Quality of life at happy St Joseph's (From Penarth Times)

Quality of life at happy St Joseph's

ST JOSEPH'S RC Primary School is a happy school where children benefit from quality of life.

The Sully Road-based establishment opened in 1877 as a combined chapel and school at its original location in Maughan Street (later named High Street), Penarth.

Later the premises at High Street became inadequate for the large numbers of boys and girls seeking a Catholic education in the town.

For some time extending onto land next door was considered but the application was turned down. However land in Sully Road was made available by the county council and a new 'open plan' school officially opened in 1970.

The school now caters for 221 children, with nine classes including the new nursery which opened in 1999.

Although a Catholic school, the governors will admit up to ten percent in any year of people from other denominations. Over the years St Joseph's has seen pupils from Muslim, Church of Wales, Buddhist, Church of India and Hindu backgrounds.

Maurice Flynn has been head teacher for the past 11 years. He said: "St Joseph's is a happy school, very secure, with a strong partnership with parents.

"There's a quality of life at St Joseph's, no disciplinary problems to speak of. Those there are are dealt with quickly."

The school has seen many changes with a nursery, greenhouse, after school clubs and this week a car park all being introduced.

Those starting in the nursery will see changes later this year as capacity will be doubled to 26 pupils, with a new nursery nurse.

And the car park, costing £162,000, is now ready to use after being built in five weeks over the summer holidays. It was officially opened by the Bishop of Wrexham and Apostolic Administrator for the Archdiocese of Cardiff Edwin Regan last Tuesday.

The majority of the funding, 85 percent, was granted by the National Assembly under Governors Liability, while the Diocese made up the other 15 percent.

Jan Witchard from the National Assembly said: "It looks very good, very nice, and fits the building."

And also within the site, youngsters can enjoy a greenhouse, where there are tomatoes, pumpkins, and even tropical plants such as a Congo Cockatoo.

Jemma Hughes, 9, who was Gardener of the Year 1999-2000, is now in year 5.

She said: "It's great to be able to do something like this. It's my favourite thing in school." Mr Flynn said: "There's something very distinctive about St Joseph's.

"We offer certain things that no other school can offer, such as ethos, commitment to faith by all teaching, and dedicated staff."