St Teresa's Prep School weekly Bulletin 13 January 2023

Message from Mrs Conrad

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I have enjoyed hearing about the lovely family gatherings the girls experienced and adventures that some of them went on whether it was snowy Lapland or sunny Barbados!

As we embark on this new year, I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and blessed 2023.

May God make your year a happy one! Not by shielding us from all sorrows and pain, but by strengthening us to bear it, as it comes; Not by making our path easy, but by making us sturdy to travel any path; Not by taking hardships from us, but by taking fear from our heart; Not by granting us unbroken sunshine, but by keeping our face bright, even in the shadows; Not by making our life always pleasant, but by showing us when people and their causes need us most, and by making us anxious to be there to help. God's love, peace, hope and joy to us for the year ahead.

Author unknown, adapted by Debra Mooney

Key Diary Dates:

Wed 18th Jan Year 3, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall & Classrooms 8:15 9:00

Thu 19th Jan 4BB Class Assembly, Henderson Hall 8:30 9.00

Thu 19th Jan Year 6, LifeLab commences Afternoon

Fri 20th Jan Young Voices Choir at the O2 Arena Afternoon Young Voices Concert at the O2 Arena 19.00

Wed 25th Jan Year 4, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall & Classrooms 8:15 9:00

Thu 26th Jan Year 4, Residential Trip Information Evening 16:30 17:00

Fri 27th Jan Years 5 & 6, Young Shakespeare Company Hamlet Workshop AM

Wed 1st Feb Year 6, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall & Classrooms 8:15 9:00

Thu 2nd Feb 5MK Class Assembly, Henderson Hall 8:30 9.00

Mon 6th Feb Parents’ Evening (on-line) 18:00 20:00

Wed 8th Feb Parents’ Evening (in person), Henderson Hall 16:30 18:30

Thu 9th Feb Parents’ Evening (on-line) 16:15 18:15

4BB—Class Assembly

Parents of girls in 4BB are invited to join us for their class assembly

on Thursday 19th January 2023 at 8.30am in the Henderson Hall

Refreshments will be served in the Henderson Hall from 8.15am

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 a form to confirm your attendance nearer the time.

Wednesday 18th January Year 3

Wednesday 25th January Year 4

Wednesday 1st February Year 6

Wednesday 15th March Year 5

Years 5 & 6

RotaryYoung Photographer Competition

This is a three-stage competition designed to support and encourage the development of photographic skills starting with a local heat in February, with the best entries going forward to a District competition and on to a National Final at the end of March. Entries are submitted in age groups for fairness. The initial task is to submit one photograph based upon the theme, “The Beauty of Architecture” with a sentence to explain the relationship to the theme.

Competitors will receive a certificate of participation with appropriate awards for the winners at all stages of the competition. Entries for the local heat, closing date Saturday 4th February 2023, are invited on behalf of the Mole Valley Rotary Clubs and should be submitted to Miss Shear - s.shear@st-teresas.com no later than Wednesday 1st February ‘23.

Drama Stars of the Week

Sophie B for her enthusiasm and interest in Greek theatre Ruby S for her perceptive observations in Drama Viola for her enthusiasm for our new topic and knowledge of Shakespeare

Susie Y for her confidence in performing her Bible advert

Golden Book

Well done to all of the girls in our Golden Books this week:

3RN Skyla N Skyla helped her group to plan and organise the resources .

Maggie M topic lessons this week. She found countries in Europe and their capital cities.

Ivy M part in all our activities and tried very hard with everything she does! Well done Ivy.

3KC Matilda W and for recalling some super facts about Zeus!

Abby VR Amelia H learning.

4BB Holly E this week. Eliza P

4CR Eva C at St Teresa's. Sofia G Calista J d’C

5MK Lyla S English.

Lainey H for her very thoughtful and creative idea for a charity, complete with an eye-catching logo.

Matilda R and Isabel R for their engaging, detailed and informative book reviews that were written over the Christmas break

5HC Veronika K for an excellent start to the new term and for fantastic work in RE thinking about a charity she would like to set up which involved giving homes to stray dogs in Ukraine.

Lottie C and Isabella K for their excellent and clever riddles in English, working hard to include all the success criteria and key features.

5KH Isla B-H for her impressive skill and perseverance in completing a large and complicated Lego project over the holiday.

Francesca J for her enthusiasm for reading and working to improve the comments in her Reading Record.

6JG Bella H for completing extra Maths work so brilliantly.

Liliana O’D for her excellent questions in lessons and mature attitude

6HI Ella C for settling in so well, taking everything in her stride and joining in with much confidence.

Florence B for quietly and consistently giving her best in all areas, particularly in maths.

Sofia O for her detailed insights in her reading record and always giving her best.

Year 3—Zeus Visit

Today, Year 3 started their new topic called “Gods and Mortals” and had a very informative visit from a good natured Zeus who was online! He told them all about the twelve Greek Gods and Goddesses, why they were famous and what their special powers were. The girls loved taking part in the discussion including acting out a pentathlon and asking Zeus some fabulous questions at the end. Well done for avoiding the thunderbolts girls!

Teen Tips

To kick start the New Year, Year 5 & 6 were lucky enough to receive a visit from Alicia Drummond, the founder of Teen Tips. She spoke to the girls about friendships, group dynamics, relationships, communication and treating ourselves and others well as part of their PSHE work this term. The girls are determined to use the Three Cs - Calm, Consider and Chat to help manage healthy relationships.

Music News

Musicians of the Week

Year 3 Esther for excellent knowledge and use of musical terminology

Year 4 Summer for wonderful enthusiasm and focus

Year 5 Amelia for fantastic resilience in learning ukulele chords

Year 6 Felicity for being a great supporter of the music department and beautiful singing in Chamber Choir this week

Recorders are Back

Our Year 3 recorder lessons took a bit of a back seat at the end of last term due to all our performances, but we are thrilled to be back on track! Please do remember your recorder and book on a Thursday. We have now learned B, A and G and can play lots of tunes!

Assembly Performance

Well done and thank you to Ayla for playing the piano so beautifully for us in Celebration Assembly this morning!

During the Christmas Break, Alana was invited to play alongside established members of the Youth Harp Orchestra of Great Britain. Alana is a trainee member of the orchestra and was selected to play in their ‘A very harpy Christmas’ charity concert. The National Youth Harp Orchestra is unique in Europe and performs regularly at prestigious events and concert venues up and down the country including The Barbican and Cadogan Hall as well as abroad. Well done Alana!

Music Lessons & Instrument Hire

We still have some spaces for lessons and some instruments that can be hired from the school. If you would like to try out any instruments or need any more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Harris.

Young Voices

Our Young Voices Choir has been working very hard on their songs - just a week to go until we perform at the O2 so keep practicing. We are very excited!

Music Course—Save the Date

Our annual music course will run from 11th to 14th April 2023 and will be open to children from all schools in Years 3-9 who have passed Grade 1 on piano or an orchestral instrument. More details to follow.

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

The PE Department welcomes you back from your Christmas holidays! We hope you had an exciting and relaxing holiday, we can’t wait to hear what you’ve all been up to. We’re looking forward to more sporting success in 2023!

Well done to all of the girls who have qualified for the National Schools Biathlon Championships, which will be taking place at the Abbey Stadium in Redditch on Sunday the 12th March. Y3: Thea, Amelia, Eloise and Maggie. Y4: Sophia L. Y5: Isabella and Olivia. Y6: Natalia and Kaiah. We all wish you the best of luck!

Cross Country league

The cross country league will be taking place on the following Wednesdays: 18th January, 8th February, 1st March and 15th March, Miss Rippington is looking forward to seeing you all there!

Hockey

The U10A-D teams played hockey against St George’s on Tuesday. The girls played some outstanding hockey in all four matches. The As narrowly missed out on a win, with Isabella scoring the goal for the team. The B team won 2-1, with Sophia driving down the right side of the pitch scoring the first goal and Tabitha scoring the second. The C team won 2-0, with both goals scored by passing to a team mate across the goal and deflecting the ball in. The goal scorers were Harriet and Ella. Our D team had a very competitive match, missing out on a win by 1 goal. Players of the matches were: Stef, Tabitha, Harriet and Sophia C. Well done girls!

Swimming Fixture vs. Danes Hill

On Thursday 12th January, the U8 – U11 swim squads hosted a swimming gala against Danes Hill. Despite early nerves the U8’s started the gala off with a win and second place by Beatrice and Sophie. This set the tone for the competition and the girls performed well across all age groups, showing great teamwork and courage to win the whole gala.

Special mention to the U9s, U10s and U11s for winning their categories, the parents’ support, and helpers. We hope to continue our winning run at next week's gala against Notre Dame.

Netball

On Tuesday the U10’s played an internal match. It was a very close game which ended 4-2. All the girls displayed outstanding team spirit and team work. Well done to Imogen Webb for her impressive shooting. Excellent work well done girls!

This Week

With the beginning of the New Year there is something of a tradition to reflect on resolutions for the year ahead. In Chapel this week, as we continue to celebrate the season of Christmas, we reflected on the Feast of the Epiphany, when the Magi visited the Christ-child. The Magi give us a model of the spiritual life. It would be good to build our resolutions on how they acted.

Firstly, the Magi were observant, faithfully surveying the night sky for the awesome news of the new-born king. We are called to be watchful, and to recognise with scrupulous attention the signs of God’s purpose in our lives.

Once they had seen the star, they were impelled to move. The length and danger of the journey didn’t put them off. They were prepared to act. We too are called to move, and to set aside our fear, laziness or the influence of bad habits and head in the direction that God is showing us. There were certainly difficulties for the Magi. Deceitful Herod planned to subvert the Magi’s plans for his own gain. We too must expect there to be opposition when we follow God’s path but we are encouraged to persist regardless.

On their arrival the Magi dug deep and gave precious gifts from their treasures. As we approach Christ we too are called to give of our very best and to make our lives a gift for our King, our God and our Saviour. Finally, they returned by another way. No one can encounter Christ without expecting to changed by the experience. And that is the very point of our resolution - to end this year as a different person, a person orientated, like the Magi, towards God in our lives.

E-mail equestrian@st-teresas.com Call 01372 750257

Booking System

st-teresas-equestrian.ecpro.co.uk

Visit our website www.st-teresas.com/ equestrian

Or find us on Facebook “St Teresa’s Equestrian”

We hope that you have an good Christmas Holiday and a Happy New Year, and are looking forward to the new term!

As the weather is so variable at the moment, please make sure that you come with a jumper (no hoodies!) and/or a coat to wear when it’s chilly out or raining. As we are on top of a hill, we get a bit of a cold wind when riding in the arena!

While the weather is showing on and off rain, we’d like to remind our riders that we still run lessons in the wind and rain provided there is not a risk to anyone’s safety. As an alternative for those who don’t want to ride, then we do offer stable management lessons in the warm barn.

February Half Term Activities

Check out our online site to book your spaces now!

Over the Christmas break, STE ran Christmas Pony Mornings and private lessons. There were great fun, and everyone was dressed up and covered in tinsel!

On the week between Christmas and New Year, the ponies had a well deserved break! They were still looked after in their usual routine, but didn’t have any lessons or were ridden. This means they’re back fresh and rested for the new term’s lessons!

The horse of the week is Charlie!

~ Libby

C

NSEA News

Over the holidays, some riders took part in NSEA training at Pycombe on the 30th December in pouring rain. Good job!

Congratulations to Lulu S for taking a fantastic win in the November NSEA Pop-up dressage with an incredible 77% in Novice 24.

Pop-up dressage is filmed from your own arena at home and submitted online for judging. It’s open to all NSEA combinations nationwide & you accumulate points throughout the year. Tests run from Intro to Novice and it’s a great way to get some feedback without having to plait up and leave the yard!

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Prep School Beef lasagne & crusty bread

Main Beef lasagne with crusty bread

Chicken breast goujons

Southern fried chicken fillet burger with shredded iceberg & piri piri mayo

Roast chicken breast with Yorkshire pudding

Honey roast gammon with Yorkshire pudding

Eat healthy dish Chargrilled chilli chicken & roasted vegetable traybake

Vegetarian Vegetable & spinach lasagne

Pork & Chinese vegetable chow mein

Quorn mince & bean tomato bake

Marinaded Cajun beef strips with rustic coleslaw & chef’s salad

Root vegetable & lentil cottage pie

Mild beef chilli with rice & nacho’s

Mild beef chilli nachos, grated cheese, guacamole, sour cream & salsa

Lemon & basil chicken breast served with marinated olives

Malaysian style squash & seitan curry

Hot lunches include a selection of family favourites and suitable alternatives for children with allergies and intolerances. Items in Italic - Sourced from F Conisbee’s, our local butcher

Fish fingers/ tomato pasta

Traditional battered cod fillet or fish fingers with tartare sauce

Seafood & chilli spiced linguine with roasted green peppers & fresh herbs

No chicken teriyaki noodles & Oriental vegetables

Rice Carrots Chips Peas Baked beans