The first day of the Michaelmas Term, 3rd September 2015
After a very rainy August, the sun shone for the first morning of the Michaelmas Term, 2015. We welcomed new pupils and welcomed back returning pupils, all ready to commence their school life at St Augustine’s Priory.
From the youngest girls in Prep I who arrived with their parents up to new arrivals in Lower VI, all were greeted at the entrance to the school by staff and members of the Sixth Form. Some girls even arrived on our school minibus which collects pupils from the Chiswick area. On arrival, new girls were accompanied to their classrooms by existing pupils, ready to welcome and answer any questions our new Augustinians might have.
An integral element of the new term is our celebration of Mass, one for the Juniors and one for the Seniors. We were very happy that Fr Thomas from Ealing Abbey joined us, the Feast of St Gregory the Great, to celebrate these Masses in our School Chapel.
We are also continuing with our celebration of One Hundred Years of Faith, marking the centenary of the arrival here of the community of the Augustinian Canonesses of the Lateran together with their school, our school, in Hillcrest Road. After being in France since 1634 they took possession of this site on 21st September 1915.
As part of these celebrations, our project, ‘A Stitch in Time’, to upholster and embroider the wooden kneelers in the Chapel is gathering momentum. With the designs now finalised, sessions have been organised for the embroidering to continue this term. All are welcome to join in, whether pupils, parents or staff – tuition will be given!
We have had a very busy summer at St Augustine’s Priory, with Super Camps, a language school, Yourspace and the Film Camp taking place here.
In addition, all the Senior School classrooms have been equipped with new desks, a very tangible sign of new beginnings. Together with all the painting and decorating, we are set for the new term.
Here is the reading from Mass on the first day of term, from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians, a reading which is of great significance at the commencement of a new academic year to everyone in our community at St Augustine’s Priory, whether, parent, pupil or staff.
‘Ever since the day we heard about you, we have never failed to pray for you, and what we ask God is that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you should reach the fullest knowledge of his will. So you will be able to lead the kind of life which the Lord expects of you, a life acceptable to him in all its aspects; showing the results in all the good actions you do and increasing your knowledge of God. You will have in you the strength, based on his own glorious power, never to give in, but to bear anything joyfully, thanking the Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light.
Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.’
