March 17, 2008

World Book Day Success!

Well done to all the children who got dressed up to celebrate World Book Day. Here are a selection of photos from the day.



Click on this link to see more pictures.

Posted by A Hannah at 10:20 AM | Comments(3)

February 29, 2008

World Book Day

Dear Parents,

Next Friday, 7th March is World Book Day. To celebrate this event, we are encouraging our children to come to school dressed up as a character from one of the legends our international partners have researched.

The legends and stories are from Ireland, Portugal and France. They can be found on our school website which is www.blaydon-st-josephs.org.uk You don’t have to worry about speaking these languages as they have all been translated into English.

If you wish to chose an English story, Key Stage 2 have been looking at English legends and Key Stage 1 have been looking at traditional stories. So I’m sure there is something for all.

Yours sincerely,

Mr D. A. Hannah
International Dimensions Co-ordinator

Posted by A Hannah at 12:22 PM | Comments(0)

English Stories and Legends

As part of our international work the children have been looking at legends and traditional stories from our own country. These strories were written by the children last year. (See previous entries on this website.) This year the children have illustrated these stories for a book that will be published in conjunction with our international partners. These are the stories we have been looking at:-
The Three Little Pigs
Jack and the Beanstalk
Little Red Riding Hood
The Longwitton Dragon
The Bag of Flour
The Lambton Worm
St. George and the Dragon

Posted by A Hannah at 11:16 AM | Comments(0)

February 27, 2008

Irish Legends

As part of our international work, our partner schools have been telling us some legends of their country. These legends were sent to us from St. Michael's School in Galway, Ireland.
The Legend of OISÍN AND TÍR NA NÓG :- Download file(Word 20KB)
The Legend of Satanta :- Download file (Word 18KB)
St. Patrick :- Download file (Word 20KB)
The Taking of Arms Legend :- Download file (Word 21KB)
The Legend of the Brown Bull of Cooley :- Download file (Word 25KB)
The Children of Lir :- Download file (Word 21KB)
The Salmon of Knowledge :- Download file (Word 20KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 4:12 PM | Comments(1)

February 22, 2008

Portugese Legends

As part of our international work, our partner schools have been telling us some legends of their country. These legends have been translated from Portugese to English. The school that we are linked with is a primary school in Tomar which is about 70 miles from Lisbon. They hope you enjoy their legends.
Iria's Legend, Download file (Word 28KB)
The Legend of Machim, Download file (Word 28KB)
The Legend of Rio do Esquecimento, Download file (Word 26KB)
The Legend of Sete Cidades, Download file (Word 27KB)
The Legend of the Almond Blossom Tree, Download file (Word 26KB)
The Legend of Amourol Castle, Download file (Word 26KB)
The Legend of the Milagre das Rosas, Download file (Word 30KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 12:00 PM | Comments(0)

French Legends

As part of our international work, our partner schools have been telling us some legends of their country. These legends have been translated from French to English. When Mrs. Travis was in France the french children hoped that her class would enjoy reading them. So here they are:-
The Avignon Bridge, Download file (Word 26KB)
The Morgans of the Island of Ouessant, Download file (Word 26KB)
The Tower of the Fairies, Download file (Word 26KB)
The Horrible Beast, Download file (Word 25KB)
The Monster with the Human Head, Download file (Word 21KB)
The Well Which Speaks, Download file (Word 25KB)
The Devil's Mill, Download file (Word 25KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 11:39 AM | Comments(0)

November 19, 2007

Well Done Children!!

The charity Samaritan's Purse were extremely pleased with the response by the children of St. Joseph's to their appeal.

The children managed to make 107 shoe boxes for children less fortunate than ourselves. These boxes will be sent to children in different countries making the joy of Christmas spread around the world.

Posted by A Hannah at 12:12 PM | Comments(2)

November 6, 2007

Barnaby Goes to Florida

Hi

As you all know my name is Barnaby and for the last three weeks I have been a member of the Gray family joining them for their holiday to Florida in the United States of America.

I had quite an adventure:

I visited an American Indian Reservation in Florida the home of the
Seminole Indians. When you buy things here you don’t pay tax to the USA because they are an independent state. That makes things a little bit better value.

We went on a boat ride through the Everglades and saw American alligators; they swam really close to the boat.

We also went on a swamp buggy a ride through the swamps and this eco tour showed us how the everglades are suffering from global warming because they are experiencing a drought and how other states are taking their water leaving them with none.

We went across to the Gulf of Mexico and we saw the sun setting on a beach in Naples with wild dolphins swimming not far from the shore.

We went down to the furthest southern point in the USA called Key West, its only 90 miles to Cuba and we visited Ernest Hemmingway’s house. He had cats with five and more extra toes they looked really weird. Ernest Hemmingway was a famous writer who died many years ago and his house remains the same today. Although he was a famous author, I’ve never read any of his books as they are a little difficult for me. (Maybe I will when I’ve grown up a bit more.)

I chilled out in Naples enjoying the beach and the pool area at the hotel we stayed at.

The sea when we went to the beach was really warm but when we went to Melbourne (not Australia) visiting Coca and satellite beaches on the Atlantic side of Florida the waves were really big and strong. People were surfing and the sea was really cold.

I also saw a delta 2 rocket launch a milstar satellite for the military at Cape Canaveral it went up like a firework. We also on the 23rd of October at 11.38 saw the launch of Discovery, the space shuttle carrying the harmony unit for the international space station. It was touch and go on the day because of the weather and the cloud cover but we went down all the same. We had to wait 3 hours in the sun eating ice creams and drinking coke to keep us cool. We listened to the live broadcasts from Kennedy and Huston. I met Bob Giffen who managed all the Apollo and shuttle launches at Huston before he retired. I also joined in the countdown to the
Discovery launch it was really exciting we didn’t hear the engines for quite a few minutes after the launch because we were so far away but when we did you could feel them as well as hear them.

While we were in Florida we visited the various theme parks and we did trick or treat in Disney. Tigger dressed up as a pirate and Stitch went as Elvis. I bet I sing better than him!

Many thanks to the Gray family who looked after me. It was a shame we had to come back to school but that means I might have another adventure.

See you all.

Lots of love

Barnaby

Posted by A Hannah at 2:08 PM | Comments(1)

October 6, 2007

Barnaby Enjoys A Visit to Jersey

Sophie took Barnaby Joseph on holiday with her to the island of Jersey. Both had a thoroughly enjoyable time and decided to let you see some of the photos of their adventure.

Here is Barnaby arriving in Jersey.

Barnaby had a great time building sand castles.

Barnaby enjoys visiting some of his relatives at Jersey Zoo.

Barnaby enjoyed hanging around with Sophie.

Posted by A Hannah at 1:52 PM | Comments(1)

June 21, 2007

Year 3 Write Classic Local Legend

Year 3 have written and illustrated the well known local legend of "The Lambton Worm". We hope all the people in France, Ireland and Portugal enjoy this story. Click on the link to read the story. Read the story:- (Word 380KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 2:18 PM | Comments(3)

Year 5 Write A Dirty Story.

Year 5 have written an interesting story. I hope it is not too dirty for this web site.

If you want to download the rest of the story click on the link below.
A Bag of Flour Download file (Word:- 280KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 2:06 PM | Comments(0)

June 19, 2007

A Great Story By Year 2

Year 2 have written and illustrated the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" for their part in our international stories series. If you want to read the story just click on the link below the picture.

Jack and the Beanstalk by Year 2:- Download file (Word 500KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 3:52 PM | Comments(2)

Year 6 tell the story of the Longwitton Dragon

The year 6 have chosen a local legend to send to our international partners. They all hope you enjoy reading it.

Click on the link to read the whole story.
The Longwitton Dragon Download file:-(Word 1.34 MB)

Posted by A Hannah at 11:54 AM | Comments(0)

Year 1 Create Fantastic Story

Year 1 have chosen "The Three Little Pigs" as their story to be sent to our partners in Ireland, France and Portugal. They really enjoyed telling the story and drawing the pictures for it. Some of the pictures were even created using the computer.
If you want to read the story, click on the link below.
The Three Little Pigs Download file (Word:-411 KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 11:44 AM | Comments(0)

June 14, 2007

St. George and the Dragon by Year 4

As part of their international work, year 4 have written and illustrated the story of St. George and the Dragon. Here is just one of the illustrations to entice you to download and read the story.

If you want to download the story, click on this link.
Download the story of St. George and the Dragon :- Word (1.21 MB)

Posted by A Hannah at 12:28 PM | Comments(0)

June 8, 2007

Reception Class Create Story For International Partners

As part of our international work, the children are looking at traditional stories. The Reception Class have written and illustrated one of their favourite stories. If you would like to read it, all you have to do is download the file from the link below.
Download 'Little Red Riding Hood Story According to the Reception Class' :Word (366KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 11:49 AM | Comments(0)

February 27, 2007

Barnaby Finds His Way To Latvia

Hello Friends,
How are you keeping? Sorry about not being in contact with you all but I enjoyed myself so much in Ireland that it took a long time for me to arrive at this lovely school in Latvia.

As I've just arrived, I'm feeling a little bit tired so I will tell you all about it later. I'm just popping off now because I need a bit of a nap.

In the meantime look out for my friend, Amy Bear. She's a bit of a flying bear and I've been told she has been to Greece to see one of our partner schools.She emailed me and told me that she thoroughly enjoyed her time there but it wasn't very warm. (She should be here with me. It's snowing!!) Keep an eye out for her, won't you.

Hope you like the photo.

Posted by A Hannah at 4:32 PM | Comments(0)

February 13, 2007

Year 6 Design Powerpoint Presentations For International Work

As part of the ICT curriculum, the year 6 children have been using Powerpoint to show our international partners what our school is like and what the surrounding area is like. Unfortunately, the children have worked so hard that some of the presentations are very large files which may take some time to download. However, if you would like to see some of the examples, click on the links below.
Download file by Chloe and Ellen(Powerpoint: 30MB)
Download file by Sophie and Hannah (Powerpoint: 15.8MB)
Download file by Connor, James and Connor (Powerpoint: 38MB)

Posted by A Hannah at 3:02 PM | Comments(0)

February 11, 2007

International Partners Send Work

The school in Portugal that is linked with ours, has sent us some work that they have been doing about Myths and Legends in Portugal.
The children of year 4 at St. Joseph's are currently doing work in art and technology lessons about the local legend "The Lambton Worm". This work will be sent to the schools in Portugal, France and Ireland.
Later on in the year, to celebrate International Book Week, the whole school will be looking at a variety of Myths and Legends. Some of their work will be posted here. Keep an eye out for it.
In the meantime, if you would like to look at some of the Potugese work, you can download it here. Don't worry the story is in English.
Download file (PDF: 5.8MB)

Posted by A Hannah at 2:28 PM | Comments(0)

January 24, 2007

Barnaby in Ireland, What an exhausting time!

Dear Children,

The children of first class told me all about their school today. It is a green school, which means that they really try to take care of the environment. They taught me all the ways that I could help the environment.

They showed me how they recycle paper, batteries, cans, cartons, and bottles, they even have a compost heap for all their food waste. The children try to use ways of coming to school that save energy. They walk, cycle or ride their scooters instead of coming in the car.

I had lots of fun learning about helping to save the environment, maybe you could try to help the environment too!

Kind regards,

Barnaby
(I must be on my travels but I hope it's not all by scooter.)

Posted by A Hannah at 3:20 PM | Comments(0)

January 18, 2007

Barnaby Explains Where He Has Been!

If you want to find out where I have been, you will have to click here.
Download file (Word: 683KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 3:13 PM | Comments(0)

January 14, 2007

Barnaby Arrives in Ireland After Some Interesting Adventures

Dear Friends,

I am in St. Clare's primary school in Dublin, Ireland. I am working with the first class. There are 17 fantastic children in the class. They work very hard and are really taking good care of me.

They learn lots of different subjects. They do maths, reading, writing, poetry, science, history, geography, music, religion and P.E. They even learn the Irish language. The children in the first class especially like reading and listening to stories. They love the Horrid Henry story books.

I am going to visit some more classes tomorrow to find out as much information about the school as I can. I will email you soon and tell you all about it. I might take some pictures too!

Slán (which means goodbye in Irish - I learnt this yesterday)

Barnaby

P.S. If you're nice I will let you know about my adventures.

Posted by A Hannah at 3:04 PM | Comments(0)

December 23, 2006

Christmas Traditions in Poland

Our international partners in Poland thought it would be a lovely idea if we could share some of our traditions at Christmas time. This Powerpoint presentation shows some of the interesting activities that take place in Poland at this time of year.
Download Presentation:-Polish Christmas Traditions (Powerpoint : 917KB)

Posted by A Hannah at 8:23 PM | Comments(0)

Barnaby in France

Well, here I am in France. The journey from Finland wasn't too bad. This is a picture of the French school. It is quite different to my own.

I've had a great time watching the children prepare for Christmas. In fact, this photo is of me looking at their crib.

I've really enjoyed myself in France but I need to keep travelling. My next stop will be in Ireland. I look forward to telling you about my trip in the New Year. From all my friends in France, we wish you a great Christmas and hope to see you in the New Year.

Bye for now!

Posted by A Hannah at 2:15 PM | Comments(0)

December 14, 2006

Hello all there at Blaydon St.Joseph's!

Barnaby Joseph experiences snow in Finland in November

I'm writing for Barnaby Joseph, who's been visiting our school for a week now. Oh yes, our school: that is Jyväskylän Normaalikoulu, in Jyväskylä, Finland. We have about 390 students and about 25 teachers. We are lucky to have a nice new school building, which is only 4 years old. Our school is a bit older: we celebrated our 140th anniversary this year, in October.

Barnaby meets new friends in Finland

When Barnaby arrived in Finland, we had snow on the ground, but during the weekend rains the most of it melted away or turned grey. There's one picture attached with the snow. Later, in winter, everything is covered with snow.

Barnaby has enjoyed his stay, and he has talked to many classes and gained a lot of new friends, too. One of them, Helmi, who is 10 made Barnaby a woolly hat and a scarf so that he doesn't get cold when he travels around. (Did you know that in Finland we have crafts and needlework as a school subject? Children can learn how to knit and sew.)

From Finland Barnaby is going to France, so he's saying bye for now.
We're going to follow his travels once we get the website running.

Best regards,

Barnaby &

Mari Kalaja
teacher of English and French
Jyvaskylan Normaalikoulu, Finland

Posted by A Hannah at 10:18 PM | Comments(0)

Barnaby Joseph Sets Out On His Travels

Barnaby is a teddy bear that usually lives in Blaydon St. Joseph’s school in Tyne and Wear, England. For many years Barnaby has accompanied the children on their holidays experiencing the differences and delights of other countries. When he returns he tells the children about his adventures, what he has seen and how it is different from his home town of Blaydon. He has also accompanied teachers to international meetings, conferences and has collected many pictures of himself in many different parts of Europe.

At a school assembly last month, Mr. Hannah, the headteacher of St. Joseph’s, announced that Barnaby is now old enough to travel on his own. Since then, Barnaby has set out on his travels around Europe, visiting schools for about a week, sending reports and photos from these schools back to his friends at home. Before he moves on, another school stamp is added to his passport. The children themselves designed his passport.

Watch this space if you want to find out more about where Barnaby is travelling to.

Posted by A Hannah at 9:57 PM | Comments(1)

St. Joseph’s Involved in 2 International Comenius Projects

Blaydon St. Joseph’s Primary School has applied for and been granted funding to run not just one but two international projects.

The projects confirm our commitment to be a leading edge primary school in developing a curriculum that has Excellence and Enjoyment at the heart of its philosophy by providing an interesting and stimulating learning environment for its pupils.

These projects have been granted funding through the European Parliament’s Comenius programme.

There are 2 projects which is unusual for a primary school. The first is a staff development project based upon the sharing of good practice in the teaching of ICT. This project is entitled ' Collaberative ICT Across Europe'. The school is linked with schools in Greece and Poland.

The second is a curriculum project entitled ‘Myths and Legends’ where the curriculum will be enhanced through the understanding of different cultures through the collaboration of schools in a variety of countries. The schools that are involved in this work are in Ireland, France and Portugal.

The school is also keen to share its expertise with other primary schools by supporting them in the development of their own international practice.

Posted by A Hannah at 9:20 PM | Comments(0)

December 13, 2006

International School

The school was the first school in Gateshead to receive the accreditation award ‘Schools in Europe’ and has also been awarded the International School award twice. In the past, links have been developed with German, Austrian, Italian and Latvian schools. Our current partners are from France, Greece, Ireland, Poland and Portugal. Teachers visit these schools to learn about their teaching methods and pupils benefit from undertaking curriculum European project work with their partner schools.

International Day is celebrated each year with displays, assemblies, a quiz on Europe and a European treasure hunt.

Posted by A Hannah at 2:26 PM | Comments(1)