"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it" Psalm 34:14
A message from the Head
This half term our Christian Value is Peace.
We will explore Inner peace, peace between each other in school, peace in the community and peace in the world. I believe these themes are all quite relevant and pertinent right now.
We are looking forward to the national Anti-Bullying week with the theme 'Make a noise against bullying'. Our challenge is set and we are ready to go! Our ears are ready for the 120 decibel noise which will be made from their home made percussion instruments! You may hear us from your homes! We are launching our week with Odd Socks Day on Monday and closing the week with a spotty mufti for Children in Need. What a fun week we will have!
Following our recent Inspection in September, I am pleased to share with you St John’s OFSTED Inspection Report.
The school continues to be recognised as Good.
The report states that ‘the arrangements for Safeguarding are effective’.
The report is pupil-focused and different from previous inspection letter style of writing. The new style of inspection focussed on 6 key lines of enquiry: Early Reading, Mathematics, History, Science, Geography and Art. After a robust deep dive into each of these subjects over 2 days, the inspection report states that ‘the school’s curriculum is designed with care and ambition and the necessary building blocks to learning well in a subject are carefully identified’.
The report recognises that the school continues to provide a good standard of education and care for our children, and highlights many areas of strength across the school. It also recognises that we know our school well and have clearly identified appropriate areas for whole school continuing improvement.
The inspection acknowledges that our provision for SEND allows the pupils to fully participate in their learning, as we know and understand their needs.
We know our children’s behaviour is generally excellent inside and outside of the class, they are polite and treat each other with kindness and respect, and we are delighted that this is reflected in the report.
We have a fantastic team of dedicated staff and Governors who are committed to continuing to improve our school, ensuring that all our pupils are provided with a wide range of excellent learning experiences. Thank you to our parents/carers for your ongoing support, and taking time to respond to the survey sent out.
A copy of the final report is available below. This will also be live on the OFSTED website.
Well done and thank you to the PSA for their fund raising activities. The photos from the disco last week Friday, clearly showed the children enjoyed themselves with the whistles!
Diwali
This year Diwali will be celebrated on Sunday 12th November and we were delighted when two members of staff, Mrs Shah and Mrs Bhowmick, led an assembly to tell us all about this festival of lights. With the help of Ishaan from Year 3, the whole school learnt how Hindus prepare for this important festival, how Diwali is celebrated and the importance of the Rama and Sita story.
Gold Travel Plan
Our JRSOs from Year 6, Sam and Ronnie, announced this week to the whole school that St John’s has once again maintained its Gold Travel Plan. Well done to everyone! We are very proud to have maintained our Gold Standard Accreditation from Transport for London.
Our School Travel Plan, which aims to promote active, healthy, safe and sustainable travel to school as well as educating children about road safety, has been developed in partnership with Transport for London, through their ‘Stars’ scheme. To be accredited with ‘Gold’ status we were committed to organising 48 separate initiatives. Our JRSOs met regularly last year to plan, organise and evaluate events.
At St John’s we believe it’s important to encourage Active travel to and from school as this is a great opportunity for children to take part in physical activity and at the same time reduce harmful emissions around our school.
Here are just a few of the activities we have participated in the last year:
Walk to School Week to promote active travel
Bikeability for Years 5 and 6 to teach basic safe cycling skills
Pedestrian training - basic road safety for Reception
Assemblies on Road Safety, Cycle Safety and train safety
Using Public Transport where possible for school trips
Police visited Years 5 and 6 to speak about travelling home safely
We are Friends Workshop
Year 4 had the pleasure of attending a workshop this week. They discussed qualities a good friend might have and how our bodies can help us identify what emotions we might be feeling. We are looking forward to our second session with Gada from Achieving for Children, next week.
Language of the Month: Greek
We value and respect all the languages and cultures within our school community. Throughout November, our Language of the Month assemblies have been led by Eleni (Year 5), Ava (Year 3) and Ioannis (Year 5). We are enjoying learning about the Greek language, Cyprus and its culture. Well done Eleni, Ava and Ioannis
Mental Health Ambassadors
Beatriz, Mollie, and Benjamin represented St John's at the borough Primary Mental Health Conference. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and participated in all tasks whilst engaging with their peers from other schools. They will be sharing some of the activities with the whole school and writing up their action plan. They were a credit to our school!
Insight Visit
Year 5 had a visit from Claire at INSIGHT. The class were learning about 'What meaning do different Advertisements give to Christmas?'. The pupils watched a range of Christmas adverts, and discussed how the meaning of Christmas is expressed in a variety of advertisements and how Christians might feel towards them. The pupils looked at different Christian adverts and compared similarities and differences between the ‘popular’ advertisements. They looked at the seven R’s - (Reconciliation, Rescue, Relationship, Return, Rejoice, Receive and Run) and the impact of the Christmas message.
Pupils voice:
'It was fun because we got to participate in activities!’
‘I enjoyed learning how adverts were made and making our own storyboards with a catchy tag line and slogan!’
Princess Alice Hospice Santa Fun Run
Class Weekly Attendance for W/C 16 October
Y1 98%
Y2 98.3%
Y3 86.7%
Y4 92.3%
Y5 89.3%
Y6 96.7%
Class Weekly Attendance for W/C 9 October
Y1 96.7%
Y2 99%
Y3 94.7%
Y4 98.7%
Y5 92.3%
Y6 93.7%
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 child'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
Class list 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: