E-weekly Issue 279 - 18 October 2024

Welcome

It has been a week full of celebration here at Mayfield. Our Foundation Day events brought the school community together through inter-house activities, ending with a first-ever Mayfield Colour Run.

As we head into half term, we wish all those traveling to China, Iceland, Italy, and the US, an unforgettable experience. We can’t wait to hear all about your adventures!

I am also delighted to announce that, thanks to the hard work of our Prefect team, The Hub will be re-opening for all year groups starting Tuesday, 5th November. It will once again offer food and drinks during A1—a welcome space for everyone.

Wishing all of our families a restful and enjoyable half term break. We look forward to welcoming you back on Monday, 4th November for the start of another exciting term!

Mrs Deborah Bligh, Headmistress

In the News This Week...

Foundation Day Celebrations

On Tuesday’s Foundation Day, our staff and students donned their house colours and participated in a variety of events throughout the day. We enjoyed hockey, general knowledge quizzes, debating, and a new Foundation Day Challenge, which incorporated brainteasers, rowing, shuttle runs, and drumming. All of these activities gave the girls a chance to earn points for their House totals.

The day included a Mass celebrated by Fr. Patrick Fitzgerald-Lombard and concluded with our House Music competition. Our guest judge, concert pianist Sam Haywood - who was a judge for the 2022 Tunbridge Wells International Music Competition - brought his expertise and his lovely dog, Poppy, to join us for the House Music competition.

Congratulations to all the girls for participating, and special thanks to our fantastic four Heads of House - Mrs Parrett, Miss Keoghane, Mrs Woodfield, and Mr Meek - and their House Captains, Sophie, Charlene, Nicole, and Maddie, for their hard work recruiting teams and fostering such a positive, competitive spirit among the girls.

We’re busy collating all the scores, but highlights from the day include Bakhita winning the Music competition, Assisi taking the Challenge, and Stein and Avila making it to the seniors' debating final.

Year 11 Day of Recollection

On a rain-soaked Monday morning, Year 11 students, along with Ronan, our Chaplain, the Year 11 tutor team, Mrs Baker and I, headed off through the flooded roads to Ashburnham Place for their annual Day of Recollection. To recollect is ‘to bring back to the level of conscious awareness’ and this year’s focus was built around our Year 11 Cornelian principle of Gratitude. 

Ronan led the first part of the day where the girls focused on gratitude, its true meaning and started their own gratitude journals. Practising gratitude improves physical and psychological health, enhances empathy and helps reduce stress. The girls were certainly grateful for the indoor part of their day as the rain continued to hammer down! 

As we headed towards lunchtime the staff at Ashburnham place took over and the girls were led to the kitchen garden and barn space. They were split into groups and collectively explored outdoor art, learned how to make a fire, and foraged for their own lunch ingredients. A group of 10 made delicious flatbread from three simple ingredients, while the remainder used the ingredients found, along with some simple spices, to make four delicious soups. We all broke bread together and shared a delicious meal before walking and taking in the beautiful estate surroundings. It was such a privilege to spend the day with Year 11, to take them away from the stresses of their study and see them sit back and reflect on life’s pleasures. There was plenty of laughter and smiles, with students working collaboratively and sharing in the joy of one of their favourite pastimes—eating!

Thank you to Ronan, the staff at Ashburnham, the tutors and Mrs Baker for their time and effort in making it a truly memorable and enjoyable day. 

Mrs Georgina Fletcher, Head of Year 11 

Leeds Boarders Visit Battle Abbey

Leeds boarders had a fun afternoon on Saturday at the Battle of Hastings anniversary celebrations. We explored the grounds of Battle Abbey, talked to a variety of Saxons and Normans about their boats, dogs and hawks, and watched the battle re-enactment - a very impressive show, featuring several hundred warriors, archers and cavalrymen. The weather defied the forecast, and we were even able to enjoy ice-creams as we watched the battle!

Mr Andrew Colquhoun, Teacher of Religious Studies

Avila House Charity and Feast Day

Girls in Ávila House enjoyed a fantastic Charity and Feast Day on Thursday. We began the day with a beautiful candlelit Liturgy led by Mrs McGovern's form. We learned all about  St. Teresa of Ávila and her incredible life and works - and considered how we can honour her example in our House. At breaktime, we enjoyed a delicious treat of chocolate brownies and fizzy drinks! Finally, during A1 girls in the Lower School ran a bake sale and girls in the Sixth Form sold a range of sweeties and chocolate bars - all in support of our school charity, the Sandra Jones Centre. Special thanks to Sofia in Year 7 and her family for baking over 50 beautifully decorated blue cupcakes - they sold out so quickly that we didn't have time to take a photo!

Mrs Parrett, Head of Ávila House

Senior Mathematical Challenge

Earlier this term, some of our Year 12 and Year 13 mathematicians took part in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge, a 90 minute paper of challenging Maths questions. The stimulating problems on the Senior Maths Challenge are designed to make students think and are aimed at both beginner and experienced problem-solvers.

The Mathematics Department are pleased to report the following results:

Silver Certificates
Year 13 : Coco, Katie, Charlotte, Ellie
Year 12: Ava, Wing, Charmeine, Trinity

Bronze Certificates
Year 13: Nicole
Year 12: Iris, Beverly, Leona, Mabel, Anna, Meryl

Well done to all Year 12 and Year 13 girls who participated in the Senior Mathematical Challenge.

Year 7 Sponsored Walk

This afternoon Year 7, accompanied by several staff, completed a sponsored walk following the Mayfield circular walk. The sun shone and the girls enjoyed marking the end of the first half term by joyfully raising fund for Maggie's. We set the target of £500 and by 11am today we had reached £420. Many thanks to all parents and friends who have donated.  If you wish to donate towards this cause, it would be great to receive further donations even after the girls have completed their challenge.

Donate here

The girls were rewarded with hot chocolate and cookies on their return to school. A fantastic effort girls, well done!

Ms Eva Garcia Claramonte, Deputy Head of Lower School

Year 9 Battlefields Trip 2025 - Last Few Places Available

The last few places are still available for the Year 9 Battlefields Trip. This fantastic trip visits both France and Belgium to explore key sites of the First World War. This is not only a brilliant opportunity to build on the work being done in History lessons, but is also a wonderful opportunity to get away at the end of the year and enjoy the experience with friends. For so many girls, the trip has proven to be one of their highlights of their entire Mayfield career, and is therefore one not to be missed.

Click here to access an interactive guide to the trip to find out more. The trip runs from Monday 30^th June to Friday 4^th July 2025. Further details can be found in the letter sent on 27/09/24.

If you would like your daughter to join this trip please fill in the permission form below. 

Battlefields Trip Permission Form
Mr David Warren, Head of History

Chemistry 'Element of the Week' Competition

Week four of the competition received the highest number of entries to date and was a rollover from week three with a double prize! Entries were all from Sixth Formers this time, but the competition is open to all years. 

 The competition is a weekly research task using the internet to find the identity of an element from the clues given. See below for week four details. Each week's competition can be found on the doors of the Chemistry floor.

The winner for week four was Charmeine in Year 12, who correctly identified the element as Radium and provided a correct definition of Atomic Emission Spectroscopy. 

Element of the Week will return after the half term break. 

Mr Terry Everitt, Head of Chemistry

Where in the World?

No competition this week; the winner of a house point last week was Flo in Year 9! The competition returns next half term.

In the meantime, this year's foreign trip heads off on Saturday to Iceland with 39 girls in Years 10-13. If you'd like to offer suggestions for where we will be going in two years time, please give your ideas to Mr Adams! Iceland again? Italy like the previous trip? Or maybe somewhere else?

Chaplaincy News

Tuesday was our annual Foundation Day which, as usual, began with Mass (or a Service of Word and Communion in the case of Years 7, 8 and 9). Foundation Day is on October 15th - the Feast of St Teresa of Ávila‎, as Cornelia Connelly chose her feast day to hold the first Mass of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. Teresa, the first female doctor of the Catholic Church, was a reformer of the Carmelite order, eventually leading to the creation of the 'discalced' (shoeless) Carmelites, so it was very fitting to have Fr Patrick Fitzgerald-Lombard O.Carm to celebrate our senior Mass, at which 11 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion - staff and students - were commissioned.

The 11:15 Mass was offered for the repose of the soul of Antonia Beary, as we approach the one-year anniversary of her passing on 25^th October.

And as Foundation Day took place on the 15th, poor Ávila‎ House had to wait until the Wednesday to celebrate their feast and charity day. In the morning, the chapel was even bluer than usual, as Ávila‎ gathered for a liturgy written and led by Mrs McGovern's tutor group. It was informative as well as restful, beginning with a whole body reflection, and finishing with a gorgeous sung version of 'Christ has no body now but yours'.

During the day, Ávila‎ held a bake sale and a no uniform day, managing to raise a substantial but as-yet unknown amount of money for our school charity, as well as kickstarting  our ambitious period products appeal, where we hope to collect one tonne of period products over the course of the year, to be distributed to hygeine banks in the area. We haven't weighed Ávila‎'s contribution to the appeal yet, but hope you will continue to think of us and donate occasional boxes of tampons or pads, leaving them in the collection points in Becket, or the school shop.

Save the Date - Saturday 30^th November
A date for your calendar: although it seems very far away, the end of November will be here sooner than we think! Mayfield School is hosting an ecumenical Taize service on the evening of Saturday 30^th November, at 7:30pm. We will welcome people from across the parishes of Mayfield, and we hope that parents and grandparents will come and join in our prayer service too. Let us know if you can make it!

And finally, a prayer for all those travelling this weekend:

Lord, be our guide and our protector on the journey we are about to take. Watch over us. Protect us from accidents. Keep us free from harm to body and soul. Lord, support us with Your grace when we are tired. Help us be patient in any trouble which may come our way. Keep us always mindful of Your presence and love. Amen.

God bless, and have a restful half-term break.

Mr Ronan Lavery, Lay Chaplain

Sports News

Lower School Inter-House Football
On Saturday we hosted our Lower school Inter-House Football competition and despite the weather, it was a very good turnout from players and spectators. It was lovely to see so many girls playing football, and congratulations must go to Bakhita who took the victory on the day.

U15A Football v Crowborough
The U15s made a perfect start to their football season on Saturday as we hosted and beat Crowborough FC by 5 goals to 0. Isobel in Year 7 won player of the match, which was very impressive as she was playing up a couple of years. Goals came from Adriana x2, Elisa x1, Imogen x1 and an own goal. Great start girls, well done!

U15A Football v TWGGS

Following Saturday's success, the girls then travelled to TWGGS on Thursday. Unfortunately, despite playing well for large parts of the game, our opposition were very clinical with their chances and secured a 6-1 victory. Adriana was voted player of the game and Lola was voted coaches player of the game. There were lots of encouraging signs of the girls' progress and plenty for Mr Walser to work on with the squad.

For fuller match reports for all of the above, please check SOCS.

ESAA Cross Country
Monday saw our U13s travel to Brighton for the English School’s Athletics Association cross country event. They made a steady start, before Emily in Year 8 moved into 2nd place, maintaining that position until the finish. The team finished 2^nd overall and qualified for the South East Regional round which will be taking place in November. Well done girls!

Inter-House Hockey
This week Inter-House hockey took place during the Foundation Day celebrations.

With a foggy start to the seniors competition, we combined game play with a penalty stroke tournament. The combined scores of both contests gave the overall winner. Special mention to Katie, who was recruited to play in goal for Avila and made numerous penalty stroke saves! 

Lower School were up next with most girls participating and showing how much progress they’d made in Hockey already this term. The matches were exciting and it was great to see so many playing with confidence. 

The final round of the day was Years 9 & 10. With an A and B team for each house the stakes were high and competition was fierce! All the matches were closely contested and the standard brilliant across both sides of the competition. 

The final placings were as follows:

Lower School 
1^st Place: Bakhita
2^nd Place: Assisi
3^rd Place: Stein 
4^th Place: Avila 

Middle School
1^st Place: Assisi
2^nd Place: Avila 
3^rd Place: Stein
4^th Place: Bakhita 

Seniors
1^st Place: Bakhita 
2^nd Place: Avila
3^rd Place: Stein 
4^th Place: Assisi

A big well done to all who played!

Hockey Block v Sutton Valence
Wednesday saw four U13 teams play against Sutton Valence.

U13A
The U13A Hockey team continued their good start to the year with 5-1 victory over Sutton Valence. It was a brilliant all round team performance and the perfect way to end a strong season so far.  

U13B
The U13Bs played their best Hockey of the season on Wednesday but weren’t able to secure the win. Sutton Valence were clinical with their chances and even though we lost 3-0, there were plenty of encouraging signs.

U13C
The U13Cs went away to Sutton Valence and battled through a tough test against a good opposition. Score line aside, Mayfield created some good chances but were just unable to make them count. They went down 5-0.

U13D
The U13Ds continued to make good progress and built on their draw last week. The girls were able to come back from a goal down to win 2-1 with goals from Fannie and Mercedes to secure the win. Well done!

Changes to ECA Programme
Due to a current lack of lighting on the Astro, please see the changes to our ECA programme in PE (changes highlighted in yellow) for when we come back after half term. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

The PE department thanks all the girls for their continued efforts and wishes everyone a restful half term.

Justice and Peace 'Sleep Out' Fundraiser

Join Justice & Peace in supporting the Cardinal Hume Centre, a non-profit organisation, which helps families, children and young people to overcome poverty and avoid homelessness in London. A group of Mayfield girls are going to sleep outside, in the Chapel entrance, on Friday 8th November to experience a glimpse of the reality of what homeless people go through. Without phones, access to creature comforts or the general privileges of our daily lives, we hope to create an experience that is as authentic as possible.

The girls have shared a video explaining the importance of the Cardinal Hume Centre's work and why they have organised a sleep out event in support of them.

They are aiming to raise even more money than last year! Please support them if you can.

Donate here

Mayfield Fashion Show - Friday 22^nd November

Please save the date for our upcoming fashion show on Friday 22nd November. If you have any dresses that are going spare or would otherwise be donated to charity, please do consider donating them for use in the show.

Photo of the Week

Many thanks to Mrs Stone for her photo of the super moon above the cricket pitch.

Thanks also go to parent Mrs Brescia for her photo of a local porcini mushroom - one of quite a number that have grown in Speldhurst recently thanks to the wet weather we've been having.

We would love to receive submissions for future 'photo of the week' stories. Please send your chosen photos to jtompsett@mayfieldgirls.org.

Library News

This half term the librarians have been putting together our first library newsletter of all things book-ish. Please click the link below to access it. We hope to bring you a newsletter each half term with featured interviews, reviews and the latest releases from publishers. We hope you enjoy our inaugural edition of the Mayfield Quibbler!

Library Newsletter
To complete the crossword, please print the page.

The book of the week in Main School is 'Sisters' by the ever popular Raina Telgemeier - chosen by Gloria in Year 9. From Lower School the book of the week is 'The Swifts' by Beth Lincoln, a mystery involving an eccentrically named family where words and definitions are key - chosen by Helena in Year 8.

Apart from taking the opportunity to get into a good book over half term (don't forget your access to Wheelers for audio and e-books is via the school library links), you may be interested in these activities;

• Starting on Thursday 17^th October, Bateman’s, the home of Rudyard Kipling, is celebrating the 130^th anniversary of the Jungle Book with a new set of illustrations. You can view more information about this and other half term events here: Claire Fletcher: Illustrating the Jungle Book | National Trust
• If you love old books and maps, try a tour of the British Library Treasures: What’s On: Upcoming Events and Exhibitions - The British Library (bl.uk)
• Learn about medieval knights at Lewes Castle: October Half Term: Medieval Magic & Bonfire Fun - Sussex Past

Have a great half term!

Ms Jan Blagden, Librarian

From the School Shop

Mayfield Calenders
If you're short of an idea for Christmas – do you know any dog lovers? How about a 2025 Mayfield Dogs Calendar?

We have these in the school shop for sale at £10 each and all profits will be donated to the Antonia Beary Fund. As with Sister Jean’s Marmalade, cash only please.

House Hoodies - Error!
We have (belatedly) noticed that the last batch of Competitive House Hoodies (Assisi, Bakhita, Avila and Stein) we received are missing the Mayfield Logo on the right hand Sleeve of the hoodie. If you have one of these, please can you return it to us in the first week in November after arriving back and we will send it to the manufacturer to have the logo embroidered on the hoodie. If you are unsure, please see the image below. This is the logo that should be on the right sleeve on all four competitive house hoodies . This does not affect the quality of the hoodie, the recall is for embroidering purposes only. If you do not want to return the hoodies for embroidery, you do not need to; they have the correct house logos and names on them.

Christmas Shop
As usual there will be a Christmas Shop open in the school shop after half term. We will carry a selection of small gifts that girls can buy for friends and family for Christmas. Most items are under £5. Please see below a picture of a previous year's Christmas shop. There will be festive decorations for your room, gift wrap, Christmas cards and the ever popular Christmas earrings.

We will also be offering a wrapping service and this year it will be free! Sister Jean and Sister Maria donated Christmas wrapping paper to the school shop before they left, so we are happy to wrap your gifts and include a bow and tag, while stock lasts. You can either leave your gifts with us when you shop or you can bring gifts in to be wrapped.

You can use cash or card to shop but please remember to have the bill payer's permission to place any item on your school shop bill.

Sister Jean's Marmalade
We have the last batch of marmalade from Sister Jean in the school shop. Once we have sold out, sadly there will be no more  If you want a jar, they are £2.50 each (cash only please) and all proceeds are donated to Mary’s Meals. I will be producing some marmalade in gift baskets for Christmas – watch out for further details.

Lastly, we wish you all a peaceful and restful half term break and look forward to seeing you back here in November.

Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager

The Wellbeing Hub - What's On This Week