Page 16 - link magazine

First year views
Rebecca Martin from Penhill and Michelle O'Dea
My School When we came to St Joseph's last and there is little waste.
from Lawns write:

During the lunch hour lots of
September we found it was much
better than we had expected. There things are happening, for example,
were a lot more people than we every Wednesday there is Mass in
thought there would be, and it was the chapel with Fr. Reville. Our
In the last of our visits to the four secondary schools much busier than our junior schools. other clubs include netball, gym-
serving West Swindon, we give over a page to students at We thought the work would be a lot nastics, maths, history, art and
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic School harder, but we found it wasn't too drama.
bad. The school organises many trips
In our last school we had two such as a ski trip after Christmas,
It's not like you think floors, but here we have three, so we Spain and Lourdes or Greece at
all have a lot of climbing todo. In the Easter, plus day trips to the theatre.
says Upper Six Former Helen Fry from Freshbrook cafeteria, we found there was better We start every day with an as-
"Do you carry prayer-mats?," I was menu. There is a wide choice in sembly during which the children
recently asked. Just one of the popu- what we can eat. Most people like it are encouraged to provide the mu-
lar misconceptions about Catholic sic. We have a lot of talented chil-
Schools! dren at St Joseph's.
Religion is an important aspect of Surprised by Looking back the most difficult
school life at St Joseph's, but it's not thing to adjust to was the enormous
forced upon you. You can play as the variety amount of home work we had to do
big or as little a part as you want in Philip Burchall from and the pile of books we had to carry
the religious activities of the school, Freshbrook around with us. Still, we got used to
such as the prayer-group or lunch- When I first started at St Joseph's it eventually.
time masses. school I was quite startled with all
There is a friendly atmosphere the different things going on. Michelle O'Dea Phillip Burchall and
throughout St Joseph's and every- Christmas Appeal. My old school Holy Rood was Rebecca Martin with the Lower School
one is made to feel part of the com- Academic standards are always totally different. nativity display
munity - pupils and teachers alike. high, we consistently have some of AtStJoseph's each class is named
From Year 9 through to the sixth- the best exam results in Wiltshire. I after a martyr and the class keeps
form, we allgenerally getalongwell. think this is due to a combination of that name right through the school.
Year 7 and 8 are housed in the the excellent teaching standards and My class is called Lewis after the
lower school site in Queen's Drive, the good pupil/teacher relation- martyr David Lewis.
which means they get a gradual in- ships. This becomes especially ap- At lunch time we enjoy a cafeteria
troduction to secondary school life parent in the sixth-form when classes system which provides us with a
after the small world of primary are smaller and the work gets harder, variety of menu and a lot of people
school - the shock is lessened to the teachers are always willing to take school meals.
some extent! Years 9,10 and 11 plus give their free time to help you out. During lunch break I normally
the sixth-form are at the upper school However,besides work and com- like playing football. With a great
site in Nythe Road. munity activities, every year, there big field it helps because there is
One of the best points about St are at least two trips abroad. These plenty of space to play in. However
Joseph's is the sixth-form. The are open to pupils throughout the the boys are inclined to get rather
workload is heavy, especially in the school, as well as visits to theatres, dirty.
upper-sixth, but we still find time to art galleries, museums etc. I enjoy P.E. a lot. We have rugby,
hive fun and help out round the Sports activities are also promi- hockey, badminton, gymnastics or
school. We all take on some respon- nent, with opportunities for dry- we just play little games. We also go
sibilities such as prefect duties, or- slope skiing, weight training and to the County Ground sometimes to bullied by older boys.
ganis ing charity or social events. We dance, as well as the more usual do cross country. In a few weeks There are different activities in
try to be aware of the needs of others sports such as football, netball and time there will be the School Cross DT: woodwork, metal work, cook-
around us, both far away and near. athletics. The school has won nu- Country tournament. Soon the ing and sewing, and work using
Throughout the year, we get in- merous awards at regional and whole of Year 7 are going swim- computers. So far I have made an
volved in a variety of voluntary ac- county levels over the last few years. ming at the Oasis as part of their oven-glove.
tivities. Fund-raising is part of Like the vast majority of pupils at tutorial programme. Mr Sullivan is the Head of Lower
Christmas at St Joseph's - some of St Joseph's, I can safely say that I've Our school is on a split site but we School and he also teaches our class
you may have seen us carol singing really enjoyed my time here and I'll find that an advantage because we religious education which I enjoy
in the Brunel Plaza for the GWR be sad to leave in summer '91. find there is less chance of being because I learn more about my faith.

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