Hello and Welcome to our St. John’s FOSJ page!

We are a group of like-minded parents and family members associated with the school who look to put on events and raise as much money to help enrich our children’s education and time at St. John’s School as we can.

We usually have lots of great events throughout the year including; school discos, Easter egg hunts, and fireworks but due to Covid-19 we have adapted our events – but that hasn’t stopped us! Every event is run and organised by a FOSJ (Friends of St. John's) member and supported by lots of willing volunteers.

Sounds fun? We would love you to get involved. To join the FOSJ or to offer help for a specific event you can do one of the following; 1) Email the FOSJ with your contact details (FOSJCOFE@gmail.com) and we will get in touch with you 2) If you know someone who is already on the FOSJ then approach them directly and they will add you into future communications.

If you have any amazing ideas for raising money within the national restrictions the FOSJ would love to hear about them. Just drop them an email (FOSJCOFE@gmail.com).

If you are a parent of the school join us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BasingstokePTA) for all the latest and up-to-date FOSJ news. We understand not everyone is on Facebook so we try to ensure all our communications are included in the weekly school newsletter (sent out on a Friday) and on this page.

Academic Year 2021/22 - What an Achievement!!

Pre-Loved Uniform free of charge!

FOSJ has good quality pre-loved uniform available for free. Please email FOSJCOFE@gmail.com with your child's name, class and what is required and someone will get back to you.

Outside of these events there are plenty of ways you can help raise money for the school. Please feel free to pass on these details to your family.

1.       Play the Basingstoke & Deane Community Lottery 

St. John's C of E School has signed up with the Basingstoke & Deane Community Lottery. 60% of ticket sales will go to good causes - 50% to our school and 10% to a fund supporting good causes in Basingstoke and Deane. Tickets for the lottery cost just £1 a week. Each ticket has a 1 in 50 chance to win a prize each week, with a top prize of £25,000! That’s a better chance of winning than the National Lottery or the Health Lottery.

 

Each ticket has six numbers and each number is between 0 and 9. There will be a draw every Saturday night when a six digit winning combination will be picked. Prizes will be given to players with tickets that match the first or last 2 to 6 numbers from the winning combination. Match all six and you win the jackpot!

 

So far we have sold 12 tickets of our 50 ticket goal. To sign up simply to go to: https://www.bandcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/st-johns-c-of-e-primary-school-pta

2.       My Nametags

Name tags are essential for school and can significantly reduce the problem of lost property. My Nametags labels can be used on everything from uniforms to stationery, PE bags, lunchboxes, bottles or accessories. Simply adding a small, colourful label to clothing can help lost items be returned to their owner and save school staff hours in associated admin. 

The FOSJ will generate a percentage from every order placed. Please use the school ID 22310 at the checkout -  https://www.mynametags.com/

3.       AmazonSmile 

Thank you to the school parent who suggested we sign up for AmazonSmile. Please find further details in this newsletter. We welcome all ideas/suggestions from parents of the school. 

Please search for ‘St Johns Church Of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Friends of St. Johns’ or ‘Basingstoke parent’ on the charity list. 

What is AmazonSmile? 

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support a charity of your choice every time you shop, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is available at smile.amazon.co.uk on your web browser and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping App for iOS and Android phones. When you shop with AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as amazon.co.uk, with the added bonus that AmazonSmile will donate a portion of the purchase price to your selected charity.

How do I shop with AmazonSmile? 

To use AmazonSmile, simply go to smile.amazon.co.uk on your web browser or activate AmazonSmile in the Amazon Shopping app on your iOS or Android phone within the Settings or Programmes & Features menu. On your web browser, you can add a bookmark to smile.amazon.co.uk to make it even easier to return and start your shopping with AmazonSmile. 

4.       Easyfundraising                                                    

St John's CofE FOSJ is registered with easyfundraising, which means you can raise FREE donations for us every time you shop online. Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us when you use easyfundraising – at no extra cost to yourself!

These donations really mount up and make a BIG difference to us, so we’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment to sign up and support us. It’s completely FREE and only takes a moment. You can find our easyfundraising page at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stjohnsptarg21/

In February 2021 alone we raised £40.85 and recruited 19 new supporters! Just imagine what the total could be if everyone signed up and encouraged their family to do the same!! Please do pass on this link to your friends and family.

5.         Bag2School

Thank you to all the parents who donated to the Bag2School initiative last week.  We raised £106.  The next collection will take place on 2nd November 2021.

Thank you for your support with filling these bags when they arrive home in your child’s bag.

Here is a link to the website if you need to check what is and is not accepted in the bags:  www.bag2school.com

Don’t forget to leave your full bag on the morning of collection outside the reception windows. Please refer to the school newsletter for the date of the next collection.

6.        St John's C of E Primary School PTA Book Club

St John's C of E Primary School FOSJ have their own Book Shop!  10% of all sales made via our shop go directly to St John's C of E Primary School FOSJ.  If the book you want isn't listed here, please contact stjohnscofepta@gmail.com and we will add it for you. Please feel free to add this link on to your friends and family.

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/stjohnscofe