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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

Looking at the amount of things that I need to include in this week’s Messenger (the last this half of term), I had better get on and write it sharpish!

First up this week is the 11+. Owing to an administrative glitch the 11+ results have been late in coming out and the grammar schools are posting them to parents today. However, because of the strikes, there is such a log-jam of post that the letters may not arrive as promptly as we would like. I have received instructions from the grammar schools that if you do not receive the news over the weekend or by first post Monday, please could worried parents telephone the grammar school in question. If all else fails, speak to me.  I shall be able to give you the basic information at that point.

Next we have our electronic agenda. As many of you have already seen, we now have a fully functioning website with a public area and a members-only area. We are aiming to make even greater use of these in the years to come as the speed of communication to a large number of people is easier than sending letters out with children who, with the best will in the world, are not always the most reliable of deliverers. They may not go on strike but some of them have a tendency to amnesia.

To counter this and improve quality of communication, my aim is that all families give the school a reliable email address so that we can email you important – and not so important – information instead of the endless round of letters going home. At the start of next term we shall ask each family to provide us with an email address to which we can send things and in a few weeks we shall have the database compiled and we can start saving the vast amounts of paper that gets churned out every week. It will mean that people have to check email regularly but if for some reason a family cannot do this, we would be able to send a paper copy as back up.

The Messenger, best newsletter in the land, actually costs us approximately 22p for every copy, so all this quality doesn’t come cheap. It is available in its full form in the members’ area and next term we would prefer to email you the link or if necessary email you a pdf version of it. (What’s pdf? It’s a copy you can read on a computer.)

Are you able to remember the school’s email address? I don’t mean can you use the auto-complete function, can you actually remember it? If you are over the age of 12, the answer is probably not. We are looking to change the school email address to something a good deal simpler than the present one. We shall give PLENTY of advance warning so that you can note it. One further point here: I am too often told by people that they have written to me, yet I have not received it. Also parents email me but put the incorrect address. These things cause me major headaches, so here is the email address to use if you wish to email me, direct to my inbox: andrew.salmondsmith@st-marys-prep.lincs.sch.uk

No other St. Mary’s address reaches me direct. None. Not any. We have an Open Door policy here, meaning that if parents need to talk about something with me, or any teacher, they are free to do so!

In a perfect world no-one falls ill but we do not live in a perfect world. Mr Bridgwood is unfortunately still absent, though I am sure he would rather be back with his classes. We have been lucky to have such able people to step into his shoes. With Messrs Daly, Hardcastle and Taylor teaching the maths for Mr Bridgwood, no-one need worry about the quality of the teaching there! In Mrs Fieldsend’s class the lessons have gone well, with Mrs Salmond Smith striding to the crease, ably assisted by Mrs Marianne Bull on the days when Mrs SS has to go to Hull to do her Master’s degree. Mrs Bull is a former House-parent at Tonbridge School and taught for many years at Hilden Grange Preparatory School. Her pedigree is impeccable and I am delighted to say that, for the foreseeable future, we shall be able to use her services when we need them. A reliable teacher who understands what a prep. school is all about is worth her weight in gold.

I am aware that I am running out of space so I must close swiftly. Our Open Days were a great success, with lots of new faces visiting the school, with many of them choosing to enrol there and then. I was very proud to hear them say what an enchanting school we have here and what delightful children. The school is starting to surge forward once more and I feel very excited about the future.

Have a good half-term – when it eventually arrives.

Andy Salmond Smith