News list
St John’s has had several successful years of entering candidates for the Bronze Arts Award, which invites children in Forms 5 and 6 to submit a portfolio of work for accreditation in this nationally recognised qualification. The award involves participating in an art form, sharing knowledge with younger pupils, researching the work of an artist and reviewing an arts event.
T2s had a day out in nature’s outdoor classroom when they visited Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve, the National Trust's oldest nature reserve, and England's most famous fen. The children discovered the relationships between the habitats and the animals and plants within and how to identify and classify simple plants and animals with activities including pond dipping, net sweeping and wild art.
The ‘Grow Your Money’ initiative, now in its seventh year, has raised nearly £2,000 for Humanitias charity. The initiative is designed to encourage each child to discover and develop their entrepreneurial skills, by converting the £1 they are each given into more money for charity. Over the Easter holidays, the children brought home their £1 and they had until Summer half term to grow this pound into more money, through whichever way the children decided.
This year the school has developed a new link with the deaf health charity SignHealth. The charity works to ensure that deaf people have the same access to healthcare and health information. The theme for this year’s Form 1 and 2 massed choir at the Summer Concert at West Road was inspired by SignHealth’s annual fundraising event called sign2sing, which helps to raise awareness and to bring in much needed funds for the charity.
Fortunately, the weather gods were kind and yet again, the sun shone for the Parents’ Association Charity Fun Day in May. A big crowd of staff, parents and pupils made it to the playing fields to take part in a host of different activities from an assault course to plate smashing!
20 excited children and 4 eager staff packed their ski gear and headed to La Thuile in Italy for the St John’s 2019 ski trip. The resort has beautiful views of the Aosta Valley and the Mont Blanc Massif and, from the top of the ski area, of the Tarantaise Mountains in France and the Matterhorn on the Italian/Swiss border.
During the Easter break, a group of Senior House Geographers and Scientists set out to explore the wonders of Iceland. The children investigated volcanic activity, lava fields, hot springs, geysers, stunning waterfalls, dark, mysterious beaches and got to experience the heat and vibrancy of flowing lava.
St John’s children and their families recently celebrated Red Nose Day to raise money and awareness for Comic Relief. The budding philanthropists rolled up their sleeves to bake to contribute to a cake sale. Byron House children also paid a suggested donation of £1 to come to school with ‘wacky hair’ for the day and, across both sites, St John’s raised £378.70 for the charity.
Four environmentally passionate St John’s Form 6 children took part in a ‘strike’ on 15 March and marched through the streets of Cambridge, joining other secondary school children, calling for climate change to be declared an emergency. Demonstrations and rallies took place in more than 64 places in the UK, including London, Bristol, Cornwall and the Scottish Highlands.
At the end of the Lent term, the whole of Kindergarten visited Hamerton Zoo near Sawtry. The zoo stretches over 20 acres so there were lots of different wild and domestic animals for our youngest children to explore, from looking into the eye of a tiger to venturing into cheetah country, as well as giant anteaters, wallabies, Corsac foxes and the more familiar donkeys, rabbits, sheep and alpacas. The children's zoo experience was made more memorable with a hands-on workshop where they got close to and handled different small animals.