St John's
pupils took America by storm with a California
tour of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The visit included
performances at The Stella Adler Academy in Hollywood and the
Marjorie Luke Theatre in Santa Barbara. The actors returned
to perform The Tempest as the School production,
culminating in a highly successful Gala Performance.
The
popular Inter-House Drama Competition took place in November
2007 with the Wizard of Oz! Churchill won Best House performance,
Fergus Leathem of Churchill House was declared the best actor,
Callum Brodie and Fergus Leathem won Best Direction
and the Best Cameo went to Robert Cooper for his Guard role.
Other past performances include Fawlty Towers,A Midsummer
Night#s Dream, Macbeth, The Wind in the Willows, Romeo & Juliet,
My Fair Lady,The Diary of Adrian Mole, The Crucible, Animal
Farm, Daisy Pulls It Off, Equus, Bouncers, Shakers and The
Hound of the Baskervilles. St John's also offers qualifications
in LAMDA, Trinity College London / Guildhall as well as piloting
the new RADA certificate. Contact: Drama Department: Mrs
Thorold-Yankova
Tel: 01372 373000
The Tempest
The Wizard of Oz!
Music:
The
Music Department is now firmly established within the Performing
Arts Centre. It offers opportunities which cater for all standards
and tastes. These include the Chapel Choir, Chamber Choir,
Choral Society, Training Choir, Orchestra, String Quartets,
Wind Band, Jazz Band, Junior Jazz Band, Dance Band, Brass
Group and Rock Ensembles.
The success of the California Choir Tour demonstrates the
rising standards and popularity of choral singing, and the
singing in our own Chapel allows over 70 pupils to sing in
public on a regular basis. Other events throughout the year
include informal concerts, workshops, Guest Nights and scholars'
recitals.
An opportunity for the whole school to involve themselves
musically comes in the form of the House Singing and Instrumental
Competitions. Two Gala Evenings offer a number of performances
of rock and pop music alongside more traditional music and
some scenes from musicals.
Prep school events are popular and in 2007 around 120 pupils
attended the Orchestral Playday. A similar number took part
in the Prep Schools' Choral Evensong.
Contact: Head of Department: Mr
N Smith
Tel: 01372 385463
Music at St John's
The Library:
The School Library is housed in the Old Chapel. Over 12
thousand books and other resources on a wide range of subjects are
held in the Library. Details of these are now on the Library computer
catalogue and can be accessed through the OPAC (On Line Public Access
Catalogue) which is networked throughout the School and includes
links to useful websites for a wide range of topics.
The Library also takes a number of newspapers and magazines, including
foreign language journals. Back copies of newspaper and magazines
can be found in the Still Memorial Gallery which also provides additional
study space for students. Videos, DVDs and CDs are also available
for loan. Reference books, dictionaries and directories are kep
in the Derek Pitt Memorial area under the former organ loft in the
main Library. Three network computers are provided for research
and word processing, and a stand-alone machine runs a library collection
of CD-ROMs. A scanner and a photocopier are also available for use.
Debating:
Debating is conducted through a House Competition, a Senior Debating
Society and participation in a number of prestigious national
competitions
- the Cambridge Union, the Oxford Union and the ESU Mace.
The last Prep School Debating Competition took place in April 2007
and was won by Homefield School. Six teams
from prep schools
around the area took part.
Chaplain
Notable OJs 
