Mrs Male Writes….
Dear Parents,
Despite our best laid plans, Christmas is looking a bit different for us at Alfriston. However, we are determined to have a week of celebration and fun in whatever format this takes. I hope that you have been able to join in the planned events and to share a bit of festive joy with us.
The Christmas bazaar was not like any other this year, with stalls spread across the school, and winter activities in the woods and around the school grounds. The girls braved the cold and the rain to toast marshmallows on the fire, and to try their hand at the games and competitions. There were no visitors this year, but thank you to all those who supported us from afar with the silent auction and the raffle. Your generosity and support has raised funds which will go to the Friends of Alfriston to provide additional resources and extra activities for everyone. The girls enjoyed this unusual and extended occasion and hopefully found some great stocking fillers and treats to share with you.
Although we were not able to take part in our usual celebrations, such as the trip to the pantomime and the Christmas performance, these have been adapted into virtual experiences which were fun to make, and even more fun to watch. I hope you enjoyed these events.
I was touched by the kindness of the Year 11s this term, with the work they put in to bring a little bit of cheer to the lives of others. They made links with two of the local care homes, made gifts for all the residents and sent a special Christmas message to let them know they cared. You can watch their Christmas message on the portal this week.
There are a few staff changes for next term which you can read about in the newsletter, but I would like to make a special mention to Ros Shorrocks, who is leaving us after so many years of wonderful service to the school and will be very much missed by all.
Finally, I’d like to thank all of you for your patience and understanding over what has been a very difficult period for everyone. Let’s hope that next year will be a better year.
Merry Christmas!
Jinna Male
Important Notices
AUTUMN TERM DATES
Friday 18th December 2020 – INSET Day
Monday 21st December to Friday 1st January 2021 – Half Term
Monday 4th January 2021 – INSET Day
SPRING TERM 2021
Tuesday 5th January to Friday 12th February 2021 – Pupils in School
Monday 22nd February to Wednesday 31st March 2021 – Half Term
Staffing Update
The time has come to say goodbye to Mrs Shorrocks who leaves us after 16 years at Alfriston. We wish her lots of love and luck in her new role at Age UK, teaching older people to use computers.
With Mrs Shorrocks leaving, we have had a few changes in our current staffing.
Mrs Ayew is going to be leaving the Maths Faculty and moving to the Re Comm Room, where she will be stepping into Mrs Shorrocks’ (groovy) shoes, teaching PSHE, R&E and overseeing Pastoral and Behaviour.
We welcome Mr Bull who is joining us initially for a term to teach maths and become 10D pastoral teacher.
Mrs Denham will be with both 9A (2 days a week) and 10D (1 day a week) for pastoral.
Miss Bale will be increasing her days with us, which is also fantastic and will be supporting 11S as much as possible.
Hot news just in…
Mrs Gildersleve has had a baby, a beautiful baby girl born on 12th December.
Santa’s Fun Run In The Local Community
One of our Alfriston pupils and her family, will be running around the streets of Marlow in their Santa suits this year. It is a ‘virtually real’ event this year, meaning no mass start in Higginson Park and no hoard of Santa’s running down the High Street, instead over the course of the weekend 5th/6th December you will see small groups of Santa’s running around – cheer them if you see them!
25% of the money we raise will go to the Rotary Club for their charities and we have chosen to split the remaining 75% between 3 charities which are close to us as a family ; Sobell House Hospice in Oxford; Friends of Alfriston school and Lighthouse Marlow.
They are grateful for whatever you can donate in support.
Please visit their fund raising page here for full details.
Alfriston 100 Club Results
OCTOBER 2020
£25 number 59 A. Simon
£15 number 52 N. Meek
£10 number 76 N. Gibbon
NOVEMBER 2020
£25 number 75 D. Martin
£15 number 11 C. Lubiewski
£10 number 69 J. Rolls
DECMBER 2020
£25 number 87 R. Chapman
£15 number 80 J. Rolls
£10 number 22 V. O’Connell
In Art This Term…
Christmas Cards
As you know, each year at Alfriston we have a school Christmas Card printed for staff, students and their friends and families to buy at the Christmas Bazaar. The design on the front of the card shows the winning entry from our annual Christmas card competition. Each year we have lots of girls enter with creative ideas. This year the winning design was created by Peyton in 7M. A big well done to her for her wintery design.
If you ordered Christmas cards from the online system and have not been able to collect them before now, you will receive them when school reopens in January. Sorry for an inconvenience.
The BIG Draw- Pastoral Event
Back in October we had the BIG draw festival at Alfriston. As part of this the school came together during pastoral afternoon to create a collaborative rainbow collage. We are in the process of putting this on display for everyone to see at school. Here is a sneaky peek at some of the girl’s work.
In Post 16 This Term…
Post 16 pupils have worked with NCS and the Chiltern Rangers planting a new hedge alongside the path at the back of school. Despite the cold weather, the pupils accepted the challenge and successfully planted many plants.
In Maths This Term…
In Maths this term we have been doing a lot of practical work on time and money.
We have been virtual shopping and looking at how to safely shop online and work to a budget. We have priced up individual recipes and a weekly shop.
The older year groups have been looking at bus and train time tables and how to make sure that we arrive on time to arrangements that we have made. They have also looked at outings to places such as trampoline parks and theme parks; investigating opening times, the cost of entry and any food and souvenir purchases they may make whilst there.
We have had a lot of fun guessing how long a minute is and doing lots of fun timed exercises to get used to what 1 minute or 5 minutes actually feels like. Here are some of year 10 seeing how many plastic people they can move with tweezers in 1 minute!
Christmas Bazaar 2020
There was lots to do from eating s’mores down by the camp fire, to playing games and buying gifts.
Perhaps you enjoyed a hot chocolate in the log cabin or maybe had a photo shoot in the special Christmas booth.
The weather was not kind, COVID changed what we did, but the girls were fabulous helping with stalls, looking after each other and making the most of the two days.
In PE This Term…
Snowbility’s Ski Academy
Having secured funding from Snowbility we have been able to offer some girls the opportunity to join Snowbility’s Ski Academy.
The girls have been working on their balance, co-ordination and core strength. They have been becoming familiar with ski equipment, basic skiing terminology and what it would be like to be at an indoor snow centre.
The intention and aim is to inspire enthusiasm to participate in snowsports and hopefully, in the future, take the lessons on to the snow at The Snow Centre, Hemel.
Elite Swim Squad
We have been running Elite Swim Squad training this term for pupils who demonstrate a great potential in the sport. The girls, who have been invited to attend, complete fitness and technical training and then stay and have their lunch together as a squad. The aim of the training is to have a squad ready to compete in an upcoming County Swimming Gala. The Elite Swim Squad Training will run until February Half Term. After February Half Term the PE Department will invite pupils to attend Aqua Flippers, our swimming intervention programme.
Please see below for some exciting free activities!
The Girl In The Red Dress
By Layla B
One spooky night there were three teenagers out celebrating Halloween. They had just finished going to the last house. The three teenagers were called Jake, Josh and Lisa. Jake is Josh’s brother and Lisa is their friend.
On the way back home Josh said, “Hey, let’s go into those woods over there for fun.”
The other two weren’t very sure about it. Jake insisted he didn’t want to.
Then Lisa said, “Yeah, why not it will be fun.”
Then Jake said, “What if we see a ghost?”
The other two just laughed.
“Don’t be such a baby! Ghosts aren’t real!“ replied Josh.
The other two said “come on, let’s go.”.
They all wandered off into the deep dark woods.
Who knows what they will find and if they will get out alive.
The trees were tall, dark, thin and narrow. It was so silent, it was like walking through a graveyard. It was so still. It was very spooky as they walked further into the woods. It started to get quite misty through the trees. It almost felt like someone else was following them through the shadows.
“Where are we going?” asked Jake.
“We are going to just follow the path I guess, until it ends” said Lisa.
“Yeah” said Josh.
“What about if we get lost and what about getting home?” replied Jake.
“Well we won’t get lost, we will just follow the path and we will go straight home after that.” answered Josh.
“What if we don’t find our way home?” asked Jake.
“Oh don’t be such a wimp.” said Josh to Jake.
Jake muttered to himself angrily.
So the three teenagers kept on walking, following the path. Then suddenly they all came to a halt. Ahead of them there was a divide in the path. Although the path continued to the left, in front of them was a ‘No Entry’ sign, with tape wrapped all around it. It said ‘Warning Stay Away. DO NOT TRESPASS’! They all looked at each other for a moment.
Then Josh said, “I wonder what is in there?, we should go in there to find out.”
“NOOOO! You can’t” said Jake.
“Why not? Are you scared Jake?”
“No I’m not” said Jake.
“Yeah, what if someone finds out though?” said Lisa.
“No one will find out, plus it’s just for fun, just seeing what’s in there.” replied Josh.
“Well I don’t know about you two wimps but I’m going in there to find out for myself” said Josh.
“I’m coming too!” said Lisa. “You can wait here for us” said Lisa to Jake.
”Yeah, I’m not getting into trouble. You guys hurry up ok!”
“Ok, ok” said Josh.
So the two of them climbed over the fence. Josh went first, then Lisa.
There was broken wood everywhere and it was quite muddy too. Then there was a trail of droplets of blood all around them.
“What happened here?” said Lisa in horror.
“I don’t know” said Josh in shock.
They kept on walking to see where it came from.
Then out through the shadows came a girl in a red dress. Eyes cold like ice, red lips like a rose and skin like snow. She had a red dress on, she wore no shoes. Her pale face glared at them and her eyes were bleeding like a river.
They stared in horror.
“Wh.… what is that?” said Josh.
Then she screamed “ARRRRRRRRRRR”.
Then she ran towards them. Josh and Lisa ran for their lives. Screaming
“ARRRRRRR” “ ARRRRRRR.”
They didn’t turn back, they keep on running for their lives. They both jumped over the fence.
“What’s wrong? What’s over there?” shouted Jake.
“Th… there’s a spirit girl” cried Josh.
“What!” cried Jake.
“Run you wimps” shouted Lisa. “No time to explain” she cried as she ran.
They all ran for their lives.
Then out of nowhere she appeared, standing with her wicked grin. Jake froze in horror. The others shouted
“JAKE RUN!”
Then in a flash she had bitten him.
“Jake!” cried the others. They ran just in time as he turned into a zombie.
“Grrrrrrrr” answered Jake.
Now it was only Lisa and Josh running. They managed to get away and they hid under a log. They were huffing and puffing. Lisa was sobbing hard. Josh was in shock.
“Wh… what have I done? It’s all my fault! My brother is a zombie now.” sobbed Josh.
“No it’s my fault too” cried Lisa.
“We shouldn’t have come here in the first place.” said Josh. “Jake was right all along.”
Then there was a rustle through the trees. Their hearts were pounding fast. Then Jake ran over to them. Josh legged it but as Lisa ran, Jake turned straight for her. In no time she was bitten. Now there was only Josh left.
He ran faster than ever. Huffing and puffing until he slipped and fell down a huge hole. He twisted his ankle and he couldn’t get back up. It was so painful. He lay there in pain, waiting for the darkness to fall upon him.
Then suddenly he heard screams through the shadows. His heart started to race. Then there was complete darkness.
The End