On 6th March the students set off on their long awaited GCSE Geography field trip to Dartmoor, Devon, studying the River Dart and collecting data on the Quality of Life in Bristol.
Dr Kirk welcomed all the students and staff and highlighted what a positive and uplifting term it had been – full of many varied and wonderful activities. With such troubling events going on in the world, Dr Kirk particularly wanted to praise those girls who have been so active with fundraising and have made a positive difference to the lives of others too.
On Monday 21st March, we were joined by Marcus Burnett, Director of Burnett Global Education, who provide impartial information and advice for students who wish to study in an international environment and specialise in the hospitality and luxury brand management sector.
On Thursday 17th March, we were very lucky to welcome Jo Latham, owner of Ebeni Limited, to deliver a Lunchtime Careers Talk to our pupils interested in STEM and Entrepreneurship.
On 21st March every year World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated. This year, Eléa (UV) held a Chapel on Monday morning to mark the day and a charity film night on Tuesday evening.
One of the old German Easter traditions is the ‘Ostereierbaum’, where decorated eggs are hung up on a tree outside or on twigs in vases inside the house. It symbolises the arrival of spring and children all over Germany enjoy this tradition of decorating the eggs.
Willow, Lily and Annabel of the LVI have been working on a number of electronics projects this term as part of Mr Curran’s Robotics and Programming club on Monday evenings in Helen Wright House.
Shake up some ice crystals, air bubbles, fat droplets and sugar…sound delicious? Well, as members of LVI discovered, that’s the science behind the perfect ice cream!
On Wednesday 16th March, the LIV and MIV students took part in a CSI workshop run by two ‘real-life’ Crime Scene Investigators.
On 17th March, some of the Head Girl's Team and other members of the UVI began work on the new garden, as part of the HGT Eco Initiative.
As part of British Science Week, on Thursday, 17th March, we hosted Dr Mark Lewney who is a Rock Physicist. He has won the Famelab competition and is a fantastic science communicator.
On Tuesday 15th March, Dr Anna Ploszajski visited the school to deliver a lecture entitled 'Broken Gears and No Ideas' to the UV and Sixth Form for this year’s British Science Week.
Did you know the Aequorea Victoria jellyfish can naturally fluoresce? This is due to a gene they have to make a ‘green florescence protein’ (GFP). Could we use this gene to make other organisms fluoresce too?
Last week, a small group from the LIV French class decided to learn more about French culture and test their cookery skills.
On 11th March the students organised a Mufti Day in the school community, for pupils of both St Mary's and St Margaret’s Prep, with participants making a donation to UNICEF's Ukraine Crisis Appeal.
On 16th March, the LV girls took part in a charity initiative - 'NO phone day' - in order to raise funds to support the people of Ukraine.
On Monday 14th March, as part of British Science Week, the Chemistry Department put on a ‘Slime Workshop’ for interested UIV pupils.
On the evening of Tuesday 8th March, Fernande van Schelle (2000 Leaver), Chair of the Calne Girls' Association, gave a talk with Phoebe Aldridge (2017 Leaver) to our current UVI about the benefits of being an alumna.
On Wednesday 2nd March, LIV joined together in their English lesson for a virtual author event with Emma Carroll.
On Thursday 7th March, the gym was filled with the aroma of essential oils as St Mary’s held its first Holistic Therapies Fair.
LVI and UVI students of A Level English were thrilled that St Mary’s had secured tickets to experience the sell-out production of 'Hamlet' at Shakespeare's Globe on Friday 4th March, at the end of its opening week.
The Fourth Form girls recently enjoyed a visit from the Army’s Youth Outreach, STEM and Diversity teams, as part of Donaldson Week.
For the first time in two years, 13 members of LVI were able to present live at RADA Business in London on 15th February in front of a panel of three practitioners from RADA.
On Thursday 10th March, a group of 23 Fifth and Sixth Form students and staff set off with great enthusiasm for Northumberland to see Hadrian's Wall.
On the weekend commencing 5th March, four members of the LVI represented St Mary’s at the annual Model United Nations (MUN) conference in Bath, hosted by Kingswood School.
On Monday, 7th March, Dr Kirk gave a presentation to all the pupils in Chapel about leadership and leadership styles, before announcing the newly elected Head Girl and Deputy Head Girls for 2022-2023.
The LVI Politics class were given a wonderful opportunity to explore the corridors of power on Wednesday 2nd March when they were invited to the Palace of Westminster by the Earl of Kinnoull.
On Sunday, 6th March, LIV and MIV participated in a sponsored walk to raise funds for The Harbour Project.
On Saturday some UV took the opportunity to support the work of a local charity, Avon Needs Trees (ANT), and spent their afternoon planting trees at their Hazeland site, just a few miles away from Calne.
As part of Charity Week, LVI hosted a Sixth Form and staff 'Casino Night' on the evening of 5th March to raise money for the Harbour Project.
On the Tuesday of Donaldson Week, LIV enjoyed a trip to Oxford to explore the world of music and languages.
On Friday 18th February, as part of the Oxford German Olympiad, LIV made a map of the River Rhine and its surrounding countries in German.
On Thursday 17th February, as part of their Donaldson Week activities, MIV were hosted by the Science Department in collaboration with Bloodhound Education.
This year's Dance Showcase titled 'Lights, Camera, Action!' was a huge success! After missing out on the 2021 Dance Show due to the pandemic, the girls were thrilled to be able to perform to a sellout audience.
On Wednesday 16th February, UIV enjoyed an excellent Religious Studies and History trip to the Jewish Museum in London.
On Monday 14th February, the Fourth Form entered the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter, learning how to play Quidditch! Eve (MIV) shares her account of what was a fantastic day!
This week’s Inspiring Futures Careers Conference saw all LVI pupils off-timetable for the morning to gain further insight into our panel discussion topic: 'The World of Work'.
'Debate Mate' is an organisation of debate enthusiasts, who facilitate workshops to teach others how to debate, and to help them develop the vital thinking skills needed. They visited UIV on Monday 14th February - Cicely shares her experience with us.
The Mandarin Department led two culture-rich activities for UIV during the Donaldson Week.
This week, UIV enjoyed taking part in two very different activities: a codebreaking session and drawing Islamic Art.
On Tuesday 15th February, MIV headed to London for a day exploring the Science Museum and they also visited the Goethe-Insitut London.
MIV have just embarked on an exciting illustration project in Art to create picture story books for the Reception and Year 1 children at St Margaret's Prep.
This year, the Fourth Form have taken part in the English-Speaking Union’s Performing Shakespeare Competition. This competition aims to encourage oracy and performance skills in 11-14 year olds, as well as a love of Shakespeare and a deeper understanding of the importance of performance when studying the Bard’s plays.
On Monday 14th February, LIV students enjoyed an hour of Minecraft Education building turtle sanctuaries and designing a biome for these lovely creatures.
Annabelle and Celestine in the UV Form have recently spent their Monday lunchtimes working on an ambitious project to build and program (from scratch) an ADS-B aircraft tracking station on site here at St Mary’s Calne.
The MIV were extremely fortunate to have the inspirational Meera Pandya, founder of Mojakid, speak with them in their Geography lessons last week.
UIV and LV students have spent time throughout this week completing the Astro Pi Mission Zero Challenge.
The celebration of Chinese New Year continues within the Mandarin-learning community cooking up some tasty treats!
The Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service delivered their annual 'Safe Drive Stay Alive' roadshow event hosted at St Mary's for LVI pupils of both St Mary's Calne and Kingsbury Green Academy on Tuesday 8th February.
On the evening of 2nd February, the girls in Moberly enjoyed a night of jolliness at their Company Supper. The theme was American iconic pairs... and what a delight it was!
On Tuesday 1st February, as part of St Mary’s Calne Lecture Programme, we were honoured to welcome Torsten Thiele, founder of the Global Ocean Trust.
We are delighted to share the news that April, Eliza and Sophie (UIV) have had their work selected for the Art Bytes digital exhibition.
On the evening of 1st February, girls in the LV and LVI Greek sets and in the LVI Classical Civilisation set listened in by Zoom to a lecture on Women in The Odyssey given by Emily Hauser of Exeter University.
On Wednesday 26th January, Academic Scholars from all year groups attended the annual Dinner for Academic Scholars in Top Hall.
On Thursday 27th January, Sixth Form and UV Classicists went to watch a performance of Euripides’ Bacchae at Warwick University.
On 1st February, all the UV and LVI mathematicians travelled to Cardiff to listen to three very different, inspiring talks.
Our FIRST LEGO League team, Electrolilies, made their first appearance at the 'FIRST LEGO League Challenge' last week.
On 31st January, St Mary’s Mandarin learners celebrated the Chinese New Year with a Chinese social supper in Top Hall.
During Cultural Week on Tuesday 25th January, we were joined by Dr James Mallinson, a Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical and Indian Studies, and a Reader in Indology and Yoga Studies at SOAS University of London.
The UVI continue to receive offers from a range of excellent universities for a huge variety of courses. Several top Russell Group universities have already made offers to St Mary’s pupils ahead of this week’s final UCAS application deadline, including Edinburgh, UCL, Exeter, Warwick, Bristol and Newcastle.
It was wonderful to be back in the Parish Church in Calne for the Confirmation Service that was held on Saturday 22nd January.
On Tuesday 18th January, we were very lucky to welcome BBC Futuresounds Artist and mental health advocate, Hyphen.
On the afternoon of 18th January, Elizabeth Christie, our school Archivist, and Sara-Jane Socha, former Head of History, joined four Alumnae for Tea in Bath.
Before Christmas, on 14th December, staff and students donned their most festive outfits for Christmas Jumper Day. Donations were taken and we are thrilled to share that £390 was raised which will be donated to Save the Children.
Many congratulations to our UVI physicist, Dora, who has heard this week that she has gained a Silver Certificate in the Oxford University British Physics Olympiad.
Huge congratulations to Kim in UVI who participated in the Channel Trophy International Bridge Competition over the Christmas break.
Dr Felicia Kirk and the Calne Girls’ Association were delighted to host a very special 5th Term Reunion and 2020 Leavers’ Celebration on Saturday 8th January at Bluebird Chelsea.