St. John Paul II Primary School & Nursery Class, Viewpark

At St. John Paul II, we place great importance on the value of homework.  This not only consolidates what learning is taking place in the classroom, but it gives Parents/Carers an insight into their child’s learning.  Our Teachers are keen to prepare homework for children and would want to encourage the completion of homework in a positive way.  However, we know that homework is not for everyone.

As with last year, we are asking parents/carers to indicate if they DO NOT want their child to be given homework.  Many families do not return homework and this can be for a number of valid reasons.  If you DO NOT want your  child to receive homework, please click on the link below and let us know.  Please note that, if your child is involved in First Confession, First Communion or Confirmation, their workbook will still come home and the expectation is that Parents/Carers will do this as part of the child’s preparation.  This is not considered homework!

If you opt out:

• We will not waste resources by sending them home never to be used or seen again!
• We will not ask your child to submit homework with the rest of the class.
• The teacher will not prepare things for children which will not be used.

HOWEVER – if you DO want your child to receive homework, please ensure that it is completed and handed in on time!  There is a very poor return rate for homework across all stages and this is from those who have chosen to receive homework for their child.  Last year, around 20% of those who said they wanted homework sent it back regularly!

If you do not complete the form using the link below, we will presume that you DO want homework for your child and we will be closely monitoring the completion and return of homework.

PLEASE COMPLETE BY MONDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2024.

Click HERE to opt out of homework.

We are offering Parents/Carers the opportunity to come along and hear from our Teachers!  You can find out about our Literacy and Numeracy Programmes and resources plus some other fantastic initiatives in our school…. Please come and support this event!

Workshop for P1 Parents/Carers ONLY:  6pm

Workshops for ALL Parents/Carers (including P1):  from 6:40pm

Click HERE for more information and to register for this event

ONLINE PHOTOGRAPH PERMISSION 2024-2025

As always, we are updating our records and we ask that if you DO NOT WANT your child’s photo to appear on our website, newsletter, Teams or Social Media to please let us know by completing this short form.  You only need to complete this if you DO NOT want us to use your child’s photograph.  Those who are happy for us to use their photograph need not fill the form in!

Please click HERE to complete the form by Monday 2nd September 2024.

ANNUAL DATA UPDATE AND PARENTS PORTAL – Action Required!

The Office Team have been busy preparing some information to send out to you.  There will be some forms to complete and some of these will be sent back to school.  Some of these will be completed online.

1. Parents Portal information/iPayment and Fusion sign up – please ensure you are signed up for this to receive annual reports, log an absence, give permission for trips, make payments, book appointments, etc.  Our office staff can assist with. 
2. Local Excursion Permission –  this form should be completed and sent back to school.  We use these paper copies so that staff can take them on trips with them and this gives them access to medical and allergy information as well as emergency contacts.  These forms also give us permission to take children out on local walks and short trips (for example to church, the library, local park.)
3. Annual Data Check – Those who are on Parents Portal are asked to ensure we have the most up to date contact information, medical information, etc.  You can do this online.  If you are not already on Parents Portal we will send a paper copy to you and you should complete this ASAP.

THE SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHER

Chris McIntyre Photography will be in school from 17th – 19th September 2024.  We will circulate more information about this.  He will take the following photographs:

1. Individual  Photos (all children)
2. Sibling Photos (children St. John Paul II Nursery and Laburnum FLC are welcome to join older siblings)
3. Primary 1 Class and Primary 7 Class Photographs will also be taken.

Full school uniform should be worn on these days.

FLU IMMUNISATION

The Flu Immunisation takes place on 5th December and forms have been sent out about this for most children.  HOWEVER…  The  Primary 1 forms have not yet been delivered to school.  We will send these out as soon as we have them. 

If you’ve just recently moved to the area or have just joined our school, your details will not have been with the NHS for St. John Paul II and so Mrs Cummings has sent a letter home this week in your child’s bag.  If  the letter has been lost or hasn’t arrived home, please call and we can give you the details of who to contact!

SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION – TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER

If your child is due to make one of the following Sacraments, you are invited to attend a meeting with your Parish Priest.  All meetings take place in St. Gabriel’s and St. Columba’s on the same day, but you should attend the meeting in your own parish:

• Primary 3 – First Confession – 6pm
• Primary 4 – First Holy Communion – 6:30pm
• Primary 7 – Confirmation – 7pm

All meeting take place on Tuesday 17th September 2025 at the times above and in the church you attend.

IMPORTANT:  Your attendance at these meetings is essential and is your way of enrolling your child in the Sacraments.  If you cannot make the meeting and you cannot send a representative, you should call your Parish Priest.

Father Bogan at St. Columba’s:   Phone: 01698 813311   Email: stcolumba@rcdom.org.uk

Father Morris at St. Gabriel’s:    Phone: 01698 817609  Email: stgabriel@rcdom.org.uk

Please click HERE for a letter from Mr Thomas with some initial information for this week, along with some reminders.

PRIMARY 1 INFORMATION

For Thursday 15th:  Start at 9am and enter through the main gates with buddies.  Collect at 2:30pm from the Dining Hall exit (at the side of the pitch).  Siblings will be dismissed at this time and through this door too.

For Friday 16th:   Start at 9am and enter through the main gates with buddies.  Collect at 2:30pm from the Dining Hall exit (at the side of the pitch).  Siblings will be dismissed at this time and through this door too.

From Monday19th on, the following will apply.  9am through the main gates and 3pm through the Dining Hall.

DISMISSAL FOR P2-P7:

P4 and P7 will be dismissed through the Pitch Gates at 3pm.

P2, P3 P5 and P6 will be dismissed through the Main Gates at 3pm.

All children enter through the main gates in the morning.

The end of term is always busy, and we had lots of happy and sad events to celebrate this week.

A message to all our nursery children and P7 pupils, who are moving onto their new adventures (and their families!) We hope you have enjoyed your time with us here, and that you’ve learned lots! We have been privileged to have been part of your journeys and we wish you all the best! As Mr Thomas always says to anyone leaving – if you take one thing from your time here, remember you were loved!

And to everyone in our school community – a huge big thank you! We have had an amazing, busy, fun-filled year. We appreciate all your help and support. Have an amazing summer and we’ll see you all in August.

It may be last few days of term, but they are jam packed!! Loads happening, so here is all the information you need.

We are on Week 2 for lunches this week. Monday and Tuesday are as the menu. Wednesday will be snacks to go only (we finish at 1pm!) and will be a mix of sandwiches. We will look to order these on Tuesday.

On Monday, your child’s report will be available on Parent Portal. If you haven’t yet signed up for Parent Portal you will not receive this report. Please contact the office if you need any support with this.

On Monday afternoon we will have  a “House Party” for the children in Lourdes who won the house points this year. Looking forward to celebrating!

Monday night is our P7 graduation and we are looking forward to celebrating with our fabulous P7 children .

On Wednesday we will all attend the 10am Mass at St Columba’s. This will be our final celebration of the year. Our P6 children will receive their ties, our Pope Francis Faith Awards will be presented to those P7s who have worked on them and we will bid farewell to some staff members. You are all welcome to join us.

School closes at 1pm on Wednesday, please ensure you have made plans to have your child collected at this time.

See – jam packed! 😂

As you know, our reports are being issued via Parents’ Portal this year.  If you have not signed up, you will not receive your child’s report.  We will have over 100 children whose parents have still NOT signed up for Parents’ Portal.

We realise that there could be a number of reasons for this.  We are happy to help!

Please sign up by contacting the school office.  The staff have helped so many Parents/Carers to get started with it and are very happy to do this.  We offered drop in sessions twice recently and only 6 people made use of this service.  We have been advertising this for months now!  Please get in touch to sign up.

If you want to try signing up yourself, please click HERE for the last post we put on our website to help.

Well, what can we say about our amazing drama club??? Our children were amazing! Here are some photos of them all ready to perform! Superstars, every one of them!!!