We were sad to hear the passing of John Shortt, former Ridley Housemaster and AGS maths teacher from 1974 until 1991.  John passed away at home in Leighton Buzzard on April 7th after a short illness, a recurrence of the cancer he had first been treated for in 2020. John's son Graham sent us the following words:

"After obtaining an MA and PhD in the Philosophy of Education while working at AGS, John went on to establish an international reputation as a leading scholar of Christian Education, while travelling the world helping others to teach in a truly Christian way. He was still actively working as Professorial Fellow of Education at Liverpool Hope University until a few weeks before his death.

John leaves a wife, Valerie, who he met at bible school in Glasgow in 1965, sons Graham and Gareth, and grandsons Callum and Dylan, as well as brothers Harry and Edward who still work the farm John grew up on Tipperary in his beloved Ireland.

There will be a Service of Thanksgiving in Celebration of John’s Life on Friday, 29th April 2022 at 1pm, at Hockliffe Street Baptist Church in Leighton Buzzard, John’s adopted home of the last 50 years. We appreciate that many folk will not be able to attend in person, so the service will be viewable online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGq0vRHJJxU

John requested no flowers. Donations may be made via the tribute site at https://johngrosvenorshortt.muchloved.com/  All donations collected through Much Loved by Hockliffe Street Baptist Church will fund the International Alliance for Development of Christian Education (IADCE) based in Kyiv, Ukraine, a non-profit Ukrainian Christian educational organization that John was very involved with for many years as a teacher trainer and provider of educational resources. Donations will go to helping the most needy of teachers and leaders of independent faith-based schools, who have been displaced and/or otherwise negatively affected by the war in Ukraine."

Our thoughts are with John's family at this very sad time.