E-weekly Issue 312 - 3 October 2025

Welcome 

It has been a truly vibrant week at Mayfield, filled with wonderful opportunities to connect, share and celebrate.

We began the day with our Parent Representatives' Breakfast, bringing together reps from all year groups. It was lovely to reflect on recent parent feedback, share developments, and hear such positive and constructive ideas for the future. We are so grateful for the encouragement and support from our parent community—it really makes such a difference. Reps will be updating families through their year groups, and if you haven’t yet joined your year group network, you can do so by contacting Mrs Georgina Fletcher on gfletcher@mayfieldgirls.org

A special mention must go to everyone involved in our Careers Fair this week. A huge thank you to the many colleagues who worked together to create such a professional, informative and inspiring event. There was a wonderful buzz around the school as students explored a wide range of careers and met so many engaging representatives. It was especially lovely to welcome back so many Old Cornelians—there’s something instantly recognisable about a Mayfield girl - and we are so grateful to them for sharing their time and experience so generously.

Finally, an exciting update from Sixth Form Boarding: at the start of September, we welcomed Fiona Jones as our new Director of Boarding and Housemistress of St Dunstan's, our Sixth Form house. Over the summer, St Dunstan’s underwent a significant refurbishment, with newly updated bedrooms, bathrooms, common room and kitchen. The results are wonderful—please do take a moment to watch the video below to see the transformation for yourself.

Warm regards,

Deborah Bligh, Headmistress

A Date for Your Diaries:

Year 12 parents' coffee morning - Friday 10^th October, 8:30am at the House Cafe in Mayfield High Street.

In the News This Week...

Careers Fair 2025

There was a real buzz throughout the school at the Careers Fair on Wednesday evening. With 38 stands representing a range of industries, students had an excellent opportunity to discuss their aspirations and talk about careers that they had not considered. It was also great to catch up with OCs who really inspired students with their journeys after Mayfield. Years 7 to 9 had fun asking exhibitors questions to complete their quiz.

We were very privileged to have Georgina Worrall as the keynote speaker with her excellent talk, "Resilience While Navigating the Career Pathway". A special thanks must go to our sponsor GCS Retail Loss Prevention.

More details about the exhibitors featured are available below.

Careers Event 2025 - Mayfield School

Mrs Rachel Davies, Head of Careers

Year 9 Sleepover at St Gabriel's

Last Friday, the Year 9 day pupils joined our boarders for a fun-filled sleepover at St Gabriel’s Boarding House, and what a night it was! 

The evening kicked off with a classic combo of pizza, a movie, ice cream, and popcorn, setting the tone for a relaxed and joyful atmosphere. After the film, the girls explored the house, played table tennis, and gradually transformed the common room into a giant sleepover space, complete with duvets, pillows, and plenty of giggles. 

As the night went on, games were played, stories were shared, and laughter echoed out. Eventually, a hush settled over the house and while no one’s quite sure when sleep actually happened, the girls assure us that some rest was had! 

It was a lovely opportunity for our day pupils to experience the boarding world first-hand, and for our boarders to host their friends in-house. A big thank you to everyone who helped make the evening so special. 

Mrs Georgina Fletcher, Head of Year 9

Scholars' News

There is a distinct difference between being busy and being productive, which the scholars discovered last week in the Powerful Productivity Workshop with performance psychologist Sarah Huntley, and the girls left with key tips on how to organise busy schedules and seemingly conflicting priorities. It was lovely to see Year 13s discussing ideas with Year 7s and feeding back on these together, and to see Year 11s enjoying the session despite the pressures of the GCSE year.

We also had a visit from OC Genevieve (2020) who has just finished her post-graduate degree at Oxford after studying languages at Cambridge and is now about to work as a Teaching Assistant for a year in Madrid. The whole scholars’ community came together with parents and scholars attending the Scholarship Information Evening on Monday, where new scholars were awarded their scholarship badges by our Year 13 scholars and welcomed into the cohort.

A reminder that any girls who did not get their badge should come and find Mrs Kilvington to collect it along with any girls who would like to discuss applying for the upcoming 13+ or 16+ scholarship assessments.

Mrs Kasia Kilvington, Director of Scholars

Sports News

Skiing
Mayfield Girls are definitely flying the flag on the ski slopes. Huge congratulations to both Emilia and Lottie who have done incredibly well in the London and South East Regional Snow Sports Association (LSERSA) series. Emilia won the U16 series and Lottie placed 2^nd in the U14 series.

In addition, both have been selected for the English Schools Alpine Squad 2025/26 and the opportunity to take part in the training camps, which offer a unique opportunity for students to develop valuable skills such as self-discipline, social skills, teamwork, and technical skiing abilities. 

Congratulations must also go to the three girls who took part in the British School Girls Indoor Race: Emilia, Lottie and Flo, where Team Mayfield achieved a 3^rd place finish overall and a bronze medal! Emilia triumphed as the U16 champion and Lottie placed 4^th in the U14s, both in categories where they were competing with GB Squad skiers - this is a tremendous achievement. Well done girls!

Horse Riding
Congratulations to Flo who competed at a National Championships at Aston le Walls, Northampton, last weekend, after qualifying in two classes earlier in the year. Flo placed in both classes, with a 2^nd in combined training and 6^th in combined challenge!

Cricket
Congratulations to Flo in Year 10 who represented Tunbridge Wells in the national cricket final at Lords in September. Flo took 2 wickets in just 3 overs, before the game was rained off. However, Flo did also enjoy a tour of the famous long room, based in the players pavilion. Hopefully it won't be long before you're back at Lords!

Swimming
Mrs Jones took her first Swimming team to Roedean on Thursday. The girls performed incredibly well, in particular the junior girls who were swimming against girls aged Year 9 upwards. An incredible effort and some very close races. There is certainly lots to look forward to with the swimming this year.

Sailing
Congratulation to Katherine and Rose who took part in the Schools Autumn Regatta, at ASC Portland. Their second competition for Mayfield, as they continue to be pioneers for the growth of sailing at the school. 

Please find attached information about the Half Term course at Weir Wood, if your daughter is interested. This course is independent from Mayfield School but we would be delighted to encourage the girls to take part.

Sailing Course - October Half Term

Hockey - A Clean Sweep at Lingfield!

U13A - 4-0 win
This week, in a much more dominant team performance, the girls used the space and their ball pace effectively and created lots of chances, with goals in the first half from Josie and Isobel and in the second half, there was more of the same, with goals from Cyra and Isobel made this a well deserved 4-0 victory.

U13B - 5-0 win
The B team match was a really good game, which should have provided the girls with a great deal of confidence. From the outset the Mayfield team demonstrated some excellent ball pace, and with Milly holding her space up front, we were able to play the ball in behind the defence, and Milly was first on the score sheet. Isabella also had a strong performance at left midfield too, and as more space was being created, it meant that she found herself in lots of space to pop in the second. Whilst it wasn't completely one way traffic, Mary's spatial awareness and ability to watch the ball if it was drifting just wide of the post was fantastic, and she also made a couple of crucial saves. But lots learned and what a boost for their confidence. Well done girls!

U13C - 2-1 win
The U13Cs were involved in a very close match away vs Lingfield College. Mayfield started on the backfoot, with Lingfield managing to use their high forwards to get beyond the Mayfield defence. At times in the first half, Mayfield were struggling to use the space of the whole pitch, finding themselves crowding around the ball too often. Despite this, Mayfield were able to score a goal in the first half thanks to a quick break away and Meryl was able to finish well after her first shot was saved. Just before half time, Lingfield equalised to level the game.

In the second half, Mayfield aimed to send the ball out wide earlier and use the space to their advantage. This gave Mayfield more control in the game and the girls were working the ball well into space, playing some nice Hockey. Sookie was then able to finish well around the P spot, after an excellent pass from Nora.

U13D - 5-0 win
The U13Ds had an excellent result away vs Lingfield College, winning 5-0 and playing some good Hockey. Mayfield were aggressive in their tackles and were quick to play the ball wide and forward, utilising the space beyond the Lingfield defence.

Sakura managed to score 3 well taken goals, keeping her composure when under pressure from the opposition. There were also 2 unfortunate own goals, but this highlighted Mayfield's pressure and perseverance in getting numbers into the opposition's D.

Iona and Katherine were awarded Girls of the Game for their hard work throughout the match. Well done to all the girls, who each played a big part in the win!

U16 v Bede's
A large squad of U16s played against the Bede's 2^nd XI in a training game. Despite a valiant effort and a game full of substitutions and looking at different combinations, the girls came away with a 3-0 loss.

U18 Hockey
The U18s took part in the Sussex Schools Tournament, at Lancing College,  in an attempt to qualify for the regional round. The teams work ethic was magnificent and after dominating play against Worth, the second half saw a great ball down the line from Lizzie to Alex, with Alex driving into the circle and passing it to Annabelle, who put the ball in the back of the goal for a well deserved win. The next game against Lancing was very tight, with both teams having chances but not converting them, which led to a 0-0 draw. In the final game, the girls knew that Christ's Hospital would be physically strong, and yet again the work rate of the Mayfield players was great. Christ's Hospital took a 1-0 lead into the second half, but Carla Pujol, who had been solid all day, was able to convert a short corner at the second attempt, leaving the final score 1-1. Unfortunately, 3 teams (including Mayfield) all finished on the same points, tied for top spot, but unfortunately the Mayfield goal difference was not enough to go through. However, there was much talk on the sidelines from the organiser about a number of the Mayfield Girls, and about how hard they all worked. Well done, girls... you were a real credit!

Introducing Golf Society

A new club for this school year, the Mayfield Golf Society has proven to be quite popular. With 20 members, the club is off to a strong start. Each Friday afternoon, as soon as class ends, we head off to Horam Park Golf Club, and take over half the driving range. With a bucket of balls each, and one club between three, girls have the chance to practice their swings - and blow off some steam at the end of a busy week!

Last week the club professional, Giles, gave us our first lesson on the fundamentals of golf, before giving each girl personalised tips and pointers on their swing. With a range of abilities, from "never swung a club before", through "I wouldn't stand there if I were you, I've no idea where this is going to go..." to "alright Nelly Korda, calm down a bit...!" the help was invaluable. Giles will be giving a lesson once per half term at least, introducing woods, putting techniques, chipping, and all the skills needed to prepare our absolute beginners for moving round the golf course.

Last Sunday, three of our students played nine holes on the Horam Park course. Despite having no kit, and facing an unfamiliar course, they played well, demonstrated great sportsmanship and - most importantly - had fun!

We are incredibly grateful to Horam Park Golf Club for their hospitality. They could not be more welcoming and encouraging of our girls, and nothing is too much trouble for them!

Finally, an appeal. As we are starting from scratch, we have no equipment. So if any members of the Mayfield community have an old set of clubs cluttering up your garage, attic, porch etc, we'd be incredibly grateful for any donations. We promise they're going to a good home!

Mr Ronan Lavery, Chaplain & Golf Society Leader

Teatime concert

Our first concert of the academic year took place in our wonderful concert hall, featuring the full breath of our school from year 7 girls performing for the first time, to prefects and sixth form music scholars all showcasing their talents. It is never easy to perform in front of people and every girl performing showed bravery and courage, highlighting our Cornelian principles and from that the joy of making music. We have a number of further opportunities for our community and pupils to perform with two highlights of the musical calendar this term, the Scholar's Concert on the 24^th November and the Winter Ensembles Concert on the 1^st December. Please see later weekly newsletters for more information about these and future events.

'Interstellar' comes to Mayfield

A unique and special opportunity early on in the term for music and physics came from the arrival of renowned Organist Roger Sayers, the organist who worked with Hans Zimmer to produce the music to Interstellar. A film directed by Christopher Nolan and famous in the musical world for being a film composition where the organ is used as the dominant instrument for the score. A total of eight recordings of the same organ in Temple Church London played by Roger Sayers, created the unique and rich sound that Interstellar is known for.

Before the concert our girls were treated to an afternoon of exploration with a pop up planetarium experience in the church courtesy of Herstmonceux Observatory. They discovered the stories behind the creation of the zodiac as well as learning about the planets in our Solar System, before being plunged head first into the Sun! This was followed by an organ building workshop, where the girls were tasked with building a short two rank organ, with the actions and keyboard matching up, even building the frame. It was wonderful to the see the teamwork and level of care taken to build this organ and the joy in hearing it play.

Finally came the concert, which was introduced with pieces for a Space Odessey and the Planets Suite by Holst. Following an informative and in depth Q&A with Roger, the main event came, and Roger played his arrangement of the Interstellar score. A wonderful and immersive performance showcasing the wonderful organ at St Dunstan’s. From this our girls left wanting to find out more about the organ and Interstellar. The organ is offered as an instrument to learn at the school with our fine three manual Chapel organ. Interested parents and pupils, please do contact the music department for more information.

A huge thank you to St Dunstan’s church & Mayfield Festival for organising this event. We look forward to further partnerships with the parish and the school with music.

Mr Frazer, Director of Music and Mr Smith, Head of Physics

Welly Walkers Enjoy Autumnal Adventure

The welly walkers were out and about on Tuesday afternoon enjoying the lovely autumnal weather - including a visit to the two donkeys in the neighbouring field.

We're not sure what Pippin (Mrs Bligh's dog) made of them! He soon regained the girls' attention with an extra wag of his tail and a good chase around the field. Cola (Mrs Garcia's dog) however seemed unphased and was more interested in the conkers on the ground.

Let's hope the weather holds for next week's walk in the woods.

Mrs Caroline Turner, International English Teacher

Year 9 Boarders Explore History at Bodiam Castle

On Saturday 27^th September Dr Weddell and I had the pleasure of accompanying a lovely group of Year 9 boarders to Bodiam Castle. The sun was shining brightly, and the girls had the chance to walk in and around the medieval setting, connect with nature, go up to the impressive tower and watch a very informative video regarding the castle’s long history, before finishing with a visit to the castle's coffee shop for either an ice cream or a drink. 

Mrs Georgia Fytili, Head of Classics

Culinary Skills Students Tackle the Black Forest Gateau

This week, our talented Culinary Skills girls crafted a timeless classic — the Black Forest Gateau. From scratch, they baked a light and airy genoise sponge, layered it with freshly whipped Chantilly cream, and finished it off with rich black cherries and chocolate shavings. A delicious blend of tradition and technique.

Mrs Sue Smeaton, Head of Food & Nutrition

Leeds Boarders Explore the Local Countryside

On Saturday the Year 7 and 8 boarders went on a walk in the countryside surrounding Mayfield, taking in part of the route of the old railway and passing the old Mayfield College, before walking through the woods past the old medieval iron workings. The girls arrived back suitably happy after two hours (or maybe it was the sight of the homemade biscuits waiting for them?). Thanks to Miss Woodfield, Mrs Kilvington and Mrs Kilvington's dogs for keeping the pace up!

Mr Christopher Adams, Head of Geography

Rainbows Support Group

Rainbows is a national and well-respected charity, which offers a programme of support for young people navigating grief of all kinds, such as death, divorce, incarceration, abandonment and many others, through facilitated peer groups within their communities. These groups provide a safe environment that encourages communication while identifying, navigating and discussing difficult feelings that accompany loss. Our trained staff host small, informal sessions in St Raph’s, for the duration of the programme.

Confidentiality, which is at the heart of all Rainbows Programmes, is always kept, unless a young person is at risk, in which case the school’s safeguarding procedures are followed. 

Rainbows supports self-esteem, trust, confidence and resilience, whilst promoting positive emotional/mental development and healthy relationships. If you feel your daughter might benefit from attending the Rainbows group, please feel free to contact me, Helen Lavery at hlavery@mayfieldgirls.org or your daughter's form tutor.

‘100% of headteachers agreed that the Rainbows programme is a valuable resource for supporting vulnerable children in school.’ 
‘96% of parents and carers would recommend the programme to others.’ 
‘79% of children agreed that they felt more confident and less worried about their problems after attending a Rainbows Programme.’ 

Please do not hesitate to contact us via email if you have any questions regarding this.

Mayfield Charity Fashion Show - Dresses Wanted!

Chaplaincy News

Pray the Rosary Each Day for Peace - Video

This weekend, due to the Boarders' Trip to London on Sunday, we will have a vigil Mass for our students at 5pm on Saturday. Sunday morning Mass is unaffected.

Holy Half Hour continues on Tuesday evening at 6pm.

Library News

In celebration of National Poetry Day, Year 9 spent part of their library lesson this week creating poetry from the titles of books. It is not easy when the choice of words are restricted. Working in small groups, each student could copy just two titles, no omission or addition of words was allowed. Punctuation and repetition of titles were permitted.

This required some cooperative creativity! Please enjoy some of the girls' poems below.

From the School Shop

New Items in Stock
We have re-stocked the water bottles, these are 650ml capacity and are £5.25 each including VAT. We are currently carrying them in two colours and they have the new logo on them.

We are also carrying Mayfield Shoppers in a tote style. These come in six different colours; they are 100% cotton and are 380 x 420mm in size. They have a 10-litre capacity and an extra long strap (67 cm). These are £7.50 each including VAT.

Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager

Photo of the Week

We have two photos of the week today, both showcasing the beauty of nature. Many thanks to Liv in Year 7 and Mrs Davies for sending us their chosen images.

If you wish to submit a picture for any future 'Photo of the Week' stories, please send your selected image to jtompsett@mayfieldgirls.org.