The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
A message from the Head
It is hard to believe we are half way through the school year! It has been lovely seeing children continue to enjoy coming to school and learning across the curriculum.
Over this term, we have been exploring with the children the Christian value ‘Courage’. They have considered having the courage to face challenges, overcome fear, help others and trust in God.
This week our Governors have been in school, and have enjoyed the wonderfully welcoming atmosphere around our school. The role of a school Governor is to ensure high standards of achievement for all children in the school. They saw the children happily learning across the curriculum, in the playground and having lunch. Thank you to our Governors for your time and dedication to our children, and we hope you enjoyed your visits.
Junior Citizenship Day
On Monday 6th February, year 6 attended the Junior Citizenship event at Chessington World of Adventures. They took part in 8 different workshops run by various organisations such as the fire service, the ambulance service, the police, the RNLI and Transport for London. The focus was on keeping safe and making good choices. 120 children took part in total, with two of the eight teams made up of our year 6. The event was competitive and our two teams came first and second! Well done class 6.
Safer Internet Day
On Tuesday 7th February, we celebrated Safer Internet Day. All year groups took part in activities, and participated in assemblies conducted by our amazing E-safety Computing Ambassadors! The pupils had lots of fun and learnt about the importance of Online Safety, the work of the NSPCC and how their work supports children across the country.
Mollie helps Malawi
Mollie MacMillan in Year 4, organised a cake sale at her local church to raise money for our partner school in Malawi (Mkhalapaduzwa). Mollie made honeycomb & tablet, which she bagged up, labelled and sold for £1.50.
In total she raised a fantastic £50.
Mollie really has embraced the school values of Service and Courage. She really wanted to help others and to try to make a difference to other children who are less fortunate.
Well Done Mollie!
Van Gogh inspires Hubble class
Thank you Noah for inspiring us to learn more about Vincent Van Gogh in Hubble class. Noah very kindly gave Hubble class a print of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. He had been
to the Van Gogh immersive experience where he saw lots of Van Gogh's work. This inspired us to create our own versions of the 'Starry night' using different art techniques. We painted on silver foil using cotton buds like paint brushes to make swirls like Van Gogh. We then used our fingers, which was a lot of fun. We also used the wax resist and a blue wash technique. We learnt about Van Gogh's life and what sort of paintings he liked to paint. We found out that he only sold one painting in his life time and now his paintings are worth millions of pounds. We watched some lovely stories too. We have made a beautiful display in class.
The Easter Bunny needs a Home!
After the successful arrival of the chickens last year we have decided to expand our little sanctuary, and introduce rabbits for the children to pet and engage with. We are looking for donations for an impressive rabbit run and playpen for under our apple trees.
The chickens have been a huge success with children being able to pet and interact with them every day. We have had families come in during the holidays and feed and play with the chickens. The eggs have been well used by all and over the year we will have given over 2,500 eggs away!
We have identified the same manufacturer as the chicken coop, who make fox resistant enclosures. You can read about the system here. This allows separate spaces to be connected by a series of tunnel tubes, creating a fun environment for the rabbits and children alike.
These enclosures are expensive but necessary on our site because we are visited by foxes. If you feel able to donate, even a little, to help us get this project 'bouncing' along please follow the link below.
Parent consultations
We will again be using the School Cloud appointment scheduling system to book times with your class teacher. Dates for upcoming parent consultations are as follows:
Mon 20th March 2023 - YR, Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6
Wed 22nd March 2023 - Y2 and Y4
Thurs 23rd March 2023 - YR, Y1, Y3, Y5 and Y6
Appointments can be made from Friday 24th February 2023 at 6:00pm and will close at 12.00 midday on Thursday 16th March 2023.
Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal
We are raising funds to help the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help hundreds of thousands of people affected by earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria. UK aid agencies - including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and ActionAid - are joining together to raise money. Funds will go towards medical aid, emergency shelter, food and clean water after the quakes injured thousands.
More than 15,000 people have died, with that number expected to rise.
Thousands of buildings have been destroyed in the disaster and responders have been searching the rubble for survivors. Many people have lost homes, leaving them without shelter in freezing, winter conditions, the DEC says.
In Syria, some people who were already living in tents after fleeing conflict in the country are now hosting those whose homes have been destroyed by the quake.
The charities say access to clean water is going to be difficult in the coming days, and waterborne diseases will be a hazard.
Further information can be found here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64568254
If you would like to make a donation towards this cause, please make payment via Parent Pay and we will make a collective donation from the school.
Thank you to parents who have already made a donation for this cause.
Forest School Half Term Club
Come enjoy the magic in the outdoors, make new friends, create amazing memories with our Half Term club, with plenty of seasonal activities for all primary school aged children, from arts and crafts to real-size tool use and fire-making. What treats could we be cooking on the fire this winter?
Job Opportunities
We are looking for additional support in our Blue Bridge Buddies Breakfast Club from 7:30am to 8:45am Monday- Friday term time only. If you are looking for early morning work, please contact the school office.
Keeping children safe (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.
PSA dates for your diary & Newsletter
You can keep up to date with all PSA events and read their latest newsletter on their page on the school website here.
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.
Remember...
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:
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