St John's News Friday 13th November

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Message from the Head

Returning from half term, looking at the school calendar, I realised how busy this term will be with many exciting activities across school and opportunities for all our children to engage with.

We are looking at the Christian value Peace this term.  The children will have the opportunity to explore concepts like: how to calm oneself, coping with anxieties and fears, making and keeping friends etc. I am already seeing and hearing children’s thoughts on this, especially as we took part in our own school Remembrance Worship on Wednesday. It was very heart-warming hearing children sharing their knowledge from Nursery up through school.

Ann Pearman from the Kingston Music Service, led a fantastic Music assembly last Thursday to inspire our children to continue to love all aspects of music.  

We had a wonderful assembly led by Hindu colleagues and pupils on Diwali.  We love celebrating the rich diversity of all faiths, so we were thrilled when staff offered to lead a vibrant Diwali assembly dressed in stunning traditional outfits. They taught us all about the Festival of Lights, highlighting traditional foods and the creative ways people decorate their homes. We learnt the most important part of Diwali is praying for good health and happiness.  Thank you to Yash (Y2) who expressively retold the story of Rama and Sita to the audience and to Mrs Bhowmick, Mrs Shah, Mrs Parmar and Ishaan for organising such a delightful assembly.

Over the half term we conduct regular learning walks. These give us a wonderful window into the classroom to see our children actively engaged, curious and thriving in their daily learning. It is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate their hard work, showcase their progress and ensure our teaching continues to inspire every child. Enjoy the photos of your children working hard and living out our school vision ‘… happy successful learners, who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve their full potential.

Selected children from Y3 and Y4 represented school at the Kingston Multi Sports event. The children had a brilliant experience and represented St John’s with pride! Well done to all who to part.

One of our parents who has been affected by the conflict in Ukraine shared details of the "Blessing Bags" charity project. This is another wonderful and thoughtful project to support as it sends essential items and Christmas gifts to elderly people living in poverty in Ukraine. If you can support this cause, the donations should be dropped off directly to 11 Riverside Close, KT1 2JG by the deadline of 30th November 2026. Please see the attached leaflet for the complete list of accepted essential items and gifts.

Ukraine 2026 - Blessing bags.pdf

Download PDF • 599KB

St John’s has been approached by final year students from Kingston University asking if you can help them with a quick survey on designing a playful game to help young children practise articulation and speech sounds at home. They would love to hear from families first. This is a 90-second anonymous parent survey . You can find the survey here

Thank you to our very hard-working PSA for the fund raising opportunities so far this term. Please let us all rally round them to make their next big event on the calendar successful!

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Y2 Byron working hard

Turing Y6 finishing off independent writing

Trevor and his Y3 Darwin Maths team

Trevor and his Chelsea Maths team

Phonics learning

Phonics learning

Newton Y5 writing independently

Phonics in Hubble

Nursery are enjoying healthy packed lunches after a busy morning

Newton Y5 writing independently

Anning Y4 busy with Mathletics

Hubble YR enjoying learning about number Medium

Black History & Inclusive author

Edison Y1 finishing off Maths learning

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For you to know...

Help us raise funds whilst shopping

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Collective Worship: A Week in Focus

Please remember to check the latest edition of Collective Worship: A Week in Focus here

Safeguarding Our Children

Please remember if you have any safeguarding concern, no matter how trivial, speak to one of our Safeguarding Team or take a look at our Safeguarding Pages.