Every few weeks I change "The Big Picture" - the picture on the opening page of the St. John's site. It's always nice to have a new picture up but often it's rather a shame that we have to say goodbye to the picture it replaces. This gallery is their retirement home. You'll find pictures here covering all aspects of life at St. John's. I hope you enjoy them.
N. Pauli
A competitor in the long jump defying gravity for as long as possible in fine style. Senior Sports Day is the last major festival of our school year and, despite a bit of rain in the morning, the conditions in the afternoon were ideal for the 2008 event - sunny with a bit of a cooling breeze.
During the Summer Term the Yr8 boys undertake a series of challenges; some athletic and some - as in this example - a bit more cerebral. The challenge here is to build the highest and strongest possible tower using a limited amount of dried pasta and plasticine.
Photo: Mr Vince
On the first Friday of the 2008 Summer term Yr8 and Yr7 devoted the entire afternoon to the second running (or, on this particular section of the course, the gingerly walking) of the Northwood 500. What's involved is getting your house team round an obstacle course in our woods in the best possible time - a real team effort.
Miss Bullock and the St. John's Cello Boyz at the Merchant Taylors' Hall in early March 2008 for a concert featuring select musicians from St. John's and Merchant Taylors' School put on for governors and parents from both schools. As well as the Cello Boyz we had a wind ensemble and a piano trio performing.
Mr Robinson, the 1st VII squad and the winner's shield at the the end of our 35th St. John's Sevens Tournament held on Wed 5th March 2008. So often we've been runners-up in our own tournament but this is the first time for quite a few years that we've actually won it. On Monday the squad went off to the National Sevens but unfortunately a combination of gale force winds and a quagmire underfoot caused them to be cancelled Halfway through the first day.
One of the last events of the Cross Country season in the Easter term is the St. Martin's Road Relay. Being a relay it's a lot more exciting for the spectators than an ordinary cross country race. Here is our Under 11 from 2008 team who did very well and finished just out of the medals.
Learning Latin isn't just about struggling with verb endings. Here's Mrs Stewart-Paul and a load of Yr7 boys with a spread of dishes that would be typically part of a Roman meal. Look as hard as you like. You will not see any sign of a potato, a tomato or a chilli.
An autumn panorama of our 'new' playing fields taken in November 2007. In fact they're in exactly the same spot as they've always been; but over the last few years an immense amount of earth moving has been done to level and drain them. The rugby pitch in the far corner will be of particular interest to Old Boys - it used to be the infamous 'swamp pitch' and look at it now!
A line-up of SJA mums ready to feed the ravenous hordes. Every year on the first Thursday in November the St. John's Association puts on superb fireworks display for the boys and their families - and of course an important part of the experience is a hotdog and some potato wedges. This is a busy time in the SJA calendar - on Sat 1st December we have the Christmas Bazaar which is another great SJA occasion.
With the start of the Autumn Term we're back into the rugby season. Shown here are the Colts A kicking off against Haberdashers'in the opening match of their 2007 - 2008 season. Just for the record, they won 5 - 0.
Photo: Mr Godfrey.
Earlier in the week an enormous thunderstorm had forced the cancellation of the 2007 Juniors' Sports Day but Saturday, 7th July turned out to be a lovely day. This is a changeover In the Yr7 House relay.
In the normal course of events the Junior Sports Afternoon follows their Prize Giving. But unfortunately for 2007 an incredible thunder storm put paid to that so it was shifted to the last Thursday of term. Here the inter house relay - which involves all the boys - is coming to an end.
The Thursday before the 2007 summer half term break turned on a lovely balmy evening for the Summer Concert. So, for the last item before the intermission, everyone moved outside onto the terrace for one of the traditional highlights of this annual concert - all the percussion students performing together.
Unfortunately we had to postpone, for the first time in many years, our Family Funday scheduled for 20th May. So, on the following Wednesday at morning break we went ahead with the grand raffle draw and the balloon launch. Here they are heading off in a north-easterly direction out towards Bushey.
Over the 2007 Easter break a new woodland playground was put in for the PrePrep at the top of our nature trail. Here are Mrs Woodcock's class showing off some of its features. Many thanks to the St. John's Association for sponsoring this project.
Over the Spring 2007 half term break and the next few weeks Mr Vince was busy designing and building an obstacle course through our woods - and on a Monday afternoon towards the end of term the Yr7s and Yr8s competed in house teams in the inaugural Northwood 500 Challenge.
Just a week before this picture was taken, rain sodden pitches and storms were forcing many Sevens tournaments to cancel. On Wednesday 14th March 2007 we held our own tournament on a pleasant, sunny day on pitches that were in superb condition. Here you can see three of our 1st VII players linking up together in a match against Highgate.
On the morning of Thursday 8th February 2007 heavy snow blanketed much of southern England - and St. John's was no exception. Along with a lot of other schools we simply were unable to open. This picture was taken from outside the Science Block changing rooms looking back towards the main building. Later in the day I added some more pictures of St. John's in the snow to give those at home an idea of actually how much snow we did have up here.
Normally our House Cross Country precedes (and is designed to work up an appetite for) our Christmas lunch. This year (2006) we had to postpone the cross country to the last Monday of term - and got a much better day for it. This is the Juniors heading down the eastern side of the Oak Tree field towards the first bend.
Photo: Mr Vince
The photo from November 2006 shows our U8 tag rugby team enjoying the company of the St John's Beaumont team who they had just beaten by 40 points to 30 points. This was only the team's 2nd game, having won the 1st match against Papplewick 55 points to 45 points. Bring on New Zealand's u8's!!
Here is our 1st XI outfield doing duty as a playground one afternoon break towards the end of the Summer Term 2006. Now that we are in the middle of the summer break, the outfield is looking nowhere near as green as this after our long drought.
This was taken on a Friday very close to the end of the 2006 Summer term on the occasion of our re-scheduled whole school panoramic photo. The Year 8 boys are already up on the top row and the Year 7 and Year 6 fellows are lined up ready.
This photo of the 1978 1st XI was sent me by Scott Martin who is an old boy from 1976 to 1978. He now lives in the US and he says that the web site helps him keep in touch with a school he hasn't visited for at least a couple of decades and has clearly changed a lot in that time. The teacher in the photo is Mr Jones after whom the "Mark Jones Award" is named. Old boys, if you have any other old photos do scan them and send me a copy.
This is the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman David Brewer, arriving at St. John's on a Tuesday in late May 2006. As his car drew up the boys waved to him and he waved back. Here you can see him heading straight off to shake hands with the line of boys on his side of the car. He was here on the Tuesday before Summer half term to open our new all-weather artificial turf pitch. The full story is in our Picture Stories section.
This young man is about to do his number playing the tabla drums at our House Music Competition. This is held at the end of the Spring Term every year and involves groups, choirs and soloists all competing for their houses - Churchill, Lawrence, Lincoln or Oates. The standard of music making is always superb.
The start of the 2006 St. John's Invitation U11 Cross Country. Each year, Mr Sugden organises this after school on a Thursday towards the end of the Spring Term and invites teams from our local Prep school rivals. One of our runners was first home and the first team home was York House followed by St. John's and St. Martin's.
Four members of our Colts Sevens team enjoying a bit of sunshine and some hot chocolate outside the marquee at our Invitation Sevens Tournament on Wednesday 15th March 2006. The Senior Seven got knocked out in the elimination rounds but the Colts went on to the final where they lost to a strong St. Columba's side.
Here are our U10s during the Daily Telegraph Schools National Rugby Tournament regional rounds at Epsom College in late January 2006. Although they were eventually knocked out, our U9s went through to the finals.
Although our new all-weather surface has seen a lot of internal use since it was finished in Septemeber 2005, the first Friday in February 2006 was the occasion of its first inter-school fixture. Pictured here is the U12 team that took on Aldenham. It was a good game but the visitors proved too strong winning 3 - 1.
Photo: S. Horbury
After an autumnal rain storm passed, this magnificent double rainbow appeared over the gym and the U10's cricket ground which lies behind the gym.
Work on our new astroturf all-weather playing surface on what used to be our U10 'Top Terrace' pitch started in Spring of 2005. It is now complete and here, in Autumn 2005, a senior games group is playing hockey on it for the very first time. It's big enough for a full size hockey pitch but can also be curtained in half to provide two separate activity areas.
A competitor in the Yr6 high jump launching himself over the bar. Sports Day is usually held on the last Saturday of the school year in the afternoon after Prize Giving in the morning. 2005's Sports Day enjoyed near perfect conditions - sunny without being hot, nice and dry and just a gentle breeze.
Here's Mr Robinson and a whole crowd of helpers ready for the big balloon release at our Summer Family Fun Day on the first Sunday in July 2005. With a steady south-westerly breeze blowing the balloons headed off over the top of the main building. On the following Tuesday morning Mr Robinson had already received some cards back from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
Earlier in the year (2005) the boys did a sponsored learning of either spellings or French, Latin or Science vocabs to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. On a Thursday in June we presented a cheque for £9000 to Mrs Annie Jackson from the campaign. Oliver, who is holding the other end of the cheque, did particularly well not only by raising over £300 but doing extremely well on his Latin vocab test. Mrs Stewart-Paul is very grateful for the huge effort put in by all the boys.
A few weeks ago Mr Murphy noticed this bluetit flying in and out of the coin return slot on our telephone with nest building materials and put a message up asking people to keep away. Even though she had picked one of the busiest spots in the school she successfully raised her chicks. This photo was taken at the end of Summer half term when she seemed to be on almost constant feeding duty.
Dr Horbury is seen here, in the week before our summer half term break, using his laptop to set up three probes to monitor oxygen levels, light levels and temperature in one of the ponds on the terrace in front of the main building. Over the next 48 hours the probes will record to the grey boxes once every 13 minutes. This data will then be used by the boys in their science.
Here are the scorers in action one afternoon in May 2005 for a 1st XI cricket match. I don't know why our chap on the right is slumped in his chair clutching his head in seeming despair as our fellows went on to win the match. At the moment we are losing a few matches to the weather so let's hope for a bit less rain on Wednesdays and Fridays.
This year (May 2005) our cricket season has started well with only one match lost to the weather. This is the 1st XI playing Davenies, a match they won narrowly, and out beyond are Ruislip Woods and places further west. Over the Summer break the outfield was scarrified heavily to remove the thatch of dead grass that builds up in any outfield and the square was completely re-seeded. Mr Murphy reports that it is playing beautifully.
Here are some of our drummers practising one breaktime early in May 2005 for their massed percussion number that they will perform at the Summer Concert on the evening of Tues 17th June. On the night they will use drums, but plastic chairs are easier to organise for a quick rehearsal and certainly deliver a bit of sound.
Here is a string group - made up of one Yr8, two Yr7, one Yr6 and a Yr4 boy and just one example of the incredible amount of music making going on at St. John's - practicing in the Music Room one lunchtime. The big music event of this term is the Summer Music Concert on Tues 17th May.
These frogs announcing that Spring has sprung are a more than usually welcome sight. For the last few years our frogs have been conspicuous by their absence as a virus has taken its toll. We here at St. John's are lucky in the amount of grounds we have which provide us not only with playing fields but also a unique educational resource. By the way, how many frogs can you see in the picture? There is definitely more than one.
Here is a Yr7 boy giving a talk and demonstration on erosion to an audience of Yr5 and Yr6 boys as part of Science Week at the beginning of March 2005. The tray on the right has 10 day old cress growing in it whilst the tray on the left has only bare soil. As you can see, pouring water on the tray on the left has caused severe gullying and the red markers have been washed out to sea; but the vegetation in the other tray has prevented the same degree of erosion.
On the Friday when we broke up for February half term, a group of Yr6 boys held a cake sale at lunchtime to support the Tsunami appeal and ended up raising £312.33. Here is part of the team clearly pleased with how well things are going.
This is Mr Vince's Yr8 Maths group watching the big wheel they designed and made being hung up in the entrance hall of the main building. It's made of rolled up sheets of photocopying paper - much of which has been recycled from old worksheets - held together by nuts and bolts.
Every year on the last Thursday of the Autumn term we have our Christmas lunch. Just before it we have our annual house cross country. In this picture taken in December 2004, these boys have already competed in the junior race and are now waiting for the senior race to come past.
Every year on the last Thursday of the Autumn term we have our Christmas lunch. The kitchen staff put in a big effort to provide a traditional lunch of turkey with all the trimmings followed by christmas pud (not to mention seasonal vegetarian options) with all the right table decorations.
Just before lunch we have our annual house cross country - just the thing for working up an appetite.
Ding-dong merrily on high ... and here is the St. John's Science department's contribution to Christmas festivities. This rather "Heath Robinson" contraption is a working model of an electric bell put together by Mr MacAulay, our science technician whose arm you can see operating the switch.
When he closes the circuit by pressing the switch, current flows through the electro-magnet which attracts the hacksaw blade making the striker at the top ring the bell but this breaks the circuit switching off the electro-magnet which allows the hacksaw blade to spring back completing the circuit again and so on.
The bright white dot in the centre is a spark arcing across as the gap between the hacksaw blade and the copper rod opens and closes.
Here is the school orchestra hard at work rehearsing one lunchtime recently. Their next big occasion is our annual carol service on Monday, 13th December where they accompany our carols.
Late autumn evening sunlight on the south front of the school with a few boys coming up from rugby. This was taken in late November 2004.
This is Martin and Russell of Bracknell Fireworks getting everything ready for our fireworks display on the night before Guy Fawkes 2004. The banks of tubes are what the fireworks are actually launched from. Russell, on the right is unpacking the fireworks out to the correct tube and Martin is then going round and fitting them with slow-burning fuses. As you can see the weather is looking very nice and it continued that way right into the evening. The display itself was spectacular and must have lasted for 20 minutes at least. If you're interested, here is a photostory on our first fireworks night back in 1999.
Here's a class of very junior PrePrep boys on an Autumn walk. At this time of the year our 35 acres of grounds are particularly lovely - and fruitful. An excellent blackberry season is just coming to an end and soon it will be time to pick the sloes.
During the Summer break work continued on converting the front porch of the old barn and the area round it into a shelter and quiet area for the PrePrep boys. Also over the Summer we installed a new network, the playground was re-tarsealed and quite a lot of work was done on improving our cricket squares.
These St. John's boys are watching Venus's first transit of the sun in 120 years using equipment set up by Dr Horbury and Mr Scott. Clamped on the equipment stand is a telescope pointing at the sun. The image of the sun is then projected out the eyepiece and onto the white card screen that is in the shade at the back of the cardboard box. Click here or on the picture above for a picture of
the image obtained.
During the morning many classes had webcam images from observatories around the world
showing on their interactive whiteboards.
On the morning of Friday 26th March 2004 we were privileged to receive a visit from a Sea King helicopter from HMS Chatham. We all lined the banks of the 1st XI field to see it arrive and then while the older boys listened to a talk in the hall the Preprep had a look round the helicopter. After the talk the rest of the school had a look at it as well. Just after lunch it left us to visit Merchant Taylors'.
Congratulations to the 1st VII, shown here at Rosslyn Park with Mr Robinson and Mr Kelly, for getting through to the quarter finals of the 2004 Rosslyn Park Sevens. To do this, on the first day they had to beat three other teams in their group and then go on to beat the winner of another group.
Photo: Mr Katz.
Wednesday, 17th March provided a perfect, mild early Spring day for the running of the 31st St. John's Sevens Tournament. Here the 1st Seven can be seen in action against Moulsford.
On the last Sunday of our February Half Term break in 2004 the 1st Seven and the Colts A Seven were competing in the Moulsford Sevens Tournament. The 1st Seven went on to win the tournament for the second year in succession; and here three of them can be seen getting stuck into hotdogs and not too worried about getting ketchup on their winner's medals.
Photo: Mr & Mrs Katz.
After a heavy fall of snow on the evening of Wednesday 28th January it was touch and go whether or not we'd open the next day. In fact most of us did manage to get in during the morning, including these three Preprep boys building a snowman on the outfield of the U10 cricket field.
At 6.30 a.m. this morning (Thursday 29th Jan 2004) we inspected Potter Street Hill and the school entrance and carpark and the exit from the carpark. Potter Street Hill was gritted just after 8.00 p.m. last night up to the school entrance. Unfortunately a car waiting in the road meant that the gritter couldn't proceed further; so the stretch from the exit to the carpark down to the entrance wasn't gritted and was very icy first thing in the morning.
Mr Doughty and his team have been clearing snow and spreading grit and cars are now moving on and off the carpark freely. If you have been delaying your trip in, things are now looking a lot better here.
The school is open as normal today but we do understand that some people may not be able to make it in today or will be very late in arriving.
On the day after the England Rugby Team's victory parade through London we were lucky enough to have the England Forwards' coach, Mr Andy Robinson himself, come and give a talk to the school. Here he is signing autographs for the boys; and to the left, keeping an eye on proceedings, is our Deputy Head, Mr Robinson - who also happens to be Andy's brother.
Photo: S. Horbury
The summer holidays may seem like nothing but a distant memory but here is a reminder of what they were like. Right at the end of August 2003 a party of 30 boys and 4 adults spent a week at an activity centre in the Dordogne. On one of the days we spent half a day in the old town of Sarlat where this group found their icecreams.
Photo: D. Brock
The last Saturday of the Summer Term traditionally sees the Prize Giving, Leavers' Lunch and Sports Day for the senior school. On the first Saturday of July 2003 we were blessed with a warm (rather than hot) day with plenty of cloud for shade - but no rain! This picture shows the first handover in the U14 4 x 100m relay.
Photo: N. Pauli
The St. John's Wind Band in full swing mode practising hard for the Summer Concert which took place late May 2003, just before the summer half term break.
Photo: A. Vince
Early in the summer term Year 7 go to Normandy to polish up their French and visit famous sites. Here they are, in May 2003, at Mont St. Michel and this is Mr Sugden, our head of French, pointing out the route taken by medieval pilgrims as they crossed the treacherous sands at low tide to visit Mont St. Michel.
Photo: A. Vince
This is Mr Taylor talking to the U8A rugby team at half time in a match against Orley Farm. What he is most probably saying is, "Please forget about your oranges and pay attention!" What you cannot see is that it was, in fact, a bitterly cold day; but they enjoyed their match.
Photo: A. Vince
This was taken just before we broke up for Christmas 2002 and shows the start of the Junior House Cross Country. Over the next term a lot more than just the weather changed. To the right of the runners in the foreground permanent cricket nets were built a few months later.
Photo: N. Pauli.
The Lent Term is always a busy one for our cross country runners. This is the 2002 - 2003 Junior team who have been particularly successful this term - winning both York House cross country and our own Junior cross country event.
Photo: A. Vince.
For anyone who likes an extra day off school one of the highlights of the first half of the 2003 Lent term would have to have been our first major fall of snow here for quite a few years. It came thick and fast and late in the day on the last Thursday in January. Getting home from school was a prolonged job for many of us and the next day Potter Street Hill was impassable - hence, no school. Consequently, I had time to get out with the camera and record this beautiful peaceful scene.
Photo: N. Pauli.