SEE BELOW FOR ST JOHN'S LATEST NEWS...

• St John’s Nativity Brings Christmas Spirit to Life

  Fri 19 Dec 2025

  Windsor Class proudly performed the annual St John’s Nativity at St John the Baptist Church, a much-loved tradition and always a truly special day for our school community.

  This year’s performance was a joy to behold, with the children shining from beginning to end. The nativity opened beautifully as Mary and Joseph were guided to the front of the church by a kind and caring innkeeper, while the congregation joined together to sing Little Donkey. Year Six then delivered a clear and confident reading of the nativity story, setting the scene perfectly.

  Next, the church was filled with wonder as shining stars descended, led by the Angel Gabriel, guiding the angels to the much-loved school favourite It Was on a Starry Night. The children gathered gracefully at the front before the shepherds and their flock arrived during a heartfelt rendition of Away in a Manger. The performance concluded with the arrival of the kings, who presented their precious gifts, bringing the story to a meaningful close.

  Throughout the nativity, smiles were infectious, and there were more than a few teary eyes among proud parents, carers, teachers and members of the congregation.

  A special thank you goes to Mr Mitchell for the wonderful music, Mrs Cook and Mrs Strange for guiding the children so calmly and confidently, and Mrs Sellick for her hard work and dedication in keeping this cherished St John’s tradition alive.

  "As their teacher, this was one of my favourite memories made — a moment that perfectly captured the spirit of Christmas and the heart of St John's" said Miss Colmar. 

  A Reception child who played the role of a king reflected, “Giving the present to baby Jesus was my favourite bit, and then we all sang the last song together.”

  

• Choir singing at St John's Church

  Mon 15 Dec 2025

  We were so proud of our fantastic choir who performed with the    Wellington Silver Band at John’s Church.

   

  

• Choir singing at Wells Cathedral

  Mon 15 Dec 2025

  35 members of the choir attended a once in a lifetime opportunity at Wells Cathedral on Monday 8th December. The children were invited by Somerset Music to attend the annual Christmas        Celebration Concert alongside 400 students from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 5.

  There was a huge variety of traditional and modern Christmas songs sung individually by schools and as one massed choir, youth orchestras and ukulele bands played, as well as pop up choirs and youth ensembles.

  The choir had a wonderful day, sharing their song with the other schools as well as rehearsing the massed songs together with a large orchestra playing in the beautiful cathedral. The atmosphere was absolutely wonderful, and the children were in awe of the cathedral having never performed in such a large building.

  The day was a rather long onebut worth every minute and once again the children were fantastic ambassadors of St John’s C of E Primary school and made us all very proud.

  “The choir sounded incredible and I’m very proud to say that they were the only primary school choir to sing in two parts during their song, showing their wonderful talent as singers. The confidence they showed performing in front of so many other choirs as well as the packed audience is outstanding. They really are a fantastic choir and continue to share joy and hope to so many in our widening community. We are so thankful to Kirsten Wordley who leads our school choir, along with the staff who have supported this event and made it all possible for our children to attend and hopefully future choir members will have this opportunity again in future years” comment Olly Priestley, Headteacher.

   

  

• Wellington Schools Maths Challenge

  Thu 04 Dec 2025

  We are very proud of our 4 Year 6 children who took part in the annual Wellington Maths Challenge last weekend.  The questions were tough and would definitely challenge most of us grown ups!  They scored 20 out of 25 coming in 4th out of 60.  Well done team!

  

• Choir singing at Wellington Lights Up

  Thu 04 Dec 2025

  Well done and thank you to the school choir who represented St John’s on Saturday at the switch on event in town.  They sounded amazing and we had many comments from people watching telling us how much they enjoyed their performance.

   

  

• Christmas Card Competition

  Thu 04 Dec 2025

  Congratulations to Julieta whose design was chosen to be used on the Mayor of  Wellington’s Christmas card this year.   Her card was chosen from over 200 entries.

   

  

• Celebrating Michael Rosen Day with Poetry and Performances

  Mon 17 Nov 2025

  On Thursday 13th April, School was filled with excitement as pupils celebrated Michael Rosen Day. Several classes were thrilled to join a live video call with Michael Rosen himself, where they listened, laughed and learned more about some of his most loved poems. Across the school children shared their favourite Rosen poems and explored what makes his writing so engaging and entertaining.

   

  Inspired by this year’s theme, “Funny Food,” every class created their own imaginative poetry. The corridors quickly filled with wonderful ideas—from giggling grapes to mischievous mashed potatoes! The day rounded off with a special assembly in which the winners of the recent poetry competition were announced. The judges agreed it was a challenge to decide, with so many brilliant and creative entries submitted. We would like to thank all of the children who took part in the competition for sharing their creativity. We hope that they can be using their prizes (a special notebook and pen) to be collecting more ideas for future creative pieces just as Rosen suggested.

   

  The celebrations continued on Friday, when the whole school gathered for a poetry sharing assembly. Children from each class performed, read aloud, and proudly displayed their poems and artwork created the day before. Their confidence and enthusiasm shone through, making it a truly memorable event.

   

  It was a wonderful two days celebrating creativity, poetry, and the inspirational work of Michael Rosen.

   

  

• Fundraising Day

  Mon 17 Nov 2025

  We celebrated Children In Need day by dressing in non-uniform for a donation, copper coin artwork creating a large 25, 25 challenges throughout the day including poetry, PE, colouring and making good deed and act of kindness advents!

   

  St John's school likes to support smaller charities each year, therefore although recognising Children In Need, the money raised will be going to the school charity which is the Dementia Friendly charity Reminiscence Learning. 

  

• Remembrance 2025

  Wed 12 Nov 2025

  The whole school gathered and Mr Priestley lead the assembly explaining to the children the importance of celebrating Armistice Day and always remembering those who gave so much in all wars.  The whole school then stood for a 2 minute silence, with the two Head Girls holding the poppy wreath.

  Throughout the day children created artwork and wreathes, made poppies on the iPad, wrote poems and watched videos about Armistice Day. The children talked a lot during the day, and we spoke about how much we appreciate those that gave so much during the war, including the animals, and how much they demonstrated the values that mean so much to us at school especially Respect, Endurance, Service and Compassion.

  

• Pupil Chaplains

  Fri 24 Oct 2025

  Following the success from previous years, St John’s Church of England Primary School celebrated their Pupil Chaplains during their Harvest Festival service. Before the new chaplains could be commissioned, the school celebrated those that have just completed their year of chaplaincy. They were thanked for their efforts and presented with a certificate of appreciation.

  Then eight students from the Year 5 class at St John’s School, were commissioned as the new pupil chaplains for 2025-2026 in a special ceremony. So many children put themselves forward for this prestigious role which is proving more popular every year. The children who had volunteered for the role were carefully chosen by staff and peers and have received training over the last few weeks. Today they made their promises in front of the whole school, as well as their families and friends. These promises were created during their training with school chaplain, Helena Power. 

  Each chaplain was then presented with a small wooden cross, a badge, and certificates. The previous pupil chaplains then ceremonially handed over their tabards. Reverend Colin led the celebration with blessings, praying for the new chaplains and thanking the retiring ones for their dedication. The Harvest collection for local food banks was also blessed by Reverend Colin and the pupils.

  Pupil chaplains have a special responsibility to care for the school and live by the school values showing respect, service, compassion, endurance, and friendship, while having a lot of fun serving the local community and presenting Bible stories in assemblies. Pupil chaplains have now supported our school for a number of years, and it is a very special and important role for our school. They strive to help all students and staff and share joy and hope in our community.

  With thanks to the schools dedication to Christian values, all staff and pupils, especially the chaplains, have ensured that the school was such a success during last year's inspection by SIAMS, and their comment was that the school is living up to its foundation as a Church School, and is enabling pupils and adults to flourish while providing a joyful and family orientated environment.