We're swinging into top gear as we prepare for the general election and for the St Mary's mock election on Thursday 6th May. So here's some advice on how to vote, an explanation of what a hung parliament means and a few ways of crunching the numbers from the BBC.

You can also watch it happening live right here.

St Mary's and Wordfest

Cambridge Wordfest 2010 is about to arrive and with it a whole host of famous writers. We are delighted to be sponsoring the Writing History event on Saturday 10th April. Some of our 6th Form will be there with Man Booker Prizewinner Hilary Mantel and Rebecca Stott, a previous visitor to St Mary's. Check out the programme and book your tickets before they all get snapped up.

The Sixth Form in Stratford

From this

to this

and these

via them

and her

and him ...

... the English Department's Sixth Form Literary Weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon

Othello at the RSC

There is some really useful information here about Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Our A Level students will be going to Stratford next week for a workshop run by the company.

International Links

Year 9 have been trailblazing our new partnership with Alfrink College in the Netherlands. In the video above you can see the equivalent class at Alfrink (with whom they have been corresponding) saying hi and in the video below St Mary's response. Rest assured, their correspondence has been more sophisticated than that.

So you want to be a journalist?

So here's the scenario: you want to be a journalist but you don't know what to study at university. The truth is that Journalism is not the best course to do (at least as a first degree). English, History, Politics ... and many other courses are worth considering. However, if you do go for a journalism course at undergraduate or as a postgraduate you should check that it is accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Here's where to look.

But more important is getting your foot in the door via work placements. Click here for information about getting a placement with the BBC. 

More MUNA videos

And just one piece of photographic evidence that not all delegates had their thoughts fixed on complex political matters all the time.

MUNA Video

To give you a little more of the flavour of the conference we have uploaded a brief extract from a speech from the opening conference. We'll try to ad more later.

And the news today is ...

While idly leafing through my Dutch National paper this morning, I came across this article on our Model united Nations Conference. You might recognise one of our students.

Let the debate begin

The great thing about attending this Model United Nations Conference in the Netherlands is the opportunities it provides for international collaboration. Here is one of our students (from Brunei) representing France and a Dutch student (representing Germany)!

We have also heard from Dan King from the US Embassy in Amsterdam who spoke to the Crisis Committee and the Security Council about crisis management, with particular reference to Haiti and last year's Turkish plane crash in the Netherlands.

But there have been plenty of opportunities for students to speak as well as to listen. Here is one of our students, representing Afghanistan, successfully defending a resolution on women's education.

And here is another of our students enjoying the vote (even though it went against her!)

And, last but not least, here's yet another of our students just having fun.

Model United Nations Alfrink

Many of the Sixth Form are currently on the outskirts of the Hague in the Netherlands attending a Model United Nations Conference. Even as I type, students are lobbying, debating, submitting and defending resolutions. The planning started early and continued in the Eurostar station,

 and on the train

It was a little chilly when we arrived

 but everyone is in very good spirits! After checking out the Prime Minister's Office

we headed back to Alfrink College for further training. It's that way ...

Two of our students gave speeches at the opening conference (and we were very proud of them) before everyone moved into their repsective committees.

We have heard a high level of debate so far and are very much looking forward to the next day and a half. Updates to follow if we can find time.