St John’s School Weekly Newsletter Issue 52 Year 8 excels in 13+ transfer From the Headmaster On Monday I had the pleasure of giving the Year 8 boys their examination grades from their senior schools. Congratulations to all of them on their achievements. They have now started their post exam curriculum which includes the business enterprise course. It was a privilege to attend the ‘Tribute to Our Fallen’ concert at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall on Tuesday. Joseph and Charlie represented the School confidently and with pride. I was pleased that Mr Kelly was able to see the boys perform. I know that the Robins and Squirrels thoroughly enjoyed their train journey from Moor Park to Pinner as part of their transport topic. We were pleased to welcome Mrs Doran, the Head of Thorpe House Pre-Prep, who judged the very impressive Pre-Prep Poetry Competition finals. Our assemblies have focussed on how to behave in public: 6V delivered a wellrehearsed poem on the subject and Aman Khawaja explained his role as one of the three Watford Youth Parliament candidates for this year. We have also heard many of our musicians playing as part of the House Music Festival. Many thanks to all of you who been supporting our charity quiz which took place this morning. On the sport front our Year 3 boys enjoyed their matches against Orley Farm and our hockey goes from strength to strength. Finally, if you haven't had a chance to look at Mr Brown's ski trip film, I would recommend it. I am very pleased to report that our Year 8 boys have performed superbly well in their senior school transfer examinations. They have all worked very hard and thoroughly deserve their success. A good number of them have gained places at more than one school. Nineteen have been offered Merchant Taylors’; eight Haberdashers’; eight Mill Hill; five John Lyon; three Berkhamsted; two Harrow; one St. Alban’s and one Aldenham. This is a fantastic reflection on the efforts they have put in. Very well done indeed to every one of you! The Year 8 boys have performed exceptionally well academically, achieving a total of twelve academic scholarships. Six pupils received academic scholarships from Merchant Taylors’. Niam Patel, our Head Boy, was awarded the Morley Scholarship. A very able boy, he achieved 4 A* and 3 A grades in the seven subjects. Sam Bickerstaff achieved 5 A* and 2 As. Sam received an academic scholarship from Merchant Taylors’. Jai Kalirai, Sarthak Panvelkar, Anand Shah and Aditya Varshney all achieved academic scholarships at Merchant Taylors’ and Haberdashers’. Husain Tayeb received an academic scholarship from John Lyon. Jamie Wilford received an English Exhibition from Mill Hill. Joseph Rich won a Drama Scholarship and Charlie Vaughan a Music Scholarship to Merchant Taylors’ and John Lyon respectively. Joseph and Charlie both represented St John’s at the “Tribute to our Fallen” concert at Merchant Taylors’ Hall this week. There were a number of other boys who were interviewed and tested at scholarship level. Congratulations on even being considered and I hope you enjoyed the experience and challenge. Once again well done to all Year 8 2015! One very proud Headmaster! 01 01 February 27 2015 A tribute to the fallen As the night drew in, an air of expectation descended in Merchant Taylors’ Hall, London. The atmosphere was set with thousands of suspended dried flowers depicting the flora of the fields upon which the battles of the First World War were fought. This was to be an evening of music and poetry dedicated to those who fell in the service of their country. The scene was set with a lone drummer approaching and Joseph Rich then started the evening with his superb recitation of Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘Before the Battle’. Newly commissioned pieces of music alongside more well-known items made for an 02 02 evening of great poignancy. Charlie Vaughan performed ‘Panis Angelicus’ by César Franck on his trombone from the gallery with real musicality befitting the piece. A plaque in memory of those who died was unveiled by General The Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL and there was a wonderful performance on an instrument called the Trench Cello which was actually played by soldiers in the Great War to ease the burden of their plight. It was a truly remarkable evening and one that will never be forgotten. Thank you to all the organisers of this event. February 272015 2015 27 February How to behave in public according to 6V It's not all about exam results at St. John's! This week the lads in 6V held an assembly giving the rest of us some pointers on good behaviour. They used a fun rhyme and a slideshow featuring a whopping 126 pictures to get their message across. Every single boy in the class had an equal role as they sequenced through the rhyme line by line. Ramy Nawar covered for another boy who was ill, memorising his comrade's lines with only a moment's notice. Key areas were kindness to strangers (rather than just your friends and family), showing full respect to people of humble station, queuing (natch!) and not being a nuisance in public areas like trains and buses. Let's hope it works! 03 03 February 27 2015 Charity Quiz During the course of this week and in particular this morning, every boy in the School has been beavering away trying to answer tricky quiz questions in aid of our charity, WaterAid. Mr Taylor played a big part in devising the quizzes and there were certainly some challenging parts. (As you can see, some teachers took the role of administering of the quiz very seriously indeed!) An edible prize was awarded to the highest score in each class and we should know by Monday how much money we have raised for WaterAid. Thank you in advance to all boys and parents for their wonderful generosity. 04 04 February 27 2015 Shapes of things to come! The boys of all years are quick-fire perfect on GTA V, Fifa, CoD and of course Minecraft but there is still an analogue corner to their otherwise digital brains. Some year 5 boys spent a lesson investigating the way that similar shapes fit together perfectly leaving no gaps. This skill helps build knowledge and proficiency with angles, symmetry and area. This is to say nothing of when the penny finally drops when discovering that, say, a hexagon is made out of two identical trapezia. Touching and handling these simple regular polygons is always welcomed by the classes and it's a pleasure to see how they get lost in the moment. It's not all done on computers nowadays! OK, let's chant: "2-4-6-8 who do we all tessellate?" or something like that... 05 05 February 27 2015 Niam and Avi Shah’s adventures in Kenya During the half term I travelled to Nairobi in Kenya with my dad and younger brother Avi. While I was there I visited the children’s home that has been set up by my mum’s family. We asked the children lots of questions about their lives. One of the surprising things I learnt was when James said they wake up each morning at around 4.30am! This is because they have lots to do before walking the 40 minutes to their school which The Ruiru Rehabilitation Centre is currently home to 25 starts at 7.30 in the morning. Some of the kids want to go to children, however, the home has a capacity for 60 children but University and become dentists or lawyers. James wants to unfortunately due to the lack of resources it has had to limit the become a doctor. intake. The children have been either rescued from the streets, orphaned or have been sent there by remaining family members My brother Avi and I gave them some gifts like clothes, who can no longer care for them. The children are aged betoothbrushes and some biscuits. The children seemed really tween 7 and 14 and are provided with food, shelter, clothing, happy with the gifts. healthcare, schooling and also help with higher Later on we all had a game of football in their playground education, whether it is college, university or apprenticeships. which was a lot of fun. I was sad to say goodbye to them but I As we were driving up to the gates of the home, I felt a little will visit them again next time I am in Kenya. nervous about meeting the children. However as soon as we got Now that I am back in London it has made me realise how there I was relieved to find that they were very friendly and they lucky we are to live in nice houses, have plenty of food, go to started to talk to me and my brother straight away. I could see good schools and most importantly have a loving family around from their clothes and shoes that they were not very well off, us. The children at the home are not as fortunate as us but they but all of them smiled and seemed happy to see us. are now happy and on the right path to make a better future for One of the boys, named James, showed us around the home. themselves. I am so glad that I was able to meet them and see We got to see the big bedrooms that had lots of bunk beds and how I can make a difference to their lives. I have decided to try the open air kitchen where the cook makes the breakfasts and and support the children at the home as much as I can by a dinners. The weather in Kenya is always sunny so the children range of fund raising ideas which I will let you know about can have mealtimes outdoors. soon. 06 06 February 27 2015 Poetry Competition final This morning the Pre-Prep held their annual Poetry Competition. Before half term every boy learnt a poem with titles ranging from the ‘Veggy Lion’ to the ‘Footballer's Prayer’. The preliminary rounds were difficult to judge but eventually three boys from each class were put forward to recite their poem in front of their parents, the other Pre-Prep boys, Mr Robinson and Mrs Doran. Mrs Doran, Head of Thorpe House Pre-Prep, was faced with the difficult task of choosing the class winners and finally the overall winner of the competition. Each boy recited his poem clearly and in their own way. After much thought, Mrs Doran announced that Satyen Radia in the Squirrels was the Pre-Prep Poetry Competition winner 2015. Well done to all the boys who learnt their poems so well and to all the finalists. Class winners 07 07 Badgers Panagiotis Giannoulopoulos Eagles Louis Dimmock Otters Ansh Soni Owls Daniel Southon Robins George Radburn Squirrels Satyen Radia February 27 2015 The band of the Lambs Great fun was had by all on Tuesday as the Lambs created their own band during a music lesson. The boys had an opportunity to play the ‘big bass drum’, tambourine, rhythm sticks and triangle and they performed superbly well. Next stop - X factor! 08 08 February 27 2015 All aboard! Our topic in The Lambs this week is boats. We all made a boat out of foil and our experiment was to see whether the boats would sink or float. If the boat floated we estimated how many men we could put in the boat before it sunk. It took 16 men to sink Miss Whyton’s boat but Thomas Manikin's was still afloat! 09 09 February 27 2015 Creating mosaics in Year 4 After our visit to Verulamium and having seen the amazing mosaics in the museum, the boys in Year 4 have worked hard to make mosaics of their own. In each class the boys worked in Houses to design and create these beautiful mosaics. Co-operation and planning were essential components of some very lovely art work on our History theme. 10 10 February 27 2015 Sun shines on Austrian slopes Half term had just begun and St John’s boys were setting off on an adventure in the Austrian Alps. Sunday the 15th saw us assemble at school for the first leg of our journey to Altenmarkt via Munich. Terminal 5 was busy with lots of people heading off to the slopes for the half term break and the boys were excited of the prospect of six days of skiing. We touched down in Munich and transferred to our hotel in Altenmarkt which was a three hour coach ride away. Day 1 done and it was time to hit the slopes and get on the mountain for the first time. The boys were put into 4 groups; two beginners, one intermediate and one advanced group. We were stationed at the Altenmarkt area of the resort and it was perfect for everybody to find their ski legs and sample some of the more gentle runs in the Austrian Alps. It wasn’t without its mishaps though and Aaron Patel managed to nearly knock down one of the pylons that holds up the gondola! Lunch is always a highlight of any skiing trip and the boys enjoyed tucking into the local delicacy of chips smothered in ketchup. The Headmaster imposed his ‘Chip Tax’ on every plate which the boys were reluctant to pay! After two days in Altenmarkt we moved further up the valley to the much bigger resort of Zauchensee that covers a much larger skiing area. The sun was still shining and there was not a cloud in sight. The boys were flying down the mountain by now and the top groups were experiencing the thrills of the black runs and the very icy run 5A. Each day ended in the waffle bar where the boys replenished their fatigued muscles with the largest waffles in Austria, smothered in chocolate and crème. Après ski was always good fun and the ice skating showed that we have a lot of talented boys on the ice. From complete beginners to advanced skaters they had great fun flying around the ice (mainly on the ground!) at high speed. This seemed like a more dangerous option than the ski slopes but we did escape with no injuries. Swimming night was equally successful with the local pool having the biggest slides the boys could have dreamt of! On the final night the boys treated us all to a review of the week and took the opportunity to poke fun at some of the staff members; Miss Henderson’s commandeering of the mirror to check out her new jacket; Mr Brown’s obsession with trying to capture action shots with the helmet cam and Mr Lawrence getting left behind at the bus stop! All good fun. A big thank you must go to Mr Lawrence who organised the trip, it all ran smoothly and he managed to sort the weather out as well! To our two parents who travelled, Mr Blunt and Mr Bridgewater, thank you for all you did for the boys and all the pictures that you took. I’m sure that the boys who were experiencing skiing for the first time will be hooked for life. Check out the action here Austria Ski Trip 02 11 February 27 2015 Ski trip in pictures 03 12 February 27 2015 Ski trip in pictures 04 13 February 27 2015 Hockey V Davenies away 13th February U11 A Won 7-0 Goals: Matthew Crow x 1, Harjeevan Sandhu x 3, Daniel Odejinmi x 1, Michael Ohio-Ezomo x 2 MOM: Whole team On a smaller pitch the side played some very good hockey and up front Harjeevan Sandhu and Michael Ohio-Ezomo had a number of scoring opportunities and scored 5 goals which was an excellent achievement. On the flanks, Matthew Crow, Max Davies, Joshua Adonis and Harry Bridgewater all played their part and provided many telling passes for the front two players. At the back Daniel Odejinmi was outstanding in defence and in goal Sebastian Wynn made some good saves. V Davenies away 13th February U10 A Won 1-0 Goals: Alex Bickerstaff MOM: Whole team This was a challenging game because the narrow pitch. In training we have focussed on passing wide which meant that we were at a slight disadvantage. There was good interplay between Alex Bickerstaff and Jake Prior. The former setting up Jake for a one on one opportunity on goal which we didn’t manage to convert. However, with minutes to play we scored through nice play in the small D, with Alex Bickerstaff scoring. Arin Gorslar in goal was rarely tested whilst Adam Knowles, Ben Kleiner and Ben Hellewell were strong at the back. Their concentration was key in keeping a clean sheet. U10 B Won 6-0 Goals: Louis Rich x 3, Niyam Shah x 1, Dominic Joslin x 1, Arav Oodit x1 MOM: Louis Rich The U10 B team had a successful afternoon being the dominant side throughout the match. They had good passing skills and were constantly determined to get possession with captain Dominic Joslin controlling much of the match from mid-field. Well done boys! 11 14 February 27 2015 U11A Hockey Tournament at Haileybury U11 IAPS London and S.E. Tournament on 24th February Place in Tournament: Runners up in the Plate Final MOM: Daniel Odejinmi Game 1 v St Faith’s Lost 0-2 We started slowly with Josh Adonis playing his first ever game in goal making some good saves. This was a game which focussed our minds and which put us into the right gear for the rest of the tournament. Game 2 v St George’s, Weybridge Drew 1-1 Goals: Alex Bickerstaff The opposition were very strong and against the run of play Alex Bickerstaff went around the goal keeper to score a superb goal. Sebastian Wynn made some great saves and in the end the opposition scored a goal to even the match. Game 3 v Chigwell Drew 1-1 Goals: Alex Bickerstaff We were certainly the better team and again Alex Bickerstaff scored an excellent goal to lead the match. Out wide, Matthew Crow and Max Davies played very well on the flanks. In defence, Daniel Odejinmi and Daniel Sayani were superb in defence. With only 20 seconds remaining on the clock the opposition scored to even the match. Game 4 v Berkhamsted Drew 0-0 Two good sides battling it out and throughout the season both teams had won and lost against each other. Both teams had scoring chances but in the end a draw was a fair result. Game 5 v South Lee Won 1-0 Goals: Michael Ohio-Ezomo With each game only lasting 10 minutes it was important that we scored first and we did with Michael Ohio-Ezomo scoring the goal to win the match. Again we dominated the play and deserved the win. Game 6 v Bancrofts (Plate Competition) Won 1-0 Goals: Matthew Crow The opposition were a good side but an excellent pass from Harry Bridgewater released Matthew Crow to score an early goal and give the St. John’s team a real lift. After good lead up play, Max Davies scored a very good goal by placing it in the right corner to seal the win. A great team effort. 12 15 February 27 2015 Hockey Tournament at Haileybury School Game 7 v Swanbourne House Won 2-0 Goals: Matthew Crow and Max Davies Another good win from the side with Matthew Crow scoring an early goal and then Max Davies scored a very good goal by placing it in the right corner to seal the win. A great team effort. Game 8 v Aldwickbury Won 2-0 Goals: Harjeevan Sandhu and Max Davies The side played well as a team and moved the ball around intelligently. A great cross from the right and Harjeevan Sandhu was in the right position to drill the ball into the goal. Another good attack created the scoring chance for Max Davies to score the second goal. Game 9 v Loyola Prep Won 1-0 Goals: Own goal This was a messy game and we never really got into our free flowing game. However, we batted and in the end the opposition conceded an own goal. Game 10 v St Martin’s (Semi Final) Won 1-0 Goals: Alex Bickerstaff A tight game with both sides playing good hockey. The St. John’s side were able to cover the ground more quickly and in the end it was another excellent goal from Alex Bickerstaff that won the match. However, this was a great team effort. Game 11 v St Faiths’s (Final) Lost 0-1 with sudden death goal! The St. John’s side battled hard and it was evenly matched but St. Faith’s just had a little more composure on the ball. The first 10 minutes flew by and into extra time the opposition scored the goal to win the match. All the boys who took part in this tournament should be very proud of what they have achieved. A great effort. 13 16 February 27 2015 Hockey V UCS home 25th February U13 A Won 13-0 Goals: Jamie Graham x 4, Sam Bickerstaff x 3, Haydon Carr x 2, Adam Chatoo x 4 MOM: A real team effort A great team effort with the ball being passed quickly with excellent movement around the pitch where the play simply flowed effortlessly. We started very well with the front players shooting on regular occasions at the UCS keeper. However, he made some incredible saves but we still attacked relentlessly. In the end the goals started coming when players passed out to wide channels for Adam Chatoo, Haydon Carr, Sam Bickerstaff and Jamie Graham to score a number of goals. In defence, Niam Patel was outstanding and he was ably supported by Jamie Wilford and Jolan Baxter. To be fair Kieran Chauhan had a very quiet afternoon but he did make the occasional save in the match. This was an excellent performance against a UCS side who were skilful but on the day the St. John’s side were simply better. U12 A Won 13-2 Goals: Harry Whistler x 5, Shiv Parmar x 3, William Crane x1, Andrew Holt x 1, Luke Kenny x 1, Rohan Patel x 1, Krish Patwal x 1 MOM: Harry Whistler for his outstanding striking This was another commanding performance from the Under 12 squad and although we started slowly the end result was convincing. From the off we struggled to get any rhythm in our game and sloppy passing meant that we were unable to retain the ball for any length of time. This made it difficult for us to break the UCS defence down. However, with good work from the midfield we were finally able to make chances for striker Harry Whistler, who eventually found the back of the net on five occasions. Once we had made the initial breakthrough we settled down to passing the ball around with ease and the drills we had worked on in training started to show their worth as we played the ball around the UCS team; being patient on the ball and not hitting aimless passes. Shiv Parmar was once again influential in midfield, this allowed Krish Patwal opportunities to get the ball forward. Our defence was strong and UCS never really caused us any problems. This was another good team performance. 14 17 February 27 2015 Rugby V Orley Farm 26th February U8 A Lost 75-70 Tries: Too many to mention! MOM: Nathan Hedges This was a game that was flowing from end to end with both teams showing some great flair to score so many tries. It was Orley Farm who got under way quicker than us with a couple of big strong runners who were able to keep the ball and dodge our tacklers. They went into the lead with a couple of well taken tries but Nathan Hedges was able to keep us in touch with some excellent running. It was a man of the match performance that kept us in touch with the opposition and at half time we were only two tries down at 45-35. The second half was another exciting affair with plenty of good running from both side and it was St John’s who tried to move the ball through the hands to create opportunities to score. At the end of the match it was always going to be very close and we just didn’t have enough to draw the scores level. However this was another fine performance and the boys have done extremely well throughout the season and should be proud of the way they have played. U8 B Won 55-30 Tries: Sebastian Ashman-Rodgers x 2, Zac Addison x 1, Henry Carpmael x 1, Krish Dixit x 1, Jadon Lee x 1, Bradley Nwabudike x 1, Aaron Patel x 1, Arjun Shah x 2, Max Wheeler x 1 The boys played very well at times. I was most pleased with the determination to make tags. Many of the boys moved up quickly and forced Orley Farm backwards. When Orley made a break, they chased back in numbers, determined not to let them score. There were some fantastic moments in attack. The most pleasing were the moments of quick movement and quick passing just before or after a tag was made. There was also some excellent evasive running and we made many breaks. However, we do need to be careful not to run out and not to throw a bad pass which stops the whole flow, once we have made a break. An excellent effort and a good win – well done boys! Aaron Patel (3C) stands amongst the stars Aaron had an amazing experience on Wednesday night as a players mascot at the Arsenal v Monaco Champion’s League game at the Emirates. We will gloss over the score and actually Aaron tells me that deep down he is a true blue Chelsea fan! 15 18 February 27 2015 There were many excited boys in the art room eager to show Mrs Green their designs for the House Art Competition. The theme – ‘inside, outside’ has been approached in a variety of different ways and they will be completing this in class over the next couple of weeks. As well as the House Art, boys in Years 3 and 4 have also been asked to participate in the ‘ Design Your Own Wow Badge` part of Hillingdon’s` Walk to School ’ campaign. This year’s theme is ‘Our Healthy Planet`. We have discussed ways in which we can help preserve our planet – for example, walking or cycling to school which helps cut pollution, saving water and looking after our rainforests. The boys have come up with some lovely designs and ideas. 16 19 February 27 2015 Calendar and important dates Contact details Monday 2nd March: Joint MTS & St. John's Concert at Merchant Taylors' Hall (6.45pm) Updates: please continue to visit www.st-johns.org.uk for all the latest information on sports fixtures and results. The website will have announcements in case of emergency. You can also follow us on twitter @stjsnorthwood. Tuesday 3rd March: Year 2 Victorian Workshop (all day) Rugby v Orley Farm U9 A, B (a) (2.15pm) Wednesday 4th March: Hockey v Aldenham U12, U13 (a) (2.30pm) Belmont Oti Relay Race: Year 6 (4.00pm) Thursday 5th March: Rugby v Caldicott & St. Columba's U8A, B, C (at Caldicott) (2.15pm) Friday 6th March: UKMT Maths Challenge at Haberdashers’ (9.00-3.00pm) U11A Hockey Tournament at UCS (1.00-4.30pm) Saturday 7th March: Watford Festival (Strings) Sunday 8th March: Watford Festival (Wind and Brass) Junior Drama Rehearsals (10.00am-1.00pm) Prashant Pandha is the first boy to be awarded his Platinum certificate for 160 House points congratulations! Mailings: if you have received The Lamb from someone else and would like to be sent your own copy direct each week, please email: Lamb Editor. Let us know your contact details and you will be added to the list. Photographs: Do please continue to send in any photographs which could be included in The Lamb. Notices and Reminders St John’s films. Make sure that you watch Mr Brown’s latest video which captures the enjoyment of boys on their recent ski trip to Austria. Click on the first link below. To view our other short films you can click on the following links: Austria Ski Trip Au revoir, Miss Gillen Wind Band goes West Chicks are for kids! Year 6 trip to Northumberland St John’s YouTube channel Guitar group video Yr 5 Chinese New Year video Yr 8 Bikeability video St John’s Sevens video Sam Katz interview Year of 2008 at Knapp House Year of 2014 at Knapp House House Music Festival. Rounds continue next week as follows: Grade 5 Lawrence and Churchill Thursday 5th March Grade 5 Lincoln and Oates Friday 6th March Boys involved in the Brass Band, Chamberlain Ensemble and Cello Group must remember to bring their instruments and music to school on Monday for our concert at Merchant Taylors’ Hall that evening. Wind Band and String Group are on Tuesday. Watford Festival. A reminder to boys involved next weekend that they need a spare copy of their music for the adjudicator. A St Helen’s and MTS Phab Disco. There are still a few tickets photocopy is acceptable. left (priced £7) for this event on 25th March. Tickets (Year 8 only) are on sale in the School Office. Once they’ve gone, Casino Night at MTS. they’ve gone! Merchant Taylors’ would like to extend a warm World Book Day. Next Thursday is World Book Day and to invitation to our parents to celebrate this event we are delighted to welcome the author, Jeff join them at this fund raising Norton to come and speak to Years 3-8 on Friday 6th March. event on 20th March. Your son is most welcome to come to school that day dressed as a character from a book of his choice rather than uniform. Have a good weekend and let’s hope for a big win on Sunday! 17 20 February 27 2015
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