E-weekly Issue 226 - 24 March 2023

Mayfield Festival of Ideas

This week has seen the launch of the first ever Mayfield Festival of Ideas. Mayfield Scholars in Years 9-13 presented a range of ten interactive workshops over the course of the week to the girls in Years 7 and 8. Topics incorporated art, psychology, philosophy, ethics, linguistics, economics, science, literature, drama, computing, music, history and the news in multiple cross-curricular ways. Mrs Blagden and Miss Parrett also prepared a display of new non-fiction books in the Lower School library along with a competitive quiz to encourage the girls to engage with them. The feedback on the Festival has been extremely positive so far from both presenters and attendees. Mrs McGovern posted on the Festival Team last night, ‘I have been having fabulous discussions all evening with girls in Leeds. They have really been inspired by you! Brilliant. What you managed to draw out of them with your presentations was impressive. A real gift to them.’ Mrs Bunce commented, ‘very enjoyable and thought provoking!’ Peer teaching can be an enormously successful learning tool and we would love to encourage any girls interested to suggest a workshop idea for next year – scholar or not!

Mrs Kasia Kilvington, Head of International English, Gifted and Talented Coordinator

Model United Nations

Last Saturday eleven students attended a MUN Conference at Cobham Hall on Climate Change. It was a great opportunity to meet and debate with students from other schools, and to discuss some really interesting topics. Lower Sixth student Cosima, who won best delegate said; “It was great to be part of such fast-paced and complex discussions, and I really enjoyed it."

Within the conference the students split into different committees to discuss a wide range of topics including water and food security, before uniting in the General Assembly to debate an emergency scenario.

Several Mayfield students won prizes for their debating and all enjoyed the experience.

Mr Robert Meek

ICE Award

We are delighted to announce that out of 140 schools from across the UK, our team of three talented Year 12 pupils has been awarded second place in this year’s ICE CityZen Competition. Isabella, Elizabeth and Megan won the Silver Award for a plan they created to implement heat pumps in order to cut carbon emissions at School. CityZen is a UK-wide competition in which student teams learn about civil engineering through completing virtual game challenges. They then take the lessons they’ve learned and apply them to their own civil engineering proposal and submit a video entry explaining their idea. 

‘The ICE CityZen Competition experience was incredibly valuable, we all learnt a lot of technical skills and problem-solving techniques through the initial game, and applied these to a real-world problem in the video task. The process was challenging and exciting, teaching us many transferable skills in engineering and design, while allowing us to improve our communication and teamwork skills. After receiving the competition results, we were we lucky enough to be invited to the ICE headquarters in Westminster, where we had a celebratory lunch with the other winning teams and the ICE President. It was an exciting and informative day with a lot of interesting conversations!’ 
Megan, Year 12

Psychology Club

Since the beginning of the year, we have run a Psychology Club for students in Middle School. This club was a good opportunity for younger students in the school to get a wider understanding of what Psychology as a subject is all about. It was also a safe space for them to ask anything they wanted to about the A level. We covered topics from how the brains of bilingual people differ from unilingual brains, to the role of psychology in the criminal justice system, to fun food tasting experiments and the different types of learning. We hope all the girls enjoyed this club as much as we loved running it!

Anabelle & Alex, Upper Sixth

Anabelle and Alex worked incredibly hard to enthuse students about psychological issues which can be seen in everyday life. They chose topics of interest from outside of the Psychology syllabus thus extending their own knowledge. The Psychology Club students really enjoyed spending time with their older peers and have been inspired in their future studies. Many thanks to Anabelle and Alex for all the time and effort they put into running this successful club.

Miss Noyes, Teacher of Psychology

Year 9 RS Update

In Religious Studies, we have been doing some creative group projects on Jewish festivals and the Holocaust. For the Jewish festivals, we were able to incorporate traditional food from a Jewish kosher dinner in the classroom and look at different aspects of Judaism, including architecture, artwork, the Shabbat and much more.  In these projects, we had to work individually at first and then as a group which was great fun to do, and we worked well collaboratively with all of the finished projects ending up being really interesting and well-presented. After the presentations, we did some peer assessment where we gave each other a mark, and EBI (even better if), and a WWW (what went well). Overall, we have all learned a great deal from these creative projects and were able to look at different aspects of Jewish culture, festivals, and the Holocaust in an engaging way.

Alice (Year 9 student)

Charity Fundraiser Update

Thank you to all the staff involved, and to everyone who has donated to our Charity Fundraiser in support of the Sandra Jones Centre. Donation points are up all around school for you to donate, even if it's just your spare change, and there's a card machine at Reception too. This really is an amazing cause and so please be generous! 

Here are our targets again: 
Ronan - £500 
Mr Walser - £1,000
Mr Cowan + Mrs Le Riche - £1,250 
Mr Smith + Mrs Aherne - £1,500
Mr Warren - £1,750
Mr Ferguson + Mr Meek - £2,000 
Dr Corvan - £2,500 
Mr Doy - £5,000

Sissy, Charities Prefect

Trip to Herstmonceux 

Last weekend boarders from Year 7-10 visited The Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux. A great time was had by all and the girls particularly enjoyed having a tour of two of the telescopes on site. Another highlight of the trip was the balance board where groups had to work together and think about forces to make the board balance.

A Busy Sunday in Gabs

Following Saturday’s visit to the Observatory, Sunday started with a lazy late morning brunch. Following this our Year 9s headed out to go trampolining, with our Year 10s going out for sushi or to Wagamamas, whilst others tried their hand for the first time at Pop Lacrosse or a more gentle option of Origami. 

Mrs Pippa Whitby, St Gabriel's Housemistress

Guess Who?  

Katie and Charlotte in Year 11 have been very busy drawing every member of St Michael's boarding house (including staff). See how many you can guess!

Sports Update

Swimming News
Our Junior Swimming Team, captained by Kitty, made their way to Bede’s on Monday evening for their final gala of the season against Bede’s Prep. Alas it was not meant to be as there had been a mix up at their end. However, we forged ahead and made up our own gala! Team Dory took on The Drowning Jellyfish as they swam in a variety of races finishing with a squadron relay. Team Dory were victorious and although the girls were disappointed not to have match tea, a good time was had by all. It was an unusual end to what has been a very good season for the squad.

Congratulations to Tabatha

 Year 11 Tabatha has been nominated by the International Dance Teachers’ Association (IDTA) for the National IDTA Musical Theatre Awards – this is based on her high mark achieved in her last Solo Gold exam. Congratulations Tabatha!

Ronan's Reflection

This week, I just wanted to share a quick thought about courage. In Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the story of Jesus travelling to Bethany, where his friend Lazarus had just died. The village of Bethany lay just two miles from Jerusalem, where the Pharisees were plotting Jesus’ death. The apostles tried to convince Jesus not to go, but he was adamant. Thomas (the Doubter), ended the debate decisively by saying “Let us go too, and die with him.” (John 11:16)

What courage! Thomas knew the danger they would be facing on making the journey, but he was determined to stand, in that moment, with Christ. Even though he ran away when Jesus was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane, even though he famously doubted the Resurrection, his discipleship, and his courage in this moment, are remarkable.

Courage is a quality we see every day here at Mayfield. And it comes in all shapes and sizes. Whether it’s the courage to get up and perform at the Dance Show, fly to Dubai to play cricket and hockey, or sing in Paris, it takes courage to put yourself out there. It takes courage to stand up for what is right, to speak out against injustices we might see in our community, our friendships, and our relationships. It takes courage to stand with the outcast and marginalised.

It also takes courage to ask for help, and to allow yourself to be helped. To sign up for the Rainbows programme, for example, or to speak to a parent or trusted member of staff about issues you might be struggling with; or to let them know about a friend whose behaviour might have changed recently, or they might have said something that concerns you.

It takes courage to bear witness to Christ’s values, especially when they don’t conform to the culture around us. To be compassionate, humble, and chaste can open us up to persecution and ridicule. Do we have the courage to face that? To defend those who find themselves facing it?

It takes courage to pick ourselves up after a fall. If we fail, or miss a milestone, or lose a match, it takes courage to pick ourselves up and keep going. But that’s what Thomas did. He committed himself to Christ before running away at the first sign of danger, then doubting His resurrection. But he also ended up in India as a missionary, eventually being martyred for his faith. He courageously lived out his conviction to go and die with Jesus.

This weekend, let’s applaud the courage of our Mayfield Girls, whatever form it takes. Let’s tell them how brave they are, and why. Let’s encourage and support them, and promise that we will walk alongside them on their journey. St Thomas the Apostle, pray for us.

Mass on Sunday is at 12pm instead of 11:30am. Tuesday Mass is at 6pm. All are welcome.

Mr Ronan Lavery, Lay Chaplain

Cornelian Lecture – Save the Date

News from the Friends

From the School Shop

Lost Property
Please see below pictures of lost property in the school shop. If you think any item is yours please collect from the School Shop. If unclaimed by the Easter Holidays they will be disposed of or sold for charity.