St Teresa's Prep School Weekly Bulletin 3 December 2021

Issue 11

Autumn Term

8th February 2021 3rd December 2021

Message from Mrs Conrad This week we began the beautiful season of Advent when Christians around the world start preparing for the birth of the Christ Child at Christmas. The magic of the season was reflected in the picturesque dusting of snow that fell over the school along with the arrival of some very jolly elves advertising the FOST Christmas Fair and the dulcet tones of carols being rehearsed in anticipation of our carol services next Thursday. You are really in for a treat!

This week also marked the beginning of Hannukah, the Festival of Lights, which commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and restoring its menorah (lamp). I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Jewish families a very happy Hannukah!

Key Diary Dates: Tuesday 7th December

Biathlon qualifier at GHS (collection from GHS)

Afternoon

Thursday 9th December

Years 2 to 4 Christmas Service, Mairlot Hall

2.45pm—3.45pm

Thursday 9th December

Years 5 & 6 Christmas Service, Mairlot Hall

6.30pm—7.30pm

Friday 10th December

Year 5 Trip to the Winchester Science Centre

All Day

Sunday 11th December

Cherry Trees Carol Service—Hatchlands (all are welcome; ticket details on page 14)

4.00pm—6.00pm

Monday 13th December

Toddlers Frozen Fun, Cranmore (see details attached)

9.30

Monday 13th December

Advent Evensong, Chapel (all are welcome)

5.30pm

Tuesday 14th December

Year 3 Party with Cranmore Year 3, Henderson Hall

1.15pm

Wednesday 15th December

Open Book Afternoon POSTPONED (new date to follow)

Thursday 16th December

Prep School Christmas Lunch

Friday 17th December

Pantomime; Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Henderson Hall afternoon Wear A Christmas Jumper (optional) Term Ends

Monday 10th January

Staff INSET Day

Tuesday 11th January

Term Starts

Absence From School & Online Learning Online learning is available to all those girls who are isolating due to Covid and who feel well enough to do so.

It is not school policy to provide online lessons to those wo are off school because they are unwell. These girls should take the time to rest and recuperate.

This week you should have received: Whole School

Covid arrangements for next week

Whole School

Christmas service details

Biathletes

Information about the biathlon qualifier on Tuesday 7th December

Please contact the School Office if you need a copy of any of these letters—prepinfo@st-teresas.com

Message for Year 6 Parents If you wish to accept the place for your daughter to join the Senior School in September 2022, please return your completed Form of Acceptance to Mrs Charles as soon as possible but no later than Monday 6th December 2021 in order to guarantee the place.

Years 2, 3 & 4 Carol Service Invitation 9th December 2021 The Headteacher, staff and pupils have great pleasure in inviting you to our Years 2, 3 & 4 Carol Service on Thursday 9th December at 2.45pm in the Mairlot Hall.

Festive refreshments will be served in the Mairlot Hall from 2.30pm.

On arrival, please park in the Senior School car park and make your way to the entrance of the Mairlot Hall.

Years 5 & 6 Carol Service Invitation 9th December 2021 The Headteacher, staff and pupils have great pleasure in inviting you to our Years 5 & 6 Carol Service on Thursday 9th December at 6.30pm in the Mairlot Hall.

Festive refreshments will be served in the Mairlot Hall from 6.15pm On arrival, please park in the Senior School car park and make your way to the entrance of the Mairlot Hall.

Christmas Jumpers—Friday 17th December We would like to invite the children to wear a ‘Christmas jumper’ with their school uniforms (if they would like to) on Friday 17th December. This is the last day of term, so it should help us all to get into the festive spirit!

Christmas Post Box We will be running a Christmas post service for the children from 6th 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 post boxes will be in the girls’ classrooms and the cards will be delivered at the end of term.

Golden Book Well done to all of the girls in our Golden Books this week: 2EB

Amelia H and Olivia L for their fantastic concentration and attitude during online learning.

3RN

Isabella M-S following instructions to make a loop for One Stop Motion computing and creating a wonderful sequence.

Evie C and Arabella H excellent work together to create a poster about our topic Mighty Metals using detailed vocabulary and description, with a thesaurus and real-life objects.

3KC

Apollonia C-D for great focus in online learning this week.

Harlow G for never giving up when online learning created challenges.

Darcy R for her super Iron Man work in English.

4BB

Molly C, Scarlett M, Lainey H and Isabella K all for their wonderful detail, vocabulary and imagination writing a Monk's recount of the Saxon invasion.

4CR

Séarlait W for her fantastic attitude in Maths this week.

Isabella G for her wonderful diving in her swimming lesson this week.

Olivia P for her excellent contributions and effort on her Anglo Saxon recount.

5MK

Isabella H for her conscientious attitude to all her learning, especially in Maths where she never gives up and relishes a challenge and a problem to solve.

Olivia L for her super work in English using figurative language to describe a character and the moon.

5HC

Felicity S for her outstanding work in Reading Comprehensions, always justifying her inferences with evidence from the text and providing detailed answers.

Iola M for her beautifully written character description in English, including figurative language, powerful verbs and varying her sentence starters.

Harriet P for being so engaged in her learning this week, taking the time to really focus on her creative writing and trying to include all the success criteria - she also came up with a wonderful idea for her moon myth story.

6KH

Beth B for excellent commitment to online learning. She is always on the lesson on time, she answers questions and always uploads the work required.

Rosie H for her thoughtful contributions to discussions in PSHE and RE.

6JG

Layla S for excellent effort and impressive success in her recent performance exam.

Phoebe R for her wonderful creative writing.

6LD

Isabella M & Eloise H for excellent participation on line.

This Week In The Prep School Year 2 Science The girls in 2EB were busy in their homes last week during online learning. In Science, the girls were learning about bulbs and seeds. Look at all the seeds that the girls found in their homes and gardens!

Year 2 RE Our new topic in RE is 'Preparations'. We discussed what the season of Advent means to Christians and created our own Advent wreaths.

Music News Musicians of the Week Congratulations to the following girls who have been awarded certificates this week: Sophie B in Year 2 for hard work with her singing in online lessons.

Imogen S in Year 3 for making a very good contribution to the singing rehearsals this week.

Amaya H in Year 4 for making a very good contribution to the singing rehearsals this week.

Iola M in Year 5 for making a very good contribution to the singing rehearsals this week.

Amy L in Year 6 for making a very good contribution to the singing rehearsals this week.

Class of the Week This week’s music class of the week is 2EB. They will keep the trophy in their classroom and return it to Celebration Assembly next Friday.

Chapel Concert Congratulations to all the girls who performed so well for their parents in the Chapel concert yesterday. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the very many musical accomplishments of our girls including performances on the piano, harp, flute, violin and voice.

Music Exams Congratulations to the following girls who have recently taken music exams and received their results: Piano Initial Grade

Jessika R

Pass

Piano Grade 1

Apollonia C-D

Pass

Flute Grade 1

Felicity S

Merit

Musical Theatre Grade 3 Layla S

Distinction

Orchestra Monday 6th December – orchestra as normal in Mrs Yalden’s classroom Monday 13th December – no orchestra

Easter Music Course 2022!

Next year’s course will take place from Monday 11th to Thursday 14th April. This will be the 10th anniversary of this course at school directed by Mrs Yalden. The course is open to girls and boys from all schools in Years 3- 6 who have passed Grade 1 on their instrument. Please email Mrs Yalden on c.yalden@st-teresas.com for further information.

This Week This week we marked the beginning of the Church’s season of Advent that wonderful period of preparation for the great feast of Christmas, when we remember the birth of our Saviour Jesus.

There are many traditions associated with this time of year, and perhaps the most popular, and the one that is most helpful, is the Advent Wreath.

The wreath is built around a circle, that reminds us that God’s love is offered to the whole world. No one is left out and everyone is invited to respond to the call of love.

The four candles mark the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas.

Each week we light a new candle as a reminded of the light that came into the world at Christmas.

There are often three purple candles. Purple is the colour of repentance and reminds us that this period is a time of turning away from things in our life that are sinful and turning back to God. One candle is pink, reminding us that even in this quite time of preparation we should have joy in our hearts.

The wreath is often made from evergreen plants. There has always been a tradition of bringing evergreen plants like this into our homes. It is the reason we bring Christmas trees as well. Again, it is a reminder, at the coldest and darkest time of the year that God’s love is everlasting and his invitation to share in his life is always there.

Finally, the wreath is often decorated with berries and other colourful fruits and other decorations. Again, they remind us of the fruitfulness of this season of preparation.

The Advent Wreath is a wonderful way to mark our period of preparation towards the celebration of Christmas. All the girls have been encouraged to make their own wreaths at home.

As we begin this season of Advent we pray that it would be a fruitful time of preparation so that we can celebrate Christmas well.

Dorking Area Foodbank We received this thank you from the Dorking Area Foodbank for our harvest contributions: “The Dorking Area Foodbank is continuing to provide emergency food parcels to families in our community that need this help. The current climate of rising food prices and costs of living is making life particularly difficult for many. We will use all your donations to help fill up our food parcels that we distribute to those in need over the coming months.

We are incredibly grateful for all your support”.

Christmas Raffle THE CHRISTMAS RAFFLE PRIZES THIS YEAR ARE “A-MAY-ZING”!! WWW.STTSFAIR.CO.UK PLEASE SUPPORT QUICK … CLOSES SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER! MANY MORE EXCITING DETAILS (MARKET PLACE, ADVENT CALENDAR, ETC) REGARDING OUR VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS FAIR ARE CONTAINED IN THE PRINTED BROCHURE WHICH SHOULD HAVE COME HOME WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS THIS WEEK.

Christmas Fair Bake Off

Christmas Fair Sweetie Jars KEEP those sweetie jars coming in please!! Jars to contain wrapped sweets or edible goodies (NO NUTS please!). These will be used for a Prep school mini Xmas fair event before the end of term.

Christmas Jumper Collection Christmas jumpers can be worn by all on Friday 17th December. Reminder FOST is still collecting (via collection boxes in both Prep and Senior reception) all unwanted or outgrown jumpers. Any Christmas jumpers collected will be for sale for a small donation in the School Uniform shop.

Mufti Day Support for Oasis Mufti Day Friday 3 December - Reminder to please donate to the Cobham based Oasis charity here.

School Uniform Shop Open Mondays & Fridays 8.30am-9am and the first Saturday of every month 10am-10.30am during term time.

Please follow us @fost_st_teresas_effingham

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

E-mail equestrian@st-teresas.com Call

01372 750257

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

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

We hope that you are all staying safe with the recent wave of illnesses heading through the school!

Please do let us know as soon as you can if you will be unable to attend a riding lesson. It means that we don’t have the ponies tacked up and waiting around, and we can offer other jobs to the instructors to make the most of their time.

If 48 hours or more notice is given for a cancellation, then the lesson will be credited and a catchup lesson can be offered if we have the availability. It also then gives us the chance to offer the slot to another rider to have a make-up lesson.

We still have three tickets going for a trip to the International Horse Show on Thursday 16th December 2021.

ALL ARE WELCOME! Please contact the office to find out pricings if you are interested.

Spring Term 2022 Riding Dates Lessons run from: Monday 10th January to Saturday 12th February Half term week – Monday 14th February to Sunday 20th February Lessons run from: Monday 21st February to Saturday 26th March

NSEA Competition Reports On Sunday 28th November, a few riders headed to Parwood to compete in NSEA show jumping.

In the 40cm class, Jess R and Pernille A did brilliantly to come 2nd and 3rd respectively. Jess then stayed on for the 50cm class and placed 5th!

Lily S competed in the 60cm, 70cm and 70-75cm classes. STE has not been able to find out her placings, but she did qualify for the 60cm and 70cm Grassroots Championship!

Well done everyone!

Menu—w/c Monday 6th December 2021 Hot lunches include a selection of family favourites and suitable alternatives for children with allergies and intolerances.

Frozen Fun Day Effingham Schools Trust are hosting a ‘Frozen Fun Day’ at Cranmore Nursery on Monday 13th December for boys and girls aged 18 months to 3 years. If you and your little ones or anyone you know with little ones would like to come along, please confirm your attendance with Annabel Charles (details above).

Christmas Tree Festival Come and see St Teresa’s Tree at the Christmas Tree Festival at St Martin’s Church.