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St Mary's Boarding Judged ‘Outstanding' by OFSTED Inspection

St Mary 's boarding has received the highest accolade by the Government's inspection body, providing ‘an outstanding level of care to boarders' by an independent OFSTED (government's Office for Education) inspection undertaken in March 2008. The school's Governing body was judged as placing ‘great importance on the boarding provision.' Read more...(pdf 103k)

 

St Mary's Student Named Finalist in ‘Boarder Of The Year' Competition

Lower Sixth (Year 12) student Lina A has been named as a finalist in this year's International Boarder of the Year competition, organised by the publishers of The Hobson's UK Boarding Schools Guide. Read more...(pdf 49k)

 

Sporting Excellence Award Winners

Congratulations must go to Zahra M, Marianne O and Sara H in Year 11. They attended the Roy Burrell Awards evening, where they were presented with their medals by Lucy Pearson from the England Women's Cricket Team.

The Roy Burrell Awards are given annually, in recognition of excellence, participation and an exemplary attitude to school sport, as well as the recipient's chosen sporting sphere. Read more...(pdf 43k)

 

Fundraising Fortnight For Lourdes

St Mary's has been holding its annual Fundraising Fortnight, with the perennial Dog Show amongst the many events. Big dogs and little dogs, long-haired and short-haired, with floppy ears and wagging tails, all were in evidence. Read more...(pdf 97k)

Pupils have already raised over £1,500 from the first week of the fundraising fortnight, and the school is looking to top £3,000 by the end of this week. The money raised helps sick children from the Glanfield Children's Group to accompany the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes in France . Every year, a large number of St Mary 's Sixth Formers and teachers help the infirm and elderly at the Lourdes hospital during the summer.

 

Rowing: Schools' Head

Two Sixth Form crews travelled to London to compete in the Schools' Head. The race is an annual event, held over the famous Boat Race course, from Chiswick to Putney on the Thames. Read more...(pdf 86k)

 

Young Enterprise - Eternelle

This year’s Lower Sixth Young Enterprise Company, Eternelle, started up in October 2007 and since then has been running steadily throughout the year. The group started the year by choosing a name and a product list, electing
managers of various functions (the Managing Director, for example) and bought shares in the company. Read more...(pdf 64k)

 

Talented Musicians Win Top Honours

St Mary 's musicians have won top honours in the Cambridge Young Musician of The Year competition.

Year 10 oboe player and St Mary's Music scholar, Tally J, won the Wind instrument category in the 13-15 year group. Tally also plays in the National Youth Orchestra. In addition, Year 7 pupil Dharaa P was highly commended for her flute playing in the Wind category for 10-12 year olds.

 

Speech and Drama Showcase

Over fifty performers from Years 7 to Lower Sixth took part in the annual Speech and Drama Showcase, acting out their LAMDA examination pieces for an audience of parents, pupils and staff. The performances were a combination of solo verse or prose recital, as well as acting duologues. Read more...(pdf 53k)

 

Classical Reading Competition Success

St Mary 's achieved significant success in the Classical Association Latin and Greek reading competitions this term.

In the Senior competition, held at St Mary 's in January, Lower Sixth student Susanna G won both first prizes in the Open Greek verse section and in the Senior Latin verse reading. Read more...(pdf 42k)

 

Parents' Reading Group

The Reading Group met again on 6th March, as World Book Day was being celebrated in Great Britain , to discuss two books set against the Russian Revolution of 1917: Blood Red Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick and The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson. Read more...(pdf 72k)

For our next meeting we have chosen two classic detective novels with a view to considering their potential interest to readers in our age group: Agatha Christie's Peril at End House and A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis.

We have agreed to meet on Thursday 8 th May again at 6.15 in the library and look forward to seeing you then.

 

Talented Musicians Win Top Honours 

St Mary 's musicians have won top honours in the Cambridge Young Musician of The Year competition.

Year 10 oboe player and St Mary's Music scholar, Tally J, won the Wind instrument category in the age 13-15 year group. Tally also plays in the National Youth Orchestra. In addition, Year 7 pupil Dharaa P was highly commended for her flute playing in the Wind category for 10-12 year olds.

 

St Mary's Achieves The Right Chemistry When It Comes To Science

This week marks National Science & Engineering Week, organised by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Cambridge University Science Festival is also demonstrating the importance of science.

At St Mary 's, the sciences are flourishing. The school is due to welcome Dr Hugh Shercliff from Cambridge University Department of Engineering to give a talk next week, while Lower Sixth Physics students visit the Department annually, to spend a half day undertaking Engineering experiments.

Sixth Form student Fiona B has been awarded the prestigious Nuffield Bursary, which is an over-subscribed nationwide award. Fiona, who wants to apply for a Natural Sciences degree at Cambridge University , will undertake a four week Physics project in the theory of condensed matter at Cambridge University 's Cavendish Laboratory this summer. Fiona said of the Bursary: “I'm really thrilled to have this opportunity to learn from experts in the field that I want to study.” Read more...(pdf 64k)

 

Investigating Careers - It's Your Future!

The biennial St Mary 's Careers Fair saw pupils in Year 9 and above invited to talk to professionals representing nearly 30 different careers. The professions represented included: architecture, civil & structural engineering, marketing & sales, interior design, biotechnology and veterinary medicine. Read more...(pdf 69k)

 

Celebrating World Book Day

On 6 th March, World Book Day, St Mary 's undertook a number of activities. There was a ‘book swap' where pupils were given a voucher for each book they brought in to swap for another book.

Teachers were encouraged to write about their favourite books and why they would recommend them. These reviews were put on display and students were invited to match the novels to the teachers, with a prize for the pupils who had matched the most!

To read some of the teachers' recommendations, alongside extracts from their reasons for choosing the book as a particular favourite, click here...(pdf 89K)

 

Boarders’ Concert in Aid of Shelterbox

St Mary’s boarders showed their musical and performing talent in their annual concert, which involves all of the boarding students, led by the Head Boarders.

All kinds of musical and dance traditions were represented: from classical piano solos and duets, to traditional Korean, Mexican, Russian and Albanian dancing. Read more...(pdf 141k)

 

Carnivale: Year 11 Ball

St Mary 's was transformed into Venice at carnival time, at a masked ‘Carnivale' ball for Year 11 students and their guests.

The students were treated to a red carpet entrance, with golden ‘living statues' guiding them in. Mr Jeans in the Art department had made a number of larger-than-life Venetian statues to decorate the entrances and halls, which along with multi-coloured ‘harlequin' drapes, water fountains and Venetian carnival mask streamers, transformed the school. Read more...(pdf 52k)

 

Headmistress Interviewed by BBC

Senior School Headmistress Charlotte Avery was interviewed on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, about the Archbishop of York's visit to St Mary's and gave her views on what makes St Mary's such a special place.

Read more...(pdf 40k)

Click here to hear the interview using RealPlayer.

RealPlayer can be downloaded via the BBC web site by clicking here.

 

Archbishop of York Speaks at St Mary's

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, held a question and answer session at St Mary's School with Year 11 and Sixth Form students from schools and colleges around the city, alongside those who had made the trip from London to hear him speak.

The event, entitled ‘Your Answers Questioned', was one of a series of talks and appearances by the Archbishop in Cambridge , given as part of the ‘World to Believe In' conference.

Read more...(pdf 43k)

 

Artists are on Form

Artists at St Mary 's are showing their versatility and skills in different forms, with three students winning or being highly commended in art competitions in the last month alone.

Read more...(pdf 91k)

 

More Than Just a Talk

The bestselling author and expert on Russian history, Professor Orlando Figes, came to St Mary's to speak to a packed audience about ‘Life Under Stalin'. Professor Figes, whose most recent book, The Whisperers, has been widely praised, visited the School as part of our ongoing enrichment programme and he is one of many visiting speakers this year in the ‘More Than Just a Talk' series.

Read more...(pdf 54k)

 

Going Green for CAFOD

Pupils have been ‘turning green' by holding a home clothes day in aid of CAFOD, coming to school wearing green or recycled clothing. The students and staff also brought in their DVDs, CDs and videos and held a sale, where these could be recycled by going to a new owner.

Read more...(pdf 49k)

 

Technicolour Dream

The all-singing, all-dancing production of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat lit up January, with a cast of over 100 pupils, from Year 6 to Lower Sixth. Countless other pupils took roles behind the scenes helping with lighting, sound, scenery and props.

Read more...(pdf 103k)

 

If the Shoe Fits…

As part of their 2D and 3D Art work this year, Year 9 pupils have been researching the work of famous shoe designers including Manolo Blahnik and Patrick Cox, alongside illustrations of shoes by Andy Warhol and sculptural shoes by Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine and Ellen Bell.

The students created a 2D design for their own shoe, going on to make the shoe in 3D, using cardboard, papier mache and poster paints.

Read more...(pdf 117k)

 

Gymnastics and Dance Display

St Mary's again hosted the annual GSA (Girls' Schools' Association) Gymnastics and Dance Display, with teams from Peterborough High and The Perse Girls' School competing.

Read more...(pdf 83k)

 

Sixth Form Millinery Workshop

The milliner Abigail Crampton ran a workshop with Sixth Form students at St Mary's who are studying AS and A Level Art and Design Textiles. Abigail has her studio in Cambridge, designing unique hats, headpieces and bridal headwear for special events including those such as the Ascot races.

Read more...(pdf 42k)

 

Netball Win Attracts Academy Talent-Spotters

St Mary's School Under 14 ESNA (English Schools' Netball Association) squad have successfully qualified to represent Cambridge County at the Anglian Championships taking place in February at Hassenbrook School in Essex .

Read more...(pdf 47k)

 

Students Honoured at the Palace

Four former Sixth Form students travelled to St James' Palace to receive their Duke of Edinburgh Gold award from the award's founder, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. Read more...(pdf 70k)

 

Christmas Cheer

There was plenty of Christmas spirit in evidence at St Mary's as the term drew to a close. Read more...(pdf 43k)

 

Giving Big

St Mary's pupils helped those at Milton Children's Hospice near Cambridge have a brighter Christmas by giving them the present of a giant teddy bear and huge Christmas card. Read more...(pdf 49k)

 

Iceland Trip

Sixth Formers undertook the biennial trip to Iceland during the October half term. Read more...(pdf 72k)

 

Hockey Champions!

Congratulations to the Year 8 Hockey team, who were winners of the Cambridge & District Under 13 Tournament.Read more...(pdf 72k)

 

Head of the River

Four of our Upper Sixth rowers competed in the Winter Head race on the River Cam. They were third in their category (CRA novice) which is a very respectable performance. A few seconds faster and they would have won! Read more...(pdf 40k)

 

Riding High

The second annual Inter-Schools Dressage Competition, hosted by St Mary's, took place at Manor Farm Equestrian Centre, St Ive's.

The competition had 6 individual levels, with a pupil from St Mary's coming first in two sections on her horse Windel Amazon. St Mary's also came second overall in both the Senior and Junior Team score tallies. Read more...(pdf 40k)

 

Fun Run

St Mary’s Fun Run reached its 21st year today, with the chosen theme ‘Circus and Carnival’. Pupils from both the Junior and Senior Schools turned out in colourful costumes for laps around Coe Fen, while the school’s PTA had arranged drinks and snacks for the tired runners.

Charlotte Avery, Headmistress of St Mary’s, joined in the fun: along with Junior School Head Deirdre O’Sullivan, she trotted along as a pantomime horse.

Charlotte Avery said: “We’ve had some amazing home-made costumes as always - the students love having fun whilst raising money for a good cause. The Fun Run is part of our long list of charity events throughout the year – last year the school raised over £20,000 for charity.” Read more...(pdf 63k)

 

St Mary's Donates to Charity Shortlisted for Top Award

Volunteers at local charity Khandel light were delighted to be shortlisted from over 600 contenders in The Guardian Charity Awards 2007, reaching the final 30 in the shortlisted stage.

St Mary's has been a constant supporter of Khandel light, raising over £1,000 for the charity in the last two years. The school's recent fancy dress Fun Run contributed £500 towards this total. Read more...(pdf 40k)

 

Bishop welcomes Charlotte Avery

In a Rite of Commissioning service, the Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev'd Michael Evans officially welcomed Charlotte to St Mary's. Read more...(pdf 70k)

 

Hollywood lights for Y11

This half term Year 11 forms dined in style at De Luca's on Regent Street . Cocktails began a stylish and glamorous evening with food to die for! Read more...(pdf 98k)

 

Headmistress's Prizegiving Speech July 2007

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, Mrs Wilkinson, Dr Spivey, governors, members of the CJ community, Pastonians, parents, staff and girls. When, six years ago, I stood here and spoke at my first speech day I got to the last page of my text and discovered ....Read more...(pdf 64k)