A Welcome From The Head Teacher

School Motto: Put your heart into all that you do!

Values: Faith  Achievement  Learning  Love

Dear Parent/Carer

St Joseph’s RC Primary School is the Roman Catholic School in the west of Edinburgh serving an area from Carrickknowe and Forrester Park in the north to Clovenstone in the south and Balgreen in the east.

We have outstanding teachers and support staff, amazing and very talented children and an extremely supportive Parent/Carer community who want the best for every child in our school and who work in partnership with school staff to ensure everyone achieves.

We have an excellent working partnership with our local Secondary school, St. Augustine’s RC High School, St. Joseph’s RC Parish Church, Sighthill, and the Archdiocese of St. Andrew’s and Edinburgh and often work alongside other local religious organisations and other major world faiths in the city of Edinburgh. Respect and tolerance and the celebration of diversity are key ingredients of our schools’ visions, values and aims.  We value:

Faith, Achievement Learning and Love.

St. Joseph’s RC Primary School has a reputation in the local and wider community for an excellent ethos, where all children and families are included, where religion, culture and diversity are celebrated. We are unique and celebrate our Catholic identity – Gospel values are at the heart of all we do.

We celebrate our thriving local community and celebrate that we are part of the magnificent capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh. We also celebrate the diversity of our school where over 30 nationalities join together to make St. Joseph’s a true reflection of a global community.

We have very high expectations of all children in their learning, presentation, behaviour, attitude politeness and manners. We create the conditions for learning to take place but also for our children to grow in confidence and develop respect and tolerance of others and their opinions; where mistakes are used as a learning experience and where injustice and adversity are challenged!

Throughout your first experience of our school prior to enrolment, you are asked to see if this is an environment whereby your child will thrive in their primary school years, a school community that will present them with the opportunity to become: a successful learner, a confident individual, an effective contributor and a responsible citizen. More so, a school community whereby your child will be prepared fully for the challenges of secondary education at St. Augustine’s and beyond, providing the necessary skills for learning, life and work!

Our staff are caring, devoted and professional. They work effectively to provide the best possible learning experience for the children of St Joseph’s.

We have a 2year old class and a Nursery class, 12 primary classes presently with 14 class teachers, a Support for learning Teacher, Miss Hay; Principal Teacher, Mr Brack and Depute Head Teacher, Mr Kelly. The children are also supported by Early Years officer, Early Years Practitioners, Playground Supervisors, Pupil Support Assistants, Business Manager, two office administrators and a team from Amey including service support officer, catering and cleaning staff.  Each member of staff has a role to play in our team to offer the children the highest quality learning experience in a safe and secure environment.

We value the role parents/carers play in their child’s learning and development and work closely with them. This year we have worked with parents/carers to increase the opportunities they have to engage in their child’s learning experience, improve partnership working thus enhancing further the excellent ethos of our school.  Meals are prepared on the premises daily for lunch and our children also benefit from a thriving Breakfast Club, available to all children from P1-P7.

This website offers an introduction to our school and a general overview of the education your child will receive at St. Joseph’s. I hope you also take the time to explore some of the amazing learning experiences shared daily via our school Twitter – this can be viewed via Twitter itself or via a feed through our webpage.

If you have any questions, or would like any further information on any aspect of the school or the education of your child, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I look forward to developing an excellent relationship with you and your family. Please also see our current School Improvement Plan attached below.

Yours sincerely

Mr Anthony Currie

Head Teacher