I sit here in my study the day after the best last day of term ever!  A strong coffee in hand, still with a feeling of enormous affection and pride following the most perfect preparation for Christmas.  The staff continued the celebrations into the evening and we shared some of the stories of the last few days.

The story that has continued to improve with each re-telling is the saga of leaving Mrs German in Birmingham after the trip to see Grease on the penultimate day of term.  After the buses had set off the staff realised that Mrs German wasn’t on the bus.  Texts went flying between the buses trying to find out where Mrs German was and on realising that she wasn’t on either of the buses the risk assessment came out- no plan for lost staff-oh no!  What to do?  It was decided the Head needed to know and the reply shared with the girls was “Mrs Mawston has gone ballistic!”The story became even worse- poor Mrs German didn’t have any money to get home.  Helpful suggestions flew around- perhaps Mrs German had wandered off by some miraculous synergy into the German Market? It was some comfort to know that at least she could speak German. The bus driver volunteered to turn round- what a calamity! The buses trundled down the M5 and ten minutes(which turned into an hour after an accident blocked the motorway) away from school the news was shared with the girls that it had all been a skilfully orchestrated spoof by the staff.  Mrs German was always going to stay in Birmingham to attend a concert and the practical jokers on the staff had seen it as an opportunity for Christmas hi-jinks.

Even when the buses were stuck in the traffic jam in true Dodderhill fashion a solution was found to while away the time.  Out came the hymn books from the cunningly perfectly sized blazer pockets and a community hymn practice filled the buses with the favourites from the assembly repertoire.  I can not imagine any other school filling the time in such a way.    I’m not sure what impression the bus drivers will take away with them of Dodderhill- but I’m sure it gave them something to talk about when they got home!

It was an excellent precursor to the last day of term which finished with a truly awe inspiring Christmas Service.  It was agreed by all, that we had been in the presence of “Choirs of Angels” and the music was divinely inspired. I feel it  would have moved even the most jaded to have felt something of the majesty and wonder of the real Christmas message.

The preliminaries to the service were greatly enjoyed- the usual celebrations of achievements with multiple certificate giving out and the award of a new ‘Magna cum Laude’ award which I hope acknowledges those girls who are the all round “good eggs”, unsung heroes and generally positive people to have around.  It was extremely difficult to find a phrase that summed all of that up and think that ‘with great honour’ was as close a phrase as I could find.

We followed assembly with an hour of community singing ( quite clearly it is what we do!) the staff choir sang, Year 11 led us in the actions for the 12 days of Christmas and everyone gave it their best effort.  This was followed by the most sumptuous Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, with the staff serving and sitting on the girls’ tables.  It really was like one big happy family.

So my best school Christmas ever- thank you to all the staff, parents and most importantly the girls for making my first Dodderhill Christmas so memorable.

Best wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Catherine Mawston