E-weekly Issue 231 - 12 May 2023

Welcome

After four weeks at Mayfield, I can say in all honesty that I have never known a school that provides such a variety of opportunities for its students.

As I write, the leavers are preparing for Muck Up day - apparently a tradition that allows senior students to celebrate their time at Mayfield in a novel format.  We shall see..!

The Equestrian centre is one of the jewels in the Mayfield crown and celebrated its successes over the last year in fine style with a celebratory dinner and awards this week.

And whilst all of this goes on, the examination students keep their heads down preparing for GCSEs and A levels, which start in earnest on Monday.

You will have seen the summary of the ISI compliance report: it's a tribute to some outstanding work by administrators, teachers and house staff; thank you!

Finally, we have Mayfield Day coming up on Saturday 24^th June, with our Whole School Speech and Prize Giving Celebration in the morning, followed by lunch and Inter-House Athletics. Please confirm your attendance by completing the registration form below. I look forward to seeing you all there. 

Enjoy the weekend. 

With very best wishes,
Jonathan 

Mayfield Day 2023 - Please Register now!

You are warmly invited to celebrate Mayfield Day with us on Saturday 24th June. Please confirm your attendance below.

Registration form for Mayfield Day

Siena selected for England U15s

Siena in Year 10 has been selected for the U15 team to represent England at the Gothia World Youth Cup this July being played in Sweden. This is on the back of her county team making the finals of the regionals as well as the nationals with the aim of winning both and becoming the most successful Kent team ever. We are very proud of Siena’s progress and wish her all the success in the world for these exciting opportunities up ahead.

Maths 'Picnic'

On Tuesday we ran the Maths 'Picnic' in partnership with the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP). This is a fun educational challenge for Year 9 students exploring problem-solving and teamwork skills.  Our girls represented the School in three teams alongside teams from St Bede's. The teams of three students tested their maths skills with an all-you-can-eat picnic of problems! We all had fun and are already looking forward to next year’s challenge!

"It was enjoyable doing the maths questions as they are challenging, especially the first round when a puzzle had to be done in a very limited time. Thank you to all teachers who organised it and to all the competitors, I have enjoyed it very much." - Ivana Leung (Y9)

"I find maths one of the most interesting subjects and this event was enjoyable because it improved our teamworking and understanding of mathematics." - Ariel (Y9)

Mrs Jana Carpinato, Teacher of Mathematics

Psychology Essay Competition

Last term two Lower Sixth Psychology students, Melody and Annabel, entered an essay competition run by Northeastern University in London on the subject:  'How could psychology explain atrocious acts towards humans, such as during war time?'

Melody was awarded highly commended for her essay, whilst Annabel was selected as a finalist and invited to a conference in London, where she enjoyed talks covering writing personal statements, studying psychology, and also where a psychology degree can take you in the future. The talks were followed by an awards ceremony.

Reflecting on the conference and the competition itself, Annabel said, “it was an inspiring day, getting to meet students and see the London campus, with the essay providing a great opportunity to do further research into interesting and complex topics.”

Miss Charmaine Noyes, Head of Psychology

Easter Soloists' Concert

On Thursday 4th May, Scholars and invited Gifted and Talented musicians gave a concert of solo and chamber music in Gresham at 7pm. The concert included everything from Jazz and Music Theatre to early operatic arias and twentieth-century piano music. Performances from musicians near the end of their Mayfield musical journey were particularly enjoyable, including Mia (Year 13, clarinet), Christina (Year 13, piano and voice), Yueshi (Year 13, piano and voice) and Teresa (Year 13, violoncello). All the girls gave their best and the result was a hugely varied and engaging evening of music from the very best of Mayfield musicians. Thanks are due to Mr Benians for his accompaniment, and the tutors of all the girls who have brought them to the high level of musicianship on display.

The Summer Concert will be on Tuesday 27th June, and will be an opportunity to hear some of our leavers play solo items with the orchestra as well as music from other ensembles such as the Jazz Collective and all-new guitar ensemble!

Dr Matthew Ward, Director of Music

Inter-House Pie Competition

The challenge for this year’s Inter-House Cooking Competition was to design and make a pie to celebrate 150 Years of Mayfield. Each team needed to include students from both Lower School and Senior School.

The teams worked incredibly well and in good humour on a warm evening (not the best for pie making!) and were observed and judged by our very own amazing Head Chef Jennifer.  She was suitably impressed with the girls’ pastry making skills and effort to make appealing looking and tasting pies. It was a tough job, but after much tasting and totting up of scores, based on the idea, appearance, taste and texture the results are: 

1st – Tilly and Tabatha from Glennie for their “Mayfield Chicken Pie” 
2nd – Katrina and Ivana from Curie for their “Blueberry Honey Cheese Pie” 
3rd – Mary and Sofia from Bronte for their “Celebration Apple Pie” 
4th – Lucy, Kitty and Cosimo from Astor for their “Just Peachy Pie” 
5th – India, Valeria and Charlotte from Glennie for their classic “Lemon Meringue Pie” 

Many thanks to Jennifer for judging and to all the girls who took part, demonstrating excellent team work, resilience and creativity.

Cornelian Lecture

On Tuesday we were fortunate to have the Summer Term Cornelian Lecture delivered by Dr Robin Schuldenfrei, Tangen Reader in 20th Century Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. 

Dr Schuldenfrei spoke on ‘The Bauhaus: Living with Modernism’. She gave a fascinating overview of the impact of this influential German art, craft and architectural design school during the 14 years of its existence before it was closed by the Nazis. Connections to the British Arts & Crafts movement were made clear as well as the subsequent turn towards art and technology in a new unity made by Director Walter Gropius to embrace machine production. She outlined the Bauhaus approach of questioning how to live in a new and modern way and how to deal with modern problems. 

Many of the images shown were taken by Dr Schuldenfrei two years ago when she stayed in one of the Master’s Houses at Bauhaus Dessau as part of an Artist in Residence programme on this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The abstracted shadows and reflections of walls and windows provided inspiring evidence of ‘Living with Modernism’. This was a most enjoyable and informative lecture as shown by the many questions from students and staff at the end. Dr Schuldenfrei recommended the Bauhaus Dessau as an easy train ride from Berlin with accommodation available in the former studios, an idea which I suspect several in the audience will follow up.

Dr Joanna Weddell, Head of History of Art

Back to the Future

Yesterday, a group of girls from Lower School travelled  to the Adelphi Theatre in London to see the hit musical 'Back to the Future'. A great time was had by all, as evidenced by the enthusiastic whooping and cheering during the bows (they were rather loud!)

Come and Watch Mayfield Theatre Company Seniors 

Reserve your place

Watery Glass - Issue 2 Out Now

The second edition of Mayfield’s arts and literature journal ‘Watery Glass’ is out this week. Copies are in the Hub, the Library, and Becket.

The team describe the publication as “a creative journal for visual and literary exploration”, “a chance to deepen my knowledge of the broader world of literature”, and “a way to express my love for niche media”.

With a loose theme of “tragic love”, the edition includes exploratory reviews of recent theatre productions of ‘Titus Andronicus’ and ‘A Little Life’; an essay on the #BookTok phenomenon; a deep dive on tragedy in modern musicals, and a meditation on Coleridge’s famous albatross.

Contributors are Iulia, Sophie, Breanna, Katie and Rosie in Year 11 and Teresa in Year 13. Breanna oversaw the publication process and made sure it happened before study leave. If you’d like to contribute to the next edition contact Miss Staunton jstaunton@mayfieldgirls.org

Miss Joanna Staunton, Head of English

Sports Update

Cricket
The U13s continued their stunning start to the Cricket season with a win against a strong Cumnor House team. Batting first, Lily top scored with 12 and saw the ball brilliantly onto the bat, combining this with some excellent running. A late flurry from Saskia and Flo allowed us to get to a respectable, and defendable, 281.

Our girls continued where they started last week in the field and with the ball, with Saskia taking a wicket in her first over. We were then starved of wickets but ensured the opposition didn't get away from us. Once again, some brilliant work behind the stumps from Emilia, who was part of two stumpings that allowed us to wrestle back the initiative before bringing Flo and Saskia back into the attack to get us over the line with some top quality high pressure bowling. Cumnor finished on 268, with Mayfield winning by 13 runs.

The girls continue to set incredibly high standards and it is so enlightening to see, long may it continue! Great work girls.

Players’ Player of the game - Saskia
Coaches’ Player of the game - Emilia

Sadly, due to the weather, Wednesday's games were rained off. 

Athletics
On Thursday, we were finally able to take our Inter Athletes to the Diamond League meet at K2 in Crawley. It was the first time for many and it was fantastic to see the girls back in action in both Track and Field. A huge well done to all involved, and a big shout out to Rachel M (Sports Prefect 2023/24) who took on the role of Team Manager for the afternoon.

Upcoming Fixtures
Saturday 13^th Cricket vs Kent College Pembury, U15A & B, U13A-D
Wednesday 17^th Cricket vs Sevenoaks, U13A-D
Thursday 18^th Tennis, vs Burgess Hill, U15A, U13A
Friday 19^th May, English Schools Athletics
Friday 19^th May, Year 5 & 6 Cricket Festival
Saturday 20^th May, Cricket vs Seaford College, U18A, U15A-D
Saturday 20^th May Athletics, Diamond League Finals
Saturday 20^th May, Invitational Tennis Tournament

Ronan’s Reflection

I had a conversation recently with some Year 11s, who asked me about my last day at school (can’t remember), and my exams. This led me to try and think back, and see what I could remember from my GCSEs and A-Levels. The honest answer is, not much! I don’t remember studying, I don’t remember feeling stressed or nervous (though I’m sure I was!) and I certainly don’t remember anything from my GCSE History, or A-Level Computer Science exams.

I do remember being chased down after my last Maths A-Level exam by my Headmistress and Deputy Head, and discovering that- in my excitement- I had inadvertently packed my answer booklet in my schoolbag, and taken it out of the exam hall (LPT: Do not do this!). That memory is as fresh as it was 24 years ago, for some reason…

But when I think back now to when I was doing exams, what comes back to me most vividly is the prayers and traditions we had, which brought me comfort, calmed me, and I am sure helped me to get the grades I needed in those milestone exams. Perhaps you or your family might consider trying some of these things, see if they help you over the days and weeks ahead:

1: Weekday Mass
Looking back, one of my fondest memories of those times in my life, is going to evening Mass during the week with my dad. We’d try and do it year round, but made a special effort during exam times. It would only take 25 minutes, but to this day I can remember the sense of peace and calm I would feel in that church, emerging rested, reinvigorated, and ready to study with a vengeance! It was a far better break for me than half an hour in front of the tv. I also remember looking round the church at exam times, noting just how many school uniforms were suddenly showing up in the pews!

2: Good ol’ lighting a candle
The night before every exam, I or a family member would go into the local chapel and light a candle, and pray for a good exam. If any family member was at home while I had an exam, they would light our big candle and keep it burning for the duration. Many times I’d come home from school to find the big candle sitting in the kitchen sink (safety first!), still lit.

3: LJC & MI
I’ve never told anybody this before, but every exam paper I ever submitted had the letters ‘LJC & MI’ written on it in pencil somewhere in the margins. They stood for ‘Lord Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate’, and were the first thing I’d write in the exam. Not only did this little ritual force me to pause and calm myself, it was a prayer in and of itself, as I placed myself in the hands of our Lord, and placed my trust in Him and His blessed mother.

4: St Joseph of Cupertino
The patron saint of students sitting exams (and aviators!), St Joseph of Cupertino has a fascinating story. One of many legends about St Joseph is that he desperately wanted to become a priest, but continually failed his examinations. He was finally given one last chance. In desperation, he studied one question, one topic: it came up in the exam, and Joseph scraped through, finally realizing his dream of becoming a priest. On his canonization, he became known as the patron saint of students sitting exams. This prayer to St Joseph has helped multitudes in the past- perhaps it might help you in the weeks ahead:

O good St Joseph of Cupertino who, by your prayers, gained that you should be asked in your examination only the question that you knew, grant that I, like you, may succeed in my exams, and in return I will cause your name to be invoked. Amen.

5: Ask people for their prayers
Last but not least, it’s important to remember that you are part of a faith community. If you’d like people to pray for you, ask! I, and many others, will be praying for all our young women sitting exams. I’ll be available for anyone who wants a chat, or a bit of time out, or a hot chocolate. We are all here for you, in person and in prayer.

Good luck to everybody sitting exams over the coming weeks. Please remember that your value is not based on your grades, but on the strength of God’s love for you. May you give glory to God by your achievements, by your being, by all you learn, write, say, speak and do.

God bless.

Mr Ronan Lavery, Chaplain

Twin Books to Read with a Friend

Do you enjoy the same books as your friends or do you have different tastes? This month the Year 10 librarians have selected a range of titles with a duplicate copy so you can borrow the same book as a friend and read it together.

From the librarians, “sharing a book with a friend is a fun way to build relationships and enjoy reading whether you are a reader or not because it gives you a reason to do it.”

Ms Jan Blagden, Librarian

Next week’s Menu

w/c 15th May