E-weekly Issue 216 - 16 December 2022

Message from Miss Beary

Last week, I noted the Middle House being shut for Live Crib on Monday and Tuesday was this week’s challenge. In the event, I needn’t have worried as it was the least of our problems! The snow that fell on Sunday afternoon meant that few of the day girls were able to join us, but undeterred the boarders stepped into the breach and the show went on. No donkey for the first two days, (so the kind parents who offered to chauffeur her here and back were not needed) but always a baby and even a not-entirely-convincing sheepdog. It was a great joy and badge of honour for the Prefect Team that Live Crib was able to welcome the braver members of the local community and the usual quota of reminiscing OCs every day; including a couple for whom it was their 42nd consecutive year of Live Crib (COVID notwithstanding) and a toddler whose excitement at seeing ‘the baby Jesus’ was palpable.

I hope that wherever you are celebrating this Christmas, you are able to do so safely, with the people you love. That, in itself, is a blessing after the last few years. For those recently bereaved members of our community and indeed anyone for whom there will be a notable absence at the table this year: our thoughts and prayers are with you. There will undoubtedly be challenges over the coming year, but we can be confident that in working together to support your girls and give them the resilience they need to cope with adversity and the confidence and creativity to make the most of opportunities, we are preparing them in the best possible way for the future.

With every blessing for Christmas and the New Year

Read Miss Beary's end of term letter in full

Introducing ‘Watery Glass’

The first edition of ‘Watery Glass’, the new student-produced school literary journal, came out this week. It features several brilliant articles on favourite books, both modern and classic, by Year 11s Sophie F, Breanna, Katie, Rosie and Iulia, and a reflection by Sixth Former Yueshi. Cover art by Iulia. More articles to come in second edition next term.

‘Watery Glass’ has a limited print run. Look out for editions around school (Hub, Library, Beckett). If any student Year 10 or upwards would like to contribute we would be delighted: we want as many ideas and contributions as possible, including creative works such as poems and short stories. Please email jstaunton@mayfieldgirls.org if you’d like to be involved.

Christmas Baking

Year 10 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition Students have been demonstrating their skills - making homemade rough puff pastry Christmas trees and piped spicy Christmas biscuits. 

Mrs Sue Smeaton, Head of Food and Nutrition

Physics Breaktime Talks

In the last two weeks in the Sixth Form physics breaktime talks the girls have discussed fascinating ideas in physics, such as how we could utilise ion propulsion in the future for spacecrafts and commercial planes, as well as taking a deeper look at the physics of some Marvel superheroes.

Lizzie gave a detailed presentation on how ionic wind (a kind of electro-aerodynamic thrust) is currently being used and researched. This included how researchers at places such as NASA and MIT are looking at how electric fields and ionised air molecules can be used to propel an aircraft, as well as the possible hurdles that need to be overcome before this technology can be used on new projects.

Sherry presented on the physics behind the scenes of popular marvel movies, including questioning Ant-Man's ability to shrink to the size of an ant, looking at how fast Iron Man’s suit can accelerate into space, as well as considering how Iron Man’s time frame relative to the Earth would be affected by Einstein's theory of special relativity.

If you're in the Sixth Form and interested in learning new things about science please drop in to Dr. Corvan's lab on Tuesday breaktimes!

Charlotte, Upper Sixth

Shabbat

A note from Annalise and Eloise in Year 9:

In our RS lessons with Mrs Kimber, we have been learning about Judaism beliefs and practices. Recently we have been studying Shabbat, which is the Jewish weekly holiday for rest. During this time, they don’t use technology, transport, or do any work, including cooking and cleaning. Shabbat runs from Friday night to Saturday night, but we celebrated it on Wednesday morning, during our lesson.

We planned our own Shabbat meals in groups. We brought kosher food and ate all together. Our group did a dairy meal with no meat, because according to Kosher rules, you are not able to mix the two.  We also had kosher grape juice, challah, doughnuts, bagels and cream cheese to eat. Whilst other groups brought soup, kosher desserts and more! Throughout the meal, we said traditional prayers and blessings, some in English and some in Hebrew. Our Shabbat experience gave us the perfect opportunity to learn more about Judaism within families, helped us explore our creative and teamworking skills when creating the meals, and was overall a very fun experience.

Sister Jean 150 Maths Challenge

We were delighted that Sister Jean joined us on Wednesday morning to give out prizes for our "Sister Jean 150 Maths Challenge". The girls have completed 150 questions over the term and today we announced the winners for Year 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Year 7
Winner: Hazel
Runner up: Gigi

Year 8
Winner: Emma
Runner up: Audrey

Year 9
Winner:  Cheryl
Runner up: Melissa

Year 10
Winner: Catherine,  Charmeine
Runner up:  Sofie

It was great to see the girls to engage over the last 10 weeks. Merry Christmas to all!

J Carpinato and L Motoc, Maths department

Lower School Christmas Party

On Wednesday afternoon, the Lower School community came together to enjoy their Christmas Party. This year's fancy dress theme was kept broad and simple - Christmas! Festivities began with typical party games, such as musical statues and pass-the-parcel. Some competitive rounds of snowball toss (well thrown, 8JDA!) were followed by the catwalk competition. This gave the girls an opportunity to show off their creative costumes. Congratulations to Year 7s Imogen, Saskia, Valentina and Izzy T, whose Santa/reindeer team effort scooped them the sweet prize! The catering team then laid on a delicious spread of party food for the partygoers to enjoy. Many thanks to the Lower School tutor team for their help in ensuring that this event went so smoothly.

Mr Dan Smith, Deputy Head of Lower School

Christmas in St Gabriel's

Last Friday night Gabs' girls celebrated Christmas with their traditional party organised largely by the Year 10 Leadership Team in the House. The girls enjoyed some food in our festive dining room before heading to the Common Room to watch a music video the girls had made specially, as well as a quiz and some games.

With the snowfall on Sunday the girls had a rather exciting weekend and had great fun making snowmen, a snow cat, a life sized chair as well as throwing plenty of snowballs. Online School on Monday added to the excitement and I know the girls were pleased that the snow didn't disappear as fast as it arrived.

Tuesday evening was our 'Christmas sock' night - the girls leave a sock in the Common Room in the hope that Santa and his helpers will fill it full of chocolate and sweets overnight. They weren't disappointed! The rest of the week has passed in a blur of snow, Live Crib and packing. 

Mrs Pippa Whitby, St Gabriel's Housemistress

Gabs' Girls get Christmassy

Gabs' girls made some beautiful Christmas cards last Saturday using quilling techniques and embroidery.

Micks' Girls get Festive

St Michael's had a lovely festive last weekend of term. 

On Saturday evening we went downstairs to the Courtyard which was laid out beautifully for us to sit round together and enjoy a delicious Asian inspired feast for our Christmas party. Everyone wore a festive colour (including brown for the reindeers) and the girls showed off their wonderful voices with a variety of songs and even a little musical theatre. After dinner we did a small Christmas quiz and then to round up the evening we went back up to the common room to exchange secret santa gifts. 

On Sunday we headed into Tunbridge Wells for some Christmas shopping and ice skating, with snow falling to make it even more magical. Due to the snowfall we were able to extend our afternoon in town and the girls had a lovely dinner in Wagamamas to finish off the weekend.

Mrs Robertson, Housemistress

Magic on Ice

 On the final Saturday of term the Sports department took boarders from Leeds, St Gabriel’s and St Dunstan’s into Tunbridge Wells. The first stop on a suitable wintery day was the ice rink in Calverley Park. With nearly 100 girls on the ice the session was almost exclusively Mayfield! The girls skated  round with friends to Christmas music in the magical setting, which also featured a Christmas market. There were varying degrees of ability and skating experience but all the girls were smiling and laughing their way round. Shopping followed, with all the girls taking the opportunity to stroll around the many shops in Tunbridge Wells and stopping for a hot drink before returning back to School. Thank you to all the girls for a wonderful day out and of course to all the staff who joined us.  

Snow Fun for Leeds' Boarders

Miss Jones took Leeds House out for their PE lesson to have some fun in the snow!

Sports Update

It has been an interesting week in the world of PE with all outdoor space out of use due to the snow. We were sadly unable to run Christmas Hockey for Years 9 and 10 which I know they were disappointed about; however they have some time before next year to perfect their Xmas outfits! Despite the disruption to lessons, the girls have brought their best Christmas spirit to PE lessons and have enjoyed a variety of activities including Dodgeball, Benchball and Just Dance.

The move back to virtual lessons saw the return of the picture competitions. Year 7 were tasked with creating a ‘snow something’ where we saw some extremely innovative creations.

Well done to everyone who took part in Hockey this term, especially those who represented the school in Hockey fixtures. The Year 10s sadly missed their final Hockey match, however Miss Starr would like to congratulate them on the progress they made throughout the season. The Year 9 team managed to squeeze in one last game before the frost came. Despite losing to to Lingfield, they have showed real promise of late with their Hockey. Well done all.

On behalf of the PE department, we would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and look forward to welcoming the girls back in the New Year. Time to dust off those Netball trainers!

County Football Honours for Siena

Congratulations to Siena, who played for Kent at U16 level for the first time this week. Kent won 5-2 versus Sussex U16s.

Ronan's Reflection

In This Holy Season

Lord, in this holy season of prayer, song, and laughter,
we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us:
for shining star and angel's song, for infant's cry in lowly manger.
We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child.
We behold his glory and are bathed in its radiance.
Be with us as we sing the ironies of Christmas,
the incomprehensible comprehended,
the poetry made hard fact,
the helpless Babe who cracks the world asunder.
We kneel before you shepherds, innkeepers, Magi.
Help us to rise bigger than we are.

Amen.

- Author Unknown

My prayer for the Mayfield Community this Christmas is a prayer of peace. ‘Peace’ is not just an absence of conflict- it is instead, the presence of love. It is the acknowledgement of the dignity and divinity of every person we encounter; and the fact that- no matter how imperfect we all might be- we are loved and valued unconditionally. So this Christmas, I wish you all a happy, holy, joy-filled, but above all, peaceful, Christmas.

“O Christ, born for our sake, teach us to walk beside you on the paths of peace. Happy Christmas to all!” -Pope Francis

CAFOD Christmas Coffee Morning

Come and join us on Saturday 17th December from 10.30 am -12.30 pm  in the Courtyard at School. Enjoy tea, coffee, mulled wine and mince pies by the warming log fire. There will be the popular bottle tombola stall, chocolate tombola, grand raffle and much more.  All proceeds go to CAFOD

Mayfield in the Snow

We thought you might like to see some photos taken by our staff of the School following last Sunday’s heavy snowfall. Enjoy!

News from the Friends of Mayfield

Burns Night Supper