10 May 2024


And so today we said ‘Goodbye and Good Luck’ to our Year 13 students who embark on their examinations from Monday of next week. Their commitment to their school over a period of significant unrest has been both extraordinary and heartwarming. On Friday 3 May, Lucy Keens, Head Girl during the academic year 2022 to 2023, who has remained at the school this academic year to resit her A Levels, was kind enough to say to me, ‘The school feels like it did when I was in Year 7 again.’. 

Lucy’s own resilience and loyalty to The John Warner School, and its Combined Cadet Force in particular, is notable. Similarly, deep thanks should also be given to our outgoing Head Boy and Head Girl, Alex Quintin and Charlotte Bacon. They have left a rich legacy of hope through sustained and active contribution to both whole school events and student voice across the academic year since September 2023. I very much hope that they will return to the school in future years and play a part in the Alumni community the school continues to foster.


It is the quality of loyalty that I referred to specifically when I spoke briefly to our Year 11 students at their Leavers’ Assembly on Thursday 2 May, a joyful event that best showcased their ability, over time, to recognise what is and what is not appropriate (alongside their fabulous and glittery, feathery design skills!). Should they ever need it, these lively, intelligent and ultimately lovely students will always have a ‘home’ at The John Warner School. 


Finally, and in keeping with the above, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Thomas, Assistant Headteacher for Key Stage 4, for her considerable loyalty and contribution, not only to the pastoral heart of the school but also to the English Faculty and for raising the profile of female empowerment through her work on International Women’s Days. Her quiet stoicism, combined with a willingness to go not only the extra mile but the extra ten miles and beyond, will be much missed. She leaves us at the end of the Summer Term to take up the position of Key Stage 4 English Lead at St Edmund’s College. 

Mrs Thomas's account of the Year 11 Leavers' morning leads our May articles below.

With Kindest Regards

Rachel Brindley
Interim Headteacher, The John Warner School

Year 11 Leavers' Day

On Thursday 2  May we waved our Year 11s off on study leave. The morning began by senior staff welcoming our students to their last form time where the Year 11 tutors were able to celebrate with their tutees. Many flowers, gifts and cards were exchanged and colleagues would like to thank both parents and students for their generosity and kindness. 

Students then participated in a Leavers’ Assembly where Ms Brindley, Mrs Thomas and Mr Fox wished them well and gave out Tutor and Head of Year Awards. The assembly ended with a photo montage which caused much hilarity as many of the photos went back as far as Year 7. Finally, all students were able to join in with shirt signing and goodbyes with their teachers and fellow students on the field to mark the occasion. 

We were particularly impressed with the creative designs many of our Year 11s had included on their shirts, notably feathers, sequins and glitter! There was a really lovely atmosphere throughout the ‘goodbye’ and students’ behaviour was impeccable both on the day and in the run up to it. We wish them every success with their Year 11 exams and look forward to seeing them again at Prom on 4 July and Results’ Day on 22 August.

Year 13 Leavers' Day

Friday 10 May marked the last official day in school for our Year 13 students before they begin their final examinations. Having spent 7 years in secondary education, today marked an important milestone for the students. They celebrated by coming to school in fancy dress and enjoyed sharing their last official day with their friends and teachers. The day finished with a celebration assembly during which awards were presented. Students cringed as they looked back at some old photos and memories, and Mr Cove and Miss Wood-Thompson delivered their 'Leavers' Poem'. The day was a great success and a celebration of the students' time at John Warner. We wish them all every success in their final examinations and all of their future endeavours.

Year 10 visit to Ypres, Belgium

On Friday 19 April, 39 Year 10 historians, accompanied by Miss Barnes, Mr Bradbury, Mr Creasey and Mrs Halley, visited Ypres, Belgium for the day. The purpose of the visit was to tour several sites which would complement and enhance students’ existing knowledge relating to Medicine on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918, thus giving the students first hand experience of trench warfare. 

Students were guided by First World War expert, Dave from Anglia Tours, who with his vast experience as a History teacher and tour leader, spoke with them extensively about the significance and dangers of trench warfare, particular battles, and the importance of remembrance. 

The first stop was visiting the Bayernwald trench system, whereby students were able to enter bunkers that had been built for safety from shelling. They looked inside a purpose built mine shaft and navigated their way around the original, typical zig-zag system. This was followed by a visit to Hill 60 where, in 1914, the British tunnelled underground to activate a series of mines enabling the British to retake the ground from the German troops. This experience facilitated discussions about how treatment would have changed in response to this new type of warfare. 

Year 7 and Year 8 House Art Competition

On Thursday 2 May, Ms Brindley and Mrs Bertolone were delighted to judge the 2024 Year 7 and Year 8 House Art Competition. In their Art lessons, Year 7 students have been learning about surrealism, the exploration of which involves the use of imagination and creativity and includes exposure to the work of Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte.

Meanwhile, Year 8 students have been developing their understanding of portraiture with a specific focus upon influential people of colour. As such, their brief for the competition was to fill an A3 or A4 page with a composition that:

After much lively discussion, the winners of the competition were judged to be:

Maths Challenge

Courtesy of Ms Ramanah-Smith, a significant number of our Year 7 and Year 8 students took part in the National Maths Challenge at the end of April. 5 students received a Gold Award, an excellent result, with 2 students qualifying with a score of 92%+ for the Kangaroo.

From Year 7 David Dirmus was awarded Best in School and from Year 8 Henry Foxcroft was awarded Best in Year.

Congratulations to all students who participated and achieved so highly.

Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, 2023-2024

Two students in Year 11, Aisha Njie and Tommy Gilkes, working both in class and beyond the classroom and using resources supplied by the Queen’s College, University of Oxford, have been competing to translate fiction and non-fiction from French to English. We are immensely proud of our students for completing the translation tasks independently and in the time frame allowed and we eagerly await the results next month!

‘Dirt and Discovery’ Day, 12 June 2024

On 30 April, we were delighted to hear that The John Warner School has been successful in gaining a bursary of £500 for 15 Year 9 students to attend the National Farmers’ Union Cereals ‘Dirt and Discovery’ Day on the 12 June 2024 in Baldock. Our Year 9 students have been learning about Food Provenance in their Food and Nutrition lessons and this bursary provides students with an opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the link between where food comes from, environmental impact and nutritional value. Thank you to Mrs Wootton for ensuring the bursary was forthcoming.

The John Warner Chef Club 2024

13 students from Years 7, 8 & 9 are learning new skills each week in our Chef Club. At the conclusion of the Summer Term, they will showcase their talents with the cooking of a 3-course meal, served to their parents / carers during a  Chef Club Graduation evening.  This week, they have been learning each of the very different French vegetable cuts as shown so beautifully below:

'You said, we listened' -
The John Warner School Darts Club

For those of our parents, carers and members of the community who follow the school on Facebook, you will be aware that April saw the introduction of a Darts Club to The John Warner School. The brainchild of Mr Creasey, up to 12 students may sign up to take part each week, and the sign up sheet has been full by Monday breaktime every week since the first session. Year 8 students, who requested the club, have loved having the dart boards in school and have had great fun playing supervised games against one another. The expansion of the club to further year groups is under consideration. Many thanks go to members of the community who have been kind enough to ‘gift’ dart sets to the school.

Community Engagement

Students from Cranbourne Primary School enjoyed a morning’s visit to The John Warner School on 25 April, creating a number of delicious pizzas which they were very proud to showcase, as seen in the lovely image below. Many thanks go to our Year 12 Food and Nutrition students who supported the younger pupils in their cooking endeavours.

Student Congratulations

Congratulations go to Ben Munir in Year 13 who has successfully completed his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award and has been invited to attend Buckingham Palace in May to receive his award.


The award comprises five sections - volunteering, physical, skills, expedition and residential. As such, Ben has spent 12 months volunteering for Teens Unite where he has helped to fundraise, organise and raise awareness about cancer in teens.  He has also worked towards his black belt in Judo with his assessor stating that, ‘The award of black belt requires a very complicated theory test along with a contest section which must culminate with multiple wins before being awarded a black belt. The black belt examination is carried out by external examiners independent of the player’s club making it a massive achievement when the player actually makes it.’. Ben’s success in this field has ensured he has been asked by his instructor to train to become a coach for his club.


With regard to his skills assessment, Ben has spent 6 months developing his understanding and knowledge of advanced maths while his expedition comprised 4 days walking and 3 nights camping in unfamiliar and wild terrain. Ben had the additional challenge of completing the Qualifying Expedition through an external organisation so was unfamiliar with the people he was in a group with. 


Finally, Ben spent 5 days on a residential visit, again with people he did not know, completing shared activities and developing teamwork skills in an unfamiliar environment. His assessor at the outdoor education centre in Surrey stated that, ‘Ben has been a wonderful addition to the group, always keeping the morale up. He has pushed himself throughout all of the activities. He has made a huge effort to get to know everyone and has been very enthusiastic throughout the week.’.


We are so pleased for Ben at what is a great achievement. Many thanks also go to Ms Adams whose sterling leadership of the Duke of Edinburgh Award at the school has led to excellent and increasing student engagement over time. 

Years 3 and 4 Inter Primary Cup

Friday 3 May saw The John Warner School host the annual Years 3 and 4 interprimary football and netball tournaments. Schools from the area were invited to send teams to the competition and, ultimately, there were 25 teams competing in high-5-netball and 6-a-side football competitions. The skills on display were excellent and we are sure a number of the students will be back here next year competing in the Years 5 and 6 event. All matches were officiated by JWS students and the event itself was planned by the Year 12 OCR sports group as part of their 'Organising Sport' coursework unit. Events like this are a wonderful opportunity for our students to practise their leadership skills and a chance for our local junior schools to take part in competitive sport against one another. Congratulations to another Danes Educational Trust school, The Cranbourne Primary School, who were winners of the A team football and runners up in the B team netball.

Final senior rounders tournament for the
Year 11 girls

Last week the Year 11 girls took part in their final district rounders tournament: a number of the team have played in the annual event since Year 7. The girls played some excellent games, all the results were very close and the team finished in a credible 3rd place overall. It has been a pleasure taking the team to fixtures for the past 5 years and they have been a credit to the PE Faculty.

Please note events in the Sports calendar later this term:

Girls cricket leadership day (May 20)

Years 7/8 & Years 9/10 boys’ tennis (various)

Boys’ & Girls’ cricket (various)

Sports Day (June 21)

District athletics (June 26)

Award for Teacher Dedication to schools’ football

At the start of April we were delighted to hear that, following a recent call for nominations for the English Schools’ FA’s Reward & Recognition Awards, Ms Wood-Thompson had been shortlisted for an Award for Teacher Dedication to schools’ football. The award is designed to recognise those teachers who go above and beyond their paid duties to ensure schools’ football opportunities are available to their students.  

Ms Wood-Thompson was nominated by Becky Hill who wrote the following: 

‘Hayley has been dedicated to schools' football for over 10 years at school, at County and at schools' international level too. Hayley teaches PE and promotes girls’ football in her school and at County level. She enters her school teams into district, county and national cup competitions, including running a tournament in conjunction with the FA on International Women’s Day for schools in her trust this year. She promotes women's and girls' football heavily across social media and consistently encourages girls to take part in activity. 

‘Hayley is also a prominent ambassador for football v homophobia & Kick it Out, creating content to address children in assemblies, which has had worldwide reach. Hayley has been an ambassador, speaking up against homophobia in football at national events. She is a true inspiration and works hard to fuel the narrative that football is for everyone.’ 

Voting for the awards opened until Friday 26 April 2024 and we would like to thank so many members of our community and beyond who we know actively supported Ms Wood-Thompson’s nomination. Ms Wood-Thompson will attend the ESFA’s Reward & Recognition Awards ceremony, to be held on Saturday 15 June at Aston Villa Football Club. The ceremony will see the England U15 Schoolgirls and U18 Schoolboys awarded with their international caps, will recognise some of the ESFA’s Long Service Award winners and also announce the winners of the Reward & Recognition Award categories too.

Thank yous

Hi Miss Fraser


Thank you for your lovely email. It’s so nice knowing that he has a teacher who genuinely cares about (...) and his learning. He really enjoys your lessons and on Thursday said to me very happily, ‘I’ve got Miss Fraser tomorrow!’. He definitely doesn’t go to anyone else’s lessons early!


I was a bit worried how he was going to be after the Easter holidays, going back to routine etc and he didn’t start off great but managed to pull it round and the rest of the week was good. 


Hopefully he manages to keep the good work and positive attitude up and I can’t wait to see his work. (He said it’s very good!) 


Thanks again for the email.


Hope you have a nice weekend! 


Kind Regards

Amy

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