In memory of Catriona Fathers 29th November, 1996 – 4th April, 2003

Catriona Fathers was a pupil at St. John’s School for a short time and sadly, when she was in Reception Class she was diagnosed with a Wilmus tumour. Despite various different treatments that she underwent, she died when she was only six years old. Both the school and Catriona’s parents have been very keen to work together in ensuring Catriona has a very special place at St. John’s School.

Together with all the pupils at our school, we have included Catriona in our school prayer which is learnt off by heart by all pupils and said regularly during both class and school prayer time. Every year in November around Catriona’s birthday, the school runs a writing competition across the school in memory of Catriona and to celebrate the love of writing which she confidently showed both at home and in school. Mr. and Mrs. Fathers donate extremely generous book tokens to the winners in every year group. It is an event in which all pupils really enjoy participating in, and the special assembly is very well attended by many parents and friends of St. John’s School. We are extremely grateful to both Mr. and Mrs. Fathers for their continued support in running this writing competition.

In the summer of 2019, a group of parents and pupils from Emerald Class worked together to redesign Catriona’s Garden using a variety of reusable materials. The end result was fantastic, with a magnificent Bug Hotel created for the pupils to explore, plant beds made out of old tyres, a variety of different interactive displays again made out of reusable materials that the pupils really enjoy playing with.

Writing Competition Winners 2025