1st July 2021 — Malvern St James Girls' School has been shortlisted in the prestigious Independent School Parent magazine's Independent Schools of the Year 2021 awards. The School has been shortlisted, from a record number of entries, in the Student Wellbeing category.

2020-2021 presented many challenges for the Health and Wellbeing Team, from ensuring the continuation of our excellent pastoral provision in a remote environment to supporting a smooth return to onsite education. We are lucky enough to have well-established systems for supporting Pastoral Care, something which is verified by our Gold Standard accreditation in Mental Health and Wellbeing as recognised by the Carnegie Institute, but adapting these to our new circumstances was essential.

During the pandemic, the Wellbeing Team created an Online Pastoral Tracking System which allowed them to track how pupils were feeling and act where necessary via 1-1 contact with a chosen staff member. They also created fun groups, via Teams, where both pupils and staff could be creative and feel connected to each other.

Pastoral Prefect, Molly, launched a highly successful Self Care Challenge using the themes from her book Mind Your Mind. Molly galvanised the whole school in actively focusing on self-care and wellbeing.

Zinnia Wilkinson, Director of Pastoral Care said, "Mental health and wellbeing is always important, underpinning all other aspects of a person’s life and ability to thrive. There is no doubt that recent months have thrown the importance of this into sharp relief and as a School, we are mindful of the additional pressures on the whole community and potential impact on wellbeing as a result of these. I am delighted MSJ has been shortlisted for the Student Wellbeing award, it is a great testament to the team here."

24th May 2021 — Congratulations to Roseanna, Year 9 at Malvern St James Girls' School, who secured second place in the UK category of the international contest Hit Like A Girl.

Roseanna said "This year I took part in the annual Hit Like A Girl contest, which is an international female drumming competition. I came in second place in the UK category after multiple rounds of public voting and celebrity judging. It was amazing to play alongside so many incredibly talented musicians and to make lots of new friends with the same interest as me.

Hundreds of female drummers from around the world came together to take part in this contest to raise the profile of females in the extremely male-dominated world of drumming.

I chose ‘Jump’ by Van Halen for my entry in the 13-18 age category, and there was a really friendly spirit from a lot of the girls. I made some new friends along the way and we all supported each other throughout the contest.

It was sponsored by all the major drum labels and there was a panel of celebrity judges who decided on the final winners.

The main reason why I took part in this contest was to challenge myself and to show people that women are just as good at drumming as men. I had a huge amount of support from everyone which I appreciate hugely and I want to say a big thank you."

23rd April 2021 — Malvern St James Girls’ School has been appointed as a Trinity Champion Centre 2021/22 by Trinity College London.

Trinity College London is a leading international exam board and independent education charity. They specialise in the assessment of communicative and performance skills covering music and drama, combined arts and English Language. Trinity Champion Centres inspire existing and potential centres by sharing their practice and advocating for the qualifications in their communities and more widely.

The Arts are a popular choice amongst all students, from Prep to Sixth Form, at Malvern St James. The Bronze and Silver Arts Awards are embedded into our curriculum be that through Art, Drama or Music.

Since the launch of the Bronze Arts Award in 2005 pupils in Year 7 and 8 have the chance to work towards this with many progressing to The Silver Arts Award in Year 10 and Sixth Form. As part of the Bronze Award pupils work on their Arts Inspiration section during the course of the year, they then have a whole week off timetable dedicated to completing the remaining three sections of the award.

Malvern St James Girls’ School successfully stages a number of shows, exhibitions and performances throughout the year giving all students the opportunity to perform.

14th April 2021 — Congratulation to Faith and Imogen, Year 8, from Malvern St James Girls' School on winning the ISA STEAM Competition (KS3).

The competition encourages students to investigate and solve problems from today’s world. The competition encouraged teamwork, thoughtful dialogue and problem-solving.

As part of this project Faith and Imogen created the Environment and Sustainability Club. They created videos and posts to raise awareness of how people can make a difference to the environment.

Faith and Imogen said "For this project, it is not just one problem that we are trying to solve, we are tackling many separate problems within the category of environmental sustainability. These include: recycling, growing your own food, reducing waste, reusing everyday items, reducing bills, energy efficiency and buying from local sellers (food and other items)."

Well done to everyone who took part in the first ISA STEAM Competition. The judges were very impressed with all the entries.

Visit the ISA Arts website for details of Faith and Imogen's winning entry.

15th March 2021 — Malvern St James Girls' School has achieved the School Mental Health Award, delivered by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools.

The school was awarded a Gold standard for its outstanding mental health and wellbeing provision.

Headmistress Olivera Raraty said: "I am extremely proud and delighted that MSJ’s outstanding pastoral provision in support of positive mental health has been recognised in this way.

"Mental health programmes have come such a long way in schools in recent years and we are delighted to be at the forefront of this change working with the Carnegie Centre of Excellence.

"This award also recognises the excellent way that staff and pupils support each other day in, day out, to promote wellbeing."

Malvern St James provides a wide range of activities to boost the wellbeing of pupils and staff, including offering Youth Mental Health First Aid training to a cross section of staff and Sixth Form, Wellbeing Champion and Wellbeing Ambassador peer support structures for staff and pupils, mindfulness, mental health and wellbeing lessons taught through PSHEEC and using social media platforms to signpost support and information via @msjbuzz on Instagram and Twitter.

The award was established in 2017 by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools – part of Leeds Beckett University – and social enterprise Minds Ahead.

Professor Damien Page, Dean of Leeds Beckett’s Carnegie School of Education, said: "Achieving this award is not just recognition of a whole-school approach to mental health, it’s a recognition of the school’s commitment to improving the life chances of children.

"We’re truly proud to have worked with Malvern St James Girls’ School in this vital work and look forward to further collaboration."

Dean Johnstone, founder and CEO of Minds Ahead said: "This award shines a light on the excellent work schools are doing to promote mental health for their community of children and adults.

"It is thrilling and humbling to learn about Malvern St James Girls’ School and the many other schools engaged in the quality award process.

"I’d like to offer my congratulations on this deserved recognition."

5th February 2021 — The Malvern St James Girls' School Hearts Dressage Team were crowned overall winners in the National Schools Equestrian Championship Qualifier.

Congratulations go to the winning team of Hannah on Nemo Novice 28, 71.88%, Lottie on Capri Prelim 13, 73.65% and Tiggy on Dash Prelim 13, 69.81%.

The MSJ team succeeded in a class of 21 National School Dressage Teams comprising over 80 riders across the UK all competing for a top-three placing. Congratulations also go to Lottie for a fourth individual qualification on Lucky Novice 28, 71.88%.

Challenging weather conditions and sporting restrictions meant that three MSJ dressage teams, Team Hearts, Team Diamonds and Team Clubs comprising three or four rider combinations, simultaneously recorded remotely their dressage tests under strict criteria.

Our thanks go to other participating team members, Olivia, Serena, Faith and Tilly. A tremendous team effort.