THE school's vision statement is this: "They come this way only once so we should aim to litter their pathways with quality experiences."

This statement is reflected in all we do, having an impact upon all the experiences we offer.

We believe that children are entitled to the best we can offer, working hard in school to ensure that we live our vision.

We hope that we offer a quality environment for our children in which they can grow as learners, in the knowledge that they will be respected as individuals and will be challenged to produce their best work.

We try to offer experiences which will be exciting and enjoyable.

This may involve dressing up on a theme day or going out and about such as the year six residential to Castleton or the Lowry Gallery.

We love music in school, priding ourselves in the quality of our singing and relishing the opportunity to play instruments.

Playing our buckets along with Raymond Otto and his African drums was an example of a quality experience.

Our hope is that as our year six children move on to their high schools, they will take with them good memories of their experiences at St John's, ready to take on a mature and responsible role in their next school.

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Teacher profile: Year 6 Teacher Miss Elizabeth Broadhead

What inspired you to become a teacher? My grandma used to be a teacher, I admired her very much. Also, I wanted to help children. I feel that I communicate well with children, influencing them in a positive way.

Do you get nervous when SATs results come and when we go to high school? Yes, although the tests are not the be all and end all of year six life, they are important. I am always nervous and apprehensive! However, the results are just the icing on the cake. It is a strange feeling when the young people leave to go on their next step in life; to high school. I feel sad, but also optimistic and happy.

What is your favourite subject and why? History, because I enjoy learning and teaching about the past. History is an exciting subject because it brings the past to life.

Do you enjoy teaching? Yes, I thoroughly enjoy it. Each day is always different, with lots of challenges.

Do you have a stressful time teaching? Sometimes! To teach 34 children effectively and complete co- ordinator roles and administration tasks can be a difficult balancing act. However, I get bored if I don't have a challenge and if used positively I can sometimes thrive on stress!

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Sharing the fruits of our labours - By pupils Abbie-Jo Mattin, Lesley Ruff and Oliver Bray

ON July 1 The Core Fruit Shop team went to Bradley Grange Training Centre to do a presentation about St John's fruit shop.

We received a very warm welcome at the nutrition in schools conference, which was organised by Suzy Hartley of the Kirklees Healthy Schools team.

Teachers and head teachers from Kirklees schools attended the conference.

We introduced ourselves to the audience and shared our experiences of managing a very busy and successful fruit shop.

We all felt that the meeting was a success and we certainly enjoyed the experience.

We were asked a wide range of questions and felt that people were pleased with our answers.

Now we hope that they will establish their own fruit shop.

We are all committed to healthy eating in our school and try to follow our vision statement: "Eat fruit and be healthy".

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A member's view by Pupil Ashley Lutz

I AM a member of The Core Fruit Shop at school. I help keep the fruit shop running.

This year I have made a lot of decisions, on a name change and how to celebrate special days and raise money for charity. On Red Nose Day, for instance, we had red fruit and red fruit juice.

I have also designed some questionnaires to see how we can make the fruit shop even better.

Our head teacher holds meetings with The Core Fruit Shop, but the children make collective decisions.

The Core Fruit Shop is run by the children for the children and adults in school.

If we make a profit out of the shop we buy items for school.

Last summer we bought some picnic benches for the playground.

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How the shop is run, by pupil Alex Walker

THE fruit shop is run by an organisation called The Core Fruit Shop.

The Core Fruit Shop decides what happens if we have a complaint. We will sort it out.

Mrs Cross, the head teacher, holds The Core Fruit Shop meetings about three times a term to discuss key issues.

The children make all the decisions and our school secretary, Mrs Holden, counts all the profit and pays the bills.

A parent, Mrs Rachel Johnson, buys the fruit and brings it fresh daily.

Another parent, Mrs Mellor, chops the fruit and creates delicious fruit cocktails. The shop opens from 10.30am until 11am.

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New skills at basketball - By pupils Rebecca Bawn, Andrew Smith, and Faisal Akram

DURING May and June we had four lessons with Gareth Hamlet and Laura from the Communities United Project.

They taught us basketball skills. We learned lots of new skills such as shooting, passing and dribbling. They taught years five and six. The lessons were free of charge. The things we learned were fun and inspirational.

We played lots of games. The weather was lovely - we played outside, except for the last lesson. We had to go in the hall for it was raining. But that didn't spoil our fun. We played bench ball.

If anyone aged between eight and 16 would like to come to the sporting events in Golcar they are held on the rec on Longfield Road. All sessions are free and are held on Sundays from 1.45pm to 3.15pm and Tuesday from 4pm to 5.30pm. Contact Gareth on 01484 510932.

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Our trip to Standedge

PUPILS of year six went on a visit to the Standedge Experience at Tunnel End, Marsden, earlier this month.

They were asked to describe their experiences when they returned to school.

THOMAS DAVIES writes: Inside the tunnel it was cold and damp. It was quiet, apart from Fred the conductor and the occasional splash of water.

The darkness was so dark that it looked like you were looking into a black curtain!

At the front of the boat the silence was like big hands were pressing hard on my ears, blocking most sound!

MICHAEL DUNN writes: In the tunnel it was pitch black and silent like the lightness and the sound had switched themselves off.

You could just hear the odd sprinkle of water dripping down from the wall.

The water was murky and it felt like you had travelled back in time to when the navvies worked there! It seemed to be murky because there is no pond life to keep the water clean. You could hear the water clashing again the boat like the water against the rocks.

The lower part of the ceiling in the tunnel was the new tunnel, the higher part was the old tunnel.