St Teresa's Prep weekly bulletin 5 November 2021

Issue 7

Autumn Term

8th February 2021 5th November 2021

Message from Mrs Conrad It was lovely to welcome all the girls back to school following the half term break. During the holiday, a number of our girls took part in the national schools biathlon in Bath and St Teresa\’s performed incredibly well with some incredible national achievements as well as some tremendous personal records. Well done to all the girls and a big thank you to all the parents who took their daughters to the event and to Miss Rippington for giving up her time to cheer our teams on!

I am delighted to say that our COP26 social media photo attracted a huge amount of online attention with over 1000 views on Facebook. CAFOD posted it national commenting, “This is one of the best videos we have seen” – what fantastic recognition of our girls’ passion for ecology and saving the planet.

Maths Week has immersed the girls in a rich variety of Mathematical activities and competitions culminating with the incredible interactive workshops on Thursday where the girls had to use mathematical reasoning and problem solving to pass through each Maths challenge zone undetected by the invading Robotrons. Much learning and fun was had by all! Thank you to Mrs Ridulfa for organising this special week.

This week, several of our families have celebrated Diwali and we send them all our very best wishes. Thank you to Syna’s family for sharing photos of their family celebrations with us; it looks like you had an amazing evening of festivities.

Key Diary Dates: Saturday 6th November

U8A+B Hockey tournament @ St Georges (A)

8.45

Monday 8th November

U9B Hockey tournament @ St Georges (A)

14.15

Tuesday 9th November

U11C Hockey v CLFS (A)

14.45

Thursday 11th November

6LD Class Assembly, Henderson Hall

8.30

Thursday 11th November

Whole School, Remembrance Day Assembly

10.45

Thursday 11th November

U10A Hockey tournament @ Danes Hill (A)

14.15

Saturday 13th November

U10A Netball tournament @ Hawthorns (A)

am

Monday 15th November

Wear Odd Socks Day

All Day

Friday 19th November

Years 5 & 6 Popcorn and Movie Night – details to follow

After school

Monday 22nd November

Judaism Workshop

all day

Wednesday 24th November

Year 4, Viking Day

all day

Thursday 25th November

Year 6 Mock Entrance Examinations

am

Thursday 25th November

Years 2, 3 and 4 Popcorn and Movie Night – details to follow After school

This week you should have received: Whole School

Letter re pick-up

Whole School

Letter re shoebox appeal

Years 5 & 5

Bring your own device letter

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

Late Buses The late buses are becoming increasingly popular. Even if your child is taking the free section to Effingham Junction, it needs to be booked in advance as there may not be a space for your child if not.

Please book your daughter’s place on the bus by emailing transport@effinghamschools.org.

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.

6LD—Class Assembly Parents of girls in 6LD are invited to join us for their class assembly on Thursday 11th November 2021 at 8.30am in the Henderson Hall

ESTA Announcement After 7 years with us at ESTA, Jack Lane is moving on to continue his coaching career at The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon) from January 2022. We have no doubt you’ll be as sad to see Jack go as are we, so we would like to arrange a time when we can all get together to give him a fitting farewell at the ESTA Clubhouse before the end of term. Further details to follow!

We are pleased to announce we have an amazing new coach taking over Jack’s lessons in the new year.

Happy Diwali!

Several of the girls celebrated Diwali with their families this week. Here are some pictures of Syna and her family enjoying the Festival of Lights at home yesterday.

First Holy Communion Congratulations to Iola who made her First Holy Communion In half term. We wish her happiness and many blessings on this special occasions.

CISC Christmas Cards—Art Competition We are excited to announce that we are taking part in the CISC Christmas card design competition and we are opening this up to all St Teresa’s girls.

The theme this year is:

‘O Holy Night’ We are looking forward to having a bumper year of entries, so please submit your entries by Wednesday 10th November.

Your drawings can either be portrait or landscape. Please hand your entries to the Prep School Office for the attention of Mrs N Menzies. Please label them clearly on the back with your daughter’s full name and age.

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

Sophia C for her enthusiastic approach to English this week and her creative writing when writing a description based on The Tunnel.

Skyla N for her marked improvement in her reading skills.

3RN

Matilda G for a fantastic presentation of her monument project, including detailed research and photographs of her creation on the beach.

Olivia G for a confident and informative presentation of her monument project, answering questions from the class and explaining in detail how she made her monument!

3KC

Eva M for learning so many spellings over half term. Super effort!

Isabella M for fantastic effort with her reading at school and for reading so many books at home since September! Well done.

4BB

Mia M for her really inquisitive attitude and desire to learn more during our trip this week.

Isabella K for her great effort in her presentation this week and brilliant focus in Computing with her Stop Motion.

4CR

Seren S and Lottie C for their enthusiasm for Stop Motion and effort to create part 3 of their movie series.

Isabella G and Maysie R for their wonderful problem solving and use of representations to organise penguins and identify factors in Maths

5MK

Coey L for her fabulous work in ICT, writing codes to move her robot through a maze to given points.

Ella J for her informative, original and creative contribution to our Egyptian Musuem at the end of last half term - tiger nut biscuits.

Steffi C B for her carefully designed mnemonic poster to remember the order of the planets,

5HC

Clara de A and Evie B for their fantastic concept maps showcasing all their prior knowledge about Space to start our new Topic.

Saskia H and Harriet P for their enthusiastic start to the new half term, settling to work quickly, contributing super ideas in discussions, and producing some excellent work.

6KH

Phoebe H for playing outstandingly as left back in the hockey match on Tuesday.

Ruby A for her mature and enthusiastic manner whilst looking after a special visitor to the school.

6JG

Emily K, Evangelina P and Gabriella B all for their impressive enthusiasm and hard work, especially on the trip on Wednesday.

6LD

Isabella M for always demonstrating a mature and positive approach to her learning and for excellent contribution to class discussions.

Hattie H for wonderful progress in all learning areas and for participating enthusiastically in class discussions.

This Week in The Prep School Year 6 Trip to the Greenwich Maritime Museum Year 6 took a journey to the icy ends of the Earth on their visit to Greenwich Maritime Museum this week. During our workshop and visit, the girls explored life in these extreme environments and discovered the legacies of polar exploration, from attempts to find the North-West passage in the Arctic Circle to the race to reach the South Pole. We were fascinated by the adventures of polar explorers such as Captain Robert Falcon Scott and, with the help of the experts at the Museum, planned our own expedition based on his experiences.

Year 3—Magnificent Monuments The girls in Year 3 loved sharing all the work that they had completed for their magnificent Monument Mayhem projects. They created PowerPoints or booklets to go with these and spoke eloquently and informatively on their monument. There were so many imaginative ideas that clearly inspired the girls to visit Stonehenge during half term and collect materials from a variety of places. Super effort everyone!

Eco & Gardening Club In Eco and Gardening Club the girls were thrilled to receive a plastic compost bin that Mrs Bishop no longer uses. We discovered why people use a variety of compost bins and heaps, who had one in their garden and the huge number of insects that help to breakdown all the brown or green compost materials. The girls also completed a chart to show the kinds of products that can go in the compost heap. Also, we picked the final chillies off the chilli plants and added the dying plants to the compost bin.

Even though the nights are drawing in, we try and visit the raised beds during every club session so please ensure the girls have their wellies and waterproof clothing for each session. Thank you.

Maths Week We have had an excellent Maths week kicked off with the story '365 penguins' where a household are sent a penguin each day of the year. The book examines many mathematical concepts from calendars to cube numbers and led to a range of different activities taking place across the school. The girls have also been busy estimating how many sweets are in their year group jar. One highlight has been our workshop with Subject Revolution where the girls had to protect the world from the invading Robotrons that were threatening St Teresa's! Tasks required cooperation, perseverance and application of knowledge to solve complex problems. Perla in Year 4 said that the workshop was "Exciting, fun and tricky!"

Year 4 Trip to the Brighton SeaLife Center This week, Year 4 had the pleasure of taking a dive down to the coast to visit the Brighton SeaLife Centre. The girls were overwhelmed by colour and creation as they were faced with a variety of sea creatures. From sharks and turtles to sting rays and jelly fish, the girls had the opportunity to observe and learn more about some fascinating animals. Touching a starfish was most certainly one of the day’s highlights, as well as walking through the Ocean Tunnel. Sharks, turtles, and a vast range of fish species swam right above our heads! The Green Anaconda was quite a terrifying find as, judging by its gigantic size, I think it could have eaten a few of us whole! It was a fantastic day seeing so many wonderful creatures of different shapes, sizes and colours, but the main thing to report back, it that…WE FOUND NEMO!

Sports News Musicians of the Week •

Congratulations to the following girls who have been awarded certificates this week:

•

Esther H in Year 2 for good singing in class.

•

Jena W in Year 3 for very good work online.

•

Clara O in Year 4 for very good playing of note patterns on the chime bars.

•

Florence B in Year 5 for a very good repeating melodic pattern in her rocket composition.

•

Nyang’ara OC in Year 6 for very good work on tonic triads in music theory.

Class of the Week This week’s music class of the week is 5MK. They will keep the trophy in their classroom and return it to Celebration Assembly next Friday.

String Quartet Concert On Monday 8th November there will be a string quartet concert in the Chapel at 5pm (lasting approximately an hour). We have a professional visiting quartet who will be performing works composed by our A level students. String players are particularly encouraged to attend this event. Parents are also welcome to attend.

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 Year 3-Year 6 from all schools who have passed Grade 1 on their instrument. Please email Mrs Yalden on c.yalden@st-teresas.com for further information.

Sports News Biathlon Congratulations to the 17 girls who took part in the National Schools Biathlon Championships in Bath over half term. The girls have been training hard over the last six weeks to improve their times in the swim and run. The hard work paid off with personal bests set throughout the day. The girls represented the School fantastically and demonstrated independence, courage and strength. A huge well done to all the girls who took part.

Top result for each age group: U9; U10: U11:

India-Rose C: 15th /100 Sophia C: 11th /111 Emily C: 21st /107

Our team results were: U9 team: 8th/18 U10 team: 9th/26 U11 team: 8th/25 The most improved time for swimming from the qualifying event to the Nationals was: Clara de A with a 16 second improvement over 50m. The most improved time for the track was: Arabella C and Pippa T who both had a 18 second improvement over 800m.

Hockey Over Half Term Year 5 and 6 hockey squad girls had a productive and fun masterclass with Olympian Dan Fox. For 2 and a half hours, they learnt new skills, improved old ones and learnt valuable tactics.

The session finished with a Q+A from the girls. We look forward to having Dan visit St Teresa’s again.

Hockey Matches The Year 6A hockey team played a friendly match against the Year 7B team in preparation for their tournament on Friday. The girls tried out different tactics and put the skills they have learnt into action. The final score was 3-0 to the Year 6’s. Great work girls!

PE star class of the week for enthusiasm goes to 4BB PE athletes of the week for effort and enthusiasm in lessons goes to: Year 2: Skyla N Year 3: Eleanor B Year 4: Matilda R Year 5: Kaiah C Year 6: Phoebe H

Sports News Outside Achievements Evangelina in Year 6 has been selected to play for Woking Tennis Club in the girls U12 Surrey National League Winter Team Trophy. This is a fantastic achievement and reward for all her hard work, with only 6 girls selected to be in the team. Great work!

Peyton in Year 4 attended the Surrey cricket trials over the Summer holidays. She made it through to the 3rd round however was not selected for the team. She was one of the youngest players to enter and is looking forward to trying out again next year. Well done!

Sofie in Year 6 competed in the NSEA National Championships in Keysoe during half term. Sofie and her horse Smudge competed in the 70cm event and did superbly. Sofie placed 57th out of 133 competitors, with a clear round. A fantastic result. Keep up the great work!

Upcoming Fixtures Saturday 6th December: U8A+B hockey tournament @ St George’s. 8.45am meet Monday 8th December: U9B hockey tournament @ Danes Hill. 2.15pm Tuesday 9th December: U11- C hockey tournament @ CLFS. 2.45pm Thursday 11th November: U10A hockey tournament @ Danes Hill. 2.15pm Saturday 13th November: U10A netball tournament @ Hawthorns

This Week We are delighted this year to be supporting the Children in Distress Christmas Shoebox Appeal.

Children in Distress was born from a children’s hospice in the north of England that extended its charitable reach by supporting orphanages and terminally ill children in Romania and other Eastern European countries. (More details on the charity are available here).

As in previous years we are asked to decorate a shoebox - base and lid separately, and to fill the box with gifts and treats, either for a baby, a child (state the approximate age) or, for the first time this year, an elderly person.

Our aim is to bring joy to those babies, children and elderly people who, without our help, would not be able to celebrate Christmas.

We have a very tight turn around this year so that we can be sure that the boxes are delivered by Christmas. Please therefore send your boxes in to school by Monday, 15th November (and earlier if you can).

We will then ensure that they are delivered to the distribution centre.

Full details are available here of how to pack your box are available here.

Please do encourage your daughter to get actively involved in preparing and packing your shoebox. Thank you for your support!

Christmas Jumper Collection All girls throughout the school will be invited to wear their Christmas jumpers on the last day of the term. To help with this, and try to minimise the effect on the environment, FOST will now be collecting via collection boxes in both Prep and Senior reception, all unwanted or outgrown jumpers. Any Christmas jumpers collected will be for sale (from 12th November) for a small donation in the School Uniform shop.

Save the Date—Fost Movie & Popcorn Night FOST will be hosting a Christmas movie night and popcorn after school on Friday 19th November for Years 5 and 6 and on Thursday 25th November for Years 2, 3 & 4. Full details will follow shortly.

Christmas Fair Sunday 5 December Congratulations to Ophelia A, 8JU for creating the winning design for the front cover of our Christmas Fair programme. A £10 voucher will be winging its way to you!

Uniform Shop Come and visit our newly jooshed revamped hut on Mondays & Fridays 8.30am-9am and the first Saturday of every month 10am-10.30am during term time.

FOST on Instagram Please follow us on FOST insta account: @fost_st_teresas_effingham

FOST on Instagram Register and watch Classlist (https://app.classlist.com/) to stay up to date with FOST communications regarding events and other details.

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 have all had a lovely half term break, and are looking forward to being back at school!

A reminder to our riders to bring jumpers and coats as the weather gets colder and wetter as we head towards winter.

Also, as the weather starts to turn, if we are unable to offer ridden training due to the weather or unforeseen circumstances, stable management or equitation theory training will be provided instead. However, riders will be expected to arrive dressed to ride in all weathers with suitable outdoor clothing befitting the weather conditions.

Autumn Term 2021 Riding Dates Half Term – Monday 18th October to Sunday 31st October Lessons run from: Monday 1st November to Saturday 18th December

Christmas Pony Days We will be running Pony Mornings and Afternoons on the 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd December, and the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th January.

Pony Mornings run from 9.30am to 12.30pm, and Afternoons run from 1pm to 4pm.

All bookings need to be made directly on the bookings system, except for those who pay by childcare vouchers. If you do pay by vouchers, please contact the office to make your booking.

Please note that we have restricted the sessions by ability level so not all the sessions will show as available on the system to book.

Dates are mostly full. Please contact the office if you wish to be added to the waitlist.

NSEA Competition Reports Over the first weekend of the half term, a team of three riders went out to compete at the NSEA Championships at Keysoe in the show jumping!

On Friday 22nd, was the warm up class at 80cm. Chloe B, Lulu S, Sofie S had their warm up rounds with Chole and Lulu finishing on four faults.

On Sat 23rd was the Championship class at 70cm. Chloe and Lulu finished on four faults each, and Sofie rode a clear round. Unfortunately they were not in the top 6 placings but they all rode brilliantly!

Well done girls!

Dib Dab Art

Menu—w/c Monday 8th November Hot lunches include a selection of family favourites and suitable alternatives for children with allergies and intolerances.