Dear Parents/Carers,

As the end of the year approaches, I wanted to write to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for your ongoing support of all that we do at St Mary’s.

It has been another good year for our school community and one where our pupils have really contributed not just in their lessons but to the wider life of St Mary’s.  Our extracurricular and enrichment provision seems to be thriving, and it has been great to see our young people grabbing these opportunities with both hands.

Just this year alone, I have had the pleasure of watching our pupils on stage in ‘School of Rock’, seen them run out winners in the County football final at Edgar Street and more recently attended the Youth SVP Quiz night (which was organised entirely by the pupils) and the lovely summer concert where we were treated to some wonderful musical performances. 

Alongside this of course, there has also been a significant number of pupils from across the year groups either at training sessions or fixtures most nights of the week throughout the year.  What has been most encouraging, is the amount of positive feedback we regularly receive from organisers, officials, umpires and other parents about how well our pupils conduct themselves whilst representing St Mary’s – this is so important and something we really emphasise with our pupils.  Of course, all of this activity places extra demand on you and I want to thank you for your willingness to support.

We said our final farewells to this year’s Y11 at their Prom a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say, they all looked magnificent.  They arrived in style and thoroughly enjoyed their evening – a fitting send off for a year group who worked very hard and gave a lot to our school.

As one year group leaves, we look forward to welcoming our new cohort in Y7.  We have hosted a number of transition events and are very excited about our new pupils starting in September.  Many of them will be attending our summer school in August which is a great opportunity to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings and to make new friends.

We have also spent the year carrying out a significant Quality Assurance schedule with week-long department reviews in every subject area.  Within this work we have included a ‘Pupil Voice’ activity where they are able to share their thoughts and views on our classroom provision.  This is invaluable and helps to shape our school development priority planning for 2023-24.

All year groups in some capacity have taken their internal exams and pupils will now be addressing any targets or ‘next steps’ arising from their results and feedback.  Thank you for your support with attendance again this year.  We are proud to say that St Mary’s is not in line with the national picture of falling rates and as a result we have twice received a national award for attendance in the Top 25% of schools.

Despite having to move it due to the weather, our sports day was a huge success and a very enjoyable whole school event.  It was great to see not only the determination on their faces of competitors but also how keen the pupils were to support and encourage their peers in the respective Houses.