E D UE SI S IN S IS I TH
NEWS
REUNIONS
OGANews SPRING 2015
W
CECILY, SECOND LEFT, AT THE WEDDING OF POOK NIMBOONCHAJ TO DEW NOPARUMPA (AN OLD MALVERNIAN) IN THAILAND.
elcome to the latest edition of the OGA Newsletter. As I write, we have just hosted our first Connecting event in London. It was a fantastic evening and lovely to see both new and familiar faces and to have such a good turnout of Old Girls from across the generations and from all our founding schools. We look forward to holding more of these events in the future. The OGA Careers partnership with the School is off to a great start. We have had a number of Old Girls returning to MSJ to speak to the girls about their careers or university experience and hope to be well represented at the Careers Fair in the Autumn. The OGA has also made a donation to the MSJ Bursary Programme which assists talented girls to take up boarding places. Do enjoy the newsletter and I hope to see lots of you at the Summer Reunion.
CECILY HEWLETT
students, with a fabulous line-up of Old Girls coming in to talk about careers and university, helping with Oxbridge mock interviews, and generally inspiring our current cohorts about their futures. It forms an intrinsic part of the School’s Aspiration Programme, intended to drive ambition and achievement to the highest level for each and every one of our girls. We are incredibly grateful to all involved so far for your generosity, time and expertise. It makes a critical difference to students; we know that whilst grades are important, at a certain point they are not the differentiator – and our Old Girls are reinforcing this message. They are putting front of mind the need to start thinking about extra-curricular range, competitive involvement (whether it be sport, debating, music or similar), work experience, and CV building. As much as we tell students this as teachers, parents and advisors, it becomes ‘real’ when they hear it from someone at the coal-face. Finally, I have announced to parents
and staff my intention to retire in August 2016. This is a way off, so there will be plenty of time for a smooth transition to my successor. I have enjoyed fulfilling the tasks I was set, including raising the School’s profile, growing boarding numbers, creating an effective Aspiration Programme and launching the Bursary Programme. On a personal note, I’m pleased that a long-held ambition of mine – the redevelopment of the Dining Room – will be completed for 2016, as we celebrate MSJ’s tenth year. Now feels like a good time to pass on the baton to ‘new blood’. Managed change, fresh ideas, and different perspectives all make an organisation a more dynamic place, and I am totally confident that under the guidance of Anne Borrowdale, Old Girl and Chair of Governors, MSJ will continue to flourish.
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It’s been another busy year at Malvern St James. School numbers continue to grow, our academic results get better year on year, our students are entering some of the best and most competitive universities in the world, and there is a palpable sense of energy and excitement in the building. We have been receiving a good deal of positive press interest about the School recently, on subjects as diverse as our Scholarship programme, Sports, Girls and Science and our recent Mock Election Week. The Independent, The Week, The Telegraph, ITV Central News, The Times, Cheshire Life, Wiltshire Life and Kensington & Chelsea Today, have all carried articles featuring Malvern St James. In the OGA, we have welcomed Cecily Hewlett (MGC 2002) as Chairman and Fiona Meredith as Alumnae Liaison Officer, and they will be focusing on careers and professional networking in particular. This has already been highly beneficial for MSJ
TRISH WOODHOUSE