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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

That lovely, crisp frost yesterday, with the dragon’s breath and the carols playing in Mrs Carver’s room mean that the acceleration towards Christmas is just around the corner. We have just been getting used to the delights of the autumn leaves being blown everywhere but now we are moving on, gearing up for the mayhem of a December at St. Mary’s. The next month is going to whizz by, with something happening every day. I am sure that we’ll wear the children out quite a bit by the end of term so that you get at least a weekend of respite before the really serious business of the family Christmas begins.

This week we have had the fun of the Shakespeare workshop (thank you very much, Mr Muir!) which certainly had the children thinking about the rhythm of Shakespeare’s language in different ways. The  Form 2s were whisked back to the days of Robin Hood, transported to Sherwood Forest. The Merrie Men (and women) managed to escape the Sheriff of Nottingham and came back, laden with plunder, or at least a lot of bows and arrows to terrorise the pets with. Cornerstone had a great trip to Waitrose and learned a lot of new things that they will tell you all about the next time you go shopping. The photos on the website of these can give you a good idea of the fun that was had in these learning experiences. If you would like a copy of the photos of your child on those pages, please let us know and we shall email you a digital copy. Sorry, but we cannot do printed copies, it would just be too time and labour intensive.

Our band of merry outlaws!

On the subject of emailing, we have talked in the past of being greener and emailing the Messenger would be one of the simplest ways of doing this. To that end we would like you to return the slip on page 4: firstly, to let us know if you prefer to keep receiving a paper copy of the Messenger instead of an electronic copy (pdf attachment); and secondly, all parents who would like an electronic copy, could you please send an email to Mrs. Stuffins from the address to which you would like the Messenger sent so that we can create a mailing list, click the button and hey presto! – 100 Messengers arrive safely instead of lying crumpled and forlorn at the bottom of someone’s PE bag for a month. This will save a lot of time, money and effort at this end and it should guarantee you a copy of the Messenger…so long as you check email regularly.

The Golden Book makes its first appearance this week, as you can read on page 2. It is pleasing to see just why these names have been selected and the reasons look very much like the reasons why St. Mary’s is the special school that it is. I am not the new boy any more, but I still get such a great joy of looking at the children during a break time, thinking what happy atmosphere there is contained behind our big stone walls. A parent, new to the school, remarked to me that one can sense that there is a sense of happiness and excitement when one walks into Winnowsty Lane at 8.20 in the morning. The children enjoy coming to school! How marvellous that is! Another example of this: I showed a lady round the school this week and at the end of the tour she shook my hand and said “You can just tell when somewhere is right for your child”. What great endorsements for our teachers, our children and, dare I say it, our menu!

This week we have had another complaint from a neighbour about a St. Mary’s parent blocking their access. Please avoid doing this as it damages the reputation of the school in the eyes of the local community; schools have a hard time building up a rapport with their neighbours so please can we all try to be thoughtful.

Lastly, well done to all those who are coming up with ideas for raising money for charitable causes. We have children doing something for Children in Need like 6D (sponsored silence) and Mrs Stuffins (not a sponsored silence! Editor’s note - it was a silly dance actually, and no, there aren’t any photos!), also a Cake Sale for Cancer Research in memory of Mrs Gogerty. Thank you all for your ideas and your kindness in sponsoring their ideas.

Have a good weekend.

Andy Salmond Smith