At the heart of St. John's is our boarding community. The school was founded around the occupants of its two. Although today boarders are joined around the school by our day boys, St. John's is still very much a boarding school at heart.
 
Boarders are accommodated in 2 dormitories; Junior (Morse) and Senior (Southwell). In charge of the Boarding House are our House Parents, Mr and Mrs Rogers. Each dormitory is supported by a senior dormitory master who is also a full time qualified teacher in the school as well as a dormitory tutor who is also a full time qualified teacher. Further support is offered by dormitory matrons, a team of 3 fully qualified school nurses and 4 assistant teachers.
 
After school, boarders engage in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, followed by their evening meal. Wednesday night is 'Tuck Shop' and Thursday night is 'Community Night' where the boarding community enjoy a joint activity (pool parties, giant inflatable slides, giant scalextric, human table football and a range of other exciting events).
 
Senior boarders benefit from further supervised study sessions twice a week a have the opportunity to utilise the facilities in the sports centre at other times.
 
The weekend programme is always busy. Saturdays include; tennis lesson, free time in swimming pool, letter writing, community competitions, evening cinema and sports fixtures (where applicable). Sundays are taken up every week with an organised trip off-site. Boys are invited to choose half of these trips. Recent trips have included; paintballing, tank driving, Science Museum, Windsor Castle, Tunnelling, Golf and Bushcraft. The boarders contribute to the running of the boarding house through the boarding committee – a group of  8 boys ranging in age that represent their peers and make suggestions that they feel will improve the provision in each dormitory.