We have had an absolutely amazing time performing The Phantom of the Opera this week in school. Our students have been truly outstanding. We are all ready for a well-deserved break, but first, one final sold out performance this evening. Congratulations to all involved!

• 

  Ballet Troupe

• 

  Phantom appears

• 

  Il Muto

Sword Fight

Raoul is captured

Masquerade

In early December, a small group of Year 12 students visited the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society near the Central Station, more commonly known as the Lit and Phil. The students were greeted by school governor Malcolm Gregor, who had organised the tour of this fascinating building for the students. The tour began in the impressive staircase, hung with portraits of former presidents of the Lit and Phil. It was founded in 1793 as a ‘conversation club’ and has now grown and evolved into an independent library in Newcastle, housing over 170,000 books. Since opening in 1825, the Lit & Phil has been a centre of learning in the heart of the city, witnessing ‘world firsts’ in innovation and growing a unique collection of books. In fact, it is the largest independent library outside of London.

During their tour of the building, the students discovered the Lit and Phil is so much more than a library. Depending on who you ask, it is an historic building, a meeting place, an office, a theatre, a lecture hall, a jazz venue, a performance space, as well as an exceptional library. After the tour, the students took refreshments in the library and relaxed in the beautiful surroundings, chatting to the librarian and browsing through the vast collections. Many students hope to return to work and study in the library, with some students already inspired to start their Extended Project Qualifications or to attend some of the public lectures over the coming months.

Mrs Nelson

In late November, the Year 8 Girls football team took part in a round robin of matches against Year 9 teams from three other local schools. Despite the horrible weather conditions, the girls did brilliantly and won all three games without conceding a single goal. The St Mary’s team played some outstanding one-touch football and scored several stunning goals. Their attitude and effort was outstanding throughout the evening and they are now well placed to finish very highly in the League. Two players are worthy of special mention. Niamh Boothroyd, who was clinical in front of goal, scored in every game, netting 7 goals in total, including 2 hat-tricks. Hannah Morrison worked tirelessly in midfield, breaking up opposition attacks throughout and supplying the ball quickly to the forwards. Hannah also scored with a thunderbolt of a strike into the bottom corner from distance.

Congratulations also go to the rest of the team: Ioulia Anagnosti, Emily Mooney, Becca Johnson, Emma Urwin and Anna Brent. Girls Football Training continues every Monday lunchtime in the Sportshall.

Mr Hook

In early October, the Year 7 boys’ rugby team had their first competitive fixture of the season against St Thomas More Blaydon A and B. With all 3 teams containing a wide range of abilities and experience, the games were a good chance for all those involved to increase their confidence and develop both individually and collectively. In the first game against St Thomas More A, the boys struggled initially, conceding possession too easily in the tackle and conceded two quick tries. St Mary’s players were terrific in the tackle and were strong defensively for large parts of the game. Toby Thorpe, Corben Dodds and Alistair Craggs were all outstanding, making tackle after tackle to push back the St Thomas More attack. The game was very even in many areas, but the inexperience in the ruck area of the St Mary’s team meant that they were constantly on the back foot. St Thomas More ran in two more tries before half time to make the score 4-0. The second half was much more even, with the whole team making a much better effort at the breakdown. Another try for St Thomas More was answered with a strong run from Alistair Craggs, making excellent ground to dive over in the corner to make the final score 5-1.

In the second game, St Mary’s were much more confident and the game was much more even as a result. Tomas Souza and Sam Brooks began to have much more influence over the game and started to distribute the ball very effectively. Noah Mellett, Callum Duncan and Andrew Dagg did a great job in the ruck area, resulting in St Mary’s having many more opportunities to attack. Sam Brooks powered over to give St Mary’s the lead, but St Thomas More quickly replied to make the score 1-1. Both teams had opportunities in the final minutes of the game, but were unable to cross the line, with the game finishing in a draw, a fair result.

All in all, this was a really positive start for the Year 7 boys’ rugby team. Player of the match was Alistair Craggs, who showed excellent commitment in defence and was brilliant with the ball going forwards, fully deserving his score. Congratulations also go to the rest of the team: Tomas Souza Monteiro (captain), Sam Brooks, Toby Thorpe, Callum Duncan, Billy Crawford, Oliver Cass, James Quinn, Leo Gray, Corben Dodds, Alan Acho, Andrew Dagg, Finn Koeppl, Noah Mellett, Alistair Craggs, Hayden McDermott, Zain Hussain

The start of any new academic year is always very busy and this year has been no exception.  I am really pleased to report that Year 8 students have settled back into life at St. Mary’s with great ease. They really are a credit to the school, their parents and themselves.  With the first term of Year 8 over, it is now a good time to reflect on their achievements so far and to focus on what they need to do in order to achieve success over the rest of this academic year. As the Head of Year 8, I am really proud of all their achievements and, most of all, the positive attitude that they display in all aspects of school life on a daily basis.

There has been sustained academic and pastoral progress made by the students during the first part of Year 8, as well as clear evidence of personal satisfaction and enjoyment of school life. I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge well done to Abby Kelliher in 8I.  Abby is a very talented young tennis player. She balances her studies with a hectic tennis-training schedule. She plays for the school under 13 girls football team too. Abby’s talent has even been recognized at national level. This year, she has represented Team GB at many prestigious tennis tournaments across Europe. Recently, Abby returned from the ‘Tennis Europe Tournament’ in Turkey, where she reached the semi-finals. This meant that Abby finished in the top 4 out of 64 other elite European players at this event. This is an outstanding achievement and she should be very proud of her amazing success.

Mr Gray

On 15 November, the school was invited to enter two teams of six students from Year 9 in the regional heats of the annual SubSea STEM UK Challenge. This national engineering competition asks teams of students to build, test and present their work on producing a remote-operated model of a subsea vehicle, which is designed to lay cables across ocean floors. The teams were also treated to talks from industry experts and a tour of the facilities at the Port of Blyth training services. All our students performed extremely well and were highly praised by the event organisers for their creativity, teamwork and methodology.  Competition from other schools was intense and were standards very high. One of the St Mary’s team performed exceptionally well and won the overall competition. This was a fantastic achievement and congratulations go to Andrew Hunsley, Fiona Kunjumon, Elliott Sharp, Robin Tyler, Abby Massingham and Hannah McLaughlin. They have booked their place in the national final, which is going to be held in Aberdeen later in the school year. Congratulations also go to Harry Rickeard, Mio Allison, Daniel Clark, Anna Anish, Sophie Moffett and Paul Caragay for their outstanding contribution.

Dr Reid

This term has seen the introduction of an Origami club for year 7 and 8, which allows students the opportunity to explore mathematics outside of the taught curriculum.

It has been well attended so far, with a wide variety of fantastic models produced by students, including butterflies, jumping frogs, birds, cubes and crayons. We are looking forward to continuing this term with some Christmas-themed projects. All models will be on display in the maths corridor in the coming weeks. Special thanks go to the following students from the upper school, who have been invaluable in their support for the younger students when making their models: Jessica Stephenson and Malaikah Hashim (Year 12), Laura Nicholson, Lily Gills, Sophia Spoor and Phoebe Sanderson (Year 10).

Mrs Crosbie and Mrs Howarth.