St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

For St Joseph's Day this year we focused on St Joseph the patron saint of workers.

As part of a Celebration of the Word session, children coloured in pictures of different people who help us in our lives and wrote a prayer on the back. These were then placed under and around our sleeping St Joseph statue. Later we put these prayers and pictures on display in the hall.

As part of St Joseph's Day celebrations, the children in Y5 & Y6 created Saint Joseph prayer art. The children produced St Joseph pictures which included the prayer to St Joseph by Pope Francis.

St Joseph the Patron Saint of Workers

St Joseph's Day 2023

St. Joseph the refugee

For St Joseph's Day this year we focused on offering prayers and support to refugees. St Joseph himself was a refugee when the Holy Family fled to Egypt.

The children were invited to write prayers offering support to refugees. As part of a Celebration of the Word session these prayers were then placed under and around our sleeping St Joseph statue.

St. Joseph keyrings

As part of St Joseph's Day celebrations, the children drew pictures of St Joseph. These were turned into keyrings along with a prayer to St Joseph.

St. Joseph decorations

As part of St Joseph's Day celebrations, Y5 & Y6 created wood decorations. They produced some stunning designs.

Year 6 gave one of their wood decorations as a gift to their Reception Class buddies.

We started St Joseph's Day with a special Mass in St Joseph's Church. It was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that we have been able to come together to celebrate Mass in church.

St Joseph protected and provided for the Holy Family. We ask St Joseph to pray for protection for the people of Ukraine. We pray for peace.

The children wrote prayers for Ukraine and coloured in sunflowers (The unofficial national symbol of Ukraine). As part of a collective worship these were placed under our sleeping St Joseph statue. Later these sunflowers were used to decorate the school hall.

A lily is a symbol of purity. St. Joseph holds a lily to represent his holiness.

St. Joseph cared for Mary & Jesus. We made and gave out lilies to people to show that we care for them.

The sleeping St Joseph is a common image of Joseph in the South American culture. The Pope’s own statue came with him to Rome after he was elected Pope.

But why is St Joseph sleeping? Joseph is warned about King Herod by an angel in a dream & after speaking to an angel in a dream Joseph accepted Jesus as his son.

“I would also like to tell you something very personal. I have great love for Saint Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table I have an image of Saint Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church! Yes! We know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath Saint Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words I tell him: pray for this problem!”

To go with our sleeping St Joseph statue, the children created their own sleeping St Joseph envelope which they took home. Giving children the opportunity to add any prayers at home whenever they wish.