October 2025

Dear Parent / Carer

Welcome to the First Newsletter of the Academic Year

We are delighted to welcome all our students back to The John Warner School, and extend a particularly warm welcome to our new students in Year 7 and Year 12 as they begin an exciting new chapter in their education. It has been wonderful to see how well our new Year 7s have settled in and embraced the challenges of secondary school life. We are also pleased to have welcomed an additional 25 students from our Year 11 cohort into the Sixth Form this year, compared to last year. I am delighted that they have chosen to continue their educational journey with us.

The academic year has started on a high note with a number of key events. We began with our Prize Giving Evening, celebrating the achievements of both our students and the wider school community from last year. This was followed by a very successful Open Evening, which saw a large number of students volunteering their time to support the event, whether by touring prospective families or assisting in subject areas. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the students involved.

A special thank you goes to Maddox in Year 9 for his outstanding piano performance in the hall, and to our Head Students, Eren and Aimee, for delivering a thoughtful and inspiring speech to parents. We are incredibly proud to have such exceptional students representing our school.

We’ve also hosted our Year 12 Information Evening, and more recently, welcomed our new Year 7 parents to their own information evening.

Unfortunately, the start of term has not been without its challenges. A burst water pipe caused significant damage to our Sixth Form Centre. The leak occurred on a Sunday evening and, sadly, wasn’t discovered until Monday morning. Refurbishment work will begin shortly, and we are optimistic that repairs will be completed promptly. I would like to thank our Sixth Form students for their patience and understanding, and I will keep both them and their parents updated as soon as the contractors are on site.

Looking ahead, we’re excited about the many opportunities this academic year holds. Together, as a school community, we can continue to motivate and inspire our students to achieve their very best.

Thank you for your continued support.

Warmest regards

Chris Price

Headteacher, The John Warner School

Prize-Giving Evening

Congratulations to the many students invited to our annual Prize-Giving Evening on Tuesday, 9 September.

It was lovely to celebrate their academic, sporting, and creative successes alongside their families and friends.

We are incredibly proud of everything our students have accomplished; the awards received are well-deserved and a testament to their commitment and effort. It’s always inspiring to see our students shine and reach new heights, and this evening was no exception.

Thank you to those who attended; it was a beautiful celebration.

Year 7 Introductory Evening

On Tuesday, 30 September, we were delighted to welcome the parents of our new Year 7 students to the school. Mr Price opened the evening with a welcome address, followed by an opportunity for parents to meet with form tutors.

We were also grateful for the external support from the HABS team and our local Mental Health Support Team (MHST), who shared valuable information with families. In addition, parents had the opportunity to speak with Miss Haddock about the Passport to Sport award, Mrs Davenport about Reading Matters, and Mr Higham and members of his robotics team.

We are incredibly pleased with the positive start our Year 7 students have made on their journey at The John Warner School, and we look forward to celebrating their achievements in the years ahead.

Year 6 Open Evening

On Wednesday, 17 September, the school hosted its annual Open Evening for students wishing to join us in September 2026.

A special mention goes to Maddox for his wonderful piano performance, which added a joyful energy to the evening, and to Erin and Aimee, who courageously took the stage to share an incredibly articulate and personal account of their experiences of school life.

This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of all our departments, staff, and tour guides.

We are offering morning tours until 9 October. If you would like to visit our school, please contact us or visit our website for more information.

Reading Matters

click here to read

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Year 11 students have embarked on their journey to complete the Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award with their practice expedition in the New Forest. This experience is designed to test their resilience and teamwork throughout the expedition.

Over three days, students navigated the countryside and the horses, camping for two nights. Both groups covered up to 30 kilometers through remote terrain, relying solely on maps, compasses, and their own planning skills.

Carrying all their food, tents, and supplies, the students camped overnight at two different locations, showing impressive perseverance despite long hikes and tired legs.

Well done to all the students involved! We look forward to the qualifying expedition in June.

Robotics Regional Competition

On Saturday 27 September, The John Warner Robotics team hosted the first event of the 2025/2026 season – Push Back.

In this year’s game, students are challenged to design, build, program, and compete with a robot that fits within an 18-inch cube. The objective is to collect and score red or blue cuboids into elevated horizontal goals.

Each team competed in seven qualification matches to rank as highly as possible before entering a selection process to choose an alliance partner for the knockout phase.

At the end of the qualification matches, the John Warner teams experienced mixed fortunes, with rankings of 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 13th. Two other teams used the event as an opportunity to continue developing and building their robots.

As is often the case, rankings didn’t always reflect the true ability of the teams, due to the random nature of match pairings — some teams faced tougher opponents more frequently than others.

Fortune was on the side of our Sixth Formers, however, when the top-ranked team chose them as their alliance partner, despite their 7th place ranking. Our teams ranked 2nd and 3rd were then able to choose their own alliance partners, and the Year 9 team was selected as part of the 7th alliance.

click here to read more

Supporting Wellbeing: Mental Health Matters

click here to view

Celebrating Success

Jake Signs for Brighton

⚽️We are delighted to share that last year’s Year 11 student, Jake Evans, signed for Brighton & Hove Albion in July, making the move from Tottenham Hotspur’s Academy.

Jake began his scholarship at Brighton in early July and is currently living with a host family as he settles into life as a professional football scholar on the south coast.

We are incredibly proud of Jake and wish him every success in this exciting new chapter of his footballing journey. We can’t wait to watch him shine! ⚽️

Ellena Represents Ireland at Women’s Rugby World Cup

Congratulations to former student Ellena Perry who competed in the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Ellena, a former England international and multiple Premiership Women's Rugby champion, is now representing Ireland having qualified through her grandmother.

Ellena was Player of the Match in her first start for Ireland in their pool match against Spain. Ireland reached the Quarter Finals where they came agonisingly close to defeating Six Nations rivals France.

Sports Round Up

Year 7 Girls' Football

Congratulations to the Year 7 girls' football team, who played their first matches against Broxbourne School last week.

The girls performed brilliantly, winning all of their games.

Year 7 Mob Race

We were really pleased with the effort shown by our Year 7 cross country runners during the annual District Mob Race at Presdales School.

All of the students who took part had finished in the top 12 of their year group in the recent House Cross Country competition and were selected to represent the school.

Well done to everyone who competed!

Click here to view our House Events Results

Save the Date Events

Sixth Form Open Evening: Thursday 6 November, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Dance Showcase: Thursday 13 November, 6:00 - 7:30pm - 'Born to Dance'

Carol Concert & Pantomime: Tuesday 9 December 5:00 - 6:30pm

Vacancies

To explore current opportunities at The John Warner School, click the link below to visit our recruitment page.

Click here

Thank yous

Dear Mrs Debnam, Miss Dane and Miss Adams,

I have no idea if you are all still there but please pass this message onto anyone who knew Izzy / helped her on her journey. I am aware that some of her teachers/support staff may no longer be there but you may still be in touch with them.

She took Art, Geography and 3D design (DT) - all subjects that she loved - certainly inspired by her teachers at JWS and her time there.

She finally decided to do Animation at university - got all her offers including 3 unconditional offers. Her portfolio was amazing.

She worked her socks off (no surprises there really) for the whole 2 years.

She got two A*'s (Art, 3D design) and an A (Geography). Super pleased and super proud.

We drop her off at the end of next week to start her next adventure at Nottingham Trent.

Thank you all so much for being part of where Izzy is now and where she is heading.

Teachers make a difference - please don't forget that.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I would like to thank the very kind lady that stopped when she saw my son collapsed on the floor near 100 acres Hoddesdon on Thursday around 2-45. He has an inflamed heart and with your caring heart you saved my son's life. Thank you so much your our angel and god bless you.

We’re proud to say the amazing lady who helped was Mrs Oats from our Student Services team. We’re incredibly proud of her.

Proud to be part of