December 2016

Dec 2016
The Byron House Big Room was transformed into the busy market place of Thebes in c. 1347 BC. The Form 2 Ancient Egyptians, splendidly attired, were preparing for the festival of the Nile at the court of Queen Nefertiti. Activities included making Egyptian bread, fine fragrance cones for the ladies to wear in their hair, clay canopic jars for storage of those vital organs needed for the afterlife, clay lucky charms and frescoes, mummifying 'bodies', soap sculpting, archaeological digging and writing hieroglyphs. The afternoon saw a Nile festival of grand proportions, attended by the
Dec 2016
The Under 13s Girls’ Hockey team travelled to Millfield School in Somerset to take part in this year’s IAPS National Hockey Finals. 16 schools in total took part in the Finals and were divided into four groups. The SJCS team came second in their group and qualified for the main Cup competition. Head of Girls’ Sport, Mrs Nikki Taylor said, “After a tense golden goal the girls were delighted to leave the IAPS as the top 8 Prep schools in the Country for hockey.” In the East Area Championships the SJCS team beat Felsted due to the girls’ fitness and work rate and they secured a well-
Dec 2016
Form 1 came together for an interactive and hands-on learning experience to find out what Diwali is, who celebrates it and how it is celebrated. They enjoyed three activities including retelling the story of Rama and Sita, creating rangoli patterns and Indian dancing. They used masks and took on characters and acted out the stories in groups and performed this to their peers.   In their dance lessons the children learned some traditional hand gestures such as the ‘lotus’ and ‘picking a flower’.  They mirrored each other and used traditional moves to create a small group dance. One
Dec 2016
Parents and pupils alike were enchanted by T1’s rendition of their Russian Christmas story, Babushka. Babushka lived in the countryside and opened her door, one snowy night, to find three men standing before her. She wanted to join them in giving gifts to the King of Kings but had too much cleaning to do. Babushka busied herself with her housework and then set about gathering gifts to take to the new born king. She was a poor, hardworking woman who owned little, but she managed to gather a small teddy, a shawl and some juice to take with her on her journey. People say that Babushka
Dec 2016
A group of Form 5 children took part in a Design and Technology (DT) trip to Oakham School to experience their state of the art facilities, including their workshop tools and machinery, electronics and their CAD software. The group, led by Head of DT Miss Kohler, alongside Oakham DT staff, had the opportunity to design and create their own iPod dock. The children were able to put their existing DT skills into practice and had the chance to work on soldering tasks and Computer Aided Design as well as some 3D printing. One of the group explained, “It was really interesting getting to
Dec 2016
For their nativity play this year, St John’s Kindergarten performed The Grumpy Sheep, a re-telling of the Christmas story through the eyes of one of the shepherds’ flock. On a hillside many years ago, the shepherds receive news from a host of angels that the Baby King is about to be born in Bethlehem and that they must visit him; this is not good news for the grumpiest sheep in the flock, who does not relish the prospect of such an arduous journey. The three wise Men, after a visit from the angels too, begin their pilgrimage from Eastern lands, following the star. When the Grumpy Sheep
Dec 2016
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
Dec 2016
Parents and friends of the School were treated to two Christmas musical feasts at our annual ‘Piazza Brass’ Concerts at Byron House and Senior House.  Our brass players were also joined this year by many of our other talented young musicians to get the crowd into the festive spirit. Director of Music, Mr Simon Kirk, explained, “A large audience huddled together in the Senior House Piazza on a beautifully crisp and still winter's day to listen to seasonal music performed by brass and percussion pupils from Byron House and Senior House. Afterwards, the Big Band and Rednotes Jazz
Dec 2016
The St John’s Charities and Community Links Committee hosted its annual Christmas party for elderly people living in the Cambridge area to bring on the festive cheer. Committee members from both Byron House and Senior House provided merriment, conversation and entertainment for the guests. The Christmas party is part a rich and long tradition St John’s has of helping the local community. Guests and their carers enjoyed mince pies, cakes, sandwiches and drinks, as well as a programme of varied entertainment provided by the children. The Committee members helped create the wonderful
Dec 2016
On 14 November, 32 invited Sixth Form pupils delivered their vibrant performance of Twelfth Night, a Shakespearean comedy both revered and ridiculous, at the Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF). Shakespeare originally wrote Twelfth Night for the close of the Christmas season and to lift spirits in the dreary winter months. The creative process of developing the play was thorough and challenging and few would deny its worth with the Headmaster, Mr Chippington, describing the production as ‘magnificent.’ In the St John’s interpretation of Twelfth Night, the play was set in the roaring

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