<![CDATA[ST JOSEPH'S SPECIAL SCHOOL - School News]]>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 05:43:47 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The Animal Roadshow comes to St Joseph’s]]>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:53:12 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/a-wildly-successful-visit-to-school
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Last summer, Jane, Sarah, Laura, Louise, Orla and Iain took part in the Streets of Galway 8K to raise funds for our school.
Thanks to their efforts and the generosity of everyone who supported them, we were delighted to welcome  The Animal Roadshow⁠ to St. Joseph’s this week.
Brendan introduced our pupils to some very special visitors, including Fizz the turtle, Mike the lizard and Mistypants the snake. Pupils were fascinated as they learned about each animal and their unique characteristics. They had the opportunity to gently touch and hold some of the animals, creating a memorable hands-on learning experience.
The curiosity and respect shown by each pupil was wonderful to see.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising efforts and helped make this fantastic experience possible for our pupils. We would also like to thank Brendan and the team from The Animal Roadshow for such an engaging and educational visit.
Check out our photos below! 📸


]]><![CDATA[Seaside Poetry]]>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:00:08 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/seaside-poetry
A seasonal acrostic poem by a Senior 5 pupil.
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]]><![CDATA[Welcoming Eramus visitors from Venice]]>Thu, 28 May 2026 13:16:30 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/welcoming-eramus-visitors-from-venice
We are delighted to welcome visiting Erasmus+ teachers from Istituto Barbarigo Venice to St Joseph’s Special School during their visit to Ireland. The Barbarigo Institute is part of Venice’s long tradition of international and cultural education, with strong involvement in Erasmus+ programmes promoting collaboration, learning, and cultural exchange.
As part of their visit, staff and pupils enjoyed a wonderful trip to Spiddal, taking in the beauty of the Connemara coastline and sharing time together outside the classroom. 
Our pupils were proud to showcase life and learning at St Joseph’s, and it was lovely for everyone to share experiences, ideas, and plenty of laughter along the way. Erasmus+ partnerships create valuable opportunities for schools to learn from one another and celebrate inclusion, creativity, and collaboration across Europe.
]]><![CDATA[The Very Hungry Caterpillars]]>Sun, 17 May 2026 19:08:33 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/the-very-hungry-caterpillarsA busy time at school while we worked on preparing our Butterfly Garden for its new residents! We've been carefully feeding and taking care of over 100 caterpillars 🐛  learning all about what they like to eat and how they grow so big so fast! 

Soon they will all make their cocoons and become beautiful butterflies 🦋🦋 

We hope they will stick around in our beautiful butterfly sanctuary..  either way we're all learning loads about the butterfly lifecycle, growth and food  
🐛🥬🤞🌺🤞🌷🤞🦋
]]><![CDATA[Bike Week Day 1]]>Mon, 11 May 2026 20:33:28 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/bike-week-day-1Day 1 of our Bike Week was a fantastic success! The TY students from the JES School cycled to our school and brought great energy and excitement with them. They proudly showed off their bikes to our pupils and encouraged them to label the different bike parts using flashcards. We definitely had some budding bike experts among us — many pupils were superb at identifying every part!
Pupils, staff, and JES students also enjoyed delicious refreshments from the Barista Bus, whose staff were incredibly patient, friendly, and welcoming to everyone throughout the day.
To round off the event, the JES students helped choose winners for our colouring competition in each class, which created plenty of excitement. Some classes even gathered outside to wave off the JES students as they began their cycle home.
It was a lovely, wholesome day filled with fun, learning, community spirit, and friendship between our two school communities.
]]><![CDATA[Bike Week at St. Joseph's]]>Mon, 11 May 2026 20:13:01 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/may-11th-2026Please see posters below of our planned events for Bike Week 2026. An exciting week ahead at school. Hopefully the sun will shine for the planned activities!
]]><![CDATA[Bringing Live Arts to Students and Teachers (BLAST)]]>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/bringing-live-arts-to-students-and-teachers-blastSt. Joseph's were very lucky to be offered a BLAST project with practitioner Kendra Rabbitte. She engaged with most of our pupils in the junior and senior end of the school during the month of February. The pupils really enjoyed their lessons with Kendra where they explored music through movement, props, voice and most of all through fun. She was so inclusive of every pupil in her lesson, it was lovely to witness. We are applying again for the incoming school year of 2026/2027. Fingers and toes crossed our pupils get to have another lovely experience with the arts.
]]><![CDATA[Easter in St. Joseph's]]>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 19:22:36 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/easter-in-st-josephs
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The Easter Bunny came to school today and went around to visit every child, delivering an egg to each one.
There was great excitement throughout the school, with lots of smiles and even some of the senior pupils were jumping up and down.

Meanwhile in the Wonder Workshop, there was plenty of Easter creativity underway. Pupils made decorations, including bunny portraits, colourful hanging decorations and a 3D chicken scene. All pieces were created using recycled and leftover materials, turning everyday scraps into something really special.
A lovely mix of creativity and Easter fun 🌼
]]><![CDATA[St Patrick's Day Celebrations]]>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:00:11 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/st-patricks-day-celebrations
We had great fun at our St Patrick’s Day assembly today. Pupils enjoyed parading, dancing and waving their flags as the hall filled with a sea of green.
There were action songs as Gaeilge, a fine rendition of Ireland’s Call and music and singing led by Annette and Niall. It was a lovely way for the whole school to come together and celebrate the day. 🍀
]]><![CDATA[This week in the Wonder Workshop]]>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:49:34 GMThttps://www.stjosephspschool.com/school-news/this-week-in-the-wonder-workshop3796466It has been a busy week of creativity in the Wonder Workshop.
Pupils began by creating St Patrick’s Day themed snakes. This activity encouraged pupils to explore pattern making using repetition and mark making, with lots of imaginative designs emerging.
Aifric and the pupils also had conversations around abstract shapes. Pupils looked at painted green forms and discussed what they could see in them, linking their ideas back to the theme of St Patrick’s Day.
As part of our BLAST project, pupils began the first stage of their printmaking work with artist Dee Deegan. Using printing ink and stencil card, they experimented with printing simple shapes, laying a strong foundation for the work we will continue in the coming weeks. Watch this space.
Students in Senior 2 also made use of the flower presses they built earlier this year. Using flowers from the Home Economics classroom, they carefully pressed the blooms and we look forward to seeing how they dry and how they might be used in future projects.
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