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St. John's School

Well , this is a first - having lived near this school for ages here is the main facade of the main building and the first time I have seen it without cars parked spoiling the view . I hasten to add , my school was the local comprehensive and not this one ! I did take the shot with Saturday Challenge in mind but preferred another location which is done and awaiting Saturday .

In the first comment box are another couple of views to compliment this mono capture here .

 

St John's School in Leatherhead, Surrey is a fully co-educational Independent school for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school offers day, weekly and flexible boarding for approximately 800 pupils.

 

St John's was founded in 1851 to educate the sons of the clergy, and was moved from St John's Wood, London to its current site in Surrey in 1872. Set in 50 acres (20 ha), the school's site is a mixture of old and new, with mid-Victorian architecture complemented by a Science Centre, and modern classroom blocks and boarding houses.

The school was founded in 1851 as St John's Foundational School for the Sons of Poor Clergy. Its founder was a clergyman, Ashby Haslewood, who was vicar of St Mark's, Hamilton Terrace in St John's Wood, north London. He had a dual purpose in founding the school - to offer free education for the sons of poor clergymen and to provide a choir for his large church.

Since the 1970s St John's, while maintaining a substantial boarding community, has taken in an increasing number of day pupils and in 1989 the first Sixth Form girls entered the school. In 2010 girls were able to join the school in the first year (fourth form) for the first time and the school has been fully co-educational since September 2012.

 

The school was a success but the dual purpose imposed restrictions. So in 1854 the school moved outside the parish boundaries of St Mark's into neighbouring Kilburn. This was the first of three moves before the school moved to Leatherhead in 1872. Reverend Edward Connerford Hawkins was one of the first headmasters, when the school was still at Clapton in north-east London. He and his wife Jane Isabella Grahame (an aunt of Kenneth Grahame, author of Wind in the Willows) brought up their family there; their son Anthony Hope, who also grew up to be an author, was educated at the school until he was old enough to be sent to Marlborough College.

 

Despite much progress, it remained essentially a charity school until the significant headmastership of Arthur Rutty (HM 1883–1909) when the school developed all the characteristics of a public school.

 

The school began to attract fee-paying parents while remaining loyal to the sons of poor clergymen. The school expanded throughout the 20th century despite the problems faced by all public schools due to the Depression. After the Second World War, St John's was fortunate to attract the interest of the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, himself the son of a clergyman, who was chairman of the governing body from 1951 to 1966. Montgomery's contribution to the development of the school was enormous – he promoted it, raised money for it and gave generously of his own time and wealth. His assistance facilitated the building of the new chapel, the work of architects Seely & Paget, completed in 1962, as the school had outgrown the more diminutive old chapel, which subsequently became the library, and from 2014, a venue for concerts and other events for both the school and local community. The pews towards the back of the new chapel have the names inscribed of those who died in conflict ranging from the First World War to the Korean War. The 1914–1919 roll remembers the 156 who fell in battle, the 1939–1945 panel contains 88 names, and the Korean War board bears 3 names.

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Uploaded on February 14, 2023
Taken on February 13, 2023