Information about our Halloween Activities for this week:

PARENT COUNCIL HALLOWEEN RAFFLE!

Due to our Parent Council being unable to have their Yearly Halloween Disco this year, they will be having a HALLOWEEN RAFFLE instead full of Spooktacular prizes!

Tickets will be on sale from the office from tomorrow until the end of the week. £1.00 per Strip.

HALLOWEEN PARADE – Friday 31st October

We will have a Halloween Parade in school on Friday.  This is for children only.  

Children are invited to dress up for the parade and the information for this is as follows:

• Children can be collected from the MAIN GATE at 12:15pm.  Please do not come to the office earlier!
• Children should come back to school at 1:20pm.  Please keep your child at home until then as we do not have enough people to supervise both indoors and outdoors, therefore children will need to be in the playground and we wouldn’t want their costumes to be damaged in any way.
• PLEASE BE MINDFUL – we cannot take responsibility for costume extras/props, etc.  going missing.

If your child is NOT going home to change, they can bring a simple costume to school and staff will do their best to assist them in changing.

Our photographer has all of the School & Nursery photos (Individual & Family) live online and ready to view/order.

The batch order deadline for free delivery to the school is Friday 9^th November 2025.

After this date, orders can still be placed, however, these will be shipped directly to a chosen address for an additional charge.

There is also a voucher for 10% off £40 or more. This is automatically applied in the webstore and is valid until 27th October. The date on the paper proof card stated the deadline for the voucher code was 21st October, however, this has been extended. There is a message on the webstore to advise of this.

Please follow the link below to order your photos:

HTTPS://ORDER.CHRISMCINTYREPHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK

You will need your access code to enter the site, There is a separate code for sibling group photos.

If you need a replacement code, please contact the school office and they can give you it.

Welcome back!  I hope you all had a lovely week off.  It was great to welcome the children back to school this morning.

I am writing with some information for the beginning of term.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS:

The following clubs begin this week:

Monday:  Netball (P6/7)

Tuesday:  Cross Country (P5/6/7)

Thursday:  Drama (P4-7)  and Football (P6/7)

THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN PAUL II

On Wednesday 22nd October, you are invited to join us for our school Feast Day Mass in the Assembly Hall.  This will take place at 11am.  Our school Feast Day is an important annual celebration for our school community, and it would be amazing to have a good representative of Parents, Carers, Grandparents, etc. at our Mass.  Our new P6 Pope Francis Faith Award Candidates will also be enrolled during this Mass.  All Welcome!

In the afternoon, the children will celebrate further with a Cinema Afternoon and sweet treats.  All children should wear full school uniform on Wednesday, as there will be no P.E. lessons that day.

DOES YOUR CHILD STRUGGLE WITH THEIR ATTENDANCE DUE TO THEIR EMOTIONS?  PARENT/CARER ONLINE WORKSHOP:

A free 45 minute webinar for parents and carers on 23rd October 2025.

Kooth is a charity that works to support young people with their mental health.

Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance, or EBSNA for short, refers to young people who struggle to attend school because of a range of emotional factors.

These can include struggling with issues like low mood, anxiety and loneliness. The impact of EBSNA can range from the young person experiencing an occasional reluctance to attend school, to complete non-attendance. It can start suddenly or develop gradually over time.

Kooth has developed this free webinar for families to explore EBSNA as a complex issue and will give guidance on how digital mental health support can help.

Click HERE for more information on how to join.

CAR PARK AND BUILDING SITE:

I know that many of you will have noticed that there has been some movement in the planned works to build houses directly opposite our school campus on Laburnum Road.

I met with the Site Manager, as well as representatives from North Lanarkshire Council this morning and they shared the plans with myself and Mrs Martin.

It goes without saying that having such a site in close proximity to the school will be challenging, but I am assured that those associated with the project will do everything they can to ensure that things runs smoothly.  We hope to build a positive relationship with the Site Manager.  The aim is that all deliveries will be co-ordinated out with busy times (i.e. 9am and 3pm).

As with all projects such as this, there may be teething problems to begin with, but we will work together to ensure these are kept to a minimum.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CAR PARK USERS?

• There will be 20 fewer parking spaces in the overflow car park whilst the building work takes place.
• Once the site has been completed, we will return to having the full use of the car park, with some additional spaces created.
• Once completed, the new access road will be the only way into the car park.
• In the meantime, space will be tighter and people will need to be more considerate and patient when using either of the car parks.
• It also means that more people will want to park on Laburnum Road

HOW CAN I HELP?

• If at all possible, do not drive your child to school!
• If at all possible, park elsewhere and walk the final bit of the journey.
• If at all possible, use the church car park and walk round.
• Our neighbours in Heather

THIS WILL MEAN THAT MORE DRIVERS MAY WISH TO USE THE SCHOOL CAR PARK, SO PLEASE TAKE EXTRA CARE.

Information will be circulated by the builders to neighbouring properties in the coming weeks.  As soon as we receive this, we will also share it through our usual channels.

In the end, all we can do is be patient, show courtesy to each other and make safe choices in the Car Park space that we do have!

Many thanks,

Mr Thomas.

Please see the image below for all the information you need for our school photographs this coming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Please note: Sibling Photos will only be taken for those who have registered for them.

We have a busy week ahead as we approach the October Holiday.

Please remember that the School Photographer will be in school on Tuesday 7th, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th October.

FUN DAY – FRIDAY 10TH OCTOBER

Please see the flyer below which gives information about our upcoming Fun Day.  We are looking for some donations for a Tuck Shop which will run throughout the day.  Details are below.  Nothing which contains nuts.

OCTOBER HOLIDAY

School closes at 3pm on Friday 10th October and reopens on Monday 20th October at 9am, with Breakfast Club available from 8:15am.

Please see the flyer below for a free Craft Session during the holidays.

Family Crafts Oct 25

OFFROAD BIKES & SIMILAR VEHICLES – NLC SURVEY

Local communities have told us through our Community Boards that they’re increasingly concerned about the potentially illegal and inconsiderate use of off-road bikes and similar vehicles in their areas.

People have raised different types of complaints, but most are about how these bikes are being used in ways that cause a range of problems in local communities.

Riders are seen driving through residential areas, town centres, pavements, parks and in open and green spaces and complaints have been received that they are putting themselves and others in potential danger.

Have you experienced any issues regarding off-road bikes in your community? Please take a few minutes to fill in the survey linked below. This survey will close on the 10^th October 2025.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=O5WPqRjWQ0uKZQOCaBvSg2ZfmL7uyINOkSlEro2Sy1RURjE2QUZRRkFLRjBBRVZOQVA5NkhDQlQ4Si4u

Your feedback will help us and our partners – including North Lanarkshire Council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service – to:

• Measure how serious the problem is
• Identify areas where it’s happening most
• Work together with communities to find practical solutions

If you’ve been affected or have ideas to help, we’d really appreciate you completing the survey.

Our School Photographer will be visiting St John Paul II Primary from Tuesday 7th – Thursday 9th October 2025.

If you wish to have Sibling Photographs, can you please complete the Registration form, accessed using the link below:

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/QLshtDffjX

Please note, we can only take requests from children who attend: St John Paul II Primary School, St John Paul II Nursery or those who have a sibling in Laburnum Nursery.

We cannot photograph any child who does not attend one of these establishments.  This includes children who are from another school or below nursery age.

You must complete this form prior to the deadline date below if you wish your children to be photographed together. We cannot accept any late requests.

Registration Deadline Date: Friday 3rd October 2025 at 8PM

This form is to request sibling school/nursery photographs for between 2 – 4 children only. Please do not complete this form to request individual photographs of your children. These will be taken automatically.

Due to time restrictions and to ensure minimal disruption to learning please only submit sibling requests for direct family members (i.e brother/sister). All requests will be submitted to the school for verification.

Please click on the link below to download our most up to date newsletter with lots of information, updates and dates for your diary!

September 2025 Newsletter

I have been organising all the new Class Teams pages for this new school year. Your child(ren) will have been added to a Teams page for their new class and teacher. You may need to log out of Teams and log in again to be able to see the new Teams page. Login details have not changed from last year, but your child will get their details sent home over the next wee while. We have a default password for all children in the school  This is

John Paul 2006

You need to use the capitals and leave the spaces. I have reset all the children to this password. PLEASE do not change this password, as it makes it really difficult for the teachers to help the children to log in when using Teams and Glow during ICT lessons.

Even if you haven’t opted in to homework this year, please try to have a look at your child’s page as teacher’s may use it to share important information and details about what’s going on in class.

If you’re having any issues with Teams, please feel free to contact us and we can help you out. You can email Miss Agnew on nlagnewl@northlan.org.uk

Please see the PE days for each class.  Please note that children should wear PE Uniform!  PE day is not a dress down day and PE only last for one part of the day.

Please do not worry if your child forgets their PE Uniform this week or if their day has already passed.  Everything will be up and running by next week.