Issue 12
Autumn Term
15th December 2023
Message from Mrs Conrad As we break up for the Christmas holidays, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very blessed and holy Christmas. It has been a real joy catching up with you over recent weeks at the Carol Service, the Christmas concert or the Santa Dash. I hope that you all enjoy catching up with your families and friends over the holiday and sharing the love that the Christ Child brings. May we all remember that, “The birth of Jesus Christ brings us the good news that we are loved immensely and uniquely by God.” (Pope Francis)
THANK YOU FOST! We want to say a huge thank you to FOST for everything they have done for the girls this week to help make the run up to Christmas so special. They provided a prize for every girl for the Santa Dash. They organised our Father Christmas visit and they paid for the Pantomime to come to school today! What a wonderful end to the term! Thank you all for everything that you do and for all the time that you give to the school.
Key Diary Dates: 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 and Classrooms
8:15—9:00
Young Voices Choir at the O2 Arena
Afternoon
Young Voices Concert at the O2 Arena
19.00
Mon 22nd Jan
Years 5 & 6, Young Shakespeare Co. A Midsummer Night's Dream Workshop
Afternoon
Wed 24th Jan
Year 4, Open Book Morning, Henderson Hall & Classrooms
8:15—9:00
Thu 25th Jan
6JG Class Assembly, Henderson Hall
08:30—9:00
Mon 29th Jan
Children's Mental Health Awareness Week
All Week
Wed 31th Jan
Year 5, Open Book, Henderson Hall & Classrooms
8:15—9:00
Thu 1st Feb
Prep School Parents’ Evening (on-line)
17:00—20:00
Tue 6th Feb
Prep School Parents’ Evening (in person)
16:15—19:15
Message from Mrs Conrad and the St Teresa’s Staff Thank you all for your support throughout this term and your thoughtful and generous Christmas gifts and cards. Mrs Conrad and the Prep School Staff would like to wish you all a very happy and holy Christmas and a restful break.
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 an online 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
6JG—Class Assembly Parents of girls in 6JG are invited to join us for their class assembly on Thursday 25th January 2023 at 8.30am in the Henderson Hall Refreshments will be served in the Henderson Hall from 8.15am
ESTA ESTA is delighted to be taking bookings for group sessions during the Spring term.
Group sessions are available for children in Years 2-13 and take place at St Teresa's at the following times: Year 2&3 - Thursdays @ 4:15-5:15pm Year 4 - Wednesdays @ 4:15-5:15pm Year 5 - Mondays @ 5-6pm Year 6 - Wednesdays @ 5:15-6:15pm Year 7 - Fridays @ 5-6pm Year 8 - Tuesdays @ 5:15-6:15pm
Year 9-11 - Thursdays @ 5:15-6:15pm Year 12&13 - Thursdays @ 6:15-7:15pm Boarders’ groups - Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 6:15-7:15pm Performance group (invitational) - Wednesdays @ 6:15-7:45pm To sign up, please contact Kirsti at esta@effinghamschools.org or on 07980 604372. We look forward to welcoming your children on court during the Spring term!
Effingham Reading Challenge We have now launched our Effingham Reading Challenge 2024. 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.
This week you should have received: Whole School
Spring Term Group Lessons 2024
Whole School
Spring Term Sport Letter
Young Voices
Songs, lyrics and tickets information
Whole School
Extra-curricular Timetable
Please contact the School Office if you need copies of any of this information—prepinfo@st-teresas.com
Schoolblazer will be running a January Flash Sale from Thursday 4th – Friday 5th January 2024. There will be up to 1/3rd off selected in-stock items at schoolblazer.com during the sale period, while stocks last.
Valentine's Art Competition We invite you to showcase your artistic flair in our Valentine's Art Competition. Criteria: •
Inspired by Valentine's Simple, attention-grabbing images
•
A4 size
•
Closing deadline—15th January
•
Please submit your masterpiece via email (valentines@erikasstudio.co.uk) or hand-deliver it to the Prep School reception. The chosen artwork will be featured prominently on the Valentine's Dance Poster! Let your creativity shine and make this Valentine's unforgettable!
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
Florence E-N for her excellent effort this week thinking of verbs and adverbs to describe Mog in our Christmas advert. Flo used the vocabulary effectively to re tell the story of how Mog caused the Christmas calamity. Hollie G for her fantastic use of adjectives when writing a poem based on the story of the Lonely Christmas Tree. Well done Hollie.
3KC
Emilia C for always being enthusiastic in all areas and for great efforts in her TTRS this term. Ellie F for a fabulous start to her newspaper report on Mog’s Christmas Calamity and effort in mathematics this week.
4LH
Layla B for demonstrating resilience during a difficult math problem solving lesson this week. Fantastic work! Esther H for her retelling of the journey taken by the wise men, including the significance of the gifts that they bestowed.
4AB
Victoria M for challenging herself to run 7 laps of the Santa Dash run!
Anna R for her imaginative letter from Father Christmas. 4CR
Amelia for her attitude to difficulties and her contributions to the inferences lesson. Sophia C for her contributions in all of the RE lessons this week. Rosalind D for her interpretive writing from scripture in RE. Elizabeth L for her detailed recall of "The Christmas Carrot".
5HC
Calista D'C for her super work, conscientious attitude and excellent progress in Maths this half term, always persevering with a challenge and developing a "have a go" attitude. Sofia G for her fantastic work and understanding during the Fractions topic in Maths this half term.
5KH
Eleanor B for her consistent effort and enthusiasm for all her work this term Khrystyna H for her continued progress in English, particularly her wonderful descriptive sentences to describe Excitable Edgar!
6MK
Molly C and Stef von Ey for their enthusiasm and commitment to learning this term, particularly in English compiling work for their Shackleton Journals.
6JG
Clara O her energy and enthusiasm during Spelling this week! Isabella K her outstanding advert for the Titanic.
6RW
Isabel R for creating a 3D model of a cat using a coding programme.
Viola K for a wonderful, dramatic performance advertising the Titanic.
Year 6 Icons Year 6 have been exploring the tradition on iconography in RE this week. They learnt about the importance of colour to convey meaning before creating their own icons of Mary.
Year 5 Art Throughout the term, Year 5 have completed a variety of studies based on the theme of "Pattern". They studied the work of Rachel Parker, who is a pattern designer, and created their own compositions. They had to follow instructions carefully so when their designs are scanned and duplicated, they would link to each other. The following are a selection.
Year 5—Museum of Egyptology On Wednesday morning, Year 5 presented their wonderful projects that they have been working on for the past two weeks, in their 'Museum of Egyptology'. Parents were invited to come and view all the amazing pieces of work, which included 3D models of pyramids, Minecraft tombs and gruesome canopic jars! The girls were justly proud of their fantastic achievements.
Santa Dash What another successful Santa Dash. It was great to see so many girls and parents running round the festive course! Thank you FOST for providing the girls with a chocolate treat at the end and to Gary for the hot chocolate at break time.
Music News Musicians of the Week Year 3—Eloise K for her wonderful enthusiasm and excellent playing on the chime bars! Year 4—-Eloise B-S for singing beautifully and being a wonderful team player – thank you Eloise! Year 5—Eva C for excellent ensemble playing on the chime bars – well done Eva! Year 6—Bethany D-W for always trying her best, beautiful singing and fantastic dance moves!!
Exam News We are very proud of the following girls who have passed their ABRSM exams; Apollonia C-D
Guitar Grade 3 merit
Lottie C
Saxophone Grade 1 merit.
Eleanor B
Flute Grade 1 merit
Scarlett M
Piano Initial distinction
Carys
Saxophone Grade 1 merit
Lucy A
Violin Grade 1 pass
A fantastic set of results - well done girls!
This Week The last week of this term has included singing and playing Christmas music with chime bars, bucket drumming, Boomwhackers, Music Technology, body percussion and more … we’ve had a lot of fun!
Christmas Performances The Orchestra, Chamber Choir, St Teresa’s Singers, Wind Band, String Ensemble and Guitar Group all played our Christmas Celebration on Monday to a packed-out Chapel The girls performed beautifully, and we have received many lovely comments – thank you!
Happy Christmas The music department wishes you all a very happy Christmas!
This Week As we approach the celebration of the great feast of Christmas, we particularly remember the people of the Holy Land and pray for peace in that place where Jesus himself lived.
God of hope Be with us as we wait in anticipation of your coming.
God of peace Still our hearts and minds that we may hear your word.
God of joy Lift our voices that we may sing your praise.
God of love Form us into your image that we may follow you
Saviour, Son of God, Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God here with us
E-mail equestrian@st-teresas.com Call
Visit our website www.st-teresas.com/ equestrian
01372 750257
Booking System st-teresas-equestrian.ecpro.co.uk
Or find us on Facebook “St Teresa’s
Equestrian has had an amazing term and we’ve enjoyed seeing all of our riders progress and have as much fun with the ponies as we do! While we will be running activities over the Christmas Holidays and into 2024, the ponies and staff are looking forward to a well-earned break over the Christmas week. From the 23rd December to the 2nd January, we will be on reduced staff so it may take us some time to get back to any calls or emails sent during this time. We have some exciting changes for the next year, and hope that 2024 will be even better than 2023!
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: Lungeing Lungeing is a good exercise to incorporate into your horse’s workload as it helps to keep them fit, and is especially useful if you don’t have time to ride them or they are too small for you to ride. Lungeing can also be used for young horses, if you are getting them used to having tack on. And it can also help with horse rehabilitation after a injury or if they have been out of work for a while. It is crucial that you get the technique right as well so you can get the best out of your horse. The horse if the term is… Bobby!
Menu—w/c Monday 8th January 2024 Hot lunches include a selection of family favourites and suitable alternatives for children with allergies and intolerances.
Monday Soup of the day
Inset Day
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Roasted winter vegetable
Leek & potato
Spiced roasted butternut squash
Roasted red pepper & tomato
Prep
Freshly baked pizza slice
Roast turkey / chicken & Yorkshire pudding
Pasta carbonara / chicken wraps
Cod goujons / cod fishfingers
Main
Pepperoni pizza slice with chef’s salad
Chef’s carvery – Roast Turkey breast with Yorkshire pudding
Pasta carbonara
Traditional battered fish / jumbo fishfingers
Eat healthy choice
Chargrilled chicken Caesar salad
Soy & honey glazed pork loin steak with rice noodles & Asian greens
Chicken fajitas with peppers & red onions served with grated cheese & sour cream & chives & chef’s salad
Poached salmon with nut free pesto pasta & olive salad
Vegetarian
Cheese & tomato pizza slice
Stuffed peppers filled with roasted vegetables in a tomato sauce topped with halloumi
Roasted butternut squash & pea risotto
No meat meat balls in a tomato sauce
Sides
Baked wedges Carrots
Roast potatoes Mixed vegetables
Sweetcorn
Chips Peas
Additional
Tomato pasta
Jacket potato & beans
Tomato pasta
Jacket potato & beans
Dessert
Choc chip & coconut flapjack slice
Rice pudding with a selection of sauce
Victoria sandwich slice
Shortbread biscuit
Items in Italic - Sourced from F Conisbee’s, our local butcher