On 13th December in Chapel, we were delighted to award girls for their outstanding submissions to this year’s Literalily creative writing competition.

The talented LVI English Literature class performed a witty ‘reduced Shakespeare’ version of their A Level set text this week, while sporting their Christmas attire for Christmas Jumper Day. 

As is tradition, our Sixth Form English Literature girls held their termly meeting, this time organised by English Representative, Beatrix (LVI).

On Thursday 2nd December, Honor and Georgie (LV) and Tilly (UV) took part in this year's English-Speaking Union's prestigious Public Speaking Competition, with a passionate and articulate speech from Tilly on whether 'Cathedrals are inappropriate settings for fashion shows or fairground rides'.

On Tuesday 7th December, the Sixth Form were joined by Professor Mike Bickle, an emeritus professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage.

Students from Calne and nearby villages have come together to sing Out of the Ark Music's The Gift, bringing festive cheer to our community!

As a school community, we have come together to support and raise funds for two important local charities this term. Mrs Bolton, Head of Community Outreach and Partnerships, gives us her Autumn Term charity update.

We are delighted that St Mary’s Calne features in the top UK independent schools in the South West in The Sunday Times Schools' Guide, Parent Power 2022. The 29th edition of their schools' guide identifies more than 1,600 of the highest-achieving state and independent schools, ranked by their most recent moderated, pre-pandemic examination results.

Last Tuesday evening St Mary’s hosted a virtual Overseas Universities Information Evening for current parents and students, as well as reaching out to some of our local partner state schools.

This year we entered the Oxford German Network Weihnachtsplätzchen backwettbewerb (we challenge you to pronounce this!) Most German learners at St Mary’s and also the German Club at St Margaret’s Prep took this opportunity to do some baking and biscuit decorating during their German lessons this week. 

Alice and Evie in LIV, two of our robotics coders from St Mary’s First Lego League school team, the 'ElectroLilies', had a very busy Saturday last week (27th November). They took part in a full day of Lego League planning, building and robotics and made great gains for our team!

On Saturday, 27th November, our LVI Physics students participated in an online event from Cambridge University in partnership with Isaac Physics. As part of this event the girls worked on a Physics problem-solving masterclass.

This week, we have received the results from the Bebras UK Computational Thinking Challenge. We are thrilled to report an impressive increase in the number of girls that have made it into the top 10% of scores in the UK.

The PGSM Christmas Fair last Friday was a huge success and the PGSM Committee would like to thank everyone for their tremendous support.

On Wednesday 10th November, Grosstete enjoyed an evening full of good food and fun activities when celebrating their annual Company Supper.

On Sunday 14th November, Chapel was glowing with hundreds of candles as we took time to reflect in our annual Remembrance Service.

On Tuesday 9th November, Celia Pool (née Henderson, 2000 Leaver) gave a brilliant talk to the Fifth and Sixth Form about her entrepreneurial journey to launching DAME, her pioneering business that is striving to make periods positive for people and for the planet. 

On Tuesday 16th November, four A Level German students participated in the ‘Translating Berlin’ workshop in Oxford, at the University's Bodleian Library.

Last Thursday, 20 girls in LV - UVI slept out in the grounds of St Mary’s in order to raise awareness and funds for Doorway. Marguerite (UVI) who organised the event, shares her reflections on this experience.

On Tuesday 9th November, LVI and UVI Form German A Level students enjoyed a trip to Abingdon school to watch the German film, Tschick.

Taggie (LIV) has won a Bronze Award for her excellent entry into the Royal Commonwealth Society’s Essay Competition 2021.

This October, St Mary’s ran a Black History Month poster competition, where students were tasked with researching and designing a poster to showcase the history of a pre-19th-century African kingdom.

Today we are celebrating the first of what will be termly 'Make a Difference Days' at St Mary’s. 

On Tuesday 9th November, we’re delighted to be welcoming former pupil, Celia Pool, to speak to the UV and LVI girls in Chapel. 

We are thrilled that our new library has been named ‘Small Project of the Year’ at The Building Awards 2021. 

Marguerite (UVI) gives a recount of her Virtual Work Experience week over October Half Term, run by the Goethe-Institut London.

On Thursday 14th October, UIV had the chance to get up close and personal with animals you would normally only encounter in the wild.

On Wednesday 13th October we were delighted to welcome the award-winning author Tanya Landman to St Mary’s.

For one of their Donaldson Week activities, MIV were asked to create several different polyhedra using cocktail sticks and midget gems. 

The Virtual Chocolate Challenge is an online, live streamed workshop run by London based chocolatiers ‘MyChocolat’. Their energetic Chocolatier challenged the LIV (Year 7) to create the most outrageous, most professional and most crazy-flavoured fresh cream truffles.

The MIV (Year 8) girls faced a race against time in a CyberStem challenge as part of their Donaldson Week activities.

529 years ago, on 12th October, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, funded by the Spanish monarchy, set foot in the 'New World' of the Americas. It is commonly said that 'Columbus discovered America' but it would be more accurate to say that he introduced the Americans to Western Europe.

On Tuesday 12th October, the Classics, RS and History of Art Departments collaborated to inspire the girls to think about Bath as a religious and spiritual centre for people over the last two millennia. The day began with a tour of the Roman Baths and the discovery that, for the Romans, the baths were not only a place to bathe and socialise, but a religious centre of healing.

We are delighted to announce that our School Catering Department has again been awarded a 5-Star Food Hygiene Rating, following a detailed inspection by Wiltshire Council Environmental Health Department on 13th October 2021.

Year 13 student, Marguerite, has been successful in gaining a place on the Virtual Work Experience run by the Goethe-Institut London.

When you can’t go to the Battlefields of World War 1 - they will be brought to you! On Monday of Donaldson Week - 11th October - the UIV (Year 9) girls had the exciting opportunity to learn from two tour guides from Anglia Tours company about different aspects of WW1.

Osmund Company met together on 6th October for their annual Company Supper. The theme was characters from World Book Day.

On the evening of 5th October we were delighted to hold a Calne Girls' Assocation Talk in the Chapel hosted by CGA Chair, Fernande van Schelle (2000 Leaver). We were joined by sisters and alumnae, Hetti Afolami and Clemmie Broom (née Jackson-Stops) who left Calne in 1999 and 2001 respectively.

Annabelle (UV, Year 11) has been volunteering at Free Cakes For Kids (FCFK) for four years. Here, she shares her story of helping this wonderful cause.

Today (Thursday 7th October) we celebrated National Poetry Day. Seven teachers from across the school - from Maths to Classics and Music - shared their favourite poems with us in morning Chapel.

The LIV and MIV (Years 7 and 8) are given the opportunity to choose a free book from a selection offered by Bookbuzz, a reading programme for ages 11-13 run by Book Trust, with the aim of promoting reading for pleasure in schools.

We were delighted to welcome back Mr Kevin Wells from the Calne Food Bank on Tuesday 5th October, who updated us on the progress of the charity. Unsurprisingly, the past 12 months have been a very busy period, during which it has supported many local individuals and families through the winter lockdowns.

Thirty-eight girls who study Latin, Greek or Classical Civilisation in the UV (Year 11) and Sixth Form travelled to London with the Classics Department to see the much-famed Nero Exhibition.

The Ed Rich Company Head, Daisy, and her deputy, Emily, decided on the rather unusual theme of ‘Where’s Wally’ for our annual Company Supper.

Congratulations to the following girls on their achievements in the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, which they entered in the Summer Term: Beauella (Level 3 South West Area Winner, Mandarin) and Celestine (Level 3 Commendation, Mandarin).

On the evening of 28th September, Emmanuel Jal, artist, actor and former child soldier, joined the UV and Sixth Form for supper and a talk in Chapel, providing both insight and inspiration through his life story.

The closing event in our series of 'Leaf to Leaf' celebrations took place on Friday 24th September with the long-awaited official opening of our amazing new library.

Many congratulations to UVI (Year 13) pupil, Lydia, who has won the German Poetry Recital Competition 2021, organised by Radley College.

On Thursday 23rd September, we were excited to welcome author Sophie Cleverly and slam poet Harry Baker to St Mary’s, as part of 'Leaf to Leaf', our series of special events celebrating the opening of our new library and garden.

As part of our 'Leaf to Leaf' celebrations marking the opening of our beautiful new Lime Kiln Garden and library, we were thrilled to open our doors to local primary schools last week with two very special talks in the library.

Throughout last week, we enjoyed a series of wonderful 'Leaf to Leaf' events to mark the opening of our beautiful new garden and library.

On 21st September, Head Girl, Khalilah, and our two Deputy Head Girls, Chloe and Saskia, attended a Student Leadership Conference to help develop them within their roles.

Saturday morning saw the UV (Year 11) students joined by parents for an information-packed morning giving a real flavour of the opportunities available in the Sixth Form.

The Careers Networking Evening took place on 17th September and was a truly enriching experience for our girls, with a broad selection of careers represented, covering many aspects of STEM and leadership.

The Calne Girls' Association hosted the annual Alumna of the Year Awards on the evening of 16th September in the beautiful surroundings of the Chelsea Physic Gardens.

UIV (Year 9) Mandarin learners would like to share some festive fun with you.

On Monday 13th September, a small group of Leavers joined us for drinks and canapés at The Orange in Pimlico. After such a long time in a virtual world, it was fantastic to finally host, in person, the postponed 5th Term Reunion for 2019 Leavers.

On Sunday 12th September, much fun was had by all the girls in LIV to UV (Years 7 to 11), and some Sixth Form, when the school came together to enjoy some Inter-Company activities.

We are delighted to hear from some of our 2020 Leavers who, inspired by getting involved in crochet through Mrs Schofield's ‘Hats for the Homeless’ at school, have now set up their own crochet business - The Crochet Collective.

As part of the Induction for UIV (Year 9), the whole House and Tutor Team accompanied the year on a fun day out to Mill on the Brue, Somerset.

Over the summer holidays Deborah Awe in UV (Year 11) participated in a medical internship with InvestIN, a UK-based organisation providing secondary school pupils with interactive experiences of their dream career.

Our GCSE cohort of girls, have, like their peers all around the country, faced enormous educational challenges and disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The girls have been fortunate in that their lessons continued throughout the various lockdowns through our robust and well-received online ‘Calne Connected’ platform. We are very proud of how the girls have adapted and showed their resilience and flexibility in face of these unsettling times.

Our 2021 Leavers have, like the cohort of 2020, faced another year of uncertainty and disruption with regards to their education. Lessons continued at St Mary’s Calne during the various lockdowns through our robust and well-received online ‘Calne Connected’ platform, and we are enormously proud of how the girls have dealt with the challenges they have faced.