On Saturday 8 July parents, pupils, staff and friends of St John’s gathered to mark the end of another successful academic year at the school. Parents and children had the opportunity to admire and celebrate the wonderful work that was on display around the school, at Byron House, Senior House and Whitfield House.
Guest speaker, The Right Reverend Graeme Knowles CVO, gave an inspirational and humorous talk offering wise advice to the Form 6 (Year 8) children leaving to embark on the next stage of their education. The St John’s College Choir also provided a musical interlude during the speeches and before the prize-giving commenced.
After lunch, spirits were extremely high as the Form 3 to 6 geared up for an afternoon of athletics. A host of running and jumping events were hotly contested between the respective houses during the afternoon which ended with an epic tug-of-war battle. Some long jump, javelin, discus and a range of other athletic disciplines had already taken place prior to Speech and Sports Day.
The afternoon of sports was made all the more memorable as a number of school records were broken including new records set in both the 300m and 200m by Emily Collard. Records were also broken in the 100m sprint by Nella Porritt, Arthur Woodhull and Monty Lovell amongst others. Beaufort also set a new record in the Inter Boys relay. Ellie Newitt, Marennah Prempeh and Emily Collard all received the Victrix Ludorum’s trophies and Koya Okusaga, Seb Newitt and Joey Taylor received Victor Ludorum’s trophies. These trophies were awarded for separately for the Junior, Intermediate and Senior age groups. Mr Gareth McComb, Head of Athletics, explained, “Sportsmanship was very much on show with the children watching from the side-lines cheering on their friends and team mates.”
