October 2020

Oct 2020
St John’s became a hub of poetic vision on Thursday 1 October when children across all ages celebrated National Poetry Day. National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration on the first Thursday of October that encourages all to discover, enjoy and share poetry. The theme for this year was ‘vision’ with the motto to ‘see like a poet’ and #ShareAPoem. Head of English, Mrs Elaine Atkin, explained, ‘It is always incredible to see how imaginative and sensitive the children are through their poetry. They approach poetry with an open mind and produce work which is far beyond their years
Oct 2020
On 1 October, our three SJCS Science quiz teams competed in the Finals of the Quiz Club National Inter-School Championships, postponed from last term. There were 442 teams (1768 children) from 308 schools taking part in the Science Championship during the last academic year and there were 51 teams (200 children – allowing for the teams with less than 4 players) from 44 schools in the Finals. As always, the questions were beyond the knowledge of the National Curriculum but the children took the challenge in their stride and battled it out for a tied 4th place and 18th place. The annual
'Action Story' peer massage as part of the Emotions for Learning curriculum
Oct 2020
Our 'Action Stories' are based on a peer massage programme where the children are led through a set of massage strokes devised by the Massage in Schools Programme. Action Stories are an integral part of the Emotions for Learning (E4L) curriculum at Byron House and teachers and children have seen the benefits for over 10 years at St John’s. They aim to promote the well-being of young children in the knowledge that nurturing touch is a basic need and powerful tool to help children develop into healthy, well-balanced human beings. “Massage has long been seen as a pleasure rather than a
Oct 2020
This year our Harvest Festival services were held across one week at Byron House. The food and monetary donations came flooding in and were delivered to Newmarket Open Door Foodbank. This charity redistributes donated foods and household products to those needing support through their Foodbank shop, as well as via other charities and voluntary and social welfare organisations. Coinciding with our Harvest charitable giving, the annual Byron House Harvest Competition was as popular as ever with entries in the following categories: vegetables, sunflowers, art, photography, cookery and Lego
Oct 2020
Form 6 had a collaborative art and design technology whole day workshop with world-renowned visual artist, Mr Michael Brennand-Wood in contact via Zoom. The children were encouraged to think about geometry, woven patterns, negative shapes and rhythms to create their own unique artwork, exploring textiles and taking inspiration from the artist’s own imagery. Mr Brennand-Wood is internationally regarded as one of the most innovative and inspiring artists working in textiles. All the material used for the children's work was recycled. The children were shown some of Mr Brennand-Wood’s