But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33
Message from the Head
We have come to the end of another interesting half term! Our children have responded well to Remote Home Learning in varying ways, and drawn on their resilience to continue with their good behaviour for learning. Thank you for your support in guiding our children with their daily learning. We have spent time building resilience with the children showing them how to overcome challenges, stay positive, motivate themselves to keep going, be organised and focused when things go wrong. I am really proud of their attitude to carry on learning. Home Learning at St John’s includes learning inside and outside the curriculum. It has been inspiring to see how families have used the home learning to explore and be creative with their children's learning.
In Early Years families have joined in: crafting, counting, practising writing letters and numbers, writing stories about astronauts, having fun dressing up, reading and listening to stories at home, and with each other virtually. They have taken walks, built dens inside their homes and in the woods, planted seeds, experimented with ice formed outdoors, and played in the snow making snow people. Many more exciting activities are uploaded onto Tapestry.
Edison Y1 enjoyed their ‘Storyland’ theme: describing fairy tale characters, making porridge, drawing giants, and even planning, then writing, their own gingerbread man stories! All enjoyed dressing up for their fairy tale Google Meet. They have been super mathematicians, and have created beautiful art work including winter trees and Mondrian prints. Great learning Y1!
In Byron Y2, children have been learning to cook, play instruments, ride bikes and play chess. Photos, videos, and recorded messages of successful learning have been shared on J2e, about parks, rivers, tally charts, and sourcing information from nature i.e. the number of birds spotted etc. Children set up a big garden watch and shared the video. They celebrated National Story Telling week by dressing up on a live lesson. Their response to remote learning has been brilliant!
Darwin Y3 have produced impressive work. They created collage portraits based on the things they like inspired by the artist Eileen Agar, and rich and powerful poems following the structure of Ted Hughes’ poem ‘Amulet’. In RE they explored Jesus' "I am" statements and expressed their understanding of what Jesus meant in creative ways.
Anning Y4 have impressed us with the quality of their non-fiction work, especially their newspaper reports and information texts. They included all the features of a newspaper report and presented it beautifully with pictures. They have been a joy to read!
Newton Y5 have found incredibly innovative and creative ways to be productive during lockdown. A range of talents have been showcased on Google Classroom, from budding video makers to child-led art competitions, to videos of science experiments carried out at home. Exceptional efforts have been made by all who have completed work to the best of their ability. They successfully presented their research via Google Classroom. We are now enjoying reading 'The Creakers' together.
Turing Y6 have delighted and impressed us by the quality of their writing and enthusiasm for the work they are doing. They are making the absolute best of a very unusual situation and we are extremely proud of all of them. Some children’s responses to home learning have been: I'm find- ing it fun, I am finding it good, but I do miss going to school and seeing my friends. I'm finding it very easy to find, and do my work , and my teacher is always quick to reply to me. Last week was Children’s Mental Health Week, with the theme ‘Express Yourself’. They participated through art, music and other creative ways which we will put on out website in due course.
Thank you for all your kind messages of support for staff for the quality of Remote Learning, and the care they are providing for the children in school and at home. It is appreciated by all.
COVID
If anyone in your family is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms please check the NHS website
Crimestoppers
have launched a campaign encouraging the public to report concerns about family, friends and colleagues who may be experiencing Domestic Abuse while self-isolating.
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline Continues to operate 24 hours a day including bank holidays & weekends.
0808 2000 247
Safeguarding Handbook
Please find an excellent Safeguarding Handbook for primary schools by the Kingston and Rich- mond Safeguarding Team.
Please remember if you have any concerns or questions regarding follow this link