’18 THE OLD JOHNIAN The Magazine for Alumni of St John’s School THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE 1 FROM THE HEAD’S DESK I am writing this at the end of my first to meet the changing needs of our pupils and year as The Head of St John’s and it is an their families. Being a vibrant community of interesting point at which to reflect on the boys and girls from ages 11 to 18 has added warmth of the welcome I have received an exciting new dimension to school life and into the St John’s community. we are delighted that we will be welcoming a larger Lower Third (Year 7) intake in My own connection with St John’s stretches September 2018. back to childhood when I competed on St John’s playing fields as a local schoolgirl. We are fortunate at St John’s to have Fast-forward a few years and, as my exceptional facilities for our pupils but we teaching career progressed, I remained aware of St John’s are also ambitious about building the very best learning and watched the changes taking place with interest. I was environment that we can. Our Director of Estates will be immediately drawn to the role of The Head at St John’s creating a masterplan to ensure that our setting supports because I could see that it would blend the professional and enhances the delivery of the highest standard of challenge of leading an exceptional school with a very education in the coming years. I am also pleased to say that personal sense of belonging and familiarity. My family was work has now begun on the new swimming pool and this instantly made to feel at home here and my conviction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2019. that this would be a special community to belong to has certainly been proved to be true. I have really enjoyed talking with the many OJs I have met at various events this year; I have been struck by the Throughout its history, St John’s has been progressive loyalty, kindness and enthusiasm you have for St John’s and in its approach and never has this been more important it speaks volumes for our school community that we have than today. The challenge for schools now is to retain the such a committed alumni. I would like to thank you for ethos and values which are at their heart, while being your ongoing support and I look forward to meeting many innovative in the way they prepare young people for life more of you at future events. in an ever-shifting landscape. It is heartening that one of the most significant changes at St John’s in recent years, Mrs Rowena Cole the introduction of Lower School, has proved so successful The Head because this demonstrates the value of seeking new ways THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE 2 THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE 3 EDINBURGH FRINGE The John’s 11 theatre group went to Edinburgh to perform at the Fringe Festival. The show, Not To Be Seen Outside the EU, was a short, light-hearted comedy about a dystopian post-Brexit Britain. The group flyered on the Mile and enjoyed interacting with creative and interesting people, swapping flyers and hearing them talk with passion about their performances. SCH L They also adopted some unorthodox flyering OO techniques including lying on the ground, coating pillars entirely in taped together NEWS flyers, and resorted to some good old fashioned begging. Despite initial worries over its reception, the show was a hit with the audience and was almost full every day. STEM TRIP TO THE INSTITUTE OF CANCER RESEARCH “My experience at the Young YOUNG FURNITURE Girls from the Lower Sixth took a trip to the Institute of MAKERS’ EXHIBITION Cancer Research (ICR). The day focused on encouraging Furniture Makers’ exhibition girls to take up STEM (science, technology, engineering Saskia Hawkins was awarded joint winner of and mathematics) careers. was amazing and I was the School Design Prize at the Young Furniture Makers’ Exhibition in London. She received the The first talk from Professor Raj Chopra explained how the honoured to have been put award, a gift voucher and a cheque for St John’s, ICR contributes to breakthroughs in cancer treatment. He from acclaimed product and furniture designer explained that the human genome sequencing now takes forward and to present my Sebastian Conran. two hours, so malfunctioning genes can be pinpointed and genetic predisposition to cancer identified. piece. It was fascinating to The Young Furniture Makers’ exhibition was held at Furniture Makers’ Hall and the Dutch Church The second speaker, Dr Olivia Rossanese, explained how be able to meet so many in Austin Friars. Over 120 young designers and school-level biology feeds into the work of the ICR to furniture makers were invited to exhibit and develop new medicines. interesting people and to see showcase their work. The third speaker, Dr Florence Raynaud, spoke about the wide variety of creativity in the role of chemistry in developing new treatments. She highlighted professional avenues to work with the ICR and their designs.” advised the girls to study something they were passionate about as specialising comes later. Designer Sebastian Conran in his West London Studio Saskia Hawkins The girls then went on a tour of the Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Screening labs and got the chance to see experiments in action. They also used microscopes to examine living human cells. 4 THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE 5 ST JOHN’S AT SANDHURST “It was incredibly A pupil and a member of staff from St John’s inspiring to be were proud participants at a dinner at Sandhurst. Cadet Sergeant Emma Sinclair and teacher Lt Col surrounded by so many Ainsley Rawlings were invited to represent the ‘future’ at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst extremely capable Centenary dinner to honour the Past, Present and Future of women in the British Army alongside women, young and old, representatives from seven cadet forces from schools across the country. who have shaped and are still shaping the role that women play in the military.” SINFONIA IS A FORMIDABLE NATIONAL FINAL OF THE The St John’s Pistol Shooting team competed in the National Finals for the Schools’ Pistol FORCE BRITISH SCHOOLS’ PISTOL Championships at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on Members of the Sinfonia played with style and The St John’s Pistol 17 January 2018. They had been selected for this Shooting team CHAMPIONSHIPS maturity to an appreciative audience on Tuesday event by coming second in the South East regional 20 March in the Old Chapel at St John’s tackling qualifying event. some extremely demanding repertoire. The concert opened with Mozart’s overture from The St John’s team had a fantastic shoot to win the The Magic Flute, and was followed by the first silver medal in the Senior Final alongside Glyn The St John’s movement of Beriot’s Violin Concerto, played by Sinfonia School who won gold and Ellesmere College who Jimena Rodriguez-Foronda. Her playing was truly won bronze. outstanding for someone of such tender years and she commanded the performance from start “We are so happy after to finish with beautiful phrasing and dexterous a hugely successful virtuosity. The string quartet then played a movement competition. We had from Mendelssohn’s string quartet No.2 in A minor. This ensemble is fast gaining notoriety over 500 entries for the for their playing and this performance was no exception. The concert finished with the Championships overall, mighty Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven, which pushed the players’ ability to the extreme. The with 80 teams from 217 performance was professional in all aspects, with different schools.” some outstanding individual contributions from members of the woodwind and brass sections British Shooting Commercial and Events Co-ordinator, Gorgs Geikie especially. 6 THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE THE OLD JOHNIAN MAGAZINE 7 RUGBY SEVENS 2018 “I am very pleased SENIOR SCHOOL PLAY SURREY PLATE WINNERS to come away with On 6 and 7 December the Senior School gave an In the Surrey Sevens, the U18 Eagles faced tough impassioned and impressive performance of a competition. The team started well with a win two medals, but am reinterpretation of Oedipus by Sophocles. Earth against Harris City Academy 45-0. in the future is a barren wasteland ravaged by also looking to keep climate change. At a press conference Oedipus In the next match against Harrow, the Eagles lost declares he will remedy the environmental curse; 12-26. The players created a recovery plan for improving as the a quest which ultimately leads to his destruction. their following match against Beechen Cliff, who season goes on.” Chorus groups mastered the growing unease of were runners-up in 2017 and one of the best the play and the curtain fell on the broken and teams. The strategy paid off and led to a win of haunted Oedipus accompanied by Neil Young’s 50-21. Unfortunately the stellar effort was not After the Gold Rush and the lyric Look at Mother enough to qualify for the cup quarter finals by Nature on the Run in the 21st Century. a margin of three points. The team was entered instead into the Surrey Plate competition. Luke Grob’s performance in the lead role was masterful. The chilling portrayal of Tiresias King’s College Wimbledon proved to be a by Harry Edwards was full of venom. Isabelle challenge with big and powerful players in the Hammersley gave a shocking representation quarter final, but the Eagles ran in seven tries as The Messenger, Megan Wrigglesworth’s and ended 47-0.