Sport

We know how important sport is in the lives of our children and Dean Close St John’s has a rich sporting heritage. With a dedicated and experienced coaching team, we believe in sport for all, nurturing talent to ensure that all children can grow in their love of physical activity. We believe in helping children to find the sports which they love, introducing new opportunities and giving them both competitive and non-competitive channels.

Our facilities are fantastic with a heated indoor pool, purpose-built sports hall, tennis courts, hockey astro and a stunning grass pitch for rugby and football. We also have a cricket pitch off-site and other playing fields that are used for fixtures and training.

In our Pre-Prep, PE and Games is led by a specialist teacher, with the aim to introduce children to a wide range of sports alongside physical literacy. Pre-Prep pupils from Kindergarten up have weekly swimming lessons. We aim to help the children build skills that will stand them in good stead as they move through the school, with a focus on balance, agility and coordination. In the Prep, pupils take part in rugby, hockey, netball, football and cricket. Athletics is part of their PE lessons and we do compete in competitions. Cricket is played by the boys and girls together and we have recently started hockey for the boys and football for the girls. Our children also experience sports such as lacrosse, badminton, basketball, golf and gymnastics.

All children represent the school from Year 3 upwards, with games sessions timetabled during the week. Every year we have children who are awarded scholarships to schools such as Dean Close, Clifton and Monmouth. There are also children who play at a regional level and national level who the school will support and encourage. As a small school we are proud of the results that we achieve and our reputation on the circuit. Most recently our Under 11 girls won the IAPS Small School Hockey alongside the Clifton College Severnside Hockey Tournament.

Most importantly we are proud of the manner in which we play our sport, not just the results we achieve. We work hard with the children to understand the need to show the best sporting behaviour possible and that our attitude to the game is far more important than the final result.