Traditions

Skt. Josef's is a development-orientated school, which at the same time has many traditions. Traditions are at the core of binding a school together and say something about our goals and character.

We are a school with students from many cultural and religious backgrounds, and we consider it enriching for the school. A brief description of some traditions is given below, grouped into, Educational, Religious, Assemblies, Musical, and Charity.

Educational

Science Fair: The annual Science Fair is the flag-ship event for the International Department. Year 1-10, plus some invited Danish classes, present various science themed projects and experiments for judging by real scientists from Roskilde University.

Bridge Building: Each year, students in Year 11 will have to opportunity to visit and experience life as a high school student at our partner IB-schools and gymnasiums.

Work experience: Students in Year 10 can get a taste of working life and future careers when they undertake a week long work experience program.

Motionsdag/Activity Day: This is a nation wide fitness day, where all students across the county go on a run and participate in games and activities.

Religious

Skt. Josef's School functions ecumenically, meaning that the Catholic and Protestant priests give the service together. The whole school comes together for these services, such as Easter, Pentecost and Santa Lucia. These services may be in the church or in the gym. However, each year a large service is held for Christmas in Roskilde Cathedral for students, parents and the whole Skt. Josef's community. Even though these services are based on the Christian calendar, all students are required to attend, no matter what their religious beliefs, because these gatherings are a celebration of community and not indoctrination.

Assemblies

Assemblies is a broad term for the various gathering and services throughout the school year. We have whole school assemblies, international assemblies, secondary assemblies, primary assemblies and ‘morgensang’. A brief explanation of each is below.

Whole School Assemblies

These events are where the entire school comes together, Danish and International Departments, 0.klasse to 9.klasse, Year 1 to Year 11. These assemblies may take the form of celebrations. Most of the time they are aligned with the Christian calendar, These gathering are held in various locations, such as, the school gym, playground, Roskile Domkirke or the amphitheatre in the park. There is usually a mix of English and Danish in the music and presenters.

These whole school events are particularly important for the school community to illustrate the importance of being ‘one school’.

International Assemblies

The next level down are the International Assemblies. These are just for the the International Department, Year 1- Year 11. There are five of these assemblies throughout the year and they are held in the school hall or at Roskilde Library. These assemblies are an opportunity for the internationals students to get together and celebrate the achievements of the students. These assemblies usually begin with a class performance aligned with one of our Character-Values. Following this is a very important tradition- Merit Certificates. Merit Certificates are presented to students who have worked particularly well or made great progress. Students are recognised for their achievements by identifying the specific Character-strength they used, such as grit. Finally, students that have volunteered and participated in activities are honoured, for example, sporting teams, crossing guards, tour guides etc.

Primary and Secondary Assemblies

These are separate assemblies, the primary Year 1- Year 6 get together and Year 7-Year 11 also get together. This allows for performances and presentations that are more age appropriate. Again, at these assemblies a class will perform something to demonstrate a Character skill, such as gratitude. At these assemblies there is music, some games or challenges and have a less formal feel to them. There are five of this type of assembly during the year and they are held in the Canteen.

Musical

The Danish 8.klasse perform a annual musical which takes place over two weeks. The musical is shown to all the schools students and parents over three nights. The students work intensively with all facets of the production, from performing song and dance to behind the scenes. Over the past few years performance have been, West Side Story, The Prince of Egypt, Harry Potter, The Jungle Book and the Lion King.

Charity

Every other year, all of Skt. Josef's School gets deeply involved, over six days, to help a charity of our choice (in 2016 the charity was Reach for Change and in 2019 it was Caritas). The classes spend time preparing for the Saturday Open Day where students sell food, run competitions, wash cars and much more in an effort to raise money. On average, each charity week raised around 100,000 kr, all of which goes directly to the charity.