E-weekly Issue 204

Message from Miss Beary

As I write this, the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has just been announced. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and all those who mourn her passing. Her life of selfless service to her people – a life not chosen but inherited - is an inspiration. This morning, as a community, we gathered in the Chapel, and I hope that our prayers can be a celebration of her life and values amidst the sadness.

It has been a great joy to have everyone back in school this week and I had forgotten just how uplifting it is to hear the sound of laughing girls! While I suspect that no one is quite as excited to be back as I am, the rain doesn’t seem to have dampened anyone’s spirits and noise levels are definitely back to normal!  We have much to celebrate and be grateful for, and so much to look forward to over the coming year, as we celebrate 150 years at Mayfield.  

Read Miss Beary's letter to parents and guardians

Activities Fair

On Tuesday we welcomed all the girls to our annual Extra Curricular Activities Fair. It was a busy day and an opportunity for the girls to talk about all the activities on offer at School. New for this year are Forensics Club, Alpha course, and a series of wellbeing activities. We look forward to activities commencing next week.

And so, the Middle School adventure begins.... 

Year 9 have had an action packed and positive start to life in Middle School and I am pleased to report that both myself and the Year 9 tutors were delighted with the confidence, enthusiasm and joy they showed throughout their first week.  The girls participated in a variety of activities from kickboxing and self-defence with SAMA, to wacky races in the gym and around the school grounds, as well as some subdued tasks such as decorating their form boards with their tutors.  It was also humbling to observe the girls feeling safe and comfortable voicing their ideas and opinions in a thought-provoking assembly on Diversity and Inclusion. 

I have particularly enjoyed the comradery developing within each of the Forms and I thoroughly enjoyed joining in with the doodle wallpaper with 9EKW and karaoke with 9IGJ. 9PMF impressed me with their knowledge in the General Knowledge quiz and 9RWM showed me their competitive side in some lively Blooket gaming.  I have no doubt that I will enjoy supporting and working with all the Year 9s throughout their first Year in Middle School, helping them all to reach their full potential. 

Miss Sophie Auer, Head of Year 9

Join us for wine and cheese next Friday

The Sandra Jones Centre (SJC) is a home for abused, abandoned and trafficked children in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. SJC currently house 88 children, from newborn to 20. They provide support, comfort, education and counselling and ongoing care for all mothers and children. Malibongwe (We Give Thanks) Primary School is the newly built school onsite, with over 60 pupils already!

Caroline Smith and Debbie Brennocks will be visiting us to talk about their incredible work, 100% of which is funded by donations. I’ve known Debbie for 12 years now, and the Sandra Jones Centre is  the School's nominated charity for this academic year. I do hope you can join us.

Poetry Please

Please find a link below to an Anthology of Poetry written by Mayfield staff and pupils January to July 2022, edited and curated by English Teacher Lucinda Misiewicz. She said “The idea for Poetry Please came after listening to a Radio 4 broadcast of their Poetry Please programme on a drive back from West Sussex in early January 2022 wondering what school was going to be like with many staff off with Covid. Most of the contributors talked about how poetry affected them and encouraged them to expound their own feelings at times of challenge. I decided to start up a writing programme encouraging all to participate. Each half term was to be dedicated to either a theme or a style. January/February was ‘Words and Me’; March/April was ‘Sonnets’ and the summer term was ‘Jubilee’. Enjoy!


Anthology of Poetry

Commendation for Yueshi in History Essay competition

Congratulations to Yueshi (Y13) for achieving a commendation in the national Julia Wood History Essay competition, organised by St. Hugh’s College, Oxford. She researched and wrote a fascinating piece entitled Assessing the contradictions of politics, religion, and nationalism in the Age of Romanticism and Revolution through life of the French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). She is planning on an Oxbridge History application for next year. Congratulations Yueshi!

David Warren, Head of History

A Summer of Sporting Success for Mayfield Girls (& staff)

Lily and Mia selected for County Netball Squad
Huge congratulations to both Lily (Year 8, defender) and Mia (Year 10, centre court/shooter), who over the Summer have both been successful in gaining a place on the highly competitive U13 (Lily) and U15 (Mia) Kent Netball Squads. Both are committed members of Netball Clubs outside of school and have shown fantastic effort in managing their busy training schedules both for school and their clubs. They are both now officially on the Vitality England Netball Pathway and one step closer to achieving their dreams and goals of playing in the Vitality Netball Super League development programme! 

Siena selected for County Football Team
After a successful summer of English sport, we have some great Footballing news of our own to report. Siena (Year 10) has been invited to join the Kent County Team U16 for this coming season. The squad reached the National Cup final last year and are the reigning Regional Champions. Siena has also been selected to join Junior Premier League JPL REP team at U15 level. 

Furthermore, she has qualified to attend the third and final trial for the Independent Schools Football Association (ISFA) National team U16 which takes place in the middle of September. Congratulations Siena on your achievements and good luck for the upcoming trial.

Sophie rows to third place in British Champs
A fantastic achievement by Sophie and her quad, who came third at the British Rowing Junior Championships in Nottingham in the WJ18 4x category.

3rd place for Mayfield Juniors at Hickstead
On August Bank Holiday weekend Mayfield's Junior Show Jumping Team placed third at Hickstead in the NSEA August Festival. Congrats to the team comprising Mimi, Fleur, Charlotte and Sophia.

Many congratulations also to Annabel who qualified for the national championships later in the year.

Tabatha dances to success! 
It has been an incredibly busy but rewarding Summer for Tabatha in Year 11 as she made her first solo public performance singing and dancing at the Eridge show. In addition, she has taken and achieved her ISTD Musical Theatre Gold Level exam achieving the highest reward of ‘Honors’ and been offered a place on the IDTA Ballet Level 3 Diploma Teaching Assistant course, sponsored and supported by Catherine Bellinger School of Dance. This is a theoretical and practical course and is the first step towards gaining full dance teacher qualifications. All fantastic achievements!

Good luck to Izzy
Good luck to Izzy in Upper Sixth, who is competing in the Commonwealth Karate Championships in Birmingham today. Go Izzy!

Mrs Whitby completes Ironman Maastricht
Mrs Whitby, Gab’s Housemistress, decided to put her summer holidays to good use by competing in an Ironman competition in Maastricht in The Netherlands. The event comprised a 3.8km swim, followed by a 180km bike and a 42.2km run! Pippa completed the course in a fantastic 13 hours and 46 minutes. She described it as “a tough day out!” Congratulations Pippa.

Kitty raises £1,000 for RNLI

This summer Kitty (Year 8) raised £1,000 for the RNLI – specifically the Aldeburgh lifeboat – by painting pebbles and selling them on the sea wall in Aldeburgh. She gave up hours of her time, asking for any donation. The lifeboat were thrilled with the money she raised and gave her a tour of the lifeboat and she got to try on all their gear! Congratulations Kitty!

Sports Update

Senior Pre-Season
Last weekend saw the Senior Hockey players take part in pre-season training. They began their weekend with a visit from David Gover, who ran a number of sessions, including an injury prevention seminar and a Deadlift coaching session to highlight the importance of strength training, before finishing with a threshold training block. All the girls engaged really well with the session and learnt about maintaining themselves as performers. Following that Mrs Whitby gave an excellent seminar on Nutrition, and the importance of fuelling correctly for training, matches and recovery. The whole squad enjoyed sampling the various tasters she had prepared. The afternoon was then spent focused on Hockey tactics, with a classroom session followed by an opportunity to implement new-found knowledge on the pitch.

Saturday night saw a highly competitive Bowling trip, before the squad returned to the pitch on Sunday morning where they played a full 11 a-side game and demonstrated their knowledge from the Saturday sessions and their energy and enthusiasm for the upcoming season. The whole department was impressed with the effort and commitment shown by all who attended, and Mrs Nixon and Mrs Fletcher are excited for the season ahead. Fantastic start Ladies!        

Coming up this weekend
Pre-Season Hockey training for Years 9 &10, all the details are on SOCS. Looking forward to seeing as many girls there as possible. 

Upcoming fixtures 
-Senior cup game v Claremont Senior School
-U12 & U13 v Brighton College 

STEM Hero for September

Library News

Introducing our new New D of E Manager

Hi, my name is Mary Saunders and I am very pleased to introduce myself as the new DofE Manager at Mayfield. I work every Thursday in the DofE Office which is in the Sixth Form Centre. I look forward to catching up with all our current Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE participants as well as enrolling new participants this half term.

Michaelmas Fair – save the date

The Michaelmas Fair will be taking place on Saturday 1 October from 10.00am – 3.00pm. More details to follow soon! This annual event is hosted by The Friends' of Mayfield, with all proceeds going towards the School.

If you would like to volunteer to help out on the day, or if you are interested in running a stall, please contact Susie Pepper on susiepepper10@gmail.com

A message from Ronan

As I look back on the past week, the word that keeps springing to my mind is “belonging”. All week, I’ve felt and experienced belonging; walking throughout this beautiful site, sitting peacefully in the gorgeous chapel, listening to, and laughing with the girls who are the heart and soul of Mayfield - even sitting through yet another meeting… belonging.

And I think this is what makes Mayfield special, what sets us apart - we all belong here. We are invited, we are welcomed, and we are accepted as members of the Mayfield community. Students, staff, parents, we are all accepted for who we are. When Jesus called the 12 Apostles, He didn’t require them to change, He just asked them to join Him. So it is here at Mayfield.

But feeling like we belong, especially in a new place, can be tough sometimes. We don’t know the routine, we don’t know where the nearest loo is, we don’t know the names of the people in our class. We need, sometimes, someone to invite us in, to welcome us in, and to accept us. And I think this is what I’ve had the privilege of watching this week - a community coming together, joyful, loud, enthusiastic, and telling our new girls and staff “You belong!”

Pope Francis said, “We are Christians not only because of others, but together with others”, describing the Church as “a large family that welcomes us and teaches us to live as believers and disciples of the Lord.” What a wonderful description of Mayfield!

At the start of this new year, let us pray for every single member of the Mayfield community. Let’s pray for our new family members, for the homesick, the uncertain, the excited. I pray for those with milestone exams to take this year. Let’s pray for the sick members of our community. Let’s remember those for whom English is not their first language. Let’s pray for our new staff, for those taking on new roles in the school, and for our OCs and former Mayfield girls. Let’s pray for the Mums, Dads, guardians and grandparents who support our girls during their time at Mayfield. Let’s pray that their time at Mayfield is a time of comfort, learning and growth. Let’s pray that they all feel welcomed, accepted, and above all - that they know they belong in this family.

Mr Ronan Lavery, Lay Chaplain