3^rd September 2026

Dear Parents/Carers,                                                                                           

 

Welcome back to a new school year. I hope that you had a lovely summer and are excited about the new school year ahead. We offer a special welcome to the new staff, children and families who have joined us and we pray that their time at St John’s will happy, successful and filled with blessings.

 

Vision and Mission Statement

We believe that a bright future starts with an excellent education.

Our vision is to ignite a love of learning that enables every child to achieve their very best. We aim to provide the excellent teaching and genuine nurture that will enable all of our children to be happy, resilient, creative citizens who have the skills, knowledge and passion to change the world.

 

Our mission at St John’s Cathedral Catholic Primary School is to educate the whole child through the Gospel values of Christ and provide academic excellence within a Catholic community, where all are loving to learn and learning to love.

 

School Improvement Plan 2025-2028

Priority 1: Curriculum and Teaching Ensure that feedback and assessment are used highly effectively so that all children achieve exceptionally well across the curriculum.

Priority 2: Leadership and Governance Develop and formalise comprehensive and highly effective systems for induction and health and safety

Priority 3: EYFS Develop the EYFS outdoor provision to address all areas of learning

Priority 4: Catholic Life/Worship/Curriculum            Ensure that policies and practices are updated to reflect the new RED                                                         and Prayer and Liturgy Directory

 

Staffing

We welcome Mrs Hoile who is our new art teacher and we welcome Miss Kolwin who joins us as an LSA in Year 2.

 

We pray for Miss Minall who had an accident last week and is currently in hospital. We wish her a speedy recovery. Miss Turner will now be teaching Tuesday to Friday in Year 1 and Mrs Munns will teach on the Monday for the next couple of weeks until Miss Minall returns.

 

We say goodbye to Mrs Brown and Mrs Gardner who are both retiring. As you know Mrs Gardner was involved in a traumatic road traffic accident last year and received significant and life changing injuries. She is making incredible progress and showing the courage and resilience that we all know of her. However, her recovery journey is still ongoing. We wish her a long and happy retirement and send her our prayers, thanks and best wishes.

 

Mrs Brown has also had a difficult year with ongoing health issues which prevent her from being around large groups of people. She is also showing incredible courage and resilience in managing her illness but unfortunately is unable to return to work. We wish her a long and happy retirement and send her our prayers, thanks and best wishes too.

 

Both Mrs Brown and Mrs Gardner have worked at St John’s for a very long time and have been invaluable in developing our school as a community that loves to learn and learns to love. If you wish to donate to their retirement collection, please drop your donations in to the office in an envelope marked ‘Mrs Brown collection’ and/or ’Mrs Gardner collection.’

 

Safeguarding

If you have any safeguarding concerns, please note that the school’s DSL (designated safeguarding lead) is me, Mrs Park and the DDSL (deputy designated safeguarding lead) is Mrs Warren.

 

Lunch

If your child is having a school dinner, please ensure that you have ordered on scopay. The kitchen is only able to cook and provide lunches for those who have booked in advance. If a child has not ordered a school dinner and does not have a packed lunch with them, we will phone the contacts on Arbor for a meal to be dropped into school.

 

Uniform

Thank you for sending your children back to school in their full school uniform. They look incredibly smart and proud. Children are able to wear summer or winter uniform until October half term when they will need to move to winter uniform. Please continue to support us by adhering to the uniform policy. As the weather has started to change, please ensure that your child always has a coat with them too.

 

Winter:

Grey uniform skirt or pinafore dress or

Grey uniform trousers

White polo shirt with or without the school logo

Teal school sweatshirt or cardigan with the school logo

White or grey socks or grey tights.

Sensible low heel, plain black school shoes or trainers. No markings or white soles.

 

Summer:

Yellow and white gingham check dress (or yellow gingham matching top and shorts/skirt) or grey shorts with a white polo shirt may be worn in summer

(black or white sandals may be worn in the summer)

 

PE Kit

Navy blue shorts or navy blue jogging bottoms in winter

Light blue T-shirt with or without the school logo

Trainers for outdoor activities

Tape to cover earrings if worn

 

Haircuts

Hair longer than shoulder length must be tied back.

Hair should be no shorter than grade 1 and without shaven designs.

Dyed hair, coloured braids or extreme styles are not permitted.

Any hair accessories should be hair coloured or uniform coloured

 

No necklaces, bracelets or smart watches are to be worn and if earrings are worn they need to be studs.

 

Mobile phones and smart watches

Children who bring mobile phones or smart watches to school must drop them into the office before they go onto the playground in the morning. At the end of the day, they need to leave the playground and walk around to the office to collect them.

 

Parents and visitors are not permitted to use mobile phones in school. They should be switched off and put away if you enter the building. There may be occasions such as school events when a member of staff will permit photographs but we will share our expectations at the time.

 

Medicines and medical conditions

If your child has a medical condition, including any allergies, please ensure that the school office are aware.

 

The office are able to administer prescribed medicines that are needed during the school day and that can’t be administered at home eg inhalers, 4x day antibiotics where 3 doses are given at home and 1 is needed at lunchtime. The medicines must be prescribed, have the child’s name and dose on and be in the original packaging. They should be handed directly to the office and not left in the school bag or handed to the class teacher and a permission slip completed.

 

School Nurse drop in clinic 15^th October 2026

Appointments can be made at the school office.

 

Prayer, scripture and play club and choir

A communication will be sent out in the coming weeks with the starting date and arrangements for these 2 clubs.

 

Education Sunday

Next Sunday, 13^th September, is Education Sunday. St John’s is celebrating this at the 12 O’clock Mass at the cathedral. We invite all our families to attend and children to wear their school uniform. We invite our new Reception children to process in at the beginning of Mass and many of our children will be involved in the various ministries. Please bring you child along for this important celebration of Catholic education.

 

Cathedral Choir

I have received a letter from Bishop Philip announcing that the cathedral is launching a new cathedral choir for boys and girls aged 8-14. This is a very exciting opportunity and with the talent and enthusiasm that our children show for music, I’m sure many of our children will be keen to sign up. If your child would like to find out more, please collect a letter from the office with the contact details.

 

School Building Fund

As you will be aware, as a Catholic school, St John’s is voluntary aided and is only partly funded by the state. We receive only 90% of the allocated capital funding each year. To cover the remaining 10%, Catholic schools must ask all parents/carers to make a contribution through the school building fund to pay for the necessary building and repair projects. Generations of parents/carers have made this contribution in the past so that we have the school that we are so proud of today.

Thank you to those who have already paid and I ask those who haven’t to please consider making the contribution as soon as possible.

 

 

Nursery Garden

We are delighted to have a new nursery garden for our youngest children to explore, learn and play in.

 

Thank you

As always, thank you so much for your support and generosity in making St John’s the wonderful place that is and helping us to live out our mission of Learning to Love and Loving to Learn.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

L. Park

Head Teacher

 

 

DIARY DATES

 

2026-2027

 

September
Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd	INSET Days
Thursday 3rd	Yr 1-6 back to school EYFS home visits
Thursday 10th	Yr 2 Trip
Sunday 13th	12 o’clock Education Sunday Mass
Monday 14th	3.30pm KS 2 Meet the Teacher
Tuesday 15th	3.20pm KS 1 Meet the Teacher
Wednesday 16th	3.30pm Nursery and Reception Meet the Teacher
Monday 21st	Yr 3 Trip
October
Friday 2nd	Yr 2 Harvest Festival
Friday 9th	School and Nursery Closed - INSET
Wednesday 14th	Pupil Flu Vaccines for those who have consent
Thursday 15th October	School Nurse drop in clinic
Tuesday 20th	KS 1 Book Share
Wednesday 21st	KS 2 Book Share
Friday 23rd	Break up for half-term
November
Monday 2nd	Back to School
Wednesday 4th	Yr 6 screening with nurses
Friday 6th	School photos
Thursday 12th	KS1 Parents meetings
Friday 13th	KS 2 Parents meetings 9.15 Yr R and 1 Celebration of the Word at school
Friday 20th	9.30 Yr 3 and 4 Celebration of the Word at the cathedral
Friday 27th	9.30 Yr 5 and 6 Mass at the cathedral
December
Thursday 10th	10am Nursery Nativity
Thursday 17th	1.30pm School Nativity at the cathedral
Friday 18th	1.30pm Break up for Christmas
January
Monday 4th	Back to school
February
Thursday 4th	EYFS and KS 1 Parent meetings
Friday 5th	KS 2 Parent meetings
Friday 12th	Break up for half-term
Monday 22nd	School and Nursery closed - INSET
Tuesday 23rd	Back to School
March
Thursday 4th	World Book Day
Tuesday 23rd	9am R,1 and 2 End of Term assembly and book share
Wednesday 24th	9am KS 2 End of Term assembly and book share
Thursday 25th	1.30 Break up for Easter
April
Monday 12th	Back to School
May
Monday 10th – Thursday 13th	Year 6 SATs Week
Wednesday 26th	TBC Sports day Yr 1-6
Thursday 27th	TBC Sports day EYFS
Friday 28th	Break up for half-term
June
Monday 7th	Back to School Yr 4 Multiplication Test Week
Wednesday 9th	Class Photos
Monday 14th	Yr 1 Phonics Screening Week
July
Monday 5th	Transition Day
Tuesday 6th	Transition Day
Thursday 8th	9am R,1 and 2 End of Term Assembly
Tuesday 13th	9am KS 2 End of Term Assembly
Thursday 15th	Yr 6 Show 9.30 and 1.45 – times to be confirmed
Tuesday 20th	3.30 Break up for Summer Holidays
Wednesday 21st	School and Nursery Closed - INSET