"The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever."
2 Chronicles 5:13
A message from the Head
Welcome back from a lovely summer break, and we have returned to even warmer weather! It has been lovely meeting and greeting many parents at the start and end of the school day. I am so proud that our children returned to school in Mrs Esua’s ‘fuss free manner!’ Our Christian value for this half term is Thankfulness. We will be exploring this Christian value alongside United Nations Rights of a Child articles (we are a Right Respecting Silver School).
Our INSET day was on Safeguarding children as we are now part of the Attachment Aware Schools Award and Emotion Coaching. This will allow staff to continue to keep our children safe and look after their mental health and wellbeing.
It is important for children to attend school promptly at 8:40, the gates will be closed at 8:45am. Teachers plan early morning work around the needs of the class. All children should be given the opportunity to engage in these daily activities.
The priorities for this school year are: to improve the quality of writing across the curriculum, for children to be enthused about reading books (at home and school), plus being confident with their times tables.
We look forward to seeing you all at our ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions. These short 30-minute meetings are important as the class teacher explains the expectations for the year, and equally it allows you to ask questions. Information is given on: reading, PE, homework, teaching of phonics, the importance of times tables etc. Homework is important as it reinforces the learning from class and we expect the same high quality and effort from all pupils.
We take the safeguarding of our children seriously and in order to effectively carry out our safeguarding duties St John's is part of Operation Encompass. What is an encompass alert? In local areas signed up to Operation Encompass, the police must inform a 'key adult', usually the Designated Safeguarding Leader (DSL) at the relevant local school if they have been called to an incident of domestic abuse at a child's home before 9am the next morning, or before 9am on the Monday morning, if an incident occurs over a weekend.
Early Years Staggered Entry
Reception and Nursery staff are enjoying meeting children new to St John’s during this week. We look forward to seeing all our returning children during next week when they start at St John’s. Please remember, if your child is going up into Reception from our nursery, to please check your start date and time so that we can give sufficient time to each child as they come in. All children in nursery and Reception will be in school by next Friday 15th.
Poo from the Zoo
An exciting, new free exhibition is coming to FUSEBOX , Kingston's new multi-arts venue on the Riverside in October.
"The Origin of the Faeces: Poo from the Zoo" is a unique showcase curated by Tracey Lee, a former senior zookeeper at London Zoo who, for the past 22 years, has been collecting and preserving animal dung from more than 100 different species. Now for the first time, Tracey is inviting visitors of all ages to explore the weird and wonderful world of animal poo, while breaking down societal taboos and sparking conversations about nature and conservation.
To find out more information please click the link below.
Free Saturday Coding and Digital Making Sessions
Youngsters aged 7 - 17 at all levels of experience, from beginner to expert, can create video games, web pages, build robots or explore digital electronics at sessions hosted in Kingston University’s cool STEM Outreach suite. We offer activities using Scratch, Python, Unity and Raspberry Pi computers and microcontrollers. Sessions are led by technology professionals, KU computer science staff and students. Kids under 13 must be accompanied by a parent or carer. Bring a laptop if you have one, or you can book one of ours. For more information visit http://www.coderdojoku.org/ Click here to view the poster: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b-lly66bs18kLgWjUQLJOoV4mp6H2tKP/view?usp=sharing
Wedding Bells
Congratulations to our Y2 teacher Sarah who got married over the summer and will now be known as Mrs Skilton.
School Pick Up Reminders
Please could all notifications regarding a change to school pick up for the day be made to the school office either by e mail or phone by 2.00pm
Please could everyone remember to enter via Gate 1 and leave via Gate 2 at pick to ensure a smooth one-way system
Punctuality
The school gates open at 8:40am and close at 8:45am. 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 8:45am a member of staff will be outside with a late book for you to sign with a reason for your child's lateness. 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.
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 school premises
Use of mobiles are not permitted on the school premises
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.
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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