August 2010
New school year brings new head to St Mary's
A new Headmistress will greet pupils, parents and staff at St Mary’s School as they return from their summer holidays for the start of a new academic year.
Mrs Catherine Jawaheer has been appointed the new Headmistress of St Mary’s, following the retirement of Mrs Susan Cookson at the end of the summer term.
Mrs Jawaheer joins St Mary’s School following a successful career in education both here in the UK and the USA where she has developed a reputation for raising academic standards and achievements through her own high expectations, hard work and by delivering a personalised approach to pupils’ education.
Looking forward to the new term, Mrs Jawaheer commented:
“I have already been impressed by the quality and sense of purpose the pupils at St Mary’s display in their studies and by the high-calibre teaching staff who work hard to draw out the gifts of each pupil from the early years to the sixth form.
I am certainly looking forward to getting to know the pupils, parents and staff and ensuring every girl in my care makes the most of every opportunity life at St Mary’s has to offer.”
July 2010
Worcester's Supermodel goes back to School
Supermodel Emma Maclaren returned to St Mary’s, Worcester’s Girls School, as a special guest of honour at the school’s annual summer fete on Saturday 3rd July.
Emma Maclaren, who was born in Worcester and attended St Mary’s from 2001 to 2008, declared the summer fete officially open by cutting a ribbon before meeting pupils, parents and staff.
Ms Maclaren is heralded as one of the fashion industry’s rising stars. She has modelled clothes for top designers including Christian Dior, Givenchy and Donna Karan and is currently the face of Max Factor.
Visitors to the annual summer fete at St Mary’s enjoyed all the traditional summer fete activities including a coconut shy and teacher in the stocks together with dancing displays and Tai Kwon Do demonstrations from the pupils.
April 2010
England Selection for St Mary’s Girl
St Mary’s pupil, Rebekah Wintle, has been selected to represent England in an international dressage competition in Ireland. Rebekah is also a member of the school’s equestrian team which continues to go from strength to strength.
The girls have taken part in a number of equestrian disciplines with success in dressage, show jumping, cross country and both one and two-day events. The highlights of the teams’ achievements were winning the Princethorpe two day event, thereby beating some of the best Equestrian schools in the country, and qualifying for the National Dressage Championship in November 2010.
St Mary’s school also has an Equestrian Club that has links with the Jill Carenza Equestrian Centre near Broadway which allows pupils that do not have their own ponies to learn to ride, go on picnic rides and participate in a gymkhana at the end of each year. Members of the Equestrian Club also have the opportunity to go on trips to Badminton International Horse Trials to see elite international horsemen and women compete at the highest level.
Battlefields Trip
In April, Year 11 and 12 students visited France and Belgium for their annual Battlefields trip. The three day literature tour was vital revision for GCSE and AS students as we followed in the footsteps of key writers from 1914 to 1918 and beyond. At the grave of W.N. Hodgson's grave we reflected on his poem 'Before Action' and Beatrice Pallister movingly read from Hodgson's verse. The trip ended at the grave of Wilfred Owen, killed 7 days before the Armistice, where a student read Siegried Sassoon's 'Aftermath': "Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you'll never forget."
Debating Society News
Congratulations to the Year 11 Public Speaking team who narrowly missed out on first place at the ESU Regional Final. It was a close-run competition between 6 County Champion teams at Magdalen College School in Oxford. The superb venue was truly inspiring for all of the excellent speakers and the St Mary’s team was awarded a prize for being the runner up. Helen Ball delivered another excellent speech on the motion England Has No Identifiable Culture’, concluding that a society of shared values and diversity is what makes us unique as a nation. Alana Libell expertly chaired a controversial debate that argued ‘Feminism has lost its relevance in today’s society’; the anti-feminist speaker was duly grilled by our fearless questioner Grace Cleary. A flawless performance all round.
Congratulations to the Blue House champions who retained their title in the Inter-House Debate Competition 2010. Best Speaker was Kate Bowyer, Best Chair was Anna Brenwald and Best Questioner was Tara Harte, all Year 9. The Debating Society meet on Thursdays at 12.30pm in Room 9. Everyone welcome - come and have your say!
Chamber Choir
Having been selected from over 100 choirs from the whole of the UK, St Mary’s Chamber Choir competed at the national final of the Barnardo’s Choral Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear choirs from around the country, and although they did not win, St Mary’s girls performed with style and panache.
The choir will be busy for the remainder of the academic year, as they are competing at the Cheltenham Festival and preparing for their concert tour to Ireland in June.
Other opportunities to hear the choir in action are a lunchtime concert at Worcester Cathedral, Tuesday 22nd June and a concert at Gloucester Cathedral on Saturday 4th September.
Old Girl News
Having been spotted at the Clothes Show some years ago on a school visit, old girl Emma MacLaren can now be spotted in Elle magazine (May edition) on TV, in magazines and as the face of Max Factor. The autumn before last a larger than life Emma could be seen in the Per Una section of Marks and Spencer. Emma’s glamorous lifestyle takes her round the world to a variety of locations and she is no stranger to the cat walks of Paris, New York, London and Milan.
For the staff who taught Emma, our overriding memory is that she was a typical St Mary’s girl – a very good scholar, a well-balanced, refined and kind individual who is still amazingly modest about her achievements. Emma has left us with the self-confidence and tenacity to cope in the hard world of high fashion which she is doing admirably.
We hope that Emma will be free to open the Early Years and Prep School Fete on Saturday, 3rd July but of course, if duty calls her to the other side of the world, we will understand.
Imperial War Museum workshop
At the end of term, Year 12 English students attended a workshop at the Imperial War Museum in preparation for their AS examination on World War One Literature. It was an incredibly valuable experience, particularly the lecture given by Jon Stallworthy from Oxford University who is considered to the country’s leading expert on the subject.
Mini Pots of Care Day
In the Autumn term the children took home a daffodil bulb to raise awareness for the Marie Curie charity. The children were sponsored to grow their daffodil and have raised over £80 so far. On Thursday 25th February the children brought in their daffodils and wore yellow accessories to celebrate Mini Pots of Care Day. Well done to Simi Osunsanmi and Jack Tarran for wearing most yellow! Many thanks to everyone who participated and donated to the cause.
The Inter-House Swimming Gala
The Inter-House swimming gala was held on Thursday 25th March. It was a very exciting event with Yellow House just in the lead until the final race when Blue House narrowly won the Inter-House Swimming Cup.
National Swimming Championships for Small Schools
Year 6 have made us very proud by coming second in the National Swimming Championships for Small schools. They have qualified for the next round at the Olympic sized swimming pool in Sheffield.
20 Years of Excellence for St Marys Early Years Department
St Mary’s Early Years Department celebrated 20 years of excellence with a birthday party to which parents and pupils were invited. Party games and balloons were the order of the day. The present Nursery Manager, Mrs Ally Allen invited the very first Nursery Manager, Mrs Jan Clinton to cut the birthday cake. Mrs Clinton presented the children with a special 20th birthday edition of the popular hardback book “We are going on a Bear Hunt”.
Mrs Clinton was delighted to see the developments and improvements that had gone on since the Early Years Department had opened under her expert guidance some 20 years ago.
March 2010
Worcester Trampoline Competition
On Saturday 6th March, Nina Clarke and Eloise Morgan (Year 6) took part in the Worcester Trampoline Competition at St John’s Sports Centre.
They were in the Under 12’s category which consisted of 20 girls and boys from the Worcester area. Each competitor had to bounce 2 set routines. A trophy was awarded for the best routine in each age group—which Eloise won for the U12’s with a score of 22.7; second was Nina scoring 22.6! Trophies were awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each age group on the completion of both routines. The scores from both routines were added together to give a final score. The overall winner for their age group was Nina; second was Eloise!
Both girls were very excited and are now the proud owners of some very nice trophies. Nina & Eloise belong to Worcester City Bouncers trampoline club which meets at Perdiswell Leisure Centre on Monday and Thursday evenings.
Wise Owls trip to Bishopswood
On Tuesday 16th March, the Wise Owls visited Bishopswood to take part in The Three Billy Goat’s Gruff programme at the centre. Children took part in den building, bridge making and used natural materials to create characters from the story. A wonderful day was had by both children and staff alike!!
Soft Play!
Our soft play equipment has arrived and children aged 3months to 5 years now have access to the fantastic equipment. Many thanks to all staff who have worked hard to create a wonderful sensory area containing lights, instruments, fabric and toys for exploration and development of all the senses.
February 2010
Old Girl Ambassador for Soldiers’ Charity
Old Girl Captain Kate Philp became the first female combat amputee when she lost her left leg after her armoured vehicle was blown up in Afghanistan. Kate has now taken on the role of Ambassador for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity with the aim of promoting the charity and its work. Kate is still serving in the British Army and hopes one day to return to active service.
Adventure Trail
Adventure Trail…Here it is at last! Very many thanks to the trustees and the PSA for their very generous contributions. Thank you to Smart Cut for offering to install the equipment free of charge which reduced costs considerably. The team worked under very cold conditions during Christmas week to ensure the job was finished. Well done for such a super job. All we need now is some decent weather so that the girls can really appreciate all the hard work!
Cake Stall
On Friday 12th February, the start of half-term was marked by a very successful cake stall organised by Year 2 parents. Special thanks to Mrs Dickinson who organised the event which raised over £200. This money will go towards the payment for the Adventure Trail. Although the equipment has been installed, we still need to raise a further £2000 in addition to the generous donation given by the PSA and the Trustees.
Each class has been challenged to raise £300 as their contribution towards the Adventure Trail fund. This challenge needs to be met before the end of the next academic year. As well as uniting parents in a common cause, I hope too, that the fundraising will engender a sense of ‘ownership’ amongst the girls. Well done Year 2 for leading the way!!
Early Years Tree Planting
We had super fun planting our very own fruit trees in big pots. We had to carefully put the soil in and make sure the trees were standing up straight. We learned about how trees grow, what they need and what they will give us. When the trees have grown, the children in Early Years will be able to pick some nice apples, pears, cherries and plums to eat.
January 2010
Freya's Snowman
This is a photo of Freya Mitchell-Wise and the snowman she made at home. It was in the evening news on Wednesday 13th Jan.
St Mary's in the snow!
