Autumn Term
1st FEBRUARY 2021 Issue 1 : 4th September 2020
Dear Parents, Today, I have the pleasure of conducting the interviews for the position of Head Girl. It is genuinely one of the highlights of the year, and such a pleasure to do - more so in these rather wearying times. I am always so impressed by the calibre of the candidates. They have an interview with myself and the SLT, complete an in-tray exercise in timed conditions, write a letter of application and finally, make individual presentations to the entire school at assembly. There is a vote by the staff and student body, but all aspects of the process are taken into account; this is no mere popularity contest, and the process is exacting and robust. I doff my cap to all the girls who put themselves forward. Working with the Head Girl Team, with Miss Pitchford, is such a joy. Although the pandemic has curtailed our weekly meetings somewhat, it is always exciting to hear their ideas and take on their feedback - the meetings are steered by them, not me. They work closely with the elected members of the Student Council, they give assemblies, they greet prospective parents (or at least they did in the year BC - Before Covid), they lead the school. Although there will be time properly to thank the outgoing team, I wish to acknowledge them here: our Deputies, Steph, Grace, and Isabelle, and our Head Girl, Amy. No-one will forget the confetti cannon that heralded the end of Amy's Head Girl presentation (mostly because she had brought a dustpan and brush with her), but equally her cheerful, gentle and determined demeanour has made her a pleasure to work with. She has done a wonderful job. My thanks to this very special group of super girls, who have steered the ship steadily in the most difficult of circumstances: barely had they been elected before we were in lockdown for the first time, yet their impact on school life is undiminished. My thanks to all the Prefects and Senior Prefects, and the Captains of Sport, Music and Drama: without them so much 'stuff' just would not get done, and they have executed their duties with such vigour. From Polly's Sports' Day, to LJ's excellent contribution to Values Week, to Cameron's online readathon (and I've not mentioned a huge number of others), their initiatives have been so much fun, and just the tonic we've needed. So to everyone who has held a position of responsibility this year, my sincere thanks. They will be much missed, and the incoming team has massive shoes to fill. Please could I ask you to remind your daughters that the Head Girl Presentations will take place on Monday at 0840 promptly (via Teams) and that voting links have been sent via email by Miss Pitchford. The vote will close at lunchtime and the assembly will be videoed in case there are any technical issues. The new team will be announced on Friday at another whole school assembly. It is an exciting week ahead! I wish you all a pleasant weekend.
Best wishes, Dr Claire McShane
BOARDING NEWS Last weekend our boarders were perfecting their cooking skills with Mini Egg Biscuits, Apple Muffins and Mediterranean Quiches. In the evenings, Uno is now our go-to game - the girls are incredibly competitive! Miss Natalie took the girls for a wander around the school grounds and surprised them with a visit to the Equestrian Centre. They enjoyed seeing the horses. It was Myra's birthday on Tuesday and we celebrated with Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes. This weekend is our last weekend before half term. We have a lovely Afternoon Tea planned on Saturday before the girls start packing on Sunday.
ART WORK OF THE WEEK COMPETITION Our winner of this week’s art competition is Emily M in Year 7. Please do send your entries to n.menzies@st-teresas.com
YEAR 7 BOILED EGG BABY CHALLENGE 7SG were set a challenged in PSHE to look after hard boiled egg babies for a week : here is how some got on... The Story of An Egg The Story of An Egg, I Could in For PSHCE It Got Smashed Because of my Headphones She was Called My Egg Passionfruit She Lived in a Yogurt pot It was on one sunny Tuesday, Where she got some sleep When the little blue egg came to stay. I loved my egg, but she didn’t want to When she smashed she started to stink And turned yellow play I felt sorry And really didn’t have much to say. Because of my headphones She never stopped smiling I tried to give her a yummy treat, She was so brave But the little egg didn’t want to eat, But I was not so happy She just sat all day long at my feet, Her shell was falling of Although she was ever so sweet. Everyday But she said she was ok Then one day she fell from my bed, I eyed her She had a big crack on the side of her Everyday head! But she said she was ok “Oh no!” I thought, “is she DEAD??” And believed her “Here, get a plaster” mum said. One week has gone, she is starting to smell, All over the house are pieces of shell. I think I looked after my egg pretty well, (apart from that day when she fell).
By Abigail
How to Look After an Egg I once had an Egg, her name was Eggwina, But if she were to have a daughter, This is the advice I’d give her! Never play catch with your egg, Don’t drop her on your computer I beg! Try a filter on Snapchat, Give her a pirate hat!
Don’t let her out of your sight, It will give you a fright, If you ever lose your egg! By Julia
By Molly
ECO COUNCIL The Recycled Candle Company offer to collect your scrap candle wax and take it away to be recycled and given new life. Once the wax is collected, it is melted down, cleaned, dyed, and scented, ready to be made into new candles. See address below for posting your used candles, wax melts and tealights too. You can leave a message on the box too if you wish. We can help to reduce the vast amount of discarded wax sitting in landfill, and make beautiful new candles!
Great Work!
TWELTH NIGHT CAKE Inspired by Twelfth Night and learning about the Tudor era, Isabel in 7SB and her family baked a Tudor cake, using an authentic recipe! They also made a slow-cooked Tudor stew.
LATIN OFF SCREEN DAY A Selection of Roman Cooking, Roman Fashion and Roman Artefact
Parent Webinar You are very welcome to join a webinar from Elevate Coaching on Managing Student Stress & Wellbeing
Date: Tuesday 9th February 2021 Time: 6:00 – 7:00pm Registration link: https://get.elevatecoaching.info/uk/register
On Friday 12th February world history author Christopher Lloyd will be hosting a House quiz online for all St Teresa's pupils and staff during Periods 5 & 6. Christopher will challenge the audience to a real-time multiple-choice quiz. The winners of each round will then participate in a grand finale to see who will be the overall champion! To add to this excitement, Christopher will provide pupils with a live commentary as the quiz is running, using a real-time leader board. He will be announcing the winner after every round. Prizes will be on offer and results will go towards the House competition so make sure you all get involved! A whole school house assembly will take place on Tuesday morning for you to hear more information about the quiz afternoon.
7SG held up thank you posters for their form tutor Miss Gibson on Tuesday. What a nice thing to do.
ENRICHMENT SOCIETY
This week at Enrichment Society, Mr Mentz presented a session on the topic of men of Jewish heritage in the Wehrmacht, looking at the racial laws of the Nazi regime and the role of Jewish soldiers in the military of the time. Many thanks to Mr Mentz for leading such an insightful presentation.
Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany and Lieutenant in the Luftwaffe
Lieutenant PaulLudwig Hirschfeld
Next Thursday at 4:30pm, Miss Marsden, Head of History & Government and Politics, will present a session entitled ‘What is the point of the Queen?’. Not to be missed! A reminder that girls from all years are welcome to attend Enrichment Society. Each session will be broadcast live on Teams on Thursdays at 4:30pm. 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. 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@st-teresas.com. All areas of interest and expertise are welcome!
VIRTUAL CONCERT OPPORTUNITY This term we will be running a virtual concert and soiree!
Please see instructions for recording: If your piece needs piano accompaniment, please scan the music to Mr Caister ideally within the next week, and he will record this and send it to you. Prior to your recording, you must change the efficiency of your camera phone to 720p HD at 30fps in settings (Settings>Camera>Record Video>720p HD at 30fps) Record yourself playing the piece, ideally with good lighting. The video needs to be in landscape. A phone will be perfectly sufficient. Have fun playing your piece! Once you are happy, please email the recording to Mr Caister and cc in Ella Machtynger and Lara Andrews as we will be putting this together.
Any questions feel free to email myself (Lara) and I will respond promptly. Mr Caister will then be in touch as to whether you are in the concert or the soiree. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SENT BY 13 FEBRUARY We will be in touch with the dates of the streams after half term. Good luck!
YEAR 7 SCIENCE CLUB Lockdown isn't stopping Science Club! Last week we had an online activity through Teams called "Guess what it is". The girls had to guess what photos of macro-zoomed objects were, and they were absolutely amazing! Mr Atkinson could not compete with their quick and witty guesses. One example of the pictures was this:
Our funniest guess was a banana, and there were many more great guesses! This is actually not a fruit at all, but pasta!
This week we have are having a Galaxy Baking contest, and we are very excited to see the results!
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”
While we’re counting down the days until we can open again, we’ll do our best to keep you all updated with what the horses are up to! We’ll also be updating our page on Firefly with information and activities for you to do at home. Check out Resources —> Sport —> Equestrian to find us!
We have been busy this week after all the snow, we have been doing lots of hacking, schooling and long reining. Tango and I love our hacking, we get to leave St Teresa’s and go exploring the Ranmore Common woodland. It has been a bit scary in the woods this week, the humans have put big concrete blocks in the woods to stop naughty humans from driving their cars and motorbikes around the woods. Tango and Charlie thought they were ghosts but soon realised that they weren’t going to be eaten. We are looking forward to more snow days at the weekend, we have all our extra rugs out ready!
Lockdown Competition - Design your own cross country jump! Along with our updates, we’re also including a small competition where you can design your own cross country jump. Be it a water complex, a brush, a log, or something you’ve made up entirely on your own! The deadline is Monday 15th February, email in your designs to equestrian@st-teresas.com and the winner will receive Mary King’s latest book ‘My Way: How I train for success’
Good luck to you all!
This Week This week we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple, when the Holy Family of Mary and Joseph presented their newborn child, Jesus, in the Temple. They were met by Simeon and Anna—two elderly prophets who, despite all the difficulties and trouble that they and Israel and faced , still held on to the hope that God would send a saviour. Simeon, in particularly, bursts out in song that he could now die in peace as he had seen the saviour of the world. This feast, known as Candlemas, is traditionally the end of the season of Christmas and the day, in the past at least, when Christmas decorations were taken down. It is also the day when traditionally all the candles that are to be used over the coming year are blessed. In the Chapel, this week, we therefore packed away the crib that has graced the Chapel since the beginning of Advent. All that was left was the Christ -child—a reminder, once again, of Jesus’ constant presence in our lives. Likewise, we also blessed the candles that will illuminate our services as a reminded of God’s constant presence in our lives and in our school. We were reminded that the Sanctuary Lamp burns day and night in the Chapel reminding us of God’s presence. And we reflected, on this day when the light of the world—Jesus, the Word made flesh—reentered the Temple to be a shining light for ever, how God shines his light into even the most shaded areas of our lives.