If you have walked past the school recently, you may have noticed our new garden in the grounds at the front of the school. This concept garden won the silver gilt medal at the Hampton Court Flower Show in July and was designed by ex-teacher Anita Smith who graduated from Merrist Wood College last year. Anita is married to Mark Smith, our deputy Headteacher, and we were very honoured when Anita nominated us to have the garden after the show. PC Landscapes is a local company based in Farnham and they built the garden for Hampton Court and then rebuilt it here at St James.

It is called Gambling Environments and it shows a set of fortune dice with words on each face representing environmental issues such as conserve and recycle, through to waste, toxic, change, drought and flood. The dice are being thrown and the garden changes with the different choices shown on the dice. The garden starts with a lush wildflower meadow, containing some endangered species. Sedum represents the area of change and the garden ends as a barren wasteland with discarded rubbish. It gives a very powerful message about sustainability and we will use it with the children to generate debate about the importance of responsible waste disposal and conserving the earth's resources. 

If you talk to the children here, they will tell you that the highlight this term has been the opening of our new swimming pool. Some of you will remember our old steel framed pool which was built by parents when this school was opened in the early 1970s. It lasted an amazing 35 years, well beyond its sell by date, and gave huge pleasure to hundreds of children over the years. However, the frame was rusting and our wonderful PTA had been putting money aside for the last few years so we could replace it when the time came. Michael Payne from Freestyle Pools in Godalming built the new one for us and it is just fantastic. The children love the new pool because it is slightly deeper than the old one and much more substantial. We had to raise extra funds this year to pay for it, but it was really worth it. The children performed a show at the end of this term called, very appropriately, "Splash!"; a story about the animals on Noah's Ark and this raised £1400 for the swimming pool fund.

Our Summer Ball at the end of June was another very enjoyable evening. We were blessed with lovely weather this year, after the torrential rain of last year. Guests arrived to the sound of Rodborough School's wonderful Jazz Band and the beach theme was evident in the decorations and palm trees in the marquee. The event made a fantastic £9,000 for the pool.

We said a sad goodbye to two valued members of staff at the end of the term: Mrs Diane Hodgson, our bursar for the last 9 years, who has kept us in budget during the growth of the school, and who now moves to a larger school to gain a wider experience; and Mrs Linda Gibbs, our senior teacher, who has worked at St James since 1991 and who will have taught many in the village over the last 17 years.

PLEASE SUPPORT US