St Joseph’s School Building Fund
What is this Fund?
We do ask and expect that every family makes a contribution to our School Building Fund. We are asking every family to make a commitment to the School each year with a contribution of at least £60 (a minimum of £120 if two or more children attend the school). £60 per year equates to only £1.15 per week.
St Joseph’s School is blessed with outstanding facilities in a wonderful location. We are committed to ensuring that our classrooms and outdoor areas continue to be as safe and modern as possible to support your children’s learning.
St Joseph’s is a Voluntary Aided (VA) school, which means that our grounds and buildings are only partly funded by the Local Education Authority. The government requires all Catholic and other faith schools in England to provide 10% of these costs.
There are many demands and priorities for the school building and grounds and the more parent contributors we receive, the more we can do to enhance the school facilities for your child.
What is happening now?
There are many demands and priorities for the school building and grounds and the more parent contributions we receive, the more we can do to enhance the school facilities for your child. We need to maintain and update the playground areas, in particular the nature area and associated buildings like the tree house and the cob oven which require repairs. The fences and tree works as well all continue to be on the project list. Every pound you give will be carefully spent on selected improvements.
What have we achieved in the past 5 years?
Help Us Keep St Joseph’s School Beautiful and Safe for Your Children
We are delighted to share that we’ve recently completed the refurbishment of all the school toilets, transforming them into beautiful, calming spaces with vibrant wall art featuring savannah, woodland, and jungle themes. Projects like this are made possible through contributions from families like yours, and they directly benefit your children’s learning environment.
We have completed work on our lower junior playground and library outside space in Autumn 2023. You can see the changes as the playground has been enlarged and repaired. The children explore, play and enjoy this wonderful new space. Thank you to the fantastic grounds team who worked so hard in the sunshine, wind and rain to complete the majority of the work so smoothly.
These projects are only made possible by the donations of our generous parents and carers who contribute to the School Building Fund and the benefit to the children is immeasurable so we are very grateful. Thank you. The space has been transformed.
We were thrilled to see the work completed over the Christmas break 2021 in the Little Gems and Mini Gym area in the key stage 1 playground.
We transformed these spaces to encourage children to get outside into the fresh air and safely run around. At this time of year, the ground becomes increasingly muddy and slippery, so watching the work progress and knowing that we will be providing a safer and cleaner environment for the children is fantastic.
There is no doubt that our children love the opportunity to play on the grass all year round and so better utilise this space. So what did our children say about their new play area; “IT’S FUN there’s no MORE mud” “I love rolling down the grass”
Its low-maintenance nature means that it will save us money every year and frees up the precious time of our Premises Manager to be spent on other activities.
Thank you for continued donations and support in helping us complete these essential works.
TOILET REFURBISHMENT. Thank you for your continued support to help with funding our projects
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
We are delighted to let you know that our long-awaited Early Years toilet refurbishment has started. We were extremely fortunate to receive funding from the Diocese /Department for Education in order to allow us to renovate this area to ensure our EYFS toilets reflect the number of children we now have in school.
The refurbishment includes a complete overhaul and the space will be redesigned to include all new fixtures and fittings, new flooring and a greater accessibility for the children. This is very exciting news and we are all looking forward to our new EYFS toilet facilities. We are sure you will agree that this refurbishment will make a big difference to our school and particularly to our EYFS Pupils.
Thank you in anticipation of your support and understanding.
Rebuilt the Early Years toilets to create a fresh and colourful zone. We are delighted with the show stopping impact our new toilets have. A recent school professional commented ‘I wouldn’t normally mention the school toilets in my evaluation but these have to be the best I’ve seen’
PARENTS HELPED FUND OUR NEW WALL.
Thank you for all the kind donations and we are delighted with the end result for our new entrance.
The work is complete at the front of the school and the new wall /boundary. See below for the brand new wall against the old, complete with our new fence.
We have created our AMAZING Library which is amongst the best in Islington. Our librarian, offers intervention teaching and an attractive place for all the children to read a wide range of books. The library has had a significant and measurable impact on literacy progress and attainment at St Joseph’s.
“The library is amazing; unlike any other I have seen in a school. The children are incredibly lucky to have such a great facility.” Parent
The School entrance and reception area have been revitalized providing extra space and a pleasant and efficient place for parents and visitors to enter the School.
“The new school entrance represents what the school stands for” – Celesta Year 6
“I really like the new school reception, from the calming colours, to the larger reception desk for parents to speak to staff confidentially, as well as less waiting time when you are in a rush to work” – Parent
We created a state of the art outside learning area for our Early Years children and now have a show stopping zone for all of our Nursery and Reception children. . Again, this has had a demonstrable positive impact on teaching and learning for EYFS children, reflecting the high standards of achievement within the School and outstanding provision.
“Wow – this is the best play area in the world” – Sadie, Nursery Class
We renovated and modernised the school kitchen, and were able to create a wonderful new class/conference room, ideal for lessons and community use.
“A vibrant new kitchen and conference room for all to enjoy. Just wonderful” Parent
How can you help?
We are asking every parent to make a commitment to the School with a contribution of at least £60 per year (a minimum of £120 if 2 or more children in the school).
£60 per year equates to only £1.15 per week.
We ask you please make this commitment now. Payment can be made by a variety of means:
- By ParentPay through your account (preferred method).
- By cheque payable to St Joseph’s Primary School. Please write your child’s name and class on the back.
- By cash direct to the school office or transition meeting
- By Standing Order – see this attached form
- By bank transfer to:
Bank: Barclays Bank Plc
A/C Name: St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School – School Fund Account
A/C No: 73309789
Sort code: 20-00-00
Please include a reference with your child’s full name.
If you would prefer to pay my instalments, please do let us know. We will be happy to assist you with this.
If you pay UK tax (on wages, salaries, self-employed earnings or any other income) please Gift Aid your contribution using this form and boost it by 25p of Gift Aid from the government for every £1 you donate. Your £60 becomes £75 at no cost to you!
We want to continue to provide an outstanding education for your child. Your contribution to the school is essential to help us to do this. If you need any help with this or have any queries, you are most welcome to contact the School Office to arrange a meeting with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
We thank you in advance for your contribution!