The Link Newsletter #51

Friday 6th October 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Now fully into the swing of the new school year, children have settled well into the new routines to enable them to focus on learning. Thank you to everyone who arrives at school on time at 8.40am. We have already noticed that we have gained additional time in the morning to practice and extend children's learning in the time before collective worship and the start of the first lesson of the day.

I am pleased to report that our improved offer of additional resources for children to access at break times and lunchtimes are showing promise. This week saw the introduction of our latest piece of equipment, a pool / table tennis table. Demand for the table is high, and at the moment, restricted to children in Year 2, and Year 5 and 6. We hope to open this opportunity to Year 3 and 4 in the coming weeks. So far, children have listened carefully to how to use this table safely and fairly and it has been lovely to witness the children enjoying this new experience.

Last Thursday we held our Harvest Service, reflecting on how thankful we are to God for the food he provides and the strength of our community to support those in greater need with donations of food. Once again, our pupils led the service with many of the Year 6 children having spoken parts. We also heard children from Year 1 to Year 6 sing their hearts out, with songs including Conkers, Harvest Time and Harvest Samba. Thank you to Miss Lee, Mr Peck, Mrs Bage for your support in bringing each element of the service together. On Friday, children in Year 4,  took the food and other donations to the Loughton Foodbank as part of their Global Citizenship Project. Thank you to Miss Davy, Mrs Radley and Year 4 parent volunteers.

Last Friday we announced our new Head Prefects. Congratulations to Taylor, Bella and Jack in Badger class and Lily, Mason and Tommy in Raven class. These children will pair up and represent the three pillars of our school vision, Aspiration, Wellbeing and Global Citizenship. Miss Ruddock has announced the House Captain election process and we hope that children put themselves forward for these important positions.

A young man in Year 6 has been busy planning the next project, to build a new shed to store equipment for break times and lunchtimes. We plan to lay a concrete base for the shed and I have already received some detailed plans and instructions for how this should be done! We will shortly be buying materials. If you have left over bags of cement or could loan a cement mixer, we would be grateful.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Miss Davy and Miss Marbe led a Black History Month assembly, recognising important people from the past and also well known people of today including an ex pupil, Daniel Bowden who is the current 800m UK champion. Some photos from this assembly can be seen in the photo album below.

INCLUSION TEAM WELCOMES YOU TO A WELLBEING COFFEE MORNING

Also so that you are aware Karen Bowden will be sending leaflets around soon for the Nurture group which will start after half term. It will be based at Alderton Juniors.

Mrs Tinker
Deputy Head / Inclusion Lead

SUPPORT FOR PARENTS

Our Trust employs a Family Support Worker, Karen Bowden, who works with families to overcome challenges  such as attendance and punctuality, cost of living, housing and offer parenting advice. Karen will be running the Nurture Programme and is inviting parents to register their interest in this course. The course will be run at Alderton Junior School in Loughton starting for 10 weeks on 6th November. Please see the attached flyer, The Nurture Programme.

Also, please see this flyer with details about the SEND Essex Local Offer Roadshows 

Are you the parent/carer or family member of a child with Special Educational Needs
and Disabilities (SEND)? Do you have questions about accessing support in your area
or questions about SEND support available in Essex through Health, Education and
Social Care? Would you like to link up with other parents in your area?

If you do, please come along and see us at the Roadshow. There will be
representatives from Essex Family Forum, SENDIASS, health, social care as well as
representatives from the education teams, SEND Navigation Leads and local support
groups. The roadshow is a drop-in event with no need to book.

TEACHER TRAINING AT ST JOHNS

Many of you already know that St John's is the lead school for the West Essex School Centred Initial Teacher Training programme. The SCITT course has been judged Outstanding and has recently been revalidated by the DfE. We have two parents who are training on this programme this year.

We have just opened up applications for 2024/2025. More details can be found on the Train to Teach flyer.

UPDATE FROM THE PTA

The Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 5th October at 6pm. The Chair of the PTA, Sue Moody, presented her report citing the excellent work of the PTA on a number of very successful fundraising opportunities. The Treasurer, Dave Snaith, reported the healthy position of the PTA bank balance. He explained that he had done some considerable work in ensuring the Charities Commission records and that of the bank mandate were up to date.

We have not as yet received any interest from parents to fill the Secretary position. This is a vital role to ensure the smooth running of the PTA. We would like this person to oversee the PTA's social media presence, development of the website and effective communication with parents about the work of the PTA and upcoming events. If you would like to talk about this role and what is involved, please contact Sue Moody, via pta@stjohns.efspt.org

Next week, on Wednesday 11th October, the PTA are hosting the annual PTA Fun Run. This is a lovely event which is enjoyed by the children and raises a substantial sum for the school. Further details have already been sent together with the sponsorship form which you will find electronically as well as a printed version in the children's book bags.

LOST PROPERTY

Sad to say that this is becoming a huge issue for St John's. The number of items that are not named and therefore not returned or able to be collected is actually really poor. Not only is the pile of lost property an environmental issue, but we are not helping our children to be responsible and look after their property. 

In conversation with another parent, items of clothing for their children rarely go missing because all items are named. The children are told that if they take off their jumpers they should put them straight into their bags rather than on the backs of chairs or left in the playground. 

Over the next two weeks, please....

• Label all uniform with a sharpie pen or attach pre-printed labels for clothes.
• Talk to your children about putting clothing in their bags or on their pegs.

After half term, all clothing should be labelled. All children will be putting clothing into their bags.

CLASS ASSEMBLIES

Dates for the class assemblies have been published on our school website. Please see the full list below:

Thurs 12th Oct - Raven Class Assembly

Thurs 23rd Nov - Squirrel Class assembly

Thurs 18th Jan - Falcon Class Assembly

Thurs 25th Jan - Wolf class assembly

Thurs 1st Feb - Fox Class Assembly

Thurs 29th Feb - Badger Class Assembly

Thurs 14th Mar - Robin Class Assembly

Thurs 21st March - Deer Class Assembly

Wed 27th March - Rabbit Class Assembly

Thurs 2nd May - Swallow Class Assembly

Thurs 9th May - Dove Class Assembly

Friday 17th May - Owl Class Assembly

Thurs 20th June - Hawk Class Assembly

Thurs 27th June - Hedgehog Class Assembly

...AND FINALLY...

A selection of photos from September, including photographs from the Head Prefect speeches.