Embassy Magazine 2019

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EMBASSY

St John’s on-the-Hill School Magazine 2019/20

ST JOHN’S ON-THE-HILL chepstow

dean close

Destination Schools Year 8 June 2020 with all Scholarships Awarded Name

School

Scholarship / Award

Destination School

Baker, Harry Benjamin

Dean Close Christ College, Brecon

Academic Scholarship Science and Sport Scholarship

Christ College, Brecon

Baker, Thomas Simon

Monkton Combe

Beddis, Charlie Alfie

Dean Close

Sport Scholarship awarded at 11+ at St John’s

Dean Close

Couchman, Cai Christopher

Clifton Dean Close

Sport Scholarship Sport Scholarship awarded at 11+ at St John’s

Dean Close

Eaves, Isabelle Marie Wadsworth,

Monmouth Comp

Evans, Archie Ross

Dean Close

Futcher, Hector William

Chepstow School

Hardacre, William

Dean Close

James Russell

Dean Close

Heaven, Harvey Lewis

Dean Close

Sport Scholarship

Hoare, Oliver Henry Lane, James Michael

Monmouth Boys Clifton Monmouth Boys

Clifton: invited on to the HPP (High Performance Programme) Academic Scholarship

Lewis, Morgan Howard Lloyd, George William

Dean Close

Clifton

Wyedean Monmouth Boys

Mott, Jack Alexander Rayner, Katherine Lena May

Clifton

Reece, Spencer Joshua

King’s Clifton

Sport Scholarship

Monmouth Boys

Academic scholarship

King’s Glos

Drama Scholarship

Clifton Clifton

Ruiz-Ruescas Fonseca, Nicolás

Colegio Retamar, Madrid

Sault, Casley Cooper

Monmouth Boys

Soukup-Carne, Kryštof

BGS

Taylor, Ollie

Clifton

Sport Scholarship

Clifton

Turner, Fearne Dakota

King’s Glos

Art & Academic Scholarship

King’s Glos

Warby, Max Edmund

Clifton Monmouth Boys

No award Sport Scholarship

Clifton

Sport Scholarship awarded at 11+ at St John’s

Dean Close

Watkins, Lucas Oakley

Art Scholarship

Monmouth Boys BGS

From the Head

From the Head...

As I come to the end of my time here at St John’s, I just wanted to write to you one more time to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support and encouragement during these past four years. You are an outstanding body of parents and I have felt honoured that you have entrusted your precious children with me and the team at St John’s. What a journey it has been. There have been so wonderful moments with your children and it has been a privilege watching them grow into confident young people who are taking steps to shape not just their future, but those around them.

Contents Leavers’ Destinations From the Head Headline News Charity Science Science Fair Home Learning Maths Sport Drama Music Pre-Prep Boarding at St Johns Thanks for Friends Social Media

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This has certainly been the most surreal of times and yet as you flick through these vibrant and action-packed pages, you will get a clear picture of what an exceptionally vibrant school St John’s is. Despite the challenges of Covid-19, our children and staff have continually proved they embody the DNA of the St John’s Way. Their enthusiastic and upbeat approach to life is an inspiration to all. One of the many qualities that leaps out of the pages of this kaleidoscope of images is their ‘can-do’, ‘glass full to overflowing’ attitude. They throw themselves heart and soul into everything and it is no surprise that our pupils both past and present are renowned for being those pupils who never take no for an answer.

It has been a total delight to cheer them on from the sidelines, celebrate their many successes and hear about their hopes and dreams for the future. It has been an honour to be trusted with their concerns and to see them wrestle with self-doubt. However, what has stood out for me throughout my time here is how resilient and courageous they all are. Each new challenge and setback they have faced has given them a new resolve to try harder, dig deeper and strive. I am so proud of each and every one of them and applaud you as parents and families for raising such enterprising, outward-looking children.

Mrs Ruth Frett Head

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Headline News

Headline News

Speech Day Speech Day took on a different format this year and was attended via video, due to the recent pandemic. The audience was suitably entertained by music, speeches and prize giving. The most anticipated trophy - for the overall winning house - went to Severn House. Here’s head of Severn Mr Downie with the coveted Crows & Cranes shield.

Remembrance Service To see the school standing so still and silent for the Two-Minute Silence was very powerful. This is arguably one of the most important services in the academic year and every pupil gave of their best.

Superb readings from Katie Rayner, Harry Baker, Cai Couchman and Isabelle Eaves, and how moving it was to watch our oldest and youngest pupils (Cai and Eliza Weeks) lay the wreath.

Christingle Service

The Pre-Prep and Kindergarten children enjoyed the magic of our Christingle service, led by the lovely Jane Penny. Our readers did a beautiful job so well done to Monty, Millie and Bastie. It is always amazing to see how carefully the children handle the lit candles and their awestruck little faces.

Thank you to everyone who came to join us.

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Isle of Man Rugby Tour Our 1st team rugby squad travelled to the Isle of Man to take part in a twoday tournament involving six very good rugby schools. Our boys scored 34 tries over the six games and conceded just three. With our travelling parents supporting them every step of the way,the boys went on to lift the trophy.

The tour itself was a great experience for the players to adjust to various environments and conditions. They were highly praised, not only on the field, but also for how they conducted themselves across the board, demonstrating superb manners and excellent behaviour. They really are a credit to St John’s and their families.

Headline News

Thank you NHS and Key Workers Jaimie, our Domestic Bursar, baked delicious cakes for our friends at Castleford House Nursing Home. We also sent Easter eggs and cards from the children, along with a video of them singing. We may not be able to visit in person, due to COVID restrictions, but it is good to know we can still lift the residents’ spirits. Our nurseries donated plastic aprons and protective gloves to local hospitals. The nursery children also wrote cards of support which have been displayed at the Royal Gwent Hospital and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

Letter from the Queen

Eliza (and brother, Ruben) wrote to the Queen and was so surprised to receive a reply from HRH Her Majesty herself!

Pupils meet Cricket Legend Imagine getting to meet England cricketing legend Kevin Pietersen. Well, these lucky St John’s sports fans did just that when they travelled to Dean Close to meet their hero. They listened to advice and even got to see him in action!

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Headline News

New Table Tennis Tables

Pupils were delighted to discover that the FOSJ had donated two brand new table tennis tables to school.

Inspired through Sports day

Pupils enjoyed an exhausting Inspired Through Sport day in September, where they were put through their paces by exLiverpool footballer Nick Tanner, wowed by ‘Roy of the Rovers’ author Tom Palmer, motivated by Olympic athlete Chris Silver and run ragged by Joe Wicks. Phew – what a day!

An Evening of Music Making On Thursday 17th October at St Mary’s Church in Chepstow, St John’s on-the-Hill proudly presented an evening of music making of the absolute highest order. The music performed was taken from some of the most iconic movies produced and many of them were arranged specially for this concert, including an epic finale combining the Cory Band with over 100 voices. Along the way, the audience were entertained with music from Batman, The Sound Of Music, When Harry Met Sally, James Bond and The Greatest Showman, to name a few. Even head Mrs Frett got into the act with a classical solo!

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Captain’s Table Every few weeks, one pupil from each year group gets to sit at the Captain’s Table! The pupils are nominated by staff who are always on the lookout for those displaying the best manners or ethics around school. The best bit – aside from all that delicious food – is that the pupils are served by teachers!

Charity

Charity

Charity

Mad May

Challenge During the lockdown period, the staff and pupils of St John’s accepted the challenge from Mr Dobbie to travel to New Zealand and back by walking, running and/or cycling, to show our gratitude to the marvellous NHS and their heroic workers, by raising money for them through the month of May. We completed the challenge, a total of 22,854 miles, with just a day left in May and raised a fantastic £2,880 for the NHS. We hoped that this challenge would help the physical and mental wellbeing of our pupils throughout lockdown which it certainly did for many.

Thank you so much to our pupils, staff and parents who supported this challenge.

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Science

Science

My favourite Science lesson We all know science is fun and full of practical investigations that make us want to learn more.

There are so many lessons to highlight and it is impossible to choose just one that stands out, as the pupils are always so keen to share their findings and scientific knowledge.

Here are some highlights across the year groups: Year 8 completing a practical on identifying the rate of diffusion and how this is affected by the temperature of the solvent.

Year 7 creating rainbow racks to show how acid and alkalis can be neutralised, creating a PH scale of colours.

Year 6 taking their learning to the rest of the school during their break-time, when studying continuous and discontinuous variation. They tested the variation of their peer’s arm length and hand span.

Year 5 learning all about sound, proving it is created by movement and vibrations through different states of matter.

Every week there is a new experiment to complete and every week the children are challenged using their scientific investigatory skills and knowledge.

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Science

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Science Fair

Science Fair triumph for our Senior Scientists

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he much-loved and anticipated Science Fair continued to shine last year with over twenty Year 7 and 8 pupils taking part.

The Science Fair has always been incredibly well supported, with fabulous presentations, wonderfully wacky ideas and confident demonstrations; this year being no different with an outstanding calibre of work produced by our talented pupils.

The overall winner this year was Emily Martin, for her amazing entry on the circulatory system. Emily spent time measuring her heart rate after different activities in different climates. Emily found that the higher the temperature she exercised in, the higher her heart rate reached at a quicker speed. Emily analysed her results brilliantly and showed how exercise has a positive effect on our heart.

Prizes in each year group were: Year 7 3rd place: Nate Child-Villiers - Carbon Footprint 2nd place: Henry Maynard - Wind Turbines 1st place: Emily Martin - Circulatory System Year 8 3rd place: Max Warby/Kryštof Soukup - Carne - Steam Engine 2nd place: Jack Mott - Ocean Pollution 1st place: Charlie Beddis - All About Sugar The science department would like to thank all of the pupils and parents for their support with the Science Fair again this year. It continues to be a great opportunity for the children to showcase their passion and enjoyment for science, and we look forward to extending this next year.

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Science Fair

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Home Learning

Home Learning

S

cience did not stop during home learning.

Every Friday the children took part in ‘practical Friday’, to test their STEM skills at home. A different challenge was set every week which the children were asked to complete to the best of their ability with anything they could find at home. The challenges included building atoms, designing and creating a Rube Goldberg machine or a marble run, building a rocket that had to symbolise a real life rocket that has been launched into space, testing out air resistance with their own parachute creations, building rafts to test upthrust in water, creating a bridge structure to hold the most weight and many more.

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Home Learning

The commitment from the children was incredible and it certainly made Fridays more fun.

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Home Learning

Thank you to the parents for their support and willingness to allow the children to get stuck in!

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Maths

Maths

My favourite leon

The evolution of technology In the Mathematics department we are forward-thinking and always want to evolve; trying new ways of learning. This year the introduction of technology into the classroom has been one of my favourite parts of that evolution and my best lessons.

The online programmes we use give instant feedback as the pupils are working, allowing them to adapt their understanding as they complete their task. This increases the progress each pupil makes; far more than pen and paper learning does. It allows for better and more discrete differentiation so the pupils are working at their own level. The future of education!

Mr Allen, Head of Mathematics

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Sport

Our 1st team rugby squad flew to the Isle of Man on the first weekend of December, to take part in a two-day rugby tournament. Six teams were involved in the tournament, with four being from England and two from the Island.

We scored 34 tries across the six matches and conceded just three.

With our travelling parents supporting them every step of the way, the boys went on to lift the trophy.

Sport The Under 8 Rugby squad at their tag festival in Clifton College

The tour was a great experience for the boys, who adjusted well to the various environments and conditions, and provided the opportunity for them to play against teams they would not normally face on the general circuit.

The boys were not only praised on the field but also for how they conducted themselves off the field by demonstrating superb manners and behaviour. They are a credit to St John’s.

Congratulations.

Boys’ Games

The 1st XI football team enjoying a victory at home.

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Out of the Clasroom

Girls’ Games

The Hockey season started well. The Under 13 girls made huge strides as the season went on. They were up against some very top opposition and with only three Year 8 girls the Year 7’s had to step up. The aim was to improve and that’s exactly what they did.

Hockey The Year 3 and 4 girls really enjoyed their season and the Year 3 girls were brilliant at stepping up and helping the Year 4 girls in fixtures when they needed to. They loved playing in matches and were brilliantly competitive.

Hockey The Under 11 girls also had a strong season, the highlight of which was winning the U11 IAPS Plate final. It was a relatively wet start to the day but as the weather improved so did the girls’ performance. Our defence was brilliant and that was proven in the Plate Final when it ended 0-0 after the extra time. It went to penalty flicks and our girls held their nerve to win 3-2. The goalie was the star of the flicks with a brilliant save!

Netball

Netball season, although cut short, was successful for the girls and they all worked hard to improve their skills. The Under 8 and 9 girls were introduced to Bee Netball, England Netball new initiative. It allows for lots of scoring opportunities and lots of touch of the ball.

Which is great to see.

Cricket Unfortunately, this year the cricket season wasn’t able to occur. However, what was exciting was that St. John’s had taken the decision to mix the girls and boys for the season. This would give the girls more opportunity to play hard ball and give the boys more opportunity to play pairs cricket.

Hopefully next year we can really start to see the benefits of mixed cricket.

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Sport

PE Competitions Year 3 and 4 gymnasts progressed from winning our area’s qualifying competition before then finishing in a very respectful 4th position out of 10 schools. The starting number of schools was around 80 different teams and to finish just out of the top three is something we are very proud of. Well done to all the pupils who took part in the competition and in the lessons en route to the finals.

The school council held a lovely ‘Be Heard’ event, collecting together 62 ideas from the school to be brought forward to the attention of their peers, teachers and staff of St John’s. Ideas varied from lunch time suggestions to school trips, pupils were enthusiastic and very passionate about allowing everyone to see the school through their eyes. A good voting system was in place in the safe hands of our chairperson and vice chairperson which also allowed children to push forward their ideas in various areas.

We took a large group of pupils to Tockington for cross country ranging from Year 3 to Year 8. We have some fantastic runners and their passion for the school shines through in what is a difficult sporting event! Taking on the challenging course, pupils had to show true grit and determination to ensure they did not let their team mates down in a relay based competition. We also competed extremely well at Abberly Hall in what proved to be an incredibly tough course but one we did not shy away from. With such interest in cross country we hope to attend more events in the future.

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Drama A Pudding for the Chimney Sweep

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ur Year 3 & 4 Christmas production transported the audience back to a bustling Victorian England town in a production that showed the great wealth and poverty of the era collide.

There was a fine group of bad guys: Boyle, the chimney sweep’s bullying master; Quigley, the dishonest rent collector and necklace thief and Gradshaw the corrupt factory overseer. Their led Light-Fingers, a story telling of their delight in all things evil.

The poor of the town were represented by market stall holders and factory workers who feared for their lives in the dangerous Mortimers’ Mill. They sang one of the cast's favourite songs This is a Horrible Place to Work, complete with actions that showed their hard lives. Kind-hearted Mrs Perkins is helped to keep her business by the secret recipe provided by one of the many orphans she has taken in.

Secret Recipe was a great number that showed the puddings being made with the additional challenge that it got faster and faster.

Things take a turn for the worst when the secret recipe is stolen and also a diamond necklace that was to be a Christmas present for one of the wealthy Mortimer children.

The Mortimer children had no idea of the poverty and conditions at the family business. They came to the rescue helping Jim, the chimney sweep to prove his innocence and also return the stolen secret recipe to Mrs Perkins and the orphans, saving them from eviction - all in time for Christmas!

This was a sparkling production with fun songs which told the highs and lows of a Victorian tale accompanied by high-energy dance moves. There was some super characterisation to be seen too and the cast worked really hard to pull off the fantastic ensemble pieces.

Drama

The Tempest

For the Year 6 production, we took on the challenge of an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.

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and bring them to him. This includes the great comic duo of Trinculo and Stephano who make friends with the wild Caliban who was born on the island.

This was no ordinary storm though as we soon discovered it was conjured up by the great magician Prospero in an act of revenge he had waited many years to enact. A group of spirits perform the tale of Prospero’s life for his bemused daughter who can only remember life on the desert island they call home. She is bowled over by a “brave new world” when she sees a handsome young shipwrecked prince.

The show was interspersed with songs which were sung beautifully. The cast’s favourite was the high-adrenalin Run for Your Life, completed with running through the audience.

he play opened with the whole cast on stage in performing some great physical theatre as the tempest of the title, complete with thunder and lightning, wrecked the ship of the King of Naples. The whole story of this scene was told brilliantly through ensemble movement and song.

Ariel, Prospero’s servant spirit, ensures that true love does not run smoothly but also helps to taunt Prospero’s enemies

The major actors in the play all had lines from Shakespeare’s original play; they delivered these with understanding and ease, reminding us just what a great storyteller Shakespeare was and also that if you set the bar high, our children will rise to the challenge.

Although categorised as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays”, there was no denying the comedy that the cast bought out which was rewarded by hearty laughter from the audience.

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Music

Music I

n October we put on 'A Night at the Movies', a musical extravaganza featuring the School Senior Choir, Soul'd As Seen Choir soloists and the world famous Cory Band.

The concert took place at St Mary's Church to a packed out audience of over 500. The night was a huge success and a fantastic experience for our pupils.

Our annual Carol Service is always a wonderful occasion with many musical performances and readers. All pupils at St John's take part in the occasion including the always impeccable Pre-Prep. This year the opening carol Once in Royal David's City was sung by Isabelle Eaves. The service featured the school choirs, orchestra and wind ensemble and David Thomas on organ.

During November our Junior Choir was invited to the annual Coffee#1 conference at the Principality Stadium to launch the carol singing campaign to raise money for the Samaritans. The school has sung at the local store for a few years and this led to a national programme of singing across the Coffee#1 chain.

The driving force behind this was our talented singing teacher Mrs Emma Laidlaw-Height.

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Pre-Prep

Pre-Prep Spaceship Crash!

Year 2 got the academic year off to a flying start with a topic all about space. They came into school and discovered that a spaceship had crash landed on the Pre-Prep playground! They studied the pieces of rubble carefully and enjoyed creating stories about who was on the spaceship and why it had crashed! The children enjoyed developing their research, writing and presentation skills through creating a fact file all about the planets. As part of this topic, we also enjoyed a visit from a Planetarium as well as undertaking activities in the Science lab.

In the run-up to Christmas we enjoyed learning about festivals celebrated in different countries and also how Christmas is celebrated around the world.

Gloucester Waterways Museum The Lent term began with a wonderful visit to Gloucester Waterways museum and a visit from the Canal Safety staff.

We enjoyed creating our own water cycle experiment and finding out about how we use water at home and school and how we could save water.

Meeting Bubble and Squeak We were invited to the Prep School science labs for some hands on fun and met Bubble and Squeak the school tortoises.

During Lockdown we continued our learning with great enthusiasm and enjoyed ‘Fancy Dress Friday’ each week to celebrate the end of each fabulous week of learning!

We were so pleased to be able to come back to school for the last two weeks of term where we enjoyed creating and filming videos to celebrate our time in Pre-Prep.

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Pre-Prep

The Great Pre-Prep Chocolate Bake Off!

Despite Lockdown, the Pre-Prep children and families were up for a challenge. Our first Lockdown topic was Chocolate so of course we had to have a baking competition. The Pre-Prep children and their families made some amazing videos and cakes and had a brilliant time doing it.

Bethlehem's Buzzing

Pyjama Party Everyone likes getting to wear their pyjamas at school, even the teachers! Pre-Prep love our pyjama party where we get to share books and have a hot chocolate and a cookie.

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The Pre-Prep was ‘buzzing’ too during November and December with all the Christmas production excitement and rehearsals. The audience found some confused animals who had been sent out into a chilly, starry night because the innkeeper’s wife had a bee in her bonnet and declared the stable ‘out-of-bounds’. The show was received with loud laughter, cheering and clapping by the enthusiastic audience. The children were all amazing and who could ever forget the ‘grumpy camels’ who brought the house down with their funny journey across the stage.

Pre-Prep

Forest School The benefits of Forest School are many and varied and especially during these difficult times it is important to include it in the curriculum. It helps build confidence, resilience, risk management and independence, it promotes empathy for nature, each other and the world at large, it helps with physical fitness and is such a great learning experience with hands on activities.

Aquarium

World Book Day

The whole of Pre-Prep enjoyed a wonderful trip to Bristol Aquarium where the children were able to feed fish, take part in workshops and look at all the exhibits. Back in the classroom we worked on the topic seaside which included geographical features of the seaside, historical facts about seaside holidays from the past and scientific features like life cycles and food chains.

World Book Day is always great fun for the children and staff. Everyone gets to dress up as their favourite character.

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Boarding

Boarding

at St John’s T

he boarding community at St John’s is a vibrant, busy environment, with a real ‘home from home’ feel. The children enjoy a huge variety of trips and activities and love being a part of the extended St John’s family.

Exciting news for 2020-2021. The boarding house has had a makeover, with Hayley Williams as Houseparent. Hayley is making some changes to the structure of the day for the boarders, as well as some physical changes to the house itself, which is looking magnificent.

For more information, please email williamsh@stjohnsonthehill.co.uk Here are some photographs from 2019-2020 which show how much fun it is boarding at St John’s.

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Boarding

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Thanks for Friends

Thanks for Friends Christmas Fayre Christmas fundraising started early for the Friends of St John’s - the early bird catches the worm!

Fireworks Remember remember the 5th November…… this year saw our annual bonfire and fireworks display fall on Guy Fawkes night with a huge bonfire prepared by school parents and a fantastic display from Firemagic UK. The committee were keen to run with a ‘green theme’ in a continued effort to reduce plastic waste. Plastic glo-products were replaced with eco-glitter face painting and craft products.

The twenty minute fireworks display saw a huge range of colours and sounds ranging from comets to silver fish to falling leaves to brocades; drawing large crowds of parents, teachers and local families to this complimentary event. Hot chocolate and mulled wine along with hot dogs and burgers provided a warming atmosphere to an otherwise chilly but clear and dry evening.

Plans for the Christmas Fayre were discussed in October, and the FOSJ sought to involve the wider Community to support a more educational approach to the event. Parents across all year groups generously volunteered to become Business Mentors and led sessions with Years 3 to 8 to support children with their plans. The aims of the session were to help children develop their entrepreneurial and business skills to improve the way they plan and run a Christmas Fayre Stall. The children enjoyed learning about the purpose of the Fayre, how to make it successful and how those skills can be used in the wider world.

On the day of the Fayre it was very clear how hard the children had worked on their stalls individually and in groups. The hall was buzzing with excitement from the children (and staff) and there were lots of additional surprises in store for them. Father Christmas arrived in style surrounded by cheering children, and many visited his cosy grotto throughout the afternoon.

The Friends of St John’s provided warm and cold beverages for children and parents who were visiting the Fayre a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of face glitter, challenges, tombolas andgames.

The Raffle at the end of the Fayre was a great success, with prizes including generous vouchers, food and wine hampers, spa treatments and chocolates galore! Father Christmas announced the winners which included parents, grandparents and teachers.

Christmas Fundraising The FOSJ worked closely with the Teachers at St John’s to organise personalised Christmas cards for every child at St John’s on-the-Hill. Children produced a beautiful array of designs which were then sent off and returned as Christmas Cards, mugs, mouse-mats and more. Many children used these cards to wish their friends a Merry Christmas, but some cards were sent across the world to reach family and friends far away.

The Pre-Prep children and staff also designed their own tea towels for the first time. Each child and teacher in Pre-Prep completed a drawing of themselves and the drawings were then collated together on a red and white tea towel with the message “Seasons Greetings” and the St John’s on-the-Hill logo. The tea towels were extremely popular and had almost completely sold out in the first week of sales! What a delightful memoir that can be used year after year.

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Quiz Night A big highlight of the calendar for the Friends of St Johns was the annual quiz night, and it was lucky for all that the date was moved to earlier in the year than it had been in previous years otherwise it may not have been able to go ahead.

Children from Kindergarten to Year 8 helped to supply the questions ranging from local knowledge to English Literature, current events and historical facts. It was a very popular event with staff, parents and some older children joining in the fun. Drinks and nibbles were flowing, and the atmosphere was lively and entertaining.

Social Media

Social Media A brand is not what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.

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etting our St John’s brand noticed in the world of social media is a complex and ever-changing operation, writes Andy Downie, but it is the most powerful tool we have if we want to expand our business and communicate with a wider marketplace.

A single tweet can prompt far more activity than a thousand printed prospectuses, not to mention being more cost-effective. One post on Facebook or one picture on Instagram has the potential to be seen by an audience comprising of 1.55 billion monthly users.

Whilst word-of-mouth remains a huge factor for the success of our school, share-of-post is now crucial to ensuring our online presence is both relevant and purposeful. Current parents love seeing what their children are getting up to via Facebook; Instagram caters for a younger demographic (including regular interaction with former pupils), whilst Twitter requires immediacy and innovation for instant feedback.

This year our social media audience grew substantially and generated feedback from household names such as Pink, Joe Wicks, Michael Rosen, Paul Heaton, Prof. Benjamin Zephaniah and Malorie Blackman, amongst many others who joined in conversations on our platforms.

A music video of our senior choir received more than 200,000 views from more than 550,000 hits which, due to this exposure, culminated in a slot on national radio.

And a beautiful photograph (pictured) of a sunrise taken on school grounds was shared across the world.

In short, our brand has been branching out and making contact with customers that we could never have hoped to reach previously.

The future digital landscape will undoubtedly change and we will need to adapt and respond to trends to ensure we stay fresh and relevant.

One thing that will never change, though, is that everything we post or share will aim to reflect the values of our school.

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ST JOHN’S ON-THE-HILL chepstow

dean close Castleford Hill Tutshill Chepstow NP16 7LE Telephone 01291 622045 Email enquiries@stjohnsonthehill.co.uk www.stjohnsonthehill.co.uk