(The full version of St. Mary's Messenger can be found in the password-protected area of the website)

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

This week has been relatively quiet by our standards, with the main topic of conversation being, as so often, the weather. More matches cancelled because of rain and on Monday we had an enormous hail-storm that saw everyone scampering for shelter before they were bruised! Now that the merry month of May is here, we should see some better days.

The end of last week was far from quiet however, as our Open Days once again proved a huge success.  We welcomed 13 families over the two days, resulting in 2 enrolments and several more promised.  Everyone was impressed with our polite Y5 children, who showed the visitors to the Library and indeed with the whole school, commenting on our happy smiling pupils and beautiful grounds.  

By now you should all have received your copy of the school magazine and have thumbed through it to read all about last year. There is so much fascinating reading in there, so many great pictures. We cannot cover each and every event but contained within the covers there should be something that is warm and personal for each child. It’s a sad fact of life that our memories do fade, details become blurred and lost, we need prompts to remember what was once so clear, so fresh. I know that many of those little, squeaky whirlwinds who today tear around the school, when their knees are no longer working so well and they have to hold the banisters to get up and down stairs. are going to rediscover this magazine, packed away in their attic, reach for their reading glasses and be transported back to the time when they were ? years old. Those sorts of moments are wonderful and I am sure they will enjoy re-living their youth, even if their knees crack and ping when they get up from their reading.

Enough philosophising! What has been happening now, this week? The Cornerstone walks in The Bail have been great fun as the youngsters explore their world. The Foundation Stage children went to the hairdressing salon (thank you to Mr Slight for arranging that for them!). They see everything with such fresh eyes and their delightful take on the world reminds me that maybe we old-timers can be rather too much like the father of the Darling children in Peter Pan! I don’t know just why St. Mary’s children seem to have this positive outlook, but I am jolly glad that they do.

In the follow-up to the Team-Building Week, we are hoping to upload to our website the films that the Year 5s made about bullying. This was very much their project rather than one that teachers scripted, directed (and censored!), so their thoughts and creativity deserve a wider audience, if we can master the uploading process. Similarly there has been a little competition to see who can produce the best anti-bullying leaflet, with the two winners being published and made available round the school. I have to say the ideas and technical skill involved are of an amazing standard and that meant selecting winners was really very difficult. Very soon we shall show you the best ones in all their glory.

Following two weeks of cancelled fixtures we are negotiating with firms about a more efficient way of letting parents know that their children’s matches have been altered. I hope that before half-term we will have news for you on that.

Wherever you are this weekend, may it be sunny and pleasant for you.

Andy Salmond Smith