We celebrated out 75th anniversary at the end of June. It was a really special day where we opened up our school for the whole community, especially for those past pupils and teachers from Saint Martin’s. It was a real pleasure to meet former students who had been at Saint Martin’s as far back as the 1940s. We had current students mixing with former pupils who had been here 75 years ago. Can I specially thank Mrs Turvey and Mrs Trotman who put so much effort into organising the day, as well as or the staff and all the pupils who made it such a special event. As part of the celebrations, we also had Bishop Patrick, Bishop of Nottingham, to celebrate mass on the Thursday before the event. Bishop Patrick spent a whole day with us meeting students and staff as well as unveiling a special plaque commemorating part of our history; you can see this plaque and other photos of the event  on pages 2 & 3, which commemorates the handing over of the school buildings and land from the original Dominican sisters in South Africa who founded the school back in 1948. The sisters generously gave the site and buildings to the Diocese in 2020.

For our celebrations we also had made a special commemorative medal for each student marking 75 years of our Dominican heritage when a group of South African nuns travelled to Hinckley all the way from King Williams Town to set up, what was then called, Blessed Martin in the fields.

One of the reasons we remember and commemorate our heritage is that there’s an ambition we have at Saint Martin’s, which was so evident on that Saturday, that pupils who come here don’t just leave with great GCSEs (We’re always among the top in Leicestershire and the Diocese), but also with the qualities that make people successful in life, for example those illustrated in the virtues we try to instil in our young people like Diligence or hard work, Fortitude or strength of character, being confident and articulate, being polite, impeccably mannered and charming. These are the sort of habits we try to inculcate in our pupils so, when they leave Saint Martin’s, they will go off into the big wide world with the skills and talents needed to thrive.