Mrs Paul and her class began the gardening club by beautifying the pots at the front of the school.

Some of our older children began their cycling proficiency course. This is a real life skill opportunity and one which every child should take. It not only encourages a healthy lifestyle but keeps them safe at the same time. The instructors were very professional and the children enjoyed learning how to ride safely.

And finally, six of our young people made their first (for some their second) Holy Communion. It was a bright, sunny day and lovely to see all the families celebrating together. The girls looked beautiful and the boys very smart indeed.

It was Aztec mania last week! A huge thank you needs to go to Mr and Mrs Collins for organising a very engaging and insightful workshop for our Years 4 and 5. As you can see they created brightly coloured Aztec print headbands and sun calendars, made and sampled chocolate milk, ate salsa and tortillas, and dressed up in traditional costume with music and dancing. Fun was had by all!

Mrs. Weaver cuts the ribbon to open the new gardening shed kindly donated by the Parents’ Association. Year Eight students have been hard at work on the adjoining allotments and expect a large vegetable produce in the coming weeks.

The Charlton House Ski Team took part in their maiden event on 11^th May 2013 – the Southampton Area Ski Association (SASA) Interschool Challenge. The team were thrilled to bring back some silverware for the school trophy cabinet, having achieved 3^rd place overall. Charlton were skiing against schools with older and more experienced teams, including some skiers who are competing at national level, so were pleasantly surprised to be on the podium at the end of the event.

The racing comprised of 3 individual timed runs through slalom gates with the best times of 3 of the team being aggregated to determine the overall result. The event was held at Southampton Alpine Centre’s dry-slope which is where the team members practice under the guidance of the Alpine Centre and SASA coaches.

The team comprised: Hannah Groves, Nicole Groves, Adam Harrison-Smith, Laura Harrison-Smith, Eloise Mason and Cameron Yates. Eloise and Cameron had never raced before so for them this result was especially rewarding.

The team are now looking forward to the next event, the Southern Schools Open, which will be held at the same venue on 30 Jun. More skiers are welcome to join – if you are interested contact the team manager, Tony Smith on tony@harrisonsmith.me.uk.

Preceded by the year 6 class, the year 5 chidren knew that they were in for a real treat.

There was great concentration in the labs as the pupils worked to solve the crime.

Great team work was evident as they rose to the challenge with class mates and some from other schools.

Thank you to St Mary’s College staff from all the year 5 and 6 pupils for a very stimulating and exciting day.

Many congratulations to all our students who represented the musical talent of the College at this years Itchenfest. Their performances were outstanding and yet again demonstate how very proud we should all be of our students. Well done to all!

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Years 9, 10 and 11 all had a very insightful and active day on Monday as they participated in St. Mary’s first Relationship Day.  The day was designed to give our students the opportunity to explore the benefits of having a long term relationships.  Guest speakers from The Star Project, Life, Lovewise and Explore all came to talk to the students about how to have a loving and meaningful relationship. A big thank you to Mrs Thom for organising the event.

“hark, now hear the sailors cry,
smell the sea, and feel the sky
let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic…”
― Van Morrison

With the sun in the sky and the wind in your sails you can almost feel poetic! The students have enjoyed better conditions during the last two sailing lessons and have impressed the tutors from SWAC.

(More pictures are available on the College Facebook pages. All pictures courtesy of Fr Michael)

Year 6 enjoyed a day of criminal investigation on Friday. They used a variety of techniques to help uncover the criminal mastermind who had stolen the schools prized sports trophy! These techniques included Soil mineral analysis, Blood group analysis, creation of casts from footprints and the use of polygraph tests to help identify lies under interrogation. Students were also briefed as to how identify body language that may give away a criminal under questioning. Mr O’Farrell was eventually uncovered as the thief, I may have to reconsider his role as Head of English!! Thanks to all the staff at the College that made this day such a success (more pictures are available to be seen on the College Facebook pages).

The final day in our hotel near Toliary, many students enjoyed snorkling on the coral reef and the beautiful sunset over the Mozambique Channel. Pictured with the students above our very capable guide ‘Ludo’. His local knowledge of flora and fauna (along with more practical issues of food etc) proved invaluable.

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