Best possible outcome from Regulatory Compliance Inspection  

Regulatory Compliance Inspectors visited St. Mary’s Preparatory School in Henley on Thames last term, awarding the school with the highest possible achievement available under the inspection framework. 

GB Rower visits St. Mary's

First day of Henley Royal Regatta and a perfect time for GB gold medal rower Matt Langridge to visit St. Mary's School.  Many thanks Matt for inspiring us all (and letting us try on your medal!) Enjoy the rowing everyone.

Matilda - watch the highlights!

Didn't they do well?! Years 5 and 6 put on a wonderful performance of Matilda last term. Take a look at the highlights here. 

Year 6 residential adventures

Coasteering, den building, fire lighting, raft making, kayaking, archery, high rope walking.. just some of the activities the children have undertaken on the Year 6 residential trip to Sealyham this week!

Stay and Play

St. Mary's established Stay and Play group is open to all parents or carers with babies and pre school aged children. Our friendly group meets at our nursery every term time Tuesday from 10.45am - 11.45am. The group is free and runs as a drop in session; no need to pre book. Tea and coffee provided to any tired grown ups! We hope you can join us soon. 

Reducing, reusing and recycling

St. Mary's is on a mission to become a single use plastic free school. Our ‘collapsed curriculum’ day enabled us to put aside the usual timetable aside to allow children the opportunity to engage fully with the subject of plastics and specifically learn more about reducing, reusing and recycling. 

Ufton Court adventures

Year 3 have been enjoying their residential trip to Ufton Court. From dressing up as Romans, to making a trebuchet, a great time has been had by all.

School councilors visit to Alexander Devine Charity 

School councilors had an interesting trip this week to learn more about the charity we are supporting this year – the Alexander Devine Hospice which is based in Maidenhead.

Henley Arts Trail at St. Mary's School

St. Mary’s School was brimming with creativity, paint and material when we opened our doors to the Henley Arts Trail on Saturday. 

Year 3 - Ufton Court adventures

Year 3 are enjoying their Ufton Court experience!

Year 4 trip away

Year 4 had a fantastic time on their residential trip to the Black Country and Ironbridge. The teaching staff who joined the children on this adventure were once again struck at how important these trips are for our pupils.

Yummy! Free nutrition event for pre-school aged children and parents

Is your pre school aged child a fussy eater? Do you worry that they are eating too little or too much and are they getting enough nutrition? Don’t panic! Help is at hand at this free event lead by Julia Hayes, an experienced nutrition consultant. Come along to St. Mary’s Nursery for some fun making healthy food with your child and receive top tips on:

Matilda!

Year 6 & Year 5 pupils shone in their recent performance of Roald Dahl's Matilda. See some of the photos from the show here!

Rethink event

FOSMS are organising an evening with a world recognised behavioural and mind management expert and consultant Margareta James on 22nd May, 7.30pm. Margareta (who is also a St. Mary’s parent) has very kindly offered to attend this event and discuss issues which will be important to all parents – shaping mindset growth, improving communication and building resilience.

Henley Arts Trail comes to St. Mary's School

St. Mary’s School is holding a series of exciting and creative art workshops for children and adults on Saturday 12th May. The workshops form part of the Henley Arts Trail of which St. Mary’s is a proud sponsor. Find out more here.

FOSMS Disco!

We are looking forward to the FOSMS Disco, taking place on Wednesday 28th March. The optional dress code for the FOSMS disco is beach/ tropical!

Henley Youth Festival

St. Mary's School was involved in over 20 Henley Youth Festival events and we enjoyed every single one! Take a look at the photos from the events here.

St. Mary's Year 4 STEM Challenge

Concentration and team work were in abundance during the St. Mary's Year 4 STEM challenge. Five local primary schools visited St. Mary's to take part in the challenge.

Year 5 trip to Abingdon Science Partnership

Year 5 had an excellent visit to the Abingdon Science Partnership. Take a look at the photos to see the experiments we carried out!

St. Mary’s Nursery awarded ‘Millie’s Mark’

St. Mary’s Nursery has been awarded ‘Millie’s Mark’, a special endorsement for ‘Inspiring Excellence in Paediatric First Aid’.

Year 3 talk to the BBC

Year 3 pupils took to the streets of Henley on Thames to clear up litter this week. During the litter pick the children talked to the BBC about the importance of looking after our environment.

Safer Internet Day

On Safer Internet Day we discussed all the wonderful opportunities the internet provides for us, and what we can do to keep ourselves safe when using it.

Sports results v Dolphin School (19th January)

St. Mary's pupils enjoyed the Netball and Tag Rugby v Dolphin School. Both teams put in some great performances. Many thanks to Dolphin School for hosting us. We look forward to competing against you soon. Find out the results here...

Supporting the Chiltern Centre

Members of the School Council had the privilege of visiting the Chiltern Centre this week to present a cheque for £500 to the charity.

Lights, Camel, Action!

Years 1 to 4 made us laugh and cry during their Christmas performance of Lights, Camel, Action. A number of stars in the making. Well done to you all! 

Christmas Show time!

Nursery and Kindergarten children shone on stage during their Christmas nativity show. Well done to you all. See photos here!

Spelling Bee winner!

St. Mary’s once again did very well in the annual Queen Anne’s Spelling Bee. Winning 1st and 3rd place!

Anti-Bullying Week

Our aim at St. Mary's is to establish a whole school positive culture in which all members of our community feel safe and confident and treat each other with respect and courtesy.

We Stand and Remember

Year 5 attended a special remembrance event with other school children. Read more about the event and the poem they wrote to mark the occasion here.

Early Years Awarded 'Best in Group'

St. Mary's School is part of the global Cognita Group. Cognita recently recognised St. Mary's Early Years attainment as the ‘Best in Group’ for the last academic year (16/17).

A trip around the Solar System!

A tour around the Solar System in our virtual reality workshop.

Happy Halloween Fundraiser

We celebrated Halloween by raising money for a worthwhile cause today. Many thanks to all parents for the kind donations to The Chiltern Centre. In exchange for supporting this important charity, children have been busy creating trick or treat bags during break time.

The BBC and Primary Science Quality Mark has awarded St. Mary’s School with Terrific Scientific ‘School of Excellence’ status!

Football results (13th September 2017)

Some fantastic football was played against Dolphin School this week. Well done to both teams for your hard work and determination on the pitch. See the results here,

New look classrooms - indoors and outdoors!

The Kindergarten classroom, Art room and our Outdoor classroom have had a complete refurbishment over the summer holidays. Check out the new look here!

Year 3 residential trip

Year 3 have returned from an incredible residential trip to Ufton Court. We made and fired a Trebuchet. It was amazing!

Year 2 summer adventures

Year 2 have been out and about in beautiful Henley on Thames. Read about their experiences.

Year 5 residential

Year 5 have arrived on their residential trip. We will keep you updated with photos of their adventures.

Sports day photos

The sun shone brightly for St. Mary's Sports Day! Take a look at the photos of our athletes who all did a fantastic job.

Year 6 French Trip

Year 6 had a wonderful time in Boulogne. Take a look at our photos.

Maths Champions

Well done to all of our amazing girls who took part in the U9 – 12 Maths Challenge at Queen Anne’s School. Some fantastic results..

Buzz, buzz! Year 2 learning about bees and food plants

Year 2 pupil Isobel Scannell reports on a recent trip to Leighton Park where pupils learnt more about where our food comes from.

Year 6 residential trip

Year 6 children are enjoying their residential trip to Sealyham this week. Pupils have thrown themselves into the activity week, trying out raft building, coasteering, archery and much more...

Award for parent feedback programme

St. Mary's ‘Voice of the Parent’ programme has won a 2017 Confirmit ACE (Achievement in Customer Excellence) Award. This is the second year that this Cognita wide programme has been commended, with the ongoing feedback received from parents directly inputting into the continuous improvement in schools such as St. Mary’s.

Learning about artist Henri Rousseau

On St. Mary's themed French day, all children in Key Stage 2 learnt about the French artist Henri Rousseau. Have a look at their collaborative 'Rousseau' paintings.

Year 6 create Alberto Giacometti sculptures

Year 6 have been learning about the Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, in particular looking at his long thin figure sculptures and creating their own pieces of art.

French day!

Bonjour! St. Mary's appears to have landed in Paris, with a whole day of French activities for all.

Year 5 Abingdon Science Partnership

Year 5 visited the Abingdon Science Partnership laboratory for a morning of Chemistry and Physics investigations. Children were able to take part in a range of activities including measuring chemical reactions and heating rates.

Rounders results

St. Mary's shone in their recent rounders matches. Well done girls!

Cricket results (St Mary's v Papperwick School)

We won one and lost one! Some great cricket was played by both teams. Well done all.

Nursery visit Bekonscot Model Village

Nursery children had a fantastic time at Bekonscot Model Village. The sun shone for our trip to the world’s oldest and original model village. With over 80 years of history, a huge model railway, and finely detailed model buildings to see, we were kept busy all day!

Kindergarten trip to Wellington Country Park

Kindergarten children enjoyed our time at Wellington Country Park. We saw animals, did pond dipping, went on a train ride and even bounced on a huge inflatable pillow!

Kindergarten get cooking

Feeling hungry? Come and visit Kindergarten - these children have learnt how to make delicious pizzas after a lesson at Pizza Express!

Human Beat Box visits St. Mary's

Year 6 children enjoy a fun lesson with the 'Human Beat Box' Randolph Matthews. Thank you to FOSMS for organising. Watch a video here.

Cricket v Dolphin School

A thrilling cricket match for the U11 team v Dolphin School last week. Read more here.

Visit to Tiggywinkles

Year 1 and 2 children recently visited the animal charity Tiggywinkles. Year 2 Pupil Marin Rainboth reports...

Musical Extravaganza

We enjoyed listening to singers and musicians this afternoon at our very own Musical Extravaganza. The audience was treated to performances on the piano, french horn, guitar, clarinet and drums. All musicians and singers show cased their musical talents beautifully. Well done to you all.

Astronomer and children's author visits St. Mary's

Dr Mitton, Astronomer and children's author visited St. Mary's today.

Year 6 learn first aid skills

Year 6 learnt some essential life skills at a First Aid Course. After learning the basics, the group acted out scenarios where first aid could save lives.

Sports results, week of 25th April

Some fantastic cricket was played last week. St Mary's teams put in good performances against some tough competition. Well done boys.

Year 4, final day of residential trip

A very good night's sleep! Sandwiches made, breakfast eaten, minibus loaded and currently visiting the shop. A morning of den building awaits. See you later!

Year 4, day two of residential trip

Day 2 and all going well! Read more about our adventures here.

Year 4, day one of residential trip

Year 4 are enjoying their trip to Juniper Hall. Read all about the pond dipping, hill climbing, hot chocolate, hail stones and much more here.

Year 2 visit to Acacia Lodge

On Wednesday the Year 2 children visited the residents at Acacia Lodge for an afternoon of Easter fun!

Upper School Show

A great time was had by all. Thank you for being such a fantastic audience.

Nursery meet some lambs

Nursery made some new friends on their trip to the Earth Trust.

Swimarathon success

New record set by St. Mary's pupils.

Earth Hour Report

Thank you to everyone who took part in Earth Hour last weekend. A great evening walk was enjoyed by close to 50 people.

We love Outdoor Club!

Fresh air, country side, a camp fire and our friends. Roll on the next Outdoor Club!

Kindergarten trip to Wonder Woods

Another great outing today for Kindergarten.

Sports results, 17th - 24th March

Another action packed week of Sports at St Mary's. Congratulations to everyone who participated, especially on the rainy days! Find all the results from the week here.

Welcoming our new pupils

Spring is here and so too are some new arrivals at St Mary's School.

Henley Youth Festival Winners

St Mary’s pupils did exceptionally well in the Henley Youth Festival Competitions this year.

Year 3 Maths Champions

Well done to St Mary's Year 3 for winning a county wide SumDog Maths Challenge this week.

Sports results, week of 13th March

Some great sporting efforts this week. Well done to everyone who took part. Football: U8 7  v  4 Cranford House School Scorers for the match were Tommy Lane 4, Joseph Woolhouse 2 and Charlie Oldham 1. Elstree Football Festival Year 2 A Team won 2, drew 1 lost 2. The B team [...]

A lesson in Fencing

Thank you to Premier Sport for the Fencing lesson today.

Go Kids X Country Run

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Henley Youth Festival Go Kids X Country Run at the weekend. St Mary's pupils threw themselves into the event, showing us all that they had the confidence to take part. All participants should be very proud of themselves and a special mention must be [...]

Year 1 visit Blunder Bus

Another week and yet more Henley Youth Festival Events for St Mary's children. Year 1 enjoyed their trip to the Blunder Bus this morning. 

Piano recital

Joshua Harris, big brother to St Mary's pupils Sam and Noah Baiarda-Harris is a gifted young musician. He is holding a piano recital to raise funds for The Teenage Cancer Trust: Sunday, May 7th at 2:00 PM, Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Altwood Rd, Maidenhead. For tickets please email  abaiarda.harris@gmail.com

Year 4 Willow Making Workshop

Willow making workshop for Year 4 today. Another successful Henley Youth Festival event.

Year 2 mindfulness session

Year 2 are currently enjoying a mindfulness session with Lynne Wilkes. The session began with a simple exercise of looking at shells. By taking their time to look properly at the detail of the shell the children were able to focus entirely on it... and nothing else. St Mary's is committed [...]

Screen painting for Year 3

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed their screen painting experience at the River and Rowing Museum this week. The Henley Youth Festival activity brought out the children's creativity.

Year 2 trip to Neasden Temple

The sun is shining on Neasden Temple today as Year 2 visit it. The Temple is a traditional place of Hindu worship designed and constructed entirely according to ancient Vedic architectural texts – using no structural steel.

Southgate sisters set fine example

St Mary's Pupils Emily and Daniella Southgate have made us all very proud with their extraordinary fundraising efforts. They have recently raised an impressive £155 for the charity FAST (Families and Schools Together) which is a branch of Save the Children and helps children in the UK to have better schooling. The sisters [...]

World Book Day

Happy World Book Day everyone. We have had a fantastic time at our Poetry Slam today watching all year groups read and indeed perform their poems. We hope to share films of this with you all shortly.  

Tatty Bumpkin visit

Kindergarten children enjoyed a session with Tatty Bumpkin in assembly this week. They did some stretches through a story and some poses such as the lion pose and tree pose.

St Mary's taking part in Earth Hour - join in!

St Mary's is inviting you to join us in celebrating Earth Hour on the evening of 25th March. During Earth Hour, groups around the world will be switching off their artificial lighting and taking part inexperiential excursions and nature walks 'into the night' to experience nature in relative darkness.  Together we can [...]

Charlie Wilks, Year 2 reports on Football Tournament

The Year 2 football tournament, by Charlie Wilks On Friday February 24th, we were really excited, because we had a football tournament. We went with Mrs Yeulet and Mr Harmer. We were going to Rupert House. We went in the minibus. When we arrived we put our stuff down. We [...]

Back in time at Grey's Court

Year 6 enjoyed their trip to Grey's Court, imagining what life was like for the evacuees who lived there during the war. Max Verry reports on the trip: 'Year six went on a trip to Grey's Court and to prepare we dressed up as evacuees from World War Two. On [...]

Sports results 24th February 2017

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the matches on Friday 24th March. Some great results:   U9 St Marys 10 - 7 Dolphin School Tries scored, Nick Rainboth 1, George Blumfield 6, Ben Griffith 3. U9 St Mary's 7 - 4 Waverley School Tries Scorers, George Blumfield 4, Nick [...]

Lucky birds

Nursery children at St Mary's have been busy making bird food today. Birds living in Henley on Thames are in for a treat!  

War time memories

Thank you to Charlotte's Grandad for visiting Year 6 this week and sharing his memories of war time with them. Two pupils have now written reports about the visit. Jigya Kashyap, Year 6: 'Charlotte Groom's Grandfather called John came into talk about his experience as a child during the Second World [...]

Mindfulness at St Mary's

Thank you @LynneWilkesMindfulness for leading a session with Year 5 this afternoon. We are very keen to embed mindfulness into our school day at St Mary's, to equip our pupils with the skills and strategies to cope with the stresses and anxieties life can throw at us. There is also [...]

4th place at Y3/4 Sportshall Athletics

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Sportshall Athletics competition this morning. A great time was had by all and lots to celebrate with 1st, 2nd and 3rd places being secured. Overall St Mary's came 4th - fantastic result!  

Tag Rugby v The Dolphin School

A bitterly cold afternoon of rugby with snow showers too didn't dampen our enthusiasm for rugby against The Dolphin School on the 10th February. U9 Won 16-10 with try scorers George Blumfield 7, Nick Rainboth2, Ben Griffith 3, James Mennie 3 Harry Wood 1. U8A Lost 10-6 try scorers Conal [...]

Year 2 trip to the River and Rowing Museum

This week the Year 2s spent an hour walking to the River and Rowing Museum! This was because we were taking time to photograph the 'wonders' of Henley, as part of our Geography topic on 'The Wonders of the World.' At the River and Rowing Museum we made plaster of Paris [...]

Nursery trip to the Dentists

Nursery children got some top tips on keeping their teeth clean during a recent trip to the Royal House Dental Centre. It was great fun sitting in the big chair and looking at all of the equipment. We are going to have the cleanest teeth in Henley!

Young Voices at the O2

By Thomas Mennie and Lucy Triptree,  Year 6B:  "On the 7th February we went to sing with 7638 other children at the O2 arena in London. When we got there we found our seats and had lunch. We had a very long rehearsal with the conductor David Lawrence and the [...]

Cleaning fossils

Year 3 were learning about fossils in this science lesson. The process of cleaning, repairing, and removing excess rock from a fossil is known as preparation. These children were very focused on this delicate job.

Sports news, week of 6th February

Match Results Congratulations to everyone who took part in the sports this week. Great results! Girls Netball V Dair House school, 8th February: U11 won 9-4 with Florence Wrake, Charlotte Groom and Charlotte Bowler all scoring goals. Player of the match was Misty Branch. U10 also won 16-4 with Ester Mae, [...]

Hands on science lesson

A hands on science lesson for Year 6, dissecting a pig's pluck. What's a pig pluck? Also known as the heart and lungs.

Kindergarten trip to Henley Vets

Kindergarten children had a great time visiting Henley Vets this week. The children learnt about the important work the Vets do and even got to meet some animals.

Safer Internet Day 2017

Safer Internet Day 2017 (@UK_SIC) is being celebrated globally today, Tuesday 7th February, with the theme 'Be the change: unite for a better internet'. At St Mary's we have marked the day with a special assembly and children also took part in the Safer Internet Day quiz. Parents and carers can find [...]

Netball results

Well done to everyone who took part in a netball match this week. Some great team work. Congratulations to the Players of the Matches - Jessica Reed, Lilly Whittam, Jigya Kashyap and Sienna Wright. Results U11 & u10 v Crosfields:  U11's: Won 2 - 0 Drew 1 - 1 Lost [...]

National Story Telling Week

Everyone at St Mary's School would like to say thank you to Susie Parfitt from The Bell Book Shop in Henley for sharing Alice In Wonderland with us as part of #NationalStorytellingWeek National Storytelling Week is celebrated across the country by all ages and is something we embrace at St [...]

Lego Robotics workshop

Kindergarten had a fantastic time during a recent Lego Robotics workshop. Jamie, visiting from Legoland, showed the children how to build and program their own robot on an I-pad. Pupils were amazed at what they could program their robots to do and worked hard to ensure their robots could complete [...]

St Mary's joins BBC Terrific Scientific project

St Mary's School is taking part in a new BBC project called BBC Terrific Scientific. As one of the biggest mass participation science projects in the UK, this provides a great opportunity to excite and engage our children in science. The first month of the project is focused on learning [...]

Nursery outing

Nursery children enjoyed a trip to the River and Rowing museum this week. They spent the morning exploring the interesting museum and singing action rhymes. Lots was learnt about Wind and the Willows and Mr Toad as well!

Identifying rocks

Year 3 came across this obelisk made from very weathered Portland Limestone on their river walk this week. Pupils were looking at the types of rocks different objects were made of. Good job the sun was shining!

St Mary's App

  The St Mary's App provides quick and easy access to information and messages from the school. From calendar dates and school news, to letters sent home and holiday request forms; the App has been developed to help you keep up to date with school life wherever you are. Easy to [...]

Science and the Royal Society

Head of Science, Mrs Perkins spent her free time last weekend as a guest of the Royal Society at a 'Cutting Edge Classroom' event. Mrs Perkins said the event was inspiring and enjoyed listening to keynote speaker Julia Higgins, a polymer scientist who has used techniques from physical chemistry to open [...]

School song recording

Do any St Mary's parents or friends have access to a recording studio? Our creative and talented Year 4 pupils have written a school song and we would like to share it with the world. To ensure the best sound for the recording, we would like to find a studio [...]

Celebration assembly news

Celebration assemblies at St Mary's are always full of great stories of children's achievements. This week we celebrated Sophie Broom's success in the swimming pool and Sion Actur winning yet another trophy for his kick boxing efforts. Well done to you both.

Parents wanted for Year 6 career talks

Would you be interested in coming in and talking to our Year 6 pupils about your job, or career to date? Children can often wonder about what their parents actually do at work, so this could be a perfect opportunity to help bring the working world to life. We would [...]

Pillow cases for Christmas production

It is that time of year again, when Mrs Shaw, St Mary's Drama Teacher is busy preparing for the upcoming Christmas productions. As well as rehearsals, there are costumes to think of and to this end, could parents in Year 2, 3 and 4 please send any spare pillow cases [...]

Chamber Concert

Congratulations to all pupils who took part in the St Mary's Chamber Concert today. The audience very much enjoyed listening to pupils playing the piano, guitar and clarinet as well as the vocal duets. The children are to be commended for the outstanding effort made. It was a joy to [...]

Composer of the Month - November

St Mary's 'Composer of the Month' for November is Benjamin Britten. Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. Learn [...]

Sporting success in November

St Mary's pupils have yet again shown that they are developing fantastic skills which will serve them well on and off the sports fields. The determination and team spirit often on display is wonderful to see. Congratulations to everyone who has taken part in a sporting fixture this past month: [...]

Fragrance Foundation visit

St Mary's would like to say a big thank you to Georgia Shute from the Fragrance Foundation for leading a number of inspiring workshops for KS2 pupils this week. Children learnt some facts about our sense of smell and then used their noses to inspire some similes and exciting adjectives which will [...]

St Mary's pupils top of the class in county wide maths challenge

Pupils from St Mary's school have excelled in a recent county wide maths challenge called SumDog. Kitty Whittam came joint first in the challenge, while Abigail Bowler and Thomas Mennie also did very well to each secure a spot in the top ten of best mathematicians. As well as entering maths challenges as [...]

Spelling Bee champions

Many congratulations to all St Mary's girls who took part in the Queen Anne Spelling Bee on the 16th November 2016. Year 6 girls Kitty, Florence and Sienna proved to everyone that they are excellent spellers, by securing first place in their age category. Martha, Chloe and Lilly in Year [...]

Children's author joins children for tree planting

Famous children's author Nick Butterworth joined with children from St Mary's Nursery and School to plant trees donated by the Woodland Trust on November 10th 2016. We were thrilled that St Mary’s pupils, from nursery to Year 6, had the opportunity to plant a tree. As our school celebrates its [...]

Celebrating success

Lots to celebrate at St Mary's! Well done to Jessica, Sion, Sophie, Joseph and Thomas for your recent achievements: Jessica was presented with a special trophy for being 'Player of the Day' at a Football competition with AFC Henley. Sion was awarded with a tower of a trophy for his [...]

Historian Mike Willoughby visits Year 6 pupils

St Mary's school would like to say a big thank you once again to Historian Mike Willoughby for talking to our Year 6 pupils about World War One and World War Two in November. Mr Willoughby is an extraordinary historian who really engages the children in the realities of life [...]

New Stay and Play group at St Mary's

Sleep Fairy Dee Booth was Guest Speaker at a new weekly Stay and Play group at St Mary's nursery and school. The free play group which is proving very popular is now held in the school hall every Tuesday, 10.45am - 11.45am. Babies and toddlers are able to enjoy playing [...]