Dates for your diaries:...

Monday 17th October Young Shakespeare workshops - Y3 and Y4 Tuesday 18th October Young Shakespeare Workshops - Y5 and Y6 Friday 21st October Non School Uniform Day for Christmas Fayre Monday 24th October Half Term Begins Monday 31st October School Begins Tuesday 1st November Parent Consultations Tuesday 1st November Travelling Book Fayre visiting school Wednesday 2nd November Parent Consultations Wednesday 2nd November Young Shakespeare Theatre Visits Y3 and Y4 Thursday 3rd November Young Shakespeare Theatre visits - Y5 Thursday 3rd November Parent Consultations Friday 4th November Young Shakespeare Theatre visits - Y6 Tuesday 8th November PTA AGM - 7.30pm - School Hall Friday 18th November Non School Uniform Day for Christmas Fayre Saturday 19th November Christmas Fayre Wednesday 14th December Infant Nativity - 2pm - School Hall Thursday 15th December Junior Carol Service - St. John's Church - 7pm

Dear Parents,

School Dinners

From Monday October 10th the school meals offered here at St Johns and at other selected local schools will be based around the Jamie Oliver recipes and principles; this is a Borough - led project. Starting next week the kitchen will be completely emptied of existing supplies and the borough will be ordering for us the necessary ingredients to deliver a brand new 2 week menu, full of fresh natural dishes. Our staff will be trained by 2 visiting chefs throughout the first 2 weeks and during the next 2 weeks staff from Northway school will be trained by the visiting chefs here at St. Johns. You are invited on Tuesday 4th October to a tasting session at 3.15pm, you may bring in your children from school after 3.35pm if you wish, the borough will provide a sample of the new dishes for you and your children to taste. During the tasting session you will be able to talk to representatives from the borough and to look at the menus and recipes. We will be talki

Greek Night

Many of you attended this event last Saturday, it was hugely enjoyable and raised a princely sum of around £1,400. My thanks to Mirella Christoforou in particular and to the PTA committee for all their hard work, also grateful thanks to those of you who provided food and entertainment especially Fatima and Notsofatima who on their own raised £365! Thankyou also to those of you who supported the event in person and in doing so have enabled all the children at the school to benefit from new and exciting resources.

Playground furniture

You will during the next few days be seeing new picnic tables which have been purchased through the PTA funding. Also during half term we are having a traversing climbing wall installed in the junior playgroung and a sandpit for the infants again provided by PTA funds.

Laptops

15 new laptops and 2 new colour laser printers have been ordered and should arrive in the next few days these will add tremedously to the learning experiences we can offer to the children. Once again this is thanks to PTA funding that we have been able to puchase these.

Non uniform Day

The non uniform day scheduled for 11th November has been changed to 21st October. More details of the non uniform days will follow later

Harvest Festival

The display of harvest gifts in the church was once again spectacular, many many thanks for your kind generosity. Some of the gifts will go to individuals and some to the homeless in Barnet. I  am sure those who recieve the gifts will be very grateful.

New Classroom Furniture

New tables and chairs will be arriving soon for Y1, Y3 and Y4. Please let us know if you know of a good home for the old ones or if you would like to have any for your childrn at home. It seems a shame just to put them all in a skip or send them to Summers Lane dump.

Playground toys

We put out toys for the younger children during playtimes and much of it needs replenishing. We would be grateful for any donations of suitable toys  that your child no longer needs eg duplo, lego, books, cars, dolls, picnic sets,cups and saucers,play food. If you think you can donate please send any items to Mrs Fry or Miss Skinner.

After School

Thankyou for your support in keeping your children off the equipment at the beginning and the end of the day.Could you also please insist that they do not climb on the handrails by the paths leading to the main entrance. Through my window I have seen some very small children climbing dangerously  and none of us would want any of them to be injured in any way.

Uniform

I know many of you are all very proud of the way St. John's children are always beautifully turned out in their uniform. May I remind you that school coats must be plain black or navy. We must adhere to the uniform code carefully as small deviations grow so fast!

We also do not allow children to wear earrings for school as part of our health and safety policy. Children with pierced ears who have infections may wear studs only if they are taped up at home. If you could wait until the school holidays to have your childs ears pierced I would be very grateful.

As always, please accept thanks from myself and the staff for your continued support.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Martin