Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Pupil Premium funded holiday camp this Christmas

  Wed 30 Nov 2022

  We are pleased to share information about a free holiday camp for pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding taking place from the 3rd to the 6th January 2023.

  Lunch is provided. 

  To book a place on the course you need to 

  • Read the letter CLICK HERE
  • Follow the bookings instructions on the letter.

   

  Bookings open at 9.30am on Thursday 1st December.

   

  The club is run by Amber Valley Schools Sport Partnership (AVSSP). AVSSP are a company that we use at St. John's and our children may know some of staff that may be at the holiday camp. Please do not contact the school about your booking, please contact AVSSP, details are on the letter. 

• Police request - Unconscious man found in Belper on Monday 28th November - help needed to identify him

  Tue 29 Nov 2022

  We have received a request from Derbyshire Police for help, please read the message in italics below. If you are able to help please ring 101

   

  We are seeking the public’s help to identify a man who was found unconscious in Belper yesterday.

   

  We received a call at 4.30pm on Monday (28 November) relating to a man who had become unwell in Kirks Lane and had been found by a passer-by.

   

  The man, who we believe was out jogging, did not have any identification on him and despite enquiries we have been unable to find out who he is.

  He is described as white, 6ft tall and of large build, with brown, greying hair.

  He is believed to be aged in his fifties or sixties and was wearing red Asics trainers, black tracksuit bottoms, a grey hoodie with a blue Bud Lite logo, black gloves, a blue camouflage snood, and black-framed glasses.

  If you recognise the description of the man or have any other information which may help us identify him, please contact us quoting reference 22000696898.

• Year 6 SAT tests - May 2023

  Fri 25 Nov 2022

  The Department for Education have announced today that the published dates for the year 6 SAT tests in May 2023 have been altered. Originally they were due to start on Monday 8th and finish on Thursday 11th May 2023.

   

  Due to the extra Bank Holiday on Monday May 8th 2023 the year 6 SAT tests will now take place on the four days of Tuesday 9th May to Friday 12th May 2023. We have updated our online calendar with this information. 

   

  All other statutory tests that children in years 2 and 4 take this summer will continue as planned. 

   

  If any parents want to speak to us about the impact of this change please contact the school to speak to Mr. Averis. 

  Thank you

   

   

• How to order nativity tickets

  Thu 24 Nov 2022

  Infant children have brought home a letter today with information about tickets for out nativities in December. Tickets can be ordered by clicking on the links in the letter from 6pm on Friday 25th November to 9am on Tuesday 29th November. 

  CLICK HERE. 

  Each family is initially able to order two tickets. 

  Once first choice tickets have been distributed we will distribute any spares. Families are able to request spare tickets at the same time they place their original order. 

• Online warning - PayPal payment request scam

  Thu 24 Nov 2022

  Derbyshire police have asked us to share this message about a PayPal payment request scam that they are aware of in our area. Please see the picture below for details. 

   

   

  

• Curriculum morning - Wednesday 23rd November

  Fri 18 Nov 2022

  At 5.30pm on Wednesday 16th November we ran an open evening for parents to come and find out about our new curriculum plans for January 2023. 

   

  We are pleased to be able to run this event again on Wednesday 23rd November at 9am in the morning to help parents that may have had child care difficulties last Wednesday. 

   

  If you would like to come and find out about our new curriculum plans for January 2023 please come along into the hall on Wednesday morning after dropping your child off where Mrs. Astell looks forward to meeting you. The meeting will take about half an hour. 

• Football World Cup - Monday 21st November

  Fri 18 Nov 2022

  We all enjoyed our England Football day in July 2021 when England reached the final of the Euros. Children dressed in red and white and the day was football themed. We hope to be able to enjoy similar success in the next few weeks and reach another final in December. If this is the case we will be able to celebrate reaching a final in school again with non uniform. 

   

  I'm sure we all want England and Wales to get off to a good start on Monday 21st November when they both kick off their world cup campaigns. However, at this stage in the competition we will not be inviting children to dress in red and white and children will not be watching football matches in their classrooms.

   

  Let's hope that we get to celebrate getting to the final on the 18th December and get to mark the occasion with a football themed day in school again.  

• Curriculum evening for parents and carers - Wednesday 16th Nov 5.30pm.

  Mon 14 Nov 2022

  We are reminding parents of the curriculum open evening on Wednesday 16th November at 5.30pm. 

   

  Parents and carers are invited into school at 5.30pm when Mrs. Astell is looking forward to sharing details of how our curriculum will be updated in January 2023. At the meeting Mrs. Astell will be informing parents of how we will still be using resources published by Cornerstones, but that some of the projects that we teach will be changing and the way that we teach a few subjects will be changing as well. 

   

  We introduced our Cornerstones curriculum in September 2015 and on Wednesday will be showing parents how we are going to update it in January 2023, what projects will be changing, what difference it will make to the children, how you can help your children with their learning and what the benefits will be of these new curriculum plans. 

• Children in Need day - Friday 18th November

  Fri 11 Nov 2022

  To help us support this worthwhile cause next week we are running three events on Friday 18th November. 

  • Non uniform day - wear something spotty if you can - you are invited to bring a 50p donation
  • Cake sale - please bring any cake donations into school on the day - these will be sold at morning playtime for 10p or 20p. Your children are invited to bring some pocket money into school to buy their playtime snack. 
  • Bring and buy sale - You are invited to bring any pre-loved toys and games to school next week. These will be on sale in the afternoon for children that have brought some money to school. 

   

  As always it is important for children to understand that they are helping others, less fortunate than themselves on this day. Please do not just 'give' them any pocket money to bring on the day. It is important that children that want to take part 'do their bit'. We encourage them to do some pocket money jobs around the house to earn their cake money or bring and buy money. We thank you for your support in this. 

• Loose Change Challenge

  Fri 04 Nov 2022

  We are pleased to share that the PTFA loose change challenge on Thursday 20th October was a success. 

   

  In total your generosity helped raise £356.18 for the PTFA. 

   

  In celebration worship on Friday we gave awards out for the class that made the longest lines of coins. To make it fair we worked out how long each line was per class. The top three classes were

   

  Findern - Year 1 - 117cm per child

  Kedleston - Year 3 - 150cm per child

  Ladybower - year 3 - 180cm per child

   

  Well done Ladybower, thank you for your support.