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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

They say that it is a sign of getting older when the summer holidays no longer seem to last for ages and ages; well, if that is the truth, I must be really ancient because it seems only a couple of days ago that I was typing about September being “seven whole, wonderful weeks away”. The only way I have found to make Time slow down or even seem to stop is to read the latest directives from the Department of Schools, Healthy Eating and Child-Testing or whatever it calls itself this week. (This is not a course I recommend to you.) However, September is here, large as life and we’re back at school again already.

I hope that your summer was a great time and that you were not finding that time was ponderously dragging, even before the 1st of August, with children listlessly mooching around saying they were bored (known to us professionals as Can-we-watch-Spiderman-again syndrome).

Anyway, I was glad to see the familiar faces when I opened the gates on Wednesday morning. It was doubly nice because so many of them were smiling broadly as they came back to school – and I am not talking about smiles of relief from the parents! I was also pleased to welcome all the new families to their first day at St. Mary’s. They will, I am certain, find very quickly what a wonderful warm school and community this place is. If I can hark back to something I said in the Prize-giving ceremony, this school values each child as an individual and treats them as such by giving them the right level of challenges whether it is in the classroom, on the sports field, or performing on the stage. I am proud of being able to say that every Year 6 leaver gained entry to their first choice school, but I am every bit as proud of being able to say that they were all well-rounded, self-confident young ladies and gentlemen who will grace those schools. Our pastoral side has been strong in the past but it will be even stronger now that we have Mrs Kelly as Director of Sport and in charge of the House system, having an overview of each child in the school.

Mrs Kelly is not the only new member of staff this term. We have welcomed Mrs Nuria Garcia as the Teaching Assistant in Mrs Ogley’s class and Miss Jenny Lawrence as a one-to-one assistant. Towards the end of the summer term there was a new face in the office and I am pleased to say that the three weeks she spent with us then, have meant that we now officially welcome Mrs Sally Winwright as our Receptionist. They will be great additions to our team – and they will discover what a delightful place to be this is.

New staff joining St. Mary’s are Jenny Lawrence, Lucy Kelly, Sally Winwright and Nuria Garcia.  We welcome them all and hope they will be very happy here.

On the academic front, we are aiming to improve the reporting system so that you have more and better information not just on the achievement of your child, but also how hard they are working in each subject. You should be getting what can be described as an interim report at half term this term and the end of term as well plus the official Parents’ Meetings and a full report in February next year. The children who are trying very hard or making very significant progress in some area of school life will be given greater public recognition in addition to gaining House Points or a Headmaster’s Award. Children do indeed learn if you correct them but they learn more if you encourage them. Before anyone starts to say “uh-oh, he’s starting to throw prizes round like confetti”, I shall say that public recognition and certificates are not going to go to everyone who draws breath; those have to earned by the sweat of one’s brow and will be awarded on merit rather than presence!

For those 22(!!) children who have signed up for Latin, we shall be starting just as soon as the books are delivered by the Cambridge University Press. The lessons will be Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes for 30 minutes. It promises to be quite an experience but it is something I am very much looking forward to. If anyone is no longer able to come, please can they let me know as soon as possible so I can make plans accordingly.

Now for the traditional Headmasterly admonition about please making certain that every article of clothing is named and that anything valuable is clearly marked. The heap of lost property at the end of the Summer Term was immense and while we can return the named items, anything unnamed has had it. Socks are always difficult to name but please do so, as by the end of each term we have a bio-hazard collection of them festering at the bottom of the lost property chest.
Homework is starting up again, so a little reminder or two may be appropriate. For the Upper School children there should be homework every night, unless there is a very specific reason such as the class being late back from an outing; homework can be done in school between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., but if a pupil is coming back at 4 o’clock and says they have no homework, please ask them when they managed to do it! In Lower School the youngsters may be eased into the routine of homework. Whichever Year your child is in, please let the teacher know via a note in the planner or personal contact if there has been a problem with any homework; please don’t help your children too much with what has been set and please don’t make them go more than a couple of minutes beyond the time limit for the homework – there are some children who will spend 2 hours on a 20 minute homework and that isn’t necessary or healthy.

I wish our new Head Boy and Head Girl the best of luck in their year of office and I extend that to all the Leaders also. I shall flag it up right at the start of the year that this is the last year when every boy and girl in Year 6 automatically becomes a leader. From September 2008 this honour will have been earned by showing the right St. Mary’s spirit in the year beginning now. Others may be awarded their Leader badge in the course of the year as they impress me and the staff with their progress.

Do have a regular look at the school website as it is undergoing an updating and expansion; it is going to be used much more for communication and, dare I say it? – entertainment. Each class has its own area on the intranet which is password-protected with a password you’ll receive once we have finished the construction. You will be able to get the news from each class, see photos of what they have been doing and be kept abreast of everything in general. You will also be able to read The Messenger online which may reduce the amount of photocopies we have to send out! Do keep reading the paper version in the meantime, but have a look at the website as its progress accelerates over this coming term. Here’s hoping it’s a cracking good one for every one of us.

Andy Salmond Smith