E-weekly Issue 254 - 26 January 2024

Welcome

For me, school has always been about preparing students for life and equipping them with the necessary skills to succeed. MUN - Model United Nations - is a great example of this. The girls can learn about diplomacy and international relations by taking part in an educational simulation of the actual United Nations. Last weekend, 16 of our girls attended the latest event, CobMUN, and you can read about their experiences below. 

Two events to look out for next week. On Tuesday evening, we are delighted to welcome Charles Moore, Lord Moore of Etchingham, journalist and former editor of The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and The Sunday Telegraph to Mayfield for our next Cornelian Lecture. Please click here to register for this prestigious event.

On Thursday and Friday, our girls will be performing in our latest production,  The Addams Family School Edition, at Trinity Theatre In Tunbridge Wells. There are just a few seats remaining for what promised to be a fantastic evening. Book here.

Have a good weekend.

With very best wishes,
Jonathan Forster

CobMUN

We had an exciting day at Cobham Hall last Saturday, where 16 of our MUN (Model United Nations) Club girls gathered to explore the fascinating world of Artificial Intelligence at CobMUN. The girls, from Years 9 to Year 12, represented nations including France, Albania, Ecuador, Japan, North Korea, South Africa, Denmark and New Zealand and delved into discussions on Human Rights and Health.

A special mention to Sophie in Year 12, who represented North Korea and clinched the Best Delegate award for her outstanding contributions in the Health Committee!

Here's what our pupils had to say:

"I had a fantastic time debating on the Health committee at CobMUN: every delegate was so supportive of one another, and the level of debate was incredible. It was truly a great opportunity to not only further my debating skills, but also to broaden my knowledge of AI and the current global issues surrounding it. Thank you for such a lovely trip!" - Sophie

"I really enjoyed our CobMUN trip. I was in the HR committee and particularly liked the topic of “Use of AI in warfare” that the committee was debating on.  I got a chance to participate in fascinating discussions and argue about resolutions, criticising or justifying them. In addition, I met many new interesting people from other schools, which made my MUN experience even better." - Kseniia 

"It was so nice interacting with new people representing diverse countries and listening to different perspectives around the topic of AI. Definitely a memorable experience and really grateful I could participate this year!" - Jenna

"I really enjoyed my first CobMUN and it was fun going out and discussing with different schools what CobMUN meant to them as well, which is why I really enjoyed participating." - Michelle

"It was an amazing opportunity to be involved in such an interesting discussion surrounding ideas on the use of artificial intelligence." - Frances

Book tickets

Cornelian Quote of the Week

"Uphill work requires encouragement"

We all have our struggles, our peaks and troughs and our horizons to aim for. Do we all encourage each other as much as we can? Being champions of every person in our community allows us to play our part in helping them achieve their hopes and dreams. And when the uphill work becomes hard then our Cornelian Principle of Courage is there for us to draw upon.

"Come Dine With Us" 

Last Friday evening, some Year 12 girls were joined by boys from Skinners’ School to cook a 3 course meal and sit down and eat together. While the Year 12s were cooking together, some Year 11 students transformed the Food and Nutrition classroom into a Bistro ready for dining and served the meals to the hungry diners. 

The menu included: 
Nachos - salsa, guacamole and sour cream/ Lasagne - beef or veggie option/ Lemon cheesecake & Chocolate pudding 

Feedback from one of the Year 12 girls: "I thought the night was very successful and I enjoyed it very much." 

Sue Smeaton, Head of Food and Nutrition

EPQ Trip to University of Sussex

41 Year 12 students braved a foggy morning to go to University of Sussex outside Brighton. We were met by 3 student ambassadors who gave us a tour of the campus before the girls had a session with the Librarians introducing them to both research skills and to the physical library. The research skills focused on being able to research effectively for all A level study.  After lunch we had a talk on study skills and student life, followed by multiple questions about how to select courses/universities/combined courses and universities abroad.

Questions had also abounded throughout the day. The girls came away with ideas for their future and skills to use immediately in both the production of their EPQ and in their general A level study. At the end of the day, one of the student ambassadors complimented the girls and said they had been the best group she had ever toured with (she has been doing this for two years).  Huge thanks to John Doy, Mary Saunders and Christopher Adams.

Lucinda Misiewicz, Teacher of English & EPQ Co-ordinator

Alicia Drummond Talk

On Wednesday, Alicia Drummond, founder of Teen Tips and the Wellbeing Hub, joined us for a talk on healthy friendships, providing tips and advice for the 50 parents in attendance. This is the second in a series of four talks from Alicia, with her next talk on 24^th April, on the topic of ‘Stress, Worry and Anxiety’. We'd love to see even more parents at the next talk!

“I found Alicia’s presentation insightful and enlightening, with lots of useful tips to help my daughter with her friendships and to be comfortable in her own skin. I’m really looking forward to her next talk. Alicia is easy to listen to and explains things in a calm and relaxed way”. - Year 8 Parent

Cake inspired by Wordsworth!

Alice and Anna in Year 10 showed bright and joyful spirits and beautifully demonstrated the Cornelian values of Joy, Generosity, and Cake on Thursday. They each created a cake inspired by the poem 'Lines Written in Early Spring' by William Wordsworth.

Alice reflected:
The speaker of this poem is a very sensitive soul who feels the pains of the world. The beauty and pleasure that spring brings also reminds him how beautiful life could be – however life is not always as beautiful as spring due to humans’ bad decisions. ​ The setting of the poem also reflects a quiet hope; that spring follows winter and even if humanity is living through its self-imposed darkness, there is still the chance that new life can be found. My carrot cake relates to this poem because of the relationship with spring and Easter (as there are many references to religion in the poem). Therefore, carrot cake is the perfect food to eat whilst reading this poem as it is (hopefully) light and fresh and reminds you of spring and new life.

Anna said:
I have made a pavlova in a circular shape representing the "wreaths" mentioned in the poem. The pavlova consists of “a thousand blended notes” (using passionfruit, berries and lemon) garnished with flowers such as “primrose” and “periwinkle”. The poem was written during the French revolution, and therefore, I have explored flavours of Frances “Tarte Au Citron”. In the centre is a blood red berry coulis, which cannot be seen straight away, disguised by the beauty of the flowers and fruits. This reflects how “pleasant thoughts bring sad thoughts to the mind.”

Joanna Staunton, Head of English

Year 8 Distance-Time Graphs

Over the last week in their Maths lessons, the girls in Year 8 have been giving presentations on travel graphs with a story, showing immense creativity and excellent distance-time graph plotting skills! We have had adventure, suspense and thrills, featuring presentations on:  ‘Derek Goes Swimming’, ‘Shopping with La Pedroche’, ‘Trevor’s Unfortunate Day’, ‘ Gullberry’s Party’, ‘Bob Goes to Paris’ and ‘Ralph and Lauren’s Second Date’ – to mention but a few. The girls have also tested the class through Blooket quizzes, which has created a real buzz in the room!                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Lavinia Motoc, Teacher of Mathematics

Year 13 Day of Recollection

The theme of Monday's Day of Recollection was tables: as a place of encounter and equality as well as a place for sharing experiences, ideas and hopes for the future. The girls and Year 13 tutors played board games, made apple strudels and composed collages exploring their feelings about their next steps. It was a truly lovely day at the beautiful Ashburnham Place.

John Doy, Head of Sixth Form

Sports News

A busy week of fixtures in the department – you will find the full reports on SOCS.

Saturday Netball v Eastbourne College
A tough block fixture for our girls from a results perspective, but despite this, spirits are still high and there is still optimism for a successful Netball season ahead.

Monday Inter-House Swimming
On Monday, the Inter-House Swimming competition took place, where the competitive edge was impressive to see. Results will be shared soon. 

Tuesday Netball v Bede’s
The weather hindered what had the potential to be a great afternoon of Netball on Tuesday. Two close games for the U14s, which ended with a win and a defeat.

Wednesday Netball v Roedean
It was our first Lower School block fixture of the season and both matches were close encounters, with Mayfield coming away with one win and one loss.

Friday Badminton
At time of reading, we have a Badminton team out at Roedean. 

As a department, we are trying to encourage girls to share outside sporting successes with us so we can celebrate it with them. Please remind them of this and email me any successes - be sure to include photos as well! I hope everyone enjoys a restful weekend.

Jordan Walser, PE Teacher

News from the Learning Support Department

We are very excited to welcome Miss Isaac to Mayfield community. She is one of our graduates and, although she will be working mainly with the PE department, she has lots of experience working with students with learning needs so she will be supporting our department too.

Miss Isaac is going to start running “Sensory Circuits” this term. Sensory Circuits are sensory-based activities which help students reach the optimum level of alertness they need to prepare themselves for effective learning. Circuits are active, physical, and really fun!

Miss Isaac has already approached a few girls in Lower School who might want to join her for this weekly activity but if you would like your daughter to be considered, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Emma Martin, Head of Learning Support / SENCO

News from Food and Nutrition

We have been busy once again in Food and Nutrition this term. Some of our highlights include Year 12 Culinary Skills, making homemade burgers and brioche buns and sticky toffee pudding with real custard; Saturday boarders making an apricot crumble cake to kick off the year; and Middle School Club making double chocolate brownies. 

Horse Riding Success

Last weekend, we competed at the Inter Schools Show Jumping competition at Hadlow College. There were some fantastic performances:

Ava (Year 8) came first in 80cm SJ class & 2^nd in 70cm SJ class.
Jana (Year 7) came 5^th in 70cm SJ class.
Freya (Year 10) jumped 2 fantastic clear rounds.
Millie (Year 9) jumped a clear round  in the 80sm SJ class.

Congratulations to everyone who took part.

Jill Barker, Director of Riding

Temper Temper

Last Sunday, Leeds’ girls took part in a chocolate-making workshop at Temper Temper, where they created beautiful chocolates and enjoyed eating them afterwards!

Petra Kotesovska, Housemistress, Leeds House

Saturday Boarding Activities

Last Saturday, the girls were showcasing their creative skills. Leeds House had the challenge of creating an origami wreath through making intricate flowers . Miss Woodfield, who led the activity, said “it was lovely to see them show their creativity and help and support each other when one of their flowers went wrong”. However as we can see from the photograph, they managed it in the end.

Gabs' boarders had the opportunity to make jewellery using beads and charms; we had necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Some of the girls took up the challenge of an online escape room. Top marks awarded to the girls who solved all the stages of the escape game puzzles, they were really hard!

Julia Jones, Director of Staff & Student Operations

Baking Culinary Tour in Gabs

Last weekend in St Gabriel’s House we started our Baking Culinary Tour. We are aiming to ‘visit’ as many places as possible and bake or cook something to represent where our girls are from. Six of the girls kicked us off with French Eclairs, which were delicious! We are looking forward to our next stop.

On Sunday we relaxed with some mindful colouring as a group and even started on some artwork for the house.

Mrs Helen Lavery, St Gabriel's Assistant Housemistress

Ronan’s Reflection

Tomorrow, 27th January, marks Holocaust Memorial Day.

In school today, each period began with a time of reflection on the Holocaust and other genocides- Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Sudan, Myanmar- and the day finished with a prayer that we might remember and recognise the dignity of every single human life. I wish I could take credit for the presentation. I’d even settle for it being my idea, but it’s all due to Mr Warren, our Head of History, and Director of Teaching and Learning.

Holocaust Memorial Day Presentation

Genocide has impacted every corner of our globe. From the Aboriginal genocide in Australia, to Guatemala, to Matabeleland, to Ukraine, the list is horrifyingly long. And it always begins in the same way- by conditioning one group of people to view another group of people as less than human. Of little or no value. As untermenschen.

We live in an uncertain time. The news is filled with stories of ‘Them’ and ‘Us’. It’s everywhere. In the US, it’s Democrats vs Republicans, in a hate-filled Presidential race. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, with almost half a million lives lost since it began. The current Israel-Palestine conflict has so far resulted in 25,000 people dying, over two-thirds of whom were women and children. Pope Francis called war a ‘crime against humanity’. We are constantly being encouraged to view other people as objects, not human beings. So now, more than ever, we must be a community of peace. A community of forgiveness and compassion. A community of prayer, lifting up and highlighting the inherent dignity of each person we encounter, and their inalienable divinity.

We must protect the human rights of every single person, from the very beginning to the very end of life, and we must stand up for their dignity at every moment of that precious journey. Because the alternative is too horrendous to contemplate.

I hope you’ll take the time to view the presentation, and perhaps even discuss its contents with your daughter. And I hope that all of us in the Mayfield community will, at some point this weekend, say a prayer for peace:

Eternal God, you hold all of our days in your hands.
On this day, we come before you to remember the victims of the Holocaust.
We lament the loss of the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution, and victims of other genocides.
May our minds be clear and attentive to their memory and our hearts be moved to bear witness to their lives.
Today, help us to remember and recognise the sanctity of each human life, that all people are made in Your image.
One day, we pray that genocide and hatred will be no more, and that love will triumph over evil.
In our prayers and in our actions, help us to show this love in the world today.

Amen.

Mass is on Sunday at 11:30am, Tuesday at 6pm and Wednesday at 11:45am. Please feel free to join us.

Ronan Lavery, Lay Chaplain

Parent Workshop: Effective Ongoing Revision

David Warren, Director of Teaching and Learning

Get Into Medicine Conferences

The FREE VIRTUAL LIVE Get Into Medicine Conferences can play a crucial role as the starting point for a pupil’s journey toward a successful medical career, providing valuable insights, support that contribute to their accomplishments and access to a variety of additional programmes that boosts their UCAS application.

Their next conferences for aspiring Doctors are on:
Saturday 27th January, 9:30am - 3:30pm
Saturday 3rd February, 9:30am - 3:30pm
Saturday 10th February, 9:30am - 3:30pm

Students and parents can register for free here
All aspiring doctors in years 10-12 are invited to register.

May Saunders, Head of Careers

Next Week's Menu

Menu w/c 29th Jan