St David’s School Prize Giving 1st July 2009

A message from the Headmistress to Parents, Friends and Past Pupils

It has been most heart warming to see the enthusiastic response to invitations to our Prize Giving. Parents, friends and past pupils have swamped us with their replies, so much so that the event is now oversubscribed even though we have the use of a marquee thanks to the generosity of the Friends of St David’s (FoSD).

Reply slips were due in on Friday 19th June and the replies we have already will fill the marquee so if you have not replied yet it is unlikely that you will be able to get in!

We do have an alternative for you which is our Thanksgiving Assembly on Friday 3rd July and will once again be in the marquee on the school lawn. The Assembly starts at 9:45am and coffee will be served afterwards at 11:00am. If you would like to attend please let Mrs Chapman know – you can call on 01784 252494 or click this link to email.

I look forward to seeing you at one of these events which will celebrate our girls’ achievements as well as being an opportunity to recall fond memories of St David’s and all that it stands for.

Kind regards

Mrs Tessa Smith

Headmistress

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AN INVITATION TO OLD GIRLS

from

THE HEADMISTRESS

Dear Friend

Re:   Commemorating St David’s School

This has been a really difficult year for the School with unpalatable decisions having to be made. However we are not going to go out without some form of celebration for the girls’ achievements and for an opportunity for the School’s many loyal Friends to say farewell to a school they have loved.

This letter is to invite you to attend the

Whole School Prize Giving on Wednesday 1 July 2009 at 2pm

I am particularly grateful to FoSD who have agreed to fund the marquee, enabling us to invite many more people than would have been possible in the Performing Arts Centre.

This will not be the usual Speech Day and we are aiming to be less sombre in many ways than this usually formal event dictates. While it is bound to be an emotional day, to let the term, indeed an era, end without coming together as a community would be wrong, so in true St David’s style we intend to wrap an event around a final Gwlad: Gwlad….

There will be tea in the marquee for parents and guests, in the dining hall for girls and staff and to assist our caterers, I must ask you please to return the usual reply slip attached*. I must extend our thanks to the Old Girls’ Association who have offered to sponsor the tea for this event.

One further practical note: the positioning of the marquee may necessitate walking over the grass, so ladies, be mindful please of footwear. I trust this will not deter us all from dressing to impress at this important adieu.

For those who are disappointed in the date and feel unable to make that afternoon, we shall also be having a

Thanksgiving Assembly on Friday 3 July at 9.45am

to which you are also cordially invited. Coffee will be served afterwards at 11.00am and again, please let us know about numbers for this.

I look forward to seeing you at one of these events.

Yours sincerely

Mrs. Tessa Smith

Headmistress

A copy of the this letter can be downloaded by clicking here

* PLEASE DO LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE GOING TO ATTEND EITHER EVENT by either completing the reply slip or click here to email the school office

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GOVERNORS' ANNOUNCEMENT

Monday 26th May

The Governors of St David’s would like to put on record a number of facts relating to their decision to merge the charity with the St James Group.

Before their meeting on Friday evening the Governors met, separately, a group of parents, representatives of the St James Group (the Deputy Chairman of Governors and the Heads of all three schools) and a representative of IES.  At its meeting, IES stated that, with only 109 parents having indicated that their child would be in the school in September if it remained open, it could not proceed with its proposal.  Its proposal was therefore not “rejected” by the Governors, but was withdrawn by IES.  IES indicated that pupil numbers would need to increase significantly (by about 50%) before its proposal might become viable.  Delaying a decision in the hope that numbers would increase to this level would have involved continuing the uncertainty of parents, girls and staff and was unacceptable. 

The choice the Governors had at their meeting therefore was either to accept the proposal from St James or to proceed to close the school and realise the value of the assets through sale of the land and buildings on the open market.  In the latter case the Governors had already received professional advice that they would have to sell to the highest bidder, regardless of the use that the bidder might ultimately intend for the site.  The Governors could not delay a decision beyond last Friday because both staff and parents had choices to make during the half-term break whether to accept new jobs, or to confirm places at other schools for the autumn term for their children.

The Governors individually and through their lawyers and accountants had undertaken considerable research about the St James Group, and were satisfied that as an existing charity registered with the Charity Commission, the Trustees of the St James Group were fit and proper persons to run a charity and in particular one concerned with children’s education, and therefore suitable to assume responsibility for St David’s.  We were also satisfied that the Independent Schools Inspectorate inspection reports (particularly those for the Girls Senior School and the Girls and Boys prep school) from 2004 were very favourable reports indeed.  We were impressed by the good links with parents noted in the report in paragraph 1.14 of the Junior School report

“Links with parents and the community are excellent.  Collectively, these very effective partnerships form a major strength of the school.  In response to a pre-inspection questionnaire, parents registered overwhelming approval for the school’s ethos, policies, procedures and, above all, educational practice.  The clear and useful reports to parents and the complaints procedures meet statutory requirements”

http://www.isi.net/reports/2004/1085_04.htm

and similarly for the Senior Girls at paragraph 1.14 of its report

"The school has developed a very good partnership with parents.  Links with the community and with former students are very good.  Replies to the parents’ questionnaire show that there is a very high level of satisfaction with all aspects of the school’s provision, and virtually unanimous approval of the high standards of behaviour and promotion of worthwhile attitudes and values in the pupils.  The inspectors agree with these judgements"

http://www.isi.net/reports/2004/1097_04.htm

The Governors of St David’s were and remain entirely confident that the St James Group provide high quality education which over 800 parents each year are pleased to secure for their children.  We are equally satisfied that girls who remain in the prep school, and those who transfer to the Senior School or to St Catherine’s, will continue to receive an education that will be the equal, both in standards and ethos, of St David’s.  We were satisfied that the St James Group has the finances to invest in St David’s both to discharge the existing debt and invest in the buildings to secure education on the site for many years to come.  We were aware of the origins of the Group, and of the Inquiry instituted in 2005 by the Governors of St James into disciplinary practices of over 20 years ago (and indeed the St James representatives were asked about the reason for the Inquiry).  If doubts had remained about the origins, associations, or practices of the St James Group, the Governors of St David’s would not have agreed to merge the charities.

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A LETTER TO PARENTS FROM ST JAMES INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

Monday 26th May

Dear Parent,

By now you will have heard from your Chairman that St David’s and St James’ charities are to merge. I know, for many parents, this was not the desired out-come and we, as St James’, would like to do all we can to ensure that your daughters and sons find the school best suited to them.

Again, in an ideal world, none of this would have been necessary, but the falling numbers at St David’s did mean that major changes were inevitable.

As you will have been told, our immediate intention is to retain junior boys’ and junior girls’ schools on the site. We would move our senior boys to Ashford from Twickenham in September 2010. Thus we would be creating a mirror of our schools at Olympia, where they have all-through education for girls and a junior boys’ school.

St James’ problem is in many ways the reverse of St David’s. We have increasing numbers and little space, but where at all possible, we will offer places for your senior girls at Olympia. I know some parents have already visited us and enrolled your daughters. A special School in Action morning has been arranged for the senior girls on Monday 1st June at 11am at St James’ Senior Girls’ School, Earsby Street, London, W14 8SH. St Catherine’s, whom we know well, as they are our close neighbours at Twickenham, would also like to offer the opportunity for senior girls to join them.                                           (www.stcatherineschool.co.uk)

As far as the junior children are concerned, we are in your hands. We would like as many as possible to stay and we would welcome them all. However you will want to know what sort of junior education we are offering. On Tuesday 2nd June at 6.30 pm, all the St James Heads, my deputy chairman and I will be coming to St David’s to meet parents, to outline our plans and respond to any questions you might have. In addition, a special junior open morning has been arranged for Thursday 4th June at 10.30 am for St David’s parents and children to visit us at Olympia. Our junior school principal, Paul Moss will be on hand to show you round and to see some classes.

I am aware that some of you have particular questions about the background and history of St James. We would be delighted to talk about this and again answer any questions. In the meantime, further information can be found at www.stjamesschools.co.uk.

We look forward to meeting you all.

Best wishes

Jeremy Sinclair

Chairman St James Independent Schools

Click here for a PDF version of this letter

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ANNOUNCEMENT  - TO PARENTS AND STAFF

Saturday 23rd May

The Governors of St David’s School wish to announce that at a meeting of Governors on the evening of Friday 22nd May, they accepted a proposal from St James’ Independent Schools for a merger of St David’s and St James’.  Over the next three weeks, legal agreements will be finalised, the existing governors and trustees will resign, and St James’ will take formal control of the School.

St James’ is committed to maintaining boys’ and girls’ education up to the age of 11, on the St David’s site, where possible using existing staff.

It will offer the opportunity for senior girls to transfer to St James’ Senior Girls School near Hammersmith/Olympia, or to St Catherine’s School in Twickenham.  St James’ will honour existing bursaries, and offer a discount of one term’s fees in the first year to all senior girls transferring to Olympia.  The remaining portion of the St David’s site will be used by St James’ Senior Boys’ School, which is currently based in Twickenham.

We believe that a merger with St James’ is the best possible outcome for St David’s. It has the sound financial base to ensure a certain future for education on the St David’s site, and to invest in that future.  It has considerable experience of educational provision for children and its ethos is a close match with St David’s.

We wish to thank the other bidder, IES, and in particular Andrew McEwen for the professional and dedicated way in which they have worked with the School and the parents in the last few weeks in the attempt to rescue St David’s from closure.

We would also like to pay tribute to those parents who have worked tirelessly over the last five weeks to try and sustain the possibility of girls’ junior and senior independent education in Ashford but, unfortunately, the pupil numbers in September would not have been sufficient to guarantee the happy, successful and sustainable school that parents have come to expect from St David’s.

The Governors were very concerned to maintain education on the site if at all possible.  Although we are sad that it will not be possible to maintain independent senior girls’ education in Ashford, we are pleased that the St David’s site will continue to be the home of a vibrant independent school for the long-term and continue to make a distinctive contribution to Ashford.

A lot of work needs to be done in a very short time to bring these proposals to fruition. You will have the opportunity to meet representatives from St James’ at St David’s as soon as possible and we will communicate dates and times as soon as we have them.  You can find detailed information about St James’ Independent Schools at the following link: http://www.stjamesschools.co.uk

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Statement - 13th May 2009

Since the announcement in April, several companies and organisations have expressed an interest in acquiring St David’s. Some of these interested parties are education providers. All of these parties have signed a non-disclosure agreement and the governors are bound by those agreements. Only one organisation has gone public.

The school has not endorsed any bidder at this stage, in fact no formal bid has as yet been received. The governors are having conversations on a daily basis and will be meeting formally to discuss the future of the school.

The Head and staff are working very hard in a busy term to ensure the teaching and learning continues as it should and this work takes precedence. Pupils and staff are going about this work very professionally and we ask external organisations to respect this agenda. Further discussion with the media can only be about one party, and would therefore be of limited value.

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Alumni - Introduction

We are very keen to keep in touch with all of our former students. It is a great pleasure to hear how they are getting on at university and to discover their final career path – often not quite what they anticipated!

We love to hear of marriages and births, and are delighted when ceremonies take place at the school.

The Old Girls’ Association celebrated its Centenary Year in 2005. It produces a regular newsletter for members and organises regular reunions.

In 2007 the school celebrated 150 years on the current site in Ashford, heralding a series of celebrations for both current and former students.

A letter from Mrs Tessa Smith - Headmistress

Dear Old Girls

One year on…… 

and I feel very entrenched in my life here at St David’s, despite a most sombre start.

In October 2007 the school was shattered by the tragic death of a much loved Head of English, Nick Hemsley. There is no doubt, looking back, that this was a bereaved school, in no mood for change. Trying to reignite the flame had to be deferred.

Gradually, thank goodness, that spirit of resilience and tenacity, so long the hallmark of St David’s girls, won through and by the second half of the year we were pulling together the many strands of a thorough school review process. We had consulted many and there were some clear signposts for a way forward.

The weekly newsletter had already dealt with communications. In case any Old Girls have not yet logged on to the website to read it, the Friday newsletter applauds the week’s achievements, reports activities and news, acts as a reminder of important events, rallies support or asks for help.

We also reworked the senior school reports. Possibly more detailed than the school has ever produced before, (and certainly many Old Girls might be surprised to peruse one), in fact the new format is proving to be something of a Trojan Horse, encouraging pupils and teachers alike to look reflectively at course content, to measure and evaluate, to decide on next steps and take on further challenges.

Perhaps the biggest change for girls has been ‘Long Wednesdays’. In fact, the school day on Wednesdays is only 20 minutes longer than the other weekdays but the name stuck somehow! By condensing lunchtimes and lessons we were able to ring-fence a slot when we could encourage girls to move out of their comfort zone, do something that is only surreptitiously educational but is not examined, something indeed that might be great fun! Staff came up trumps to devise and run clubs as wide ranging as Mandarin, stick insects, kite making and flying, power walking for beginners, paddle-sports, deportment (easily the most popular!), social entrepreneurs, badminton, public speaking and more.

There seems to be a bit of a skip in the stride of girls and staff on Wednesday afternoons!

In 2008 we were delighted to celebrate success at A level, very commendable results at AS level and the best ever GCSE results in 2008, with many girls achieving high scores, bouquets of top grades and analysis showed our value-added figure to have climbed again. We easily outperform the national averages, as any of you who attended Speech Day will have heard.

Nationally the GCSE pass rate A* to C is 65%.  At St David’s it is 93%

Nationally the proportion of GCSE passes at the top grades of A*, A, B is 40%. At St David’s it is 73% 

Our pass rate at the very highest levels A* and A, nationally 21%,  is more than double the national level.

At A Level two thirds of the grades were A, B, or C.

At AS level, an even higher proportion of grades, 70% were at the higher levels, nearly half A or B and nearly a quarter A grades.

St David’s girls are going out to universities the length and breadth of the land: to Edinburgh and Exeter, to Bristol, to Leicester, to King’s College…They are reading all manner of disciplines: Geography, Business, Law, Languages, Management, Food Science, Nursing, Medicine, Psychology and more. We wish them happiness, excitement and success. They have been well prepared for their undergraduate years.

Alongside these statistics there were other triumphs heralded on Speech Day : swimming championships, gold medals and an unprecedented proportion of  merits and distinction grades in Music and Drama work, athletics triumphs, fundraising success and the snowballing number of gymnastics awards. Shortly before Speech Day we were thrilled to hear that no fewer than 3 of our girls had been ranked amongst the top 10 nationwide in the Art and Design exams…out of 36,294 entries!

All in all then, the school is in good heart and a happier school by the autumn of 2008 than 12 months ago, I am relieved to say. But we are far from complacent. A major strand of our work is an initiative seeking to promote excellence in the classroom: excellent teaching and excellent learning: the very core of a headteacher’s work! But I can’t do it alone and the staff are working well with me this year.

I am writing this in a week described by the media as ‘the worst week ever’. How events globally will impact on us here in Ashford I cannot guess. Rest assured though that the St David’s girls will face the future boldly. And as I chat to Morwena I realise actually what I am doing is not radically different from what has gone before: the girls still enjoy doughnuts  (albeit these days the heavily branded Krispy Kremes)), they still amaze the head with their initiative and enthusiasm, they still inspire us all to do the very best for them we can.

Tessa Smith