Latest Newsletter (website translatable version)
13th January 2026
Dear Parents/Carers,
A belated Happy New Year and welcome back to a new term at St John’s.
Thank you
Thank you so much for all the kind words, cards and gifts shared with staff for Christmas. They were very much appreciated – as are your continued support and prayers.
School Admissions Information Key Messages for Parents/Carers
The deadline for applications to start in Reception in September is 15th January 2026.
When applying for school we strongly recommend that parents/carers list as many preference schools as possible (up to 6) on their application.
o Please note: listing only one preference does not strengthen the application.
o Having criteria such as sibling or feeder school links does not guarantee a place.
Before applying, parents/carers should read the information available on the Portsmouth City Council website and/or seek advice from the Admissions Team.
Please remember to include all additional information e.g. the Supplementary Information Form (SIF), baptism certificate, letter from a minister etc if relevant. The application can only be ranked according to the information received.
If applying for St John’s reception class, please also remember that attending St John’s nursery does not have any bearing on the school application process. It is a completely different process and requires parents/carers to complete the starting school application and provide all relevant documentation.
Staffing changes
As Yr 4 parents will be aware, Mrs Maunders left us at the end of term. Mrs Leaman has increased her hours and will now be teaching Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Miss Simmonds and Mrs Warren will be teaching on Thursday and Fridays. The children know all the staff well and have made a good start to the new term.
Mrs Gardner and Mrs Brown
Please continue to pray for Mrs Gardner and Mrs Brown.
Class Masses and Celebrations of the Word
Year 5 and 6: Friday 16th January
Year 2 and 3: Friday 30th January
Year R and 1: Friday 13th February
Year 4 do not have a Mass this term as they will be leading our Lenten Reconciliation service in February.
School Dinners
Please remember to order your child’s school dinners in advance of the start of the week.
Attendance and Punctuality
Please remember to contact the office by phone, email or through studybugs when your child is going to be absent or late.
Mary’s Meals
Thank you to everyone who donated to Mary’s Meals, our chosen charity, last term. Please see the message below that we received from the charity:
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for your precious gift of £303.94, which is helping us to transform the lives of hungry children around the world with a nutritious daily meal in school.
Your kindness is bringing food, joy and hope to the children who eat Mary’s Meals, allowing them to make the most of their education and giving them the chance of a better future.
Uniform
Please ensure that your child comes to school with a suitable winter coat everyday so that they are warm and dry when on the playground.
With the weather so cold, it is important that children have navy blue tracksuit/jogging bottoms in their PE kit to wear for outdoor PE lessons.
Choir and Prayer, Scripture and Play Club
Choir begins again on Tuesday 3rd February and will run until the end of term. (Tuesday 24th March)
Prayer, scripture and play club begins on Thursday 26th February and runs until the end of term. (Thursday 26th March)
Safeguarding
Please remember that if you have a concern about a child’s safety or wellbeing, you should contact either myself as the school’s Designated Safeguarding lead (DSL) or Mrs Warren the deputy designated safeguarding lead (DDSL).
Please also remember to keep us informed of any change in family situations or childcare arrangements and any accidents or injuries from home.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
L. Park
Head Teacher
DIARY DATES
2025-206
January
Friday 16th Year 5 and 6 Mass
Monday 19th School nurses in
Year R and 1 trip to concert
Wednesday 28th Year 4 drama workshop
Friday 30th Year 2 and 3 Celebartion of The Word
February
Thursday 5th Parents’ meetings KS 1
Friday 6th Parents’ meetings KS 2
Wednesday 11th Year 6 theatre day
Friday 13th Reception and Year 1 celebration of The Word
Break up for half term
Half Term16th-20th February
March
Wednesday 4th Year 1 drama workshop
Thursday 5th World book Day
Tuesday 24th KS 1 End of term assembly
KS 1 book share
Wednesday 25th KS 2 book share
Thursday 26th KS 2 end of term assembly
Friday 27th Break up for Easter 1.30pm
Easter 30th March-10th April
April
Monday 13th Back to school
Monday 27th Nethercott Trip
Thursday 30th Year 5 swimming starts
May
Monday 4th Bank holiday – school closed
Monday 11th SATs week for Year 6
Tuesday 19th Nursey and Reception Sports day
Wednesday 20th Years 1-6 Sports day
Friday 22nd Break up for half term
Half term 25th-29th May
June
Monday 1st back to school
Wednesday 10th Class photos
Wednesday 17th Reception drama day
Wednesday 24th Year 5 book awards
Friday 26th INSET day – school closed
July
Thursday 16th Year 6 show
Tuesday 21st Children break up for summer
Wednesday 22nd INSET day – school closed
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are coming to the end of term and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for your continued support of our school and our staff. We never take for granted how lucky we are to have such a supportive and caring community. The children at St John’s benefit so much from having strong links between home, school and parish in a community where they feel safe and loved. Thank you.
As we enter the season of Advent and we prepare to welcome Jesus this Christmas, please make a note of the key dates and activities that are happening in school.
Tuesday 2nd December
Advent began with children in Years 4-6 attending a reconciliation service in the hall led by Canon James and Fr Ryan.
Our Advent kindness calendar launched.
The cathedral are supporting the Comfort and Joy Homeless appeal by collecting £5 or £10 supermarket vouchers. If you would like to support this vital charity, please drop your vouchers to the cathedral or to the school office. Thank you.
Friday 5th December
We will be taking a group of KS 2 children to St Colman’s Church in Cosham to sing carols for the parish friendship group.
Monday 8th December
Deadline for booking a Christmas dinner for lunch on Wednesday 17th.
Thursday 11th December
The Nursery Nativity at 10am for parents/carers with children in the nursery.
Tuesday 16th December
We are hosting a Christmas party for children who work with the hearing impairment team.
Wednesday 17th December
Children are invited to wear their Christmas jumpers to school. They should wear their uniform but swap their school sweatshirt for a Christmas jumper.
School Christmas dinner for those who have booked it in advance.
Thursday 18th December
Each class will hold a Christmas party for the children. They are invited to wear a Christmas jumper with their uniform that day.
School staff will put the crib up in St Patrick’s Chapel at the cathedral. Please find time over the Christmas period to take your child to pray at the crib scene.
Friday 19th December
The school Nativity will be held at the cathedral at 1.30pm. Children in Years 3,4,5 and 6 should come to school that day wearing Christmas jumpers instead of their school sweatshirt. Children in Reception, Years 1 and 2 should come in school uniform as they will have a costume to change in to.
We will have donation buckets at the end of the performance to raise money for Mary’s Meals. Children will need to be collected from the cathedral at the end of the service. This should be approximately 2.15pm.
Nursery will close on this day at 1pm and we invite you to bring your child to watch the nativity at the cathedral.
Christmas Masses
As busy as it is preparing for Christmas celebrations, please remember how important it is to make the time to go to Mass at Christmas. The cathedral Mass times are as follows:
Christmas Eve Vigil Mass: Family Mass 6pm (children are invited to wear nativity costumes to this Mass)
Night Mass: 10pm (celebrated by Bishop Philip)
Christmas Dawn Mass (in Latin): 8am
Christmas day Mass: 10am
Christmas day Mass: 12 noon
Boxing day (Feast of St Stephen): 12.15pm
Staff Changes
At the end of term we are saying goodbye to Mrs Maunders who is leaving us to take up a new role closer to her home. We thank her for her commitment to St John’s as well as for sharing her incredibly creative choreography skills over the years in our many dances, celebrations and productions.
Wishing you all a very happy, holy and safe Christmas.
Yours sincerely,
L. Park
Head Teacher
4th November 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope that you had a lovely half term. Last weekend was All Saints Day and as we start this new half term when the evenings are dark and the weather can be cold and wet, perhaps we can draw on the joy and hope that the saints share with us through their relationship with God. If you have a favourite saint, are named after a saint or have a saint that is special to your family, why not spend some time this week finding out more about them and asking for their intercessions.
Thank you
During the summer term, classes put on events and held collections to support the fundraising efforts at the cathedral. Children always really appreciate our special relationship with the cathedral and very much see it as an extension of the school so were keen to do what they could to help out. Thank you to everyone who generously contributed. We raised £615 for their heating repairs.
School Admissions Information Key Messages for Parents/Carers
When applying for school, whether for reception or secondary school, we strongly recommend that parents/carers list as many preference schools as possible (up to 6) on their application.
o Please note: listing only one preference does not strengthen the application.
o Having criteria such as sibling or feeder school links does not guarantee a place.
Before applying, parents/carers should read the information available on the Portsmouth City Council website and/or seek advice from the Admissions Team.
Please remember to include all additional information e.g. the Supplementary Information Form (SIF), baptism certificate, letter from a minister etc if relevant. The application can only be ranked according to the information received.
If applying for St John’s reception class, please also remember that attending St John’s nursery does not have any bearing on the school application process. It is a completely different process and requires parents/carers to complete the starting school application and provide all relevant documentation.
School Tours
Tours of the school for prospective parents are being held on the following dates:
Wednesday 26th November at 4pm
Friday 12th December at 10am
Wednesday 7th January at 2.30pm
Staffing changes
As parents with children in EYFS and KS 1 will be aware, due to long term staff sickness and wider staffing shortages as well as changes in staff circumstances, I have had to make some necessary staffing changes which have come into effect this week. Whilst I understand that staff changes can be unsettling, please be assured that they are necessary to ensure continuity of learning and support for our children. The new arrangements are as follows:
Reception will be taught by Miss Keeble and supported by Mrs Jamil and Mrs Lubik.
Year 1 will be taught by Miss Minall (Mon and Tues) and Miss Turner (Wed-Fri) and supported by Mrs McAllister and Mrs Dunford.
Year 2 will be taught by Mrs Kahraman and supported by Mrs Buckle, Miss Todd and Mrs Lapham.
Mrs Gardner and Mrs Brown
Please continue to pray for Mrs Gardner and Mrs Brown.
Governors
Thank you so much to our governors who work so hard on behalf of our whole school community.
This term we welcome 2 new governors to our board. Miss Cerisa Sugrue-Gee is our new parent governor and was appointed after putting herself forward last term. (We didn’t need to hold a ballot as she was the only candidate.) We also welcome Mrs Hannah Murphy who was appointed as our Local Authority Governor. We thank them both for their generosity in offering their services at this time.
Parents Meetings
This year we are trialling a new way of managing parents meetings to support our staff well-being. Traditionally during parents evening week, staff have had to work from 7.30/8am in the morning until 6.30pm at night for 4 or 5 nights in a row and then pick up their marking and resourcing before the next morning’s teaching. I am looking to find a more manageable way of offering these appointments and so am trialling daytime appointments. Appointments will be held throughout the day on Thursday 13th November for Years 1 and 2 and Friday 14th November for Years 3,4,5 and 6. If attending a face to face meeting in the day would be difficult, please speak to the class teacher as they may be able to offer telephone appointments.
Year 1 appointments will be held with Miss Keeble. Dates for Reception and Nursery appointments will be shared in a few weeks. Miss Minall and Mrs Coyle will hold the reception appointments.
Class Masses and Celebrations of the Word
Year R and 1 Friday 14th November
Year 3 Friday 21st November
Year 4 and 5 Friday 28th November
Year 6 will be leading the KS 2 Advent reconciliation service
Dealing with Issues
Whilst we work incredibly hard to ensure that children are well supported and happy and that issues are dealt with quickly and shared with parents/carers, there are occasionally issues that arise that need to be explored or discussed. On these occasions please may I remind you to always speak to the class teacher first. They have the most up to date and accurate information around how your child is doing on a day to day basis and are best placed to help resolve any issues that do arise. Mrs Warren and myself are happy to follow up when issues persist or escalate but please approach the class teacher in the first instance. Of course for safeguarding matters or issues of a more serious nature, please don’t hesitate to contact one of us immediately.
Special Educational Needs
St John’s is proud of its inclusive and welcoming culture. We get to know every child as an individual and try to put just the right support in place to help each child reach their full potential. Our strong reputation for inclusivity means that we are often chosen by parents who know or suspect their child has a special educational need. We currently have 17 children with Education, Health and Care plans, including a number awaiting specialist school places. This is 8% of our pupil population and considerably higher than the Portsmouth average of 4.2%, which includes schools with specialist provisions. With such a high proportion of children with EHCPs in a small school with a small team, we are having to carefully manage our provision alongside parental expectations. With ever increasing numbers of referrals and EHC assessments being requested by parents, we are having to prioritise by need. We apologise for any delay this may cause in responding to requests for appointments, referrals etc but please be assured that we are doing our very best to manage very high demand alongside the already high needs across the school. Hopefully you will agree that prioritising the referrals and assessments of those who need it most is the fairest and most just way to work in this difficult situation.
St John’s Cathedral Celebration of Talent
The cathedral is holding a celebration of talent afternoon on Saturday 22nd November at 1.30pm. All are invited and there will be snacks and drinks available to purchase with all proceeds going to the cathedral building funds. If you child would like to take part, please scan the QR code on one of the posters around the school or in your email.
Summer Reading Challenge
Well done to all those who took part in the summer reading challenge as they won a bean bag for the school library. With over 13% of pupils from St John’s taking part, we were one of the top 6 schools for participation!
School Dinners
Please remember to order your child’s school dinners in advance of the start of the week. On Monday we had 25 children who wanted school dinner but hadn’t ordered. The kitchen only cook what has been ordered and so it is very difficult when children arrive expecting a dinner to be available when it hasn’t been ordered.
Attendance and Punctuality
Please remember to contact the office by phone, email or through studybugs when your child is going to be absent or late.
INSET Day
Please note that Monday 1st December is an INSET day and school will be closed to all pupils.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
L. Park
Head Teacher
DIARY DATES
2025-206
November
Monday 3rd Back to school
Friday 7th School Photos
Monday 10th-Wednesday 12th Year 6 Residential
Thursday 13th Parents’ Evening KS 1
Friday 14th Parents’ Evening KS 2
Year 1 Celebration of the Word
Thursday 20th Parents’ Evening KS 1
Friday 21st Parents’ Evening KS 2
Wednesday 26th – Friday 28th Book fair
Friday 28th Year 4 and 5 Mass
December
Monday 1st INSET Day
Thursday 11th Nursery nativity
Friday 12th School Tour for prospective parents
Wednesday 17th Christmas Dinner and Jumper Day
Friday 19th 1.30pm School Nativity Cathedral
Break Up
Christmas Holidays (22nd Dec-2nd Jan)
January
Monday 5th Back to school
Wednesday 7th School Tour for prospective parents
February
Thursday 5th Parents’ Evening KS 1
Friday 6th Parents’ Evening KS 2
Friday 13th Break Up
Half Term (16th Feb-20th Feb)
March
Thursday 5th World Book Day
Tuesday 24th KS 1 Book Share with parents
Wednesday 25th KS 2 Book Share with parents
Friday 27th 1.30pm Break up
Easter Holidays (30th March-10th April)
5th September 2025
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.
Staffing
We welcome Miss Kelly as the new Year 6 teacher and Miss Schmidt, Miss Kagiouli and Mrs Lubik as new LSAs. We also welcome back Miss Cathrow who has joined us the Year 3 teacher.
Mrs Gardner
As you may have heard at Masses over the summer, Mrs Gardner was involved in a very serious car accident during the holidays. She sustained extensive and life changing injuries. Fortunately, due to the expertise of the medical care she received and her own positivity and determination, she is doing very well. She remains in hospital and in need of our prayers and good wishes but is making incredible progress. Please pray for her and her family.
Mrs Brown
Mrs Brown has been incredibly grateful for your prayers and good wishes through her cancer journey and we were delighted when she returned to work in the summer and began her handover with Mrs Beaton to take on the SENCO role – a role that she was excited for and had a great vision for. Unfortunately, Mrs Brown’s cancer journey has become more complicated and she is unable to return to work at the moment. Please continue to pray for her.
SENCO Provision
During Mrs Brown’s absence, Mrs Warren will take on the statutory responsibilities of the SENCO role.
Designated Teacher for Looked after Children
During Mrs Brown’s absence, I will take on the role of Designated Teacher for looked after and previously looked after children.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Fr Ryan who was ordained at the cathedral in July. We were blessed to have his support in school last year and are delighted that he will be staying at the cathedral and continuing to support us in his role as governor and friend to the school.
Goodbye
We have to say a sad farewell to Fr Thomas who will be moving from the cathedral parish this weekend. We thank him for his support and wisdom during his time with us and send him to his new parish with prayers and good wishes.
Lunch Boxes
To ensure that parents are aware of what their children are eating as well as to reduce our school waste, we will be asking children with packed lunches to pack their uneaten food and rubbish into their lunch boxes to take home.
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 or extreme styles are not permitted.
Any hair accessories should be hair coloured or uniform coloured
Medicines
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.
Education Sunday
Next Sunday, 14th 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.
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.
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.
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
2025-206
September
Wednesday 3rd INSET Day
Thursday 4th INSET Day
Friday 5th Yr 1-6 Back to school
Monday 15th 3pm KS 2 Meet the Teacher
Tuesday 16th 3pm KS 1 Meet the Teacher Yr 5 Swimming starts
Wednesday 17th 3pm Reception and Nursery Meet the Teacher
October
Tuesday 21st 3.20pm Reception and KS 1 Book Share
Wednesday 22nd KS 2 Book Share
Friday 24th 3.30pm Break up Half-term (27th-31st October)
November
Monday 3rd Back to school
Friday 7th School Photos
Monday 10th-Wednesday 12th Year 6 Residential
Thursday 13th Parents’ Evening KS 1 and EYFS
Friday 14th Parents’ Evening KS 2
Thursday 20th Parents’ Evening KS 1 and EYFS
Friday 21st Parents’ Evening KS 2
December
Monday 1st INSET Day
Friday 19th 1.30pm School Nativity Cathedral Break Up
Christmas Holidays (22nd Dec-2nd Jan)
January
Monday 5th Back to school
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