St Gabriel's House

stgabriels@mayfieldgirls.org

St Gabriel's House (or Gabs as it is affectionately known) is our Year 9 and 10 Boarding House, and we have a mixture of girls who have come up to us from Leeds House, who are joining us from other schools, some from other countries, and plenty who have not boarded before. The girls spend much of the first term learning to live together as part of a community, sharing space, resecting each other's privacy, and getting to grips with the routines of the House. This is complimented by a variety of year group and whole House trips to London, the local cinema, shopping in Tunbridge Wells, ice skating, and bowling, as well as a Year 9 team building trip over the first weekend.

As the year goes on our trips continue to be varied as we visit Brighton, Eastbourne, a theme park, go strawberry picking, as well as trying out many in-House activities such as making salt dough Christmas decorations, tie dyeing fabric, baking, swimming, tennis and our various house parties. The girls are never without something to do and when they need to relax, they enjoy movie nights with popcorn and brunch in their pyjamas.

Mrs Pippa Whitby (Housemistress), Mrs Hannah Lavery (Assistant Housemistress), and our Graduate Assistant, run the House with assistance from two Resident Tutors, who are in the House two evenings a week and some weekends. The girls have access to at least one member of staff sleeping in the House during the night if they are unwell. 

During the weekday evenings, the girls have supervised study from Monday to Thursday with time allocated appropriately for each year group. After this, the girls enjoy relaxing, calling home, chatting to their friends and the occasional activity. Being on-site means they enjoy a varied programme of school evening activities including weekly yoga, Zumba, and trips to the Fitness Room as well as watching the Dance Show, Live Crib, Drama Productions and talks from a number of different speakers.