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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

With arrival of the long, dark evenings, the season of Parents’ Evenings is upon us once more. These sessions are a vital part of the communication between parents and teachers, so make the most of the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas on how to coax the best from Junior. Sorry for repeating myself, but if anyone has any worries or questions about how the school is run or about how their child is doing, please, please can they speak to the teacher or me. We aren’t scary or horrible (unless we have just woken up).

It’s also the perfect time to ask about the Effort Grades and what they mean exactly. There is going to be a new set coming along at the end of term so you shall see whether the children can maintain or even improve their first go. For some of our pupils those grades have given a timely bit of advice that they should move up a gear and for  others it has been a hearty pat on the back for a job well done.

The recent trips out have been great fun and amongst all the excitement of escaping school for a day, there has been a lot of learning as well. Skegness can be so bracing at this time of year, though our Year 6 groups managed to visit on a singularly fine day for November. Judging by the weather forecasts for Friday, perhaps we should have packed them off to Great Yarmouth so they could see, close up, serious coastal erosion. The Drama Day at Queen Margaret’s, York, was a great experience for the girls who had a marvellous opportunity to play on a bigger stage, so to speak. On Wednesday, Year 1 stumbled off the bus, worn out by the trip to Eureka, only to be greeted by a Headmaster who insisted on asking them foolish questions like: “Did you have a good time?”. The photos on the website will prove that they did.

Skegness is so bracing!

These trips are not an indulgence or a reward; on the contrary, they are a key educational tool. There is some incremental scale of percentages which I have forgotten (another senior moment Mr SS?), which shows that children learn and retain only a small percentage of what they are taught if it is spoken or written, but they remember an awful lot if they “do” something. Having a Roman soldier come into the class and trying on his armour or marching with him is so much more effective than “copy into your books the picture on page 53…” We shall keep sending them off to trips in bracing Skegness or to kick leaves in The Arboretum just as often as we can.

Next week, the School Council is holding another meeting. I wonder what ideas they will come up with this time. In many ways the representatives have old heads on young shoulders, giving old heads on old shoulders a fresh perspective on this tremendous school where we work together. That’s the key word – together. When one is very young, the idea of sharing anything with anyone is just not on, but family and especially school help one learn that the universe doesn’t revolve around “me”, we have to learn to rub along with all sorts, some of whom we think are great and some of whom we would rather not be near, thank you very much. We learn to work as an individual and in a team, supporting each other, encouraging each other, recognising that we are all different but batting for the same side. Fortunately almost all of us take this lesson on board and St. Mary’s is teaching it well.

Sadly, I have to say that this week St. Mary’s lost one of its most positive, kindly team members when Alison Gogerty died, far too young. She was such a sunny, brave lady. The Gogerty family have been and, I am sure, will continue to be great friends of the school. At such a time, its hard to know what to say, the words, when they come, always seem banal and empty. However I know that Alison and her family are very much in our thoughts and in our prayers. Thank you, Alison, for all your kindness – we shall see you again for the second innings.

Andy Salmond Smith