The Standard - Summer Term 2020

THE STANDARD

The John Lyon School Magazine | SUMMER TERM 2020

CONTENTS 1

We’ll meet again. Stet fortuna domus!

2

Welcome to John Lyonline

4

Pre-lockdown trip sees Geographers count carbon in the Chilterns Continuing dangers of air pollution highlighted for pupils by environmental writer

5

Pupils go on mission to Mars with space expert and author

6

Academics convene for virtual society meetings Life is a rollercoaster for pupils in Summer Term engineering challenge

7

Fiction blurs with fact for A-Level French students Maths, Economics and Business come together for Year 10 pupils

8

Speech Day 2020 Prize Winners

10

A-Level & GCSE Art Show 2020

12

All our homes are a stage Patrick scores with composition competition win

13

Louis set to tread the most elite boards with coveted National Youth Theatre place

14

Volunteer recognition makes up for lost expeditions Football’s coming home for tournament gamers

15

John Lyon teachers step up for NHS during lockdown

16

Summer site works get an early start

17

Kitchens become the focus as clubs and societies continue

18

The John Lyon 2.6 Challenge — press-ups, PPE and pastries

19

Pupils and staff step up to meet the summer challenge Krish sees black during lockdown

20

World Cup winner tells pupils of hard journey back to the top of Cricket Cricket Week was different but still very busy, writes Head of Cricket Mr Adam Ling

21

A very modern pentathlon sees families running and jumping together

22

Bob continues his campaign to end loneliness Hardship Fund sees great support from former pupils www.johnlyon.org/values

We’ll meet again.

Stet fortuna domus!

Miss Katherine Haynes, Head

In each edition of The Standard we focus on an overarching theme, reflected in a single front cover image; something which can speak of the success and positivity of events here on Middle Road in that window of time.

This term, the theme chose itself, and no single picture could have told fully the story of what we have seen and experienced in the past weeks: a tight-knit community with each person doing their very best for those around them despite great uncertainty.

This edition of The Standard, therefore, is dedicated to every pupil, teacher and support staff member, as well as the legion of parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts and close friends who have all helped support members of our John Lyon community in some way.

We are aware of the difficulties many of you have faced since this global pandemic took hold. For some, difficulty has been accompanied by grief. We send to you our most sincere best wishes.

In these pages we hope to bring you some light — news and successes from a School which, although subject to the vagaries of internet service providers, has remained active and vibrant despite not physically being within the School walls.

You will see that pupils and teachers alike have adapted admirably to a new way of learning and teaching — attending lessons, clubs, activities and meetings (as above) from living rooms and gardens. Boys have continued to show academic excellence, to perform, to compete, to be positive members of their communities. We may have also inadvertently created the next

generation of great British chefs.

We also look forward, notably to the already-started renovations of the Lyon Building and the creation of an exciting new STEAM Laboratory in the main School building.

As we head into summer, let us together reflect on the challenges we have faced, congratulate ourselves on how we have reached today, and look forward to the exciting, successful, face-to-face times we have yet to come.

We’ll meet again. Stet fortuna domus!

Summer Term 2020

1

Welcome to John Lyonline Sumeet Shah (7EM) It was Monday 23rd March. Lockdown had just started. All non-essential shops were shutting immediately and my street was looking very eerie and bizarre. My first day started by watching Mr Jones's first online podcast. It brightened my day as it felt I was back at school despite that not being true. I enjoyed my Maths, Digital Learning and English followed by RSP via Microsoft Teams, a few glitches though! I had my first ever School lunch at home. After lunch in the last week of Spring Term, there weren’t any Games lessons just yet, so I found my own way to be active by playing sports in my back garden with my dad. Finally at 4.00pm we joined the extremely long queue outside for the supermarket and it was complete chaos. People were panic buying and there wasn't a lot on the shelves. We took what we could find and (in a socially distant way) managed to deliver the food to my vulnerable grandparents' house, just from the outside. I then played with my hamster, had my supper and then went to bed ready to start a fresh new lockdown day.

Online learning in numbers Typical School internet speed: 945Mbps download; 931Mbps upload OneDrive files: 1,100,000 Emails sent and received: 230,000 Microsoft Teams messages: 26,400 Number of Teams: 676 (before lockdown: 2) Sharepoint Clicks: 500+ per day (before lockdown: 0) Microsoft Office 365 licences activated: 2,200

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APRIL

MARCH

For most pupils the whole Summer Term has been taught remotely, with online classes, clubs and challenges bringing the community together in ways never before imagined. Year 7 pupils were asked to reflect on the time spent away from School. Here, Rayyan, Krish and Sumeet describe their lockdown experiences. Senior Teacher Mr Jonathan Peel also gives his thoughts

Krish Swaly (7EM) My home schooling is going well so far.

I have organised a good study environment in my room, with everything I need for the school day. I find it extremely useful that I don’t spend two hours travelling here and back to school via my school bus. I have been surprisingly busy with the amount of work I’ve been given but have been able to keep on top of it.

It can get challenging some days but I have also still been able to get some merits. The best bit is that I can get a few more hours of sleep.

The bad side of the lockdown is staying at home for so long. My mum is obsessed with home schooling and my dad is obsessed with barbecuing now! Luckily we have a back garden and the weather has been nice so far. Lockdown can get a bit worrying with the discussion about the future on the news. We will just have to wait and see and hope for the best.

JUNE

Rayyan Hasan (7JOC) It’s not as easy as you think to stay at home for months. Almost three months in total. Some people may think that staying at home means having fun all day. To be honest, it’s no way near that.

Now Year 7 is coming to its end, which means that we have our end of year assessments. All the exams previously were held in either School’s sports hall or at another hall, only this unusual year we are having it at home. ‘End of year exams online’ — I actually never knew this was a thing before the present day.

I have been missing my friends a lot, so in this period of time we have been creating YouTube videos. Our channel is called Mayhem to Earth where we make music and another channel where we do gaming. We all get to talk to each other a lot but we can’t meet in person.

Our lives can be defined as a clock ticking and ticking.

Lockdown has also defined what quality time with your family really means. No matter what the situation is, life is precious and you should cherish this time by spending time with your loved ones.

JULY

Mr Jonathan Peel A Virtual School… for an old dog like me, this has meant so many new tricks to learn. As I type, my work shed - my ‘dacha’ - is filling with sound as the Music Department virtual Solos Concert is streaming to my garden. Amazing.

The challenges of lockdown have been many and varied. My focus is split between the boys whom I teach and the staff, for whom I have responsibility as a Senior Management Team member. We have learned to give the boys space - to allow some informal talk at the start of lessons - maybe the sharing of emojis to express current mood. We have become acutely aware of the boys’ wellbeing as well as of their academic progress. I miss the interaction of the classroom terribly and can’t wait to return to the world of impromptu laughter and spontaneous sharing of ideas when meeting in the corridor.

As a staff we are scattered across the country and have tried to stay linked by some social events - a charity quiz night for example, or the brilliant series of challenges put together by Mr Cloete and the PE Department. We are still a group of colleagues, despite the lockdown, and we are all the better for the support of our friends and colleagues, even if we only meet occasionally during the informal drop-in session at break.

At this stage, ‘new normal’ is slowly emerging. As far as I am concerned, September cannot come soon enough. We all need to return to school and to the new challenges of post-lockdown conditions.

My very best wishes to you all.

Summer Term 2020

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Pre-lockdown trip sees Geographers count carbon in the Chilterns Water and carbon cycles were both studied as A-Level students put their knowledge into practice

The mid-March day trip to the Field Studies Centre in Amersham gave students the opportunity to reinforce their learning on two key areas of the A-Level Geography curriculum - water cycles and carbon cycles - with a range of

different practical tasks in the woodland area.

In the first task students looked at water drainage on different surface materials, from concrete to ploughed soil, before then looking in detail at trees to assess and calculate the amount of carbon they store.

Writing for the John Lyon blog, Bailey

Students test water drainage (left) and Faizaan Malik (L6AJC), Bailey Allmey and Thomas Burns (L6AJC) discuss their findings (right) at the Field Studies Centre in Amersham

Allmey (L6AJC) wrote: "My favourite and most valuable part of the trip was when we collected the data on the trees, as I simply found it intriguing how by collecting such simple data we were able to calculate something so complex as the amount of carbon that is stored in the tree."

Read Bailey's full blog at www.johnlyon.org/blog

Continuing dangers of air pollution highlighted for pupils by environmental writer The unrelenting and under-reported dangers of air pollution, as well as the failures of corporations and governments, were all on the agenda as a leading environmental journalist spoke to John Lyon pupils in June

London-based American writer Beth Gardiner was joined at the John Lyon Excellence Programme online session by Year 9 and 10 pupils — most at home but some watching from the New Memorial Hall — as she talked about researching her book, Choked, described as “the 4

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landmark book on one of the world’s most urgent health threats”.

She told of how her research had shown her the devastating effect of air pollution on the human body, leading to seven million excess deaths globally each year.

She also told of the ineffectiveness of UK and European governments in holding large polluting corporations to account.

Positively, she said there were available solutions, including renewable energy which was now technologically sound and inexpensive.

The end of the session saw questions

Journalist and author Beth Gardiner talked to pupils about her global research into air pollution

on government action and sustainable resources from Ashil Shah (L6TCF), Taranvir Bansal (10MRF), Toby Cope (9RAR), Lucas Antoni (10LHF), Sarim Daniyal (9PS) and Miraaj Rahman (10MRF).

To read Miss Gardiner's responses to these questions, visit www.johnlyon.org/air-pollution.

Pupils go on mission to Mars with space expert and author Mars expert Colin Stuart talked to pupils about the possible future of interplanetary travel

More than 100 pupils were told they could be the first to step foot on the Red Planet, in an Excellence Programme talk about man’s mission to Mars Dialling in to the talk in June, astronomer, author and public speaker Colin Stuart spoke to the virtual room of Year 7 and 8 pupils about man’s proposed mission to Mars, the difficulties we face in getting there and what we might do once we actually arrive.

Opening his talk, Mr Stuart put it to the 11, 12 and 13-year-old pupils that they could be the first to reach Mars, on the basis that the first mission would be around 25 years away. He said: “When Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon, he was 38 years old.

So if the first person to walk on Mars 25 years from now is also about 38 at the time, how old are they now? 13? The first person to walk on Mars is about 13 now.

So they’re at school. They could even be on this call.”

He continued his talk showing footage

from the rovers that had already reached Mars and that had helped us learn that the cold, dry and dusty planet used to be warm and wet with oceans and lakes.

He talked about the human colonisation of Mars being the ‘ultimate insurance policy’ in case of Earth’s existence being threatened by an asteroid, but also warned that it shouldn’t be seen as a ‘spare planet’ that gave us a reason not to look after our own. Once there, he said, we could live as a community and even take up sports such as rock climbing and athletics, which would benefit from lower gravity.

Mr Stuart, who has written a number of books about space, including co-authoring a book with Tim Peake, discussed the difficulties humans face in space travel and a mission to Mars, notably the effects of isolation, something which he said astronauts train for and that we all now have some knowledge of. He said: “One of the biggest challenges on a mission to Mars is loneliness and isolation. When I’ve given these talks in schools in the past, many kids wouldn’t have gone through any sort of isolation, but of course that’s not the truth any more — we’ve all been

isolating for weeks. So we get a sense of what it must be like to go from Earth to Mars. When you’re cut off from everyone else. When you don’t have that normal interaction. Psychologically it’s quite a tough thing to deal with, as we’ve been experiencing.”

The session finished with questions from pupils. Oliver Coupland (8LA) asked why we would settle on Mars and not the Moon. The answer was that the Moon isn’t as nice as it seems because its slow rotations would mean each day and night lasting two weeks each.

Neelkanth Kara (8SRP) asked about the availability of breathable air. Mr Stuart told him that as there is oxygen in both the frozen water on the planet’s surface and in the carbon dioxide atmosphere, oxygen factories could be set up to produce safe air.

Finally, Hemang vv (7JOC)asked if we could go to any other planets. The reply was unfortunately not. We couldn’t go closer to the Sun from Earth as it is too hot and that beyond Mars in the other direction are the gas planets of Jupiter and Saturn.

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Academics convene for virtual society meetings As meetings of the John Lyon Academic Society went online, increased demand meant two Summer Term sessions instead of one The detailed and engaging sessions at the start of June and July brought together keen academics from across the School, with A-Level students speaking with authority on topics from robotics to biomaterials in medicine. In the second session, three Year 7 pupils also came together to speak on a well-researched look into the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.

The Academic Society is designed to allow pupils and students to speak at length on a subject of their choosing, and is popular among those soon to move to university, where presentation skills are needed in a range of degree courses. It

Life is a rollercoaster for pupils in Summer Term engineering challenge With the country’s theme parks closed, it seems unlikely there will be many rollercoaster rides this summer, so John Lyon pupils decided to build their own as part of an engineering challenge 6

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also gives speakers the chance to answer questions on their topic posed by pupils and teachers.

Chair of the Academic Society Ashil Shah (L6TCF) said: “Since the start of the year, Academic Society has grown in popularity and has created a platform for students to show off their knowledge and research. We have had a range of talks from topics covering quantum computers and geopolymer concrete to the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The presentations were all given with great confidence and included information that was beyond what is studied in the curriculum. It is exciting to watch students and staff engaging with the talks and continuing to ask challenging questions. It is also encouraging to see lower years showing interest by attending, and even some boys presenting boldly. Setting up virtual Academic Societies has been an insightful

experience. The demand for more events has increased and we are thrilled to offer more in the future.”

Academic Society Chair Ashil Shah spoke at TEDxJohnLyonSchool in 2019

readily available during the lockdown period, the finished tracks would be judged on a number of criteria, including quality of engineering, creativity, height, length, and number of loops and turns.

To see the top three designs by Rohan Thadi (8SRP), Sumeet Shah (7EM) and Rayyan Hasan (7JOC), visit www.johnlyon.org/news Sumeet Shah impressed judges with his sleek v design

The popular termly STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) competition challenged pupils to build their own rollercoaster able to transport a ball from one end to the other.

Constructed from household materials

Commenting on the winning designs, Teacher of Physics and STEAM Coordinator Dr Florence Weinberg said: “This term’s STEAM competition was very much an engineering challenge, which put each pupil’s knowledge of design and structure to the test. It is fascinating to see how each finished rollercoaster achieves the same goal of safely delivering a ball to the end of the track in such different and stylish ways. Congratulations to our top three, Rohan, Sumeet and Rayyan.”

Fiction blurs with fact for A-Level French students Albert Camus’ novel La Peste (The Plague) has seen a huge increase in sales since lockdown began. Amongst those reading the classic 20th century novel was A-Level French student Daniel Wong (L6ASL), who writes about the book and the curious rise of ‘pestilence fiction’ When future Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus wrote his novel La Peste, I cannot imagine he could have anticipated the world would be in such a situation that it seemed no longer fictional. It is incredible to think that according to Google’s records, the monthly search popularity for La Peste in the UK in March 2020 nearly doubled the previous record, set in March 2004.

La Peste tells the story of Oran, a major coastal city in Camus’ native Algeria, which is suddenly hit by a resurgence of the formerly eradicated bubonic plague. After weeks of pleading from the public and doctors, the Prefect who runs the town gives in to pressure and concedes limited and poorly designed countermeasures in a frail attempt to stop the spread, all the while diverting the blame elsewhere, taking little responsibility for the deaths, before finally being persuaded to go into a full lockdown. Sound familiar? The allegorical characters, written almost

75 years ago, are spot on with today’s.

Frontline workers put themselves at risk every day in an attempt to help people, appreciated but undersupplied and underpaid. Others wish to see their loved ones more than anything. There are those who have lost friends, relatives, loved ones, and do not know how to cope.

In the early 21st Century, La Peste faded into near obscurity. So is it surprising that during a global pandemic people are flocking to literature based around a plague outbreak? To put it simply, no.

People are stuck inside. Millions have been furloughed, and there’s only so much Tiger King you can watch in one sitting. And some of the parallels people are highlighting are eerie to say the least.

Camus never lived through a pandemic of this scale and yet has managed to predict so perfectly people’s reactions. His oracle-like wisdom has been seen by some as a sign, and shows that those who followed the lockdown rules and played the waiting game in La Peste largely survived. It also showed a vaccine was needed as soon as possible, and without reliable and widespread testing far more people died than needed to. Like George Orwell’s 1984 before, La Peste could now be seen as a warning of things to come.

This is an abridged version of Daniel’s full essay, which can be read at www.johnlyon.org/blog

Daniel Wong gave Year 7 pupils a taste of the French capital before their trip to Paris in February this year

Maths, Economics and Business come together for Year 10 pupils Three academic departments have come together for a Year 10 lockdown project, looking at stock markets. Head of Economics Dr Morgan White, Head of Business Mr Michael Fletcher and Teacher of Politics & Economics Mr Charlie Scotcher helped provide theory behind stocks, shares and investments to our set 1 mathematicians in Year 10 as they delved into the current economic climate. Alongside learning to use formulas, graphing tools and prediction calculators on Microsoft Excel, pupils worked through a series of tasks tracking the FTSE 100 stocks through 2019 and predicting how the stocks will continue in the future.

Romesh De Silva (10RS) said: “During online learning in Maths, Mr McNaughton and the Business and Economics departments designed this small project for us to do. We learnt about the stock market and how share prices change depending on how the company is doing. We applied our maths skills into the economic side of it to help us with using Microsoft Excel. Unfortunately we could not predict the stocks for the future as we only learnt the basics, but it was something different for us to learn.”

Summer Term 2020

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Speech Day 2020 Prize Winners

ART Upper Sixth Art Prize

Fazil, Maazin

Lower Sixth Art Prize

Rosario, James

Year 11 Art Prize

Hassan,Yasseen

Year 10 Art Prize

Mangat, Pranay

Year 9 Art Prize

Bhogaita, Dhruv

Year 8 Art Prize

Hardy, Finn

Year 7 Art Prize

Nimalathasan, Madisan BUSINESS

The Colin Nunn Business Prize

Lakhani, Shiv

Lower Sixth Business Prize

Rashid, Rocco CLASSICS

Sixth Form Latin Prize

Weisz, Benjamin

Sixth Form Classical Greek Prize

Weisz, Benjamin

Year 11 Latin Prize

Self, David

Year 10 Latin Prize

MacKenzie, Andrew

Year 9 Latin Prize

Altaie, Mohamed

Year 8 Latin Prize

Patel, Kiran COMPUTER SCIENCE and ICT

Sixth Form Computer Science Prize

Radia, Rohan

Year 11 Computer Science Prize

Shehata, Fares

Year 10 Computer Science Prize

Mahajan, Dhiren

Year 9 ICT Prize

Rajpal, Ali

Year 8 ICT Prize

Patel, Dylan

Year 7 ICT Prize

Raja, Rafay DRAMA

Upper Sixth Drama Prize

Miles, Patrick

Lower Sixth Drama Prize

Al-Tuhafi, Nameer

Year 11 Drama Prize

Davey, Will

Year 10 Drama Prize

Evens, Matthew

Year 9 Drama Prize

Sasikaran, Lanus

Year 8 Drama Prize

Davison, Jai

Year 7 Drama Prize

Ayeni, Daniel ECONOMICS

Upper Sixth Economics Prize

Abedi, Husain

Lower Sixth Economics Prize

Twaij, Rasool

ENGLISH Swainson English Literature Prize

Calvey, Joseph

Lower Sixth English Literature Prize

Budhdeo, Amman

Year 11 English Prize

Kapoor,Vinay

Year 10 English Prize

Minhas, Joshan

Year 9 English Prize

Lee, Harrison

Year 8 English Prize

Thadi, Rohan

Year 7 English Prize

Scott, Oliver GEOGRAPHY

Oliver Handscomb Geography Prize

Houghton, Ken

Lower Sixth Geography Prize

Baldwin, Rex

Year 11 Geography Prize

Kumar, Anish

Year 10 Geography Prize

Mahajan, Dhiren

Year 9 Geography Prize

Daniyal, Sarim

Year 8 Geography Prize

Khan, Ibrahim

Year 7 Geography Prize

Nimalathasan, Madisan HISTORY

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William Harford Upper Sixth History Prize

Zoromba, Adam

Surtees Lower Sixth History Prize

Weisz, Benjamin

Year 11 History Prize

Shah, Dhruv

Year 10 History Prize

Bansal, Taranvir

Year 9 History Prize

Sanders, Imran

Year 8 History Prize

Shah, Jayden

Year 7 History Prize

Suresh, Janushan MATHEMATICS

Year 9 Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Sanders, Imran

Year 8 Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Patel, Kiran

Year 7 Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Hasan, Rayyan

YEAR 8 8LA Form Prize

Alexandrou, Louis

8JNL Form Prize

Martin-Pozuelo Nakanishi, Fernando

8SRP Form Prize

Nagree, Zainulabedin

Gregg Upper Sixth Mathematics Prize

Khan, Sufian

Lower Sixth Mathematics Prize

Dhunna,Yuvraj

Year 11 Mathematics Prize

Filippov, Roman

Le Beau Upper Sixth Biology Prize

Year 10 Mathematics Prize

Holloway, Josh

Lower Sixth Biology Prize

Year 9 Mathematics Prize

Rajan Gupta, Aryan

Year 11 Biology Prize

Shaikh,Yusuf

Year 8 Mathematics Prize

Kothapalli,Vamsi

Year 10 Biology Prize

Zulfiqar, Muhammad

Year 7 Mathematics Prize

Suthakaran, Abishan

Year 9 Biology Prize

Curbishley, Max

Silver

Azim, Adam

Year 8 Biology Prize

Jalisi, Adam

Silver

Gul Aga, Ibrahim

Year 7 Biology Prize

Patel, Akshar

Silver

Miller, Ethan

Silver

Nagda, Dillon

Silver

Patel, Aakash

Silver

Saifuddin, Umar

Silver

Shah, Ashil

SCIENCES

MODERN LANGUAGES FRENCH Upper Sixth French Prize

Nanwani,Vivek

Lower Sixth French Prize

Budhdeo, Amman

Year 11 French Prize

Kumar, Anish

Year 10 French Prize

MacKenzie, Andrew

Year 9 French Prize

Altaie, Mohamed

Year 8 French Prize

Shah, Jayden

Year 7 French Prize

Patel, Akshar SPANISH

Sixth Form Spanish Prize

Miles, Patrick

Year 11 Spanish Prize

Rachakonda,Vinaykarthik

Year 10 Spanish Prize

Agarwal, Aryan

Year 9 Spanish Prize

Rothwell, Alexander

Year 8 Spanish Prize

Shah, Aryan

Year 7 Spanish Prize

Gurjar, Ravi MUSIC

Surtees Music Prize

Clifford-Varley, Sebastian

Upper Sixth Music Technology Prize

Viscito, Marco

Lower Sixth Music Technology Prize

Massey, Ben

Lower Sixth Music Prize

Berezovsky, Nicholas

Year 11 Music Prize

Hingorani, Harsh

Year 10 Music Prize

Valentine,Varun

Year 9 Music Prize

Azzawi, Kassem

Year 8 Music Prize

Wickramasinghe, Dehan

Year 7 Music Prize

Shah, Sumeet PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Year 11 Physical Education Prize

Mahmutoglu, Jason

Year 10 Physical Education Prize

Agarwal, Aryan

Year 9 Physical Education Prize

Samnani, Kiyan

Year 8 Physical Education Prize

Horridge, William

Year 7 Physical Education Prize

Deans, Oscar

POLITICS Upper Sixth Politics Prize

Velani, Liam

Lower Sixth Politics Prize

Mirza, Zain PSYCHOLOGY

Upper Sixth Psychology Prize

Houghton, Ken

Lower Sixth Psychology Prize

Tracey, Toby

RELIGIOUS STUDIES and PHILOSOPHY Upper Sixth Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Zoromba, Adam

Lower Sixth Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Rai, Arjun

Year 11 Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Kapoor,Vinay

Year 10 Religious Studies and Philosophy Prize

Bartlett, Dhilan

BIOLOGY

YEAR 7 7JOC Form Prize

Smeulders, Nicholas

Gul Aga, Ibrahim

7ADH Form Prize

Worth, Charles

Sutaria, Aryan

7EM Form Prize

Akintade, Fola

CHEMISTRY

EXTRA-CURRICULAR PRIZES DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD

Le Beau Upper Sixth Chemistry Prize

Garkhel, Shaurya

Vernon Lower Sixth Chemistry Prize

Bhatti, Rayaan

Year 11 Chemistry Prize

Hingorani, Harsh

Silver

Sutaria, Aryan

Year 10 Chemistry Prize

Marr,Youki

Gold

Miles, Patrick

Year 9 Chemistry Prize

Bhogaita, Dhruv

Year 8 Chemistry Prize

Thadi, Rohan

Year 7 Chemistry Prize

Scott, Oliver PHYSICS

CCF CCF NCO of the Year

Verden, Odin

SPORTSMEN OF THE YEAR Senior Sportsman of the Year

Jegatheesan, Dhanesh

Le Beau Upper Sixth Physics Prize

Benjamin, Edward

Colts Sportsman of the Year

Davey, William

Lower Sixth Physics Prize

Dunna,Yuvraj

Junior Sportsman of the Year

Rothwell, Alexander

Year 11 Physics Prize

Shehata, Fares

Year 7 Sportsman of the Year

Sharma, Dhyan

Year 10 Physics Prize

Holloway, Josh

Year 9 Physics Prize

Allmey, Thomas

Duncan Whichelo Prize

Colmerauer,Ygor

Year 8 Physics Prize

Patel,Vansh

Lakhani, Shiv

Year 7 Physics Prize

Suresh, Janushan

The Richard Rivlin Community Prize The Richard Rivlin Community Prize

Beresford-Smart, Joshua

ACADEMIC ENQUIRY PRIZES

SPECIAL PRIZES

Bill Podmore Sixth Form Academic Excellence Prize

Lau, Christopher

The Extra-Curricular Activities Prize

Miles, Patrick

Upper School Independent Learning Prize

Malde, Mihir

Michael Burrell Drama Prize

Beresford-Smart, Joshua

The Norah Perrin Technical Drama Prize

Calvey, Joseph

The Norah Perrin Technical Drama Prize

Viscito, Marco

The Edwin Reeves Piano Prize

Smith, Samuel

The Mellor Cup

Ahmed, Asher

FORM PRIZES YEAR 11 11NGA Form Prize

Raval, Taran

11CAB Form Prize

McMillan, Luke

11CJC Form Prize

Sokhal, Shaan

11SGJ Form Prize

Patel, Dev

11TM Form Prize

Patel, Tian

11KS Form Prize

Berry, Raihl Prajt YEAR 10

10LHF Form Prize

Saliba, Lucas

10MRF Form Prize

Patel,Yash

10AJF Form Prize

Gill, Abhay

10CEP Form Prize

Mitchell, William

10RS Form Prize

EX OFFICIO PRIZES School Monitor Prize (Charity)

Lakhani, Shiv

School Monitor Prize (Student Council)

Velani, Liam

Deputy Head Boy's Prize

Miles, Patrick

Deputy Head Boy's Prize

Nanwani,Vivek

Gaynor Smith Head Boy's Prize

Abedi, Husain

Mahal, Dylan YEAR 9

9AIA Form Prize

Akinyosoye, Ayokanmi

9JEB Form Prize

Chang, Caelum

9RAR Form Prize

Rothwell, Alexander

9PS Form Prize

Doghem-Rashid, Ismael

9CTS Form Prize

Raja, Basel

9MWV Form Prize

Fernando, David

Top to bottom: Outgoing Head Boy Husain Abedi (U6CKL) would have given the Vote of Thanks at Speech Day; Ygor Colmerauer (U6ND) picked up the Duncan Whichelo Prize for his outstanding contribution to the School Community; Footballer, Cricketer and Hockey player Dhanesh Jegatheesan (U6ND) was named Senior Sportsman of the Year

Summer Term 2020

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A-Level & GCSE Art Show 2020

Clockwise from top left: Yasseen Hassan’s (11TM) depiction of the Fall of Constantinople; Max Wilkinson’s (11TM) Chiswick High Street; Cats by David Self (11CAB); Self-portrait by Kai Waldron (11NGA); Croco vs Hunter

by Maazin Fazil (U6KML)

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All our homes are a stage Despite the School site being closed, John Lyon’s finest musicians weren’t going to be silenced, playing in two Summer Term online lunchtime concerts

Lyon pupils and staff to feel a sense of communion which has been missing since the start of lockdown. It is also good to hear that boys have been practising their instruments!”

The Solos Concerts in May and June, hosted from his own front room by Director of Music Mr Huw Jones, saw performances by pupils and students from Year 7 to the Upper Sixth, playing via Microsoft Teams to an appreciative audience of pupils, parents and staff.

For two performers, Liam Velani (U6CKL) and Sebastian Clifford-Varley (U6REM), the June concert marked the end of their musical careers at John Lyon. Having performed on countless occasions in the past seven years, it was a strange way to sign off, but the students remained appreciative of the opportunities they had been given over the years.

Despite picture quality being a bit fuzzy, the sound was excellent for all performances, on a great variety of instruments, from piano to trombone, via guitar and accordion.

Speaking after the final concert, Mr Jones said: “Having been involved in many concerts in my career, these online lunchtime sessions were definitely the most strange, watching pupils perform from their homes with their parents often acting as camera operators. Despite the challenges, both concerts were hugely enjoyable and a great way for John

Patrick played accordion at this year’s Musician of the Year final

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On the concert chat, Sebastian, who has music scholarship offers to both Durham and Royal Holloway universities, said: “I wanted to say thank you for all the amazing music opportunities you have given to me and to the boys in the School.

Serving as Music Prefect has always been an aspiration of mine, and to have done so in this Music Department has been a true honour. I shall greatly miss the regular Motet Choir rehearsals and playing in the Solos Concerts. It has been a great pleasure this year and I hope to visit the

The online audience was treated to home performances by (clockwise from top left) Hemang Khandelwal (7JOC), Sumeet Shah (7EM), Yuv Dattani (7JOC), Liam Velani (U6CKL), Patrick Colson (11NGA), Daniel Piracha Lopez (11CJC), Pranav Patani (9AIA), Sebastian Clifford-Varley (U6REM), Dehan Wickramasinghe (8JNL), Krish Patani (7EM), Tarun Naodhar (7EM), Nicholas Berezovsky (L6LH) and Jay Samani (9JEB)

department again at some point in the not-too-distant future. Cheers for the happy memories!”

Patrick scores with composition competition win

Well done, an impressive and highly varied effort. Good coherence and creativity, flows naturally.”

Patrick Colson (11NGA), who played in both Solos Concerts, on piano and accordion, was also busy writing his own music over Summer Term as part of the Music Department’s composition competition, launched by Mr Andrew Furniss in early May.

Director of Music Mr Huw Jones added: “Patrick is an exceptionally able composer for his age. The other notable aspect is his speed of composition, which to a degree I’ve never seen in student composers before. I coached him for composition in Co-Curricular Programme on Fridays and he could deliver a respectable complete composition in an afternoon!”

His work, a set of four mini film score-style pieces titled Coronavirus in Britain, impressed judges, who commented: “A vivid build-up and pleasing use of ostinato in the first section. The build into B flat minor is particularly successful.

You can find and listen to Patrick’s composition on the School’s social media accounts, @johnlyonharrow.

It is a tremendous achievement that Louis has managed to get into the National Youth Theatre after his first audition.

A rare and coveted membership of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain has been awarded to Lower Sixth student Louis Tyrrell (L6AJC), who will now train and perform with the country’s very best young actors

A-Level Theatre Studies student Louis learned of his achievement during May’s nationwide lockdown, having been involved in an audition process going back to the start of 2020.

After submitting his application, Louis attended a group improvisation and exercise workshop morning at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre before going on to a solo audition and interview. At the same time, similar auditions were taking place in 90 other venues across the country with many hundreds of young hopefuls all aiming for the same few memberships of the prestigious theatre company that has produced some of Britain’s most-loved actors, including Idris Elba, David Harewood, David Oyelowo and Zawe Ashton.

Throughout his time at John Lyon, Louis has been a mainstay of the Drama Department and is well used to auditioning, having appeared in plays and musicals as diverse as Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun and Cole Porter’s Anything Goes.

Louis set to tread the most elite boards with coveted National Youth Theatre place On the National Youth Theatre audition process, Louis said: “In the one-to-one audition and interview I talked about my experiences, my thoughts on recent productions I had seen, and why I wanted to be an actor and what joining the National Youth Theatre would mean to me. For my audition piece I chose The Roses of Eyam, which I like because I could portray different emotions.”

Louis’ membership of the theatre lasts until he is 26 years old and will give him the opportunity to train and perform with the very best young actors, under leading directors in some of the world’s most famous theatres.

Current distancing restrictions mean things are a little different for the 2020 intake, but Louis hopes to take to the real stage soon. He added: “I will be attending the NYT Intake Course which has been moved online this July for two weeks and that will mean I am officially a member of the National Youth Theatre Company.

I then hope to attend their courses, workshops and masterclasses and audition for their productions in the West End as well as national and international tours.”

John Lyon Head of Drama, Mr Sam Jones, said Louis’ success is no small thing: “It is a tremendous achievement that Louis has managed to get into the National Youth Theatre after his first audition. I have had pupils who have auditioned up to four times before

Louis has appeared in numerous School productions, including (top to bottom) The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Anything Goes and The Marxist in Heaven

being accepted. The NYT is a great route straight into the profession and has launched the careers of many stars including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis. I wish Louis every success in his work with the NYT. Hopefully more and more talented students from John Lyon will now be inspired to apply.”

Summer Term 2020

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Volunteer recognition makes up for lost expeditions Football’s coming home for tournament gamers With no competitive sporting fixtures in Summer Term, Football made a return, of sorts, as pupils battled it out to be named John Lyon FIFA champions.

Dozens of pupils entered the draw in June, with the tournament being played out from North West London living rooms and bedrooms over three weeks.

Battling their way through to the final were Ayaz Kazi (L6ASL) and Dylan Ladva (11CAB) who took to the virtual turf in the last week of term, representing Manchester City and France respectively. After a tight match the scores were level, but in the replay Ayaz came through winning 1-0.

The tournament, organised by Charity Prefect Shiv Lakhani (U6MEW), netted £135 for the School’s chosen charity, the London North West Healthcare Charity.

The volunteering section of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme is such a valuable one.

Bronze Award pupils get some tent pitching practice on Red House Lawn ahead of the expected summer expeditions

With the traditional Duke of Edinburgh’s Award summer expeditions put on hold, Summer Term instead brought recognition of boys’ outstanding value to the community The DofE London Director, Clare Argar, passed her thanks to all John Lyon’s DofE boys for making “such a positive impact on their local community” by giving 998 hours of voluntary service time in the past year, valued at more than £4,000.

As well as physical tasks, honing various skills and going out on expeditions, volunteering is one of the key tenets of the popular award scheme created by Prince Philip in 1956. And for John Lyon’s DofE Coordinator, Mr Rob Ellis-Paul, the benefits a numerous.

He said: “The volunteering section of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme is such a valuable one. It’s the section that more than any of the others pushes boys to do something unfamiliar and new, and brings such rich rewards to the individual and to the community. I’m always

surprised by the huge variety of activities that our boys engage with, everything from helping in the school library, supporting school clubs or sporting activities, to volunteering at local places of worship, charity shops or care homes.

The individual experience gained from these types of activities is one of the many things that makes the DofE Award scheme such a worthwhile venture for our pupils, giving them a sense of independence, and encouraging responsibility and maturity in each of them. I’m proud of our boys for contributing so much to their community, and I look forward to handing out more DofE certificates in recognition of that in the coming year.”

Thank you to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants from

The John Lyon School who donated

988 hours

of voluntary service to the local community* The social value of these hours is

£4,298

* Number of hours of volunteer service is based on participants who have achieved their Volunteering section between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020

May 2020

Krish Lakhani (10AJF) and his big brother Shiv get in some practice ahead of the FIFA tournament CLARE ARGAR, DIRECTOR – LONDON

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John Lyon teachers step up for NHS during lockdown

While the School site was closed, much needed equipment was made and funds were raised by Dr Florence Weinberg and Miss Courtney Burley

Hospitals and surgeries in and around Harrow were kept topped up with vital protective equipment in April and May, all made at home by Dr Weinberg on a 3D printer she commandeered from the School. Her first shipment of plastic visors was sent to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, with more then going to different hospitals and to GPs. The process of design and manufacture of the plastic components proved a steep learning curve, from understanding the workings of the School’s new 3D printer, accessing models used by others and approved for use in clinical settings, sourcing all the materials needed, and getting useful tips from online teacher forums. To begin, each set of four John Lyon PPE would take 16 hours to complete, but Dr Weinberg was able to get this to 90 minutes, with tweaks to the design and process.

Dr Weinberg said: "To be honest, I did not quite believe they would be so useful.

It is hard to believe that one can make at home something that can save lives. But hearing nurses and doctors tell me that the quality of those masks is so much better than the ones they currently have

makes me sad and drives me to try and make as many as possible. These people are risking their lives every day and it is the minimum I can do to help."

Also in April, Teacher of Art Miss Burley took part in and won a competition to design a ring, which has since been produced and sold by leading bespoke Hatton Garden jeweller 360Jewellery, with proceeds going to benefit NHS charities.

Miss Burley's design incorporated two powerful ideas associated with medicine and healing: the words “First do no harm”, written by Greek physician Hippocrates, whose Hippocratic Oath forms the underlying ethical rules of modern medicine to this day; and the snakes from the Rod of Asclepius, a symbol used widely in healthcare.

On entering and winning the competition, Miss Burley, who is also John Lyon’s Charity Coordinator, said: “I really wanted to do something with my time over the Easter holidays to help raise money in some way, I saw this competition and thought I could use my creativity to enter my design for a good cause. When I was selected I was thrilled that my ring design was going to be sold to the public, to raise money for the NHS! I’m really glad to be able to contribute to this fantastic cause with my signet ring design.”

The sterling silver ring can still be bought online via www.johnlyon.org/nhs-ring-design

Top to bottom: Doctors and nurses at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital wear the newly delivered PPE; Dr Weinberg makes the visors on a 3D printer; the ring designed by Miss Burley; Miss Burley with students at the Macmillan Coffee Morning

Summer Term 2020

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Summer site works get an early start

With the School being largely empty, a full overhaul of the Lyon Building and creation of a brand new STEAM Laboratory and Makerspace are both well underway

The Lyon Building, home to the Maths and RSP Departments, as well as the Library and Boyd Campbell Hall, is receiving its most significant programme of works since it was constructed in 1990.

The works will see a whole new look and feel to the building, while retaining the structure and overall layout. Doors, windows and window blinds will be replaced, walls re-plastered and new flooring, lighting and acoustic panelling fitted. There will also be new, flexible-use classroom furniture, including desks with writable surfaces. Hallways and stairwells will benefit from new flooring and recessed noticeboards. To help ready the School for coeducation in 2021, new girls’ toilet facilities will also be created.

In the main School building, the current M6 classroom is being transformed into a new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) Laboratory, designed as a modern and flexible learning space in which the full range of STEAM activities such as robotics and CREST Award can take place. It will also provide a seminar space for up to 50 people.

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Pupils in all years are being encouraged to enter a competition to design a wall mural for the new STEAM Makerspace, which will help create a sense of space in the exciting new room.

Next door to the STEAM Laboratory will be a smaller STEAM Makerspace, designed for smaller group work and housing the School’s 3D printers and laser cutters.

Both sets of summer work have been planned using the latest research on best practice for learning and teaching spaces, and will be complete at the start of Autumn Term.

Entries will be judged on creativity, sense of depth and sense of space created. The winning design will be printed to the full size of the wall and will be ready for the start of the School year in September.

The deadline for entries is Saturday 1st August. Submission information and links to examples have been sent to pupils and parents by email.

Kitchens become the focus as clubs and societies continue Cooking club has become the surprise hit of Summer Term with pupils turning out every Wednesday to cook along with a teacher. Many other departments have also managed to provide after school activities, as Head of Activities Mr Adam Ling writes

You will all know that in a normal world, John Lyon is more than just exam success – we are a school that offers everything.

Whilst academic achievement is key, the skills learned outside the classroom through our activities programmes are just as valuable to prepare students for the wider world of work. They give our students an opportunity to extend their learning outside the classroom and a chance to instil the School’s eight core values which feature everywhere in school life and I am sure every boy knows from memory!

students have explored theatre design and sound.

Remote learning has certainly created some barriers to the programme of activities that would usually be on offer, but staff have worked extremely hard to provide additional opportunities whilst boys work from home. It would have been impossible to replicate the usual number of Summer Term activities but there have been a number on offer each day to engage interest through new, innovative means.

Within Sport, boys have been offered a number of weekly challenges, personalised to those students who have attended, ranging from Athletics tasks to improving their Basketball, Cricket and Football skills.

There have also been opportunities for boys to enhance their photography skills through the theme ‘Life in Lockdown’ whilst First Aid Club has continued so that boys were able to achieve their St John’s Ambulance First Aid Award.

Art, Drama and Sport have all provided opportunities for students to take part in tasks that do not solely focus on their screens. In Art, pupils have developed their ability to create portrait caricatures, design custom trainers or create their own cartoon characters. Keen Drama

Remote learning has also seen the introduction of a new, popular opportunity – cooking. Each week, boys have been able to watch a member of staff cooking up a feast in their own kitchens, from banana bread to biryani. There have been some great successes, as well as a

Clockwise from top: Miss Katy Littlefield took two of the cooking sessions; Oliver Scott (7ADH) shows off his healthy pancake; Kerem Ohri (9RAR); Nicholas Smeulders (7JOC); Liam Velani (U6CKL) gets mixing, Rayyan Hasan (7JOC)

few not so ‘Michelin Star’ moments, such as trying to cook an asparagus risotto without asparagus and filo parcels using puff pastry. These live weekly sessions have attracted a record number of students and the feedback from parents has been extremely positive. A huge thank you to all of the staff who were willing to give up their time to cook for us. It is evident from its success that cooking is an activity that we will introduce to the extra-curricular programme at some point in the Autumn Term.

I would like to thank all staff and students for the time and effort that has gone into making our remote extra-curricular programme such a success over the past ten weeks and hope that students will continue to engage with these activities over the Summer break.

Summer Term 2020

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The John Lyon 2.6 Challenge — press-ups, PPE and pastries

The School’s annual Values Day was dedicated entirely to Community, as pupils and staff smashed their fundraising target in the John Lyon 2.6 Challenge

Launched to run across the long VE Day Bank Holiday weekend in early May, 270 members of the School community took the chance to complete a task related to the number 26. Press-ups and planks proved popular for those wanting to do something physical, as did baking for those wanting to spend time in the kitchen.

Other activities included delivering PPE equipment to the NHS, volunteering with elderly members of the community, planting spring onions, juggling and reading Shakespeare…with a dog!

The result of the John Lyon 2.6 Challenge was a huge £2,223 raised for the School’s chosen charity, the London North West Healthcare Charity, based at nearby Northwick Park Hospital, which serves the Harrow community tirelessly and which has been very hard-hit by the global pandemic that we face at this time. The charity helps fund innovative projects that improve patient and staff experience, including cutting-edge technology and medical research. At present they are turning their attentions to supporting hospital staff with vital care packages and mental wellbeing support.

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As the School continued to observe the lockdown, with learning and teaching taking place remotely, it was felt Community would be the most appropriate of the School’s eight Values to celebrate, encouraging the School community to do something for the people around them, and at the same time challenging themselves.

Mr Adam Ling, John Lyon’s Head of Activities, said: “Having been apart from each other for a number of weeks, it was really good for the whole School community to come together virtually for the John Lyon 2.6 Challenge. Our pupils and staff always get stuck in and it was great to see so many different activities taking place that helped us smash our original fundraising target of £1,260 by £1,000.”

Clockwise from main picture: Mr Adam Ling gets on his bike; Miss Bethan Davies’ daughter and dog read some Shakespeare; Myan Vishram (7EM); Sayam Shah (10AJF) works in the community; Edward Benjamin (U6ND) completes his press-ups; Dr Florence Weinberg delivers her PPE to NHS workers

Pupils and staff step up to meet the summer challenge With teachers and coaches in the Sports Department missing the competitive action of Summer Term, they decided instead to set a series of challenges

Using minimal sporting equipment and a few household items, competitors were set various tasks, notably playing keepie-uppie with a toilet roll and attempting to get a ball in a bucket from various distances.

The results, submitted by video, were often skilful and occasionally hilarious, and can be viewed on John Lyon's YouTube channel.

It was great to see so many sporting skills on show.

Speaking about the challenges, Director of Sport Mr Shane Cloete said: “Having to postpone an entire term’s worth of sporting fixtures was difficult for both pupils and coaches but with these challenges we have been able to come together in a brand new way. It was great to see so many sporting skills on show — trying to keep a toilet roll in the air with just the thin edge of a cricket bat is not an easy task and hitting a basketball shot from 30 yards is equally as impressive.

We hope some of these new close control skills will come in useful when the Football and Hockey seasons come back around in Autumn and Spring.”

Clockwise from main picture: Mr Andy Sims leaps to keep the toilet roll from falling; Aryan Bharadia (9CTS) gets the ball in the bucket; Jack Ellis (8SRP) hits a wheelie bin with a basketball; Tio Eniade (8SRP) keeps the toilet roll in the air with a cricket bat

Krish sees black during lockdown Sporting success during lockdown has come for Year 7 pupil Krish Swaly (7EM), who achieved his Black Belt in karate, having been assessed online. Krish said: “During lockdown I have finally achieved my karate Black Belt (Shodan 1st Dan) in an online grading by the Traditional International Shotokan Karate Association. It was much tougher than normal as the Sensei was assessing us in much smaller groups. I was ecstatic when I passed as I was very nervous beforehand. I have been learning Karate since I was four, so it has been a long journey through many levels! ”

Summer Term 2020

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World Cup winner tells pupils of hard journey back to the top of Cricket

Fran Wilson won the World Cup with England in 2017.

Below, Bertie Waters’ (10MRF) winning cupcakes

The highs of being selected to represent England at 18 and the five years of hard work to get back into that team having been dropped have been discussed by World Cup winner Fran Wilson

On this introduction to international Cricket she said: “It didn’t go well and I felt totally out of my depth. It was my first time in an England shirt and I just didn’t feel good enough. For the first time ever I had doubts about my game. I got dropped pretty soon after. I was a bit lost.”

The star guest at the end of John Lyon’s annual Cricket Week, Fran Wilson was joined by keen young cricketers for the online talk in June, in which she outlined the key moments of her career and then answered a host of questions.

But far from this breaking the young player, she took time out to go to university where she played a lot of football and learned new skills and how to get a good life balance, all while keeping her hand in with Cricket. And the time away paid off, as she was recalled to the England team in 2016 ahead of a dramatic year which would see her lift the World Cup trophy in 2017 having helped beat India in the final at Lord’s.

Ms Wilson said that as she was growing up all she wanted to do was play Cricket; determination which led to her selection for England aged just 18. But the tour to Sri Lanka did not go well, with her being bowled out on her very first ball in international cricket and soon after dropped from the squad.

Ms Wilson said: “Coming back after five years, I still had a lot of nerves and some doubt, but I had built confidence through Cricket Week was different but still very busy, writes Head of Cricket Mr Adam Ling It is usually the British weather that brings things to a halt so cancelling fixtures comes with the territory. However, the past ten weeks have been like nothing before – not a single ball bowled in a competitive match.

Joshan Minhas (10AJF) gets involved with Cricket Week activities

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Given the planning that goes into a season, it would have been a shame not to celebrate what is usually our busiest week in the cricketing calendar. So not to

other life experiences and that meant I felt I could let go more when I walked out to bat. My university experience and life balance helped me to become a better cricketer.”

To end the session, Ms Wilson was asked to judge the John Lyon Cricket Week Cake competition, selecting Bertie Waters as winner for his cricketing cupcakes. be deterred, students were set a number of challenges over the course of the week, which included an online competition, live demonstrations and a baking competition.

During PE and Games, boys joined us on screen to replicate batting, bowling and fielding challenges set by our 1st XI Cricket squad and Sport Scholars. It was great to see a number of boys compete against their peers from the comfort of their own back garden. There were also over 120 video entries via Firefly of the same challenges, just without the crowd.

The whole Sports Department has been very proud of the way boys and their families have engaged with all the tasks and activities we have set this term.

A very modern pentathlon sees families running and jumping together Taking part in the online Sports Day: Dehan Wickramasinghe (8JNL), Harjeevan Bains (7JOC), Marcus Gottschalk (9PS) and Madisan Nimalathasan (7JOC)

With the traditional Sports Day on hold, a five-event challenge was set for boys and their families, with mums, dads, brothers and sisters all joining in to compete for House points

The five events – 100m run, standing long jump, vertical jump, speed bounce and family 1km run – were set to run for the whole of the last full week of Summer Term, with large participation expected, as with the usual Sports Day, albeit from living rooms, gardens and parks instead of the Harrow School Athletics track.

At the time of writing, no final results were available, although 250 entries were submitted and pictures were starting to come through showing some of the great efforts being produced.

Head of Athletics, Mr Rob Rice, said: “The whole Sports Department has been very proud of the way boys and their families have engaged with all the tasks and activities we have set this term and looking at the photos so far, it seems Sports Day is no different. With everyone spending more time in front of their screens in the past weeks it has been important for us all to stay fit and healthy.

We hope this continues for everyone over the summer holidays and we can’t wait to get back to the real sports pitches in September.”

Summer Term 2020

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Bob Lowe talks to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning; below, with his wife Kath

Miss Katherine Haynes Head Head@johnlyon.org

Bob continues his campaign to end loneliness One of John Lyon’s oldest Old Lyonian, Bob Lowe (OL1939) made a number of media appearances in June to promote the work of The Silver Line charity 98-year-old Bob, who now lives in Hampshire, starred on both the BBC's One Show and ITV’s This Morning, in appearances timed to coincide with the 80th birthday of The Silver Line’s founder Dame Esther Rantzen.

The WW2 Army veteran, who still regularly keeps in touch with the School, spoke movingly about his own struggles since losing his beloved wife, Kath, in 2011 after 65 years of marriage, as well as the difficulties older people had faced since the lockdown began. He moved Phillip Schofield, the host of This Morning, to tears by reading his poem Ode to Kath live on air.

Soon after becoming a widower, Bob became the first community champion of The Silver Line, which had recently been founded by Dame Esther as a free confidential helpline providing information, friendship and advice to older people, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In the years since he has continued to talk about the loneliness he and others feel on a daily basis, and the support which is available.

Hardship Fund sees great support from former pupils

The Silver Line can be contacted on 0800 4 70 80 90 and donation details can be found at www.thesilverline.org.uk Ode to Kath I am alone, now I know it’s true There was a time when we were two Those were the days when we would chat Doing little jobs of this and that We’d go to the shops and select our meals But now I’m one I know how it feels To try and cook or have meals on wheels The rooms are empty there’s not a sound Sometimes I’m lost and wander round To look for jobs that I can do To bring back the days when we were two When darkness falls and curtains drawn That’s when I feel most forlorn But I must be honest and tell the truth I’m not quite alone and here’s the proof Because beside me in her chair She quietly waits our time to share Kath said to me some time ago Darling when the time comes for us to go Let’s mix our ashes and be together So we can snuggle up for ever and ever.

John Lyon Head Miss Katherine Haynes said: “Thank you to the extraordinarily generous individuals and families who have donated to A Hardship Fund created during the lockdown the Hardship Fund – your gifts not only have period to help support pupils whose families given much needed practical assistance, but also were struggling to meet School tuition fees has bolster our morale in knowing that so many raised more than £40,000. With many John Lyon people care deeply for the School and our parents working in industries worst-hit pupils. by the extraordinary measures put in place by government, the money donated by Old If you wish to make a donation to the Hardship Fund, Lyonians, parents, staff and other friends has please contact Mrs Suzannah Chirnside, Alumni been crucial in supporting a number of families Relations Coordinator, on 020 8515 9410 or at in these difficult and unprecedented times.

Suzannah.Chirnside@johnlyon.org

Mr Andy Sims Deputy Head AJS@johnlyon.org

Mr Jonathan Pepperman Deputy Head JOP@johnlyon.org

Mr Michael Gibson Bursar Michael.Gibson@johnlyon.org

Open Day Dates www.johnlyon.org/opendays Miss Rebecca Davies Registrar Tel: 020 8515 9443 Admissions@johnlyon.org John Lyon Middle Road Harrow-on-the-Hill HA2 0HN 020 8515 9400

www.johnlyon.org @johnlyonharrow