Could it be magic?

There is more magic in the air as another wonderful addition to our Magical Woods arrived last week. Many thanks to the Edwards family (Bella in Maple class’s family) who kindly donated their amazing Wendy house to the Early Years Magical Woods. The children couldn’t wait to find out what had arrived. The beautiful little cottage will provide the children with fantastic role-play opportunities in the future.

Also, many thanks to Miss Villano, Juniper class teacher, who has added to the Birkby’s mud kitchen by making a wonderful kitchen unit for the children to enjoy.  Our Early Years children have already been seen chopping, dicing and slicing on this great new addition to the mud kitchen.

More Early Years excitement!

There was much excitement in the Early Years outdoor area again this week. The very special delivery of a brand new Mud Kitchen arrived. However, this was no ordinary Mud Kitchen. This one was built by our very talented Mr Birkby (daddy of Albie in Elm class). This week, the children have enjoyed cooking, baking and preparing delicacies such as mud soup, stick stew and leaf buns. Our Reception children would like to say a huge thank you to the Birkby family for making this amazing Mud Kitchen for them. They absolutely love it!  Also, thanks to the kind parents who brought additional resources for the children to use in the kitchen. There is no doubt they will be in constant use!

Jem Sharples of Tenors Unlimited wanted to say hello to the choir and all the children at St John's, so he has recorded a video to wish us all well.

Jem is one third of Tenors Unlimited and is also a former St John's pupil. Our choir have been lucky enough to sing with Jem twice in recent years and we are sure the choir will be very excited to hear from him during lockdown. Thank you Jem for getting in touch, we can't wait to be able to sing with you again one day!

Click here to watch Jem's message

The children had never seen it before! It appeared as if by magic! As the Reception children returned to school last week, a new Magical Wood had appeared in the Early Years playground. However, although it is called the Magical Wood, and it is rather magical, it didn’t appear from out of nowhere. A lot of hard work was put in to create this amazing new feature of our Early Years outside area. Built by Woodland Venture, it encompasses an amazing growing area and story circle. Once built, with the hard work and vision of Heather Roberts, the woods were brought to life. A huge thank you to Heather and her husband, who spent many hours creating the wonderful vegetable beds and cutting back foliage to give our new plants some light. Also, many thanks to Kelly Bryant who made some wonderful fairy doors which will be added to our woods soon.

The staff have been thinking of ways to stay connected with you during lockdown. Can you guess who we are from these photos of us when we were small?

Sending the best of wishes to you all, big and small!

https://st-johns-cofe-primary-school-kent.primarysite.media/media/st-johns-staff-guess-who

Mr Turvey says hello and reads a story of thankfulness.

https://st-johns-cofe-primary-school-kent.primarysite.media/media/another-message-from-mr-turvey

The staff at St. John's have been trying to keep active and connected while we are all having to stay at home. We thought you might enjoy our version of the toilet roll challenge - we had to 'pass' a toilet roll from person to person. This is our way of saying hello to you all. We hope you enjoy watching...who can you spot?

https://st-johns-cofe-primary-school-kent.primarysite.media/media/st-johns-staff-take-on-the-toilet-roll-challenge

Our catering company, Independent Catering, have been busy making videos to inspire you all to get cooking at home.

Here is a message from them...

We hope you are keeping well in these very difficult circumstances.

Some of our chefs have been keeping busy by cooking at home, some with their children. Below are two YouTube links where you can see some tasty and healthy recipes that maybe you can try at home with your family, if you are fortunate enough to have them around you.

There are many more videos on our website just click on the link www.independentcatering.co.uk and click on ‘Chef Zone’.

They are also available on YouTube, where you can view, subscribe and share.  They will keep you occupied for weeks!

Click on the videos below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cts40TVyypY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBN9CNqq14

We hope you enjoy them and we are soon back at school making them for the children!

Please follow the link below to view a video message from Mr Turvey.

https://st-johns-cofe-primary-school-kent.primarysite.media/media/a-message-from-mr-turvey