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Sixth Form pupils Jake Luscombe and William Webb were both winners in the Mole Valley Youth Showcase awards. Jake received the Youth Art and Design Award and William was the Community Spirit Award winner. The boys are pictured right with the teachers who nominated them for the awards, Sue Harmon, Head of Art, and Judith Fowler who is reponsible for the School's Community Service Unit.
Mark Mortimer, Deputy Headmaster, said: "We are very proud of both boys who are a credit to the School and worthy recipients of their awards. Jake is a talented deisgner and artist who has produced some exceptional work in his time at St John's. We are very keen for our pupils to leave here with a sense of their responsibility to the local community. William exemplifies this with his cheerful and selfless work helping others."
Jake recently achieved 100% in GCSE Art and for his Design and Technology coursework resulting in the award of a national Arkwright Scholarship for Design and Technology and a St John's Art scholarship. He is hoping to go on to study Aeronautical Engineering at university.
Jake's Kitchen Sink artwork (left) was one of three pieces of his work on display in the Art Exhibition staged at the Awards evening at Dorking Halls.
William, along with many St John's pupils, is very involved in community service. He regularly visits the Beeches, teaches IT to the elderly at the Fairfield Centre and took part in an enterprise competition at Westhill School, a local special needs school. William is a regular visitor to Pitstop, the centre for the lonely and homeless in Leatherhead and raised £500 to fund Christmas presents for visitors to this centre based at Leatherhead Football Club - he is pictured right with Pitstop helpers.
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The traditional Pancake Races around the Quad took place a week early as Shrove Tuesday fell during half term this year. The competition for the Frying Pan Trophy was fiercely competitive with the entire School cheering on their own Houses.
Churchill, the defending champions, were keen to be repeat last year’s victory but at the end of the three races, Junior, Inter & Senior, they ended up as joint winners with East House.
School Chaplain and organiser of the races, Reverend Clive Case, said: “The races were great fun and congratulations to East and Churchill who proved to be the most nimble-footed and deft flippers on the day”
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 Over 150 pupils from ten Prep Schools visited St John’s to take part in two events – a Hockey Skills training morning and an Orchestral Play Day.
Brett Garrard, England’s most capped international hockey player and St John’s hockey coach, created a challenging and enjoyable training session where the aspiring hockey stars not only benefited from some top class coaching but also saw some superb skills from Brett and other visiting international players who ran the coaching session.
Nick Platt, Director of Sport at St John’s, said “We are delighted to have someone with Brett’s experience guiding our own hockey players and pleased that we are able to let other schools benefit from his expertise – I know our visitors thoroughly enjoyed their time here and I hope they are able to impress on the hockey pitch with some of their newly acquired skills”.
Over one hundred Prep School musicians from six schools joined forces at the annual Orchestral Play Day. With just an afternoon’s rehearsal the orchestra performed a concert in the evening to their parents. This event is particularly impressive as the musicians were all aged between 8 and 12.
The concert was organised by Nicholas Smith, Director of Music at St John’s School, who said
“As always, this popular event demonstrates the excellent quality of musicians that these schools are producing. They get an awful amount out of the day and hopefully it enthuses them to play in larger ensembles in the future”.
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St John's rugby reputation was enhanced when two Old Johnians played alongside each other for Saracens and last year’s Under 16 St John’s Rugby team picked up a prestigious Mole Valley Sports Award.
George Kruis
Former St John’s School pupil George Kruis made his debut for Saracens’ senior team against Northampton in the LV Cup playing alongside fellow Old Johnian Richard Haughton, who has made over 150 appearances for Saracens - unfortunately they lost 19:3. George was also named in the Saracens squad to face World and Tri-Nations Champions, South Africa, at Wembley
The Under 16s record of losing only one game in two seasons was recognised at the Mole Valley Sports Awards where they were announced as Youth Team of the Year.
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Rosie with judges
Rosie wins The Great Debate
Rosie Russell, an Upper Sixth pupil, won the London heat of The Great Debate organised by the Historical Association with her speech that addressed the question “Why does your local hero matter?” Rosie now progresses to the finals of this competition which are held at Clare College, Cambridge and the hero she chose was Marie Stopes, who lived in Leatherhead for a brief time.
Rosie said “Marie Stopes had a strong passion for what she believed in and was fighting for women’s rights at a time when women had no real say which just highlighted how brave and courageous she was”
The judges commented that the speech “fused interesting contextual detail with a strong argument for her hero” and were full of praise for all speakers saying the standard of the London heat was better than the overall final last year.
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Pedal Power Help for Heroes
Four pupils successfully completed a London to Paris cycle ride raising £1,500 for the Help for Heroes charity. The boys presented the cheque to Bryn and Emma Parry, Co Founders of the charity, after Bryn had talked to the School about the work of Help for Heroes.
The boys pictured with Bryn and Emma Parry and the Headmaster, completed their cycle ride in 3½ days. They had been inspired by Rob Gauntlet the youngest British adventurer to climb Everest who spoke of his expeditions at the School and tragically died in a climbing accident at the age of 23.
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Local charity, CHICKS has received a huge financial boost after a year’s worth of fundraising at the School.
CHICKS received £27,000 after a number of fundraising events were organised throughout the last academic year. The cheque amount is the largest ever raised by the School. The charity aims to provide as many disadvantaged children as possible with the life enhancing experience of a free respite break away in the countryside at one of their centres in Devon or Cornwall. CHICKS helps children from a variety of different backgrounds, including children growing up in poverty, children of prisoners, and children who have been abused, either physically, emotionally or sexually. CHICKS also provides breaks for young carers.
The Pupils organised events including a Race Night and a Gala Evening. Newly wed staff members, Patricia Parrouty and Tom Hadcroft, as part of their honeymoon, walked to Santiago across Spain to raise money.
The money will go towards a number of summer camps for children needing respite. Seven pupils have volunteered to help at these camps during the school holiday.
School Chaplain, Reverend Clive Case, said: “This money will make a huge difference to the charity CHICKS, St John’s was only too happy to contribute to such a worthwhile cause. Staff and pupils really took the charity to their hearts, recognising the importance of giving less advantaged children the opportunity to enjoy their childhood.
Deputy Headmaster, Mark Mortimer, with CHICKS Chief Executive, Roy Endecott, Staff and Pupils
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Pupils celebrated the School’s best ever examination results in August with 80% A and B grades at A level and 90% A* to B grades at GCSE.
29 A Level candidates celebrated with at least 3 straight A grades and Chemistry and Physics GCSE teachers were particular pleased as all their pupils gained A* or A grades.
The A Level year group at St John’s are a special year in the eyes of the Headmaster who joined the School in September 2004; at the same time as many of these pupils. These best-ever grades represent the conclusion of a five-year journey shared together. As this group of pupils looked forward to their next step, either to enjoy a Gap year or continue their studies at university Headmaster, Nicholas Haddock, said: “These excellent results reflect the hard work and quality of these young people supported by a very fine staff. There is nothing more rewarding in our profession than to see a young person achieve success and fulfilment, which provides self esteem and confidence. They can look forward to University and their future with optimism. We are very proud of their achievements.”
At GCSE 56% of the grades achieved were either A* or A, over the last six years’ over half of all grades have been A* or A. Congratulations go to all pupils but Matthew Hilborn’s 11 A* grades and ten other pupils who achieved a combination of straight A* and A grades deserve a special mention for their particularly impressive results. Commenting on these results Headmaster, Nicholas Haddock, said: “It is testament to the learning environment and fine teaching staff that the boys have achieved the best ever results for St John’s. Above all, they can look forward to the Sixth Form with confidence.”
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Pupils and staff are celebrating the announcement of the GCSE results today. St John’s School has surpassed its previous impressive examination record and have produced the best results to date.
Out of a total of 87 candidates, the overall pass rate (A*-C) was 99.4% with 56% achieving A* and A grades, and the percentage of A* to B grades gained rose to 90%.
Eleven boys at St John’s achieved a combination of straight A* and A grades. Pupil Matthew Hilborn, achieved straight A* in all eleven of his subjects. Of particular note are the Chemistry and Physics results, as 100% of the candidates gained A* or A grades. The Biology, Latin and Music Departments were also celebrating as 100% of the pupils obtained A*- B grades in these subjects.
The results coincide with the recent Independent Schools Inspectorate Inspection Report 2008, in which the outstanding academic, pastoral and co-curricular strength of the School was highlighted – ‘The curriculum both in and away from the classroom is both broad and balanced and provides excellent opportunities for personal development and leadership’.
This year the announcement was made of the move to full co-education from 2010 when the School will admit girls as well as boys from the age of 13. Alongside changes to more flexible arrangements for boarding there will be a revised structure of the week, which ends teaching on a Saturday morning. The introduction of full co-education will build upon the high quality education currently offered and promote St John’s as one of the top co-educational schools in the region. Over the last five years St John’s has enjoyed some of the best ever academic results in its long history and the majority of boys and girls achieve their first choice at a top university on leaving.
To support this vision for the future, the Schools facilities will be significantly improved in the short and medium term beginning with a major investment in the building of a new teaching block. This development will include purpose-built workshops for Design and Technology, art studios, a library and additional classrooms.
Headmaster, Nicholas Haddock, said: “It is testament to the learning environment and fine teaching staff that the boys have achieved the best ever results for St John’s. Above all, they can look forward to the Sixth Form with confidence.”
Click for results in pdf format
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Students and Staff are celebrating following the publication of the school’s best-ever A level examination results.
Out of a total of 109 candidates at A level, there was a 100% overall pass rate with 80% of students achieving A to B grades (up 6% from 2008). The percentage of pupils gaining A to C grades rose from 91% to 95%.
A record 29 A level candidates celebrated with at least 3 straight A grades including Sarah Peters, Boyan Baynov, Katherine English and Wang Leuk Chan, who achieved four A grades, and Emma Charles who achieved five A Grades at A Level.
The A Level year group at St John’s are a special year in the eyes of the Headmaster who joined the School in September 2004; at the same time as many of these pupils. These best-ever grades represent the conclusion of a five-year journey shared together and reflect the dedication of both pupils and staff at St John’s.
The results compliment the recent Independent Schools Inspectorate Inspection Report 2008, in which the outstanding academic, pastoral and co-curricular strength of the School was highlighted – ‘The curriculum both in and away from the classroom is both broad and balanced and provides excellent opportunities for personal development and leadership’.
In addition, this year the announcement was made of the move to full co-education from 2010 when the School will admit girls as well as boys from the age of 13. Furthermore, flexible arrangements for boarding will be introduced alongside a revised structure of the week. The introduction of full co-education will build upon the high quality education currently offered and promote St John’s as one of the top co-educational schools in the region. Over the last five years St John’s has enjoyed some of the best ever academic results in its long history and the majority of boys and girls achieve their first choice at a top university on leaving.
To support this vision for the future, the Schools facilities will be significantly improved in the short and medium term beginning with a major investment in the building of a new teaching block. This development will include purpose-built workshops for Design and Technology, Art Studios, a library and additional classrooms.
Headmaster, Nicholas Haddock, said: “These excellent results reflect the hard work and quality of these young people supported by a very fine staff. There is nothing more rewarding in our profession than to see a young person achieve success and fulfilment, which provides self esteem and confidence. They can look forward to University and their future with optimism. We are very proud of their achievements.”
Click for results in pdf format
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