E-weekly Issue 224 - 10 March 2023

OC Katherine Janikoun, our International Women's Day guest speaker

Welcome

This week we celebrated International Women's Day with an inspiring talk from Old Cornelian Katherine Janikoun, Head of Product Engineering at Legal and General, about the opportunities - and challenges - of pursuing a career in technology. On Tuesday, we held our Annual Careers Information Evening - thank you to all parents and Old Cornelians who gave up their time to talk to the girls about a huge variety of career options.

Next week sees Mayfield's Dance Showcase 2023 taking place on Thursday and Friday evening. This show is always great fun and such an uplifting occasion. You can book your tickets using the link below:

Book Dance Show tickets

Celebrating International Women’s Day

International Women's Day (IWD) is held on 8th March every year to celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness of discrimination and to drive gender parity. We had a special assembly on Monday to highlight some of these issues with guest speaker OC Katherine Janikoun, Head of Product Engineering at Legal and General. During her interactive talk on ‘Working in the Male Dominated Environment of Technology’ she asked the girls who inspired them and to name famous people in technology and the majority of the names from the audience were male. Although it will take 132 years to close the gender gap, there are inspiring women emerging in the world of technology. Katherine has also seen big changes in the workplace and she gave great advice on how to hold your own in a male dominated environment.

What the girls said:
"She gave brilliant advice on how to stand up for yourself in the workplace"
"A really interesting career journey"
"So engaging - I loved the Mentimeter surveys"

Mrs Rachel Davies, Deputy Head of Sixth Form

Inspiring Old Cornelians

 On our OC Connect platform we’ve been featuring the inspiring stories of Old Cornelians. This week we talked to Olympian and World Champion Rower, Emily Craig.

What did you do after Mayfield? 
I studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute followed by an MA in East Asian Art at Sotheby's Institute. I rowed and represented GB at U23 level alongside studies and joined the GB Rowing Team full time after finishing my Masters. I competed at the Tokyo Olympics and am currently reigning World and European Champion in the lightweight double.

Who was your greatest influence at Mayfield?
Mrs Morris (Geography & PE Teacher) - before rowing I swam, which was how I got into competitive sport.

Your best memory of Mayfield?
Turning the school into Hogwarts overnight for muck up day!

Where are you now?
Still rowing fulltime and hoping to compete at the Paris Olympics.

Advice you’d give to your younger self?
Trust your gut more - it's generally right!

Mayfield Careers Information Evening

The Annual Mayfield Careers Information Evening was held on Tuesday evening (luckily several hours before snow hit Mayfield). It was lovely to see so many girls in Years 9 to 13 sign up to the career talks. There were a wide variety of career talks to listen to, covering: teaching, medicine, psychotherapy, finance, banking, law, degree apprenticeships, human resources, acting, science writing and researching, engineering, environmental research, The Army, audience and gaming development, and working in the music industry.

Listening to speakers from a variety of careers helps build awareness of career opportunities and empower Mayfield girls to understand the world of work so they can make more informed decisions and inspire them along the way to their future careers. Making decisions about one’s future can be tricky and hopefully this event has played a helpful part in this process. 

Judging by the feedback received from girls, parents and the speakers, the event certainly inspired and opened up the girls to careers they may never have considered as well as confirm career decisions for some of the older girls.

A very big thank you to all the old girls (OCs), parents and Friends of Mayfield who very kindly gave up their time to prepare and give the talks.

Mrs Saunders, Head of Careers

Here are some quotes from Year 12 girls about the evening:
"The career talks I attended were insightful and interesting. They helped me gain a better understanding of working in these careers."
"The environment researcher was very knowledgeable and went into a lot of detail about the types of Green Careers we could go into."
"I received lots of interview tips in the Human Resources talk as the speaker specialised in recruitment. It was very useful to find out what hiring departments look for and how to stand out in a competitive jobs market."
"I really enjoyed the careers evening because although I already knew I wanted to be a lawyer, the talks gave me a deeper insight to the actual reality of a working lawyer and helped me learn more about the possible career paths to get to be a practising lawyer."

Maths Feast

On Monday we welcomed  students from The Skinners' School, Beechwood School, Tonbridge School and Woldingham School for our annual Maths Feast team challenge, organised in collaboration with AMSP (Advanced Mathematics Support Programme).

Students had the opportunity to "taste" a variety of problems. Here’s what they said:

"I found it very educational. Some questions were particularly challenging, but we worked together as my team and got the right answers at the end. I enjoyed it very much!" - Meryl, Year 10

"Overall, I found the competition quite fun. We got to be in a team with our friends to work out different types of questions from algebra to finding out pi! While competing we also learnt about Archimedes’ method of estimating pi. It was very educational." - Sabrina, Year 10

Mrs Jana Carpinato, Teacher of Mathematics

Drama Students Perform Examination Pieces

On Thursday evening, the Year 11 Drama students performed their examination pieces to an invited audience of parents and friends. A varied repertoire led the audience from Ancient Greece all the way to 1980s Manchester. Having already presented these pieces to an external examiner earlier in the week, the girls relished the opportunity to perform for enjoyment's sake! They exuded professionalism and a generous team spirit throughout the evening. The audience proved very receptive to the pieces and it was lovely to see members of the Mayfield community come together in this way. Thanks to Miss Clark for her technical support and Mrs Santo for her wardrobe supervision.

Mr Dan Smith, Teacher of Drama

MESSy Charity Day

Our MESSy Charity Day is coming up! On Friday 24^th March, MESSy will be running a boot sale to promote reusing and recycling clothes/equipment/books etc…. to raise money for Sussex Wildlife Trust. If anyone has anything that they don’t wear/use anymore or were thinking of donating to charity, please bring it in and take it to Mr Adams’s Geography room (Room 15) before the 20^th March. Items could include for example, clothes, accessories, books, textbooks, stationary, riding equipment, sports kit/equipment, hangers. If you don’t want it and it’s in a good condition, there will most definitely be a person who does! 

Amelia Hofmeyr, MESSy prefect

Sports Update

U13s Qualify for County Cricket Finals
On Thursday our U13 Cricket team qualified for the County Finals of the Lady Taverners Indoor Cricket Tournament with a 100% record, winning all three of their matches.

Read the full report

Netball vs Lingfield
U15A
Won 39 -15
Players’ Player Mia, Coaches’ Player Leona and Sammie-Ann

U15B
Won 20-10
Players’ Player Izzy, Coaches’ Player Izzy and Sophia C

U15C
Won 31-9
Players’ Player Sophia S, Coaches’ Player Annabel G-G

Full match reports on SOCS

Swimming
On Monday we had our final full squad gala of the season against Burgess Hill. They had some great swimmers in their team but so did we! The Mayfield girls should be proud of their organisation and independence when swimming at a home gala like this, as once the race sheet is done the rest is up to them, whilst myself and other PE staff are busy running the logistics of the event. They were on time to races, got their relay orders sorted and managed a few swaps where necessary. Much of this was down to Captains Kitty, Flora, and Sarah, for whom this was her last gala after many years of successful competitive swimming in our squad. It was exciting to record a win to finish the season off and I hope the girls are as proud of their efforts as I am. We have one final Junior Gala to go on 20th March before the competitive swimming season closes until next year. 

Upcoming Fixtures
Saturday 11^th March
Ardingly Fixture: U18A & B, U16A & B, U15A, B & C, U14A & B

Monday 13^th March
Football vs Bedales, U18A

Wednesday 15^th March 
Netball vs Burgess Hill, U13 A, B, C & D, U12A, B & C

Thursday 16^th March 
Badminton vs Rodean & Burgess Hill, U16A
Indoor Hockey Tournament, U12A

Saturday 18^th March
Netball
Benenden Tournament, U18 A & B, U16A
The Kings School Canterbury Fixture, U15A, B & C, U14A, B & C

Mayfield Girls Compete in Hockey Kent Cup

Last Sunday three of our Year 7 girls travelled to Canterbury with their respective club teams for the Hockey Under 12 Kent Cup. They played well in cold conditions with 8 matches across the morning and all finished with a medal!

Congratulations to Amelia for her bronze medal, with her Marden team coming third in the plate competition. A huge well done for their silver medals to both Saskia and Flo whose Sevenoaks club team finished second in the cup competition meaning they qualify for regionals!

George Fletcher

Gabs' Round-Up

Gabs' girls have had some contrasting activities recently, with a trip to Hever Castle and Gardens as well as a rather lovely cupcake competition. The theme was ‘the seasons’ and the winning cakes (pictured below) were made by Dora and Sherene, who were rewarded with vouchers to spend at The Hub.

No term is complete without a Boarders' shopping trip, so last weekend most of the boarders headed off to Bluewater with plenty of pocket money, ready to come back laden with bags and rather tired.

Mrs Pippa Whitby, St Gabriel's Housemistress.

Ronan's Reflection

“We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!” - Pope St John Paul II (or possibly St Augustine of Hippo, though the point stands!)

Technically, I shouldn’t be using the word ‘Alleluia’ during Lent, but I feel the Lord might forgive me this one. As we settle into the drudgery of long grey days and chocolate-free evenings, I think it’s important to remind ourselves that this is a time of preparation, and of purification. It’s important to look forward with hope, and to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel - the light of the Risen Christ. We should look forward with longing to the day when we can shout ‘Alleluia’ once again, and no matter how grim, how difficult Lent might seem to be, let us remember first and foremost, that we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song.

The context of this ‘Easter people’ quote from Pope St JPII speaks profoundly to us at this moment. Part of an Angelus address given in Australia back in 1986, JPII said:

“We do not pretend that life is all beauty… we are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song! We are not looking for a shallow joy but rather a joy that comes from faith, that grows through unselfish love, that respects the “fundamental duty of love of neighbour, without which it would be unbecoming to speak of Joy.” We realize that joy is demanding; it demands unselfishness; it demands a readiness to say with Mary: “Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

Let us continue to look for joy this Lent in unselfishness; let us model ourselves on Mary’s fiat - her total and complete ‘yes’ to God’s will for her life; let us be a people of hope, an Easter people, a people with ‘Alleluia’ bubbling in our hearts, longing for the day we can sing our song once more!

Lord Jesus,
Hope overcomes
Hope heals
Hope restores
Hope inspires
Hope conquers
Hope frees
Hope is your gift to the world
Thank you
Amen.

Mass on Sunday is at 11:30am, and on Tuesday at 6pm. All are welcome.

Mr Ronan Lavery, Chaplain

Friends' quiz & curry Night

Parents and staff enjoyed a superb curry and quiz on Saturday night in the upstairs dining room in School. Eight teams competed in a trivial pursuit style quiz with the winning team ’Comfortably Dumb’ taking home chocolate gold medals. We played Heads & Tails and raised £340 for the UNICEF earthquake appeal.

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