The Standard - Spring 2023

THE STANDARD

Message from the Head

Over £2,300 was raised for the British Red Cross and we would like to thank all those who donated for their generosity.

As I look out at the Red House lawn, with flowers abloom around the School campus, the arrival of spring signals the end of another busy and productive term for pupils at John Lyon. As ever, I am impressed by the energy and enthusiasm that our pupils exude in all that they do. Pupils of all ages show resilience when needed and take things positively in their stride. It is these characteristics that make John Lyon pupils stand out. I am hugely proud of all their individual and collective accomplishments this term and the following pages can only provide a peek at all that has been achieved.

At John Lyon, we focus on more than high academic standards. Our pupils benefit hugely from all the opportunities they enjoy so much, ranging from the myriad of clubs and co-curricular activities to success on the sports fields and much more besides. I am particularly delighted to announce we have been awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag status. This represents our strides forward in our sustainability journey, driven by pupil-led Eco and Sustainability teams. The whole John Lyon community has been focused on waste reduction, and reducing our reliance on motorised transport.

As a school we continue to place importance on the value of community, which has been a central part of John Lyon life this term. In January and March we have hosted film nights for young families from the local area in partnership with Harrow School and the Young Harrow Foundation. Pupils have enjoyed participating in our FoodBank collections. In the current climate it has been extremely rewarding for the School to show support for the local families beyond our School community.

It has also been gratifying to see pupils take the lead on and organise charity initiatives – a sponsored 12-hour Swimathon and Head Boy’s Hot Chocolate and Smoothie Mornings have been keenly supported by all year groups, raising a substantial sum of money for the School’s nominated two charities that we are to support this year: St Luke’s Hospice and Motor Neurone Disease UK. It was especially heartwarming to see the School come together, including our Prep School Quainton Hall, supporting those affected by the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

As ever we have had numerous music, sports and drama highlights, all of which have exposed pupils to a wide variety of new experiences and continued to stretch their learning. The Musician of the Year finals once again provided a wonderful display of the School’s amazing musical talent, while DNA, our drama production, challenged pupils in their acting endeavours and left audiences pondering morality in today’s world. We have seen more sports team and individual successes in our mainstream sports as well as non-traditional ones. Furthermore, we have seen increased participation in all areas of sporting life and much improved pupil outcomes through the competitive nature of sport as well as through greater engagement with our healthy lifestyle ethos and the idea that “sport is for life”.

Of particular note is our robotics programme, which continues to go from strength to strength. Our two teams from Year 9 and Year 10 have seen great success this term, winning numerous awards and competitions – some great achievements, which have been possible thanks to the 1876 Fund and with support from Old Lyonians.

As the John Lyon School community – current and former pupils, parents, staff and friends of the School –under the Lyonian Association banner, we are working ever more closely with our alumni to bring in former pupils to provide a wide range of careers talks. and collaborate on projects directly with pupils.In this edition of The Standard, I hope you will all enjoy the pages highlighting Lyonian Association activity.

As we continue to benefit from closer integration with our Prep School at Quainton Hall, and ensure that opportunities for pupils in both age groups are engaged in the whole School approach, we have also included in this edition some of the exciting news from the Prep – in particular their participation in the Barnardo’s National Choir Competition Finals in Birmingham; they did fantastically well and absolutely in the John Lyon musical tradition.

May I take this opportunity to thank parents for all your continued support for our pupils and our School. To pupils, I say a big Well Done, as we look ahead to another Summer Term of opportunity, challenge and endeavour.

STET FORTUNA DOMUS n

Miss Katherine Haynes, Head

FRONT COVER

The Eco-Schools Programme has awarded us an Eco-Schools Green Flag

Red House Lawn in bloom

STEAMing ahead!

Our VEX IQ and VRC teams continue to go from strength to strength with phenomenal success this term at VEX Robotics competitions at regional and national level.

Our VEX VRC team is the first John Lyon VRC team ever to enter a VEX VRC competition. They had an incredible season, qualifying at Regionals for the UK National championship. They even qualified for VEX worlds before attending the National Championships, by coming first place in a worldwide online challenge about reverse engineering. In the Nationals, the team also impressed the judges with the excellent design of their robot, earning them the Innovate Award.

Our younger VEX IQ team competed with calm and determination at the UK Nationals. They achieved 4th place in the UK and won the Amaze Award through the innovative design of their robot, about which the judges were highly complimentary.

We’d like to congratulate the teams on their achievements.

We are incredibly lucky to be able to provide opportunities such as these for pupils interested in robotics and programming – thanks to the support of the 1876 Fund, which has enabled the purchase of robots and equipment and covered competition entry fees.

The teams would now love to fulfil their robotic aspirations and attend the VEX World Championship in Texas, although to make that possible they are currently working on securing sponsorship for this expensive but unique and enriching opportunity to compete against VEX robotics teams from around the world. Both teams have set up GoFundMe pages and would welcome support from the John Lyon community in helping them get to Dallas for this once in a lifetime opportunity. n

Go Fund - VEX IQ

https://gofund.me/ca893c01

Go Fund - VEX VRC

https://gofund.me/fd7b31cd

VEX IQ Team: Alex (9AHJ), Sulayman (9SRP), Aarav (9ND), Ameya (9AHJ)

VRC Team: Yash (10CKL), Hemang (10RMC), Tarun (10RMC), Rafay (10CKL)

Eco-Schools Green Flag

The Eco-Schools Programme has awarded us an Eco-Schools Green Flag for the positive strides we have made so far to become an eco-friendly learning environment.

Over the past year the entire school community has worked together to reduce

food waste, alongside Harrow School, decrease use of motorised transport where feasible and increase the proportion of renewable energy the school uses, as well as finding new ways to improve insulation.

These initiatives were praised by the Green

Flag judging panel, who were extremely impressed with what we have achieved to date as well as our ongoing plans across three environmental priorities identified by our Sustainability School Council and Sustainability Society’s review: waste, transport and energy. n

For the love of French poetry

A poetry competition run by the French Department this term highlighted the creative and linguistic talents inYear 8. The competition’s brief was to take inspiration from two famous French poets – Apollinaire and Paul Eluard – whom Year 8 had been studying, and in turn write a poem in French following the poets’ styles and themes. The results were amazing and the judging panel had an exceedingly difficult job picking the winners.

Bravo, everyone and toutes nos félicitations (congratulations) to the winners: Sofia (8AJM), Nishka (8ADH), Rajveer (8JOC) and Zara (8GMM) n

Three of our winners, Nishka (left), Sofia (middle), Zara (right)

World Book Day

Once again, this year, we marked World Book Day with a host of fun and celebratory activities, bolstered by a party atmosphere and a tempting array of sweet treats.

There were free book giveaways, along with book tokens for pupils in Year 7 and 8, and a lunchtime event in the library, where eager staff and students from a variety of year groups gathered to take part in our “Catchphrase Guess the Title of the Book” quiz and the “Design a Bookmark” competition. We would like to offer our congratulations to prize-winners, Kiaan (8GMM) and Daniel (7JEB) and to runner-up Samaaira (7JEB) for their splendid work. We would also like to thank Sixth Form Prefects, Jacob (U6RS) and Inesh (U6TCF) and Library Monitors, Asan (L6QAC), Sumeet (10RMC) and Vansh (11NMB) for their unstinting support and help. n

Bronze Crest Awards

By completing a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) project of their choice, related to solving a real-life STEM challenge, 11-to-19-year-old pupils can achieve a CREST Award – a nationally recognised accreditation scheme for STEM project work. In this past term,Year 8 pupils have been teaming up on projects as they work towards a Bronze Crest Award. Featured here are two Year 8 teams’ projects.

Edible spoons

Vansh, Aziz and Kiaan, all from 8GMM, came up with the idea of edible spoons for their CREST project. Their invention is made

from nothing but flour, water and a bit of oil to give the dough some flavour – and the spoons are designed to be eaten with foods such as soups and curries to make them more interesting. But why, you might ask, should we use edible cutlery? The answer is that, by replacing normal plastic cutlery with this creation, we can cut out the use of 40,000,000,000 disposable spoons a year! Imagine the positive impact for the environment!

Eco-friendly food packaging

Amaroo, Dylan, Ishan, Shahmeer and Zlata, also from 8GMM, have been working on a

John Lyon’s Chess Championships

This term, Physics teacher Mr Kay, with support from pupils, set up a chess tournament in the style of the World Chess Championship. It is the School’s first chess tournament for many years and pupil uptake has been amazing. With competitors from Year 8 to the Upper Sixth taking part, the tournament has progressed exceptionally well and at the time of writing this piece they are playing matches to decide who will make it to the finals, scheduled for early next term. We look forward to announcing John Lyon’s new Chess Champion in the summer edition of the magazine. Stay tuned! n

lunchbox that is environmentally friendly to use and to produce. This group has worked tirelessly to build a prototype that is ergonomically comfortable and stylish, having also conducted research on suitable materials for use in the manufacture of the final product – if it were to be produced and marketed to real consumers. These materials include silicone (made of sand) and PLA Polyester (made of corn). n

Cardboard lunch box prototype!

Sample edible spoons!

Celebrating diversity

To mark Diversity Week, which took place the week commencing 20th February, the School celebrated diversity in all its forms. Pupils took part in a whole school assembly led by Mr Lokier and Diversity Prefect George (U6NGA), which focused on the importance of celebrating our differences, acceptance and having pride in ourselves and our multifaceted identities.

Pupils took charge of and created a rich and colourful display in the Mall Gallery depicting various types of identity, including LGBTQ+, cultural and religious identities, which provided a key focal point for discussions throughout the week and beyond. A key feature of the display was a set of hands drawn by students, which outlined what diversity meant to them.

A “Diversity through Art” event, in which pupils designed bookmarks on the theme, as well as a “Diversity Around the World” quiz were very popular, with high levels of pupil engagement.

Discussions on neurodiversity, with an emphasis on education about Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, among other conditions, also took place with the aim of helping pupils to understand better the many different conditions that enrich our world.

The week ended with the first in a series of diversity-themed videos and TED talks,

titled “Gender and Me”. The talk provided a brilliant overview of gender identity and expression of identity and it was great to see so many pupils attend.

Thanks to a high level of participation and engagement from all year groups, our Diversity Week was a very successful one.n

Debaters reach regional finals of Union Mace Competition

Congratulations to Krish (U6JCC), Lucas (U6TCF) and Vikram (U6RS) on an outstanding effort in the regional final of the English-Speaking Union Mace Competition, which is the oldest and largest debating competition for schools in England. In this round of the contest, they argued for the motion: “This House believes the UK government should pay reparations to its former colonies”.

Despite a strong and polished performance that was praised by the judges as the most able in public speaking terms, they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the national final. In a competitive heat that also included Ibstock Place, Harrow School, The Tiffin Girls’ School and South Hampstead High School, it was a very strong team from St Paul’s Girls that ultimately won the day.n

Charity Highlights

Community film night

In January, John Lyon was delighted to host a community film night for young families from the local community in and around Harrow.

The Boyd Campbell Hall was transformed into a cinema for the evening as families enjoyed a screening of the film “DC League of Super Pets” complete with popcorn and pizza! It was a funny, heart-warming movie, perfect for one of the coldest nights of the year – and attending families were very appreciative of our efforts!

In the current climate, it has been extremely rewarding for the School to show our support for the local community in this way – and we continue to work in partnership with Harrow School and organisations in the area to help make a positive difference to local people. n

Sponsored Swim Week

Swimming was very much on the agenda the week commencing 6th March as pupils swam countless lengths in PE lessons to raise money for the School’s charities, including St Luke’s Hospice and Motor Neurone Disease UK. The week culminated with a 12-hour swimathon on Friday 10th March, with non-stop swimming from 6am to 6pm.

Thanks to the amazing efforts of all the swimmers, including staff and pupils who joined in from our Prep School Quainton Hall, over 15,000 lengths were swum, which equates to over 240 miles covered and a total of £1500 raised. An amazing accomplishment, and a job well done to everyone for swimming their hearts out! n

Supporting the Turkey and Syria earthquake appeal

The Headboy team organised a charity hot chocolate morning in February. Taking place on yet another cold day, it was the perfect way to warm up and raise money for a good cause. As cups of hot chocolate flowed, together the school raised £338 for the Turkey and Syria earthquake appeal.

Alongside this, together with Quainton Hall, we raised over £2000 for the British Red Cross to further help those affected by the earthquakes, bringing our total raised to over £2,300.

The overall amount raised is a wonderful example of the amazing things we can achieve together as a school community and we would like to thank everyone for their generous donations n

Outdoor Pursuits

As part of the Outdoor Pursuits programme this term, pupils have had the opportunity to try their hand at powerboating and skiing.

Earlier in February, six adventurous Year 11 and Lower Sixth pupils embarked on and successfully completed a Level 2 powerboating certificate. During their training, which took place at Stanborough Park Water Sports Centre in Welwyn Garden City, pupils had the opportunity to drive a range of powerboat craft and practise some essential boat control manoeuvres. They all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially when they got the chance to conduct some high-speed runs on the open water.

Towards the end of February, 20 daring John Lyon pupils braved the cold of the indoor slopes to try their hand (or maybe their feet) at skiing. The two-hour lesson was enjoyed by all and the meal that was waiting for them at the end was a welcome chance to recover and warm up. We are hoping that this will become a regular feature in the annual Outdoor Pursuits programme as it is a great way to give pupils a “taster” of the sport in advance of the School’s overseas ski trip, which usually takes place during the Christmas break. n

Bird-watching on the Red House lawn

Early on a Friday morning in February, several pupils joined staff on the Red House Lawn for an hour of bird-watching as part of the RSPB Big Schools Bird Watch. The event was a chance for pupils to learn about and gain an appreciation for bird species that inhabit the local area – and it was not a disappointing morning! Several species were spotted in that hour, including parakeets, magpies and robins to name a few, making it an eventful and exciting occasion for all who attended. n

Excellence Talk: A career in law by Judge Tanweer Ikram CBE

We welcomed Judge Tanweer Ikram CBE this term for a talk on careers in law. Speaking about his experiences as a judge, including the challenges he has faced as well as the opportunities, what he had to say was fascinating and sparked some thoughtful questions from our audience

Tanweer left pupils with some helpful advice on the importance of hard work and its role both in overcoming failure and in achieving success. His parting words – ‘I have made some wrong career choices in my life, but you need to embrace any failures and convert them into a positive and grow’ –

were also great advice, leaving our pupils with plenty to think about. n

Talks-on-the-Hill: The Future

There was a great turnout for our Talks-on -the-Hill event this term. The theme was “The Future” – and audiences were treated to several lively, informative and engaging sessions presented by pupils and staff as well as guest speakers.

Our special thanks go to all guest speakers – The Right Honourable Elizabeth Gloster, an international arbitrator at One Essex Court and Dr Meg Cope, an eye surgeon and entrepreneur, for their insightful and interesting sessions. Thanks also to our pupils Simi (8JOC) and Aly (8GMM) and to Mr Carr, Teacher of Chemistry, and Cdr Mawdsley, Chief Operating Officer. Their contributions were key to the event’s success and we are incredibly grateful to

them for taking the time out to take part in this well-known and popular School event. The talks were jointly hosted by Ayaan (9AHJ) and Ania (7CCG), both of whom did a fantastic job. n

Highlights from our Prep School, Quainton Hall

The Prep School has had an equally productive term and we thought it worthwhile to share and celebrate some of their highlights with the entire JL community.

A new library

At the start of the term, Miss Haynes paid a special visit to Quainton Hall to take part in the official re-opening ceremony for the new library. We’ve been told that since its opening the library has now become a favourite for many!

New identity for early years pupils

Another significant milestone has been the launch of “Quainton’s Little Lyons”, the new identity for 3+ Nursery and 4+ Reception. This accomplishment for the school has been a real community effort involving even our youngest pupils, which has been great. If you have family or friends with nursery-aged or nearly reception-aged children, please do share this. The Prep School would love to have them in for a visit so they can see all that is wonderful about Quainton’s Little Lyons.

A place at Barnado’s National Choral Competition

Towards the end of term, the Quainton Hall Chamber Choir took part in the Barnado’s National Choral Competition, the largest of its kind in the UK. It was quite the accomplishment for the choir to be placed in the top 14 U12 choirs nationally for two years in a row. And, although in the end they lost to some equally strong competition, the chance to compete was an amazing experience – and one they won’t forget for a long time to come. n

on Royal Academy of Music (RAM) Concert

During the lunchtime of Tuesday 17th January, we were joined by a duo of impeccable Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music – Samuel Stopford and Daniel Peter Silcock a singer and pianist respectively.

Proceedings commenced with a lunchtime concert in which the duo performed a multitude of impressive and highly emotive pieces and the audience of pupils, including those from Newton Farm and St John Fisher who were invited to the event, was absolutely captivated. Samuel Stopford worked his way masterfully through the pieces, fully expressing the music’s theme of love through his beautiful phrasing, physical stature and facial expressions. He did an impeccable job of expressing the contrast between the joy of attaining love and the misery of lost love. An outstanding musician, performer and entertainer!

And let us not forget Daniel Peter Silcock’s masterful piano performance, accompanying and complimenting Samuel’s voice perfectly with his fantastic phrasing and emotive playing: you could see that Daniel truly understood the music and was playing to express the themes behind it just as Samuel was. Overall, Daniel is a fantastic musician too! After this thrilling 40-minute performance, most of the assembled pupils dispersed, very pleased, while a select few prepared for the Masterclass.

The Masterclass was an event in which Daniel and Samuel worked with pupils to improve their performances to their greatest extent.The invitation for the Masterclass was extended to all music scholars, award holders, members of Pride of Lyon’s, those in Quainton Hall’s Chamber Choir and pupils taking oneon-one singing lessons in the school. We commenced this event with a captivating performance by Upper-Sixth Student Karun (U6TCF) who sang ‘Come Away, Death’ by Roger Quilter with great emotion. The RAM musicians worked on capturing the theme behind the song (as Samuel Stopford

did very well) and the song was brought to an extremely high level of performance and musicality. The audience could see Karun really working with the duo of musicians to improve his performance and this showed in the way he sang expressively and with great phrasing and musicality.

Next, we had a fantastic performance from Quainton Hall’s Chamber Choir. In their performance, they achieved a large sense of unity in the choir and the musicians showed skill in working to improve the performance even further.

Finally, we had a captivating performance of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ by the Pride of Lyon’s. This song was performed with beautiful phrasing and skilfully executed harmonies. Samuel and Daniel worked with the group to further enhance this by bringing out emotion in the performance and really focusing on singing as a group and bringing the harmonies together.

Overall, these events were spectacular, and we extend our thanks to both Samuel and Daniel for this unforgettable musical experience. n

Samuel Stopford (singer) and Daniel Peter Silcock (pianist)

Solos Concert

The Solos Concert on Thursday 19th January was yet another musical extravaganza featuring, as usual, a pleasing and varied programme from pupils right across the school from Year 7 to the Upper Sixth. The audiences, including our special guests from Buchanan Court Nursing Home, were treated to some outstanding music, performed on a range of instruments ranging from the violin to the euphonium. It was a very enjoyable evening for all, lifting the spirits of pupils’ families after a long day at work. n

Musician of the Year

Following the end of January’s House Music competition, in early February the 17 category winners across grades 1-4 and 5-8 came together to compete in the Musician of the Year contest.

We were delighted to welcome back to the school Mr Stephen Langridge (OL), Artistic Director of Glyndebourne, to judge the competition’s final, which started with performances in the Junior category. With a mix of styles and a vast range of music, all were congratulated for their musicality and wonderful playing – and the title for grades 1-4 deservedly went to Amaroo (8GMM) for his outstanding, expressive performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera”.

With another set of excellent performances of challenging material, it proved no easier for our judge to select a worthy winner in the Senior category. However, the night belonged to Sammy (U6PWM), who performed twice: first, on oboe with the first movement of Bach’s ‘Sonata in G minor’ and second, singing Howell’s ‘King David’. His confident performances led him to victory – and to be

crowned John Lyon Musician of the Year 2023.

At the end of the evening, there was rapturous applause as Amaroo and Sammy took to the stage to be presented with their cups by Mr Langridge and Mr Joe De Mello, after whom the cup is named, and the House Music category winners followed to receive their glass trophies.

Mr Langridge was clearly impressed by the high standard of our young musicians, all of whom received invaluable feedback and encouragement for their continued hard work. As for the audience, we are pleased to say they went away smiling and delighted, having witnessed a real treat! n

Spring Concert

Once again, the variety and exceptional delivery of the performances made for a phenomenal Spring Concert –a wonderful evening of music that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone concerned. n

“Life never fails to surprise me and fate played its part with shocking weather preventing me being on hand to visit for the Spring Concert. However, what a privilege it was to be linked up by modern day technology to still witness such a multitude of musical talent nurtured by the dedicated music staff at JLS. This school never fails to impress me when I see the talent nurtured to such a standard from when the pupils first arrive meek and mild and progress to such a level. Such a variety of musical talent now as well. Percussion terrific and rhythm and blues inclusive of girls now as well. Onwards and upwards!”

Parent of Old Lyonian n

leaving audiences to think about morality in today’s world.

Another professional production, with excellent performances all round from the 25-strong cast of pupils from Years 9 to 11, the play is about a group of teenagers, all of a similar age, who become drawn into a coercive game centred around the treatment of a young man named Adam, played by Sahil (9BG). n

“The experience of being in such an electric play was energetic and unique. Playing the part of Danny was really amazing as the character embodies the role of comic relief, which was a new role that I enjoyed learning about. The dynamic with the other members of the cast on stage was a spectacle to behold.”

Rishi (9WA) n

“I played the part of Leah in DNA. I really enjoyed playing this part as it allowed me to really explore Leah’s character. It was a really fun and enjoyable experience and I would love to do it again.”

Liam (9ND) n

“I enjoyed the experience of doing DNA while playing Jan. It made me think about all the skills I had to use and perform with them. I enjoyed seeing what it’s like for actors when doing a show and I would like to thank the cast and crew for making the experience even better and more enjoyable”

Montgomery (9BG) n

Sport continues to play a major role in our pupils’ lives and the department has been working hard to maintain all year groups’ enthusiasm and keep them keen to participate, both competitively and recreationally.

So far, the Spring Term has already seen more team and individual successes in non-traditional sports as well as in our mainstream ones. Through greater engagement with our healthy lifestyle ethos and through the idea that “sport is for life”, we have seen more participation in all areas of sporting life and much improved pupil outcomes. n

Football

The 2022/23 Academic Year has been another excellent one for football at John Lyon in which pupil development has been at the forefront of our most successful season to date, with nearly 60% of our fixtures recording positive results (wins/draws). Following on from an impressive Autumn Term, the Senior Football Programme has continued to provide 100+ pupils with the opportunity to hone their skills and participate in weekly training and competitive fixtures throughout the Spring Term. The results have been excellent – most notably those of the 1st XI, who are still unbeaten for over four months, scoring 26 goals across 11 matches played since November. Led by Captain Toby (L6RSK), the team have also had the chance to examine their matches using video analysis to re-watch and analyse their performances – as have pupils playing all sports throughout the School.

Following a superb 8-0 victory against Whitefriars School, the U16A team made it through to the Harrow Borough semi-final, where hat-tricks from Tio (11MRF) and Loizos (11KS) were enough to ensure safe passage into the next round, where the pupils face Salvatorian College for a place in the final, to be held at Rayners Lane FC after the Easter Break. n

Hockey

As the hockey season comes to a close, we look back over an impressive 50 fixtures. Our 1st XI have shown real determination and fought hard in every game –highlights include victories over UCS and second place in their group in the Under 18 County tournament.

Most pleasing this term has been the depth across all teams, particularly the Under 14s and 15s, neither of which have lost a game so far this season. Particular mention must go to our 14A squad who have only lost one game this season; their highlights, including victories against Bedford Modern, UCS,

Aldenham and Sir William Borlase, are credits to their determination, hard work and perseverance as a collective unit. With a number of the team already in contention for 1st XI places next spring, the future of Senior Hockey looks very promising and exciting indeed! n

Cross Country

The popularity of Cross Country at John Lyon is at a record high, with over 35 pupils representing the School at Borough and County level across the Spring Term. Following their success at the School’s Inter-House Cross Country in October, the top 6 finishers from each age group were selected to represent the School at the Harrow Borough Cross Country Championships, with Sammy (U6PWM), Ritchie (11KS), Alex (L6SJA), James (U6RS), Felix (L6MEW), Billy (9AHJ), Marcus (9BG) and Jayden (7JHA) all qualifying to represent Harrow at the Middlesex Cross Country Championships. At the County Championships, Ritchie (11KS) went on to demonstrate his immense potential further by qualifying as a reserve for the English Schools Cross Country later this year. Meanwhile, all our other competitors finished in the top 30 places – a tremendous effort from all concerned. With the popularity of Cross Country still on the rise – and following our pupils’ excellent performances at the Radley Relays and the South East Schools Cross Country Championships – the School has been pleased to expand the Cross Country programme further through attendance at Harrow School’s “Ten Schools” event. n

U16 badminton Borough Champions

Off the back of last year’s success, our Under 16 badminton squad regained the title of Borough Champions earlier this term, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament.

For the first time this year, we also entered the London & South East Badminton Cup, progressing through to the quarter finals, where we’ll face our last 16 opponents. So, huge congratulations from us to all of the squad; Sonish (10RMC), Zahid (11MRF), Laksh (11NMB), Ishan (10CKL), Sudhish (11MRF), Abishan (10CKL), Khyan (10CKL) and Esa (11MRF). n

International badminton success

Sonish (10RMC) continues to develop his prowess on the international badminton circuit having recently finished as runner-up in the Under-17 Swedish Youth Games International Badminton Championships. This is an outstanding result and we wish Sonish continued success in his badminton endeavours. n

International gymnastics success

The outstanding sporting achievement so far this year has come from one of our newest Year 7 sports scholars, Lena (7CJC), who excelled in her first International Gymnastics competition in France earlier this term. Representing Great Britain, Lena produced some excellent performances and returned triumphant with two gold medals for Hoop and Ball and two silvers for Ribbon and Overall Performance. n

National fencing champion

Congratulations to Finn (10MWV) on winning and becoming the National Public Schools’ Fencing Junior Foil Champion 2023. Displaying amazing resolve in the semi-final to overcome a tough opponent, Finn earned a place in the final and went on to win. This is a great accomplishment, and we look forward to supporting Finn in his continued journey of excellence in the sport. n

Junior Girls Sport

This term has seen a huge surge in participation from our Year 6, 7 and 8 Girls’ netball squads with every single girl having played a competitive fixture this term.

IIn total, girls have competed in 25 fixtures; our Year 7A’s performed well in the Borough League while our B’s displayed fierce resolve, winning half of their matches. Our Year 8 team also performed well in their own league with wins over Whitmore, Rooks Heath and Hatch End and a much-improved performance at the Borough tournament

really is a positive step in the development of girls’ sport across the school. Alongside midweek fixtures, our girls have also been involved in a Festival of Netball and Borough competitions and have competed in their first weekend block fixture. Our Year 7A team culminated their season by finishing 3rd in the Orley Farm Tournament, whilst the B team lost narrowly in the final. We are excited to see the progress of girls’ netball as we look to develop our programme further over the coming years. n

Volleyball

In the space of 12 months, the Sixth Form have put together their own volleyball team, which trains weekly under the guidance of Head Boy Youki (U6RS). On a Thursday lunchtime, the Sports Hall is a hive of activity with pupils from Year 7 to Upper Sixth hard at work developing their skills: a terrific demonstration of the value of the School’s sense of community. The climax to the term’s volleyball activity was a fixture at Park High, which saw John Lyon run out victorious 3-1. n

I am delighted that The Lyonian magazine has integrated with the School’s termly publication – this will enable regular updates and sharing of content and activities from the School community: pupils, staff and Old Lyonians (OL).

This term has been eventful: from sporting triumphs to entertaining drama, musical ensembles, collective efforts to fundraise for charities and academic excellence across both Schools. Of particular note, the increase in visibility of the Lyonian Association on the website, email and social media platforms has certainly proved positive and attracted a cohort of OLs from various careers to volunteer their time and provide inspiring career talks.

We do hope you enjoy this new approach and welcome your feedback at lyonianassociation@johnlyon.org.

Please do also join us for our upcoming events for which more information can be found at https://www.johnlyon.org/ school-life/whatson/:

18th May: Solos Concert, Music Hall

28th June: Motet Choir Evensongs, Chichester Cathedral

3rd July: Speech Day & Prize Giving, Speech Room, Harrow School

4th July: Head Boy Golf Challenge Event Bharti Bhikha, Alumni Officer n

Lyonian Association gets a makeover!

We’ve established a new look and feel for the Association’s logo and in doing so we hope to reestablish the Lyonian Association’s profile, its value and benefit to the School community – pupils, parents, staff, OLs and friends of the School – at a variety of coming events and networking opportunities. n

Violins donated by OL

The Music School is grateful for the donation of two violins, one of considerable age, from an OL and former Governor. These generous gifts will play an immensely valuable part in helping and inspiring our pupils to learn violin – and we look forward to hearing their sound for many years to come, playing in our Chamber Orchestra and String Ensemble. If you would like to donate to the School, please contact lyonianassociation@johnlyon.org n

1876 Fund

Thank you to OLs who continue to support the 1876 Fund. Your contributions continue to benefit the School and enable our pupils to gain access to exciting projects that enrich their learning experience. We highlight some examples here.

VEX Robotics

Thanks to the generosity of the OL community we have been able to widen the scope of our VEX Robotics programme, in which both our VEX IQ and VEX VRC teams have qualified for a place at the VEX World Championships in Texas.

Green car initiative

1876 Fund support has also helped fund the purchase of an electric car from The Greenpower Education Trust – a UK based charity that gets young people enthusiastic about science and engineering by challenging them to design, build and race an electric car. The car has been a really positive addition to our STEAM programme as pupils have revelled in the opportunity to build and design a sports car from scratch. Now in the final stages of its build, the car will take part in its very first race on 24th April – and our pupils are very much looking forward to testing out their creation. Our STEAM programmme continues to go

from strength to strength, thanks to the OLs’ support, which means we can keep providing our pupils with amazing opportunities such as these.

Support the Fund

Every donation counts towards making a difference and each contribution to the 1876 Fund is much needed and will have an immediate impact for our pupils and the wider School community. To donate, please scan the QR to download a form. n

109th Old Lyonian Association Annual Dinner

It was wonderful to welcome back so many Old Lyonians to the School for the 109th Lyonian Association Annual Dinner. A wonderful evening was had by all, as OLs reconnected with fellow pupils, shared their fondest memories and reminisced about their times at John Lyon. The summer edition of the magazine will cover this highly popular event in a full feature. n

We have been reviewing the School archives across both the Prep and Senior Schools – the collection contains material ranging from when both schools were founded to the present day. We are working on developing a database with the hope of digitising the material and creating a rich and comprehensive online offering for the benefit of the entire school community.

e’re very grateful for the hard work of Asan and Marcus, both pupils from L6QAC, in helping us with this process – they’ve played an important role in getting us to this point.

They’ve learned a great deal along the way – and here’s what Asan, with input from Marcus, had to say about the experience:

“I was eager to take the opportunity, when it arose, to volunteer in the school archive on a Friday afternoon each week as a part of my CCP. Marcus and I were given the task of sorting through various school documents: everything from Speech Day programmes to sports photos. At the moment, we’ve finished putting in order all available whole school photos. A daunting task, I admit, but

through shrewd organisation, Marcus and I got through it well, while also taking time to look through and reflect on what the school was, is, and perhaps what it will be – and to notice some of the changes, the most significant being the number of boys!

We’ve also seen how instrumental Harrow School has been in the history of John Lyon, which really makes one realise how lucky we are to share such important values and links, even today, as two of the leading schools in the country.

This has been, and continues to be, an enjoyable experience for us both and it has given us valuable insights on the School’s

Archive heading towards digital W Degree Apprenticeships evening

history, having read headmasters’ speeches and seen what we now call “the blue book” in a quaint little red version as well as the papers of the “English Form”, the predecessor of the School as we know it today.

Should you be interested in an in-depth history of The John Lyon School, I refer you to “John Lyon’s Dream” by Michael Burrell. This will be especially interesting for those who have recently joined us – it will help you get a better picture of what you are part of and how every single pupil is part of our School’s rich and eventful history as well as its future! n

We hosted a Degree Apprenticeships Information Evening this term to showcase the benefits of this alternative pathway to a career. We were fortunate to have Emily Barnard, a Digital Marketing Apprentice from Unilever, support us at the event and her first-hand account of the application process, as well as her experience in her second year of her apprenticeship, was a really positive highlight for the many parents and pupils who attended. n

Careers in Technology

On Tuesday 7th March, employers from businesses of all sorts and sizes, from small start-ups all the way to Google, came along to share with parents and students their experiences working in technology.

We welcomed back Old Lyonians spanning many decades: Andy Burgess, (1983), Nick Matthews (2001) and Vishay Karia (2018), and it was fascinating to hear about Andy’s, Nick’s and Vishay’s journeys into technology careers with Google, Culture Amps and as founder of Project Housing respectively. All three succeeded in technology despite having studied subjects such as business and

politics at university, which goes to show that a successful career in technology goes beyond subject requirements – it’s passion, skills and attitude that really count. In addition to the guests from our School community, the Careers Department also had the pleasure of welcoming Aleks and George, from Xapien, an artificial intelligence software development company, Leena, a Global Cyber-Threat Intelligence Lead at Simply Business and Mizu and Richard from Colt Technology Services. This impressive array of panellists made for a particularly informative Q&A session, which was followed by much browsing of employer stands, where parents and students had the chance to engage more fully with our technology representatives.

“I found the talk on technology very interesting. During the panel Q&A, I sat close to the front. I came with my family; my brother was very inspired, as was I. I think that this was an amazing opportunity to try and learn something new. I usually go to all the Careers talks to widen my horizons and get a better understanding of my future choices. Afterwards, I talked to many of the visitors about what they did and how they achieved success in their fields. I got many different answers. The main one was, ‘follow your passions’ as it is easier to succeed doing something that you love. I am glad I went.”

McKenna (8AJM) n

Thank you OLs

The ongoing connection between the School and OLs continues to flourish and this term we had a number of OLs return to John Lyon to support us across our vast range of talks and events. Pupils have enjoyed hearing visiting OLs share their journey after leaving the School, as well as their guidance on the skills and attributes necessary for anyone hoping to follow in their footsteps across several events including Careers, Excellence, Goldhawk, Talks on the Hill and much more. Pupils have greatly benefited from this, and we would like to express our sincere thanks to the OLs for giving us their time.

We’d love for more OLs to get involved in our events so please do get in touch by email at lyonianassociation@johnlyon.org n

Miss

head@johnlyon.org

Quainton Hall Prep School headmaster@quaintonhall.org.uk

Cdr Gareth Mawdsley Chief Operating Officer Gareth.Mawdsley@johnlyon.org

Mr Andy Sims Deputy Head AJS@johnlyon.org

Mrs Rebecca Davies Senior Registrar 020 8515 9443 admissions@johnlyon.org

Open Day Dates www.johnlyon.org/opendays

John Lyon Middle Road Harrow-on-the-Hill HA2 0HN 020 8515 9400 www.johnlyon.org @johnlyonharrow

Katherine Haynes Head

Mr Simon Ford Headmaster

Hussain Hilli (OL 2008) at Goldhawk Lecture

Andy Burgess (OL 1983) at Careers in Tech event

Stephen Langridge (OL 1981) Judge at Musician of the Year

Nick Matthews (OL 2001) at Careers in Tech event

Vishay Karia (OL 2018) at Careers in Tech event

Shabbir Merali (OL 2010) at Head Boy Lunch Series

Zaki Sarraf (OL 2015) at Goldhawk Lecture