E-weekly Issue 230 - 5 May 2023

Welcome

The sun is shining, the girls' cricket team is in action as I write, and the Coronation is on Saturday.

Megan, Elizabeth and Evangeline in Lower Sixth were awarded Gold in the British Physics Olympiad Experimental competition and travelled to London last week to collect their awards. Only four Golds were awarded nationwide! Many congratulations.

I continue to meet parents, students and staff and continue to be impressed by their passion for the School. We draw close to public exams and I always feel that once we start, pre-exam nerves will evaporate. I had a tour of the Equestrian Centre - wow!  What a fabulous facility - is there a better one in a British school? School development planning continues led by our excellent bursar Richard Gordon.

Have a wonderful weekend with your children and the Coronation!

With very best wishes,
Jonathan Forster 

British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) Experimental Awards

Lower Sixth student Megan tells us all about the experimental project she was involved in as part of the BPhO Awards:

Last week, three A-Level physics students in Year 12 travelled up to the Royal Society in London for the Annual British Physics Olympiad Awards. We were placed in the top four nationally for the Experimental Project within the BPhO categories, with our extended experimental report receiving a Gold award. The project was entitled 'Investigating Impact Craters', within which we simulated asteroids hitting the surface of celestial bodies such as the moon. We did this through using 3D printed spheres or 'asteroids', and flour to act as the moon's surface. By 3D printing our own spheres, we could easily change variables such as the density or radius of the 'asteroid', as well as the height at which it was dropped from, allowing us to simulate many different scenarios which may occur in real life.

The Awards ceremony consisted of a lunch, where we had the chance to meet with other winning teams, and network with industry and academic professionals. After the awards ceremony itself, we attended a lecture given by Professor Sarah Bohndiek on the use of Optics in endoscopic imaging techniques, in particular in diagnosing Barrett's Oesophagus. The lecture was enjoyable and it was extremely interesting to see the importance of physics in oncology - we all learnt a lot!

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award Practice Expedition

Mayfield is very proud of the 24 Year 9 girls who successfully completed their Bronze Training and Practice Expedition over the Bank Holiday weekend. Based in the Mayfield area, the four teams successfully navigated their way through the beautiful High Weald countryside (without getting too lost!), enjoying the scenery with many lambs and bluebells to admire along the way. 

On Day 1, each team walked with a member of DofE staff and learned how to navigate and translate what was around them into what they could see on the map, and vice versa. By Day 2, the teams were ready to walk independently with remote supervision, in preparation for their Assessed Expedition later in May in Ashdown Forest. 

The Practice Expedition also gave the girls a chance to try out their expedition menus - learning to cook on Trangia stoves - and perfect their tent pitching skills.  The girls also completed their first aid training on Monday evening with Sussex First Aid. 

Thank you to the following DofE staff who supported the girls on their practice expedition: Mr Glazebrook, Mr Warren, Mr Rich, Mrs Gibson and Mrs Maimi. 

Mrs Mary Saunders, Duke of Edinburgh's Award Manager 

Inter-House Cooking Competition

Well done to all the girls who participated in this year’s Inter-House Cooking Competition to create a decorated pie to celebrate 150 years of Mayfield. The winners will be announced in next week’s e-weekly! 

This week also saw Year 10 and 12 practise their presentation and plating skills. Year 10 made profiteroles filled with creme legere, and Year 12 Culinary Skills students made homemade scotch eggs ready to be plated!

Mrs Sue Smeaton, Head of Food and Nutrition

Prefect Induction

The up-and-coming Prefect Team for next year had their Prefect Induction last week. We spent time discussing our ideas and plans for the year – any thoughts are welcome! Then on Saturday, we were faced with a series of outdoor Laser Tag games at Bewl Water. The blue team was victorious, and a special thanks must go to Mr Doy who led the Blues to victory (without shying away from the treacherous muddy conditions). We ended the day with a pizza outside in the sun – a bright start to our journey as Prefects.
Lizzie, Year 12

Trip to Thorpe Park

Last Saturday boarders from St Gabriel’s and Leeds House visited Thorpe Park Theme Park. In glorious sunshine, the girls had a great time riding the rollercoasters as well as winning cuddly toys and getting soaked on the water rides.

Sunday saw us have a quieter trip visiting Port Lympne Safari Park where we started the day with a safari ride round the park and then enjoyed a talk from the keepers about monkeys and tigers. The girls enjoyed looking at their favourite animals, with some buying cuddly toys in the gift shop afterwards!

Trip to Arundel Castle

Leeds House girls visited Arundel Castle on Sunday, enjoying the beautiful castle buildings as well as the gorgeous displays of tulips of all colours which filled the extensive castle gardens.

Go-Karting Fun

Last Saturday we had a lovely trip to Go-Karting in Brighton. It was a thrilling start to the Bank Holiday weekend, bringing out the competitive side of St Michael’s girls. In the evening, we finished our day off by going to Kiko in Tunbridge Wells, where we were treated with delicious sushi. Everyone had a lot of fun, and we are grateful for such a splendid weekend. 

Katrina, Year 11

Sports Update

Win by 326 runs to 187
Players’ Player: Saskia
Coaches’ Player: Flo

U17A Cricket vs Downe House
Won by 9 wickets
Players’ Player – Zara
Coaches’ Player – Lizzie

Read the match reports

Aegon Tennis
The sun shone as the U13s took on Roedean in their second Aegon League fixture. The girls won three of their singles matches, and one doubles match, which secured an overall win of 4-2. Well done to Anya, Lily, Emma and Savannah who were brilliant and played some really lovely Tennis!

Upcoming Fixtures
Tuesday 9th May U13A Cricket vs Cumnor House
Wednesday 10th May U13A-D Cricket vs Lingfield College
Thursday 11th May U15A Tennis vs Hurstpierpoint College
Thursday 11th May Athletics, Diamond League at Hurstpierpoint College
Saturday 13th May U15A & B, U13A-D Cricket vs Kent College Pembury

Sports Awards

Last week we held our Annual Sports Dinner and Awards. Congratulations to…..

Sportswoman of the Year
Isabel in Upper Sixth was awarded Sportswoman of the Year last week. She is a talented Triathlete, currently competing at the National British Junior Super Series level. Her events also include the Sprint distances of 750m Swim/20km Cycle/5k Run. Isabel has attended the British Triathlon Academy and is part of the Bodyworks Aspire Squad. Locally she won Gold with the Lewes Ladies in Cross Country and is the current record holder at Uckfield Park Run. Isabel is also a core member of the 1st Swim Team in school. The department is incredibly proud of the commitment and dedication shown by Isabel over the past years and recognise her fantastic achievements in her chosen sport. We wish her all the best as she continues to compete.

Team of the Year
This year’s Team of the Year is the U13A Indoor Cricket Team. They were unbeaten in their pool matches with 3/3 wins, qualifying for the county rounds, where they again were unbeaten with 3/3 wins. In the county final they lost by 16 runs to Seaford College. Throughout the competition the team showed excellent all-round skills, working as a team in the field, supporting the consistent bowling and batting with great intent throughout, scoring highly in every game. The PE Department would like to congratulate the group and are looking forward to seeing this team develop their Cricket further.

The Dangers of Vaping

STEM Hero

Coronation Ephemera in the Library

These amazing items celebrating and commemorating the coronations of previous monarchs have been on view in the main library for staff and students to look at.

Some of the souvenir programmes and newspapers are a little fragile but contain a wealth of historical and social information. The advertisements shed light on what people in decades past were buying, or aspiring to buy. It is surprising how many products are still around today. The colour plates and illustrations of the extended royal families are fascinating as are the photographs included of the street scenes.

Ms Jan Blagden, Librarian 

Prayers for the King

 With thanks to Teresa Rakowska

Ronan’s Reflection

In keeping with this weekend’s theme of royalty, our liturgy this week focussed on the Salve Regina prayer, or in English, ‘Hail, Holy Queen’:

SALVE, Regina, mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.  

HAIL holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. Amen.   

Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us.
And after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.

The month of May is dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus. Or ‘Mother of Mercy’, as we call her in the first line of the prayer. Now who do we know she is the mother of? Jesus Christ. Jesus is Mercy. Straight away, in this prayer, Mary leads us to her Son, and reminds us of His mercy for us. Jesus Christ calls us to be people of mercy. People of forgiveness. People of compassion, and of love.

‘Show unto us’, the prayer goes on, ‘the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus’. Mary’s role is to lead us to Jesus. She does this in two ways, I think. First, she prays for us. She intercedes for us. She advocates for us. Have you ever asked somebody to say a prayer for you? It’s the same thing. If you’re going to ask somebody to pray for you to Jesus, why not His mum?

Secondly, Mary is Jesus’ first and most perfect disciple. Her life, how she lived, her ‘Yes’ to God, her desire that God’s will be done, her humility, her gentleness, her motherhood, her chastity - everything modelling to us how we are called to live good and faithful lives. Everything designed to lead us to a close and personal encounter with her son, Jesus Christ.

In liturgy, we began to learn the hauntingly beautiful hymn, Salve Regina, with a view to singing it together at the end of the next Whole School Mass on the 18th May. Parents, perhaps you might test your daughters’ singing, and see if it sounds anything like this!

Salve Regina

IMPORTANT NOTICE: There is no Mass in School this weekend. Weekday Mass next week will be on Wednesday evening, not Tuesday, and will be celebrated at 5:30pm by Bishop Richard Moth. All are welcome to attend.

Mr Ronan Lavery, Chaplain

Save the date: Hansel & Gretel, 17&18 May

Mayfield Theatre Company Seniors presents....an outdoor version of 'Hansel & Gretel'.
Location: Walled Garden next to the Sixth Form Centre.
Refreshments start from 6.30pm, with the performance commencing at 7.00pm.

News from The Friends

Year 9 Parents and Guardians
Drinks in Tunbridge Wells on 11 May at 7.30 pm. Please contact Jo on wanjhealing@hotmail.com.

Year 13 Parents and Guardians
We thought it would be nice to celebrate the end of our time at Mayfield with a delicious raclette evening at The Old Auction House in Tunbridge Wells on Thursday 11th May, 7:30pm. The cost is £20/head plus drinks.

We hope that you are free to join us, it would be lovely to all get together to bid farewell to school life.  Please RSVP Meredith (portermeredith@hotmail.com) & Sheenagh (sheenagh68@yahoo.co.uk)

From the School Shop

Lost Property
We have had two recent incidents of expensive technical equipment being handed in to lost property with no name or identifying features. Please may we reiterate the following messages:

1. NAME all items, including ear pod cases, Apple pens / pencils, electronic stylus and iPads and laptop computers. Apple offers a laser service for naming when you purchase their equipment which is a very effective way of ensuring devices can be easily returned to the correct owner.
2. Use a Sharpie where possible to name items.
3. If an item can be synced to your device and you are given the opportunity to name that device i.e., Sue’s EarPods, please do this.
4. All electronic items should have a serial number or electronic serial number. Please make a note of this somewhere safe.

Pictures of Lost Property 
Please see below the items handed in to lost property this term. If they are not claimed by half term, we will dispose of them or sell them for charity. Please collect from the school shop. The shoes have been left on the bench opposite the school shop. All pictures have been previously sent to students and staff by email.

Year 11 & 13 - Second Hand 
Once you are on study leave and have a reduced need for certain parts of your uniform, if you wish to send this back to the school shop for second hand, please do the following:

1. Please make sure you have uniform for prize giving / sports day which is on Saturday 24^th June – including your house polo.
2. Make sure all the items are washed and ironed. If we must launder them, we will consider the item a donation as we will need to cover the cost of laundering them- this includes ironing them.
3. Please make sure they are the current uniform. We do not take back obsolete uniform or that with the old logo on it.
4. There will be a change of house polos at the end of this academic year, we therefor will be unable to credit the existing house polos.
5. We do not take back white shirts, swim caps, hockey socks or similar items.
6. All items must be in good condition, have no holes, rips, broken zips, or stains and not be faded.
7. You may leave the names on them; we can remove these for you.
8. If you are in doubt, send it all in and what we cannot take for second hand we will recycle for you.
9. Items taken in (and not sent for recycling) will be credited to your school shop account straight away. Therefore please make sure all items you wish to sell are with us by the last day of term. After July 7^th, any items received if you are leaving, will be considered a donation as your account will be shut. For those moving into Year 12, if we receive items after term has ended , we will credit you on the next available bill run.
10. We respectfully remind you that there is no official agreement to take back second hand and the credit we give you is final and non-negotiable. If we deem an item too old or in too poor condition to sell, we will dispose of it responsibly.
11. For Year 11 - please remember to keep your sport bag and any sport kit you know you will need for next year. If you are unsure of your sport choice yet, please keep all your sport kit and then bring items you will not need to me in the autumn term once you have chosen your sport.

Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager