St Teresa's Prep Weekly Bulletin 1 December 2023

Issue 10

Autumn Term

1st December 2023

Prep School Carol Service Invitation Thursday 7th December 2023 The Headteacher, staff and pupils have great pleasure in inviting the Prep School parents to our Prep School Carol Service on Thursday 7th December at 6.30pm in the Mairlot Hall Festive refreshments will be served following the performance.

Key Diary Dates: Wed 6th Dec

Whole School Advent Evensong, Chapel (parents & girls are welcome to join us) 17:30

Thu 7th Dec

Prep School Christmas Service, Mairlot Hall

18:30—19.30

Fri 8th Dec

Alice Drummond parent talk (see over for details) , 6th Form Lecture Theatre

17:00

Mon 11th Dec

Christmas Music Celebration—Choirs and Music Ensembles, Chapel

17:30—18:30

Tue 12th Dec

Year 3, Visit to Felbury House Residential Home

Afternoon

Tue 12th Dec

Prep School Santa Dash PLEASE NOTE REVISED DATE

AM

Fri 15th Dec

Wear a Christmas Jumper (optional)

All day

Prep School Christmas Lunch

Lunch Time

Prep School Christmas Pantomime—Cinderella

Afternoon

Term Ends

16.15

No After School Care—Study will run as usual until 16.15 Mon 8th Jan

School Closed—Staff INSET

Tue 9th Jan

School Resumes

Mon 15th Jan

Year 6, Lifelab commences

Wed 17th Jan

Year 3, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall & Classrooms

8:15—9:00

Young Voices Choir at the O2 Arena

Afternoon

Young Voices Concert at the O2 Arena

19.00

Christmas Celebration Invitation Monday 11th December All are welcome to attend our informal Christmas Celebration, where the choirs and music ensembles will be performing a variety of festive pieces on Monday 11th December at 5.30pm in the School Chapel Festive refreshments will be served afterwards.

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 17th January—Year 3 Wednesday 24th January—Year 4 Wednesday 31st January—Year 5 Wednesday 21st February—Year 6

Clubs not running—w/c 4th December •

Art Club

Thursday

•

Drama Club

Thursday

•

Swim Squad

Thursday

Message for Year 6 Parents If you wish to accept the place for your daughter to join the Senior School in September 2024, please return your completed Form of Acceptance to Mrs Charles as soon as possible but no later than Monday 4th December 2023 in order to guarantee the place.

Drama Stars Florence H for her articulate and imaginative contributions to our improvisation.

Elizabeth L for always giving 100% in every aspect of Drama and particularly in her assembly performance.

Imogen S for working so positively and taking time to write the outline for her group pantomime.

Abi F for impressive group work skills and commitment to her role in her recent performance.

Parent Seminar—Friday 8th December, 5pm At St Teresa’s, our aim is to collaborate closely with experts and provide parents with valuable insights and tips on a plethora of topics which are pertinent to our pupils, in particular their wellbeing, mental health and any trending issues as they arise. The Psychologist and founder of Teen Tips, Alicia Drummond, will be presenting the first seminar in the 6th Form Lecture Theatre, which will cover various topics such as self-esteem, boundaries, social media, mental health and anxiety.

Christmas Jumpers—Friday 15th December We would like to invite the girls to wear a ‘Christmas jumper’ with their school uniforms (if they would like to) on Friday 15th December. This is the last day of term, so it should help us all to get into the festive spirit for our Christmas lunch and end of term panto!

Christmas Post Box We will be running a Christmas post service for the children from 4th December. If the girls would like to send cards to their friends they should write the name of the recipient and their class clearly on the front of the envelope. The cards will be delivered at the end of term.

This week you should have received: Whole School

Staffing announcement

Whole School

Santa Dash details

Year 3

Trip to Felbury House letter

Year 6

Staff announcement

Choirs and Music Ensembles

Prep School Christmas Celebration details

Please contact the School Office if you need copies of any of this information—prepinfo@st-teresas.com

Effingham Reading Challenge This week, girls in Year 5 and Year 6 have been introduced to the Effingham Reading Challenge 2024. If they wish to participate, the challenge involves reading five books by May half term.

There is one member of staff allocated to each book who will quiz the girls once they have read the whole book.

Certificates and a prize will be awarded to all the girls who manage to complete the challenge by May half term.

We have a small number of each book stocked in our library at school. However, if there are a large number of girls wishing to participate, it may be useful to borrow copies from your local library.

COMPETITION . COMPETITION . COMPETITION. COMPETITION Art & Photography Competition The Rotary Young Photographer and Young Artist are well-established and successful annual competitions promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain.

Last Year we were extremely proud to have a runner up and a national winner from the Prep School and we hope to be successful again this year!

Entries are submitted in age groups for fairness.

Please see details below.

Art Competition— ‘Rebuilding’ The competition aims to encourage young people to be creative and develop skills in using traditional, contemporary or digital media.

The girls should submit a 2-dimensional, up to a maximum size of A2, unframed, piece of artwork based upon the theme, ‘Rebuilding’, with a sentence to explain the relationship to the theme.

The judges will be looking for technical merit, content and composition, and imagination and style.

They welcome artwork in any medium: For example – pen & ink, paint, collage, printmaking or digital formats.

Plagiarised or 'close-copied' images are not permitted.

At all stages of the competition, competitors will receive a certificate of participation and there are prizes for the winners of the age groups for the National Final.

Photography Competition— ‘Rebuilding’ The competition aims to encourage young people to experiment with photography, use digital and/or traditional methods of photography, demonstrate interpretation of the topic and express personal ideas through the medium of photography.

The girls should produce one photograph based upon the theme, ‘Rebuilding’ with a sentence to explain the relationship to the theme. Mobile Phones or cameras may be used. The photograph must be submitted via Digital Format and be at least 1500 pixel in size on the longest length. The entries and supporting information sent electronically must not exceed 15Mb per email sent.

The judges will be looking for technical merit, content and composition, and imagination and style Plagiarised or 'close-copied' images are not permitted.

At all stages of the competition, competitors will receive a certificate of participation and there are prizes for the winners of the age groups for the National Final.

Entries should be submitted to the School Office no later than Tuesday 16th January 2024, accompanied by a completed entry form. Any entries submitted after this date cannot be accepted.

Entry forms are available from the School Office.

Please ensure that all entries are carefully labelled with your daughter’s full name and age.

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

3RN

Leila A for her excellent attitude to learning during our computing lessons.

Leila listens carefully, follows instructions and helps her peers!

Caitlin I for her fantastic effort during Maths this week, contributing answers during lessons and showing very good understanding of 2D and 3D shapes.

3KC

Ava B for increased effort in all areas of the curriculum including maths and when completing her homework.

Isabelle C for always participating in maths lessons so enthusiastically and for her knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes.

4LH

Isla M for your fantastic, independent writing this week. You bought me into the centre of your battle, which was tense throughout.

Layla B you have grown in confidence with your timetables this week. Excellent independent learning.

4AB

Sophie B for working hard to include detail in her writing, to engage a reader.

Electra B for good use of interesting vocabulary in her writing.

Sienna D for her enthusiastic approach to everything!

4CR

Skyla N for her fantastic effort to create exciting description.

Maggie M for her excellent story based on Beowulf.

5HC

Eva C for her fantastic work and understanding shown in Maths this week while finding equivalent fractions.

Isabella M and Holly E for their amazing ideas and contributions to the English lesson preparing to write the beginning of a mystery story.

Eva M for her beautifully drawn and accurately labelled Advent Wreath in RE.

5KH

Penny C for her wonderful enthusiasm in many lessons, especially for writing tasks.

Chloe and Amelie for catching up and getting on with work brilliantly, despite having missed the previous lesson.

6MK

Pani L for the fantastic non-chronological report about the Antarctica that she produced in English this week.

Isla BH for her super research in topic about one of the passengers on the Titanic.

Perla L for the care that she takes over every piece of work that she produces, particularly evident in her non-chronological report on the Antarctica this week.

6JG

Scarlett C for working so hard in RE and listening to advice on how to write her explanation text.

Veronika for helping to translate some Eastern Orthodox icons.

6RW

Sophia C, Lyla S and Emilia Z for writing and decorating fantastic, detailed non-chronological reports about Antarctica.

Year 3 Art Club Inspired by the autumn leaves that we can now see around the school grounds, the girls used watercolour paints to create these wonderful seasonal pictures.

Eco and Gardening Club This week in Eco and Gardening Club, the girls planted narcissi bulbs in vases and jam jars. We decorated them by adding glass beads inside and ribbons around the outside of the jars. Please do have a look at them as you go downstairs.

Year 4 Class Assembly Year 4 treated the Prep school to a fabulous class assembly on the ocean. They ably led the school through the different levels of the ocean before sharing their writing. There was personification, carefully chosen vocabulary and fabulous metaphors, enacted vividly by all of the girls. The final message was the importance of protecting our oceans. What could you do? Well done to all of Year 4.

Year 4—Viking Day On Thursday, Year 4 were excited to welcome Anglo Saxon/Viking Ash into school. They arrived in spectacular fashion wearing their Viking regalia and wielding weaponry and fabulous shields. The day began with a shield wall and battle cries, then exploration of weaponry. Other activities included hearing the story of Thor's axe and re-creating the burial at Sutton Hoo. What a fabulous day!

Year 4—Disclosing Tablets Last week, the Year 4 girls continued their exploration of teeth. They learnt about the different parts of the tooth, and had a focus on looking after their teeth. After using disclosing tablets to identify the plaque and bacteria, the girls then worked hard to brush their teeth to make sure that they were squeaky clean. There were some shocked faces when first seeing the purple teeth and tongue, but the girls were amazed by how clean their teeth were. "I don't think my teeth have ever been so clean."

Music News Musicians of the Week Year 3 – Caitlin I for learning all the Christmas songs and singing like a little angel!

Year 4 – Sophie B for fantastic focus in music lessons. Well done Sophie!

Year 5 – Lily B for beautiful singing and always trying her best.

Year 6 – Isabelle D for excellent focus and working so hard on songs for the Christmas Service.

Christmas Performance—FOST Fair Mrs Harris is so proud of how hard the girls have worked and we are all looking forward to performing for you!

Message from Mrs Harris: I would be very grateful if you could help your children to remember their instruments on the following days; Monday – Y3 recorders, Orchestra, Assembly Band Tuesday – Wind Ensemble Wednesday – String Group Friday – Guitar Ensemble, Assembly Band

Sports News Netball—Well done to all the U11s who played Danes Hill on Tuesday.

The girls fought till the end and won 6-4!

Well done to the U11B netball team who came on the court with a fight on Tuesday. They were excited and ready to play. Throughout the match the girls displayed great defensive play and were versatile. Unfortunately they couldn’t get the win this time. The player of the match was Pascale!

On Tuesday, the U11C team played a friendly match against Danes Hill.

There was excellent teamwork and passing down the court. Ella M scored a hattrick and Coralie was awarded player of the match. Final score was 63 to St Teresa’s.

The U11D netball team played at home against Danes Hill School. The girls started strong, demonstrating effective movement around the shooting circle. As the game progressed, the team showed improvement in their knowledge of positions, which allowed them to maintain possession of the ball and create more passing options. The final score was 5-3 to St T’s. Well done and a special mention to Lila S who was nominated by Danes Hill players as Player of the match!

Hockey The U10s all travelled to Feltonfleet for a fixture. The girls were in high spirits and excited to play. It was great to see all of Year 5 on the hockey pitches, ready to use the skills they have been practicing within a match. All the games were fast and furious with the girls working hard, but the standout game came from the U10Bs side, which was closely fought match with a lot of end to end gameplay. We will get them next time Year 5!

The U9s had a Christmas Hockey Tournament at Downsend on Monday and had the best time! The Christmas music was playing and the girls showcased some of their great hockey skills. Goals were scored, songs were sung and there was lots of festive jumpers around!

Netball Shooting Practice Please remind your daughter to come to shooting practice on a Tuesday at 12:45-1:15pm!!

Netball Recreational Club—Year 5&6 Please encourage your daughter to come to recreational netball club on a Wednesday lunchtime at 12:45pm. It is a great chance for the girls to come and play a netball match in a relaxed and fun environment. Listen for Miss Roberts to blow her whistle!!

Fixtures (week commencing 4th December) Monday 4th December—U9&U11 Gymnastic Comp 4:30pm Tuesday 5th December—U10A-C Netball V Tormead & U10D-F Netball V Manor House 2:15pm Friday 8th December—U8AB V CLFS (A) & U8CD V Danes Hill (A) Christmas Hockey Tournament 2:30pm Friday 8th December—U9A-E Hockey Match V CLFS (H) 2:15pm

This Week On Sunday we celebrated the final week of the Church’s year, the Feast of Christ the Universal King. While many feasts in our calendar have ancient origins, this feast was introduced at the beginning of the 20th Century. It was a time of great political turmoil, with the rise of totalitarian states in eastern Europe and, in particular, in Mexico. It was to serve as a timely reminder of God’s universal rule and as a foil to the wise saying, ‘when people stop believing in God, they will believe in anything!’

The reading for the feast is Jesus’ great reminder that the way we show our worship of God is not so much through what we think or believe, but by our actions (Matthew 25), ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ and ‘truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ In a way that affects our eternal destiny, our actions really do matter.

A great example of one who showed by the bravest of actions their worship of Christ the King is celebrated on our school site in Campion House. Edmund Campion, despite the capital offense that it was, chose to become a priest and return to Elizabethan England to minister to the faithful across the land. He had impressed the Queen as a young man when he had given a great oration welcoming her at Oxford University. Despite the visceral danger to his life, he travelled the land bring comfort to believers before finally being arrested and condemned to die in the most horrific manner. Each time we enter the Modern Foreign Languages and Art classrooms in our school - Campion House - we recall his great witness. ‘If our religion do make us traitors, we are worthy to be condemned; but otherwise are, and have been, as good subjects as ever the Queen had. In condemning us you condemn all your own ancestors—all the ancient priests, bishops and kings—all that was once the glory of England, the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter." It is also timely we can celebrate Campion’s Feast Day this week—a wonderful prelude for the Season of Advent that we begin at the weekend.

Please follow us on FOST instagram account: @fost_st_teresas_effingham

The Christmas Fair is upon us, and we’d like to take a moment to say a huge thank our sponsors Hawksman, for their generous donation to our fair.

We would also like to thank Kall Kwik (Leatherhead) for their support in printing our brochures, and to St T’s mums, Lucy Mutch and Alix Hall who dedicated their time in pulling the brochure together.

As well as a HUGE thanks to all the wonderful local businesses who have advertised in our beautiful colour brochure packed full of info, fun and games.

Available at the fair on Friday, pick up your copy when you arrive. See you there!

E-mail equestrian@st-teresas.com Call

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

01372 750257

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

Booking System st-teresas-equestrian.ecpro.co.uk

We hope that you have had a good week.

Please make sure that you are coming to ride with enough layers! The temperature drops considerably when the sun goes down, so please make sure you wear a thick coat and gloves when riding.

We are aware of some school trips and sporting events over the next week or so. 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. If you wish to cancel a lesson, we do require 48hrs notice or more in order to offer credit.

Christmas Holidays The Christmas Holiday Activities are available to book on the online system!

There are still some spaces left, so have a look on our booking site or email the office to find out what availability is left.

Topic of the week: Saddler It is very important to get a saddler to regularly check your horses saddle. This benefits the horse as it can reduce pressure points if the saddle is too tight or sits irregularly, so your horse isn’t in discomfort or pain, and by making sure the saddle is not too loose, means that you won’t slip off! A comfy saddle for the horse and rider, for whatever discipline you do, will improve your horses way of going and can improve the you have control over them. ~ Libby C

Menu—w/c Monday 4th December 2023 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

Leek & potato

Country vegetable & lentil

Roasted red pepper & tomato

Prep School

Beef lasagne & crusty bread

Roasted butternut squash & sweet potato 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 dish

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

Dessert

Chocolate chip cake & custard

Fruit & berry crumble & custard

Sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce

Rocky road

Lemon drizzle slice

Additional

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