E-weekly Issue 256 - 9 February 2024

Welcome

We are all delighted by the appointment of Mrs Deborah Bligh as the new Headmistress of Mayfield School. Many congratulations Deborah.

I have been asked to remain on hand as Consultant Head to ensure a smooth handover to Mrs Bligh, who becomes Headmistress on 1^st April 2024. You can contact either of us as usual: we discuss every important issue on a daily basis. The education and happiness of the girls is our paramount concern, so never hesitate to get in touch.

I hope you have a lovely half term holiday with your daughters. Honestly, Mayfield girls are a delight, but like all of us, they will need a rest!

What a half term it has been, culminating in the joyous performance of 'The Addams Family’, enjoyed by many families and members of the public.

In the meantime, with very best wishes,
Jonathan Forster

Update from Deborah Bligh

I am very much looking forward to working with Jonathan during next term's transition period. My key priorities during this time will be to listen deeply to the views of the students, staff and parent body.  

Here are some responses to recent parental feedback:

Sports
Viewing Team Lists - we now have this function and we will send out a letter to parents with a code that will allow them to view upcoming fixtures and team lists online. 

We will be adding Fencing back into the co-curricular offer.

Rewards
Next term we will trial a new rewards system that seeks to offer a more inclusive opportunity for the girls. Alongside house points for academic success, there will be opportunities to earn points for demonstrating the spirit of each of our Cornelian Principles - Joy, Compassion, Integrity, Generosity, Gratitude, Respect, and Courage - and to be rewarded more regularly for this. The staff and girls have discussed the new proposal and have helped form the new system. There have also been good suggestions from the girls around the type of rewards they would like to achieve and, of course, the importance of sharing this with home. Alongside this we will revise the referral system to ensure it is still fit for purpose, is used consistently and takes account of the development stage of our young people. 

Student and Parental Voice
Students will be given the opportunity to fill out a variety of anonymous surveys next term on themes such as study, co-curricular activities, boarding, catering, and trips. The school council have been brilliant, but I want to ensure every voice is captured.

I look forward to meeting as many parents as possible during the coming months at the various Mayfield events, but I also warmly invite any parent who would like to come in, meet virtually online or have a telephone call to get in touch with my PA Katie Towers (ktowers@mayfieldgirls.org). Your views and opinions are very important to me, and to ensuring that Mayfield continues to flourish. 

Mrs Deborah Bligh, Senior Deputy Head

'The Addams Family' Production

Last week we were thrilled to take 'The Addams Family - School Edition' to Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells. We are immensely proud of the girls in the cast and crew who rose to the challenge, putting on a superb production, making use of the venue's professional lighting and sound facilities, along with the engaging set which was constructed in a day! We were fortunate enough to have Samantha Santo designing and sourcing the costumes and props, which added such visual splendour and elevated the final production. The choreography was created superbly by Alice in Year 12, who had fun working on the inspired zombie routines, with additional choreography by Mrs Baker and a rather eye-catching tango routine by Mrs Demetriou! Maddie in Year 12 was a sensational deputy stage manager which meant that she 'called' the show, ensuring that scenery changes and technical cues happened in the right places. Sound management during the performances was brilliantly orchestrated by Miss Clark and the final flourish came from the live orchestra, including Mr Partington and Mrs Le Riche on reeds, who accompanied the actors seamlessly. Final thanks must go to our amazing cast and crew and their supportive families - thank you for making this production a resounding success!

Victoria Nash, Matthew Ward & Daniel Smith

“I absolutely loved doing the Addams Family! It was a great way to meet new people at Mayfield. It was very fun. It was a lot of hard work but totally worth it!” Emily in Year 7 (performer)

"What a show! We watched last night and were blown away by the professionalism and talents of all involved. My parents watched the matinee and they thought it could have been on the West End! So very proud of the Mayfield girls and staff for such a joyful, hilarious and deliciously dark show!" - Parent

Year 10 Day of Recollection

On Monday, it was our Year 10 Day of Recollection. We started the day off by making some focaccia bread in groups, which we then ate, with the leftovers feeding the community in Ashburnham Place. All the activities were based on the theme of generosity; being generous to one another, being generous to the land when we went outside to help with the farm, or being generous to the drawing tools that we had been given for an activity. Thank you to Ronan, Ashburnham Place and our Form Tutors for helping to organise the day!

Alice (Year 10)

Food & Nut Creations

This week Year 12 Culinary Skills girls made strawberry cheesecake gateau, a genoise sponge and light, fluffy lemon cheesecake mixture - perfect for any Valentine (or Galentine) celebration!

Last week, Year 10 were practising their plating skills with their homemade meringues. 

Great job girls!

Finally, last Saturday some of the Gabs' boarders came to make a Mayfield favourite, cinnamon rolls. I was really impressed with their light enriched dough!

Sue Smeaton, Head of Food and Nutrition

Trip to The Lion King

Boarders from St Gabriel's and St Dunstan's headed up to London's West End last Sunday to see a fantastic performance of The Lion King at The Lyceum Theatre. The girls enjoyed exploring The Strand before heading inside to watch the show, buy hoodies, t shirts and of course eat ice cream!

Leeds Boarders Visit Bewl Water

Last Saturday Year 7 & 8 boarders took a trip to Bewl Water for the afternoon where a brisk walk and a short visit to the adventure playground was planned. However, the girls enjoyed the playground so much that they wanted to stay there for the entire duration! A lot of fun was had by everyone, and we rounded off the trip with the inevitable visit to the café where the girls enjoyed cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows.

Mrs Rachel Testa, Head of French

Chinese New Year Meal

On Thursday night, all the boarders arrived at the upper dining room to celebrate Chinese New Year. This year, for the Year of the Dragon, the celebration was organised by Charlotte, Charlene and Aina (Year 12), with assistance from Nicole (Year 12), Dora and Anna (Year 11). Upon entering the dining room, every boarder was given a red pocket – these traditionally contain money given by married relatives to their families and friends, but the girls added their own twist and turned it into a raffle to simulate the excitement of recipients wondering ‘how much money did I get?’ - just like a lucky dip.

Before the meal, Charlotte and Charlene welcomed everyone and explained the story of the Chinese Zodiac signs. They also introduced the raffle prizes, culminating in one lucky boarder with the number 10 in their pocket winning an adorable plushie dragon! Then, the girls could tuck into their meal, which consisted of duck pancakes, pork fried rice, coca-cola chicken wings and fish balls, among other delicious offerings. While they were eating, the boarders were encouraged to write blessings or wishes on the back of their red pockets, which will be hung on a tree to be displayed in the school.

Charlotte and Charlene said: “we would like to thank those who helped to make this event happen - the catering team for making such delicious food, Miss Ruival, Dora and Anna who helped with the red pockets, and Nicole who helped with decorating the dining room. And lastly, a big ‘thank you’ to all the boarders for participating in such an event and celebrating Chinese New Year with us.

We wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year!”

Sports News

U16 Football Tournament

The U16 Football team travelled to Buckswood on Friday afternoon for a 6-a-side tournament and made some very impressive progress throughout the day. Despite some very positive performances, the girls lost the first three games 1-0. However, a couple of tweaks to the team and formation allowed the girls to go unbeaten for the last three, drawing two and winning one (3-1). Some brilliant football was on show, well done girls.

Roedean Netball Block

Saturday saw an incredibly competitive Netball block across the board with Roedean. Out of the 12 games played, we came out on top in seven and narrowly lost a couple of the others. For all results and match reports, check out SOCS.

U18 SISNA
The U18s put in a brilliant display of Netball on Tuesday as they travelled to Hurst for the highly anticipated SISNA. Out of their eight games, they won three, drew one and lost four, which resulted in a mid-table finish, beating last year’s performance at the same tournament.

The link to the whole competition and final standings can be found below and a larger report can be found on SOCS.

SISNA Competition

U12 & U13 Swimming Gala v Vinehall
On Tuesday, our Junior Swimming Team enjoyed hosting a gala against Vinehall. Led by Valentina (Year 8), the girls swam well with a few PBs recorded, and some particularly good front crawl by Isla (Year 7). Vinehall just came out on top, by only five points. Both teams had great fun with some free swimming time to finish off the evening. We are looking forward to galas against Burgess Hill and Benenden next half term.

U12 & U13 Netball v Burgess Hill
Two last minute fixtures were put in place for our Lower school teams on Wednesday. The U13A team came away with a 15-3 victory and the U12A team unfortunately went down 6-24. As always, you can find the full reports on SOCS.

U14 SISNA & U15 SISNA
Unfortunately, the U14 and U15 SISNA was cancelled just as the girls were about to depart. We  await a revised date and will let you know in due course.

U13 Cricket
At the time of reading, our U13s are at Bede’s for the indoor Lady Taverners tournament. Check SOCS/Mayfield Sport Instagram for an update on how they got on.

As a department, we would like to thank the girls for all their hard work and efforts this half term. Have a lovely week off and we look forward to coming back and doing it all again!

Jordan Walser, PE Teacher

Ronan's Reflection

Lent 2024: Some Fun Facts
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on the 14^th February - Valentine’s Day. Ash Wednesday is, of course, a day of fasting and abstinence, which somewhat jeopardises the Lavery tradition of a Valentine’s M&S Dine In for Two, but I’m sure we’ll cope…

Lent, as a tradition, has been practised since the year 325, during the Council of Nicea. It is a time of repentance* and preparation. A time to focus on prayer, fasting and charity. To help us prepare for Lent, here are a few facts about the most solemn season of the year: 

• Lent comes from the old English word ‘lenten’, which means springtime. It’s thought to come from the same root as ‘lengthen’, as the days begin to get longer. The word Lent wasn’t embraced by the Church until well into the 11^th century.
• Technically Lent lasts 46 days - the period from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday - but Sundays are not officially counted as part of the fast, being considered ‘mini-Easters’ instead.
• The date for Easter changes each year because it is determined by the moon. Specifically, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a method only accepted in the 8^th Century. This means Easter Sunday can be any time between 22^nd March and 25^th April.
• In the past, Catholics were expected to abstain from meat for the entirety of Lent. Now, we are only expected to fast from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, although many people choose to fast from eating meat on Fridays throughout the season. Everybody knows that fish is considered an acceptable substitute for meat at these times, but did you know that, at various times, puffins, alligators, beavers, muskrat, turtles and capybaras have all been categorised as fish for the purposes of fasting.
• The ash used on Ash Wednesday comes from burning the palms used at the Palm Sunday Mass the previous year.
• Purple is the liturgical colour of Lent. Costly to make in ancient times, purple came to be associated with kings and royalty. Before His crucifixion, soldiers clothed Jesus in a cheap robe made of ‘fake’ purple dye, intending to imply that Jesus was a fake king, not knowing they were about to crucify the King of Kings. In addition to being the colour of royalty, purple is also the colour that represents the repentance of sins and symbolises the state of our souls without the light of Christ, as well as our mourning for Jesus’ sacrifice.
• And finally, you don’t have to be Christian to take part in Ash Wednesday or give something up for Lent. This is a wonderful opportunity for us all to seek to grow spiritually and to turn away from the areas of weakness and brokenness we might encounter in our lives, in favour of seeking the healing and wholeness that only God can give. In other words, to repent. Please have a wonderful and restful half term, and blessed Lenten season. And if anyone can find me a recipe for roast puffin between now and next Wednesday, I’d really appreciate it.

*Please, please, as you read this word, don’t conjure up images of street preachers screaming hellfire and brimstone and judgment, demanding we repent or burn… The word ‘repent’, from the Greek ‘metanoia’, is actually a beautiful concept, meaning to reconsider, or think again, or to ponder. It describes a process of thinking which hopefully leads to a change of mind, and a leaning towards God, and away from sin and selfishness. ‘Repentance’ is a wonderful process.

Ronan Lavery, Chaplain

Reconciliation

Our thanks to Canon Jonathan, who offered the Sacrament of Reconciliation to the school community yesterday. Pope Francis reassures us that ‘To celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation means to be wrapped in a warm embrace’. The sacrament is important because it brings us peace and unity – with God, with others and with ourselves. We look forward to making the sacrament more readily available to our school community in the future. 

Health Centre Notice

Parents of our lovely pupils, we truly appreciate your cooperation in keeping our school community safe and healthy. It's incredibly important that you share any medical conditions, big or small, with our Health Centre. Our lead nurse will ensure that this information reaches all school staff.

Please share any medical conditions with Nurse Debbie Streeter, who can be contacted via email at health@mayfieldgirls.org.

Thank you.

News from the Library

As the Year 10 girls are starting their studies of 19th century novels for English, we enjoyed a session in the library trying out some of the accomplishments that a young lady of that time would have needed.

The V&A, British Library, Fashion Museum NY and National Portrait Gallery have wonderful online catalogues and videos which the girls were shown, illustrating the clothing, hairstyles, manuscripts and silhouette portraits of the time.

The girls tried their hand at hair braiding to recreate the Regency and Victorian styles, writing with pen and ink, creating silhouettes, deportment practice and dressing with long gloves and a shawl and bonnet. The girls noted how long it took to write with pen and ink, and how frustrating it was to keep dipping the pen. Seeing examples of the corsetry and hooped skirts raised queries on how practical the clothing was and how difficult it would be to move around.

Our next session will be to explore the socially important formal dance. The girls will learn a few steps of a typical dance from the Regency and Victorian periods.

Jan Blagden, Librarian

World Book Day

World Book Day will be here on Thursday 7^th March and at Mayfield we will be celebrating reading with fun activities throughout the week.

On Friday 8^th March, we will have our annual ‘Dress Up as a Book Character’ Day. This is open to all staff and students, although the Parade and prizes will be open to Year 7 & 8 only. The judges are looking for creativity and imagination. Come as part of a group (up to six in a group) or as an individual entry.

So, start thinking about your costumes, they don't need to be bought; recycle or re-use items you already have.

Just remember that if you want to dress up it will cost £1 which will go to the amazing literacy charity, BookTrust.

BookTrust - More Information

Here are some memorable book characters from last year...

Year 9 - 12 Careers Information Evening

Further to the letter that went out at the beginning of the week, please remember to sign up your daughter for the Careers Information Evening on Thursday 29^th February.

Sign up here

We will be welcoming lots of speakers from a wide range of sectors including medicine, HR, police, law, engineering, finance, the travel sector, psychotherapy, surveying, the charity sector, the Civil Service, entrepreneurship, the Army and RAF, UX (user experience) research and media apprenticeships.

Mrs Mary Saunders, Head of Careers

From the School Shop

 We hope you have a very restful half term and look forward to seeing you all on your return.

Exams
As we come into exam season, please let me know if there is anything you think we should carry in the school shop. We have a good supply of revision aids, calculators, math sets, pens, pencils, and clear pencil cases, but are happy to receive any other ideas you may have. Please send them to sbowles@mayfieldgirls.org

Charities
The sale of Sister Jean's marmalade raised more money for Mary’s Meals over Christmas as there was an external sponsor who doubled anything raised over this period. At the end of January, Sister Jean sent £80 which was then doubled; the resulting £160 will feed just over eight children in school for a year. A big thank you for supporting.

If you have run out of marmalade, there is a fresh batch in the shop awaiting purchase and we have now put Spring Bonnets on them!

Bra Bank  
We almost have enough donated bras to be able to send them off to the charity – they require a minimum weight before they will collect. Please can we have one more push over half term to see if there are any more unwanted bras that you can donate. If you are seeing family members, maybe they have some they would like to donate too?

Coming Soon 
We have ordered new pyjamas in – these are in three colours and the waistband has Mayfield embroidered on it. We also have white t-shirts with the Mayfield logo on, stitched in complementary colours. Please see below a virtual mock-up in the baby pink colour. The other colours available are baby blue and emerald green. If you are intending to purchase a pair, please obtain the bill payer’s permission first.

House Hoodies 
For those of you that ordered the competitive house hoodies over Christmas, these have arrived and have been named (if you have the naming service) and the respective girls have been emailed to collect them. We also have a small amount in stock, as pictured below. Please note these are not compulsory to purchase (although the house polo shirt is required for all girls) and are £27 each. Again, please have the bill payer’s permission to place this on your school shop account if you are purchasing one.

Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager

Update from Catering Department

Feast of Candlemas
The feast of Candlemas is the last feast of the Christmas cycle, and is celebrated on the 2^nd of February every year - 40 days after Christmas. 

We chose to celebrate Candlemas this year by lighting candles which represent Jesus Christ as Light of the World, and served crêpes for dessert. Candlemas is considered to be ‘The Day of the Crêpes’ in countries such as France and Belgium. The round shape and golden colour, reminiscent of the solar disc, refers to the return of Spring after the cold and darkness of Winter.

From the Friends

Year 13
Coffee morning - Thursday 29^th February, 9am - The House Café
Coffee morning - Monday 18^th March, 9am - The Sussex Gardener

RSVP: laurascriven@btinternet.com

Year 9
Parent drinks - Thursday 22^nd Feb, 7.30pm - The Compasses, Tunbridge Wells
Coffee morning - Thursday 7^th March, 9am - Juliet’s, Tunbridge Wells