Information Updates
Important
Information, Dates & Reminders:
Do You Aspire to Play Basketball at Elite
Level? Post 16 Basketball Academy Open Training Sessions June
2013
There are two training sessions for
the St Mary's Post 16 Basketball Academy which are open to
current students of St Mary's, students from other schools
or club players. The dates of the training sessions are
Saturday 8th June and Saturday 15th June 11.00am - 1.00pm at the
School. If you are interested in coming along to one of these
sessions, please contact the Academy Director Mr Simon Tilbury on
basketball@st-maryshigh.herts.sch.uk
to discuss your basketball aspirations and to reserve a
place. Spaces are limited, so an early response will be
needed to guarantee your place!
September 2013: Post 16 Performing
Arts Academy launched
at St Mary's!
St Mary's has a growing reputation
for outstanding performance quality and attainment in the
Performing Arts. To build on this success and meet further the
needs and interests of our students, a Post 16 Performing Arts
Academy will be launched from September 2013. The Academy will
provide extended and exciting opportunities for students who wish
to pursue progression into the Performing/Theatre
Arts employment sector or for those with interests in the
Performing Arts.
There are currently a number of
Performing Arts accreditations offered at St Mary's along with a
range of enrichment activities. Accredited courses in KS5 (post 16)
will be increased to include A Level Theatre Studies, A Level
Music, BTEC Performing Arts and LAMDA qualifications. These, in
addition to opportunities to participate in stage productions and
performances, choirs, bands, voice and instrumental lessons will
provide a rich experience for students who are pursuing career
pathways into the Performing Arts or who have particular talents or
interests not necessarily related to their career
pathway.
Students who are in Key Stage 4
will continue to have access to GCSE Theatre Studies (Drama)
and GCSE Music. Students in both KS4 & KS5 will
continue to have opportunities to study A/GCSE PE,
BTEC L2/3 Sports Studies, A/GCSE Media and A/GCSE
Art and A/GCSE Photography courses that will complement Performing
Arts activities.
All students in KS3 & 4 will
continue to have access to Performing Arts enrichment and
extracurricular activities that will be part of the Performing Arts
Academy programme.
For more information about
the Performing Arts Academy or any aspect of our Post 16 provision,
please contact our Academy Director Mr Simon Tilbury, or Mrs
Georgette Mathews, Director of Sixth Form on 01992
629124.
Measles Outbreaks and MMR Vaccine Catch
Up Campaigns
Parents/carers will be aware that
there has recently been an increasing number of measles cases in
England and Wales. The potential medical complications linked to
measles are very serious. Older children and teenagers have been
particularly affected as a result of the decline in MMR vaccine
coverage in the early 2000s. All parents/carers are encouraged to
check that students aged 10 - 16 are vaccinated and to ensure that
younger children continue to be vaccinated. Follow this
link for letter of information which is being sent to all
students today by email. There are also links to the HCC information
letter, and HCC factsheet.
What Should
Parent/Carers Do?
Check that your child is fully
vaccinated against MMR. If unsure it is important to contact the
family GP who will be able to check their records. Further
information can be found on NHS Choices website:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Thursday 9th May 2013 Annual
Sports Awards Evening: Congratulations to all Award Winners and our
SMHS Sports Personality of the Year - Gemma!
The Annual Sports Awards Evening
recognises the achievements of the many young sports men and women
at St Mary's who have been involved in individual and team sports
activities and competitions over the past year. St Mary's welcomed
JJ Jegede, the current UK Long Jump Champion, to join our
celebrations and present the awards. JJ has already visited the
school and is working with our students who have very much enjoyed
and appreciated his contribution to their studies.
It is clear that the talents,
skills and high levels of commitment to training and practice have
paid off as St Mary's students, staff, parents/carers and
special guests celebrate an unprecedented number of awards and
competition winners in an exceptional number of sports. These
sports include traditional school sports such as Netball and
Football as well as those in which students have been involved as
interests outside of School and include Karate, Swimming and Street
Dance.
Congratulations to all of the
students who are involved in sport at any and all levels. Everyone
has contributed to our sporting success this year and can consider
themselves a winner!
Thursday 2nd May 2013: Wings of Hope
Project and Fund Raising Group Invitation to the House of Lords -
Fantastic success extends invite to Royal College of
Surgeons!!
Congratulations to the Sixth Form
students who form the Wings of Hope Group who were invited to
the House of Lords on Thursday 18th April to present their work to
a panel of celebrity judges. As a result of their work, the group
have now been invited to the Royal College of Surgeons on Thursday
2nd May for supper and a presentation ceremony.
The following link includes a
picture of our team 'Little Muffins' as well as pictures and
comments from the judges that included Sir David Jason.
http://www.thewingsofhope.org/2013/04/22/wohaa-2012-2013-semi-finals-on-the-18th-of-march-2013-at-the-house-of-lords/
Pictures of our successful students
are shown below as they arrived at the Houses of Parliament.
Congratulations and good luck this week!
Tuesday 23rd April 2013 - Founders
Day
On Tuesday our Year 7 students
walked to St Mary's Church to take part in our Founders Day service
in memory of Robert Dewhurst, Founder of the Dewhurst
Trust, who was responsible for opening schools in the area in the
1600's which are still going today - Dewhurst St Mary primary
school, St Mary's High School and Holy Trinity primary
school. The service was led by the Revd John Williams, in the
presence of the Archdeacon of Hertford the Venerable Trevor Jones,
the leader of Broxbourne Council Cllr Paul Mason, Chair of the
Dewhurst Trust Mr Peter Hutchinson as well as governors, staff and
students from the three schools.
Friday
19th April 2013 - Happy Birthday St
Mary's!!
Friday 19th April is the third
anniversary of our move to the new site!! To celebrate this event,
Yr 10 students, Mrs Cutting and Mrs Spicer have prepared birthday
cake for every member of our learning community. This will be
shared at break time today. This is a good time to remember all of
the hard work of those who made the provision of our excellent
facilities possible and to appreciate the opportunities they
provide for everyone. Happy birthday everyone!
Please note: All cyclists! New
Covered Cycle Shed
A covered cycle shed has been
installed on the school site in front of the hard court area. This
will provide more security for cycles and keep them dry in adverse
weather. Cycle helmets can be padlocked safely to cycles inside the
shed. It will be available to use from the first day of the summer
term 2013. The shed will be open for students to place cycles
inside the shed until just after 8.25am when it will be locked
for the day. The shed will be unlocked just before the end of the
school day for students to retrieve their cycles. All cycles still
need to be locked inside the shed to ensure the highest level of
security. Please make sure that all cycles are padlocked or they
will be removed in line with normal practice.
Calling all Yr 11 Students: Prize
Money to be won!!
All Yr 11 students who download or
stream at least one hour of GCSEpod revision
materials will be entered into a prize draw to win a 'Love to Shop'
voucher. The closing date to achieve this target will be midday
Sunday 14th April. The draw will take place in the first
week of the summer term with the vouchers being available to spend
immediately. Instructions for downloading GCSEpod are below.
Passwords are contained in the letter sent to all students on the
last day of term. Good luck! More prizes to be announced as term
starts....
Urgent Information!! GCSEpod - Download
NOW! A revision support tool for all GCSE subjects
St Mary's has invested in a new
revision and learning tool called GCSEpod that is now
available to all Year 10 & 11 students to use over the
Easter holidays and as they prepare for their examinations. This
revision tool will support student preparation for the summer
examinations and covers all GCSE subjects in which students will be
examined. GCSEpod will be made available to Yr 9 students after
Easter.
GCSEpod is particularly easy to
use, because it can be downloaded onto smartphones, tablets and
home and school computers making it a versatile resource that can
be accessed 'on the move'.
To access GCSEpod students need to
follow the instructions below:
- From the home page of the school website, click on
the Homework and Extended Learning tab and an option
will appear for GCSEpod
- Click on the GCSEpod link which will take you to the GCSEpod
login page
- Enter your St Mary's log in Username: (Note: USERNAME has been
provided in a personalised letter to each student given out on
Thurs 28th March)
- Enter the password: gcsepod
- Click on log-in
- Students should then personalise their password to secure their
personal GCSEpod favourites and have access all GCSEpods
Research shows that GCSEpod can
significantly contribute to improvement in GCSE grades and
examination confidence when used regularly. Testimonials from these
schools/students are available on the school website on the
Extended Learning/Homework page.
We ask for the strongest support
from parents/carers in encouraging students to try this method of
revision and to use GCSEpod regularly ie every day! Students should
find this revision tool useful and need to make full use of it over
the Easter holidays. The School welcomes feedback from students and
parent/carers about how easy or not GCSEpod is to use and the
impact it has on exam preparation. A copy of the letter sent to
parents/carers is available on the Extended Learning/Homework page
of the school website.
Science students: Please also
continue to use the website www.stmaryshighscience.pbworks.com
and complete the tasks set by your teacher.
A Level
Revision and Support
The following link may be useful as
an aid for A level revision:
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/how-to-pass-your-alevels-798060.html
Summer 2013 Exam
Timetable - This is now available and is
listed under Homework/Extended Learning.
Letter to Parents/Carers regarding
claiming Free School Meals
Please see the letter to parents/carers under News &
Communications, or click the link here.
Summer 2013 School Trip to Thorpe
Park The parent/carer letter is
available to view and download under News & Communications or
by clicking on the link
here.
March 2013: The latest BBC School Report
video can now be viewed under the tab BBC School
Report
BBC News
School Report Video
Thurs
21st March: University of Cambridge Webinar 3.45 -
5pm for KS4/5 Geography and Science students on the
topic of 'Research into Nuclear Waste & Stability' by
Clive Bridgen from The University of Cambridge. See Ms Naidu for
more details.
U18 County Champions! Post 16
Thunder Basketball Academy Team has done it!!
On Wednesday 20th March
the Thunder Basketball Squadplayed against St Columbus College, St
Albans for the finals of the U18 County Basketball Championships.
The game was played at Oaklands College and was a nail biting game
that was too close to call up until the final whistle. St Columbus
proved to be excellent opponents and in the games played against
Thunder this season have increasingly provided challenge for our
team that makes them one of our main competitors. Congratulations
to all the boys and to Coach Titmuss for their hard work and
dedication - this is a fantastic achievement for St Mary's. Back to
the training boys! We look forward to reporting back more success
as Thunder complete the current season.
Red Nose Day
- Friday 15th March 2013
A fantastic total of £951.21 was
raised by students for Comic Relief today. Well done to all
staff and students, who supported this charity day with
non-uniform, red clothing and a wonderful biscuit and cake
sale.
Friday 15th March: GCSE History Crime
& Punishment Fieldwork Visit to The London
Dungeons
GCSE Students will spend the day in
The London Dungeons learning about crime and punishment and seeing
for themselves some of the terrible consequences of breaking the
law in the past.
Thursday 14th March National
Pi Day: Messing Around with Pi -
Are you up for a Challenge?
Materials that you will need:
Circular object eg tin of beans or a mug
String and Scissors
Sticky tape
Do the following and try to
work out what is happening:
Carefully wrap string around the circumference of your circular
object. Cut the string when it is exactly the same length as the
circumference. Now take your "string circumference" and stretch it
across the diameter of your circular object. Cut as many "string
diameters" from your "string circumference" as you can. How many
diameters could you cut? Compare your data with that of others.
What do you notice and can you explain how this relates to Pi??
What's Going
On?
This is a hands-on way to divide a circle's circumference by its
diameter. No matter what circle you use, you'll be able to cut 3
complete diameters and have a small bit of string left over.
Estimate what fraction of the diameter this small piece could be
(about 1/7). You have "cut pi," about 3 and 1/7 pieces of string,
by determining how many diameters can be cut from the
circumference. Tape the 3 + pieces of string onto paper and explain
their significance. Check your answer with your Maths
teacher.
Progress Review Day Mats: Click
here
Yr 7 Places September 2013:
Oversubscribed - More Places Now Available
The governors of St Mary's are
pleased to report that following the allocation of secondary school
places to Year 6 students, St Mary's has been oversubscribed. In
order to meet the demand for places at the School, the governors
have now agreed to offer a further 30 places to
students for September 2013 admission. The School has been able to
do this because of the provision of the new site that was built to
accommodate an expanding roll and because there is additional
capacity in the upper school due to a smaller admission number used
when on the old premises.
Please do not hesitate to contact
Mrs Julie England, our Admissions Officer, if you wish to apply
for, or to discuss, a place for your child for September 2013 or to
request further information about admission to St Mary's.
In previous years, a few families
find themselves offered a place at St Mary's when they have not
visited the school. If any family would like to visit the school,
please contact Mrs Judith Bundock, PA to the Head Teacher, on 01992
629124 or email admin@st-maryshigh.herts.sch.uk to
arrange an appointment to tour the school.
The governors, staff and students
of St Mary's look forward to welcoming our new students and their
families to our learning community.
Another Winner!
Congratulations to Khyrese, who has won the UK
National Streetdance Champion for his age group. What a
talent!! Khyrese is pictured below with his trophy.
Cemetery Extension Works starting Feb
2013
Please note that Broxbourne Council
have now started work on the planned Cheshunt Cemetery extension.
There will be a temporary access point to the extension works via
the slip road immediately outside of the main school gates. Cones
will be used to keep works and school traffic separate but please
be aware that heavy lorries may be turning into the cemetery site
and crossing the central reservation to exit the slip road when
leaving the site.
Works vehicles should only be using
the temporary access outside of school hours but everyone is asked
to take extra care using the school entrance during the works
period. For more information please contact the Borough of
Broxbourne Council.
Ski Trip
February 2013 to Austria
The skiing trip to Austria over the
half term break (spring 2013) has proved very successful and the
party has now returned safely after five full days of skiing and a
range of exciting evening activities. The students were excellent
ambassadors for the school and themselves and their exemplary
conduct and attitude was recognised and praised by all adults who
met them and supported them during their trip. All students were
able to make significant progress with their confidence and skiing
skills and many skied black runs by the end of the week.
The intrepid group are shown below
along with a range of photos to illustrate just some of
the activities and high points of the week.
Thanks to Mr Warner for organising the
skiing trip and to Ms Moore, Ms Geraldi and Ms Edwards for giving
up their half term break to accompany the trip. Here's looking
forward to the next one!
CSAW Noah 2013 'Tremendous
Success'!
The second night of Noah 2013
surpassed expectation and was a stunning demonstration of the
skills and talents of students at St Mary's and our local Church
Primary Schools. There was a packed house that included the Mayor
of Broxbourne, Councillor Eddie Rowlands, to watch the final
performance. The audience was full of praise for the work of the
staff and students in producing such a well-coordinated and unique
performance. Many families brought relatives along to share in
the experience and commented on how enjoyable their evening had
been and how much they appreciated the opportunities for students
to be part of a professional production.
Thank you to our Director of Music,
Mr Tony Crosby for writing and directing Noah and to Mrs Crosby for
her work bring the schools together. On behalf of the governors of
St Mary's, we would also like to acknowledge the support and
commitment of the Head Teachers, Governors and Staff of Dewhurst St
Mary's, Ponsbourne St Mary's, St Joseph's, Forty Hill, Freezywater
St George's, Holy Trinity, and Broxbourne Primary Schools without
whom the project would not be possible. Thank you and
congratulations to everyone!!
Review of
Parent/Carer Consultation Events
Following feedback from staff and
Governors, St Mary's will be adopting a slightly different model
for our parent/carer consultation events. We believe that
this will further enhance our support for students whilst providing
parents/carers with the highest quality data and information about
your child's engagement and progress. A letter with the
details of these changes has been emailed to all parents/carers,
and is available to view by clicking here.
PARENT VIEW - Please Support the
School
The DfE have recently launched a
new online survey website to collect the feedback that
parents/carers have about their child(ren)'s school. Parent/carer
feedback is very important to us to improve further our provision
and support for students.
Parent View will be used by other
parents/carers as well as Ofsted Inspectors to make judgements
about the success of the School so it is particularly important
that it is accurate and that as many parents/carers as possible
complete the twelve survey questions. We have received so much
highly positive feedback in recent months that it would be
appreciated if this could be captured in the survey. Please could
parents/carers take a few minutes to complete the survey which can
be found at http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/ The
details about login can be found on the website itself. Thank you
in anticipation of your continued support and to those
parents/carers who have provided us with feedback about our
work.
Mr Warner oversees Parent
View in school and would be happy to discuss any aspect of
this work. Mrs Angela Rothery is our Parent Link Governor and she
too would be happy to discuss any aspect of the School's work or
your feedback.
SCHOOL
CALENDAR
The School calendar of events for
the coming year (2012/13) can be found under News and
Communications. This will be emailed to all parents/carers,
but please download a copy for your reference.
SIGN UP TO TWITTER FOR LATEST LIVE
UPDATES!
The School now has a Twitter
account that can be used to keep up to date with what is going on
in school. The address is @SMHSch. Sign up now! (Please note that
the school will not use this account to 'follow' any users who
follow us).
There is also a dedicated
account for Sixth Form students and their parents/carers which can
be accessed on @SMHSixth. This account requires users to be
approved, so please ensure that your email address allows the
School to idenitfy you, (or notify the school of the email address
that you will be using c/o admin@st-maryshigh.herts.sch.uk
)
Make sure your Twitter account is
locked and secure. For a how-to go to: http://bit.ly/mkXxdM
Previous
news and articles are archived under News & Communications, Special
Events page.
Email: The
school will now be using email as the main form of communication
with parents/carers. Please contact us on 01992 629124 if an active
email address has not already been given to the school.
Using email will mean that
we can communicate more effectively with parents/carers whilst
saving paper resources. Email will not replace telephone
conversations and face to face meetings where these are
required.