What a wonderful term we have had, and this week’s festivities have rounded it off perfectly. Last Saturday’s Christmas Fair was a huge success, and the profits from the girls’ stalls, along with the generous Parents’ Guild donation, totalled over £7600. Well done to everyone involved in making the day such a success.
The students and staff on our Netball Tour arrived safely in the South of Sri Lanka this morning, and they are excited for their adventure – we look forward to hearing all about it! You will, no doubt, be aware that the north of the island has recently been hit by a storm. Knowing that our community would step up, Rida organised a bake sale which sold out and raised £100 to support the relief effort. Well done!
I am always very proud of Roedean’s philanthropic efforts, and it is genuinely outstanding that our community has already raised £13,551 for our charities this year. However, it is important to remember that this work is also more than raising valuable funds – the girls going to Sri Lanka took some of your donations of clothes to Eco-Council with them, and they will make a difference to children there. Some of our girls have also written personalised Christmas cards to every pupil at St Mark’s and Our Lady of Lourdes, as well as the clients at the Somerset Centre and Off The Fence – this is a small gesture, but it will have a powerful impact.
Well done to the Year 13s, many of whom have had university entrance interviews this week, for a variety of courses, including those at Oxbridge, and for Medicine and Vet Med courses, and Dance and Music auditions – I hope they have all gone well. Some of our Prefects have also had fun in the last 10 days recording and filming a Roedean video Christmas card, in an effort to be more sustainable – thank you and well done!
As well as the Christmas Fair, in the last week we have also enjoyed the Snow Ball, three beautiful Carol Services, the annual House Decorating Competition, three delicious Christmas lunches, and, of course, the Staff Panto – all these events bring out community together brilliantly! I am incredibly grateful to everyone involved for making them all run so smoothly – thank you!
Well done for a brilliant term, and I wish you all a restful and joyful holiday period with your families and friends!
Christmas Fair –£7600 for Charity
London School of Contemporary Dance Offer for Abby!
Staff Panto – Hansel and Gretel
Unsung heroes in the spotlight
Each week, many wonderful things happen at Roedean, about which many in the school are perhaps unaware; this section of the weekly review is dedicated to ‘unsung heroes’, in order to draw our attention to these people and remind us that our community is special.
Hunny (Yr12) – for hand-making a cookie basket, containing 7 separate cookies, for every boarder in House 1 – she funded this herself and managed to keep it a secret until she presented this on Sunday – wow!
[Miss Smith]
Cherrie's in the Dance Inc World Agency
Cherrie in Year 13, has successfully interviewed for the prestigious Dancer Inc World agency, opening the door to exciting opportunities across film, television, theatre, musical theatre, photography, TV commercials, and live events. This achievement marks a wonderful step towards an exciting career in Dance. Congratulations!
Sri Lanka Bake Sale
On Tuesday, there was a Bake Sale in the Fireplace, organised by Rida (Yr13), to help raise money for those affected by the recent floods in Sri Lanka. They have severely affected many communities, leaving families without homes, food, and essential supplies. Any support or donations would be appreciated and will make a meaningful difference to families working to rebuild their lives.
It is wonderful that we were able to raise £98, and, in addition, the group who left on Thursday to travel to Sri Lanka for the Netball tour have taken four suitcases full of clothes with them, to be donated to the children at the orphanage they are visiting and more widely to support the relief effort.
Roedean Video Christmas Card
Well done and thank you to our Prefect team, who have recorded a Roedean Christmas Video Card – they recorded Mariah Carey's iconic 'All I Want For Christmas', then took us on a festive tour
around the School – what is remarkable is that they did it all in matter of hours!
Dr Barrand
Mrs Newman
Miss Abaza
Tonbridge Socials
At the end of last week, there were two separate socials with Tonbridge School on the same day! Year 9 enjoyed a silent disco at Tonbridge, and the Year 10s went ice-skating.
Everyone had a wonderful time, and it was a great way to round off a busy term.
Dance Scholars Create New Commissioned Work with Visiting Choreographer
This week, our Dance Scholars took part in an inspiring workshop led by choreographer, Amy Morvell. During the session, she introduced a brand new commissioned piece created especially for our Roedean Scholars – what an exciting opportunity for the dancers to learn, develop, and contribute to the creative process.
Remarkably, the group learned the entire work in just one day, while also helping to shape the choreography. The workshop pushed them both physically and creatively, and every student rose to the challenge, performing with focus, commitment, and excellence.
You will be able to see this dynamic new piece performed live at the Dance Showcase on 22 January – it will be a highlight not to be missed!
Miss Abaza
Christmas Fair –£7600 for Charity
Congratulations to the Roedean wider community for another wonderful Christmas Fair. There was plenty of festive cheer wherever you looked, and the students' stalls were both interesting and considered.
It is wonderful to have raised such an impressive figure on just one day – thank you in particular to the Parents' Guild, who have worked so hard in the background, and who have incredibly generously donated £5000 from the money they raised to be divided amongst our year-group charities. Thank you!
As well as to the girls, I am grateful to all my colleagues for helping to make this event such a success. However, particular thanks go to four members of staff, Mr Halsey, Mr Williams, Mr Wriglesworth, and Mr Perry, who agreed to be sponged for the students' entertainment on a very cold day; Mr Williams and Mr Perry even went one stage further and each agreed to have a bucket of cold water poured over them for a charitable donation of £20!
Well done, and thank you to everyone involved.
Dr Barrand
French Calligrammes… but Make Them Christmas!
As the festive season approaches, our Year 8 French students enjoyed a wonderfully creative cultural lesson. They explored the work of Guillaume Apollinaire, learning about his imaginative approach to poetry and his famous calligrammes; poems shaped to reflect their meaning. Inspired by Apollinaire’s unique style, the students then created their own French Christmas calligrammes, drawing Father Christmas, stars, Christmas trees, and more. Their artwork blended language and creativity beautifully! Well done and Joyeux Noël.
Miss De Jesus
Top ABRSM Music Results
Congratulations to all those who took Associated Board Music exams this term. The results have come back very quickly, and the Music Department is delighted with them.
■ Isabelle (Yr8) – Initial Piano, with Merit
■ Summer (Yr8) – Grade 1 Piano
■ Arezou (Yr11) – Grade 2 Piano
■ Lily (Yr10) – Grade 2 Lever Harp, with Merit
■ Amelie (Yr8) – Grade 3 Singing for Musical Theatre
■ Otti (Yr9) – Grade 3 Singing, with Merit
■ Cheryl (Yr10) – Grade 5 Piano
■ Charlotte (Yr9) – Grade 5 Level Harp, with Merit
■ Charlie (Yr12) – Grade 6 Piano, with Distinction
■ Jemima (Yr10) – Grade 7 Piano, with Distinction
Well done!
Mrs Hammond
London School of Contemporary Dance Offer for Abby!
A Level Dance student, Abby has secured a coveted place at the prestigious London School of Contemporary Dance, where she has the opportunity to study for a BA (Hons) in Dance. This is a fantastic achievement, made even more impressive as she is also applying to universities to pursue Physiotherapy.
Highlighting her remarkable calibre, Abby recently took her Advanced 1 RAD Ballet examination and was awarded a Distinction – this is an exceptional accomplishment that reflects her hard work, dedication, and talent.
Congratulations, Abby!
Excellent Results in RAD and ISTD Examinations
Last week, Dance students completed their RAD and ISTD examinations, demonstrating impressive commitment, discipline, and passion. We are delighted to share that all of our students worked incredibly hard and achieved excellent results across the board.
Huge congratulations go to the following for their fantastic achievements:
RAD Ballet
■ Hester (Yr9) – Intermediate Foundation: High Merit
The girls' dedication and artistry have truly shone through – well done!
Miss Abaza
Miss Abaza
Staff Panto – Hansel and Gretel
This year's highly-anticipated Staff Panto was Hansel and Gretel, a timeless story with a happy ending, where the goodies are good and the baddies are definitely bad! The excellent script was written and directed by Bernice, Rosa, and Alex (Yr13).
Given the busy time of year, it is almost impossible to get all the members of staff in one place at the same time, but they seemed to have pulled it off – the students loved it, and it was a brilliant way to round of the term.
Dr Barrand
House Decorating Competition 2025
Congratulations to each of the Houses – they all excelled themselves again this year, with wonderful storytelling, with themed journeys through each House, outstanding commitment and participation, and so much festive joy!
The winner of the Best Performance of a Carol category was Keswick, for their lovely performance of Hark the Herald, with adapted words, all accompanied by a string quartet!
House 4 most definitely had the Best Looking Christmas Tree, with beautiful ribbons in vertical lines.
The category for the Best Tree-Topper was won by House 3 – someone with fabulous red shoes had fallen through the ceiling onto the tree!
House 2 won the category for Best Atmosphere of Christmas Cheer, with their feel-good carousel of festive activities, and a lovely rendition of Joy to the World – Joyful Joyful by Phil Wickham.
House 1’s astonishingly impressive home-made decorations and theme won them the Most Festive ODR category.
It was a lovely evening, full of positivity and House spirit, and everyone on Senior Team was really impressed – well done to everyone involved, and the overall winner of the House Christmas Decorating Competition for 2025, for their brilliant festive take on The Wizard of Oz, was House 3!
Dr Barrand
Sixth Form Snow Ball 2025
The Sixth Form celebrated the end of a successful term with the annual Snow Ball. The evening combined elegance, dancing, and magical memories. It was lovely to share the wonderful Sixth Form energy and laughter with so many lovely guests.
Miss Carragher
House 4 Win the House Baking Competition
The annual House Baking Competition took place on Friday last week. Each House Team was tasked with a Chocolate Yule Log creation – with judging categories including chocolatiness, presentation, taste and creativity. Mrs Green and Mr Wriglesworth had the enjoyable task of judging this event and awarded prizes to the various House Teams. House Team 3 had the most chocolatey pudding, House Team 1 wowed us with their presentation skills, House Team 2 showed off their creativity skills that included a fireplace baking board and music alongside their dessert but it was House Team 4 who ran away as the overall winners – and made the pudding that tasted the best. Well done to all involved!
Mr Wriglesworth
Skating Social Weekend Trip –Ice Skating
'Forty skaters skating' headed to the Pavillion ice rink last Sunday as part of the Weekend Trip programme. The weather was quite grim and we had our first fall before even getting onto the ice, but spirits remained high!
Once on the ice, most stayed on their feet, with lots of giggles as many found their feet. The skating quality was variable, but no-one needed to hold on to the giant penguins this year! A quick hot chocolate was needed to warm up and then back to school in time for brunch!
Year 12 Ice
'Wednesday’s Year 12 ice-skating social was the perfect way to end this term and start the run up to Christmas. Even though I am not nearly close to being pro ice skater and fell more times than I would like to say, I had loads of fun!!
Thank you to Ms Sturgeon, Mr Wilson, Ms Kelsey, and the Minibus Drivers for making this happen.'
Poppy
Mr Woodhouse
This Week in Boarding...
Well done to all our students for making it through the Winter term! From hosting parties for sister houses, to competitive challenges like House Dance and House Spelling Bee, the students have excelled in them all. This week, in particular, as each house has been bursting with Christmas spirit, as the infamous House Christmas Decoration Competition rolls around! With themes ranging from The Nativity to The Wizard of Oz. and Wicked, to A Winter Wonderland.
House 1 has been full of festive baking cheer in the last week of term, making banoffee pies and creating matcha pancake towers! Their House Captain, Hunny (Yr12), handmade and decorated 7 different cookies in a gift box for every single member of the House, including a green dragon!
Everyone in House 2 was feeling jolly when decorating the Christmas tree, making sure every inch was covered in gold, glitter, or twinkling lights. The students also enjoyed a lovely crisp walk over the weekend with their favourite resident, Penny the Dalmatian.
The House 3 Christmas cheer was in full swing this week, with final preparations for the House Christmas Decoration Competition underway. Where the students reached a flow state, creating some really beautiful works of art, flowers, lollipops, and landscapes for their story line, along with inventive costumes for the characters.
In House 4 this week, they have been celebrating the conclusion the first term, with a gingerbreadmaking competition and having a delicious pasta station for everyone to enjoy. The House 4 students enjoyed a small but very Christmassy party, which the whole House got invested in.
This week, Keswick has been getting into the festive spirit! The tree is up, the House is decorated, and the Christmas competition plans were underway. On Monday evening, the wonderful Year 13s invited the Year 12 boarders over, for an evening of Christmas cheer
with a hot chocolate station, festive snacks, and music. The boarders have also been spreading the Christmas cheer, by writing Christmas cards for local primary schools, such as St Mark's, including beautiful festive drawings.
Miss Frank-Keyes
U18s Secure 20-12 Badminton
Victory vs Hurst 1st XI Display Powerful Performance Against Bede’s
The U18s continued their strong run of form with a 20-12 win over Hurst in a highly competitive and exciting fixture. With several new faces involved, the squad showed depth, adaptability, and strong teamwork throughout the match.
This result comes during an exceptionally busy term featuring 13 fixtures, in which the team has maintained an impressive 61% winning record. With more matches scheduled for the Spring term and the National Schools County competition approaching at the end of January, there is plenty to look forward to for this hard-working group.
This was a fantastic performance and an encouraging sign of what's to come for all players involved.
Mr Foggoa
1st VII Hockey vs Bede’s
The 1st XI took on Bede's School in a friendly match at Roedean. After a good warm-up and chat about an improved performance after the match against Christ's Hospital and a debut for Kayla in the screen, the girls set to work in putting a huge shift in on the pitch.
We started very well, moving the ball around the back and out-letting successfully on the right side of the pitch. Athena carried the ball brilliantly up the line and was a force than not many could stop once she got going. Her link-up play with Sorrel and Kayla allowed our attack to have chance after chance, and we then took two of them in quick succession. The team then dominated the remainder of the half and even scored a third, attempting to put the game to bed by half time.
After the break and a quick discussion on second half tactics, and knowing Bede's would improve, the girls continued to play well, committing defenders and passing through space and attacking with speed and confidence. During a lull in the second half, Bede's managed to score two goals to bring the deficit to 1, and the girls needed to manage their nerves. They did just that and more by camping out in the Bede's half and scoring a terrific goal, lobbing the keeper who made the first save and was still on the floor and finding the back board among many defenders. They showed fantastic desire and teamwork, and displayed a highly enjoyable brand of hockey that the supporters cheered on the sidelines. The final score was 4-2 to Roedean.
Mr Campleman
2nd VII Hockey vs Bede’s
The 1st VII faced a strong Bede’s side and endured a tough start, with the opposition applying early pressure. Chloe and Fifi worked hard at the back, staying composed and distributing the ball confidently into midfield. Ze drove play forward, linking effectively with Lottie, who made dynamic runs along the baseline. Ines applied excellent pressure on their right midfield, while Scarlett made smart leads up front, Kosi covered the pitch tirelessly. and Issy produced several outstanding saves to keep the team in contention. Despite their resilience and moments of real quality, the match ended in a 5-1 loss, with Ze scoring the team’s goal.
The 2nd VII delivered an excellent performance, showcasing their progress this term in a confident 5-1 victory. Eve was calm in goal, making a handful of solid saves, despite limited pressure from the Bede’s attack. Tabitha and Nkem were outstanding at the back, producing strong tackles and distributing the ball effectively into midfield. Daisy controlled the centre superbly, driving play forward, while Lara made sharp, fast leads down the left. Bethany’s skilful play allowed her to feed quality balls to Harrie up front, and Maisie worked tirelessly across both forward and midfield roles. Goals came from Daisy (2), Lara, Tabitha, and Maisie.
Miss Hayman
Miss Hayman
6th VII Triumph in a 5-4 Thriller vs Bede’s
The 6th VII delivered a stunning performance in an unforgettable 5-4 victory, showcasing grit, skill, and determination from start to finish. In a match that kept supporters on edge throughout, the team demonstrated exceptional teamwork and resilience.
Phoebe was unstoppable in attack, netting an outstanding hat-trick to keep the scoreboard ticking and the momentum alive. Florence added another superb goal, while Meadow sealed the win with a decisive final strike, ensuring the team edged ahead in this high-scoring battle.
Under immense pressure for large periods of the game, the defensive trio of Annabelle, Marvel, and Shalom were nothing short of heroic. Their discipline and brave tackling absorbed wave after wave of opposition attacks, giving the team the platform they needed to secure the result.
In recognition of their standout performances, Annabelle and Phoebe were named MVPs, a testament to their impact at both ends of the pitch.
It was a thrilling contest, a brilliant team effort, and a thoroughly deserved win. Well done to the girls!
Mr Foggoa
We welcome contributions from all parts of the Roedean community. If you have something you would like featured in the Head’s Weekly Review, please email: aws@roedean.co.uk
Sport Stars of the Week
Well done to this week's sporting stars!
Year 7
Eve, for excellent effort and progress in all PE lessons this term
Year 8
Eve, for brilliant progress and attitude as a goal keeper in Hockey this term
Year 9
India, for fantastic progress and commitment in Hockey and this term
Year 10
Esme, for outstanding effort and progress in Hockey this term
Year 11
Almen, for her excellent performances in Hockey this term
Year 12
Ellie, for demonstrating a fantastic work-ethic and an exceptional attitude to Hockey this term
Year 13
Orange, for superb effort in badminton this term
Have a wonderful holiday, but also try to keep fit and healthy!
