Preparatory, Preparatory, and Elements were taken from the college and settled at the newly instituted Wimbledon College Preparatory School (now Donhead). Under Sinnott John Sinnott was inaugurated as the prefect of studies in 1937; he was the first former student of the college to hold that office. Sinnott is widely seen as having pioneered the college and wider Catholic education in Britain during his thirteen years as prefect of studies, over which time he developed a careers bureau, a college orchestra, academic interhouse competitions and violin playing. Acting on concerns of fire hazards due to crowded corridors and underfunded laboratories in a 1938 inspection, and on the appetite from inspectors for his plans to expand the provision of geography lessons, Sinnott made plans to expand the college with new facilities; however, he was frustrated by the outbreak of the World War II, when tight restrictions were placed on the use of steel and timber. During the Second World War, the functioning of the college was much more disrupted than in World War I. The college and Donhead both had cellars which, with minor adjustments, were approved by local air raid wardens. Sandbags were brought in and timber frames used to reinforce the ceilings. Since both schools were outside the evacuation area, school was allowed to proceed. Three weeks after the outbreak of war on the 3 September 1939, the new school term began, albeit with a drop in attendance of one in five pupils. Because the games pitch was distant from the bomb shelters, games lessons were cancelled during the war and break was shortened. The college's swimming pool provided valuable water for the local fire brigade and, in the local community, the school acted as a first aid centre. On the night of 18 February 1944, a bomb exploded on the Convent of the Sisters of Mary, situated on the Downs, a nearby road, killing five nuns and wounding several others. Windows and doors in the college were damaged and the roof of its swimming pool caved in; the pool was never recommissioned at that site due to the damage incurred. The college lost fifty-eight former pupils as a result of the Second World War, including Eugene Esmonde, a recipient of the Victoria Cross. They are commemorated by a memorial above the door of the college's chapel. Separately, during this time, Sinnott had concluded that the independent school model