Book of the Month - July

This is my last post before heading off to my new school so what better way to finish than with a good book?

I've chosen Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier (also available in English translation) partly because I first came across it when I was in the Sixth Form, partly because it's about goodbyes, partly because it's about glorious summers, but mainly because it's a great book. I hope you enjoy it.

Making an Exhibition of Ourselves

The A Level Art and Photography exhibition was, yet again, a thing of wonder. What a talented and hardworking lot of students we have!

Future Doctors and Lawyers

We have been sent details of these conferences. We are not recommending that you spend your money but you ought to know that there are options out there.

Science Blog

If you're thinking of studying science at university, any university, why not have a look at this blog to see what's going on at the moment in the world of science?

Reading Around - Economics

Professor Chadha has an interesting blog. If you're thinking of studying Economics, Business, Accountancy & Finance etc at university, it is worth checking out.

English Reading List

UCL have a useful set of reading lists for anyone thinking of studying English at university. Long summer coming up? Looking for a book for the beach?

Sports Day

While the Upper 6th were still doing their A Levels, the Lower 6th returned from study leave to compete in, and help run, Sports Day. In near perfect conditions the 6th Form ran, jumped and threw with great gusto, their greatest success coming in the final race of the day: the staff - parents - sixth form - year 10 relay. In a tight race, the 6th Form just ran out winners against a staff team. Well done.

A Brief History of Maths

Starting today with the perenially interesting Marcus du Sautoy on Radio 4. Check it out.

Life's a ball

The Upper 6th Leaver's Ball at Slepe Hall Hotel was great success. We wish all the Upper 6th an extremely happy and restful summer and a glorious time at university.

Study at Yale ... from home

What else canyou do when those A Level exams have finished and the summer stretches away into the hazy distance? Well, what about logging onto some of the undergraduate courses offered by Yale University? You can watch videos, hear lectures and read transcripts. They even make Literary Theory enjoyable. There are also great lectures from Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and many other good unis on iTunesU. Give them a try.

All Quiet

Keen readers of this blog may have noticed that it's all gone quiet. That's because A Level exams have now started and the 6th Form have their heads down. What we'll do instead (on an occasional basis) is recommend a few post-A Level options.

One exhibition worth seeing over the summer holidays, for example, is the British Museum's 'The Printed Image in China from the 8th to the 21st Centuries'. Some of the contemporary prints are absolutely awesome so do check it out if you can find the time.

Lib Dems Sweep to Power!

Well, they won our school election anyway. With a hugely impressive turnout rate of 84%, the school's electorate duly elected the Liberal Democratic candidate, with the Conservatives and Monster Raving Loony Party second and third in the poll. The Green Party and Labour Party candidates also ran highly impressive campaigns and all the candidates are to be congratulated on their performances.

Now we wait for the grown-ups to make up their minds!

Election Fever

Election fever hit St Mary's today as our five candidates, one of whom was a Sixth Former, took part in the school's mock election. The turnout was high, the enthusiasm was marked and the outcome still hangs in the balance. Watch this space for the election results!

CamPlay

We were delighted to welcome two visitors from Cambridgeshire County Council the other day to advertise the CamPlay Holiday Clubs, Saturday Clubs and Community Support scheme. The clubs are for children and young peopl aged 5 - 19 years with a moderate or severe physical or learning disability. The community support scheme runs throughout the year and is looking for volunteers or paid workers to help with one to one support for disabled children. It was great to see so many of our 6th Form finding out how they could help. If you missed the display then contact CamPlay on 01480 376549 or 01480 376544. You can also type in Community Support into this jobs website.

Interesting Radio Programme

We've blogged about this before but make no apologies: it's interesting. There was a fascinating Radio 4 programme about PVS (Persistent Vegetative State): The Search for Consciousness on recently so do try to listen again if you're at all interested in science, ethics or what's going on just up the road at Cambridge University.

Tennis Success

In a tennis match yesterday against a certain predominantly boys' school up the road, our L6th team won two games to one. The scores were 6-0, 6-2; 6-4; and 4-6. I'm not quite sure why some of the matches were only one set but I am sure that it was a great victory. Let the summer begin!

The Young Enterprise Team

Here are some photos of our successful Young Enterprise team. No prizes for guessing the name of the company.

Young Enterprise success

Congratulations to our Young Enterprise company which was awarded Best Company Presentation and to our Managing Director who was awarded Best Businesswoman at the area heats on Saturday. Our MD will now go on to compete in the regional finals held at Robinson College, Cambridge.

More on the History of Democracy

The system of ruling a country by votes from the people began in Athens in 510 BC. The Greeks called this system demokratia (rule by the people) which of course gives us the word democracy.


The ancient Athenian democracy was very different to ours. First, only adult male Athenian citizens were eligible to vote, only a very small percentage of the population of Athens. Secondly, those who had the vote were allowed to attend the assembly (the ancient Greek version of the house of Commons) and vote on any new law. Instead, in democracies today, citizens vote for politicians to represent them in parliament.

Athenians used voting not only to make laws: they also voted in law courts to decide whether someone was guilty or not; they could also vote to get rid of (ostracise) politicians they didn't like. Ostracised politicans would have to leave Athens and live in exile.

Voting today usually takes place on paper ballot slips, sometimes on computer. However, the Greeks voted with pebbles, or pieces of broken pottery, or even leaves. For more information about the Athenian democracy, follow this link.

A History of British Democracy

As the country prepares for the forthcoming general election, it is worth stepping back for a moment to consider the struggle that went on for the vote. The key date is 1832 when the vote was extended to a wider range of people.

However not everyone got the vote in 1832 by any means and so we need to look more widely at the history of British democracy to discover just how we got to the situation we are in today. Click here to read more, then look at this site for an interesting diagram about the development of democracy in Britain.

Once you have looked at all these pages, try the Struggle for Democracy quiz on this page.

The Election

We're swinging into top gear as we prepare for the general election and for the St Mary's mock election on Thursday 6th May. So here's some advice on how to vote, an explanation of what a hung parliament means and a few ways of crunching the numbers from the BBC. You can also watch it all happening here.

Final Preparations

As we move into the last days of term, final preparations have been going on for a number of events. The Young Enterprise company is working on its end of year reports and, in another part of the school, Sixth formers are preparing for the Lent service on Friday.

Chemically Sound

The Sixth Form Chemists went to London last week to listen to a series of lectures at UCL (University College, London). It was a great opportunity for them both to see a university in action and also to get some extra information for their A Level.

Book of the Month: March

In a very wise essay, C.S. Lewis once argued that we should read old books not because ancient authors were wiser than us but because each age goes wrong in different ways. Reading the occasional old book is therefore a useful corrective to our current mistakes and myopia. He also pointed out that students wanting to learn about Plato frequently read books about Plato but rarely read books by the great man himself.

So our book of the month for March is Plato's Symposium. It's short; it's all about love; and it's in the school library. What more could you want? An Easter holiday coming up? Perfect.

DofE: it's worth it in the end!

Here are some of our former students receiving their Gold Awards at St James's Palace after doing all that hard work during their time in the 6th Form. Well done!

Schools' Head of the River

The Schools' Head, one of the most prestigious events in the rowing calendar, took place last Thursday and St Mary's were there. You can see photos of them in action here and here. Well done to all involved.

St Mary's and the wordfest

Cambridge Wordfest 2010 is about to arrive and with it a whole host of famous writers. We are delighted to be sponsoring the Writing History event on Saturday 10th April. Some of our 6th Form will be there with Man Booker Prizewinner Hilary Mantel and Rebecca Stott, a previous visitor to St Mary's. Check out the programme and book your tickets before they all get snapped up.

Literary Weekend in Stratford

From this

to this

and these

via them

and her

and him ...

... the English Department's Literary Weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon

Netball success

The Sixth Form have continued to be involved in a range of sports, the latest victory coming on Monday evening against a team from a local school. A nailbiting 13-12 victory was immediately followed by further practice the next day. Onwards and upwards!

Boarders' Concert

The boarders, many of whom are 6th Formers, treated a large audience to a spectacular show of music, dance and other entertainment in their annual concert yesterday evening. Many congratulations to all those involved.