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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

Our final week has flashed by in a rush of paper-chains, glitter, red-nosed reindeer and Christmas music of all genres. It has been a great time in St. Mary’s, with so much happiness almost palpable in all that the children have been doing. Even among all the activities they have been learning things; teachers are very cunning at hiding education in amongst what seems like a “fun” lesson! (Having said that, there has been a lot of fun as well as the term careered to its close.)

The Carol Service in the Cathedral on Monday was absolutely lovely, giving all those who attended a wonderful, warm glow to take out into the chill of the night. The singing was super – wasn’t Ellie superb as the opening soloist? – the children who read lessons and prayers did so with stout hearts and clear voices and the Orchestra played molto con brio. I take my hat off to Mr and Mrs Nowell for their organisation of the whole thing. Between them they made certain that everything went smoothly and very successfully. Thank you both, from all of us.

Those children of the Tableau played their part in the evening most professionally. They must have had their hearts thumping as they processed up the nave, with all those people watching. It was hard to remember that they are only six years old, they did everything so carefully and patiently, standing on show for up to an hour. Amazing! Congratulations to all of you and well done those teachers who must have dedicated a lot of time to ensuring such a good performance.

With the Carol Service out of the way, we came next to our delicious Christmas Dinner, served up by a strange selection of pantomime characters! That sort of thing never happened when I were a lad. Mrs Heal and her team of ladies can always be relied upon to liven up special meals but this time they have set an new standard for their fancy-dress. Quite how they will beat that, I do not know. And I have to say that the quality and choice of the food was brilliant (especially the little sausages with bacon round them). Ladies, you have all been awarded an A* for this one.

Have you ever been to an Early Years Christmas Party? It is two hours of fun and frolics, though I don’t know how the ladies have the stamina to last more than two minutes – FSO even dragged the Headmaster into the ring to dance along to the Disco Donkey (don’t ask, please) – the fun that those children had was fantastic. It was lovely to see how much care the adults were taking with all the boys and girls, making sure that everyone had a memorable afternoon. I don’t know how Mrs Ogley managed to persuade Santa to take time off to visit us, but she did and the children loved it.

On Thursday the discos both went down a storm, with everyone having a great time dancing and being enchanted by mysterious, magical tricks from Burger Bill. It was certainly different from the usual sort of Christmas disco. I hope that we can process the photographs quickly so you can see something of what went on. There are some parents who may wish to quickly drop £10 through my letterbox so photos of them do not end up on the website alongside the Disco Donkey and his friends. The ladies of the Development Committee rounded off another busy term with a cracking good event for our children. I am very grateful for everything that they do for the good of the children and the school.

The Rogues' Gallery - the YMCA crew who failed to pay their £10 bribe!

Disco Donkey and friends

So that’s it, the end of term is here once more. The rosy-cheeked children skip away, carolling joyously of the birth of our Saviour, the parents contemplate with grim determination the all-too-rapidly-closing festive season; the Headmaster corners all the teachers before they can escape, puts them back into the cupboards, ready for next term and St. Mary’s falls into a deserted, frost-glazed silence, broken only by the crackling of ancient pipes in the loft freezing, then thawing to send cascades of water through all the ceilings on the floor below…

Well, I don’t think it will really be like that, though it would be great if the children did all carol about the birth of our Saviour at some point over the holidays. It has been a long and successful term and we all deserve a good rest. The children have been buoyed up by the exciting prospect of Christmas but we can see that beneath that wonderful enthusiasm they are all jolly tired after a fifteen week term and they will benefit from a few days of not getting up early. As, I am sure, will you parents, when your break finally arrives. I wish everyone the merriest of Christmases with family and friends and a happy 2007, when it arrives.

Andy Salmond Smith