Our Ethos and Values
Our school is part of a wider family of schools in the Bishop Hogarth Academy Trust. Through the virtues of our Trust family, our own mission statement and school identity, here at St. Joseph's religious education and the spiritual life of the school is at the heart of our service to your children.
Through our mission statement; 'We love, live and celebrate together: Building God's Kingdom through Jesus our Lord,' our aim is that the children here at St. Joseph's become confident, articulate young people, with a sense of justice. That they grow up to be young people with a well developed moral sense, an openness to the work of the Holy Spirit, or the spirituality of their individual faith in their lives, so that they each achieve their full potential, academically, socially and morally and are have the resilience for the next stage in their educational journey.
We are a school community that warmly welcomes families from a variety of backgrounds, cultures and different religious beliefs. As an inclusive school, all children are welcome to take part in any of our celebrations and services. Parents are regularly invited to join us whether for mass, which takes place in school on a fortnightly basis, or to our liturgical prayer, led by a class each Friday.
We are sensitive to the needs of children who are not Catholic and invite parents with any concerns discuss with us how we can best provide for your child.
Canon Paul is the parish priest of the Holy Family Parish and is based at St. Joseph’s Church Hartlepool and he regularly celebrates mass in school.
Catholic parents may decide when it is time for their child to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion from Y4 onward. Preparation for this is shared among the home, the parish and the school. Children who are not Catholics will learn about these Sacraments and other Catholic practices and beliefs during RE lessons and by taking part in a range of prayer experiences.
We take the safety and wellbeing of our pupils is taken seriously. Our staff are vigilant to the individual needs of our children. We refer to a range of agencies and services to support our children and families.
As a school staff we work constantly to provide a caring, Christian environment, where both adults and children show a genuine respect for one another in a calm and positive learning atmosphere. We operate a positive approach, encourage good manners, co-operation and the settling of dispute, rewarding effort and good behaviour.
Each class awards a Star of the Week. This is not based on academic attainment but recognises the development of a child: Working hard, overcoming a barrier, listening to advice, being a good friend, showing kindness.
Children across the school are encouraged to share their gifts and talents. They vote for membership of our school Council, Mini Vinnies and SNAG Groups. The Year 6 children apply and interviewed for posts on our Young Leadership Team.
​Pastoral Groups
The children across the school are grouped in to pastoral family groups, named after Northern Saints of St. Bede, St. Cuthbert, St. Hilda and St. Bega. The pastoral groups gather for prayerful liturgies each week as well as key stage, class and whole school liturgies. These are times of prayer and reflection on the weekly gospels, feast days and the lives of saints and the 'statements to live by' such as I know that rights match responsibilities or I can say one good thing about myself.
A Global Family: Building God's Kingdom
We are fortunate that here at St. Joseph's the children have the opportunity to meet children from a variety of backgrounds, countries, religions, family structures and needs. A real strength of our school family is the respect shown to each other by all connected with our school. There is a genuine understanding of other faiths and cultural backgrounds that are shared across the school.
Disrespect at all levels is taken very seriously; we do not tolerate racism, homophobia or other behaviour that would make someone in our school feel undervalued.