Community
St Mary’s is proud to have had Specialist Performing Arts Status since 2002. This means that we are dedicated to making sure that the arts impacts on all our students in a range of curriculum opportunities as well as extra-curricular events. We have now established a variety of annual events on our Arts calendar.
Celebration of Performing Arts
Shades of Autumn
A firm favourite on the calendar. Shades of Autumn brings together a range of disciplines. Originally designed as an evening of poetry and music, the range of performers now also includes actors and dancers as well. We are particularly pleased that Shades of Autumn is a night on which students from every year, parents and staff can perform their own music, poetry and drama to a full audience.
Christmas Production
This has yet to be decided on for 2010 but our last performance was as Christmassy as it gets: A Christmas Carol.
Summer Production
Is perhaps our production with the highest profile. St Mary’s has earned itself a - justifiably – strong reputation for the calibre and scale of the Summer production. Grease, West Side Story, Les Miserable, The Crucible, The Threepenny Opera, Oliver and even a specially created treatment of The Wall. Never shirking from a challenge, 2010's production continues our tradition of challenging audience perceptions with a production of The Wizard Of Oz.
Cabaret Night
Our cabaret evening, held in Spring term, is becoming a firm favourite on our calendar, and this special evening of music, dance and drama always showcases the abilities of some gifted performers in an intimate and informal setting while raising money for charity. The theme of last year’s show was soul music, and it was truly exciting to see the results of the collaboration between our dancers and musicians. This year's theme was the 80's. As always there was a wide range of dancing talent on display, one of the highlights was the BTEC interpretation of Thriller.
Rock Night
The Rock Night is an event entirely organised by the students; no mean feat when you consider that they were responsible for co-ordinating a range of acts, the technical support, refreshments, front of house details and the marketing of the event. It is on an occasion such as this that our students excel themselves and prove how talented and dedicated they are. There was a variety of rock bands that covered many year groups, and though it could not be described as a sedate occasion, the music was well received by a very enthusiastic student crowd who this year had a dance space which was well used. We are very pleased that one of our Sixth form bands, District 27, will be making an appearance at the Stortford Music Festival this May, 2010 along with the drama group and the Jazz Band.
Partnership
Part of our commitment to the arts includes our community work. We believe that our resources can benefit not only our students, but the wider community, and it is for this reason that we work in partnership on a range of events including The Stortford Music Festival, Evening classes, The St Mary's Motor Show and Live Music Events.
For more information on the 12th Stortford Music Festival, taking place this year at St Mary's on the 4th and 5th of May, visit the festival website www.stortfordmusicfestival.org.uk
Anyone who has had reason to be on the premises after 3:40 will know that the school does not close when our students leave through the gates. We play host to a wide range of community groups, and one of our successes outside the curricular provision, is our Lifelong Learning Programme. Wandering round the school site on a cold Wednesday evening, it is a treat to peer into classrooms and see members of our community not only learning new skills but teaching classes as well alongside some of our full time staff.
During the rest of the week, we host a myriad of regular partners such as Cantate, Jaqui Ison Theatre Arts, The Bishops Stortford Water lane Theatre, Herts Music Service and many more. Also our facilities such as our Main Hall, the hume Theatre, sports courts and playing fields, classrooms and Music Centre are used by community groups for one off events. If you are interested in hiring a venue at St Mary's please refer to our information booklet.
Letting's at St Mary's - Information Booklet
Lettings - Booking Form
Lettings - School Map
