But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
A message from the Head
We have reached the end of autumn term, our first new ‘normal’ term since the start of COVID restrictions roughly 5 terms ago. I celebrate all our achievements including keeping our school community safe.
If we are directed to conduct Home Learning again, at St John's our expectations are that all children engage with lessons, or the learning set by the teachers. Teachers have gone over how to access the Learning Platform used by their year group. This includes children that have to isolate for COVID reasons.
Our plans this school year to begin open up our celebrations to include our families, which I am afraid had to be postponed until further notice due to the ongoing pandemic. As a result, we were unable to invite our school community to celebrations like Harvest and Christmas. We have however continued to have collective worship in classes led by staff and our vicar, Mark.
Our wonderful PSA, have continued to think creatively about how to organise social events that help raise the much needed funds for school. Thank you all for your tireless work in support of St John’s!
Mark Stafford will be moving to another parish in Ewell from January. We would like to thank you him for all his service to the church and our school community. We wish him all the best for the future.
Lastly, on behalf of my team, I would like to thank you for your, kind words, cards and gifts, and all your donations for the reverse advent calendar too. We wish you a peaceful, safe Christmas and and a great New Year!
School Nativity
Due to COVID restrictions, we have recorded special Nativity performances for you this year. The children from Nursery right through to Year 6 have been busy preparing this Christmas surprise for you all, we hope you enjoy it!
OWL & Forest School News
We’ve had a great fun term and have spent lots of time talking about all our ”invisible differences”. Our Forest School groups have had fun preparing a special video for our community to help people understand that #wearealldifferent please visit our website and share the video on your social media.
Year 6 Sweets sale
Year 6 will be selling Christmas sweets and Reindeer food after school today at 2pm in the playground. There will be 4 different stations to avoid overcrowding – so please find the closest one to your child’s class exit.
£1 per bag of Christmas Sweets
£1 per bag of Reindeer food
Or 1 of each for £1.50
St John's Church news
Christmas Services
Sunday 19th December
4.00pm Socially distanced Nativity trail, with refreshments and short Carol service.
7.00pm Traditional service of lessons and carols.
Friday 24th Christmas Eve
11.30pm Midnight Mass
Saturday 25th December Christmas Day
10.30am All age Christmas Communion.
Sunday 26th December
9.00am Traditional said service of Holy Communion
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/family-nativity-trail-carol-service-tickets-201797831747 to book the Nativity Trail or Carol service.
The summer fete is back!
The date is planned for the 18th June 2022 and we need parents help with ideas to make it lots of fun for the children. Join the PSA on Thursday 13th Jan at the Spring Grove pub to talk about ideas for the big day. Please email nicola.mccrossan2907@gmail.com if you’re able to join.
Kingston First Christmas Trail
Kingston First is running a free Christmas Trail around Kingston Town Centre, from 4th - 28th December. The flyer is below, and more information can be found on our website https://www.inkingston.co.uk/elftrail
On Saturdays in December (4, 11 & 18), they are also organising free outdoor arts and crafts workshops which parents can drop into with their children, 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm. Again, check out our website for more information: https://www.inkingston.co.uk/events/free-kids-christmas-arts-crafts-workshops-04-12-2021
And also on Saturdays in December, keep an eye out for our magical roaming performers, treating passers by to street theatre, incredible circus skills and all-round festive fun! We'll be adding details here this week: https://www.inkingston.co.uk/events/christmas-street-theatre-and-circus-performers-04-12-2021
Urgent mental health support for children and their families
There is now a single 24/7 crisis line Tel. 0800 028 8000 for local families and the South London Partnership CAMHS crisis line will now be accessed via this one single number. They would like to encourage families in crisis to call this number BEFORE attending A&E (unless there is an emergency medical need).
Community Learning newsletter
Please see below a copy of the Community Learning newsletter for Spring term 2022. There are a number of new exciting courses on offer; including a new Cookery course for those with Learning difficulties or disabilities as well as new Pilates and Yoga classes. If you have any questions about any of the courses or workshops please do not hesitate to get in touch, details below. If you have an idea for a course or workshop that we are not currently delivering, please do let us know, we would love to hear from you. Many thanks, Community Learning Team
Browse & book online: www.kingston.gov.uk/adulteducation
Applying for a School Reception place
You can now apply for a School Reception place for September 2022. For more information please see
The deadline for applying for a Primary School place is 15 January 2022.
Admission arrangements
St John’s CofE Primary and Nursery School, Portland Road, Kingston - are consulting on their admission arrangements for 2023/24. St John’s is currently publicly consulting on their admission arrangements for 2023/24. More details about the proposed amendments can be found on the school’s website https://www.stjohns.kingston.sch.uk/. The consultation will run until Friday 14th January 2021.
COVID rules
All children have been sent home with COVID lateral flow test kits. Please use these over the Christmas period, and ensure you test your child before they return to school on 5th January. If you need more test kits you can collect them from the school office on 4th January.
The government has not given schools information on their expectations at the start of spring term. If there are any significant developments or changes to how we currently manage school, we will communicate this with you by email and through our school website. A letter has been sent to you from Public Health Kingston on how you can keep your family safe during this festive period, see below.
Thank you for your continued support in keeping our school family safe.
Dates for your Diary
Friday 17th Dec: INSET day
Tuesday 4th Jan: INSET day
Wednesday 5th Jan: First day of term Reception to Y6
Friday 7th Jan: Nursery first day of term
Thursday 13th Jan: PSA meet at the Spring Grove to discuss the summer fete
18th June: Summer fete