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Banning zoos and advertising aimed at children or making recycling compulsory were three of the subjects debated by Prep Schools as six teams from local schools battled against each other in St John’s Annual Prep School Debating Competition.
Pupils from Cranmore School emerged as winners beating Belmont School in a closely fought final where the debate centred on the cost of the Olympic Games. The six teams were evenly matched and the judges had a difficult task deciding on the winners in many of the debates.
St John’s Headmaster, Nicholas Haddock, who judged the final debate said: “I was very impressed with the quality of debates throughout the day. I was also very pleased with the involvement of our own Sixth Form pupils who chaired and judged the competition, often providing good advice based on their own debating experience.”
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Jonathan Hunt, a Sixth Form pupil and Music Scholar, recently won the Katie Ogden Memorial Solo Competition on the trombone whilst residing on a National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain course. A few weeks earlier, Jonathan performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1 with the school orchestra, demonstrating the diversity and depth of his talent.
Nicholas Smith, Director of Music, said "Even in the holiday period Jonathan maintains an impressive ethic towards his music making and is a talented and hard working young man. Whilst he has been accepted to read Engineering at Cambridge, he clearly wants to push his musical ability to the hilt and he has been one of the most complete musicians the school has produced for some time".
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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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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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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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