Last week there were two afternoons of Key Stage 2 cricket tournaments.  With Yr 6 being away in Seville it gave some of the younger pupils a chance to have a go.

On Wednesday we took part in the Kwik Cricket tournament against five other primary schools.  In front of tremendous family support the squad immediately realised that they had a lot to learn, the best way being to learn from their mistakes. They took on board that they had to concentrate on all they were told and show real determination to improve with each match – and this they did!  There were smiles, hugs and laughter at the end to celebrate a really enjoyable afternoon with the children realising what great fun there was to be had from the game of cricket.

We were all proud of the team: Sonny, Luke, Sam, Erin, Adele, Sebastian, Benjamin, Finley, Oliver, Caitlyn, Edie, and Hannah-Rose.

Friday’s competition followed normal cricket rules and was held at Sevenoaks School.  Again with no Yr 6, St John’s had a young side and the challenge for the team was to learn.  In the first match against Amherst we showed we had the ability, but bowled too many wides, made a few fielding mistakes and did not hit the bad balls often enough, so we lost.  The second match saw a real improvement in bowling and fielding but not in the batting and this resulted in a win for Sevenoaks County Primary by 10 runs. We managed to bring it all together in the last match but sadly had a disastrous one and a half overs when Ide Hill scored nearly all their runs. As hard as we tried we were unable to reach their total.

It was a learning process for everyone and it was so gratifying to see how enthusiastic all the children were to learn; so well done to the following for a great afternoon in the sun: Jamie, Finlay, Griff, Benjamin, Isaac, Georgia, Laura and Rebecca.

A perfect warm afternoon saw over 120 children take part in the House multi-sports competition. Each pupil played for their House in one sport, so everyone was occupied all afternoon.

The sports on offer were Tennis, Table Tennis, Rugby, Quik Cricket, Multi-Skills and Mini Golf. It’s great to see that sportsmanship is now just an everyday part of life in the school. The huge number of red faces in the Hall at the end when we were announcing the results proved how hard they had been trying.

All the games were competitive, yes, but it was self competition, a genuine appreciation of how the opposition were playing and at the end, a friendly chat about the game and in many cases an ability to laugh at oneself when he/she had been at fault in that “ dropped catch “!!

A relaxed friendly, best team won competition. Everyone watching had a great afternoon supporting.

Results:
Blue House won the Tennis, Quik Cricket and Mini-Golf
Yellow House won the Multi-Skills
Green House won the Rugby
Red House won the Table Tennis
The two winners in each individual sports ( The first one for skills the second for sportsmanship) were:
Table Tennis: Alexander & Lewis.
Tennis: Elliot & Archie
Rugby: Harry & Rebecca
Quik Cricket: Oliver & Ollie
Multi- Skills: Lois & Danny
Mini-Golf: Matthew & Lexi

We are constantly praising the pupils in all their achievements but this time let’s congratulate St John’s Mum Helen Copp who yesterday won the ‘First Local Female Triathlete 2018’ Trophy in the Sevenoaks Triathlon.
On a very cold and windy day she achieved an outstanding time of under 1 hour 50 mins to complete the course: 400m swim (7.28 mins); 28Km cycle (60.01 mins) and an 8Km run (39 mins). The St. John’s spirit and smile was very much on show yesterday!

The Easter service is always a great event – even for 246 children and staff walking down to the Church in the rain.

The service always has it”s “moments” and the first of these was at the start when Class 3 did a well rehearsed mini costumed playlett of the Last Journey of Jesus to the Cross, with the story being told as the actors walked up the isle to the stage. That was followed by the choir singing a 2 part “All Things Bright & Beautiful” and here again that extra mile was evident, not only in the singing, but in the left to right rhythm action movement which was performed to  perfection with every child together the entire time.

Year 6 sang “Oh Happy Day ” so well, and again in 2 parts. One always wonders what Fr Robin is going to come up with in his sermons, but he put his message across  very successfully by getting the congregation very worried – and the children very excited, about  his threat to soak Fr Matthew (dressed in full Skiing rain gear with an umbrella) with a full bottle of Pepsi Cola he was shaking, I will leave it up to your child to tell you the outcome!

Prayers were said by Class 4 followed by  Key Stage 1 singing “Oh Happy Day ”  again with perfect rhythm movement.

Sally was spot on when, after thanking everyone, she asked Year 6 to sing “Oh Happy Day” again and by the end of the service the sun was shining, and the walk back to school a pleasure.

The Church was, as usual, fit to bursting with all of our children and their very supportive families – a Joy to see!

Have a great holiday, and get ready for another busy and enjoyable Summer Term.

What an evening where once again St Johns showed itself to the town as precisely what a school can and is achieving. Tonight a 28 strong Dance Team put on a truly top class performance showing great skills of timing, precise movement, always totally together and with an impressive self-confidence of just individually knowing what to do and when. For all that to happen you need natural inspirational teaching and children who are totally committed to the cause, prepared to work until they drop and with a high level of concentration both in training and the final performance. It WAs obvious that they are enjoying every moment and it is then that you have something very special. We had all that tonight and the audience and especially all those connected to St John’s left at the end just so proud of the school and their children.