Welcome to the academic year 2020/21
Dear Students and Parents
Welcome back from the summer holiday. I hope you have had a good time and have enjoyed the a ‘real’ Danish summer. As Danish poet, Thøger Larsen, wrote, “Du danske sommer jeg elsker dig/You Danish summer, I love you".
We often sing the following at school:
Du danske sommer, min hilsen tag, You, Danish summer, I greet you,
du lyse nat og du lyse dag! you bright night and you bright day!
Går tit du kold over landet hen, You are sometimes cold,
jeg ved, du kommer dog hed igen! I know you're going to be warm again!
Ja, ja, ja, Yes, yes, yes,
jeg ved, dit hjerte er guld endda. I know your heart is gold.
The school is in full swing, preparing for the new school year, and we look forward to kicking it off with you this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Covid-19
Unfortunately, the end of the last school year was severely marked by Covid-19. The authorities have relaxed the guidelines so that we can reintroduce normal teaching schedules, however, a great deal of caution is still required. The news of the last few days only underlines too clearly that, unfortunately, it is not over yet and that things can develop terribly quickly.
It is important for me to say that although we are now going back to "normal" conditions, the school is following the measures recommended. This means that all the traditional community arrangements across the departments cannot proceed in their original form. Here is a summary of the important things you need to know:
1. Sanitizing upon arrival at the school is mandatory via all entrances.
2. Continued focus on hand hygiene, coughing, sneeezing and Covid 19 symptoms.
3. Parents and relatives are not allowed to enter the schoolyard and buildings. Please continue to hand over your children at the parking lot or gate to the park.
4. After school finishes, please make arrangements to pick-up at the parking lot or the gate.
5. Pick up at the SFO after 13:00 is possible in the schoolyard. If your child is not playing outside, you can ask the SFO staff to get them from inside.
6. The school continues the extra cleaning and sanitizing of contact surfaces and toilets throughout the day.
7. We continue to follow government guidelines regarding foreign travel and quarantine. Employees and parents are therefore obliged to keep up to date with the government's guidelines for foreign travel, especially if they travel to countries where quarantine is subsequently required.
8. If you are hit by covid-19, the school must be informed, and we will follow the guidelines from the authorities.
9. Parent meetings and school/home conferences start up again, but not necessarily in their usual form. Teachers are currently working on a format that meets the purpose of the event, but also simultaneously meets the recommendations of the Danish Health and Medicines Authority.
We can all contribute to keeping Covid-19 at bay and ensure that we create the best opportunities for our students' wellbeing, learning and education.
New Children & Students
In June, despite the circumstances, we had a nice farewell to our Year 11, 9.klasse and 10.klasse students. This also means that we are now saying hello and welcome to a lot of new children.
Welcome to:
14 new students in our kindergarten/børnehave, with 3 more starting in November
16 new international students in Year 1
48 new students in the Danish 0.klasse
24 new students in new Danish 4.c class
48 new students in the new Danish 7.d and new 7.e
75 new students in Danish 10.X classes
As well as the many new students joining continuing classes in both the International and Danish departments.
I hope that everyone will quickly settle in and thrive at Skt. Josef's, and I know that both children and staff will do the best they can to make you feel safe and welcome.
New employees
Just as we say hello to a lot of new students, we also welcome a lot of new teachers at Skt. Josef's School, they are very much looking forward to meeting you and I hope that you will also help to welcome them.
International department
Anisa Throup
Amber Jakobsen
Gwyneth Murtagh
Annika Senbergs
Danish department
Thomas Jacob Fox
Lars Gravgaard Nielsen
Maja Ingemann Hafstad
Charlotte Zeuthen Lesenecal
Christina Lemonius
Sofie Wessberg Larsen
Michael Krone Laurent
Janni Skaarup Gregersen
Traffic and access conditions
Many of you have probably read or heard about us in the local press in connection with the town planning that is currently taking place. I would like to stress that Sk.t Josef’s does not intend to expand the school. It is simply an expression of the fact that the school board of directors and management would like to be able to build or modernize the school in the future.
Skt. Josef's has many buildings, built in stages over the last 110 years. Due to the school's location and history, many of the buildings are worthy of preservation and therefore have restrictions on how much we can do to them while meeting today's demands and wishes. The board and management have therefore worked seriously with architects and authorities to provide opportunities for the school to redevelop if there is a need in the future.
Urban schools usually have relatively limited space, this is also true of Skt Josef's. Fortunately, we are privileged to have two green public parks just outside the grounds and we make good use of these.
Since Roskilde Kommune chose to sell the Gråbrødre School we have instead rented ourselves a new large, beautiful facility at Algade 12 (3rd Floor) located on the walking mall. Our Year 10 and Year 11 classes together with the Danish 10.klasse will call this "campus" home.
Traffic is usually also a challenge for urban schools and it is clear that during rush hour there is high pressure out the front of the school. We therefore encourage our local students to cycle or walk to school, and that those must arrive by car are dropped off outside the public library or use the large parking space nearby it.
To encourage even more students to come from the direction of the library, this year we will arrange a school patrol through the park as a "walking bus" every morning from the library to the school. There will be teaching staff present at the top of the park from 7:45 a.m. They will regularly send groups of students towards the school with one of the yellow vested school patrol helpers. The last trip will be made at 7.55am, so everyone can be at their classes at 8:00 am to start school. I hope you will use the initiative, which starts on Monday 17th August.
The canteen reopens
We are also pleased that the canteen will reopen from Monday, 17th August. It will again be possible to purchase items with the skolepenge.dk card.
Let me end with a desire to wish everyone a wonderful school year, filled with joy, community, curiosity and learning for all of us.
Mads Frost
Principal
Skt. Josef's School