Autumn Term
4th JANUARY 2021 Issue 1 : 4th September 2020
Dear Parents, Well, we've completed our first week of the newest iteration of lockdown, with the vast majority of girls moving to online learning. We have a small number of key worker children, scribbling away in the library, as well as a number of our international boarders who are still in residence. This means that the school has a much greater sense of life than in March; Gary and his team are still cooking morning noon and night, a small, rotating number of teachers are in to assist with the girls who come to school, and our boarding staff are looking after the girls 'upstairs' (who, even though they are few in number, still manage to make enough noise above my office when the school day is over - in these times, it is a pleasure to hear). It is a point of immense pride that, although ultimately it will be mothballed until we reopen, we were set up, ready for mass testing on January 5th. This is thanks to the tireless efforts of our outstanding medical team and logistics guru, Mrs Low. A batch of our wonderful parent volunteers came in to help us test our key worker children, staff and boarders on Tuesday, and the system worked beautifully. Our nurses will continue to weekly test our boarders and key worker children. I wish to take this opportunity to reassure all pupils in Year 11 and 13. The announcement this week that GCSE and A Level examinations will not go ahead this year at least gives us clarity, and we are awaiting further detail from the Department for Education as to our next steps. However, it is clear that teacher assessed grades will be used - but not the dreaded algorithm! - to apportion grades, and this, if anything should give some reassurance: we know these girls inside out. I know that they will weather the storm, and my message is: keep working, don't panic, and let us do the rest. My sincere good wishes to Year 11 who will start their mock examinations next week - albeit online. We have invested in a website so ensure robustness and fairness, and my sincere thanks to Mr O'Farrell, Miss Nelson and all the teaching staff for pirouetting, yet again, with such speed and grace. Over the next two Saturdays, I have the pleasure of interviewing online our external prospective Year 7 candidates. The lockdown meant entrance exams could not go ahead as normal, and Mrs Charles has been heroic in adapting things so quickly. I will hugely enjoy meeting over 100 girls via Zoom, all hoping to join the Senior School in September. Interviews with our 44 Prep girls will take place next week! I wish you a very pleasant weekend. Best wishes, Dr Claire McShane
Lockdown Lessons
ART WORK OF THE WEEK COMPETITION Our winner of this week’s art competition is Pretoria in Year 7. Please do send your entries to n.menzies@st-teresas.com
ESSAY COMPETITION WINNER Amelia (Year 9) was awarded the Hypatia Cup in December for winning first place in the Year 8 and 9 Essay Competition.
Amelia's essay on the general title of "What does this object mean to the world?" focused on the importance of icebergs, and impressed the judging panel with her clarity of thought and her astute observations. Congratulations, Amelia!
BOARDING NEWS We have a small community of boarders on-site who arrived safely on Monday full of smiles. We are making the most of our new rules with an in-house cream tea planned on Saturday afternoon which the boarders always enjoy! On Sunday, we will be having a games night with all sorts of fantastic snacks. Stay tuned for some pictures of these activities soon!
ENRICHMENT SOCIETY
Enrichment Society made a welcome return this week, featuring a fantastic presentation by Dr Wedlake on the brain and personality. Dr Wedlake explored how personality traits are shaped by how our brain works, and how the shape of the brain itself can provide clues on how we behave. A really insightful and fascinating topic!
Girls from all years are welcome to attend Enrichment Society. Each session will be broadcast live on Teams on Thursdays at 4:30pm. A reminder that Academic Scholars from years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 are requested to attend a minimum of 3 Enrichment Society sessions each term. Scholars should ensure that they have completed the relevant survey for each session that they have attended.
Once again, if any parents, guardians, or other family members, are interested in delivering a talk at Enrichment Society via TEAMS during the year, please email Mr O’Farrell on j.ofarrell@stteresas.com. All areas of interest and expertise are welcome!
This Week As we returned to school this week - and to lockdown! we began by continuing to celebrate the season of Christmas. On Wednesday we met as a whole school community on line to celebrate the great feast of the Epiphany of the Lord - the day on which we celebrate the coming of the Magi. We remembered how they followed the star. This physical phenomenon, repeated this year with the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, reminds us to be observant and to recognise how God calls us in our lives.
We remembered how the Magi immediately left their homes and began the perilous journey. We are reminded that when we see a similar sign in our lives, we are called to respond. However hesitant we may feel, we must begin to more. We remembered that the Magi faced the difficulty of the conniving King Herod. We are reminded that when we begin to respond to God’s call in our lives we may face opposition We are called to continue nonetheless. We remembered that the Magi gave gifts of great value in homage to the new born baby king, gifts that declared to the world that he was Priest, King and Prophet. We are reminded that we are called to give the very best that we have in all that we do as we respond to God’s call. And finally, we remembered how the Magi returned to their country by another way. The experience of meeting the living God changes us forever. We can never be the same again, as our lives are transformed by the experience of meeting the Light of the World.