NEWSLETTER 20th July 2026

EMMAUS CATHOLIC ACADEMY TRUST

On 1st July we officially became a member of Emmaus Catholic Academy Trust. This follows Bishop John Arnold's wish and expectation that all Catholic schools in the diocese become part of one of the three Salford Diocese Trusts, and we marked the occasion with an end of year Emmaus school Mass to celebrate.

For families, there will be no changes to day to day school life. The uniform is staying the same and the school day will run as it always has. The calendar for next year is largely the same, with one addition: there will be an Emmaus INSET day on 12th February, when staff from across the Trust will take part in training together. This means an extra day off for the children.

We are looking forward to working more closely with the other Catholic schools in our local area as part of the Trust. https://emmauscat.com/

WIZARD OF OZ

Year 6 brought the Yellow Brick Road to our stage this week with their production of The Wizard of Oz, and what a treat it was! Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion not to mention the munchkins and all the other characters had the whole audience hooked. The singing was superb and the costumes looked fantastic.

Huge thanks to the Year 6 team and to Mrs Godding, who pulled it all together and rehearsed tirelessly with the children. Thanks too to the Duttons for lighting, Ellen McGovern for sound, and Sam and Mr Sutton for the music. There really is no place like St John's when Year 6 puts on a show!

DEBATEMATES

The Debate Team have been busy all year, getting stuck into topics including whether fast food should be banned, whether travellers should be allowed to remain on Longford Park, and their grand finale, "Primary schools should choose which secondary schools children go to." This last one was run as a show debate, and the audience were brilliant, cheering the debaters on every step of the way. Well done to everyone who took part!

Fancy joining in? The group is open to Year 4 children from September. Sessions run on Friday mornings at 8am, no need to book, just turn up and try to win the argument!

SPACES AT ST. JOHN'S

We currently have spaces in all year groups across school. If you know anyone who is looking for a place, please ask them to get in touch with the school office.

WALKING BUS FOR ST. JOHN'S

St John's Bike 'Buzz' — Fancy Starting a Bike Bus?

We're exploring the idea of setting up a weekly bike bus to school, and at this early stage we'd simply like to sense-check whether it's something families would be interested in.

Walk Ride GM are here to support parents, volunteers, children and community members in starting up a bike bus for St Johns.

What is a Bike Bus?

A bike bus is a group of children who cycle to school together along a set route, led and supervised by adults, with a leader at the front and a back-marker at the rear. 

It runs just like a real bus: a fixed route, set times, and "stops" along the way where children can join.

It's a great bunch of parents and children riding to school together, there is often music playing and lots of smiling faces. 

The route isn't fixed yet,  we'll develop it around where interested families live, so it works for the people who actually want to take part.

Why a Bike Bus?

It's a fun, energising way to start the school day. For children, it's a chance to:

• Get fresh air and exercise before lessons begin

• Build road awareness and cycling confidence

• Grow in confidence

• Arrive at school happy, alert and ready to learn

It's also a lovely way for families to connect, and for the whole journey to feel safer and more sociable than the school-run rush.

Take a look at these fantastic bike buses in action in other areas:

• https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z-AtQzvHxo4

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HXuo7dExAg

Interested?

Walk Ride GM will help set everything up, offering guidance, confidence building, route assessment and ongoing support, so you and your children can simply enjoy the ride.

To find out more or register your interest, email missie.hall@wrgm.org.uk . Even a quick "yes, we'd be keen" helps us gauge whether there's enough appetite to get this rolling.

PICNIC IN THE PARK

We are really looking forward to our Picnic in the Park once again this year on Thursday 23rd July 6-8pm and hope you can join us for what promises to be a wonderful evening together as a school community.

To help make the event a success, we would be very grateful if you could sign up to help. Every little bit of support makes a huge difference and helps ensure the evening runs smoothly for everyone.

Please use the link below to access tickets, make a donation, or sign up to volunteer:

https://www.pta-events.co.uk/stjohnsprimaryschoolchorlton/index.cfm?event=event&eventId=120313

Tickets are free of charge; however, if you would like to make a donation, we would be incredibly grateful. Any funds raised will go towards the next phase of our OPAL Play Project, where we hope to create two outdoor stages and a new sandpit area for Key Stages 1 and 2.

We are delighted that some of our regular vendors will be joining us again this year, including:

• The Ice Cream Man

• Cibus Pizza Oven

• Wrapscallion

• Sam's Band, who will be providing live entertainment throughout the evening

Of course, you are also very welcome to bring your own food and refreshments.

For everyone's safety, please remember that this is a PTA-organised event, and parents/carers remain responsible for supervising their children at all times, particularly in the forest area.

We kindly ask that, where possible, families walk or cycle to the event to help keep traffic to a minimum. For new families joining our school community, the picnic takes place on the school back field. Please enter and leave via the Ryebank Field gate, near the Longford Park entrance.

There will also be a School Uniform Swap Shop on the evening. If you have any good-quality uniform items to donate, please bring them along on the night or drop them off at the school office next week.

When booking, you will find:

• Tickets at the top of the page

• Donation options in the middle

• Volunteer sign-up opportunities towards the bottom

Thank you in advance for your support. Whether you volunteer, donate, attend, or all three, you are helping us create a fantastic event for our children and families. We are looking forward to celebrating the end of another wonderful school year together.

LOST PROPERTY

We will have our lost property available outside near the Cow Gate for you to look through on Wednesday 22 July and Thursday 23 July, between 3pm and 5:30pm.

Please feel free to have a browse and reclaim any of your child’s missing items.

Any belongings left unclaimed after this time will be donated or recycled.

Thank you for your support.

UNIFORM

We are really pleased at how the active uniform has worked over the last few months and the children have said how much better and easier they have found playtimes and activities. The active uniform has made outdoor activities, PE and play much easier and more enjoyable throughout the school day. With this in mind we have decided that St. John's will be an ACTIVE UNIFORM school. This can be worn every day, not just on PE days, and our other uniform items will gradually be phased out (but your child is welcome to wear them until they grow out of them!)

ACTIVE UNIFORM

The active uniform is:

• A navy blue polo shirt or navy blue round necked t-shirt, (available  but not compulsory with the school logo) White polo shirts can still be worn but will be phased out as children grow out of them - the navy one is more practical.

• A navy blue round necked jumper, cardigan or fleece with the school logo. This is our one compulsory logo-ed item  We would like every child to have this, as it forms part of our school identity

• Navy blue PE shorts. We have chosen the most practical and affordable option, and all children must wear these. Please make sure they are not branded or a different colour. Leggings and cycling shorts should not be worn at any time

• Navy blue tracksuit bottoms (unbranded)

Children still have the option of grey trousers or a skirt, and the blue and white summer check dress remains available, though we would prefer children to wear the active uniform where possible. If your child is not in active uniform on a particular day, please make sure they wear it for PE, or for any after school sports session.

TRAINERS

We are also now allowing children to wear trainers with their uniform every day. If you are buying trainers over the summer, or replacing them during the year, please choose trainers that are mainly black, so children can stay active while still looking smart. (We have become aware of some children asking parents for expensive trainers. Please keep the trainers you buy for school use plain and ones that are not expensive as children can become upset when they get mud on etc.)

UNIFORM COSTS and SECOND HAND UNIFORM

You may have seen updates from the Department for Education about school uniform costs. From September 2026, schools are required to limit compulsory branded items to three or fewer. We are pleased to say St John's already meets this well, with only the navy jumper/cardigan/fleece being a required branded item.

Uniform can be purchased from Monkhouse Schoolwear in Stretford or Little Angels in Chorlton, and all other items are available from high street retailers. If you would like to request second hand uniform, please fillin this form for Mrs Marsden UNIFORM – Fill in form for Mrs Marsden or contact Mrs Marsden at pastoral@stjohnsrc.net 

NEWSLETTER - 12th June 2026

OPEN DAYS FOR HIGH SCHOOLS

St. John's has three Catholic secondary feeder schools:

Loreto High School

Loreto Grammar School (Girls)

St. Ambrose College (Boys)

All three schools are holding open day events in the coming weeks, and I would encourage you to take the opportunity to visit and find out more. Please see the enclosed leaflets for dates, times, and details of how to register your place.

NEWSLETTER 22nd MAY 2026

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Congratulations to our Year 3 pupils in Cherry and Sycamore classes, who celebrated their First Holy Communion across two beautiful services. It was a joy to see the children take this important step in their faith journey, and we look forward to seeing you at church.

If your child is interested in becoming an altar server, please speak to Fr Anthony after Mass on any Sunday.

YEAR 6 SUCCESS

What a fortnight it's been for our Year 6 pupils! Whether sitting their KS2 SATs or heading off to Ghyll Head, they have shown wonderful maturity and enthusiasm throughout. We are so proud of every one of them.

A huge thank you to the staff who gave up their time to take the children on the residential.

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF THE SPANISH EXCHANGE

This year marks a very special milestone: 20 years of our Spanish exchange and we're hosting a celebration at school on the 13th June 2026.

Tickets are now available for the 20 year celebration to which everyone is invited! They're completely free, but we do need to know numbers in advance, so please do book your place on the PTA website.

https://www.pta-events.co.uk/stjohnsprimaryschoolchorlton/index.cfm?event=Shop#.Yxjp8NPMK3A

We're also putting together a look back over the years so if you have any photos from the exchanges over the past two decades, whether your child went last year or twenty years ago, we would love to see them. Please send them to Mr Doohan at p.doohan@stjohnsrc.net and we'll do our best to feature as many as we can.

OPAL PLAY UPDATE

OPAL play is going really well! Mr Kelly has kindly built a wonderful new mud kitchen, which the children have absolutely loved playing with. After half term, we'll be adding a water play stage for KS2, and we're setting up Lego in the outdoor classroom. If you have any Lego at home that you're happy to part with, please do send it in for the children to enjoy.

A quick reminder: we've spoken to the children this week about not bringing in their own toys to play with. Donations are very welcome, as the children are loving playing with characters, cars and similar items, but please be aware that anything sent in becomes a shared resource for everyone to enjoy. So if you bring something in, it counts as a donation rather than a personal toy.

THE BRICKWORKS CHORLTON ARTS FESTIVAL

Our Brickworks gallery has been home to some truly beautiful artwork! To mark the 20th anniversary of our Spanish exchange trip to Nigrán, children from Years 2, 3 and 5 worked with Mrs Law to create a wonderful collection of Spain themed pieces. Alongside the artwork, the photographs on display were fabulous, and we were proud to be part of this year's Chorlton Arts Festival.

If you didn't manage to catch it, there's still time. The children's work remains on display at Chorlton Bookshop, so do call in and have a look. Our thanks to everyone who visited The Brickworks, and once again to our hugely talented Mrs Law for making it all happen.

NEWSLETTER 8th MAY 2026

KEY DATES

Key Stage 2 SATs tests - Monday-Thursday Year 6 children invite in for 8.15am for breakfast.

12th May - Year 4 & 5 Big Sing singing rehearsal (pm at school)

12th May - Year 6 Inspire football competition

15th May - Year 4 trip to Blue John Mines

OPAL PLAY

What a brilliant week it's been! The launch of OPAL Play at St John's has been overwhelmingly positive, and the children have had a wonderful time.

It has been a joy to see them so happy, creative, and collaborative at lunchtimes. The feedback from children and parents alike has been fabulous.

A huge thank you to our amazing PTA, who funded so many of the resources that made this possible. We're thrilled they've also committed this week to funding even more for the children to enjoy. We're so grateful for their continued support.

Do take a look at the photos and videos below to see what play now looks like at lunchtime at St John's!

WELLIES

We have water out in KS1 (Year 1&2) every lunchtime (soon to be in KS2!) and have noticed that their feet are getting quite wet. If your child has a pair of wellies, please send them in a carrier bag they can keep in school. Please label each welly so they don't go missing! If children would like to bring in spare socks that would also work well.

OPAL RAINBOW DAY

PTA

Our PTA is doing a brilliant job raising much-needed funds for the school and they would love more of you to join them!

• Meetings are friendly and incredibly welcoming

• You don't need to volunteer for events to take part in the meetings. They are mainly for sharing ideas and the PTA group LOVE new ideas.

• It's a great way to meet other parents and feel part of our community

• Everyone is genuinely welcome!

The PTA would love to hear what would work for you to get involved; whether it's the timing of meetings, ways to help from home, or anything else you could offer.

We'd really appreciate you filling in this form and tell us what you want from your PTA. ST. JOHN'S PTA  – Fill in form

WALK TO SCHOOL WEEK

UNIFORM UPDATE

Our active uniform is working well, and it's been lovely to see the children making the most of it this week.

Just a quick reminder that shorts and tracksuit bottoms must be school PE shorts only. Please no cycle shorts or branded clothing.

The clothing below are the only items that should be worn if choosing PE kit each day. Children are welcome to wear our regular uniform too.

NEWSLETTER - 1st MAY 2026

KEY DATES

HIGHLIGHTS FOR NEXT WEEK

4TH May - BANK HOLIDAY (school closed)

8th May - Reception trip to Smithills farm

15th May - Year 4 trip to Blue John mines

For up to date information, please go onto the calendar part of our website.

SPANISH EXCHANGE

Year 5 had an amazing trip to Nigrán last week with parents. It was a wonderful experience filled with opportunities, breathtaking scenery, and the chance to strengthen friendships both old and new. A huge thank you to the staff who gave their time to accompany the children, and to everyone who helped make it such a memorable and special trip.

To mark a very special milestone, we will be holding a celebration of the Spanish Exchange. It has been 20 years since it first began! This is a wonderful achievement and a true testament to the lasting friendships and connections built over two decades. The celebration will take place on Saturday 13th June from 4 to 7pm, and everyone is warmly invited. Whether you've been part of the exchange yourself, have family members who have, or simply want to join in the celebrations, all are welcome.

PTA meeting

Our next PTA meeting will be held on Thursday 7th May at 8pm in Lloyds on Wilbraham Road. All are warmly welcome and it would be lovely to see you there.

Come and join us for a friendly chat, share your ideas, and help support our wonderful school community. We look forward to seeing you!

MONTH OF MARY

OPAL PLAY LAUNCHING NEXT WEEK

OPAL play launches next week. The children are so excited! Please continue to send in donations. We are still in need of dolls, action figures and Lego. If you're not sure what we need please look at the video of the donations from this week.

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