Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Colossians 3:12
A message from the Head
Welcome back to the new half term and probably one of the busiest of the school year.
This term we are focusing on the Christian Value of Compassion. ‘Compassion’ and ‘sympathy’ have much in common and both are stronger in meaning than simply ‘feeling sorry for’ someone. The words have their roots in the idea of ‘suffering with’ someone, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, and experiencing what they experience. This leads to a desire to act and to do something. It is not patronizing. It is not about ‘doing good’ from a position of strength or ‘remembering those less fortunate than ourselves’. Compassion requires an act of imagination and humility to share in the lives of others.
Attendance and Punctuality
All children should be in school at 8:45am. This is the start of the school day, and it is in line with the recommended statutory hours of schooling from the DfE. We celebrate attendance weekly in our Friday collective worship, and the children know the importance of this.
You can find the winners of the Attendance Award on our House Points & Attendance page
Parent consultation
We are looking forward to having Parents’ Consultations (Target Setting) evenings using our new School Cloud appointment scheduling system. Parents/Carers from YR to Y6, would all have received an email with the instructions on how to sign up. If you have not already done so, please do check your email box for the signing up instructions.
Collective worship and assemblies
We are very pleased to be able to have children and adults gathered in one space again. This half term, will be the turn of Y3 and Y4 to plan and lead collective worship for Key stage 2, and their parents. In line with our new model, these are now purely about worship, and will reflect on the focus Christian value and on the Bible. Upcoming Collective Worship dates Y4 Tuesday 8th November and Y3 Tuesday 22nd November.
As a Faith, and an inclusive school, we are always delighted and proud to have parents, staff and visitors of different faiths lead whole school or Key stage assemblies. This give us an opportunity to enrich our curriculum and knowledge of other religions. To celebrate Diwali this year, one of our members of staff, Mrs Shah, spoke to the whole school about Diwali. The children enjoyed listening to the story of Rama and Sita and finding out how Hindus celebrate Diwali.
When asked by one of the children what her favourite part of the Diwali celebrations was, Mrs Shah said she particularly liked giving gifts to family and friends.
If you would like to share a particular festival of your faith with the whole school, or just with a class, please do email Mrs Singh. We are always happy to support you through this assembly.
Wildlife Art Competition
It is very encouraging to know that so many children took part in the competition Mr Gani set up at the end of the last half term. The entries were all of a very high standard and it was obvious that our children were positively impacted by the amazing images seen during his presentation.
Forest School Christmas Holiday Club
Come and enjoy the Holiday magic in the outdoors, make new friends, create amazing memories with Forest School Holiday workshops. The two day workshops are filled with plenty of seasonal activities for all primary school aged children, from arts and crafts to real-size tool use and fire-making. What holiday treats could we be cooking on the fire this winter? The Clubs run the week of 19th December. More Here
PSA Light Disco
The children had brilliant fun at the Light Disco in the church hall at the end of the half term. Thank you to the PSA for organising this event. As a church school we do not celebrate Halloween, but we acknowledge our children should have a fun event where they too can enjoy being together.
As ever, our brilliant PSA have very exciting events planned for our community throughout the school year. Please do continue to support them, as you are all members of the elite group!
Charities
St John’s children have always led the way by being courageous advocates for the support of different causes in the UK and indeed from around the world.
Thank you to all who took part in helping us to fund raise for stationary for Mhkalapudzuwa School, our partner school in Malawi through our ‘Colour & Sparkle’ mufti day. It is important we teach our children the importance of selfless giving, and being able to offer help wherever and whenever possible.
The next charity we will be supporting will be BBC Children in Need - Friday 18th November 2022. This will be a mufti day and we would like your children to wear yellow or anything spotty if possible.
Other charities the school supports include the following:
The Shoe Box Appeal
Macmillian Cancer Support
Momentum Children's Charity
The Bishop's Lent Appeal
Safeguarding
Please find here an excellent Safeguarding Hand-book 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.
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: