St. John’s Catholic Primary School Newsletter 21 – 27th February 2026

Preparing for the Mass of Sunday 1st March 2026
The Second Sunday in Lent — Matthew 17: 1-9

THE TRANSFIGURATION

Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain where
they could be alone. There in their presence he was transfigured; his face shone like the sun and his clothes
became as white as the light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them; they were talking with him.
Then Peter spoke to Jesus. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tents
here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when suddenly a bright cloud covered
them with shadow, and from the cloud there came a voice which said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys
my favour. Listen to him.’ When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear. But Jesus
came up and touched them. ‘Stand up,’ he said. ‘Do not be afraid.’ And when they raised their eyes they saw
no one but only Jesus. As they came down from the mountain Jesus gave them this order. ‘Tell no one about
the vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead

Attendance Award – Year  5 – 99% – Well done!

Whole School Attendance – 97%

Superstars of the Week!

YR – Charlotte for coming to school with a positive attitude and participating well in all areas of learning!

Y1 – Jude for working hard in our D.T. lesson this week to research different vehicles.

Y2 – Mia for her participation and enthusiasm in Maths this week.

Y3 – Zakariya for excellent work and effort in Computing: learning to create a program using Coding, and helping others by explaining it very clearly!  Thank you Zakariya

Y4 – Aaron for his consistently aspirational attitude to his learning AND for his resilience and increased independence.

Y5 – Ava for her great attitude in Maths.

Y6 – Aira for starting the new half term with a positive attitude and focus – keep it up!

Proud Work: 23/02/2026

YR – Daisy for her fantastic colour mixing this week!

Y1 – Lucy for her thoughtful ideas during R.E. this week, thinking about her new start for Lent.

Y2 – Sophia for her use of apostrophes. Both in contractions and for possession in English this week.

Y3 – Ameerah for her thoughtful illustrations and retelling of the scripture feeding of the five thousand.

Y4 – Vinny for his accurate and detailed re-telling of the Parable of the Lost Son.

Y5 – Mati’s fabulous Kenning poem (inspired by his mum).

Y6 – Nancy showed knowledge and understanding of some of the deeper meanings revealed by John and identified them in the Gospel. Great work!

Silver Reader – 100 reads

YR :  Rafael

Y1 – Violet

Y5 – Noah, James

Y6 -Oliver

Times Tables Rockstars

Unsigned Act : Mariana V 

Rock Legend: Jenson L

Gone Green :  Alex M

Chartwells Order Deadline Dates

Please order by the dates below to ensure your child has a hot lunch in the Spring Term.

2026 Term Dates!

Spring Term 

Monday 2 March: Rags 2 Riches collection day – SEE YELLOW BOX below for more info

Thursday 5 March: World Book Day – children can dress as a book character and bring the book with them. If they would prefer not to dress up, they are welcome to come to school in comfortable clothes. 

Friday 6 March: Mass to celebrate Lent KS2– 10am at Church

Friday 13 March: International Storytelling day/ PJ day (fundraiser for reading resources)

Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th March: Parents Evening (Booking details to follow soon via MCAS.)

Friday 27 March: break up for Easter

Summer Term

Monday 13 April: children return to school. Class and Leavers Photos (full school uniform)

Monday 20 April: Whole school Mass – 9am school hall

Thursday 7 May: Whole school mass to celebrate First Holy Communion, 2pm school hall

Monday 11 – Thursday 14 May: Year 6 SATS week

Friday 22 May: children break up for May half term

Monday 1 June – children return to school. Year 6 Bikeability week

Monday 8 – Thurs 11 June: Y4 Multiplication Check & Phonics Screening Week

Thursday 11 June: Break the Rules day!

Friday 12 June: INSET day

Friday 19 June: International Food Festival day

Thursday 25 June: Sports Day

Monday 20 July at 2pm: Leavers Mass at Church

Tuesday 22 July: children break up for Summer holidays

To keep up to date with future school events, please visit the school calendar which can be found on the parents page on our website.

Parents – St John’s Catholic Primary School

Rags 2 Riches Collection – next Monday!

We have signed up to the Rags2Riches4Schools recycling scheme, to raise money and help others around the world benefit from our good quality unwanted clothes and shoes. The money we raise from every kilo of clothes we collect will go towards school resources and would be most grateful if you could help us with this challenge at home.

We have a collection booked on NEXT MONDAY 2 March so please keep good clothing to donate to us on this date by 8.45am (Please do not bring to school before this date) Please leave bags of clothing by the front school gate, adjacent to the car park.

Clean and reusable items that can be donated:

Good quality clothes and accessories.

Adults, childrens and babies clothing such as jackets, jumpers, hoodies, trousers, skirts, scarves, gloves, belts, handbags, paired shoes and other footwear etc.

They cannot reuse the following items:

Worn out shoes or clothes, clothes that are wet or have holes in.

Curtains, pillows or duvets, bric-a-brac or books. Personalised items. 

Work uniform, School uniform or school sports kit

If you are unsure what to put in the bags, then STOP AND THINK – WOULD SOMEONE ELSE BUY & WEAR IT? If it isn’t something you’d wear out and about yourself or pass to a friend, then no-one else will want to buy and wear it so unfortunately, it’s not reusable and can’t go in the bag.

World Book Day – next Thursday 5 March

We will be exploring insect-themed books in the afternoon so we invite children to dress up to celebrate. Costumes do not need to be extravagant; it can be something simple that they already have at home. The focus on World Book Day has and always will be about books and nurturing a love of reading. If your child does not wish to wear a costume, they are welcome to come in comfortable clothes along with their favourite book. The book is the most important thing.

Children will need to wear sensible shoes. We look forward to celebrating World Book Day together next week!

On Tuesday we celebrated Scout Founder’s Day! The children (and Mrs Farr, Mrs Vinall and Mr K!) were very proud to wear their Scouting uniforms to school and to renew their scouting/Guiding promises, as our Scouts and Guides reflected on our shared values and common goals. A great link to our Catholic Social Teaching value of the Common Good.

Fairtrade Colour Fundraising Day: Thursday 19^th March!

On Thursday 19^th March, to support Fairtrade, please can your child wear any combination of the Fairtrade logo colours of blue, black or green, and bring in £2 per child for Fairtrade. If they have PE that day, please wear comfortable, suitable clothes and trainers.

The children will be learning in an Assembly the week before, all about Fairtrade and how it supports farmers and their families in developing countries all over the world. Fairtrade was founded by CAFOD (Catholic Agency For Overseas Development), and as a school we have been supporting Fairtrade for many years now.    Thanks in advance for all your support!

International Storytelling / Pyjama Day on Friday 13th March!

We are very excited to have our International Storytelling Day on Friday 13th March! Children can wear pyjamas or onesies (with normal school shoes and bring a coat) and please donate £2 (per child) towards new reading resources for the school. Please bring your £2 to your class teacher.

The children will hear the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ in different languages, with our Young Interpreters, and some parents and staff as storytellers. If any parents who speak another language would like to help, please contact Mrs Curtis via the school office. The day will celebrate the many different languages we have in our school.

For children who have PE that day, please can they bring their PE kit to change into. They can wear trainers that day. Thank you.

Year 5 and 6 Music Performance Lessons!

I am so impressed by all the musical talents we have at St Johns, and the confidence of children to perform in front of the whole class! Just before half-term, we had these brilliant performances:

In Year 6:

Piano: Samuel M and Thomas (also played from memory and improvised!)

Guitar: Tilly and Samuel B (also played from memory!)

Singing: Isabelle and Maisie (unaccompanied!), Tilly (whilst playing the guitar!), Alanna, Sofia, Abrianna, Grace, Ziona and Anthonia

In Year 5:

Violin: Charles and Eden

Piano: Hope, Lila, Olive, Mati, Elizabeth, Antoni

Recorder: Charlotte

Synthesizer: Maija (her own composition!)

Electric Guitar: Daniel and Adam

Singing: Maija and Cailyn

Congratulations to all those children for their brilliant performances, and thank you for entertaining us so well!

Mrs Curtis

Half-term Language: Albanian!

Alo!

We have chosen Albanian as our focus language this half-term as we have a few Albanian speakers in school. The children will be saying hello in the register each day, and maybe learning a few other Albanian words e.g. numbers, greetings, if they have Albanian speakers in their class. If any Albanian children would like to bring in items to show in class, e.g. traditional clothes, photos, a flag, souvenirs, please let us know. Thank you!

Mrs Curtis

Year 5 and 6 Music Performance Lessons!

I am so impressed by all the musical talents we have at St Johns, and the confidence of children to perform in front of the whole class! Just before half-term, we had these brilliant performances:

In Year 6:

Piano: Samuel M and Thomas (also played from memory and improvised!)

Guitar: Tilly and Samuel B (also played from memory!)

Singing: Isabelle and Maisie (unaccompanied!), Tilly (whilst playing the guitar!), Alanna, Sofia, Abrianna, Grace, Ziona and Anthonia

In Year 5:

Violin: Charles and Eden

Piano: Hope, Lila, Olive, Mati, Elizabeth, Antoni

Recorder: Charlotte

Synthesizer: Maija (her own composition!)

Electric Guitar: Daniel and Adam

Singing: Maija and Cailyn

Congratulations to all those children for their brilliant performances, and thank you for entertaining us so well!

Mrs Curtis