E-weekly Issue 178

Message from Mrs Green - Live Crib

With rehearsals well underway for Live Crib, we have finalised arrangements for our Live Crib services this year.  This half of term, we have continued to minimise large gatherings and reluctantly we have taken the decision not to have guests attending Live Crib in person this year.  Instead, we will be filming and streaming Live Crib on Wednesday 15th December at 4.45pm. This has been a difficult decision as we understand how special the Live Crib experience is for the Mayfield community.  We hope you will be able to join us virtually and I know the girls will appreciate your support.  We will also record the service and send this to you all in the event you are unable to join live.  Thank you for your understanding.

At school this week, the focus has been on health and wellbeing and we celebrated Hello Yellow Day. The girls raised money for Young Minds by wearing a cheery array of yellow clothing, and baking cakes and treats to sell in School. Special mention goes to Mr Smith for his banana costume! Emily, our Wellbeing Prefect, has been encouraging the girls to enjoy some down time in our new Snug, where they can also chat to Sixth Form Mentors. This room has been designed to provide a quiet space during the day.

Finally, we are sorry to bid farewell to Andria Balboa (Head’s PA), who leaves Mayfield today as she has recently relocated further afield. We thank Andria for all she has done in her time at Mayfield and we wish her well for the future. Please continue to use headmistress@mayfieldgirls.org or email Katie Towers (who will be the Acting Head’s PA) on ktowers@mayfieldgirls.org.

Thank you.

Mrs Niamh Green, Acting Headmistress

News from the Friends and Year Reps

Year 7 Dates for the Diary:
Thursday 25th November at 19:30 - Evening Drinks at The Sussex Arms in The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells
Thursday 16th December at 11:00 - End of Term Brunch at Eggs Eleven in The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells 

Please email Caron Williamson on caron77@hotmail.co.uk if you would like to attend any of these events.
Thank you.

Below is a lovely picture of Year 7 parents enjoying a coffee in the Pink Cabbage on Tuesday morning!

Year 8 Dates for the Diary:
Thursday 9th December – Parents’ supper at The Middle House, Mayfield

Year 9 Dates for the Diary:
Friday 17th December at 10:00 - Brunch/coffee at The Middle House, Mayfield High Street

Year 12 Dates for the Diary
Monday 29^th November at 08:15 – We are meeting in the School car park for a dog walk. You don’t have to have a dog to join us!
Monday 13^th December at 19:30 – Christmas drinks and canapés at Coco Retro in Tunbridge Wells. Further details to follow.

Year 13 Dates for the Diary:
Friday 10^th December at 18:00 - Christmas ice skating in Calverley Park followed by a meal at Wagamamas at 19:30. Please follow the link in the email sent by School on 5^th November to book your tickets.

Thank you.

The Friends

Hello Yellow Day

On Tuesday, our Wellbeing Prefect Emily and our Charity and Community Prefect Saibh, organised Hello Yellow Day at Mayfield. The girls raised money for Young Minds by wearing a cheery array of yellow clothing, and baking cakes and treats to sell in School. We particularly liked Mr Smith's outfit!

Sixth Form Debating Final

The final of the Sixth Form Inter-House Debating competition took place this week. The motion was ‘This House believes that contemporary Western societies favour women over men.’

Poppy  and Mofe, on behalf of Astor, made a strong case for the motion, arguing that women in the west have better life expectancy and life satisfaction than men. Gabriella and Jemima, on behalf of Glennie, referenced the ongoing gender pay gap and violence against women in their arguments against the motion.

All the debaters used well-researched and powerful arguments but, in the end, the judges (Mr Doy, Ms Davies and Dr Corvan) made the extremely tough decision to award the debate to Poppy and Mofe. Well done Astor!

Ms Catherine Bryan, Head of Politics

MESSy News

On Tuesday, MESSy had a very productive meeting with our new Catering Manager, Mr Moore, about the ways we can reduce food waste - a very concerning environmental problem.

Many ideas were discussed - the most important of which is to remind girls (and indeed staff), that they can ask catering staff to serve them a small or large portion - and so avoiding good food going from plates into the bins.

Further initiatives will follow!

Year 13 Daisy, MESSy Prefect

Year 13 Statistics Workshop

Last Saturday morning, some of our Year 13 A Level mathematicians turned up bright and early to participate in a Statistics Workshop. The morning started with a fun, competitive Kahoot quiz to identify gaps in knowledge. The Workshop was split into three sessions: interpreting data, the large data set, and sampling methods, with a particular focus on applying these skills to exam questions. The cake breaks in between sessions kept everyone focused and cheerful!

The girls said: “Enjoyed the Kahoot and a very useful session! “, “It reminded me of things I had forgotten about the large data set”, “The most useful thing about the Workshop was “building the basic knowledge of the large data set”.

Mrs Sally Howie, Teacher of Maths
 

News from the Chaplaincy

Gospel Reflection for Sunday 21^st November – Solemnity of Christ the King

John 18:33-37: Yes, I am King

This Sunday’s gospel invites us not only to reflect on the kingship of Jesus Christ, but also to reflect on our own understanding of what it means to be a leader, a person of importance, a ‘king’. Jesus does not proclaim his kingship with pride and arrogance. On the contrary, he speaks only when repeatedly pressed for an answer by Pontius Pilate. “Yes, I am King,” he says at last, but he makes it clear that his kingdom is “not of this world”. Pilate, however, cannot understand such a response; he thinks purely in human and earthly terms.

When we think of a ruler or a king, we may, like Pilate, think of someone powerful, ambitious, perhaps even ruthless; certainly, the rulers of Jesus’ day, including Pilate himself, were notorious for being tyrannical and brutal rulers. But Jesus is a very different kind of king, just as he is a very different kind of Messiah. St Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians, writes, “But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.” (1 Cor. 1:23). The Messiah who was to come was believed to be a mighty warrior who would free Israel from servitude. Instead, Christians preach Christ crucified – an aberration to both Jews and non-Jews in the 1^st century.

The heart of Christianity, the crucified Christ, might seem to be a contradiction, yet there is beauty in such a paradox. As Christians preaching Christ crucified, we defy the expectations of society and the world about who a king should be. For us, Christ the King is not simply a king of power and might, but a king who suffers and dies on the cross for us all.

It is easy nowadays to believe we have a duty to be someone of importance and authority, yet in this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus Christ teaches us that truest kingship is found in service to others. As St Matthew tells us, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” (Matt. 20:28). All of us are asked to follow the example of Christ and our acts of service to one another can be big or small; we might listen to a friend who’s stressed and worried, we might give our time or money to a worthwhile cause, or we might simply open a door for someone.

This Feast of Christ the King let us therefore be ‘kings’ to one another, not ruling with arrogance and pride, but helping and serving one another with humility and generosity.

Miss Kathleen McCulloch, St Dunstan’s Assistant Housemistress  

PE Department Update

Hockey News
On Wednesday 10^th November, Miss Jones and Mrs Fletcher took our U13 Hockey team to the UKSA 7-a-side Hockey Tournament at The Triangle in Burgess Hill. The girls played well in their group stages, losing by one goal to eventual finalists Feltonfleet, and beating Seaford 1-0 in a close game with a well struck late goal from Hebe Legg. 

With 16 schools taking part, Mayfield made it through to the quarter finals but narrowly missed out on a place in the plate semi-finals. The girls played well and a huge ‘well played’ to them all, but in particular to Ava for her outstanding defending and to Mathilda for making some really important saves. 

South of England Success for Isobel! 
During Half Term, Year 12 Isobel represented the Southeast in the South of England Inter – Regional Duathlon Championships. This involved a 2.6km run followed by a 10km cycle and then another 1.3km run.

The Championships were held at Gravesend and Isobel won! She is currently competing in the Sussex Cross Country League and last weekend she won both the U17 age group and the women’s senior race. 

Isobel is a triathlete, which means she trains and competes in multi-disciplines. A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. The word is of Greek origin, from τρεῖς or treis (three) and ἆθλος or athlos (competition). 

If you are interested in having a go during the Summer Term, why not take part in Mayfield's Junior Aquathon (swimming and running) or the Sussex Inter-Biathlon. 

British Rowing World Class Start Camp
Last weekend, Year 12 Sophie attended the British Rowing World Class Start Camp in Nottingham. In the testing part of the camp, Sophie passed all the land and water skills but she narrowly missed out on the water percentage. This puts her in a strong position to move up groups in February when the weather will hopefully be better!

The girls also had some talks about women's health in elite sport, and an inspirational talk on mental health and sport by WCS graduate and Olympian Graham Thomas.

Mrs Georgina Fletcher, Director of Sport

Brownies Science Badge

Last Thursday, Mrs Davies welcomed Wadhurst Brownies into School to begin working on their Science Badge. They had a wonderful time making mayonnaise to observe the chemical reactions that occur, and watching what happens when you add food colouring and washing up liquid to a petri dish of milk!

Spooky Sunday for Micks Girls

The girls in St Michael's enjoyed a belated Halloween party last weekend. The evening was filled with games, fun and a lot of food!

Miss Josefina Ruival, St Michael's Housemistress

Menu

To view this week's menu please click here

Reminders

Car Park
A one-way system now operates in the Car Park.  To ensure that traffic flows freely and for safety, please do not wait for your daughter in the line of traffic but park in a space and wait for her there. Thank you.

Absences
If your daughter is going to be absent from lessons, please email absence@mayfieldgirls.org

Contacting Staff
If you need to contact a member of staff, please do so by email. If you do not have the member of staff’s email address, School emails follow this format: first initial and surname@mayfieldgirls.org  e.g abunce@mayfieldgirls.org
Please do not come into School unless by appointment. Thank you for your understanding.