Issue 1
Spring Term
12th January 2024
Message from Mrs Conrad Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope you all had a restful and restoring Christmas break. The return to school after our celebration of the Christmas miracle is always a time to refresh, restart and look forwards. In doing so, we know that the year will bring transformation and change – personally and professionally. With that in mind we face the year ahead with courage and excitement and, perhaps, a little nervousness because with change comes the challenge of the new and unknown. May we embrace the year ahead knowing that, whatever happens, God is with us through it all. Perhaps it is helpful to remember the words of the great saint, John Henry Newman: To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.
Key Diary Dates: Mon 15th Jan
Year 6, Lifelab commences
Wed 17th Jan
Year 3, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall and Classrooms
8:15—9:00
Young Voices Choir at the O2 Arena
Afternoon
Young Voices Concert at the O2 Arena
19.00
Mon 22nd Jan
Years 5 & 6, Young Shakespeare Co. A Midsummer Night's Dream Workshop
Afternoon
Wed 24th Jan
Year 4, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall & Classrooms
8:15—9:00
Thu 25th Jan
6JG Class Assembly, Henderson Hall
08:30—9:00
Mon 29th Jan
Children's Mental Health Awareness Week
All Week
Wed 31th Jan
Year 5, Open Book, Henderson Hall & Classrooms
8:15—9:00
Thu 1st Feb
Prep School Parents’ Evening (on-line)
17:00—20:00
Fri 2nd Feb
FOST Valentine’s Dance
17:30—19:30
Tue 6th Feb
Prep School Parents’ Evening (in person)
16:15—19:15
This week you should have received: Years 5 & 6
Shakespeare workshop letter
Years 4 to 6
Tennis trials letter
Young Voices Choir
Final details for the day/concert—please complete this form if you have not already
Forest School
Details for the Spring Term
Year 3
Open book invitation
Please contact the School Office if you need copies of any of this information—prepinfo@st-teresas.com
Pick-up—Car Name Cards As different staff and members of the maintenance team will be supporting the Prep School at pick-up, please ensure that you have your child’s name sheet on your dashboard when you are collecting at either 3.45pm or 4.15pm, so that you can be easily identified. If you need a duplicate copy of the name sheet, please contact the School Office—prepinfo@st-teresas.com. If you are new to the school, your daughter will bring home her name sheet on Monday.
Prep School Open Book Mornings We will be holding Open Book Mornings for each Year Group starting in the Spring Term. This is an opportunity for your daughters to show you their books and their classrooms. Refreshments will be served in the Henderson Hall from 8.15am and, once the girls are settled, you will be taken to the classroom from 8.30am until 9.00am. Please see the dates below. You will be sent an online form to confirm your attendance nearer the time. Wednesday 17th January—Year 3 Wednesday 24th January—Year 4 Wednesday 31st January—Year 5 Wednesday 21st February—Year 6
6JG—Class Assembly Parents of girls in 6JG are invited to join us for their class assembly on Thursday 25th January 2023 at 8.30am in the Henderson Hall Refreshments will be served in the Henderson Hall from 8.15am
Farewell Mrs Jones! Mrs Jones has been appointed Executive Assistant to the CEO at the Girls' Day School Trust and will therefore be leaving us at February half term. Katherine has given 10 years of dedicated service to St Teresa's Prep School and will be sorely missed by the entire St Teresa’s community. Not only is she a warm, welcoming presence in the school office but she is also a fantastic PA to me and a brilliant organiser of all our key events, clubs and buses! I know you will join me in congratulating her on securing such a prestigious position and wishing her every happiness and success for the future. We have a new member of staff joining the team in 2 weeks’ time to take over Katherine and Annie’s roles.
Drama Stars Ivy H for making good decisions in her group poetry task.
Esther H for her enthusiasm and wonderful contribution to her group tasks. Eliza P for her continued commitment in lessons and her work on Pantomimes last term.
Golden Book Well done to all of the girls in our Golden Books this week: 3RN
Millie G for settling in so well to life at St Teresa's this week. She has come into school happily and played an active part in all our lessons. Well done Millie. Scarlett S for settling into our class and St Teresa's so well this week. Scarlett has come in every morning with a smile and is trying very hard with all our lessons. Well done Scarlett. Annabella H for her excellent effort this week in English when answering questions about our new text 'The Street beneath my feet'. She has contributed her answers confidently during whole class sessions.
3KC
Isabelle E-N for her fabulous work on multiplication on the four times table this week and her work at home on TTRS. Well done Isabelle. Flossie H for her brilliant full answers on the comprehension from A Street Beneath My Feet. Well done for being so proactive when recycling the answer in the question. Ivy H for fabulous reading both in the holidays and at school, for moving up a level and for super effort in the "A Street Beneath My Feet" comprehension. Well done Ivy!
4LH
Abigail VR for the links and subsequent predictions that you made in English as we analysed the illustrations of our new text. Very insightful! Isla S for your detailed Anglo Saxon brooch design and the embossing skills you showed during our topic lessons this week. It was also wonderful to see hear your justifications for the design choices you had made. Fantastic work! Harper A-S for always participating enthusiastically and contributing ideas to discussions. Esme S for your insightful comments and thorough write-up in our recent renewable energy tasks. Amelia H for her confidence and bravery when speaking French to our special visitors this week. Mary J for her absolutely fantastic Maths this week, learning about multiplying several numbers and identifying factors. Ava-Skye N for her fabulous attitude and effort, particularly in her English this week.
4AB 4CR
5HC
5KH
6MK
6JG 6RW
Sophia SS and Mira M for their fantastic comic strips depicting the Battle of Bosworth. Calista D'J and Lily B for their excellent and cleverly written riddle in English. Isabella M-S for her fantastic Minecraft presentation for our Museum of Egyptology, which was filmed, narrated and sent all the way from South Africa! Avery K for her detailed cartoon strip featuring Edgar the Excitable dragon Ruby S for her attention grabbing story opening that cleverly builds tension and suspense Sophia C and Harriet L for their enthusiastic approach in our topic lessons this week, where we have been examining the causes of the Second World War. Jessica L and Ella M for making a great start to the new term. Engaging well in all lessons and working to the best of their ability, with their conscientious approach to learning. Alice F for her enthusiasm and understanding in Maths this week. Coralie H for her responses to World War One poetry. Mia M and Rachel H for creating beautiful WW2 blackout poetry.
Year 6 Art Year 6 studied the work of artist, Ana Falceta and undertook their own 2D abstract compositions. They identified their own inspiration, which included subjects such as, "Dancing on holiday," "Autumn" and "Foals" and then had to explore how to match mark making, shapes and colours to represent this in watercolours, pens and thread.
St Teresa’s School Visit On our very first day back this term, we were delighted to welcome a delegation of nuns from the Sisters of Christian Instruction, the community who founded our school in 1928. Amongst the group were the Reverend Mother General from Brazil, the Mother Superior from Belgium, two sisters from Brazil, one sister from the Congo, and Sr Carmell Heller, a former pupil of our school who joined the community here, becoming the novice mistress and head of boarding. The sisters were all very impressed by what they saw. Some of our prep girls even tried out their French speaking skills! Mrs Canning, Mrs Kearley and Mrs Halliwell were delighted to catch up with Sr Carmell who had taught them when they were pupils at St Teresa’s and many amusing stories were shared. The visit ended with a short service in the chapel where we gave thanks for the sisters and all that they have done, and continue to do, for Catholic education and without whom we would not be here.
Year 4—Saxon Broaches Year 4 have been analysing artefacts from the Sutton Hoo burial ground and, following this learning, we designed our own Anglo Saxon inspired brooches. The children enjoyed delving into symbolism and use of colour to reflect status. They also developed their embossing skills by creating intricate patterns before considering if they would do anything differently next time.
Year 3—Rocks and Rumbles As part of our new topic ‘Rocks Relics and Rumbles’, Year 3 went on a walk surveying the local area around school. They had to assess how different types of rocks are used and take digital images to record their observations. We then made a photographic montage of ‘Rocks in our Environment’. Whilst they were walking around, the girls made notes describing what they had seen.
Sports News Netball U10A-D Netball Vs CLFS U10A—The girls put in to practice what they had learnt in training last term and their performance showed great progress, particularly in their positioning and awareness of space on the court. Congratulations to Penny C for being awarded player of the match: very well deserved. U10B—They were well organised, independent and they displayed exceptional teamwork and communication. Well done to Jasmine N for being awarded player of the match and also to Eva M who received some very complimentary feedback from the umpire. Excellent work! U10C—The girls demonstrated great determination throughout a very cold and competitive game. They demonstrated accurate and powerful passing, allowing the team to work the ball up the court, creating scoring opportunities throughout the game. They couldn’t quite secure a win, however congratulations to everyone who played and a special mention to Anna P who was awarded player of the match! U10D—The girls played a number of positions and did a terrific job all over the court. Ruby, Eleanor, Sophie and Evie scored goals, with Evie scoring three of them! The final score was 8-1, so the defenders did a sterling job too. The girls had the best time and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. U11A-E Netball V Downsend Well done to all the girls that took part in the netball matches against Downsend on Tuesday. It was very cold but the girls worked really hard throughout the matches. All the games were competitive and there was some great shooting. The C & E teams’ hard work paid off and they both won! The players of the matches were Tara, Coralie, Bella and Sophia.
Reminders It is VERY cold up on the St Teresa’s Hill, so please pack your daughters’ top and bottom skins, joggers, jumper, hats and sports gloves. We will be outside as much as possible and need the girls to be appropriately dressed.
Fixtures (week commencing 15th January) Friday 19th January
U8 A-D Netball vs St Catherine’s, Bramley (A) 2.45pm
Friday 19th January
U10AB & U11AB Hockey vs Sutton High (H) 4.15pm
Saturday 20th JanuaryU11A-D Netball V Feltonfleet (A) 8:30am MEET 9am START Saturday 20th JanuaryU10A-D Netball V Feltonfleet (A) 9:45am MEET 10am START
Clubs (week commencing 2nd October) Monday– Prep Goal Keeping club—12:45-1:15pm (U10&U11) Tuesday– U8&U9 Netball Club—7:50am to 8:20am, U8-U11 Netball Shooting Club—12:45-1:15pm Wednesday—U8&U9 Hockey Club—7:50am to 8:20am, U8&U9 running club– 12:15-12:45pm, U10&U11 Recreational Netball Club—12:45-1:15pm Thursday— U8-U11 Football club—7:50am to 8:20am, U10&U11 Running club– 12:15-12:45pm, Invitational Swim Squad training. Friday– Invitational Swim Squad training U8-U9—7:45am, U10&U11 Hockey skills club—12:45-1:15pm, U11 Netball training, U10 Hockey training 4:15-5:30pm.
Music News Musicians of the Week Year 3 – Leila A for her wonderful knowledge of musical notes and term! Well done Leila Year 4 – Rosie M for excellent recall of musical terms and signs – well done Rosie! Year 5 – Evie R for being a star player in musical dominos! Great work Evie! Year 6 – Mia M for excellent keyboard playing and great resilience in learning her notes.
Music News It has been wonderful to have the girls back in school and the department buzzing with music again! I would be grateful if you could please ensure that the girls have their instruments on the following days: Orchestra – 3.45 - 4.45 Monday Assembly Band – Monday and Friday St Teresa’s Singers 4.15 - 5.00 Tuesday Wind Band – 10.55 - 11.15 Wednesday String Ensemble – 12.45 - 1.15 Wednesday
Chamber Choir – 4.15 - 5.00 Wednesday Rock Choir (from Feb half term) 12.45 - 1.15 Friday NEW CLUB Guitar Ensemble – 12.45 - 1.15 Friday
Year 3—Recorder Year 3 parents – please note that recorder lessons will now be on THURSDAY so please ensure that the girls have their instruments and music. Many thanks
This Week While the rest of the world packed their Christmas decorations away long ago, and have moved on to the newly installed Easter Eggs in the supermarket, we paused to finish our celebrations with the great feast of the Epiphany, remembering the visit of the Magi to the Christ-Child. Their first gift was gold, a suitable gift for a king. This child, born in poverty, far from any grand palace, was recognised as not just ‘a’ king, but as ‘the’ king, the one who had been waited for so long, the one to rule for all eternity.
Incense was a gift associated with the temple, where it was burnt day and night, creating a beautiful fragrant cloud. For those in the temple, it was as if they had been transported into heaven itself, with them standing in the presence of God. The Magi with this gift confirm Jesus as God, here present with us. Finally the Magi give the strangest of gifts for a newborn child. Myrrh was used in funerals to prepare the body for burial. With this gift, the Magi recognise that this newborn king, God-withus, lying in a wooden manger, would give his life on the wood of the cross to save all people once and for all. The Magi bowed down and worshipped Jesus, recognising him as king, God and saviour. As we come to the end of the Christmas season, we are challenged to recognise Jesus the same way, to bow down and worship him, and to make him the very centre of our lives.
Valentine's Art Competition We invite you to showcase your artistic flair in our Valentine's Art Competition. Criteria: •
Inspired by Valentine's
•
Simple, attention-grabbing images
•
A4 size
Please submit your masterpiece via email (valentines@erikasstudio.co.uk) or hand-deliver it to the Prep School reception by Monday 15th January. The chosen artwork will be featured prominently on the Valentine's Dance Poster! Let your creativity shine and make this Valentine's unforgettable!
E-mail equestrian@st-teresas.com Call
Visit our website www.st-teresas.com/ equestrian
01372 750257
Booking System st-teresas-equestrian.ecpro.co.uk
Or find us on Facebook “St Teresa’s
Welcome back to the new term, and the new year! We hope that you all have had a lovely Christmas break, and are looking forward to the Spring Term.
Temperatures have dropped, so please make sure that your child comes to ride with enough layers. We do have some coats and gloves on hand that can be borrowed, however we are limited in sizes. In the cold weather it can be useful to wear tights or leggings underneath jodhpurs/ trousers, the sports skins as a base layer and wearing enough coats on top. Our staff will be encouraging all riders to wear gloves, but if you have your own please make sure to bring it with you. We are limited in space in our locker room, but parents and children are welcome to drop off their riding attire in the mornings at school drop off.
We are aware of some school trips and sporting events over the coming term. If your child cannot attend one of their lessons, then please let the office know by phone or by email, or the lesson can be cancelled on the booking site. As if you wish to cancel a lesson, we do require 48hrs notice or more in order to offer credit.
Holidays Activities 2024
We have released our holiday activities on our online booking system for the rest of the academic year! February Half Term, Easter Holidays, May Half Term and Summer Holidays We will be running a variety of Pony Mornings, Pony Afternoons, Private Lessons, Lunge Lessons, Day Camps and a few others.
They are all on the EcPro system and you can book a place now!
Menu—w/c Monday 15th January 2024 Hot lunches include a selection of family favourites and suitable alternatives for children with allergies and intolerances.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Soup of the day
Tomato & basil
Roasted butternut squash & sweet potato
Leek & potato
Country vegetable & lentil
Roasted red pepper & tomato
Prep
Beef lasagne & crusty bread
Chicken breast goujons
Roast chicken breast/gammon with Yorkshire pudding
Mild beef chilli with rice & nacho’s
Fish fingers/ tomato pasta
Main
Beef lasagne with crusty bread
Chicken katsu curry with steamed rice & prawn crackers
Honey roast gammon with Yorkshire pudding
Mild beef chilli nachos, grated cheese, guacamole, sour cream & salsa
Traditional battered fish fillet or fish fingers with tartare sauce
Eat healthy choice
Chargrilled sweet chilli chicken with little gem, cherry tomato, sweetcorn & carrot salad
Pan fried beef strips with fresh coriander, lime & chilli served with avocado salad
Chicken & vegetable chow mein
Turkey & winter vegetable hot pot
Seafood & chilli spiced linguine with roasted green peppers & fresh herbs
Vegetarian
Vegetable & spinach lasagne
Spiced quorn mince & bean wrap
Roasted vegetable & mozzarella bake
Chilli glazed tofu with peppers & red onions
No chicken teriyaki noodles & Oriental vegetables
Sides
Crusty bread Peas & sweetcorn
Rice Broccoli
Roast potatoes Mixed vegetables
Rice Carrots
Chips Peas Baked beans
Additional
Chocolate chip cake & custard
Fruit & berry crumble & custard
Sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce
Rocky road
Lemon drizzle slice
Dessert
Salad Bar Summer Fruit Platter
Salad Bar Summer Fruit Platter
Salad Bar Summer Fruit Platter
Items in Italic - Sourced from F Conisbee’s, our local butcher
Thursday
Salad Bar Summer Fruit Platter
Friday
Salad Bar Summer Fruit Platter