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About St Mary’s

Headmistress’s Prizegiving Speech 5^th July 2006

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, Mrs Wilkinson, Dr Hoti, governors, guardians, members of the CJ community, Pastonians, parents, staff and girls.

St Mary’s School is changing. Like any lady of a certain age, we are getting bigger. But, magically and wonderfully, we have discovered that secret for which all women hope. We are also getting younger.

When we decided in the Spring to extend ourselves into a junior school, there was a real buzz of excitement from everyone who knows what we do. We have such a great tradition for pastoral care, such a reputation for academic excellence, that it made complete sense to broaden our family all the way from 4 to 18.

And, indeed, coming together with St Catherine’s in February is proving a wonderful boost for both schools. We find we can share staff, facilities and resources, enriching the school experience for every age group. Little girls find a big new world to explore, and we have loved having their new young faces and voices here in the Senior School. Soon we will be the only school to serve the full age range, and also the only all girls’ school in Cambridge. No wonder our Registrar has hardly been off the phone since we came together, as a wave of excitement in what we do has raced around the city and the county.

Now we have an opportunity and an appetite for moving forward in both our junior and senior school. There will be obvious changes in the way we look — the uniform, the signs and the entrance to the school. But these are just signs of a readiness to pick up our skirts and go forward inside the school too. During next year we are, in particular, looking long and hard at our curriculum and timetable. We are keen to create a cutting edge programme for girls of our time.

We want to be brave, creating a curriculum that is special to this school, one that builds and invests and expands on what St Mary’s does superbly well. Just look at our examination results this year. They have been outstanding. 27 girls achieved straight A* and A grades at GCSE. Emma Oliver and Kimberley Thomas achieved 11A* grades and Laura Gregory, Sophie Mather, Anna McPhater and Kate Stuart achieved 10A*. 67.5% of all GCSE grades were A* and A and 99% were A*–C. In fact every single girl achieved at least 5 grades A*–C. In addition, 9 teaching departments in the school each achieved more than 20 A* grades. These are spectacular achievements in a school which admits girls of a wide academic ability range.

Our girls passed every single A2 they sat and 9 girls achieved 3 grade As or more. Special congratulations go to Lin Shao who achieved 5 grade As and Clarice Lau who achieved 4. At AS, particular congratulations go to Joyce Chan, Rachel Down, Anthea Kwok, Sidney Tanoto and Sally White who achieved 4 grade As.

We all congratulate the girls on these excellent results. Extraordinary results like these are also a sure sign of extraordinary teaching and we are lucky to have a staff of inspirational and dedicated teachers. Please join me now in showing our appreciation to them for the wonderful job they have done.

Boarding at St Mary’s goes from strength to strength. In 2001 we had just 25 boarders and next year there will be at least 65. In fact there will be more boarders than beds and in September, we shall be taking on a new house for seven students in Bateman Street. My congratulations go to the boarding staff for their contribution to this success. The highlight this year was the Boarders’ Charity Concert. We were enchanted by the programme of music and dance arranged and performed by the boarders, from Beethoven to Chinese pop to Dolly Parton! Congratulations too to Joanne Hong, one of our sixth form students, who has been with us since year 9, and who won the prestigious Hobsons Boarding School Scholarship beating off competition from over a thousand international students. The judges were impressed by her commitment and ambition and felt she was a great example for other international students.

This year we have raised a record amount for charity — a total of nearly £19,000. The Fun Run alone raised £7,000 and the Lourdes Fundraising Fortnight over £3,000. One of the highlights of the year was the Hair and Beauty Evening in November which raised £1,600 for the Sick Children’s Trust and Teenage Cancer. It was spearheaded by five members of the L6th who organised the evening in tribute to their dear school friend and our pupil, Rachel Callaghan, who died of cancer aged 16 in October.

A big thank you also to all the parents, staff and girls who have led and supported such an impressive calendar of charitable fundraising through the year.

It feels like a record–breaking year also for school trips. Last summer Karen Ratcliffe organised a trip to join Operation Wallacea working on the protection of the cloud forests in Honduras. It was the trip of a lifetime for 12 sixth formers — a fifty–hour outward journey, a spectacular flight over the rainforests, a plague of mosquitoes and very rough living conditions. But it brought an awareness of the environment and a first hand experience of poverty which could not have been learnt from a text book.

The geographers took a sixth form expedition to Iceland last October. They discovered an amazing landscape of glaciers and cliffs, caves and volcanoes, icicles, and mudpools. Miss Spore was even moved to describe it as ‘a geographer’s paradise.’

Last summer 42 girls braved icy waters to go white–water rafting on the school’s Alpine Adventure Trip. Other trips this year included the Classics trip to Hadrian’s Wall in the snow this March, a German Exchange to Essen and a trip to the German Christmas markets, a French Exchange to Paris and two day trips to France.

These trips, and many others besides, open for our girls a world of new experiences and challenges. I offer my thanks to the unselfish and courageous staff who so willingly give up holidays and half terms to allow the girls to take part in these wonderful adventures.

And then it was my turn. I have long admired the work done by Fleur Spore, Susan Brown and Richard Atkinson who lead the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme in this school. A plea was sent out for an extra female to spend a night at the Bronze D of E expedition under canvas in May. And I simply could no longer make my excuses.

Now it was more than thirty years since I had spent a night in a tent. So I set out from home, warm and comfortable, one Saturday evening with enough equipment to cross Iceland and the rain forest. It was, of course, raining when I arrived, to discover over 40 girls, four adult helpers and a St Mary’s flag specially erected next to my tent! A ‘two–man tent’ was how it had been described to me. Well, by the time I had found a place for my blow up bed, sleeping bag, duvet, extra pillows, Wellington boots and goodness knows what else, I can only say that it would have been a very small man. At least I did not have to find room to put any clothes since, in a bid to stave off the frostbite, I wore them all.

This year we have had 48 girls taking the Bronze award, 26 taking silver and a record 41 sixth formers taking part in the Gold award. There have been trips to Saffron Walden, the Derbyshire Peak district and the Lake District. We are most grateful to the PTA for their help in buying new tents, which made a huge difference during the cold, wet spring this year.

Since last September we have been delighted by many dramatic performances. Early in the year, Mr McWilliams produced and directed an ambitious performance of As You Like It with some outstanding individual performances and some spectacular props and scenery. The GCSE drama highlight was the play that took place in Grantchester in the autumn, watched by the parents and supporters in punts.

The artistic genius of our girls has been brought into focus by the Art Department who have created a wonderful white gallery and staircase in Paston House where we can exhibit the amazing work produced in art, ceramics and textiles. This is an exciting new development for St Mary’s led by Gillian Clifford, our new Head of Art.

There have been several high points in the musical calendar. We have enjoyed outstanding performances at the Winter Concert and the Senior Concert. We wish Allegro well on their tour to Barcelona next week. Last week we enjoyed the Farewell Concert for Mrs Hall and Mr Benziger. But perhaps the most enchanting and poignant reminder of the talents of our Musical Director was the production of Cabbages and Kings, both written and directed by Mr Benziger. 80 girls were involved in acting, singing, playing instruments and behind the scenes. We will long remember the chess board and the evocative music in the Hall.

We know for certain that there will never be another Quintus Benziger. Quintus retires after 22 years of dedicated service as Director of Music. His enthusiasm, commitment and sheer musicality dominates his personality and he has loved the school very dearly — just as we have loved him. He is not only memorable for his music: his classic performances as Mr Muscle (complete with string vest), as Superman and as Elizabeth Bennett in 6th form reviews have gone down in St Mary’s history. Next year, he will take his talents into primary schools and will remain with us as a peripatetic piano teacher. Quintus, we wish you the happiest and longest and busiest of retirements.

Today we also say goodbye and thank you to some other very significant members of staff in our school community. First, we pay tribute to the outstanding contribution of Hilary Goy to St Mary’s for 33 years. Hilary has been a member of the Senior Management Team since its inception, the Head of Classics and Careers since the late seventies, a leading light in Young Enterprise and in staff development. There is little that has happened at St Mary’s in which Hilary has not had a hand. Her passion for her subject has remained with her throughout her career and her dedication to the pupils and the staff is legendary. We are sorry that she is not able to be with us today but we send our best wishes to her for a happy retirement.

Year 11 produced badges at the end of this year and if you looked closely you saw that they said it all — ‘Mrs Harding rocks’. Mrs Harding’s contribution to the school as Head of Year 11 for the last 8 years has been recognised and valued by the students, parents, staff and certainly by me. She has been quite simply a wonderful head of year. Her care of the girls and her ability to say the right thing in any difficult situation has been marvellous for us all. She has also taught geography with a passion for the last seventeen years, both in the classroom and on the many fieldtrips.

Carole Ryder left us in March to join her husband in the USA after 17 years of service to the School both as an English teacher and more recently as a full time Marketing Director. She worked tirelessly to market the school and much of the recent upturn in our fortunes, particularly in boarding, is down to her imagination and excellent relationships with many professionals throughout the world, not least the team at the Cambridge Evening News.

Carole Hartley leaves us after 6 years as the Matron in boarding. Her experience, warmth and calm have helped many girls a long way from home. We wish her well as she takes up her new position as Matron at Oakham School.

Janet Gibbs, a member of the kitchen staff, leaves us after 17 years of cooking excellent meals for us. She is particularly appreciated for her baking and we will miss her splendid cakes and puddings. We wish her well in her retirement.

YiRu Hall came to us as a new music teacher four years ago. A hugely talented singer, her enthusiasm, liveliness and tenacious approach have inspired the girls and she now runs two very successful choirs — Cantore and Allegro — as well as a lively Jazz Band. We wish her well as she becomes the Head of Academic Music at Portsmouth Grammar School.

We also say goodbye and thank you to several members of staff who have been with us for a short time. Thank you to Joe McWilliams for his enthusiastic leadership of the drama department, to Christopher Thompson who has taught history, to Delores Gutierrez who has taught Spanish for two terms, to Sian Reid and Yvonne McPartland who have taught Business Studies, to Rebecca Rist who has taught Latin and to Sue Ward who has been a Nurse with us for us for two days a week. We also say a big thank you to Lawrence Rao after two years with us — a talented, innovative and energetic Bursar who has made a profound difference to the premises, the management and the finances of the school. We congratulate him on his promotion to Bursar at Alleyn’s School in London.

At a school like St Mary’s there are so many people to thank. Thank you to all the teaching and non teaching staff who work so hard and give so much support to each other, to the girls and to me each year; to the governors under their chair Denise Wilkinson — it has been a momentous year filled with many extra meetings, to the guardians for their support and encouragement, to the CJ community, to Shirley Charters and the Pastonians and to Fr Tony our tireless chaplain. A special thank you in particular to Marian Pesaran as she steps down from her chairmanship of the PTA Committee.

A big thank you to Deirdre O’Sullivan and all her staff who have worked with me to ensure that, amid all the changes that have taken place at the Junior School, the care and education our girls have enjoyed have remained first class. Thank you also to the girls for your ready enthusiasm and willingness to participate in so many activities and to the parents for entrusting your daughters to us and working so hard with us to educate them.

Later on, we welcome Dr Hoti to speak to us about inter–faith issues. At St Mary’s we are proud of our Catholic ethos, but also proud to be inclusive of other denominations and faiths and understanding to those who profess to have no faith. We are happy that the number of Muslims in our community is growing and we look forward to learning more from your talk.

When I spoke to the girls in the junior school yesterday I showed them a suitcase my children had found in our loft at home. Inside they discovered a treasure trove of things from my childhood — the guide badges and the school reports, the pictures I had painted (no, I am still not an artist) and the soft toys I made. All these things I had forgotten. And yet, when they came out of the suitcase, I remembered them straight away, as if I had been carrying them around with me, somewhere deep inside, in a suitcase in my memory. I was talking to the year six girls, ready to move up to the Big School, about what happens when we move on, about the things we cherish and the way they stay with us, often unseen and unremembered, but closer than we know.

Perhaps it’s just as true for all of us at this moment of growing and moving forward. Everything that is important comes with us, no matter how things seem to change. There was a wonderful moment at the Pastonian reunion this year when I introduced our new uniform to the old St Mary’s girls. Here it is [enter Rebecca wearing the new uniform] — a uniform that will be as smart and sophisticated as our girls, something our parents can be proud of too. Two of the old girls at the Pastonians, now in their 70s, spotted the new gold crest on our new jumpers and jackets and brought out the badges they had worn at school. Imagine our delight — out came two gold, St Mary’s crests. Something important had been with us all along and has now come back for all to see.

Now we are a school of 620 girls from 4 to 18. We are at a moment of change and moving forward. But everything that is golden and true stays with us, close to our heart — the high standards of care and teaching that are set and met every day of every week. Ladies and gentlemen, today I report to you that St Mary’s is growing, confident, youthful and looking to the future. There has never been a more exciting time. Thank you for listening.

Mrs Jayne Triffitt MA (Oxon) Headmistress