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

Dear Parents, Children and Friends,

Week 5 has sped by like all the previous ones this term. It seems slightly scary to say that in less than two weeks we shall be half-way through the longest term of the school year. Judging by what I have seen and heard so far, it does seem that the children have adapted well to their new Year Groups and classes. They do grow so quickly that it seems like time-lapse photography.

Take, for example the Year 2 assembly this week. To an oldster like me, these children have only just come up from Foundation but then one remembers that it is four terms since they were down with Mrs Ogley and Miss Muir. Now they were boldly performing their Creswell Crags story “Lootie and the Wolf” and looking very assured as they did so. Similarly in the Poetry Day performances – thank you, Mrs Ford, for organising it - the readers were all very keen, very willing to share their poems and those whom I remember from last year were even better this year. Well done everyone who wrote, read or performed!

Stone Age people from the St. Mary's tribe!

The new website is still growing and there should be something for everyone on it. We aim to have pretty much all aspects of St. Mary’s covered by the end of the term and we’ll do our best to keep it up to date. Our thanks go to all those contributors who are writing articles or sending photos. It’s great to read about things so quickly and the sports reports show that even if we didn’t win all our matches, we showed pluck and grit to the end. Well done for that.

When on the web there’s nothing so frustrating as revisiting a stagnant website, and for quite a while the St. Mary’s website was not so much stagnant as dead as a Norwegian Blue parrot, so how refreshing it is to see all the teachers and assistants are excitedly producing copy so that we can celebrate or commiserate everything major that goes by this year. I have always said that children should keep a diary at this age as they will so quickly forget all the little things that go to make the whole of a school year. (Sadly every class I have ever said that to have nodded their heads sagely in agreement then forgotten it as fast as a list of third declension Latin nouns.) Nowadays however the digital camera, the video camera and even a school website mean that our children will have a much better recollection of their well-spent youth.

The Open Days this week have been great fun, if exhausting. We have had a lot of visitors coming to see what lies behind the walls and they all seem to have enjoyed what they saw and heard. I was so pleased to hear their comments about how lovely the place was, but most of all they loved the atmosphere and the way our children conducted themselves. That makes me very proud. Thank you all boys and girls for just being yourselves. (Pride may be a mortal sin, but I think God will forgive me for being proud of the children this week!)

I do not want to have Open days on Saturdays for many reasons, the main of which I’ll try to explain briefly. As far as we are concerned, every day is Open Day at St. Mary’s: if someone wants to come in to have a look round and talk to us, they are welcome at any time. Next, Saturday Open Days are usually stage-managed performances rather than a natural, normal school day. Come here on a Thursday and you may see chaos, but it is good, honest chaos! Finally, there are now so many Open Days fighting for  elbow room in a crowded calendar that parents and children have to decide whether to spend up to eight hours on a precious weekend going to see just one school or having a family trip to the beach or even just unwinding at home. If it is left to me, we’ll stick to weekday Open Days.

I will end today by saying “thank you” to our neighbour Canon Joy Epton who kindly lead our Harvest Festival Celebration today.  We were delighted to welcome her to school.

Whatever you have planned for this weekend, I hope that it is fruitful and enjoyable.

Andy Salmond Smith