Sports

Running is well and truly on the agenda at SJCS this term. From Aquathlon Club to teachers running in the Cambridge Half Marathon, there is progress, perseverance and performance on display. Perhaps the spirit of running is best summed up in the Parkrun movement, where personal bests and the number of runs completed are all that matters. Did you know that you cannot ‘win’ a Parkrun and nobody comes last because a tail runner sweeps around at the back?

Following its launch in September, the SJCS Fieldrun has been a big success. There have been plenty of PB’s and impressive finishing times, but perhaps most importantly, many of the children are beginning to take a slightly different approach to the morning run. Consistent attendance seems to produce a wisdom and maturity that certainly wasn’t there in the first 400 metres of the launch event! Students are learning to be mindful of their present state, opting to take a steady approach if they’ve had a busy week or they can still feel their breakfast! 

It has also been pleasing to see a number of pupils volunteering to be the tail runner and beginning to think about marshalling, two critical roles in producing a vibrant and positive running community. Another key component of the operation is the ease, speed and accuracy of the results. Currently Will Taylor, our Sports Gap, is doing a wonderful job of uploading these to the Fieldrun Google classroom before first break and it is hoped that a pupil may wish to take on this responsibility in time. 

We are very pleased to have Tom Vickery from Cambridge Endurance, who finished an incredible 3rd in the Cambridge Half Marathon, run our two Senior House Aquathlon Clubs. He is fully behind the Fieldrun initiative and expects children to be able to provide an answer when questioned what their best Fieldrun time is. The good news is that there is room for more students to come along at 8am on a Friday morning.  If your child is interested in taking part, even if just for a trial session, please email clubs@sjcs.co.uk in advance so that their name can be added to the list. 

Finally, watch this space for news of a revamped House Cross Country competition, where the finish line comes to you and the quickest runners run for the longest amount of time.

Tutor: “You look exhausted?”.... 

A member of the Form 3:… “Well I have had a very active day, swimming club this morning and then badminton in PE, then it was our turn to have extra Sport on Thursday afternoon, so we learnt how to play ultimate Frisbee, finished our capture the flag competition and then ran a Field Run as well!!”

With most grassroots sport being on hold, there has been much written in recent weeks surrounding the vital importance of physical activity amongst our younger generations. It seems the nation now unanimously understands that sedentary lifestyles can lead to all sorts of wellbeing difficulties further down the line. The NHS’s 'Change 4 Life' campaign is recommending that kids take part in 60 minutes of activity each day. As we find ourselves in a second lockdown, there is much for the St John’s community to celebrate and be thankful for, not least the continued high levels of access to physical activity.

It is clear now that the pandemic is going to span the majority of a calendar year and throughout we have encouraged students to take further ownership of their active lifestyles. We hope, therefore, that St John’s students would be able to confidently provide multiple good reasons for why we should all keep moving. Answers would include ideas such as: improves attention levels, strengthens muscles and bones, maintains a healthy weight, helps them sleep better and improves their mood!

The dialogue above indicates that the levels of activity this term have been as high as ever and the variety of sport on show has arguably increased. Measuring a whole school’s level of activity is very difficult. Readers may remember that during sports relief week last year, we estimated how far the St John’s students would have travelled during their Games and PE lessons in a week. Amazingly we discovered that by adding up all of the activities taking place, we could have reached Finland by day 5! 

One method of potentially demonstrating how active our students are in these unprecedented times would be to measure their number of daily steps. Many students are currently wearing watches that can measure this, but they have to take them off for Games and PE. Mr Millward would love to give special permission to any students to wear their watch, where it is safe to do so, in order to carry out a mini experiment.  

Watch this space for the findings over the coming weeks….

For many, prep school sport fosters visions of character building, camaraderie and passion. The variety and attainable competition has proved to be a great starting place for lifelong involvement in sport. Memories have always been made in local fixtures, where students are given the opportunity to represent the school at a level appropriate to them. Now, with coronavirus challenging much of this system, the question is whether prep school sport can adapt and evolve in the short, medium and potentially long term.  

At St John’s, we are a progressive PE department and have been exploring what a forward thinking school sport system looks like for some time. The current situation has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to take a further step in answering the below question:

Assistant Head of Sport, Mr David Millward, explains how you hold onto the glory of Prep School sport whilst ensuring pupil wellbeing, inclusivity and a culture of health and fitness are at the centre of delivery.

"With no fixtures due to take place before half term, we have been able to explore and evolve a curriculum with a subtle shift in focus. We are now into the second week of term and have placed a greater importance on developing fundamental movement skills and physical literacy. The aim is to give students the tools necessary to take further ownership of their individual physical development. Ask a St John’s student to show you a bear crawl and hopefully you’ll get a great demonstration! As further information floods through from national governing bodies we will be adjusting and developing our curriculum. We want to ensure that the intensity of high performance sport is not lost, whilst also looking to provide quality alternatives where necessary. Watch this space for more information on exciting initiatives such as St John’s Parkrun, ultimate Frisbee and an inter House competition like no other before it!"

The U11 Colts VII Boys' team had a fantastic day at the East Round Hockey Tournament Finals on 6 March. The team travelled to Gresham's School and played 6 group games with the winner of the group then playing the winner of the other group in a Final.

The boys faced Barnadiston Hall first and got to a flying start in 15 minutes games each way and won 2-0. With a speedy break in between the boys' following match was against Stamford School and they worked well collaboratively to win 2-0. After a well-deserved rest our U11s played Chigwell, winning 2-1 before a tough contest against Bishop’s Stortford where the boys drew 1-1. Beeston Hall was next with a 0-2 loss meaning their final game against Gresham's was all to play for and a 'must win' and the team won with a convicning score of 3-0.

Director of Sport, Mr Gareth McComb, stated, "All the boys were fantastic, they really applied what they had been working on with Mr Millward, Mr Harding and Andy our hockey coach over the previous weeks, playing with width, getting off to a fast start and lots of work rate and energy in attack and defence. It was a real squad effort with all of them featuring in each game. The Final saw us meet local rivals the Perse Prep, who we played in the previous qualifiers to get to the Finals. A very closely fought Final with some terrific hockey from both school saw the Perse Prep beat us by a goal. The boys played some fantastic hockey and their resilience and perseverance throughout the day and team spirit was crucial to their success as well as their ability to apply the feedback and coaching they received."