Prep Bulletin 28 November 2025 by EffinghamSchoolsTrust

Dear Parents,

My thanks to Mr Field for organising transition pre-show drinks with our Year 6 parents last Friday ahead of the second evening performance of the Senior production of ‘Animal Farm’. It was lovely to spend time in a more social setting with some of our parents and girls – here are some of the girls pointing the way to next week’s beginning of Advent!

This week has seen us successfully survive a second power outage, this one fixing the original issue, a huge well done to staff and pupils in a heavily IT reliant teaching world to be thrust back into the ‘dark ages’ (roughly about the time I started teaching) takes skill and creativity – Mrs G alludes to this in her Music page later.

We had a fantastic first class assembly, ably led by 6RG, who dominated the stage in the library with their ‘Kindness’ themed assembly demonstrating our Value for the Year: Compassion.

A huge thank you to Mrs Haselden for organising our whole school trip to the Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium. What a fantastic day was had by all!

And this evening we have our FOST Christmas fair – this will really get the season going and begin the frenetic pace of the next two weeks with Evensong, Carol Service, Santa Fun Run, Christmas Jumper Day and so much more!

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Mark Twain

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." Mother Teresa

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead, Gareth Tindall

ODD SOCKS DAY 2025

Thanks to everyone’s amazing support and quirky socks, we raised a fantastic £67.75! Your generosity helps make a real difference—thank you for getting involved and spreading the fun!

Y5 Museum of Egyptology

Year 5 invite you to visit their 'Museum of Egyptology' on Wednesday 10th December in the Senior Library. The girls will be showcasing the projects they have chosen to research and will be keen to talk to visitors about their learning. Please come and join us to see some 'wonderful things!'

Pastoral Pause

Earlier in the year I bought two T-shirts. One had three symbols on the front: a crown of thorns, a crucifix and a stone rolled away from a tomb – with the words over the top reading “A Lot Can Happen In Three Days”. The other T-shirt had the inscription: All I Need Today is a little bit of Caffeine and a Whole Lot of Jesus!

This next week we launch fully into the season of Advent. Let not the season (for you or your child(ren)), be about what is in the Advent calendar for ME! What gift are you getting ME.

Yes, by all means, indulge in a little chocolate. However, let this season read: All I Need This Advent is a little bit of chocolate and a WHOLE LOT OF JESUS!

To help us achieve being like Jesus, which he very helpfully outlined for us in two simple steps (ONE: Love the Lord Your God with ALL your heart, sould, mind, and strength; TWO: love your neighbour as yourself), let’s get active with this month’s Action For Happiness calendar: December Kindness.

This week, share this calendar with someone else, print it and have it up on the fridge; call someone you can’t be with for a chat; help someone having difficulties; support a charity or cause (not necessarily financially – possibly the easy option for us all) perhaps with your time; give a gift to a homeless person; leave a positive message for someone to find; give kind comments away as freely as you can – be prodigious with your kind comments – lavish your world in them.

God Bless You, Gareth Tindall

Key Dates 2025 - 26

As outlined in the Parent Handbook, and reiterated at the Parent Welcome Reception, there are three key dates in the school calendar that are compulsory for all the girls to attend. This is to help them understand the importance of team work and collaborative responsibility as these are events where they are all involved and need to support each other. These dates are as follows:

Christmas Service Thursday 4th December, 18.30 to 19.30

Spring Concert Thursday 12th March, 18.30 to 19.30

Prep School Prize Giving Thursday 2nd July, 19.00 to 20.00

We would be grateful if you could keep these dates free so that all girls can be present at these important community events.

Golden Book

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

5AB Ava B for her hard work an focus in Maths this week.

Arabella N for her effort and determination during English lessons to incorporate taught skills, including ISPACED and using the senses.

Isabelle E-N for always being kind to everyone and offering help.

5HT Scarlett S for incorporating our five main senses into her writing to produce a wonderful Egyptian setting description.

Monica H for her perseverance converting between mixed numbers and improper fractions. You have developed new confidence with this challenging concept.

6RG Zoe G for her fantastic effort with her writing shown in both her letter and her non Isla S for her super effort to improve her understanding in Maths, particularly our work on fractions.

6MK Clemmie W for demonstrating real resilience and determination when faced with challenging situations, showing courage and perseverance that have enabled her to overcome obstacles and succeed.

Rosalind D & Sophia C for making a fantastic start on their non-chronological reports about Antarctica, carrying out careful research and using a range of interesting and varied adverbials to link ideas effectively.

Drama Stars

Year 5: Florence H for her creativity and gentle leadership when working with others.

Year 6: 6RG for working so positively on our class assembly.

Scientist of the Week

Year 5: Liel G for her perseverance with writing notes about the planets.

Flossie H for her enthusiasm and contributions to class discussion.

Year 6: Ivy M for her notes about renewable energy sources.

Cecily P for her attentiveness and contributions in class.

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

After School Care, 2nd December 2025

Please note that on Tuesday 2nd December, the Senior Library will be in use and therefore unavailable for Prep After School Care collections.

When you arrive to collect your daughter, please go to the Senior School Reception, Mrs Johnson will radio through to Mrs Studholm and Mrs Barrett in the Prep School and your daughter will be brought to the Senior School Reception.

Ordering photographs in time for

Christmas Delivery

Gillman & Soame photographed your daughters earlier this term. If you’d like your photos in time for Christmas, please place your order as soon as possible.

If you’ve lost your login details, contact Gillman & Soame at action@gillmanandsoame.co.uk or 01869 328200, quoting your child’s name and the security password stteresasgby2025.

Thank you for ordering promptly!

Changes to Bus Schedules

To make things smoother and safer, we've introduced the Vectare 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.

End of Day Plans

Any end of day changes, please email your class teacher and copy in the school office prepinfo@st-teresas.com.

Absence Notification & Evidence Form

A reminder to complete this form if your child will be absent from Prep due to illness or other valid reasons. To ensure accurate attendance records, please upload evidence (e.g. appointment text, letter, or email) if the absence is due to a medical appointment. Wherever possible, appointments should be made outside school hours. We will not necessarily respond to them unless there is extra information or evidence required for attendance records.

Trip/Workshop Form & Payment Completion

As part of the upcoming Prep School trips/workshops, we kindly ask that you complete both of the following steps as soon as possible: Microsoft Online Form – This form is essential for confirming your child’s participation and providing necessary details.

Payment via Evolve – Please ensure payment is made through the Evolve system.

Please note that our accounts team operates separately within the Trust. This means that even if you have already made the payment, we do not automatically receive confirmation of it in the Prep School. Completing both the form and the payment ensures your child is fully registered for the event.

Year 6 Science

Year 6 tested their home made electronic mix and match games in science this week with great success!

Inspire Academy of Dance

We are excited to announce our upcoming Watching Week, taking place on Wednesday 3rd December. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents and carers to observe their child’s progress in dance classes and see them in a class environment. For the last 15 minutes of each class, we propose that parents/carers are invited to come and watch. We expect parents may begin arriving around 20 minutes before the end of the class, and the class teacher can then welcome and monitor them as they come in approximately 15 minutes before the class finishes.

Thank you for your continued support, we’re really looking forward to sharing this special week with you and your dancers.

6RG Class Assembly

As part of our school’s value for the year, Compassion, 6RG chose to focus their class assembly on Kindness. The assembly featured a drama depicting what happens when you pay kindness forward, an exploration of the science behind kindness, and a retelling of the Good Samaritan story. The girls also performed The Kindness Song, leaving everyone with a powerful reminder that even the smallest act of kindness can make a big difference. Well done, 6RG, for a wonderful performance!

Maths Week

Maths Week, last week was a huge success with the girls eagerly participating in two “Times Tables Rock Stars” battles. The first was England Rocks, where our school faced all schools across the country taking part in the competition. Every correct answer counted towards our school total and we finished 253rd out of 4,356 schools. Well done girls!

In our second “Times Tables Rock Stars” battle, the Maths classes went head-to-head with Mrs Ridulfa's class in Year 6 coming in first place closely followed by Mrs Kearley's Maths group. In terms of individuals, the top scorers in the whole school were:

1st Olivia L

2nd Jessica A

3rd Rosalind D

Well done to the top scorers in each class:

Olivia L

Jessica A

Monica H

Eloise K

Many of the girls worked really hard to earn points and they should be commended for their efforts.

On Friday we had our Subject Revolution workshop. During their sessions, the girls worked in teams to tackle challenging problems involving measurement, patterns, code breaking and even a chicken (?)! They worked well with their teams, developing different strategies and resilience when faced with more challenging tasks.

The girls continued to show enthusiasm, including Amelia, who mixed her love of sudokus with her gymnastic flexibility, shown in her 'extreme' Maths photo. Well done!

Stay tuned for next week for updates on competition winners...

Winchester ScienceTrip

On Thursday, the whole Prep school visited the Winchester Science Centre. The Planetarium show was awe-inspiring and helped us to see just how beautiful and enormous our universe is. After that, we explored the interactive exhibits, including driving remote-controlled cars, shooting a tennis ball into the air with an air pump and playing on a giant guitar. We finished the day making 'whoosh rockets' and tried to make them as aerodynamic as possible. A fantastic day was had by all!

Music News

Musician of the Week

Year 5

Year 6

Vivienne W-S for showing such remarkable curiosity at the Winchester Science Centre, especially as we explored the musical instruments, pitch and frequency.

Liberty C for her significant contribution and enthusiasm in preparing the Kindness Song for performance.

The Music Department has been positively ringing with festive tunes this week as we rehearse for our upcoming Carol Service. A particular well done to Year 5 for managing an a cappella rehearsal on Monday and to 6RG for a heartfelt and musical performance of the Kindness Song in their class assembly. Thank you to Sophia C for her accomplished performance in our celebration assembly.

Without a doubt, the highlight of my week was the visit to Winchester Science Centre - with particular thanks to my group ‘G-Force’ for making the day such fun. In addition to the various Space related activities, we were thrilled to discover a large part of the exhibition dedicated to Music and sound. The girls plucked the strings of a giant guitar and considered why different strings sounded at different pitches. They played a metallophone and a marimba and explored why they had a different timbre and how different pitch and dynamics were created. We also created tunes by blowing air over bottles containing different amounts of water, discussing the effect of vibrations to create sound. The sound proof chamber was very popular, as were the echo tubes and singing booths. A wonderfully interactive way to explore the science behind sound creation.

Sport

News

U11A-D Netball V Notre Dame

The U11s put in an excellent performance, showing fantastic determination and teamwork throughout the match. It was great to see the speed and sharp movement on court, with players driving into space and supporting one another effectively. Defensively, the team worked incredibly hard, sticking closely to their opponents and putting strong pressure on the ball. Every player played their part, demonstrating focus, energy, and a real commitment to improving their game. A brilliant effort from the whole squad!

U11A Player of the Match: Isla, U11B Player of the Match: Liberty, U11C Player of the Match: Carys, U11D Player of the Match: Jessica A.

Santa Fun Run—Monday 8th December

Please join us for the annual Santa Fun Run on Monday 8th December at 8:30am. Festive wear is welcome!

Pupil News

Well done to Eloise in Year 6 for winning her gymnastic competition at the weekend!! Eloise had to take perform a floor routine and vault.

If your daughter has completed any sporting achievements outside of school, the PE department would love to hear about them. Please email Mrs Hitchman with a short description and photo to a.hitchman@st-teresas.com.

Fixtures (week commencing 1st December)

Tuesday 2nd December U10A-D Netball V Halstead St Andrews (H) 2:30pm

Tuesday 2nd December U11A&B (A) 2:45pm & U11C&D (H) 2:45pm

Friday 5th December U10&U11 Santa Splash @ GHS 12pm

St Teresa's Effingham | Sports Home

You will be able to access fixtures for the day, alongside the Sports Calendar which can provide you with all the sports fixtures weeks and months in advance.

If a team sheet has been published for a particular fixture, the blue ‘person’ symbol will be available to click on. simply click on the blue symbol next to the fixture to access the team sheet.

Cold weather is here... be prepared!

Now that the cold weather has arrived, please ensure you arrive for your riding lesson wearing jumpers, coats and gloves. It can get very cold in the Arena ad the instructors want to make sure that you get as much from your lesson as possible by coming prepared and staying warm.

Last week of the STE Term

This is a reminder that the last day of Equestrian termly lessons is Saturday 6th December. In the last week of the school term (w/c 8th December) STE will be running ad hoc/make-up lessons only.

Early Bird Discount for Holiday Activities

Don’t miss our Early Bird 10% Discount for booking Festive Fillies Pony Mornings/Afternoons. The discount expires on 30th November. Please scan the ECPro QR code to see what we have to offer.

NSEA NEWS

Rosie is ready for Christmas… why isn’t everyone else?

Eventers Challenge—Coombelands Equestrian Centre

With so much rain on Saturday, the Eventers Challenge at Coombelands on Sunday looked like it might be cancelled. However, the event went ahead with amazing results for the St Teresa’s NSEA Team. Despite the arena surface being slippery and inconsistent under foot due to overnight flooding, the team skilfully managed the pace and turns of the horses. Many of the other competitors had to withdraw or were eliminated due to the challenging conditions, so this is a real credit to the girls.

The 70 cm team (Florence B, Harriet L and Olivia S) all expertly guided their horses to achieve clear rounds, giving us a clear win. This has qualified the team for the Hickstead Eventers Challenge Championships in May.

Harriet also placed 4th individually, giving her an individual qualification. Olivia came 6th and Florence 9th. The 80 cm team (Harriet L, Lilly S and Olivia S) came 4th over an even more challenging course with Lilly coming in 9th place individually.

Please do join us in celebrating their successes.

This Week

Bible Reading

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Reflection

We have now entered the season of Advent. A season of preparation. A season of light and hope. Mary is a person of Advent. The one called to bare and carry God’s son. She is a person of hope and a person of faith. Trusting in the Lord even though there is much to fear and much change in the air. Let us this Advent draw closer to God in our lives and echo the yes that Mary declared. Let us reorder ourselves towards the living God who loves us.

Prayer

"Christ our Light, Shine in our lives with hope and promise. Give us right vision so that we remain attentive to this holy season. Remind us to look for you in small acts of kindness and love. We await your coming with wonder." Amen.

"At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God's own love and concern."

St Mother Teresa

Prep Clubs Autumn Term 2025

MORNING

MON School Council

TUE 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)

WED

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)