St John's School, Leatherhead

St John's School

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Motto	Quae Sursum Sunt Quaerite (Latin for Seek those things which are above)
Established	1851
Type	Independent school. Co-educational day, weekly and flexi boarding
Religion	Church of England
Head Master	Martin A R Collier MA (Oxon)
Preceded by	Nicholas Haddock MBE MA (Oxon)
Founder	Ashby Haslewood
Location	Epsom Road Leatherhead Surrey KT22 8SP United Kingdom
DfE URN	125353 Tables
Students	660
Gender	Mixed
Ages	13–18
Colours	Green and White
Former pupils	Old Johnians
Visitor	The Archbishop of Canterbury
Patron	The Duchess of Gloucester
Website	www.stjohnsleatherhead.co.uk

St John’s School in Leatherhead, Surrey is a fully co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18. The school offers day, weekly and flexible boarding for approximately 660 pupils.

St John’s was founded in 1851 to educate the sons of the clergy, and was relocated from St John’s Wood, London to its current site in Surrey in 1872. Set in 50 acres, the school’s site is a mixture of old and new, with mid-Victorian architecture complemented by a Science Centre, and modern classroom blocks and boarding houses.

History

Since the 1970s St John's, while maintaining a substantial boarding community, has taken in an increasing number of day pupils and in 1989 the first Sixth Form girls entered the school. In 2010 girls were able to join the school in the first year (fourth form) for the first time and the school has been fully co-educational since September 2012.

A BBC report in 2016 revealed that pupils had been cheating in public exams in 2015 and had lied about it. A senior teacher at the school was struck off by the Department for Education for his involvement.

House system

St John's is divided into nine Houses each with its own characteristics and Housemaster/mistress. There are six boys' houses and three girls' houses.

•           West - Yellow and Black (boarding)
•           East - Green and Black (boarding)
•           Haslewood - Black and Blue
•           Montgomery (Monty) - Burgundy and Turquoise
•           North - Red and Black
•           South - Purple and Black (boarding)
•           Surrey - Red and White
•           Churchill - Blue and White
•           Gloucester - Blue and Pink

South – renamed from Hallaton – is a girls' house and comprises two buildings. The other girls' houses are Haslewood and Gloucester, both of which are located in the heart of the School on the Quad.

Sport

The school competes on a circuit across a wide variety of sports, and some pupils have gained representative honours at county, national and international level. Rugby, football, hockey, netball and cross country are major sports at St John’s, alongside cricket, athletics, tennis and swimming during the summer months. During the autumn term, boys’ teams focus on rugby and girls’ teams compete in hockey. The spring term sports are football, netball, cross country, boys’ hockey and rugby sevens. The school offers the following as additional competitive sports: badminton, biathlon, fives, golf, rounders, sailing, skiing, squash, shooting. Pupils also have the opportunity to participate in recreational sports, including Pilates, Zumba, indoor rowing, volleyball, wakeboarding and off-road cycling.

Cricket ground

The first recorded match on the school cricket ground came in 1879 when the school played the Marylebone Cricket Club. Since then the school has used the ground for a number of fixtures against other schools and colleges. The ground has also held 2 List-A matches, the first of which came in 1969 when Surrey played Northamptonshire in the Player's County League. The second and final List-A match at the ground came in 1972, when Surrey played Worcestershire in the John Player League.

Co-curricular activities

At St John’s, pupils have the option to try a range of activities. From Japanese to chess, from honing cricket skills to building a hovercraft or philosophical debates, there is an extensive list of opportunities, as well as art, music, drama, the combined cadet force, Duke of Edinburgh award and the school’s community service unit.

St John's is a participant in the Combined Cadet Force (compulsory for one year) and the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. CCF has been a part of St John’s for over 100 years, and was founded in 1912. Today’s CCF comprises over 350 cadets, across Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force sections. All Lower Fifth (Year 10) pupils take part in the CCF’s weekly training sessions, and can choose to continue in later years if they wish to. The St John’s CCF is affiliated to HMS COLLINGWOOD (Royal Navy), Coldstream Guards (British Army) and RAF ODIHAM (Royal Air Force).

St John’s runs a community service unit, with just over half of the school’s sixth form taking part in weekly volunteer placements in the local community. These placements take place during evenings, weekends and free periods.

Notable Old Johnians

File:Dining Halls.jpg

St John's Dining Hall in snow

The school has a number of notable alumni - see Old Johnians

• George Kruis, professional Rugby Union player. Currently playing for Saracens and in the England World Cup Squad.
• File:Quad And War Memorial St Johns.JPG

  The Dining Hall and the Quad War Memorial
  David Alesworth, ARBS, distinguished artist, based in Pakistan
• Thomas Barfett MA (1916–2000), Archdeacon of Hereford and a Canon Residentiary at Hereford Cathedral (1977–82)
• Harry Beckham, football player, expelled and later transferred to Warwick School
• Jim Bishop, Suffragan Bishop of Malmesbury from 1962
• John Westerdale Bowker (born 1935) is a professor of religious studies who has taught at the universities of Cambridge, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and North Carolina State University. He is an Honorary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, a consultant for UNESCO, as well as a BBC broadcaster and author and editor of several books
• Peter Bruinvels, former Conservative Party Member of Parliament
• File:St Johns Main Entrance 2011.jpg

  Front Entrance of St John's
  Sir Paul Bryan DSO MC, Conservative MP who came into politics after distinguished service in the Second World War
• Sir Henry Calley DL DFC DSO
• John Cook, prolific 20th-century Anglo-American composer, organist and church musician.
• Giles Dilnot, BBC Daily Politics Political Correspondent and co-presenter
• Peter Drury, football commentator
• Kenneth Durham, educator
• Basil Ede, wildlife artist specialising in avian portraiture.
• Mohamed A. El-Erian, CEO and CIO of PIMCO - a company of Allianz SE
• Staff Paymaster Joseph Gedge, the first British officer to be killed in the First World War
• Ronald Goodchild Bishop of Kensington 1964-80
• Geoffrey Grigson, poet, anthologist and critic
• David Hatch
• Gavin Hewitt, Europe Editor of BBC News
• Sir Anthony Hope, author of adventure novels such as The Prisoner of Zenda
• Major General Malcolm Hunt OBE RM, CO 40 Commando RM during Op Corporate
• The Right Reverend Morris Maddocks
• Humfrey Malins CBE MP
• Christopher Matthews, internet and dating agency businessman
• Guy Michelmore
• Andrew Norriss children's author and TV sitcom writer
• Reverend Vivian Redlich, a missionary in Papua New Guinea when the Japanese invaded in 1942. The decision to remain at his post led to his beheading in August that year. The Chapel is dedicated to the martyr who attended St John's from 1916 to 1917. The island's Martyr's Memorial School was founded in 1948 as a memorial. In a new development on 2 September 2006, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that it is now believed that Vivian, instead of dying at the hands of the Japanese, may have been murdered by the tribal people he had sought refuge with.
• Tom Rogan American journalist and media personality
• Lord Richard Rogers
• Victor Silvester OBE
• Nicholas Smith, actor
• Air Commodore Ian Stewart
• Simon Thomas, former Blue Peter presenter
• The Venerable Ted Ward, Archdeacon of Sherborne and Chaplain of the Royal Chapel in Windsor Great Park
• Rt Rev Leonard Wilson (1897–1970), priest, Bishop of Singapore 1941-49, Dean of Manchester 1949-53, Bishop of Birmingham 1953-69
• Lieutenant Geoffrey Harold Woolley VC, the first Territorial Army officer to win the VC.
• Sir Leonard Woolley

Notable staff

• Sir Arthur Bowley, Mathematics Master
• Tim Crooks, Olympic Rower and BBC Superstars Champion 1977, Craft Design and Technology

List of Headmasters

• Anthony Thomson (Oxon), 1851-1857
• Lewis Mercier (Oxon) 1857-1861
• Edwards Hawkins (Oxon), 1861-1883
• Arthur Rutty (Cantab), 1883-1909
• Edmund Downes (Oxon), 1909-1932
• Jack Carter (Oxon), 1933-1947
• Hereward Wake (Oxon), 1948-1960
• Ian Sutherland (Cantab), 1960-1970
• Edward 'Ted' Hartwell (Oxon), 1970-1985
• David Brown (Cantab), 1985-1992
• Christopher Tongue (Cantab), 1993-2004
• Nicholas Haddock (Oxon), 2004-2011
• Martin Collier (Oxon), 2011-

Southern Railway Schools Class

The School lent its name to the fortieth example of the Southern Railway's V Class steam locomotive, no. 939. This Class was known widely as the Schools Class because all forty of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Leatherhead', as no. 939 was called, was built in 1934. The locomotive bearing the School's name was withdrawn in the early 1960s. A nameplate survives in the reception at the school, along with a small model of the engine.

External links

• Official website