E-weekly Issue 160

Reminder: Green Day

On Monday 26^th April we will be celebrating Green Day so please remember to bring in £1 and wear something green to support the WWF, the upkeep of the Mayfield bee colony, and other environmental improvements around the School site.

‘Mayfield Earth Hour’ will take place from 14:30 to 15:30 and we are hoping to use zero energy across the School site during this time.

Thank you.

Mr Steve Gough, Head of Geography and Educational Visits Co-ordinator

The long-awaited return of Summer Sports at Mayfield

The PE Department was delighted to welcome both boarders and day girls back to the weekend sporting programme last weekend, with many pupils from Years 7 to 10 enjoying a morning of technical workshops.

The start of Tennis and Cricket sessions offered pupils a chance to re-familiarise themselves with basic skills and techniques, and really get back in the swing of things.

The Cricket Workshop began with a batting skills circuit whereby the girls worked on various elements of their technique, including the role of their top and bottom hands, how to manipulate the field, and power hitting. They then worked on fielding skills including close catching, target throwing, and ground fielding. It was fantastic to see the girls hone their technique, and to see them make so much progress in only one session. It is certainly going to be an exciting Cricket season!

We began the Tennis Workshop with some fun games and activities which enabled the girls to practice their technique, control and accuracy. The girls then played doubles matches with different partners, and against different opposition. A great morning of Tennis all round!

The physical activity did not stop with traditional sports, but continued in the afternoon with a busy and exciting boarding programme, in which the boarders in Years 7 to 10 had the opportunity to choose between Table Tennis, Softball and Swimming.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend of both competitive and recreational sport, which was full of joy for the girls and PE teachers alike.

Coming soon…

Saturday will see the return of Athletics with Years 7 and 8 taking part in a session from 9:00-10:45, and Years 9 and 10 from 11:00-12:45. We are looking forward to seeing lots of girls there. Please can we also remind everyone to check SOCS for the new extra-curricular timetable which details when your year group clubs will take place.

Miss Emily Starr, Deputy Director of Sport

Summer Term Sports Kit and School Uniform
This is just a reminder of the expectations that have been sent out to the girls this week about wearing PE kit to School in place of School uniform:

- On days where you have PE lessons or a club you are permitted to wear your PE kit to School as we are unable to currently offer full changing facilities. This applies to the appropriate School PE kit. This may, where relevant, include team or squad sport’s kit that you have but no non-Mayfield sports kit is to be worn.

- For PE this Summer Term you are expected to wear shorts and/or leggings for Athletics, skorts for Tennis and either shorts/skorts or Cricket trousers for Cricket. You should then wear your Mayfield School tracksuit bottoms over the top of your shorts/skorts to be removed for PE in warmer weather. On occasions when it is particularly warm you will be permitted to attend lessons in your shorts or skorts, providing they are a suitable length and size.

- We recognise that for a small number of girls this results in you having to wear PE kit on sometimes up to 4 or 5 days a week. Please note that if you are unable to wash your PE kit regularly you should be able to rotate between shorts/leggings/skorts and Cricket trousers. You may then wear your competitive House tops as an alternative.

- If you know you have multiple sessions in a day and would like the opportunity to change then please speak to you PE teacher and they can arrange this for you.

- Please speak to any member of the PE Department if you have any concerns or if you are short of appropriate kit to wear.

- When attending weekend workshops and/or boarder’s activities, you are allowed to wear your own 'home' sport’s kit as long as it is suitable and fit for purpose to enable your kit to be washed.

- Please note that house tops and training kit will not be permitted for fixtures.

I hope this all makes sense but please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if anything is unclear.

Thank you – and here is to an exciting and (fingers crossed) full term of Summer sports!

Mrs Georgina Fletcher, Director of Sport

Maths Feast

At the end of last term, 16 Year 10 girls took part in the AMSP National online Maths Feast. The Maths Feast is a fun and educational challenge for Year 10 students, which tests their problem-solving and teamwork skills through an all you-can-eat ‘feast’ of problems!

There were several rounds requiring different skills and strategies for success. Our girls worked very well, and it was clear they all enjoyed the challenge. 

Many congratulations to the winning team of Sahana, Lizzie, Sophie, and Abigail.

Mrs Jana Carpinato, Teacher of Maths

Calling all Old Cornelians

We will shortly be mailing out the latest edition of the Old Cornelian Magazine so please ensure we have the correct postal address for you by emailing it to  oldcornelians@mayfieldgirls.org

Thank you.

Dr Marie-Sophie Reijers, OC Co-ordinator

From the Chaplaincy

A quick reminder that each Thursday afternoon, at the beginning of A2, we will continue to pray the Rosary in the Chapel. It takes about 15 minutes to say this prayer, and everybody is welcome.

This Sunday’s Gospel: Jn 10:16

Gospel Reflection
This Sunday, the 4^th Sunday of Lent is known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’. In the Gospel we see the image of Christ as shepherd, caring for and leading his flock. But we are also reminded of our call to be shepherds - to lead others to the comfort of the fold. And we don’t manage that by excluding, judging or shunning people. Once again, I turn to Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI to explain our call to be welcoming, forgiving members of a Universal, Inclusive Church. And of course, while Fr Ron is writing for a Catholic audience, this message is a call to all Christians - a call to unity, not division; to open our arms instead of turning our backs; a call to be shepherds- gentle, protective, daring, but above all - Good.

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn 10:16)

There’s a disturbing trend within our churches today. Simply put, we are seeing the embrace of our churches become less and less inclusive. More and more, our churches are demanding a purity and exclusivity not demanded by Jesus in Gospels. 

Indeed the very word ‘inclusivity’ is often glibly dismissed as being part of the ‘I am spiritual but not religious’ ethos, as if being inclusive were some kind of light-weight, New-Age, thing, rather than a central demand within Christian discipleship itself. What does it mean to be inclusive? Jesus once defined this by saying: “In my father’s house there are many rooms.” God’s heart is wide, abundant, and universally-embracing, a heart that takes care to pray for those “other sheep who are not of this fold.” To be Catholic is to imitate that.

Everyone else, without a single exception, falls short. In the Gospels we see that Jesus’ passion for inclusivity virtually always trumps his concern for purity and worthiness. He associates and dines with sinners without setting any prior moral conditions that have to be met before those sinners are deemed worthy of his presence. His disciples, much like many good, sincere church-people today, were forever trying to keep certain people away from him because they deemed them unworthy; but Jesus always answered that he wanted them all to come to him: "Let them come to me!" Indeed, that is still Jesus’ call: "Let them come to me, all of them!"

We need to be more inclusive. I highlight this because today our faith families are shrinking and instead of us weeping empathically about this loss of wholeness, we are more prone to be secretly gleeful about it: "Good riddance: they weren’t real Christians anyway!" Or, in the words of some Catholic commentators, they were ‘Cafeteria-Catholics’, picking and choosing which parts of the Gospel they liked and turning a meaty Catholicism into ‘Catholic-Light.’

Such a judgment, however sincere and well intentioned, needs to operate under two huge caution flags: First, such a judgment leaves the person making it rather vulnerable. Who is a true, fully practicing Catholic? In short, only Jesus and Mary were fully practicing Catholics. Everyone else, without a single exception, falls short. We are all ‘Cafeteria-Catholics.’ We all fall short; all have shortcomings, and all live the Gospel somewhat selectively. To cite the most salient example: many of us bear down more on church-going and private morality, to the neglect of the non-negotiable Gospel demand regarding justice; others simply reverse this. Who’s closer to Jesus? Who’s more of a Cafeteria-Catholic?

The answer to that question lies inside the secret realm of conscience. But what we do know is that none of us gets it fully right. All of us stand in need of God’s forgiveness and all of us stand in need of the patience of our ecclesial communities.

The second caution flag is this: the God that Jesus reveals to us is a God of infinite abundance. Inside God there is no scarcity, no stinginess, no sparing of mercy. As the parable of the sower makes clear, this God scatters his seed indiscriminately on every kind of soil—bad soil, mediocre soil, good soil, excellent soil. God can do this because God’s love and mercy are limitlessness. God, it seems, never worries about someone receiving cheap, undeserved grace. Good religion needs to honour that.

Exclusivity can mask itself as depth and as passion for truth; but it invariably reveals itself, in its inability to handle ambiguity and otherness, as rigidity and fear, as if God and Jesus needed our protection. More importantly, it often too reveals itself as lacking genuine empathy for those outside its own circle; and, in that, it fails to honour its own abundant and prodigal God.
Ron Rolheiser OMI

Mr Ronan Lavery, Lay Chaplain

Leeds House News

The girls in Leeds House are very excited that off-site trips can once again feature in the weekend programme of activities. On Sunday, following a reflective Mass and full roast lunch, they piled into the minibus for a trip to Ashdown Forest, immortalised as ‘Hundred Acre Wood’ in A.A. Milne's ‘Winnie the Pooh’ stories.

During the afternoon, the girls walked deep into the forest to find the bridge where ‘Pooh Sticks’ was invented, before walking to the summit and a fantastic view of the surrounding countryside. The walkers were all rewarded with ice-cream before travelling back to School in time for supper. Some of the girls commented how much they had enjoyed the freedom of being outside on such a lovely sunny afternoon.

Mrs Margaret Barnett, Housemistress of Leeds House

News from the School Shop

Welcome back to the Summer Term.

Lost Property
Please see below photos of lost property that is currently in the School Shop. If you think an item is yours, please come and collect it. Any items still in the School Shop at Half Term will be donated to charity.

Second-hand uniform
Can all girls who are completing their GCSEs this term and moving into the Sixth Form in September, please bring their second-hand uniform to the School Shop before they leave for the Summer holidays, so that we can credit their account for items we can sell.

Please remember that all uniform must be washed and ironed. Any uniform that is dirty or needs ironing will be considered to be a donation as it cannot be sold. We do not accept white shirts, socks, or uniform with the old logo (i.e the Mayfield logo without a cross), Year 7 and 8 book bags, obsolete styles (i.e the older style school coat), or equestrian items. Any uniform that cannot be re-sold will be donated to Mary’s Meals or the Clothing Bank. Please remember to keep your House polo and sports kit for the Sixth Form.

Summer
When Summer finally arrives, we have suntan lotion, after-sun, and a small number of sun caps for sale in the School Shop. We also stock second-hand tennis rackets and tennis balls.

Mrs Susan Bowles, School Shop Manager

Mayfield SPARK Camps 2021

We are very much looking forward to welcoming children from Reception to Year 8 back to Mayfield for a fun-filled SPARK holiday Camp this Summer. Check out our Facebook page for further updates: https://www.facebook.com/MayfieldSPARKCamps

Mrs Lynette Le Riche, SPARK Camp Co-ordinator

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