E-weekly Issue 191

Message from Mrs Green 

I'm delighted to announce that our Ukraine Crisis Appeal has raised over £2,000 so far, with funds going directly to CAFOD, who are providing humanitarian aid to Ukranian refugees. Last Friday we held a Mufti Day at School, raising over £1,500, whilst the sale of ribbons, made by Erin in Year 9, has raised over £250 to date, and the charity car wash on Saturday brought in almost £170. Thank you to everyone who has donated so generously. The girls are continuing to come up with new fundraising ideas and today Lower and Middle School Cookery Clubs held a Cake Sale. If you would like to donate to our Ukraine Crisis Appeal you can do so via our our JustGiving page:

Mayfield JustGiving page - Donate now

This week interviews took place amongst Year 12s for the Sixth Form Prefect positions for the next academic year. It was great to see so many applicants and how proud the girls are to be a part of the Mayfield Community and wanting to give back, both those who have been here since Year 7 as well as more recent arrivals. We will be announcing the new Prefect Team shortly.

This week also marked a first for Mayfield, with our first ever competitive football fixture, as the U13s took on Sevenoaks Prep on Wednesday afternoon (see full report below). It was a great occasion and we look forward to continuing to grow our football provision.

Yesterday evening saw the welcome return of the Mayfield Dance Show, with over 100 girls performing in front of a full house in the Concert Hall. Congratulations to all involved - the dancers as well as those backstage and front of house - for what was a fantastic show and best of luck to everyone for tonight's performance!

Next week we have a number of visiting speakers, including Bob Tate from Drug Education UK, coming in to talk to the girls in Years 9 and 10 as part of their RSE day.

Wishing everyone a restful weekend.

Sports Update

 Wednesday saw our first ever Football fixture at Mayfield School as our U13s hosted Sevenoaks Prep. The anticipation and excitement had been building for some weeks and when the game finally arrived, the girls didn’t disappoint. Alongside being fantastic hosts and demonstrating extremely high levels of sportsmanship, they were also able to play some amazing football. The girls went 1-0 up early on after Eva ran through on goal and finished well into the corner. The lead was doubled before half time when Eleanor was able to dribble round a couple of Sevenoaks girls and again, calmly finish into the corner. Sevenoaks were then able to pull one back as they scored a good goal, squeezing the ball past Lola in goal who made some great saves throughout. The game was then finished by Eva who again was able to run through and finish brilliantly. Huge credit to everyone involved, particularly Fleur and Eleanor who were named girls of the game, however everyone should be extremely proud of their first game. Well done girls!

After a few frustrating weeks of cancellations, the Under 15s had the opportunity to take to the netball courts in some competitive fixtures with Ardingly on Saturday. Although all three teams lost, they were narrow defeats. The A team fought hard after going behind very early in the first quarter. Once they had dusted off their competitive cobwebs and started to link nicely they had a far more successful second half where they matched the opposition. Many thanks to the three captains - Mathilda, Sofia, and Lucy - for leading your teams this weekend.

The Year 10 teams are looking forward to getting back to winning ways this weekend against King's Canterbury. 

Last weekend saw us face a tough block fixture against Ardingly College, where we took four senior teams over to them. We approached this fixture in a slightly different way by including the Year 11 U16A players within our Senior set up. This gave them the opportunity to play with first team players, who we split across two teams, and it was fantastic to see so many different combinations. One of our Senior teams had a challenging game, nevertheless, we are so proud that they came out victorious with a 28-21 win after what was a highly emotional and reactive match. The other teams competed well but unfortunately did not win. 

A huge well done to our U16B team who had a closely fought match, and an extremely tense closing 20 seconds of the 4^th quarter. Ardingly and Mayfield were drawing 20-20 when possession of the ball was lost by Ardingly. This then provoked a chase down of a 50/50 ball  between Maddie and her opponent to gain the closing possession of the game. Maddie L then saw the opportunity to pass it into Emma N in the shooting circle, who then put up a pressure shot and scored the winning goal.

Well done to all those who played. A great morning of Netball.

The Intermediate Mathematical Challenge

Last month, students from Years 11, 10 and 9 took part in the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge. The Intermediate Mathematical Challenge is a 60-minute, multiple-choice competition aimed at students across the UK. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. The problems on the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge are designed to make students think. Most are accessible, yet still challenge those with more experience.

Well done to the girls who took part. This year 20 bronze, 14 silver and 3 gold certificates were awarded. Five students also qualified for the follow-on round which takes place later this month. Congratulations to Iris, Wing, Ellie, Katrina and Abigail.

Here are the first five questions - and answers - from this year’s challenge:

Try the Maths Challenge

Pathways Careers Bulletin

View Pathways Careers Bulletin

Year 11 Drama duologues

Mrs Gerstmeyer, Head of Drama

Poetry Please update

I have had three wonderful staff offerings for the Sonnet competition – but we would really love to see more of you giving writing poetry a go – even if you do not manage a full 14 lines…. I know that you, pupils, can outdo the staff…

‘The sonnet gave me time to think it through,
The words flowed from my pen in verse and feet.
For Shakespeare showed me what I had to do…..’

And

Let me not in a sonnet force the rhyme,
A poem is not a poem that effort finds
And drives its creators out of their minds…..

We look forward to receiving anything resembling the ‘little song’ that is a sonnet – on any topic you choose – to enter, simply email Lucinda Misiewicz, Joanna Staunton or Laura Parrett. 

Lucinda Misiewicz and Joanna Staunton and Laura Parrett

A weekend of hard craft!

Meanwhile the Gabs' girls were busy embroidering Mother's Day gifts.................

Boarders' weekend trip to London

Last Sunday, all the girls from Leeds House, St Gabriel’s, St Michael’s, and St Dunstan’s had an exciting day out in London. We arrived at Trafalgar Square with a tour from Mrs Bushell explaining the history behind the formidable monuments, ranging from the imposingly tall Nelson’s Column to Britain’s smallest police station! After catching a glimpse of the festivities of St Patrick’s Day celebrations, we all got to experience culture at the National Gallery, where we marvelled at the temporary exhibitions of contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley and Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, as well as re-visiting old time favourites in the permanent collection. The afternoon was spent of our own choosing with some of us deciding to enjoy lunch in Chinatown, or shopping with friends in Covent Garden. Overall, despite the chill and the drizzle, everybody had a great time!  

Yueshi 

News from the Chaplaincy

Gospel reflection Sunday 20th March
Luke 13:1-9

This Sunday, the Third Sunday of Lent, Jesus calls us to repentance. His words are stark, even frightening: Unless you repent, you too will all perish. He then tells his disciples the parable of the fig tree which, having failed to produce fruit for three years, is given one more year in which to bear fruit before it is struck down.

What is Jesus’ intention behind the parable? Does he mean to frighten us into changing our ways, threatening us with a fate like that of the fig tree? Or is he reminding us that, despite the many times we fail and let him down, he is still prepared to be patient and to wait for us?

Like the fig tree, we are given the time to bear fruit. Lent is that time. It is a time to reconsider our priorities in order to draw closer to God through prayer, fasting and helping others. When Jesus calls us to repentance, he is not asking us to simply say sorry but rather to reorient ourselves and our lives towards God.

It is easy for us to put off things till another day. We give into temptation today but tell ourselves that tomorrow we will do better. We might mean to pray each day, yet we forget and tell ourselves that tomorrow we will remember. But this Sunday, Jesus tells us to repent now, not to put it off until a future date. As the gospel acclamation reminds us: Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

This Lent, indeed, this very day, will we heed the cry of the Lord? Will we repent today knowing and believing that God’s kingdom is close at hand?

Miss Kathleen McCulloch, St Dunstan’s Assistant Housemistress

Notices

Cornelian Lecture

Author, artist and environmental activist, Laura Coleman is our next speaker in the Mayfield Cornelian Lecture Programme and we are delighted this will be in person on Tuesday 22^nd March. Laura will be giving a reading from her most recent book, The Puma Years, and talking about her time working at a Bolivian wildlife sanctuary on the edge of the Amazon jungle. Copies of her book will be available to purchase at the end of the evening; boarders will be able to charge any purchases to their School account. For those unable to attend, the talk will be recorded and shared at a later date.

Year 7 Parents' Lunch
Join us for a friendly and informal lunch at The Middle House in Mayfield on Friday 25th March from 1pm - 3pm. Please RSVP to Caron on Caron77@hotmail.co.uk  by Monday 21 March at the latest as we will book a table. Thank you.

Admissions Co-ordinator

We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly motivated individual to join our team to provide a warm, welcoming and professional admissions experience for prospective pupils and parents.

More information on Admissions Co-ordinator role

Note for Lower School Parents
If your daughter has misplaced her school shoes or can’t wear her school shoes for any other reason, please send an explanatory email to her form tutor before the start of the school day. Any girls arriving at school without appropriate footwear or an email from home will be issued with a referral. Where possible, alternative footwear should be dark in colour but preferably black. Many thanks for your continued cooperation.
Mr Dan Smith, Deputy Head of Lower School

The School Shop
As we approach the end of term, a small reminder that the School Shop bills you will receive this term will be for any purchases or credits made between 01^st December 2021 to 31^st March 2022. The Autumn term bills you received at Christmas ran from 01^st September to 30^th November 2021. If you require a breakdown or have any queries, please email me at sbowles@mayfieldgirls.org
Lost Property
If you have lost any home coats, sweat tops or joggers we have a few un-named in lost property in the School Shop. They have been photographed and sent to all the girls in the school by e-mail, as have small personal items of jewellery, glasses etc. Please can you remind students to check their e-mails. If lost property is named I have e-mailed the student to collect the item. All un-named lost property will be donated or disposed of by the end of term.
Sustainability
We try to be eco-friendly in the School Shop, but are always open to any ideas (house points given for any we use). To that effect can I point you in the direction of the following alternatives:
Body Wash, Shampoo & Conditioner in bulk. This costs 50p per 100 ml and you can bring your own bottle in for us to refill. If you purchase the items this way we also give 3 environmental  points for every recyclable bottle used as well as 3 environmental points for the product purchased. If you have  empty bottles of 250ml or less, please bring them to the school shop rather than place them into waste. We can use them here to put shampoo, conditioner or body wash in. We ask that you rinse them out and that the top is removable so we can refill. We give 3 environmental points for every bottle brought in – a great way to bulk out your house points.
Other items you may consider and all available in the school shop:
Bamboo Toothbrushes instead of plastic ones
2in1 Shampoo/Conditioner bars in paper outers instead of plastic bottles
We do not carry aerosol deodorant only roll on and in glass bottles where possible.
We only carry Aluminium water bottles  and hot drink travel mugs instead of plastic ones.
We offer cotton makeup remover pads and makeup remover instead of wet wipes. We do not carry wet wipes as they are not as bio degradable and clog up the sewage systems. We also offer makeup remover face cloths (that do work) as an alternate to cotton pads.
We try to ensure that all paper products are from a certified sustainable source where possible.
Second Hand 
Please remember to bring your second hand items to us clean and ironed and you will receive a credit for anything we think we can re-sell straight away on your School Shop account – if you are donating the items to us please make this clear. Any items sent to us that need to be laundered are considered a donation as we need to cover the cost of cleaning them. Items that are either obsolete or not re-saleable are disposed of sustainably.

 Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager