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Prizegiving Evening


ST JOHN'S SCHOOL 84TH PRIZEGIVING EVENING

Once again St John's School enjoyed an entertaining and joyful evening whilst celebrating the achievements of its pupils.
The Prizegiving Evening gives the school the opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding accomplishments made by its pupils as well as the opportunity of welcoming back the previous years GCSE Students. This year the musical interlude was provided by the Junior School Choir singing 'Life is What You Make It', by Jo Noel-Hartley, led by Mrs Littlefield, followed by Una Foy on piano playing 'Primavera' by Ludvico Eyen-audi and finally Danielle Bird singing 'Feeling Good' written by Anthony Newley.

THE HEADTEACHERS SPEECH;
PRESENTED BY MRS ARMOUR

Good evening everyone.

We are here this evening to celebrate the excellence of our most talented young people before you tonight. St John's School has enjoyed another year of inspiration and undiluted joy, watching our children exhibit something that is so very special. Our pupils demonstrate the good old-fashioned, decent and honourable attitudes of the past, we teach them the difference between right and wrong, we teach them the difference between right and wrong, we teach them self respect, respect for other people, we teach them the importance of self motivation, we teach them to be the best they can be and we teach them the importance of lighting up a room when they walk in, charming and delighting all around them, it will take them a long way in life.
Let me start with our youngest children, under the leadership of Ann Sullivan and Janice Shepherd and the excellent teams working in the Kindergarten and Juniors.
When our children enter the Kindergarten they enjoy the very, very best introduction to learning and, as they progress through Kindergarten, they receive absolutely excellent teaching, giving them the gifts of reading, independent writing and numeracy, when they achieve these wonderful gifts we all believe it is absolutely magical. We have given them the freedom to read what they want, and write what they want, and I think these are amongst the greatest gifts they will ever receive.
According to The Private Schools Directory there are over 2500 private schools in the U.K of every description. So it is with enormous pleasure I can tell you that our juniors once again achieved splendid Key Stage 2 results alongside admirable 11+ achievements. Our results far excelled national expectations placing us at 132nd for the best results in the entire country, last year we were placed at 164th - so the only way is up!
Congratulations to both our exceptional teachers and pupils.
Our GCSE results were excellent and at least 30% better than the national average, with many subjects gaining 100% A* - C passes, and in Maths many pupils passing a year early. This placed us 47th compared to similar sized schools in the country for the first time. Once again all I can say is the only way is up! How superb is that! Again my absolute congratulations to both our inspirational teachers and outstanding pupils.
Our spoken poetry results were excellent and our fantastic version of Bugsy Malone was truly the best production I have ever seen at school, many thanks to all concerned under the directorship of Sharon Zoller.
In music several of our pupils are absolute stars winning international singing competitions and being chosen to appear in the 2011 Voice in a Million Concert at the O2, as well as winning local awards for being outstanding young people in the community. Many children successfully passed the Royal School of Music exams, and our GCSE results in Music were excellent, many thanks to Joanne Schultz.
Our sport both within the curriculum and extra-curricular has developed enormously and our sporting achievements have, as usual, been outstanding yielding many successes. Our Football and Rugby teams had full fixture lists with many victories, ISA Cross Country Championships and Athletic Championships confirmed that St John's have many fine athletes. The Sports Department is now being led by Adam Murray, although of course Mr B is still working with us, and I would like to sincerely thank him for all his hard work as Head of Games for the past thirteen years.
Our School continues to take children on trips with all our pupils from 3-16 enjoying fantastic visits both locally and abroad, despite all the red tape we are tied up in. Thank you to all the staff concerned as these trips truly do broaden the children's education.
Last academic year we said goodbye to Louisa Hampel, who moved to another school to be close to her new husband, and we with her lots of luck. Amy Harrison has been on maternity leave and will return to us at Easter, teaching part-time Learning Support. In the interim Jeff Moss has looked after this area of Learning Support and is due to retire officially at Easter and I am sure you will join me in wishing him a long and happy retirement.
We have warmly welcomed into our Kindergarten, Phil Couch, our first male Infant Teacher, and what an excellent asset he has proven to be. We also welcomed Simon Smailes into the Junior Department, and he too is proving to be an absolute credit to us. Amy Fleming took the giant leap from Early Years to teaching Geography throughout the school upto GCSE, and I think she has taken to it splendidly, congratulations to all.
Lastly, with regard to staffing, we were all truly sad to say goodbye to dear Val Ives who has been our Secretary for many years. She has been so loved by all of us and is amongst the kindest people I have ever met. After a period working part time she finally decided to retire with Ken, her husband, and we wish them many, many happy years of retirement together. To that end Rita Engwell will soon be going part time and Pauline Truscott joined us full time this past week, working along side Annette Witherspoon, who is now my P.A.
We must also thank our Social Committee for all their continued hard work raising funds to give the children lots of extras, we are all truly grateful.
As always I must thank Hilary Minto, Mike Butler and Andrew Angeli, my three amazing deputies for all their hard work and unfailing support, I am completely indebted to you.
Thank you for bringing your lovely children to us, we their teachers, assistants, secretarial staff, cooks and caretakers, love them all, and they know it. This is why they want to come to school and achieve their very best. There is a very special magic hovering over St John's, which is almost tangible. I feel it every day and consider myself to be honoured, privileged and lucky to be working with these amazing children and young people. If I had a penny for every hug they give me and every joyful moment I experience with them I would be a very rich woman indeed. I thank the whole community of our school including Joanne and Gideon Osen for making it so special.
We are now well into this academic year and looking forward to the magical time of Christmas. So far we have had a brilliant time. We will continue to work our hardest to make our pupils the best they can be, giving them the freedom of becoming the adults they deserve to be.
As always I look forward to the year before us and what will happen next.
I cannot wait!
Thank you


THE HEAD BOY AND HEAD GIRL SPEECH;
WRITTEN AND PRESENTED BY DAISY SMEATON AND LIAM PEALLING

HEAD GIRL; Good evening. We would like to thank you - the families and friends of St John's - for attending our annual prize giving.
HEAD BOY; We both feel very honoured and privileged to be representing, as Head Boy and Head Girl, the students of St John's School.
HEAD GIRL; Tonight is a time of celebration. A celebration of the past years successes and achievements. It is also a time as students to be thankful for being given the opportunity to attend St Johns.
HEAD BOY; Attending this school is a very special experience for each pupil. Every pupil is valued for who they are and encouraged to reach their full potential in all areas.
HEAD GIRL; St John's has been compared to many things but I would ask you just for a few moments to close your eyes and picture if you will a beautiful garden. A beautiful garden is made up of many different flowers and plants; if they were all the same it would be pretty boring. The flowers and plants have been lovingly nurtured and protected. Do you have that picture in your mind, no peeking; well St John's is that garden.
HEAD BOY; Our head teacher, or should I say our head gardener, Mrs Armour takes delivery of a 'job lot' of seedlings and bulbs throughout the year. However true to the custom of 'job lots', there are no labels attached but she lovingly cares for and nurtures each of the young plants not knowing what they will grow into.
HEAD GIRL; Some will grow into tulips, some roses, some orchids, there may occasionally be the odd weed but even then some of the most beautiful flowers are actually weeds. No matter what they are they are all given the same attention and same love to help them flourish not only as plants or flowers in their own right but also as part of the bigger garden. The St John's garden.
HEAD BOY; All of this gardening can be a little tiring for our head gardener not to mention a little mucky in 6 inch heels. So she has assembled together her 'Ground Force Crew'. We might not have an Alan Titchmarsh or a Tommy or even a Charlie Dimmock but we do have a wonderful group of teachers, admin staff, kitchen staff, technicians and school keepers. With her guidance and their skill they cultivate the flowers and plants in such a way to make a beautiful, peaceful and unique garden that is St John's and that is the envy of others.
HEAD GIRL; We cannot thank Mrs Armour, Mrs Osen and all the staff enough for giving us the opportunity to grow and become these wonderful flowers. We are not sure where we might end up; The Chelsea Flower Show, a bouquet from the florist, in a hanging basket or in a button hole. Wherever it is we owe our start in life to St John's.
HEAD BOY; On behalf of the student body of St John's School we would like to once again thank you for being here tonight.
HEAD GIRL; We wish you all a safe journey home and look forward to seeing you next year.
HEAD BOY; Oh and by the way please keep off the flower beds as you leave.