11th July 2019 — The children of St Joseph’s In The Park enjoyed a heart-warming and inspiring Prize Giving ceremony with a twist thanks to Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE. Floella used her acting skills, singing talent and natural warmth and generosity to make the event a very special day for pupils and parents. Each child who received a prize also received a ‘Floella hug’ – an uplifting change from the traditional handshake.

Baroness Benjamin told the children about her life lesson 3Cs - Consideration, Contentment and Confidence. If they can be considerate to others, content with life and have confidence in themselves and their abilities this will help them throughout their lives.

She explained how she had experienced bullying and discrimination in her early life and how the 3Cs had helped her to overcome difficulties and to achieve success and happiness. She used her considerable acting skills to tell the story of The Three Little Pigs. “Never do things by half and always do the best you can just as the clever bricklaying pig did.” She finished with a moving performance of the song ‘Smile’, composed by Charlie Chaplin, which also had a powerful message for children and parents.

Baroness Benjamin is Trinidadian-British and well known as the presenter of Play School and Play Away. She is an actress, author, broadcaster and parliamentarian who was made a life peer in 2010, has a strong interest in primary education and supports many charities. Headmaster Douglas Brown thanked Floella and said that it had been a truly memorable and inspiring day for the whole school.

19th June 2019 — The girls faced stiff competition from several school teams who were invited to act out a children’s book with no props, only limited movement on the stage and good use of their voices. Simon Pegg complemented them for working well as a team, with good expression, performing creatively and really bringing the story alive for the audience.

Isla, Maisie, Sophia, Alice and Grace chose ‘Bumble Bear’ as their story and devised the performance as a group in the week leading up to the Festival. All recently took LAMDA exams and this helped their teamwork and imagination.

The girls were excited to meet the superstar actor, writer and comedian and famous authors including David Baddiel, Robin Stevens, Jonathan Stroud and James Mayhew who all took part in workshops and readings at the inaugural Book Festival.

30th March 2019 — Year 6 pupils at St Joseph’s In The Park recently achieved scholarships and places in a wide range of excellent independent and state schools across Hertfordshire. Three children were awarded scholarships. Amelia (academic, Queenswood); Sonny (sports, Haileybury) and Zachary (music, St Edmund’s College). All pupils received offers from their chosen schools including Bishop’s Stortford College, Broxbourne, Dame Alice Owen, St Chris, Haileybury, Mount House, Presdales, Sherrardswood and Queenswood.

Headmaster Douglas Brown congratulated all the pupils. “The staff are very proud of the children’s achievements and recognise all the hard work they have put in this year.”

Year 6 celebrated with ‘Opportunities Week’ – a chance to experience life outside the classroom with visits to the Houses of Parliament; a day behind the scenes at Stansted Airport; Indoor Skydiving at Milton Keynes; Crossfit training in St Albans and a day out at The Edge where they tackled one of the largest high ropes courses in Hertfordshire.

“It is important for the school to provide a great deal more than just exam success, we offer a wide and varied curriculum, enhanced by a diverse and complementary extra-curricular programme which is designed to equip children for the modern and changing world. Pupils are encouraged to develop learning habits; such as curiosity, persistence and independence which will stand them in good stead for future careers. The focus of any curriculum should not simply be on attainment, but on producing confident, well-rounded children who can contribute and have a value in society,” said Douglas Brown.

18th March 2019 — Local MP, Mark Prisk recently visited St Joseph’s In The Park to hold a ‘question and answer’ session with its pupils.

Mr Prisk outlined the duties of an MP in Parliament and in the local constituency before answering a series of questions which the children had prepared earlier in their PSHE lessons. The thoughtful questions included asking Mr Prisk how he became interested in politics, the path to becoming an MP and his proudest moment as well as the inevitable questions about Brexit.

Headmaster Douglas Brown said ‘As a school, we are very grateful to Mr Prisk for giving up his valuable time and for explaining the role of an MP, especially with all that is happening in Parliament at this time'.

5th March 2019 — St Joseph's In the Park, the independent prep school in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire literally doubled in size this month when it hosted its biennial STEM festival. The Big Bang @ St Joseph's In the Park had 'Tomorrow's World' as its theme and the hands-on, minds-on learning of the 150 children, who visited from local state schools, was firmly focused on acknowledging, understanding and tackling the issues of the future.

Workshops were presented by Setpoint, Airbus Defence and Space, GlaxoSmithKline, Queen Mary University of London, local independent secondary schools and STEM ambassadors, who enhanced the STEM curriculum by providing fun and interesting activities, including acid rain and its cause and effects, avoiding plastic, asthma and respiratory problems, 'from mouthwash to saving babies' lives', air pollution and its effects on the unborn child, 3D printing for spacecraft, the use of optics to transmit sound, structures, space, mathematics, rocket launching and team problem-solving.

19th July 2018 — Lord Salisbury unveiled a plaque to mark the opening of Parklands and extensive new facilities throughout the school including a new Science Room, Library, Classrooms, Cloakrooms, Staffroom and Offices.  The choir sang and the Archdeacon of Hertford read out a prayer of dedication to mark an exciting new chapter in the school's history.

Lord Salisbury addressed the audience a Prize Giving and joined Headmaster Douglas Brown in stressing the importance of education and encouraging the children to embrace change and the advances in technology.

"There are three types of people in the world; people who make things happen, people who watch things happen and people who just wonder what happened - you are not educated to become bystanders but to make things happen."  This was just one important message which the students took away with them from the event.