud, was due to him “spotting a poisonous animal on the floor just as the catch was let go”, suggesting remarkable eyesight from such a height. Investigations are ongoing…

Laura L was particularly brave on the Catwalk, showing a great deal of determination to make it to the second level despite realising, as noted by several of the children in Mr Coffey’s group that “it feels much higher up when you are actually there from what it looks like on the ground!” The same children reported some very unusual weather patterns during their time on the sensory trail. A brilliant test of communication and teamwork, the children are blindfolded and must work together to overcome a variety of obstacles. It would appear that despite the extremely fine weather he children were repeatedly covered in water- Mr Coffey’s response? “No comment.”

In other news, Mr Hoyes was beaten in a dramatic game of Monkey Footballby Fadriss, who wasted no time in reporting this information to the SJSJb. Mr Hoyes, however, is no doubt used to such heartbreak due to his status as a lifelong Sheffield Wednesday fan. Miss Kingman’s group have particularly impressed her with their levels of encouragement  for each other in today’s activities, though their group/leader’s decision to soak Mr Coffey’s group in a run-by water throwing incident as they were innocently getting on with an activity will surely have consequences later on in our time here at Little Canada. Mr McInroy reports that Daniel D has shown great spirit, getting on with each activity “like an absolute trooper, always giving his best with no fuss at all- tremendous!”, with Shannon and Colleen also working well together to scale Jacob’s Ladder. It has further been reported that in a rather unorthodox move, Miss McConnell allowed Valentina to use her head as a stepping stone in the same activity. Mr Hoyes quickly moved to ensure all children that stepping on teacher’s heads was not allowed except in such exceptional circumstances as climbing a giant ladder on the Isle of Wight.

These events bring you right up to date with events here on the sunny Isle of Wight, the children have enjoyed their dinner, been to the tuck shop and are now enjoying a campfire on the beach in idyllic weather with all manner of tasty sweets and treats! With that, SJSJb will sign off.

Wishing you all a pleasant evening,

SJSJb, Isle of Wight.

The weather again has been glorious for all the Sports Days this year and Friday was no exception. All classes making entrances to clapping and dancing, it was time for Key Stage 2 to showcase their sporting talents.

Running, Javelin and dribbling a hockey puck to name but a few races that were hotly contested, however each year the children show remarkable sportsmanship as they cheer on each other in all races.

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Good evening and welcome to the St. Joseph’s School Journey blog, or from now on, the SJSJb!

The children began the day in fine form, enjoying several team building activities with their adults, all designed to warm up their communication and team building skills. It was great to see the children working so well together so early, a theme that will be picked up later on in the blog. (It should be noted however that in one group doing the ‘shrinking desert island’ activity, where the children stand on a constantly decreasing space as the ‘tide’ comes in, it was suggested that as opposed to working on a more humane solution, someone should simply be sacrificed to the sharks. Worrying. ed)

Moving swiftly on ALL 44 intrepid explorers then retired to the school dining hall where they had a slap up brunch before enjoying break time with the rest of the children. Before we knew it we were gathering in the main hall for Mr Macauley to send us on our way, leading us in our daily prayer and suggesting some top tips for a good week!

Our coach journey was smooth and swift, the only apparent difficulty for the children was not mixing up the names of Messrs McInroy, Hoyes and Coffey- hopefully this will improve during the week. Reaching Portsmouth in good order, the children were greatly looking forward to their journey on the ferry to Fishguard (A request for an Oggy Oggy Oggy! Chant at this point was regretfully denied as a courtesy to our fellow travellers). The weather being excellent Mr McInroy showed his lightning pace and secured us a prime spot at the front of the sun deck where the children lunched as they enjoyed a smooth crossing.

The excitement was palpable as we pulled into the Little Canada site, with our excellent leader Adam on hand to guide us rapidly from the coach to our first activities- groups 1+2 lead by Mr Hoyes and Mr Coffey were to scale Jacobs ladder, while groups 3 + 4 lead by Mrs Kingman and Mr McInroy were to go the opposite direction and abseil- challenging activities to be sure, but in true St Joseph’s fashion they were met head on.

AMAZING ABSEILERS ATTRACT ACLAIM

One of the highlights for the children abseiling was Laura’s determination to overcome her fear of the obstacle. She quite openly admitted she was scared, but with encouragement from her group and no small amount of courage she scaled the stairs, and began her descent down he wall, cheered on by her entire group (and beating Mr McInroy to the floor, incidentally). Laura said “I didn’t do it at first because II was scared but then I did and it was great!” Coleen also overcame her fear and did a great job to make it down- well done girls! It was noted by both groups that it was a tremendous boost to hear the encouragement from their peers, and we have no doubt this will be a big part of their week here on the Isle of Wight.

DARING DEEDS ON JACOB’S LADDER*

For many of the rope activities a great deal of equipment is needed (‘cool gear’ according to Danny, a ‘helpful harness’ suggested a particularly poetic Dezeret, who also explained that to do this activity you could either “help your friends or use them”. To explain, the ladder must be scaled as a team if all three children are to make it to the top successfully, so either you help your friends by lifting them up, or use them by pulling yourself up on their rope to make it to the next level) so once kitted up, the children were raring to go. Tolu noted how so many groups were helping each other, and Lottie found it “Thrilling and fun!”

The children going in threes, the pressure was mounting on the final group- Mr Coffey, Mr Hoyes and… Lacey. Thankfully, Lacey carried her mildly reluctant partners, dragging them up rung by rung (at times, literally) in a herculean effort, inspiring them to become the only complete group to reach the top, though Yewande and Joshua also made the summit individually. Our group leader Adam told us that in his three years at Little Canada he had never seen so many groups helping each other as opposed to focusing on individual efforts, a great precedent to set for the many challenges to come this week.

The children enjoyed their first dinner at Little Canada, have been playing capture the flag games and entering their cabins for the first time with a stoic calmness (not even slightly calm in reality). Tomorrow holds Archery, Zip Wire, Trapeze and many more varied activities and adventures, and with the children winding down in their cabins for the evening, the blog will sign off here too.

Wishing you all a good evening from everyone here,

SJSJb, Little Canada, Isle of Wight.

*A suggestion to rename “Jacob’s ladder” “Joseph’s Ladder” following the school’s stunning performance on this equipment is currently being mulled by the PGL management- watch this space.

On Thursday 15th June, it was the turn of the Nursery to showcase their sporting talents.

Egg and Spoon race, running, shuttle run and the horse race to name but a few… The children enjoyed watching and cheering for each other, learning that it is the taking part and not winning that matters most.

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The weather was glorious on Wednesday 14th June, for the annual Key Stage 1 Sports Day and what a day it was!

The children showed off their sporting abilities and most importantly the good sportsmanship they showed to one another in cheering for their class friends.

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The PTA would like to express their thanks to all the people that came to support the Table Sale.

£250.00 was raised on the day and this money will help to fund the Summer Fete and all the activities planned for the children.

Sunday 11^th June 2017

What a day! Incredible ups and downs, a bit like our regular season.

The morning had us playing 4 league games resulting in 1 win and 3 losses, two of which were very close. Goals from Justin & Ewere gave us our win.

The afternoon had us playing in the shield where we really showed our ability. The quarter final resulted in a 6-0 win with goals from David K x2, Joshua S x2 and 1 each from Declan and Calvin.

Then on to the semi final saw us take an early lead from Joshua S and then falling 2-1 behind before David K equalized. An unbelievable 5 minutes of extra time and then losing out 2-1 in the penalty shootout. We really tried our hardest.

Squad = Daniel A, Oge, Ewere, David K, Justin, Sonny, Declan, Tolu, Joshua S, Gibson, Calvin

The PTA, would like to thank all parents for the support and donations from the ‘Dress-Up’ Day on Friday 26th May.

We raised £286.00, this money will be used to help fund our Summer Fete on Saturday 8th July.

The Table Sale, on Saturday (10th June), will also help us to fund the Summer Fete, so please support us in being able to do this. Have a ‘clear out’ and book a table to be able to sell on your unwanted items. Also you may pick up a bargain or two!