Our festive ‘Services in Preparation for Christmas’, held over two days in the magnificent Chapel of St John’s College, once again heralded the start of the season with a range of carols, poems and readings all presented by the children. The carols and readings were interspersed with 5 congregational hymns. The Services provided a sense of calm from the hectic nature of this time of the year and conjured up a quiet contemplative mood to help prepare for Christmas.
Before and after the services, organ music was played by Senior House pupils: Alan Chen and Jaylen Cheng (Year 6), Adam Chillingworth (Year 7) and George Balfour and Blake Chen (Year 8) performed seasonal repertoire by J S Bach, Ireland, Peeters et al. Director of Music, Mr Simon Kirk, explained, “It is truly remarkable that these five pupils were able to put together such a programme and to perform it to such a high standard; many senior schools would have been proud of this offering.”
The 12 carols offered a wide selection of music performed beautifully by 130 children from a range of choirs including the Choristers of the College Choir, Senior House Chamber Choir, Third and Fourth Forms' Choir, Junior Choir and Byron House Chamber Choir. Amongst the highlights were the world premiere of a new setting of I sing of a maiden by Ian Shaw, performed by the Choristers, and the final carol, John Gardner's The Holly and the Ivy, sung with great energy by all 130 children.
The 13 readings, a range of poems and lessons, were delivered by the Sixth Form children. The readers excelled themselves and each one read beautifully to tell the Christmas story to the congregation.
A St John’s parent remarked about the Services, “I thought that it was as ever an incredibly beautiful and well put together service and everyone read and sang wonderfully well.” Another parent noted, “It was very moving and a complete treat to be there.”
A copy of the 
Order of Service is available to download.
