E-weekly Issue 288 - 17 January 2025

Welcome

This week, we had the joy of celebrating the birthday of our foundress, Cornelia Connelly, with a beautiful Mass and, of course, celebratory cakes. It’s heartening to see Cornelia’s pioneering spirit alive and well here at Mayfield, and we continue to embrace her conviction that true education nurtures the whole person – intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.

Looking ahead, we have some exciting activities planned for next week. On Monday, our Year 7s will participate in the Cookie Project, one of our engaging cross-curricular days designed to spark creativity, foster teamwork, and build confidence. At the same time, our Year 13s will head to Ashburnham Place for their Day of Recollection – a meaningful opportunity for them to come together, reflect, and appreciate their incredible journeys so far. On Thursday, we are hosting a UCAS evening for Year 12 parents – we look forward to welcoming you then. Finally, I continue to be impressed by the dedication and focus Year 11s have shown throughout their mock exams, and they will no doubt be looking forward to their end-of-mock celebrations next week.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

With best wishes,

Deborah Bligh, Headmistress

In the News This Week...

Celebrating Cornelia's Birthday

On Wednesday, we proudly commemorated the 216th birthday of Cornelia Connelly, the visionary founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and our beloved Mayfield School. Cornelia's journey was marked by profound personal challenges, yet her resilience and unwavering dedication have left an indelible mark on the world of education.

We honoured her by celebrating two Masses, eating cake and taking part in a whole school quiz! Together, we continue to uphold her inspiring vision, empowering future generations to unlock their full potential. The winners of the quiz were: Lower School – Amelie, Middle School – Inaya, Sixth Form - Anna. Well done girls!

Sports News

Cross-Country Championships
A group of Year 8 & 9 students took part in the Sussex Schools Cross Country Championships at Brighton on Tuesday. This event hosted students from all over Sussex and our girls had strong competition in a field of over 300 runners. Emily in Year 8 finished in 24^th place which is a fantastic result as she was competing against Year 9 students. All our runners were in the top half of the field and Isla and Katya finished in 59^th and 61^st respectively. Well done girls!

Football Success
The U13s hosted Ashford School in two football fixtures on Wednesday.

The U13As were victorious thanks to Clara scoring the only goal of the game, striking a lovely half volley into the roof of the net. The girls found real success when taking a touch and relaxing on the ball and were able to combine this with good organisation in defence to keep Ashford out. Isobel was voted Player of the match by Ashford and Ana was awarded Coaches’ player. Well done all!

The U13Bs also managed to win their fixture, with the scoreline ending 2-0. The game was incredibly tightly poised, but Mayfield were able to make the most of their chances, with Agnes and Maisie scoring two well taken goals. Maisie was voted Player of the match and Coco was awarded Coaches’ player, thanks to her solid defensive performance. Onwards and upwards!

Netball Returns!
The U15s kicked off their 2025 Netball campaign by travelling to Burgess Hill for a friendly fixture. We took three big squads (34 netballers in total!) and were able to provide plenty of minutes for all and try different combinations.

U15A
The U15As came away with a good win (26-13) and demonstrated that the foundations and fundamentals have not been forgotten since last year. They were able to turn over a lot of ball and then capitalise with accurate shooting from Emilia and Savannah. This is just the beginning but a fantastic to start the season with a convincing win. A big shout out to Carolina who was awarded Player of the match.

U15B
With a large squad and looking at using the new 'rolling subs' rules, the match ebbed and flowed, with our most dominant quarter being the second where the girls won 6-0. The match was tight at the end of the third quarter, with Burgess Hill having a one goal advantage, and they went on to win 18-14, but there was a lot to take from this first game and a positive outlook for the rest of the season.

U15C
The U15Cs were defeated 22-9 by Burgess Hill but demonstrated some real positives throughout the game. They were particularly strong in the first quarter, with the score at 6-6 and the game evenly balanced. The girls had the opportunity to play in a variety of positions and worked hard despite the scoreline getting away from them. Well done to Jess and Issie who were awarded Players of the match.

Upcoming Fixtures
Saturday 18th January - Netball
U18A & B – Home vs Eastbourne College
U15A, B, C & D – Home vs Eastbourne College
U14A, B, C & D – Away vs Eastbourne College

Good luck to all involved!

Cornelian Lecture - Tuesday 28^th January

Our next Cornelian Lecture will be on Tuesday 28^th January 2025, delivered by Mr Henry Virgin on Zaha Hadid Architects - a British architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), with its main office situated in London.  Below is a list of some of Zaha Hadid’s most iconic buildings:

• Vitra Fire Station, Weil-am-Rhein, Germany.
• Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck, Austria.
• Phaeno Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany.
• Bridge Pavilion, Zaragoza, Spain.
• Guangzhou Opera House, China.
• Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.
• London Aquatics Centre, London, United Kingdom.

The lecture will take place in the Sixth Form Lecture Room at 16:45. If you would like to attend, please click on the link below to RSVP. 

Please click here to RSVP

News From Learning Support

Reading Club
Following the success and fun we had last year I have set up a new Reading Club focusing on developing comprehension through inference training.

The girls act as detectives and practise the skills required to become active readers. When meeting a piece of text they make predictions, suggesting what the text might be about, and use their background knowledge to say what they already know about the topic. We then identify any difficult words or phrases and use a range of strategies to work out meaning. We have lots of chat and fun, and the sessions are accompanied by chocolate treats to keep us going!

The club is open to Year 7 and 8 students and takes place on Monday for half of the A1 session (so the girls still get time to relax!) If you would like your daughter to be considered for this reading group, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Maria Curran, Learning Support Teacher

Tickets Selling Fast for 'The Sound of Music'!

We are nearing our fantastic production of The Sound of Music: School Edition on 6^th - 8^th February, and tickets are selling fast - book yours now if you wish to come along and support the girls in their performance! 

Book your seats

Medical Mavericks - Thursday 23^rd January

We are looking forward to a visit this Thursday from Medical Mavericks. They will be in school all day delivering one-hour workshops to many of the year groups about a wide range of careers in the health sector. Here is a summary from Medical Mavericks about what the workshops will cover.

What careers do your workshops cover?

"We know the most common answer to ‘what careers do you know about in the NHS?’ comes with the answer: doctor, nurse, physio, dentist, midwife… or as we all call it, the Holy Quintet!

So, in the workshop students attending can find out about these BUT we also focus on the lesser-known careers such as biomedical science, healthcare science, medical engineering, medical physics, physiology, bioinformatics and many more."

What’s in your workshop?

"More like what isn’t! Students will be able to take blood from a fake arm, record their own ECG, try keyhole surgery, see inside their body with an ultrasound machine, take a picture of the inside of their eye and much more.

Each student attending will get their own medical observation sheet to fill in during the workshop as well as a printout of their ECG.

They can also check out our Careers Wall that outlines dozens of different career paths as well as salaries and training routes!"

Please click on the link below to view their promotional video. 

Mayfield School – Medical Mavericks

I look forward to sharing photos and feedback from the girls in next week's E-weekly.

Mrs Mary Saunders, Head of Careers

Remembering Hamish, Our Live Crib 'Donkey'

It is with sadness that we report the passing of Hamish the Shetland pony who has appeared as our donkey in Live Crib in recent years. Thanks to him and his owners Sally Ann and Lucie for the contribution they have made to the Mayfield Community.

Year 10 Boarders Enjoy Bowling Trip

On Saturday 11^th January the Year 10 boarders went to Hollywood Bowl in Bracknell. This was a chance to show off their bowling prowess, with some girls (and staff) impressing with strikes and spares, whilst others demonstrated an uncanny ability to get the ball into the gutter! There was also the opportunity to fill up with slush drinks and have a go in the arcades, with Martha proving to be an expert at pressing the correct piano key.

Miss Vardon

English Snow - From an International Perspective

The British weather is just one of the many cultural differences that our international girls face when coming to school in Mayfield.

Mrs Turner, International English teacher

Chaplaincy News

On Wednesday, the school gathered to celebrate the birthday of our foundress Cornelia Connelly in a manner she would have surely approved - Mass. We had two Masses to accommodate the whole school, although Year 11, in the middle of their GCSE mocks were sadly missing (though not forgotten). Fr Raymond celebrated a beautiful and reverent Mass, and the Schola sang beautifully. The second Mass was offered for the community of Mayfield School in Pasadena California, whose students and staff have lost homes and belongings - though thankfully so far no one has been hurt. We also prayed for all those affected by the wildfires.

As well as Mass, staff and students were tested throughout the day with a fiendishly difficult Cornelia quiz - and the winners of Mayfield goodie bags were:

Staff: Dr Jo Weddell,  6^th Form: Anna (Year 12), Middle School: Inaya (Year 10), Lower School: Amelie (Year 8)

You can test your knowledge here, but be warned - we have no goodie bags left!

Cornelia Connelly Quiz

It is with great sadness that, this weekend, we bid farewell to Fr Patrick Fitzgerald-Lombard, parish priest of Mayfield. For the past six years, he has been kind and generous to our school community, particularly with his time. He has offered Mass in our school chapel many times, and has found himself being called upon to fill in, often at the last minute, for various liturgies and celebrations. He has been a part of numerous baptisms, funerals and weddings in the school chapel over the years, and has played a role in the faith lives of countless Mayfield girls. We will genuinely miss him, although we wish him well in the next stage of his priestly career, which we're told involves writing a book and a spot of inter railing round Europe...! God bless, Fr Patrick.

Mass this Sunday is at 11:30am, celebrated by Fr Chris Benyon. 

In the absence of Fr Patrick in the village, we will no longer celebrate a parish Mass on Tuesday evenings in the school chapel. However, we are keen to retain that time as a time for prayer and community. So moving forward, Tuesday evenings at 6pm will see a short period of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. And so we continue to welcome members of the Mayfield family to the school chapel on Tuesday evenings for what we are calling 'Holy Half-hour' (although if you only have 5 or 10 minutes, that's ok too!)

Next Week's Daily Prayers

Daily Prayers 20-24 Jan

Mr Ronan Lavery, Chaplain

Photo of the Week

Many thanks to Martyna in Year 12 for her brilliant photos of girls enjoying their Tuesday welly walk. This shot in particular really captures their entertainment in the remaining snow!

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

Library News

Ms Jan Blagden, Librarian

From the School Shop

Lost Property
Please see below pictures of un-named and unidentifiable lost property as of Thursday 16^th January. This is on the bench opposite the school shop. If you think anything is yours, please collect as soon as possible. All students have been sent these photographs.

Any items not claimed by Friday 24^th January will be disposed of.

Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager

The Wellbeing Hub - What's On This Week