Sky Up Academy at Sky Studios

Year 12 Media and English Language students recently enjoyed an inspiring trip to the Sky Up Academy at Sky Studios Elstree, where they explored the fast-paced world of film and television production.

Working in teams, students took on a range of industry roles from director, producer and editor to stylist as they developed and pitched their own film ideas, which they had prepared ahead of the visit. They threw themselves into the challenge with real energy and enthusiasm, gaining first-hand insight into the creative and technical stages of the filmmaking process.

The day also included an in-depth careers session, opening students’ eyes to the many roles that exist behind the scenes in film and TV. Alongside creative roles, they learned about careers such as marketing managers, assistant producers, location managers, production accountants and sound technicians highlighting just how many people it takes to bring a film to life.

To round off the experience, students toured the impressive site, seeing the vast soundstages and learning about recent productions filmed there, including Wicked and Paddington. A memorable and motivating visit that brought classroom learning vividly to life.

/by

Girls U13 Football

Congratulations to the Girls U13 football who competed in the ESFA Cup competition last week.

The squad consisted of majority Y7 students and 4 Y8’s: Elli-Rose, Talyah, Eliza S, Marlie-Rose, Amelia J, Chrisandra, Lavinia, Arabella, Maisie, Jessica B, Francesca, Anastasia and Eliza H.

The team came up against a strong All Saints Catholic team from Dagenham and Redbridge, at half time the score was 1-1 with a goal from Ellie-Rose, early in to the second half All Saints took the lead with a quick response from Amelia to make it 2-2.

The team battled for the whole match in extremely difficult conditions, relentless rain and a muddy pitch made it difficult for the girls to play the ball around and to feet but didn’t stop trying for the whole match.

In the end All Saints came out on top having held them at 2-2 for a considerable amount of time in the second half.

Well done to all the team, a lot of whom have never played a competitive match before, we look forward to playing some more matches to build on the enthusiasm and commitment they showed against All Saints.

/by

Sixth Form Charity drive, December 2025

During the last week of Autumn term our Sixth Form prefects were selling Christmas Candy Canes during social times, raising money for Teens Unite, a charity agreed by our Student Council.

The initiative proved very successful, with the sum of £252.12 being raised to support this worthy cause.

Well done to the St Mary’s community.

/by

Young Enterprise at The Dickensian Evening

In December our two Young Enterprise teams, Sensoira and Le Votre ran their own Christmas stalls at the Dickensian Evening in Ware. Despite the cold, wet and windy weather the students set up professional looking stalls and managed to sell many of their products to the public who were very complimentary about what they were doing. It was a busy evening and the students used various marketing techniques, including being dressed as Santa and singing to their customers. It was great to see their confidence grow as well as watch them gain different transferable skills such as teamwork, communication, organisation, display presentation and finance management.

/by