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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

Isn’t life much more pleasant when the sun comes out? I have been back in England for twenty months and I do not think I can remember having had five lovely, sunny days in a row until this week. The whole school seemed even happier, with a smile on everyone’s face as they enjoy the sunshine. Having just a few days of this does change the whole attitude of us all, we are more relaxed, more amenable. Let’s hope that there are a lot more days like this over the coming months.

Next week is the beginning of the formal side of the summer, with the first batch of exams – the KS2 Assessment Week. With so many children leaving to go to schools which rely on these assessments for their setting arrangements in Year 7, I cannot find a justification for doing away with these tests like we will be doing with the KS1 tests next year. Pigs don’t get fatter by being weighed and little children don’t become more intelligent or better people by being subjected to a stressful test at the age of 7. After working with the children all year, the teachers know at which level they are without plonking several exam papers on the desk in front of them. Every year from the age of 11 until they finally totter out from university our children are going to have a stony-faced teacher stand in front of them, look over their little half-moon glasses and gravely intone, “These are the most important examinations you have ever sat in your life…” – and they are right, of course, but at 11, 16 or 21 they are better able and better prepared to cope with formal exams. At the age of 7 we can afford to let them enjoy school and be assessed informally.

As you probably know, Mrs Longden is reaching the school’s retirement age this term, though she is certainly not planning on putting her feet up once she moves on from St. Mary’s! This week we have been interviewing a very strong field of candidates to succeed her as the Head of Modern Languages and after careful deliberation we have made our choice. Next term Michaela Howard will be spearheading our Modern Languages department, supported by Mrs Nuria Garcia from Early Years. Mrs Howard has got the most impressive credentials: not just a skilled classroom practitioner, author and public speaker, she is a national trainer for KS2 Primary Languages; co-ordinator for one of the DCSF/CILT Good Practice Projects; manager of the Lincolnshire Regional Support Group for Early Language Learning and regional Primary Languages Consultant to the Comenius Project. And she also somehow manages to be a mother to Rory (Y2) and Finn (EY) plus helps out with lots of Development Committee events. All of these points make me think that our children are going to be in very safe hands next year and that we can build on the strong foundations laid by Mrs Longden and become a model of excellence for language learning. There will be more updates about the exciting plans for MFL in the course of the term.

Now for something more boring. With the hot weather we have seen dozens of discarded items of clothing dropped where a sticky child has taken them off and forgotten them. Despite the “broken record” technique of reminding them, the children are still not great at taking care of their belongings, so please, please can parents make sure that their children’s clothes are clearly named, including trainers and socks. It is not fun having to unpeel crunchy socks in the (usually vain) hope that there will be an identifying name.         

Next week should see the return of rain and snow as we have a major sporting event on four of the five days. My fingers are crossed that the rain gods are looking the other way and that the many boys and girls involved can enjoy what promises to be a terrific week of sport. By the way, I understand that we have some tennis matches in the pipelines for later in the term as well. Oh please may it stay sunny!

Andy Salmond Smith