E-weekly Issue 252 - 12 January 2024

Welcome

Welcome back to all our parents, guardians, staff and pupils. We were greeted by snow flurries on Monday, which made for a very picturesque scene. Unfortunately, by Wednesday this had turned to ice! But the show must go on and the girls have been busy getting back into their routines, none more so than the cast and crew of The Addams Family production. Rehearsals are in full swing and we look forward to the show on 1^st & 2nd February, at the Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells. Please do come along and support the girls (see booking details below).

Next week sees us celebrate the birthday of our founder, Cornelia Connelly, on Monday, with a celebration mass and a series of fun activities to remind us about her legacy.

On Monday, we will also be starting essential site maintenance works on the hill to improve drainage. Please can parents drop off and pick up at the Lower School Car Park. The top entrance is out of use as we need to use this area for the minibuses for the duration of the works. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a good weekend.

With very best wishes,
Jonathan

From the Deputy Heads

We really enjoyed seeing the girls return in such good spirits for the start of term and the flurries of snow on Monday felt like a welcome back gift (based on the giggles, snowballs and snowmen that suddenly appeared on site!)

Parental Survey
We reiterate our gratitude to the parents who took time to fill this in. It was so nice to read the many positive comments about what makes Mayfield special and what we do well. In response to parents’ suggestions this term we are:

• Trialling parents' evenings as hybrid events for online and in person appointments
• Using parental feedback to support our implementation of stronger communication systems
• Ensuring all students with dietary needs have a voice at the termly food committee
• Reviewing our whole School rewards system
• Reviewing our homework collation system
• Review mobile phone usage during the School day and the effective use of technology during lessons.

Please also find updates below from the Learning Support Department and the Catering Department, in response to questions raised in the survey.

Deborah Bligh & Annabel Bunce

News from the Learning Support Department

A very busy and exciting beginning of the year for the Learning Support Department. Last week, I spent some time during the INSET day talking to tutors about Neurodiversity.  We reflected on how each girl is different and unique and the importance of recognising, understanding, respecting, and celebrating what each of them brings to their tutor group.

We talked about some types of neurodivergence, including ADHD, autism and dyslexia, and what tutors can do to support these girls. As a community, we continue to be committed to creating inclusive environments for all girls and it was lovely to start the term sharing knowledge and ideas.

I am also pleased to say that our Specialist Teacher, Ms Curran, has recently attended a course on Inference Training. This will be used as an additional means of developing our girls’ reading comprehension skills whilst promoting enjoyment when reading. This intervention is highly effective for students with poor comprehension skills and for some students with autism. We are now looking forward to implementing it with some of our girls who receive Learning Support.

In the meantime, Mrs Lancaster will be doing Zones of Regulation training next week. This course takes an in-depth look into the development of regulation as the foundation to understanding our own feelings. The Zones of Regulation approach is useful to allow students to increase self-awareness and social-emotional skills, as well as supporting overall wellbeing, and we are looking forward to exploring how these principles can be incorporated into the work we do with some of our girls.

Mrs Lancaster is also going to start running a “Games” activity this term. This is for girls in Lower School who need some support during the less structured times of the school day and will help them further develop their social interaction skills, learning valuable skills in working with others whilst having fun.

Emma Martin, Head of Learning Support / SENCO

News from the Catering Department 

At Mayfield School, the Catering Department are committed to making lunchtime an exciting experience that everyone looks forward to! 

During the winter months, homemade soup is always available, with a basket of fresh granary and white bloomer bread from Truffles Bakery to complement this nutritious and warming choice on the menu. 

Monday is known as ‘Meat Free Monday’ with two delicious options to choose from. The rest of the week there is always a meat or fish course and a vegetarian option to choose from. On a Friday you will find fish being served, anything ranging from battered fish (using our own homemade batter mix) to salmon fishcakes and whitefish risottos. More often than not served with chips, a firm favourite on a Friday and looked forward to by everyone! Of course, there are always fresh vegetables and a carbohydrate option to complement the main course on offer. 

Jacket potatoes are available every day, and can be topped with baked beans and cheese, making it a filling and nutritious lunch option. There are also other options available to top a jacket potato with from our salad bar, Tuna Mayonnaise or Coronation Chicken to name just a couple. 

The salad bar is comprised of basic salad items such as lettuce, tomato, cucumber and grated carrot. Boiled eggs, coleslaw, tuna, grated cheese and sweetcorn are also available every day. There is a cold meat platter available Tuesday through to Sunday, consisting of sliced ham, turkey or salami. Additions to the salad bar change every two to three days and are made up of beetroot, olives, roasted seeds, mixed beans and at least one daily compound salad, and one daily sustainable salad, which might be a Ceasar or Greek salad, a grain or pasta salad. 

A homemade dessert is a firm favourite, be it hot or cold and if you prefer something with a little less sugar, there is always a choice of cheese and biscuits, jellies, yogurts and fresh fruit. 

Janet Clarkson-Hope, Catering Manager

English Trip - 'She Stoops to Conquer'

On Thursday night a group of A-Level English students journeyed to Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre, where we enjoyed a new take on Oliver Goldsmith’s famed opus ‘She Stoops to Conquer’. 

Though certainly weary from the journey, spirits were quickly revived by the quintessentially English comedy. Highlights included an immaculately timed Diggory, the blithely self-deluded serial vowel extender Mrs Hardcastle and Freddie Fox’s eccentric yet (rather surprisingly) debonair Marlow. 

It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to re-explore the play through a fresh – distinctly festive – lens that, though bound to invoke at least some nostalgia for the recent Christmas holidays, served as a poignant reminder of the convivial joy – the festivity – to be found in good company, good comedy and good theatre. A huge thank you to Ms Staunton and Mr Doy for organising such a wonderful trip. 

Katie, Year 12

A Treat Fit For a King

To celebrate Kings Day (6th January), one of our Year 10 students Jemima Houlton kindly made a traditional French cake we eat throughout the month of January. It is called la galette des rois (or king's cake), a puff pastry pie filled with almond. A traditional way to serve it is for the youngest child to sit under the table and shout out names. It is then served in that order. Hidden inside the galette is a 'fève' (charm). The person who finds it becomes King or Queen for the day and wears a cardboard crown. We all enjoyed celebrating this French tradition in class!

Ms C Richard, Teacher of French and Spanish

Froghole Farm

Rachel Davies, Deputy Head of Sixth Form

Sports Update

The PE department would like to welcome everyone back to school for what will hopefully be a very successful term on the courts, on the pitch and in the classroom.

Scholarship Day
On Wednesday we hosted our 11+ and 13+ Scholarship Day. We had a total of 18 candidates that applied and attended the day where they took part in fitness tests, specific sporting activities and even an ‘interview’ (friendly chat) with some of the department. 

Football Thursdays
Thursday saw our U13 girls travel to Lingfield to play in the 1^st round of the Sisters n Sport competition. The result didn’t go to plan, however the girls were able to wear the new kit for the first time! Match report can be found on SOCS.

Netball Saturdays
On Saturday we are looking forward to welcoming the girls from Year 9 upwards for pre-season Netball (weather permitting). The girls should all be aware of the timings and arrangements for this and if they aren’t, please check emails from Miss Auer.

Upcoming Fixtures
Monday 15^th January – U15A v Lingfield (A) – Sisters n Sport Football Competition
Tuesday 16^th January – U14A + U14B v Burgess Hill Girls (A) – Netball
Wednesday 17^th January – U13A + U13B v Sevenoaks Prep (H) – Netball
Thursday 18^th January – U15A + U15B v Burgess Hill Girls (A) – Netball, U13A, U15A + U18A v Roedean (A) – Swimming
Friday 19^th January – U13A @ Great Walstead (A) – Cross Country
Saturday 20^th January – Eastbourne block fixture – Netball

Careers Information Evening – Save the Date

This year's Careers Information Evening for Year 9 to Year 13s is on Thursday 29th February, from 7pm to 8.30pm. More information for parents and students will be sent out soon.

We are still looking for more speakers for the evening to deliver informal presentations about their career. If you can help, please contact Mary Saunders, Head of Careers, msaunders@mayfieldgirls.org.

Book your tickets for The Addams Family

Book tickets

Invitation to talk on Healthy Friendships

Helping Your Children to Have Healthy Friendships
Wednesday 24^th January 2024
Refreshments at 18:30, followed by talk at 18:45

We are delighted to welcome back Alicia Drummond, founder of Teen Tips, for the second of a series of four talks on wellbeing. In this talk we will explore the complex world of friendships and what parents and carers can do to help their children have happy, healthy relationships with others. We will look at how our interventions can help or hinder when they fall out with others, and what to do if we are concerned that bullying might be an issue.
 

Please RSVP if you would like to attend

Jodi Stone, Head of Middle School

Book Spine Poetry

As a fun activity to round off a term of focussing on poetry in their English lessons, some girls in Year 9 and 10 worked in small groups to create poetry within very particular boundaries. Their task was to create 'book spine poetry' using only the titles of books in the fiction collection of the library. No re-arranging of words, omissions or additions, except punctuation, was permitted.  Some book titles were also used to create the title of the poem or used more than once within the poem, to great effect. They created some atmospheric, romantic and thought-provoking pieces....

Jan Blagden, Librarian

Flo Selected for British Eventing Talent Academy

Congratulations to Flo, who has been selected for the British Eventing Talent Academy 2024. This is a hugely competitive field, with only 4 riders at her level being accepted. The academy is dedicated to helping nurture and develop the next generation of talent in eventing. It provides riders with pre-season training in January and February as well as training during the season ahead of key events. Riders receive coaching from top trainers along with a range of expert practitioners covering strength and conditioning, veterinary support, mental skills strategies and tack fitting, to provide athletes with the skills and knowledge to aid their development and performance in the sport.

Message from Ronan

Due to illness* there will not be a Chaplain’s Reflection this week. However we’d like to remind you of upcoming Masses in the school chapel this week:

Sunday sees the first Mass of the new term. It will be at 5pm on Sunday evening. As with the first Sunday Mass of every term, it will be offered for the intentions of all Old Cornelians. Tuesday evening Mass will be at 6pm. This term we are trialling a new Mass time, of Wednesdays at 1:45pm. We hope that this will make the Sacrament more accessible to day students and staff. All members of the Mayfield family are welcome to join us for any of these celebrations. Also, if you have any prayers or intentions you would like us to offer Mass for this term, please let Ronan know.

*Ronan is currently suffering from the most horrendous flu ever experienced by an individual. Despite this, he continues to be a model of humility and dignity. Mrs Lavery refuses to put a label on his illness, but she has been heard muttering words like ‘sniffles’, ‘hypochondriac’ and ‘big baby’ on her multiple Lemsip runs up the stairs.

The big baby’s Chaplain’s Reflection will return as normal next week.

Spaces still available for Ceramics Classes

From the Friends

Year 9 Socials
Friday 2nd Feb - Coffee at Sussex Country Gardener, 9am
Thursday 7th March - Coffee at Juliet’s, Tunbridge Wells High Street, 9am
Thursday 22nd Feb – Parent Drinks, venue TBC

Lower School Coffee Morning
A reminder from Laura Mercer that the Lower School coffee morning is being held on 19th January, from 8.15am – 10am  in The Courtyard. Please RSVP by Monday 15th January. 

From the School Shop

Welcome back, I hope you all had a lovely Festive Season.

Lost Property
Please see the below lost property pictures. These were sent to staff and students this week and most items are from last term. Any items not collected by the end of next week will be disposed of or sent to charity.

Bra Bank
Please don’t forget to bring old or unwanted bras to the school shop for the Breast Cancer Awareness Bra Bank. If you are having a New Year clear out or you know family members that are doing the same – we accept bras in any condition – nothing is wasted and it all gets donated to charity.

Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager 

Next Week's Menu

Menu w/c 15th Jan