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About St Mary’s

Headmistress’s Letter: 19 October 2005

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope that our new girls have settled down happily into life at St Mary’s and everyone will benefit from a well–deserved break in half term.

Fun Morning and Open Morning

We have enjoyed several very successful occasions in October. The first was the Fun Morning when well over 100 girls in years 5 and 6 came to take part in a multitude of activities on Saturday 1st October. The second was our Open Morning last Saturday which was attended by more than 400 people. The School looked at its very best and was buzzing with activity. I am very grateful to all the girls who attended to help in any way and were such a credit to the school and to their parents. The tour guides from years 8, 9 and 10 were particularly impressive. Thanks too to those parents who supported this event. For the first time this year I used 8 girls from year 7 to the U6th to help in my speech to prospective parents — their experiences of the school helped parents to understand how a St Mary’s girl develops as she passes through the School.

Careers Convention

Yesterday evening, we welcomed representatives from nearly thirty professions to our biennial Careers Convention. Students from years 10 to sixth form make the most of the opportunity to find out about possibilities for future careers ranging from Law and Medicine to Media and Performing Arts. We are very grateful to all those who gave their time and advice to make the evening such a success. Thank you to Mrs Goy who organised this very successful event.

School Play

We are looking forward to the School Production As you like it which has two performances today and one tomorrow evening at 6pm. The cast and crew have worked extremely hard under Mr McWilliams’ direction and we wish them every success.

Spanish

Change of Spanish teachers: You will remember that I informed you at the start of term that Miss Dagnan had left unexpectedly. We were pleased that Mrs Marisa Fernandez joined us to teach Spanish at short notice and she will be staying with us until the end of this term. From January 2006 Mrs Delores Antonio will join us to teach Spanish from year 8 up to the U6th until the end of the academic year. I do apologise to the students and parents for any disruption to their Spanish teaching, but we are confident that the girls will be taught well by two experienced teachers in this time of transition. If you have any queries, do not hesitate to ring or email me.

Recent Successes

Congratulations to Hannah Tucker who represented the Cambridge Dive Centre at the National White Rose Championships held at Leeds International last weekend. Hannah successfully qualified for the final with a back tuck roll scoring 9 out of 10 points. Congratulations too to Isabel Edmundson who was selected to represent the Under 18 Eastern Counties Team at the British Three Day Event. There will be a full sports report in the end of term mailing. Congratulations also to the following girls in last year’s U6th who gained their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award over the summer: Karen Chau, Sarah Heald, Claire Hickling, Sarah Norton and Joanna Waddington.

Reading Group for Parents

The first Parents’ Reading Group is meeting this evening in the Library. The date for the next meeting has been fixed for Wednesday 16th November at 4.30pm when two more books will be discussed: Nicholson The Windsingers and Boyce Million. Please contact Miss Cooksey if you want more information.

French Exchange

This week and next week Year 9 French Exchange takes place. We welcome the 20 French students today until next Wednesday. They will be joining us at School on Friday and visiting our Fun Run.

Iceland Trip

27 students and 4 staff are taking part in a combined Geography and History trip to Iceland during half term. I am told that the group will be able to stand on the mid–Atlantic ridge with one foot on the Eurasian Tectonic plate and the other on the North American plate. They will also be visiting the site of the world’s oldest parliament, boiling mud pools and glaciers. We are all very envious!

Fun Run

We are looking forward to our annual Fun Run on Friday 21st October at Coe Fen from 1.15pm. This year we will be dressing up as characters from musicals. This event is a very happy way to end this busy half term — please come to support us all if you have the opportunity. The proceeds this year will go to the work of the CJ community in Zimbabwe, including paying school fees for needy students and to the CJ Children’s Home. We will also be supporting CAMFED, Educ Aid in Sierra Leone, Mercy Ships and Addenbrooke’s Snow Fair.

Sixth Form Open Evening

We are holding our annual Sixth Form Open Evening on Wednesday 2nd November from 6.30pm until 8.30pm. Girls from years 10 and 11 are welcome. The sixth form at St Mary’s is going from strength to strength — the numbers overall have risen in each of the last four years.

School Concert

The School Concert will be taking place on Tuesday 15 November at 7.30pm. The support for this event has been fantastic recently so please buy your tickets as soon as possible.

PTA Christmas Fair

The PTA Christmas Fair will be taking place on Wednesday 7th December. The doors will be open from 2pm for the girls and parents from St Catherine’s and our girls will be joining them at 2.45pm. Please feel free to come in and join the fun at any stage of the afternoon.

Personal Property

Unfortunately there have been a number of losses and possibly thefts of personal property from girls this term. I would be grateful if you could reinforce our message about minimising such problems by drawing to your daughter’s attention to the advice sheet about Personal Property enclosed with this mailing. Lockable lockers are provided for the convenience of every girl and suitable padlocks are for sale through the stationery shop. I regret the distress caused on these occasions and will continue to encourage the girls to act responsibly and honestly, but would value your support in this matter.

Rachel Bridget Callaghan 14th June 1989 to 7th October 2005 R.I.P.

We are very sad to report the death of one of our students, Rachel Callaghan. Rachel was diagnosed with a brain tumour about a year ago and died at home on Friday 7th October. Her funeral took place at OLEM last Thursday and almost every member of her year group from last year’s Year 11 was present. Rachel was a pupil at St Catherine’s and St Mary’s from the age of 7. Rachel bravely attended school whenever she could during year 11 and achieved 7 GCSE passes under very difficult circumstances. We pay tribute to Rachel’s enormous patience, determination and bravery and extend our condolences to her mother and father and her sister Sarah (who left St Mary’s last summer) and to her close group of friends who supported her magnificently throughout her illness.

Yours sincerely,

Jayne Triffitt
Headmistress