"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God. " Philippians 4:6
A message from the Head
We have arrived at the end of the first 6th of our school year, and our children have been brilliant in getting into school on time, and ready for their early morning learning. We are very thankful for the Harvest donations from you, which have been distributed by our vicar, Lindiwe from St John’s Church. Our children led the Harvest service last week, with great thought about where the food comes from, and not being wasteful. Thank you to all parents/carers and friends of St John’s who were able to attend this service.
Hubble and Edison Class teachers delivered a brief presentation on how we teach Early Reading at St John’s, and how you can support your child. You can find all the information here on our Read Write Inc page.
This week, we have been visiting the Poo from a Zoo exhibition in Kingston. Children from across school had the opportunity to see this unique exhibition of varying kinds of animal faeces.
As we are celebrating Black History Month, each class is focusing on a significant person, what their contributions are, and why they are important. St John’s has continued to improve our library of books to include more Black, Asian and other minority authors. The website Love Reading has many more quality books for children to enjoy from all ages, and CLPE .
As a school we are encouraging our children to take part in the BBC 500 Words. This is the UK’s most successful children’s writing competition which is now open for submissions and will run till Friday 10 November. This year, the two age categories will be 5-7 year-olds and 8-11 year-olds, so most of our children have the opportunity to get involved. You can find more information on this here.
Mrs Hutchinson has kindly shared the link to her granddaughter’s story entry, which got through to the finals of this prestigious completion in 2020. I hope this inspires our children to get involved in line with our school motto – Believe Inspire Achieve!
Click the button below to read the story
Parents' Evenings: Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th November
Well done to those who have snagged their slots already! Please sign up using Schoolcloud if you have not done so already.
Teachers have prepared well thought out homework to be completed over the half term. This is to support their revision of learning covered this half term.
Please do encourage your child to engage with this. Remember all children from Y1 – Y6 have access to Mathletics, and Reading Eggs, and now 1-minute Maths (White Rose)
For Turing Y6, transferring to secondary school in September, please remember the closing date for your application is Tuesday 31st October 2023.
Consider carefully the distance and relevant information used to select your school choices. DO NOT put the same school for all your choices, this usually leads
to the child not being offered ANY school.
At St John’s we follow White Rose Maths Scheme across school, with some variations in some year groups. We are pleased to share with you our free Maths App linked to White Rose Maths.
7 top reasons for using 1-minute maths!
Excellent practice – and no distractions.
A clear, intuitive process that children pick up straight away.
No login or internet access needed. Just download and play.
Enjoyable and motivating… How many can they get correct in one minute?
Helpful hints match those used in class.
Brilliant for building number fluency and confidence.
It’s FREE!
Please find the links to Apps below:
i phone:
Google play:
Amazon store:
Global Dignity Day at St John's
Throughout this half term we have been looking at what dignity means and what respecting people's dignity looks like, feels like and sounds like. As a Rights Respecting School we have looked at what the UNCRC says about Dignity.
Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
“I think it means that we should treat everyone the way we want to be treated. It means being kind to one another.” Georgia
“Treating people with dignity means including everyone.” Rupom
“It’s about listening to one another and respecting each other’s religion.” Dylan
During 'Dignity Day' Year 3 made these wonderful 'dignometers'! A 'dignometer' is a tool that shows others when we feel our dignity is being respected and when we feel it is not.
After discussing the fact that dignity is something we all have, and that it is something that we can all give each other, we shared what influences our sense of dignity, positively and negatively.
We feel our dignity is being respected when...
§ We are being included.
§ When we are being listened to.
§ When we are learning.
§ Cared for and loved.
§ Supported.
§ Equal.
We don't feel our dignity is being respected when...
§ Bullied
§ Left out/excluded.
§ Ignored.
§ Shouted at.
§ Hurt
Years 1 and 2 made a giant friendship chain filled with their thoughts on the importance of friendship in the classroom, and how friends can help each other with their learning.
Year 4 wrote short Dignity stories and Year 5 shared ideas on how our dignity is respected at St John’s. They designed posters showing what dignity looks like, sounds like and feels like at St John’s. The children learned that dignity is linked to equality, respect, participation and protection.
Harvest Festival Service 2023
We enjoyed a wonderful Harvest Service in church on Tuesday 10th October. Children from Reception Class to Year 6 took part in a service of singing, readings, prayers, artwork and more. We collected bags of food donations which will benefit people in our community in the coming weeks – thank you all so much for your generosity!
Article 24 - the right to good food and clean water. During October, we focussed on Article 24-the right to good food and clean water. Through whole school assemblies, our children learn about the meaning of harvest, how food banks support local families and how our community can help others.
KMS inaugural concert to celebrate Black History Month
Years 4 and 5 were invited to attend the Black History Month event at Kingston Academy. With several schools present, Rwandan born Belgian, Ineza Kerschkamp, Jazz singer (ex-KMS tutor) and her trio performed for the audience and in between songs, shared her stories: her childhood musical ambitions, her studies, challenges, successes and what it is like to be a woman of colour in the music industry.
Our pupils in Years 4 and 5 really enjoyed themselves. A lot of questions have emerged about the origin of Jazz.
Pupils' comments below:
“I enjoyed hearing all of the music the band sang and played.”
“I enjoyed the last song 'Duality', it was a good mix of what we heard throughout the session”.
Memorial Event for David Nield, Music Composer - Cinderella Production 2022
Last Sunday, our previous Year 6 took part in the Memorial event for David Nield who sadly passed away suddenly in July. The pupils performed segments of the production of Cinderella. They were fantastic and enjoyed taking part in the tribute. The group was greeted and congratulated by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, who was thrilled at their performance! We continue to wish them the best at their Secondary schools!
Poo at the Zoo Exhibition
Y1 - Y6 all enjoyed a trip to the Poo at the Zoo exhibition this week at Fusebox in Kingston.
Rock Steady
There has been a lot of interest in the Rock Steady before school club, which is wonderful. The club is due to start on Monday the 6th of November. Entrance for the club will be through the school office at 8.29 am. Links will be sent out to the parents and carers who have enquired.
New Instrument in School
YR were so excited to play on our recently delivered steel pans.
Class Weekly Attendance for W/C 2 October
Y1 97%
Y2 100%
Y3 98%
Y4 97%
Y5 94%
Y6 82%
Class Weekly Attendance for W/C 25 September
Y1 95.7%
Y2 96.7%
Y3 94.0%
Y4 98.3%
Y5 96.0%
Y6 97.0%
Punctuality
The school gates open at 8:40am and close at 8:50am. We expect all children to be ready to start their early morning learning promptly at 8:45am.
We want to teach our children that punctuality is an extremely important and respectful life skill.
When the gates close at 8:50am, your child's lateness will be recorded. This will be monitored by the Local Authority's Educational Welfare Officer ("EWO").
Early morning work, between 8:45 and 9:00am is vital for your chlid's progress.
Please do not allow your child to cycle on Portland Road on the way to and from school as there is still traffic travelling down the road at this time of the morning
Forgotten items reminder
If your child has forgotten any items they need for school on a day, eg: lunch, water bottle, PE kit, wellies for forest school, etc... please leave them clearly labelled with your child's name and class in the plastic box outside the office and a member of staff will pass them over to your child before lunchtime.
Keeping children safe (Safeguarding)
Please find here an excellent Safeguarding Handbook for primary schools by the Kingston and Richmond Safeguarding Team. Safeguarding—In Safe hands
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline
Continues to operate 24 hours a day including bank holidays & weekends. 0808 2000 247
Please remember if you have any concerns or questions regarding Safeguarding out of school hours follow the link.
Do not forget
No pets allowed on the school premises
No smoking or vaping on the school premises
Use of mobile is not permitted on the school premises
PSA
Classlist is a great way to communicate with your school community. If you haven't signed up already please click the link below
3 ways to help St John's School
Please visit the Easy Fund Raising App to easily raise money for the School. Simply visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk, and select St John's School as your chosen charity.
We have raised £1267.38 so far and have 88 supporters! Every purchase made through easyfundraising means a donation to our PSA.
St John's Book List - Donate a book to celebrate birthdays, support our library, or buy class books. Please click below to go to our Amazon page
Stamptastic is the fastest way to name your kids' belongings. Use code KT1 2SG or click on the button below to earn donations for the PSA
You can keep up to date with all PSA events and read their latest newsletter on their page on the school website here.
Reception Admissions for September 2024
Dates for your Diary
All dates appear on our school calendar on the school website. This includes school holiday dates, inset days, clubs, swimming and parent's evenings. You can find the calendar here: