Catholic life
As a Catholic School, Christ is at the center of all we do. Our curriculum, Mission Statement, values and beliefs all flow from this center point of God, so that the children grow, learn, achieve and develop spiritually as well as academically. Please click here to see our school Mission Statement.
At St Joseph’s our Catholic character is centered upon Gospel Values and the children and staff alike strive to make the knowledge and love of God part of everyday life. We follow the words of Jesus - “Love One Another” as well as the example set by our Patron St Joseph - ‘Just like St Joseph the Worker…Stepping up to Achieve Excellence.’ We provide an environment where children can grow, love and learn, embedding values and characteristics to develop the whole person as well as embed the Catholic Faith. Please click here to read our Vision and Values.
Prayer and Collective Worship
As a Catholic School, Prayer and Collective Worship is at the starting point of designing our school day. Giving our thoughts and thanks to our God and opening our hearts to Him is a daily activity. It is in these special and reflective times that we truly grow to appreciate what a blessing our lives are. Prayer and Collective Worship time is a sacred, special time which allows us to pause and give thanks to God, as well as offer our thoughts and prayers for others.
Each day at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, the children are given time for prayer and Collective Worship, either through whole school assembly or mass or in class Collective Worship sessions.
We regularly join with our Parish community of St Joseph’s Catholic Church to celebrate mass together - throughout the year each year group plans and arranges a mass to which parents and parishioners are invited. We also take the children to St Joseph’s church so that they feel part of the Parish community.
Our Patron Saint - Saint Joseph
Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture.
We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the sceptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree about some of the details of Joseph's genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as "son of David," a royal title used also for Jesus.
We know Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He knew women accused of adultery could be stoned to death, so he resolved to send her away quietly to not expose her to shame or cruelty. However, when an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins," he did as the angel told him and took Mary as his wife. (Matthew 1:19-25).
When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23).
We know Joseph loved Jesus. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son for over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" (Luke 4:22)
We know Joseph respected God. He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.
Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.
According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, the Apocryphal Date for Joseph's birth is 90 BC in Bethlehem and the Apocryphal Date of his death is July 20, AD 18 in Nazareth.
Joseph is the patron saint of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth. Joseph is also patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travellers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.
We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker. March 19 has been the most commonly celebrated feast day for Joseph, and it wasn't until 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the Feast of "St. Joseph the Worker" to be celebrated on May 1. This is also May Day (International Workers' Day) and believed to reflect Joseph's status as the patron of workers.
In art, Joseph is typically portrayed as an older man, with grey hair and a beard, often balding, sometimes appearing frail and a marginal figure next to Mary and Jesus, if not entirely in the background. Some statues of Joseph show his staff topped with flowers. St. Joseph is shown with the attributes of a carpenter's square or tools, the infant Jesus, his lily blossomed staff, two turtle doves, or a spikenard.
Our Church
Our school serves the parish of Saint Philip Neri Birkenhead and Holy Name of Jesus Oxton. Children often visit St Joseph’s church building to learn about the different signs and symbols of Catholic faith as well as celebrate mass. At other times Fr. Chris comes in to celebrate Mass with us in school, led by a year group. Deacon Les also comes into school to help us learn about our faith in Jesus Christ. We seek to build strong relationships between the School and Parish.
St Joseph’s is part of the Roman Catholic Churches of Birkenhead and Oxton and is in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
The parish websites can be found below