Boarding and Day School for Girls aged 11-18 years

St Leonards-Mayfield is a Roman Catholic boarding and day school educating girls aged 11-18. The school is set in Mayfield, East Sussex, England within easy reach of London and international airports.

Although St Leonards-Mayfield has been in existence for over 125 years, the school of today continues to seek to prepare girls to 'meet the wants of the age', to bring a thoughtful and Christian perspective to all areas of life, and to develop their gifts to the fullest possible extent.

Thank you for your interest in St Leonards-Mayfield. Something of the spirit of the school will emerge from these pages, but if you can, do visit us. In the meantime we hope you will benefit from accessing our web site; please contact us if you would like further information.

The School Day

St Leonards-Mayfield is a boarding school and as such, there are always staff and girls on site during term time. The academic programme is spread over five days, from Monday to Friday, with activities and sports fixtures happening at weekends.

Breakfast is from 7.00-8.30am, and the timetabled academic day begins with registration for all pupils at 8.35am in form rooms. There are six periods of lessons every morning. Lunch is served in the Lower School, the Main School and the Sixth Form dining rooms from 12.35pm and a variety of clubs and activities take place throughout the school. Following afternoon registration at 1.35pm, a further four lessons take place after lunch. Academic lessons finish at 4.00pm each day. Tea is available for all pupils at 4.00pm. A programme of extra curricular activities and supervised study runs from 4.15pm until 6.00pm each day and some are also scheduled after supper. (The School minibuses or coaches leave at 6.00pm). Supper begins at 6.15pm. Boarders have study time after supper.

Weekly boarders leave on Friday after school or on Saturday after sports fixtures and return by 9.30pm on Sunday evening, or Monday morning by 8.35am.

On Saturdays, school fixtures, are scheduled from early morning until around lunch time. Boarders have supper at around 6.30pm. Activities and optional expeditions are organised each Saturday and Sunday, in addition to matches.

On Sundays, all boarders are expected to attend Mass on Sunday and lunch is served at 12.30pm. Day girls and parents

are welcome to attend Mass in the school chapel and family services are held at the beginning of term. There are weekly Liturgy periods in the Chapel for all girls.

Study (Homework)

Study is an integral part of the academic programme at St Leonards-Mayfield School. In the years prior to the Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13) there is a formal study timetable, varying in length according to year group, of two, three or four studies each evening, six days a week. Boarders have up to two hours supervised study time in the evening to complete set work and to develop personal research and reading; day pupils are expected to organise a similar time period at home. Study is set over the weekend and boarders have supervised study on Sunday afternoon to complete this. Much GCSE coursework is intended to be completed in study time and independent study is encouraged. In the Year 12 we recommend approximately four hours of personal study per week in each of the AS subjects, in addition to formal lessons. In Year 13 the majority of pupils follow three or four A2 courses and can expect to spend rather more time per week on each one. As girls progress through the school, they are expected to take increasing responsibility for their own work and are supported in an independent approach to learning.

Monitoring each individual Pupil's Progress

The academic and pastoral care of every girl is overseen by her Year Coordinator and Pastoral Manager. In addition, she will have a form tutor who will normally remain the same for at least two years. Tutors are at the heart of the School's framework of pastoral care; they regularly see tutees individually to discuss progress and liaise with teachers, house staff and Year Coordinators, in addition to establishing good relationships with parents. Tutors work with your daughter's teachers to monitor, advise and support her academic work. They will also oversee extra-curricular activities and help ensure that girls are able to plan and manage their time effectively. Formal assessments in each subject take place each term. If at any time a cause for concern arises, parents will be contacted and individuals will be supported in the most appropriate manner. Parents' evenings and reports are timed to provide parents and pupils with appropriate guidance in the approach to examinations and assistance in making options and career choices.

Learning Support

All students may display a specific learning difficulty at some stage in their education and the law states that a student has learning difficulties if she:

• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of students of the same age.

• has a disability which either prevents or hinders the student from having access to equal learning opportunities the educational facilities provide.

A disability can be physical or mental or both. Some long-term serious illnesses, both mental and physical are classified as disabilities under the law.

The Learning Support Department works with students with a variety of educational needs. These may include: Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Asperger’s syndrome, weak numeracy and spatial awareness, speech and language disorders, nonverbal learning disorder, physical/sensory disabilities, short-term memory difficulties.

The school acknowledges that all our students are individuals with different needs but that particular girls may require specialist help with the learning process from trained staff.

Whilst some students may have specific learning difficulties we recognise that others may also experience problems, (including physical and emotional difficulties) which hinder their academic progress.

The role of the Learning Support Department is to provide support for all students experiencing learning difficulties, to help them achieve their potential and to nurture their sense of dignity and self-worth. We aim to encourage in each student a sense of achievement and the confidence to make a difference in a demanding and constantly changing world.

To receive learning support, a learning support teacher meets the student to make an initial assessment. If further investigation is deemed necessary, the parents are informed that a full assessment with a specialist teacher or an educational psychologist would be advisable.

If an assessment identifies a specific learning difficulty, we arrange specialist help, either through an individual or group session, or within the classroom. Where the learning needs are less acute, the department can suggest appropriate support and offer advice to class teachers. The staff do provide classroom teachers with information about students who need specific technique’s to access learning across the curriculum, whether or not they are diagnosed as having a particular identifiable ‘condition’.

It is only when a student requires more than one individual session, that parents are asked to pay for further help. All girls identified as having learning difficulties are entitled to one lesson per week of support free of charge.

Our examination results speak for themselves.

School Sports & Teams Sport is an essential aspect of St Leonards-Mayfield school life and all pupils benefit from the wide range of opportunities and the facilities available to them. These facilities comprise an all-weather hockey pitch, six tennis and netball courts, a twenty-five metre indoor swimming pool, a fitness studio, dance studio and a gym. The principal sports for girls tend to focus on: netball, hockey, tennis, dance, swimming, rounders and athletics. However, there are options for: badminton, basketball, cross country, running, fencing, golf, martial arts, riding, sailing, soccer, table tennis, and volleyball. During the Autumn Term there are trials for teams in the following sports: Hockey-Netball-Swimming. These teams will train before and/or after school on specific days and compete against teams in other schools throughout the Autumn and Spring Terms. The school runs up to three teams for each year group in each sport, i.e. A, B & C teams. There is a change to the activities in the Summer Term to: Rounders-Athletics-Tennis. Our tennis programme begins training in the Autumn Term but participants do not enter competitions until the Summer Term. The programme includes an optional trip for to the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida during the Easter break. Riding The school teams are National School Champions and have been for the last few years. Facilities include stables, sand school, cross country course and indoor sand school. Girls with their own ponies/horses are given lessons by the school’s Director of Riding. These take place outside curriculum time. Livery for horses is available for girls who are boarding. Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme is a programme of practical, cultural and challenging activities designed for the all-round development of each individual. The Award Scheme presents a balanced non-competitive programme of voluntary activities which encourages responsibility, self-reliance, personal learning, determination and stamina. Girls achieve bronze, silver and gold level awards. Music Choral Choirs - Junior, Chapel & Schola. Music & Singing tuition (tuition in 19 instruments is offered at an additional cost plus aural and theory). Music Groups - Baroque Group, Chamber Orchestra, Flute Choir, Flute Trio, String Quartet, Wind Ensemble. Speech and Drama Girls work towards LAMDA examinations in Acting, Verse and Prose individual or shared lessons, covering acting, improvisation, script work, stagecraft and vocal techniques. Girls who take speech and drama lessons have the ability to communicate effectively and clearly and the opportunities to widen confidence. All girls are encouraged to be involved in Inter House Drama competitions or involved in school plays, drama evenings or other productions. Extra curricular Activities Many voluntary extra activities are available at an additional cost. Beyond the school lesson timetable girls can opt into any of the following extracurricular activities: Aqua Fit workout, Badminton Club, Ballet, Cheerleading, Chess Club, Cookery Clubs - Junior & Sixth Form, Dance Club, Debating Society, Drama Clubs, Fencing, Fitness Room workouts, Football Club, Life Guard courses, Karate, Kickboxing, Knitting Club, Photography Club, Riding at a local riding school, Salsa, Scuba Diving, Self Defence, Speech & Drama, Swimming (leisure), Synchronized Swimming, Tennis Coaching and Textile & Design. The activities listed above are correct for September 2007 and are subject to changes. Some of the above activities, where specialist teachers are brought in, incur costs additional to the school fees.