St. John’s Catholic Primary School Newsletter 8 — 7th November 2025

Adapted from John 2:13-22 Dedication of the Lateran Basilic

Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple there he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and money changers sitting at their counters. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, “Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.” Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The people
in the Temple said to Jesus, “What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The people replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple: are you going to raise it up in three days?” Now the Temple Jesus was talking about was his own body. And later when he was raised from the dead, his disciples
remembered what he had told them.

Attendance Award – Year  5 – 97.9% – Well done!

Whole School Attendance – 95.6 %

Superstars of the Week!

YR – Ella for promoting peace and demonstrating solidarity through helping a friend in need when they were upset. She shared her breathing strategies and helped her friend to mirror her until her friend was calm. 

Y1 – Theo for trying super heard in his learning & always engaging on the carpet!

Y2 -Elora for working independently in English with her writing this week. Elora is showing more conifdence in herself as a learner.

Y3 – Kieran for showing a positive approach to his work this week.

Y4 – Katy for her aspiration, resilience and positive attitude towards her learning (and for her thoughtful and well-informed answers in Gospel Assembly and RE lessons)

Y5 -David for his thoughtful responses in class which show his kindness and care for those around him.

Y6 – Sienna for fantastic netballl skills in our PE lesson. Sienna listened carefully to the rules and was able to apply them in drills in front of the class.

Proud Work: 07/11/2025

YR – Leo for his participation in phonics this week. You hve been a star!

Y1 -Arlie for trying super hard in his spelling test this week, spelling words with ‘tch’ spelling rule.

Y2 – Isaac for his creative list poem using the sound effects of water.

Y3 -Jacob for having a great understanding of the two main parts of a mass and why they are both important.

Y4 – Huey for consistently getting the top scores in the maths assessments (and showing humility about it).

Y5 -Daniel for working hard to exceed expectations in English this week.

Y6 -Milo for creating an annotated drawing inspired by our text, The Last Bear, and generation figurative descriptive phrases to match.

Bronze Reader

YR – Jonah, Richard, Nate

Y1 – Emily, Lydia, Thomas

Y2 – Sofiia P, Mia, Isabella, Ariana

Y3 – Zakariya, Wilfred, Annie, Jacob, Ameerah

Y5 – Mati, Daniel, Adam, Charles, Cailyn, Santiago, Ross, Kian, Aiden, Olive, Lila, Charlotte, Maija

Y6  Mia Cleaver, Rosie,  Samuel, Aurelia, Maximus

Times Tables Rockstars

Headliner: Y3 Lewis

Support Act: Y3 Joshual, Harry 

Breakthrough Artist: Y3 Daniel A

Gigger: Y3 Annie 

Busker:  Y3 Jacob M

Olá!

This half-term our focus language is Portuguese, as we have some Portuguese speakers in our school. Our children will all be learning a few words of Portuguese in class, and a little about the Portuguese culture. If any children or parents from Portugal would like to bring in any flags, souvenirs, traditional clothes, photos etc to show in class, please email the office or tell Mrs Curtis. We would love to learn more about the language and culture of Portugal! Obrigada!

Senhora Curtis

Chartwells Order Deadline Dates

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

Reception Class

Reception returned to school this week to find a magical lantern forest in their classroom! They launched their new topic ‘Journey’ with the Journey trilogy books written by Aaron Becker. The children have been busy recreating the kingdom, making more beautiful lanterns to hang in the classroom and thinking about what could be behind their own special door if it could take them anywhere!

2025/26 Term Dates!

Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 November: Parents’ Evening

Wednesday 19 November: Friends Movie Night 3:15pm – 5:30pm

Wednesday 19th November: Non School Uniform Day

Tuesday 25 November: Open Morning for 2026 reception starters

Friday 5 December: Christmas Fair 4:30pm – 6:30pm

Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 December: Reception Nativity

Friday 12 December: Teacher-Led clubs end

Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 December: KS1 Nativity

Tuesday 16 December: KS2 Advent Service at Church

Thursday 18 December: School Christmas Lunch

Thursday 18 December: Stage to School Theatre Group – Whole School Pantomime

Friday 18 December: Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 19 December: Last day of Autumn Term

Christmas holiday: Monday 22 December—Friday 2 January 2026

Spring Term 2026

Monday 5 January: children return to school

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

Friends of St John’s

Thank you to all those who came along to the PTA meeting last night. We were lucky to have our own private room at the Shelley Arms!

We discussed the Christmas Fair (Friday 5th December) and it would be more beneficial if we did the following and need your help to do so please:

• Each class will have a stall that they need to provide volunteers for to cover the fair time of 4.30-6.30pm. Ideally 2 volunteers at a time covering half an hour each. Therefore 8 volunteers per class. Stalls will be allocated and shared with the Reps who will inform the class group on what’s app.
• For donations/non uniform day on 19th November, we will provide each class with a list of suggested items for donations. We need to have a good mixture of prizes for both adults and children to win at the fair. 
• Could everyone make a jazzy jar please? It was decided the children enjoy winning these and also making them! For those that have no idea what they are, its a clean empty glass jar (eg jam jar) filled with wrapped sweets, wrapped chocolates, toys, craft pieces etc. No nuts please! You could then also decorate them with stickers, tinsel etc to make them look jazzy and Christmassy!! If you have time to do these for the 19th November too that would be great. Otherwise please drop them into the office by Thursday 4th December for the children to win them at the fair.

The Friends of St John’s