16 January 2013

The first Newsletter of the new calendar year describes, as usual, activities and events of all kinds.  I would like to focus on three only – two that are in the Newsletter and another that is particularly reserved for Edlines.

The first event to mention is the SPARTA launch-day which took place on 12 January.  SPARTA is our extended programme of sports, arts and other activities.  Over the last couple of years we already operated a range of extended activities; these have been increased in number and have been brought under one umbrella called SPARTA. SPARTA offers paid activities that are run in addition to the free extra-curricular programme.

Most events occur in late afternoon, early evening and at weekends.  Unlike extra-curricular activities, SPARTA is also open to pupils from other schools (space permitting) and we will also run sessions for adults as well.

We are delighted that Euromotors, with their fine range of high-quality brands (BMW, Landrover, Rolls Royce, Maserati and Mini), has agreed to be the new programme’s major sponsor.

At the end of January, Ian Fellows and SPARTA Director, Gareth Holloway will be putting together a detailed piece covering SPARTA only – so rather than steal their thunder, I’ll leave the details to them! Please contact the SPARTA office on Tel: 17598475 or visit the website on www.sparta-bh.com for more information.

The second event, which is strongly linked to SPARTA, has been the opening on the Saar site of our indoor, air-conditioned, heated / chilled pool and ancillary rooms.  This long-awaited project brings major benefits to pupils, teachers and parents and we are delighted with the quality and appearance of the new facilities.  More detail about this topic was included in my Parent Portal letter to parents, to which you are referred.

The final matter is to do with the logo shown on the left that some of you may have noticed on our web-site.

This signifies that St Christopher’s School is now an HMC school.  HMC stands for Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference and is the most prestigious organisation for UK independent schools. HMC members include all of the most famous schools – Harrow, Eton, Westminster, etc. etc. Membership of HMC, apart from the “brand”,  brings significant benefits to St Chris in terms of access to training, conferences, pupil events, discussions with other fine schools about initiatives, access to useful data and information, inclusion in UK government consultations, etc. HMC membership also helps us to continue to attract high-quality teachers to work at our school.

All in all, a great start to 2013!