Montgomery

Houses Montgomery

Competitions

WON THIS YEAR: Senior house hockey Best cinematography house film

Iusually start my Johnian review by writing about how quickly the academic year has passed, but clearly, 2020 has been a year like no other…

My prefect team, led fantastically well by House Captain Will Farnsworth, have once again shown remarkable leadership and guidance for the whole house since September and I would like to personally thank them all for their efforts. As a year group, the Upper Sixth have shown incredible resolve in what have been unprecedented circumstances and neither they nor I will ever forget their final year at St John’s. I know that every single one of them will be successful in whatever they choose to do and their resilience throughout the coronavirus pandemic will certainly stand them in good stead. I wish them all the very best of luck.

Success can be measured in a number of ways. The boys will often look at extrinsic awards such as winning house competitions, like we have this year in senior house hockey or best cinematography award in house film, but often it is the work behind the scenes, that goes unnoticed, that is the most satisfying. There are two things that have made me most proud of the House since September. Firstly, the hugely successful Charity Evening back in February. Who can forget Mr Hammond and Andrew Morris being hypnotised? The time and effort the Lower Sixth put in to the evening was quite brilliant and really showed me how proud every single one of them is to be a member of the Monty community. Raising over £5000 for such an incredible charity like The Royal Marsden is something that everyone involved in the evening should celebrate. The second is the way that the Monty boys have adapted to their remote learning from home since the School closure on 23 March. Although there may well have been an initial sense of excitement that ‘school was out’, I have been struck more recently by the way in which the boys have continued to work hard and adapt to their learning NUMBER OF PUPILS 64 environments. Humans are naturally creatures of habit and when such habits are broken, it takes a certain type of resilience in order to maintain high standards. I have been genuinely delighted with the boys’ maturity in such uncertain times. Each of them can look back on this year with a huge amount of pride.

The new Fourth Form’s transition into Monty has been a seamless one. Whether it be moving up from the Lower to Senior School or making the progression from one of our feeder prep schools, each and every one of the boys is a welcome addition to the Monty team. I look forward to seeing them flourish in the next stages of their St John’s career.

I would like to finish by paying tribute to my amazing tutor team and the irreplaceable Becky. Without doubt, the House would not survive without them! The extra time outside of school hours and tireless support they give to ensuring the boys’ experience at St John’s is a positive one should never be underestimated. Becky and the tutors play vital roles in the Montgomery team and I will be forever grateful.

It has been a pleasure to lead the claret and blues again this year (or at least part of it!). I thank the boys who have done themselves and the House proud.

David Hammond, Housemaster

Did you know?

Named after Field Marshall Montgomery, an influential figure in WW2

Get the 1%ers right and the big things will take care of themselves

HOUSE MOTTO HOUSE COLOURS

From the House Captain

The last five years at St John’s have been an absolute whirlwind. Who knew that five years could go by so quickly and, with such an abrupt ending to the year, who better to spend it with than the boys in Monty? Stepping through the doors of Monty in the Autumn of 2015, I felt all the more relaxed when the seemingly very scary Upper Sixth of the time turned out to not be so scary. From then on, the years were full of excitement and success and I hoped to continue this in my final year as House Captain.

The year kicked off as it always does with the house singing competition, with the whole house fully engaged in the unison and those select few putting in admirable performances in part-song. While it may not have been the strongest of performances (I take full credit for the poor choice of song), the spirit and commitment to the House shown by everyone set the tone for the rest of the year. This sense of engagement and full commitment can be seen in every single member of the House, throwing themselves into all events and bringing us success in the senior house hockey and house film, as well as numerous finals in debating, rugby and football, highlighting strengths across all year groups and competitions.

As House Captain, I feel immensely proud when the boys take on roles outside of their comfort zones and the Lower Sixth perfectly illustrated this. As the Monty House Charity Night got ever closer in Spring Term, the Lower Sixth boys took the reins to cover for an Upper Sixth year group in the middle of practice papers. They did a fantastic job, putting on an incredible evening with excellent entertainment and flawless service, as well as raising over £5000 for the Royal Marsden cancer charity. Events like this show the relationship between year groups and that all important house spirit.

The highlight of my time in Monty has to be leading the House as House Captain because it has been a very rewarding experience. The House has changed over my time at St John’s, be that different Housemasters, new faces entering into the Fourth Form or the new day rooms and kitchens, however the things that haven’t changed are the pride I have for being a member of Monty and the strong sense of community, which I’m sure is here to stay.

Monty wouldn’t run as smoothly as it does without Becky, Mr Hammond and the key support of the tutor team. Every single member of staff steps up to whatever challenge we throw at them, be it a broken sofa or window in the day room to fighting our cases for missing homework. The support they offer each and every member of Monty is invaluable and, on behalf of the whole house, I would like to thank them for this. I hope to see Mr Hammond at the helm of Monty for many more years to come and to continue to bring success to the House. MASCOT

SNAKE

Will Farnsworth, House Captain 2019-20