We have reached the end of the first full week of term for the girls and all initial changes or ‘firsts’ have been accomplished: first Art lesson in Senior classrooms; first set of Science lessons; first Games afternoon; and, unfortunately, first fire alarm (not a practice) which happened to ring during heavy rainfall.
Thank you to so many of you who attended the ‘Meet the Teacher’ event on Monday after school. I hope seeing the new set up of John Bosco has reassured you of the continuation of the excellent Prep School care, provision, teaching and community-feel. We are learning as we go and amending where necessary. We appreciated the comments of support and praise for the work already put in before the year started, and we appreciate the feedback on areas we can continue to make improvements in.
One area of communication which was highlighted was regarding Prep Office. Mrs Johnson is now working jointly between the Prep School and the Main School office. Please can we ask that all in-person requests, in-hours late drop offs or early pick ups are made via the Main School reception. If you have resources left at home (or in the car) which need delivering to the girls, please also bring these to the Main Reception desk.
We have already tweaked collection for some external clubs, as follows: if you are collecting from LAMDA please collect from After School Care in the library; if you are collecting from Dance on a Wednesday evening, please do so from outside the lower level entrance to Mairlot Hall on the old Prep Drive (where Mrs Harris released pupils last year).
We had our first ‘Celebration Assembly’ this morning, which was delightful and congratulations to the girls on the following pages for impressing teachers so early in the year.
"When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had." A. P. J. Abdul Kalam I Am looking forward to another ‘first’ this weekend, supporting our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Senior School girls on their practice weekend away camping and hiking.
Best wishes,
Gareth Tindall
Changes to Bus Schedules or End of Day Plans
To make things smoother and safer, we've introduced theVectare Travel App. If you haven't registered yet, please sign up at this link: Vectare Travel using your email address from iSAMS. You can make all the necessary changes on the website.
If you need further help, please reach out to the transport team at effinghamschoolstrust@vectare.co.uk or transport@effinghamschools.org / 01372 750255.
Any end of day changes, please email your class teacher and copy in the school office prepinfo@st-teresas.com
Absence From School
To report an absence from school, please call the School Office before 8.30am and speak to a member of staff or leave a message on the school answerphone, stating the reason for absence: 01372 453 456
Prep School Contact Details:
Please contact Mrs Johnson at the School Office by email: prepinfo@st-teresas.com or call 01372 453456
Pastoral Pause
As we head deeper into September and the nights draw ever closer and cooler; as societies across the world are struggling with political uncertainty, increased cost of living, civil unrest and outright war; let us endeavour to focus our positivity into each other’s lives. Let us be the dawn that lifts someone else’s weary night. However, we have to remember that in order to be that positive light in another’s world, we must have centred our own. We must have re-oriented our lives to divine truth. We must have replenished our souls at the Spring of Life. September’s Action for Happiness calendar encourages us all to (at this autumn stage of the year) pause, reflect and be mindful of our own well-being. We cannot love others if we are not loving to ourselves. We cannot support other’s well-being if we are negligent of our own. Everyone can take a 1-minute, 3-minute, 5-minute or even 10-minute pause in a day. Personally I use the ‘One Minute Pause’ App from ransomed Heart Ministries, ‘Pray-As-You-Go’ or Lectio 365 to help create daily resets.
Mon 29th Sept National Poetry Day: Poet visit, Kimba, Mairlot Hall 11:15 - 12:15
Wed 1st Oct Mass of the Feast of St Teresa, Mairlot Hall 09:00
Thur 2nd Oct Yr. 6 Parent talk and tour of Senior School 09:00
Fri 3rd Oct St Francis’ Pet Blessing, Mairlot Lawn 08:30
Tue 7th Oct Yr. 6 Mock Entrance Examinations 09:00
Thur 9th Oct Prep School Individual & Sibling Photos 09:00 - 12:15
Fri 10th Oct Harvest Celebration, Chapel 08:30 - 09:00
Mon 13th Oct Year 5 Shang Dynasty Workshop, Mairlot Hall 09:00 - 12:15
Wed 15th Oct Prep School Council Meeting, 12:15 Parents Evening (Online) 17:00 - 20:00
Thur 16th Oct Parents Evening (In Person) 16:15 - 19:00
Fri 17th Oct Half Term begins 18:00
Mon 3rd Nov Term Resumes
Tue 11th Nov 11+ Prep Entrance Exams 08:30
This week you have received the following communications on SchoolPost:
Year 6: Meet the Teacher Year 6 Slides
Year 5: Meet the Teacher Year 5 Slides Whole School: Flu Vaccinations Unplanned School Fire evacuation
Communication
Go to: https://stteresas.schoolpost.co.uk/
Please remember to check your inbox, including your junk/spam, as the email may go to your junk box the first time it is sent. If you have any questions please email prepinfo@st-teresas.com
Golden Book
Well done to all of the girls in our Golden Books this week:
5AB Lily J and Kimberley C
Vivienne W-S
5HT Millie G and Leila A in English when planning our Roald Dahl inspired poem.
6MK Daisy B for being a good friend and showing compassion to a classmate this week. Megan S for making an excellent start to Year 6 with her sunny disposition and her positive approach towards all her learning.
Cecily P and Electra B Geography.
6RG Eden May O for settling in so well to the class and having confidence to contribute and join in activities. Sophia H and Olivia L others.
Drama Stars
Year 5: Emilia C for her wonderful ideas when working in a group and for responding positively to the ideas of others.
Year 6: Charlotte T for impressive use of facial expression and body language in order to convey character and situation in a freeze frame.
Attention all gardeners!
Last term, the girls in Gardening Club were given sunflower seeds to take part in a competition to grow the tallest sunflower. If you planted your seeds, it is time to get your tape measures out! Hopefully, you have enjoyed seeing your splendid sunflowers and now it is time to get measuring! Please send in a picture of your daughter with her sunflower and a measurement of how tall the sunflower grew, to enter the competition and be in the running for a prize.
FOST 2nd HAND UNIFORM SHOP
Submission forms are under FOST 2nd hand uniform on the St Ts website: Second-hand Uniform Shop
REMINDER: CASH or CHEQUE only please for the foreseeable future.
Open Fridays 8.30am-9am and First Saturday of every month 10:30am 11.00am by appointment only:
Please contact Wendy or Camilla: Fostuniform@gmail.com
Prep News
Special GuestVisit – Rap Poet Kimba
We are thrilled to announce that Kimba, the acclaimed rap poet behind Write the Wrongs, will be visiting St Teresa’s on Monday 29 September to present to pupils in Years 5, 6, 7 and 8. His engaging and thought-provoking performances blend poetry and rap to explore themes of identity, creativity, and social awareness.
If pupils would like to purchase a copy of Kimba’s book, it must be ordered in advance via the Microsoft Form.
Want a preview? Watch Kimba in action
We’re really looking forward to welcoming Kimba – we think he’s going to be a hit!
Year 5 Science
This week the girls tried 'defying gravity' using ping pong balls and a straw!
Locating lines of longitude and latitude
The girls in Year 6 enjoyed learning about and mapping significant lines of longitude and latitude in their geography lesson this week. Working with a partner, they put their newfound knowledge into practise using inflated balloons
Year 5 and 6 have been learning about safety in the laboratory in preparation for our lessons in the Senior school Science labs later this term
Pupil News
From Seed to Supper: Ania’s Gardening Journey
Last term, Ania took part in a school gardening activity that sparked a wonderful adventure at home. She planted a seedling in a large pot, cared for it diligently, and watched it grow with great excitement. She even gave it a name: Gavin!
To Ania’s delight, Gavin flowered just in time for her birthday in early July. By mid-summer, she was proudly harvesting delicious beans and sharing them with her family. Inspired by this experience, Ania decided to expand her green-thumb efforts by purchasing and sowing her own vegetable and herb seeds. Her family garden is now flourishing with new life!
Mrs Smith would like to thank Mrs Cooper and Mr Cook who have helped nurture this love of growing her own food.
It’s wonderful to see how these small beginnings can blossom into lasting family memories and healthy habits.
Welcome Mrs G
We hope you will join us in extending a very warm welcome to our newest member of staff, Mrs Giannopoulos, AKA, Mrs G. Welcome to the St Teresa’s family!
A heartfelt thanks to all the girls, and the staff, who have made me feel so welcome in my first week teaching Music at St Teresa's Prep School. The girls have been so helpful in showing me where to find things and endlessly patient as I attempted to learn more than 80 names in a week! Their enthusiasm for music and their contributions during our classes and ensemble rehearsals have been most impressive and I'm sure we have a wonderful year of music-making ahead of us.
Orchestra
It was lovely to meet the returning members of the orchestra and I was delighted to welcome some new joiners too. We were a little short of instruments at our first rehearsal, so we spent some time on rhythm work and understanding how our parts fit together vocally. Don't forget to bring your instruments to school on Mondays!
Chamber choir
Wow! What a big turnout for our first Chamber Choir rehearsal. I'm looking forward to seeing them all back again on Friday as we start to prepare songs to perform at our harvest assembly.
Musicians of the Week
Year 5 Ellie F, well done for concentrating hard and persevering in our ukelele class, mastering quick chord changes and keeping time with the beat.
Year 6 Daisy B, thank you for bringing such enthusiasm and positive energy to our first music lesson. You created some fun body percussion rhythms and demonstrated brilliant teamwork.
Year 5
Year 5 have started their Music project linking musical performance with their local community. We learned to sing the song Tour through time and then explored a four-beat metre through a stepping pattern and conducting. We added a melodic ostinato using chime bars and worked in small groups, taking it in turns to conduct, sing and play the ostinato.
Year 6
In our ukelele classes, the girls have learned to name the parts of the instrument, how to hold a ukelele correctly and discovered the C chord and F chord. We learned to strum down and up using a plectrum. We've started to tackle the challenge of changing chords quickly
Year 6 have started their World Unite project, linking rhythm with dance. We learned to sing the song World Unite and then identified the steady beat using body percussion. We explored the syncopated rhythms of the melody and created our own rhythms in pairs, using body percussion. The girls then worked together in small groups, bringing together their rhythm patterns in sequence and in unison to accompany others singing.
In our keyboard skills classes, we explored the low and high notes on the piano, identified finger numbers and observed the repeating patterns of the piano keys. The girls played in small groups in unison, maintaining a steady beat and started to learn their first rote tune using the black notes.
NSEA NEWS
STE is part of the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) and is represented by the talented equestrian students of Effingham Schools Trust in Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing.
St Teresa’s team of NSEA riders have had outstanding success in the last academic year, winning the Hickstead Elite 1M SJ Championship in May among many other triumphs.
Felbridge Equestrian Centre, 7th September
This academic year has got off to a flying start with the team currently in the qualifying period for the major NSEA National Championships at the end of October. The competition at Felbridge was a qualifier for the disciplines of Show Jumping and Jumping with Style.
Competition was stiff as many schools are trying their upmost to qualify,
Showjumping
80cmTeam
Amber B, Lottie B, Harriet L and Olivia S came 3rd in an extremely competitive class. Harriet L and Amber B rode beautiful clear rounds with Amber B coming third overall and Harriet L fifth. The result qualifies Amber B for the National Championships and the team for the Plate Championships with Harriet L qualified individually for this too.
90cmTeam
Amber B, Claudia B, Rosie C and Lilly S came 5th in an even more competitive class, with Claudia B riding an amazing clear round to come 6th individually.
Rosie C also went clear on her second horse individually which put her in 4th place and qualified her for the National Championships. 1M
Rosie C rode a fantastic individual round resulting in a fifth place.
Jumping with Style
80cm
Amber B rode a superb round over both the showjumping and arena cross country fences to be placed second which qualified her for the National Championships.
90cm Team
Claudia B, Rosie C and Lilly S came second, securing them a place at the National Championships too.
Congratulations to the team on these amazing results on a highly competitive day.
Claudia B and Pauldary's Calippo
This Week
Bible Reading
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark.
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
Reflection
OurValue for this coming year is the value of Compassion.To have eyes that are open to the needs of others is to have eyes open to Christ who dwells in our midst; especially amongst the poor. On Sunday 7th September Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati were canonised by Pope Leo.The Pope draw our attention to these two great young people who were driven to incredible acts of Compassion by their love for Jesus. Let us like wise seek to open the eyes of our hearts and reach out to those in need this year.
Prayer
Loving and compassionate God,
We believe that you are present in this place and in our school. Help us throughout the year ahead to remain close toYou. Help us to be the best that we can be and to work well with those around us. May we walk alongside others and may our hearts be compassionate to all we meet.
Amen.
“May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.”
St Teresa of
Lisieux
Prep Clubs AutumnTerm 2025
MORNING
MON
TUE
WED
Years 5 & 6, Netball Club (7.50 - 8.20, Sp. H)
(12.45—13.15)
Years 5, Forest School
Years 6, Forest School
Orchestra, by invitation Grade 1+ standard)
Years 5 & 6, Prep GK Club (Astro)
Chaplaincy Team meeting
Years 5 & 6, Lego Club
Years 5 & 6, Netball Shooting Club
Years 5 & 6, Swim Squad (7:45 - 8.30)
Years 5 & 6, Prayer Group (10.55 – 11.15)
Wind Group (10.5511:15)
THU Years 5 & 6, Hockey Club (7.50 - 8.20, Sp. H)
Years 5 & 6, Chess Club
Years 5 & 6, Recreational Netball
Schola Cantorum (by invitation)
Years 5 & 6, Football Club
String Group
Years 5 & 6, Running Club (Astro)
(16.15 – 17.00)
Equestrian Riding (16.00 –17.00)
Year 6, ESTA Tennis Coaching (16.15 - 17.15)
Young Voices Choir (16.15 - 17.00, until January)
Years 5 & 6, Art Club (16.15 - 17.00)
Years 5 & 6, LAMDA Lessons (30-minute lesson between 16.15 - 16.45)
Equestrian Riding (16.00 –17.00)
Pony Stars (16.30 – 17.30)
Years 5 & 6, Drama Club (16.15 - 17.00)
Years 5 & 6, Hockey Club (16.15 - 17.30)
Equestrian Riding (16.00 –17.00)
Years 5 & 6, Ballet Dance (16.15 - 17.15)
Year 5, ESTA Tennis Coaching (16.15 - 17.15)
Years 5 & 6, Art Club (16.15 - 17.00)
Year 5, Swim Squad (15.45 - 16.45)
Year 6, Swim Squad (16.45 - 17.30)
Equestrian Riding (16.00 –17.00)
Years 5 & 6 Frisbee Club (16.15 - 17.00)
Chamber Choir
FRI
(17.00-18.00)
Year 5 & 6, LAMDA Lessons (30 -minute lesson between 16.45 - 17.45)
Years 5 & 6, Street Dance (17.15 - 18.15)
Touch Typing
Years 5 & 6, Netball Club (16.15 - 17.30)
Equestrian Riding (16.00 –17.00)
Pony Stars (16.00 – 17.00)
Schola Cantorum (16:30 –17:30, by invitation)
Menu—w/c Monday 15th September 2025
Hot lunches include a selection of family favourites and suitable alternatives for children with allergies and intolerances.
Week 3 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Soup
Main
Vegetarian
Soup of the day
Smokey
Chorizo Macaroni
Cheese with Crispy Onions
Traditionally Baked Macaroni
Cheese
Soup of the day Soup of the day Soup of the day Soup of the day
Freshly
Battered
Pork Schnitzel Stroganoff
Pasta Bar
Sides
Additional
Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
Steamed New Potatoes Broccoli
Jacket Potato & Baked
Beans
Freshly
Baked Bread
Salad bar
Quorn and Mushroom Stroganoff
Pasta with Tomato & Basil or Creamy Tuna & Sweetcorn
Sauce
Steamed Rice Green Brans
Jacket Potato & Baked
Beans
Freshly
Baked Bread
Salad bar
Braised Beef
Cottage Pie with Cheddar Mash
Autumn Vegetable Filo
Parcels with a Grainy Cous Cous
Pasta with Tomato & Basil or Bacon
Carbonara Sauce
Vichy Carrots
Roasted Roots
Jacket Potato & Baked
Beans
Freshly Baked Bread
Salad bar
Peach
Korean
Chicken
Bulgogi
Gemistra
Greek Stuffed Peppers
Pasta with Tomato & Basil or Bolognaise Sauce
Egg Noodles
Asian Green
Stir Fry
Jacket Potato & Baked
Beans
Freshly
Baked Bread
Salad bar
Chocolate
Fish or Breaded Fish
Fillet with Ketchup and Tartare Sauce
Cheese and Vegetable Empanadas
Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
Skinny Chips Garden Peas
Jacket Potato & Baked
Beans
Freshly
Baked Bread
Salad bar
Dessert
Chocolate Brownie
Jaffa Cake Traybake
Crumble and Custard
Chip Sponge and Chocolate Sauce
Cornflake
Tart
Items in Italic - Sourced from F Conisbee’s, our local butcher
