Friday 21 April was Maynard Book Day when the staff and children can dress up as characters from books or on a book-related theme. Well done to everyone for supporting the day so fully. There were wonderful costumes ranging from Mrs Khreisheh’s Mrs Ali Baba to the Olivia and Amy’s Mad Hatters!

The Green Team have been presented with their next cheque for £50 by Exeter City Council for completing their second branch on the Green Team Tree. To fill a branch the Green Team must complete ten green deeds that encourage environmental awareness. This term the team have been focussing on saving electricity including running an assembly to share their research and designing labels reminding everyone to turn the lights off. The Green Team have now raised a total of £350 which is being used to build the Junior School growing beds. Well done Green Teamers!

Nationally renowned poet Brian Patten visited the Maynard School on Tuesday 18 May to host a fantastic poetry session with Year 5 Students.

Brian, who is well-known for his best-selling poetry collections for children, most famously Gargling with Jelly: A Collection of Poems (1985) and Juggling with Gerbils (2000), read poems from his books and took a question and answer session where students asked him for tips on writing their own poetry.

Steve Smerdon, Head of the Junior School, said ‘We are thrilled that Brian Patten was able to devote an afternoon to helping students with their creative writing skills. I am sure that they will be inspired by this fantastic opportunity.’

On Wednesday 12 May Upper Fifth pupil Georgina Daugherty ran an event in aid of a charity that she holds very close to her heart; the National Deaf Children’s Society. The NDCS is a national charity that helps deaf children and young adults to cope in a hearing world.

Georgina ran a lunchtime quiz for the girls where they learnt about the issues facing deaf children, including a music quiz where popular music was played in a way that deaf people perceive and hear it. Georgina also held a cake sale after school outside the Junior School to tempt the waiting parents with tasty treats! To find out more about the work the NDCS does please visit here: http://www.ndcs.org.uk/

Creative writers in L1 have had their poems selected for publication in the Young Writers’ competition Poetry Express. Young Writers has promoted poetry and creative writing within schools for the past 19 years by running annual nationwide competitions. Each competition results in the publication of a collection of regional anthologies showcasing the work of today’s school children. The British Library has almost two decade’s of Young Writers’ collections in its national archive.

Teacher Claire Rowe said “I am extremely proud of all the girls and hope this achievement will assist in developing their interest in creative writing further and contribute to their confident participation in future activities”.

Students from the Maynard are pictured here planting a wild cherry sapling to mark the school’s participation in the Exeter Wild City Project.

Exeter Wild City is a five year project with the vision of a city where wildlife thrives and the quality of people’s lives is enhanced by easy access to the natural world. School grounds play a vital role in providing habitat for wildlife and as links in the network of green spaces in the city.

First ever Maynard 55-mile Ten Tors Team & first all-girl team to finish

The Maynard School’s three all-girl Ten Tors teams smashed school records in the 50th anniversary event at the weekend. It is the first time in the school’s history that teams were entered into all three events – 35 miles, 45 miles and 55 miles – and all three teams did spectacularly well, coming over the finish line with hours to spare. The 35 mile team beat the school record and were the first all-girls team to finish.

Headmistress Bee Hughes said: ‘The school is very proud of all the girls who rose to the Ten Tors challenge, particularly as this was the fiftieth anniversary of the event. It was very special to have teams in all three events flying the flag for the Maynard. This is such an important event for young people in the South West, demanding considerable skills of leadership and team work. I am grateful to the teachers and parents who volunteered their services to ensure Ten Tors was once again so successful.’

Teams from the Maynard have taken part in Ten Tors for the last 34 years but this year was the first year that a team had been entered for the 55 mile event. The 55 mile team was led by Toni Mattos, who with Venetia D’Arcy, Sara Cameron, Zoe Wiles, Kate Saddler and Jess Brook crossed the finishing line at 3pm.

L3 students spent a fun-packed day improving their artistic skills with Bournemouth Artist Emily Stracey. The girls had fun creating 3D puffer fish and seabirds out of papier mache. These were then painted to create an array of different coloured designs. Emily Stracey was one of the exhibitors at the Art Exhibition and likes to work mainly with ceramics and ruku.

In the middle of April 7 riders represented the Maynard School at the WebSouthWest School Schools Show Jumping Competition.

This competition is jumped over two different courses. The first course is not timed but the second course is jumped against the clock.

This is mainly a competition for Pairs of riders but there are also individual classes.
Maynard had a brilliant day with results as follows:

Class 1 – 12 and under PAIRS

1st – Alice Edmonds and Chantal Thackray

3rd – Chloe Jarman and Poppy Cornwall

Class 2 – 12 and under INDIVIDUAL

1st – Poppy Cornwall

3rd – Alice Edmonds

Class 3 – Open PAIRS

1st – Danielle Thackray and Chloe Jarman

3rd – Chantal Thackray and Tatiana Brent

Class 4 – Open INDIVIDUAL

5th – Molly Cornwall

Conservatives sweep the board at the Maynard Mock Election

Four Sixth Formers at the Maynard School got caught up in the general election excitement this week by campaigning for student votes at the Maynard mock elections held at the school on polling day.

The four girls each representing a different political party (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and The Green Party) officially presented their policies to the whole school at assembly on Wednesday, and the students were then allowed to vote for their chosen party on Thursday.

Nearly all the girls voted from Junior and Senior Schools and found the whole process very interesting.

The final outcome was as follows:

Conservative: 167

Liberal Democrats: 92

Green Party: 50

Labour: 30

The whole event was a great success with great enthusiasm from the students and vigorous campaigning from the four parties.

The School’s Head of Sixth Form Tricia Wilks says ‘This is a fantastic opportunity for the students to all get involved and learn about politics, and we are trying to make the election as close to the real thing as possible. With the current election being the closest in years this is an exciting time to learn about the different parties, what they stand for and what their main policies are. It should make for an interesting result!”