Dear Parents, Carers, and School Community, Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! May this new year bring joy, prosperity, and good fortune to you and your families. As we near the end of chilly January, it’s incredible to...
Dear Parents, Carers, and School Community,
Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! May this new year bring joy, prosperity, and good fortune to you and your families.
As we near the end of chilly January, it’s incredible to reflect on how much we have already achieved this term. There is still so much to look forward to, particularly as we continue working alongside the Friends of St John the Baptist to make exciting plans in the lead-up to Easter. For more details, please see last week’s newsletter.
This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming our Hackney School Partner to our school for a learning walk. Once again, they were struck by the fantastic learning behaviours demonstrated by all our students, as well as the impressive progress they are making—particularly in the reading lessons that were observed. It is always wonderful to see our children engaged, motivated, and thriving in their learning. However, it was also amazing to hear about our children’s love of reading which they shared with our visitor with such enthusiasm.
A special mention must also go to a group of five Year 6 pupils who had the incredible opportunity to perform at the Hackney Empire alongside students from other schools. We are so proud of their hard work and talent—it was a fantastic experience for them and a proud moment for our school community. Please see the photos below.
We are delighted to congratulate our 11 newly appointed prefects, selected from an outstanding group of 22 Year 6 applicants. Their dedication and leadership qualities shone through, and we are confident they will be fantastic role models for our school community!
Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to sharing more updates with you next week.
Warm regards,
Ms Toni Mason
Headteacher
We have noticed an increased number of cars driving down Crondall Street during the morning drop off and the end of school day pick up. Please remember that the road outside our school gates is a school street.
Our playground continues to thrive, thanks to the wonderful support from parents and the community! The donation of fruit crates from a local supermarket has been a huge success, especially with our Key Stage 1 children, who love using them to build and create imaginative dens. Meanwhile, our mud kitchen has become the most popular addition yet, enjoyed by children across all year groups. We’re always looking for new ways to enhance our play space—especially with free or low-cost items! Please have a think about what you might be able to access through your own work that children would enjoy playing with. We all know the stereotype of kids preferring a cardboard box over the toy inside, so it doesn’t need to be expensive. If you have any ideas, please pass them on to Friends of St John the Baptist, who will share them with our Play Leaders. Thank you for helping us make playtime even more creative and engaging!
As we grow up, we’re inevitably exposed to new and challenging feelings – whether it’s sadness, fear or rage. These emotions can be tough to handle when we’re still learning about the world – and even once we’ve passed into adulthood – which is why emotional literacy is a vital life skill.
Of course, when emotions are running high, it can be tricky to help young people process these feelings in a healthy way, but it’s incredibly important that we do so as parents and educators. This free guide provides you with expert tips on teaching children to recognise their own emotions and deal with them in a mature manner. Click the image below to enlarge it.
We are now looking for high quality candidates to train to teach with us from September 2025 on the Lead Partner Direct route with the Institute of Education UCL.
Primary Advantage schools have a long track record of training teachers, many of whom go on to work in our schools. Our Lead Partner Direct training, leading to PGCE and QTS, is offered in partnership with the Institute of Education – UCL, a global leader in teacher education, whose teacher-training is recognised by Ofsted as outstanding in every criterion.
By applying through Primary Advantage on this route you will enrol with UCL and know your placements will take place in our schools in Hackney. We can tell you in the summer term where you will be for your first placement so that you can get to know your school before you start the course in September.
Our schools are wonderfully diverse places and we encourage applications from all, and particularly from our local community.
In order to start training in September you will need: GCSEs (A*-C / Grade 4 or higher) in English, Maths and Science, and a Degree 2:2 or above. You can be working towards these whilst you apply, and equivalency tests are accepted as alternatives to the GCSEs.
We welcome your enquiry and if you would like to find out more you can talk to us directly – just call or email us, we are happy to help. You can also arrange a visit to one of our schools, or a period of school experience.
See more about our teacher training programmes, entry criteria and application process here: https://primaryadvantage.co.uk/train-to-teach/school-direct-post-graduate-teaching-apprenticeships/school-direct-primary-tuition-fee/
Applications are via the DFE becoming a teacher portal and places are allocated on an ongoing basis until they are full, so please apply as soon as possible.
For more informationc ontact the Primary Advantage Learning, Development and Partnerships team on palearning@primaryadvantage.hackney.sch.uk or 020 7254 1010 (option 5)
Later in the year a small number of Post Graduate Teaching Apprenticeships might also be offered for candidates with suitable school experience and we will update our website and open the vacancies on the DFE pages at that point.
Hackney City Farm
Why not visit Hackney City Farm? Children can interact with farm animals and learn about sustainable farming. It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience a bit of the countryside in the city. Entry is free, and you can drop in anytime during opening hours.
Geffrye Museum of the Home
Explore the Geffrye Museum, which showcases the changing styles of English domestic interiors through the centuries. They often have family-friendly exhibits and interactive displays suitable for children. Admission is free. It’s advisable to check their website for any special events during your visit.
Hoxton Street Market
Visit Hoxton Street Market, which will be bustling with various stalls. While not exclusively a children’s event, the market often features street performers and food stalls that can be enjoyable for young families. It’s a lively environment where children can experience the local community vibe.
Hackney Central Library Storytelling Sessions
Hackney Central Library often hosts free storytelling sessions for children. These sessions are designed to engage young minds and foster a love for reading. It’s best to contact the library directly or visit their website to confirm session times during this week.
Victoria Park
While not an organized event, Victoria Park offers expansive playgrounds, open spaces, and a lake. It’s an excellent place for children to run around, play, and enjoy nature. Pack a picnic and make a day of it if the weather permits.
Please verify the details and availability of these activities by visiting the provided links or contacting the venues directly, as schedules can change.
UK’s leading child protection charity and Times Tables Rock Stars are teaming up for the 9th year in a row to celebrate the NSPCC’s Number Day. Help St John the Baptist reach new heights with NSPCC Rocks. The online times tables competition that will boost maths confidence alongside accuracy and recall speed.
Learners will try to answer as many multiplication and division questions correctly as they can. The winning school and class will be based on the highest average number of correct answers per pupil.
Every correct answer that a student gives, in any game type, between the hours of 7:30am to 7:30pm each day will contribute to their class and school score.
There is a 60-minute limit playtime per player, per day.
Each class has a minimum player count of 10. If fewer than 10 in the class play in the competition, their total will be divided by 10 regardless.
This week was Chinese new year, the year of the snake. Miss Tang taught Rowan tree class about living in China and showed taught us the meanings of each year, how the elders give money to the young. We also made Chinese new year lanterns....
Some of our Year 2 students wrote wonderful poems inspired by Maya Angelou. They were called ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All’ ...
This week in Spanish, Year 4 were making their own sentences describing what hobbies and fruits they like, love or hate. And challenging themselves to use the conjunction ‘pero’ which means ‘but’....
This term in DT Holly class are making kites! We loved looking at real kites and can’t wait to test out our own creations!...
Chestnut are currently studying The Vikings and how they helped shape Britain today. As part of that, in Art, they have been looking at the ornate designs that the Vikings used for their shields and trying to recreate their own versions....
In Palm class we created lanterns using paint to celebrate the Chinese New Year....
We have begun reading our new story The Gruffalo by retelling the story using props and creating forest scenes....
The children who represented our school in Portugal last year were invited to perform with the group at Hackney’s Music Gala on Tuesday night. The Music Gala incorporates the Hackney Mayor’s Music Awards (MMA) and was held at Hackney Empire. We had feedback from the Deputy......