O


n Monday 14th January, the School’s Film Club was lucky enough to play host to acclaimed


screenwriter and former Mayfield student Olivia Hetreed (1978).


After a successful career as a film editor, Olivia became a screenwriter for both cinema and television. Her credits include a radically different take on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (2011) and Girl With A Pearl Earring


(2003), which was nominated for awards worldwide – including a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay.


Olivia talked to the girls (from Years 8-13) about the realities of working in the film industry – specifically as a screenwriter. She showed clips from her work including Girl With A Pearl Earring andThe Man Of Law’s T The Canterbury T


ale(from the 2003 BBC TV mini-series ales) and gave an insightful guide to the challenges involved in writing for the screen.


She also emphasised that young women trying to enter the industry still seem to lack the requisite confidence. She urged her listeners to: ‘Put yourselves forward and believe in yourselves.’


Asked afterwards about Olivia’s visit, Rebecca Ingrouille, Year 13, said: ‘I learned that there are many ways into film and there are career paths within the film industry that we would never have known about if Olivia had not come to talk to us.’


Time for tea!


O


n Sunday 17th March, the national charity Contact The Elderly visited Mayfield for a tea party -- an event


the Connelly House girls host twice a year. The aim of the charity is to mitigate the ‘loneliness and isolation many older people endure on a daily basis’ when ‘living alone is forced upon them by, for example, the death of a partner’ and the tea parties -- held at different venues on a monthly rota - are part of its programme.


Appreciating la différence S


hortly before the end of term, 27 girls from Year 9 (and three members of staff) set off for Paris to stay with their French


exchange partners who visited Mayfield last November.


Although staying by themselves with a French family was always going to be daunting for the girls, there is no doubt that it is a far more valuable learning experience than if two English speakers stay together in a host family. Both Mayfield and Daniélou(the French school) are adamant that the girls profit in all kinds of ways through doing so. These include listening to and speaking more French than they would otherwise do, and also coping with a different culture.


Daniélou organised a varied programme of visits which included, on the one hand, the wonderful Musée d’Orsay and, on the other, a ride up the Eiffel Tower.


‘Versailles proved to be a huge success,’ says Anna Von Wulffen, Head of Modern Languages, ‘and the girls are to be congratulated on their genuine interest in all that we saw. We went to Sainte Chapelle, which never fails to amaze because of its extraordinary stained glass, and visited Notre Dameand the Île de la Cité. Most of the girls were also taken at various stages during the week to see other sights.’


What an immense impression Paris made upon me. It is the most extraordinary place in the world! CHARLES DICKENS


“ ”


Six volunteer drivers arrived with ten guests at 3pm and were greeted by six Connelly girls from Years 9 and 10: Sofi de la Torre, Jimena Gonzalez Salido, Nataliya Lazutkina, Charlotte Goddard, Katharine Burkart and Wera Ruan. The girls served tea, coffee and scrumptious sandwiches and cakes -- all kindly provided by Di Clarke and the kitchen staff.


Patrick Hook, regional co-ordinator for Contact The Elderly, says:‘Itneverfailstoimpressmethatgirlsso youngshouldpossessthepoiseandélanofpeople verymucholder,intheirabilitytoholda conversationwithpeopletwo,andsometimes, threegenerationsaheadofthem.’


When asked whether they thought that the experience of coming to Paris had been worth it, all the girls agreed that it had. Many of them commented on how they had learned more about France than they would in the classroom, that they had learned vocabulary and phrases that, again, they would have been unlikely to hear at school, and that they had enjoyed meeting their partners.


Mrs Von Wulffen says: ‘This is an experience which is immensely valuable and we look forward to next year’s exchange.’


Year 9 enjoy the Eiffel Tower experience


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...put yourselves forward and believe in yourselves. “


”


FilmClub hosts


formerpupil acclaimed


Oi ilvaHtedere


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