Head's Weekly Review - 1 November 19 - Issue 7

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

HEAD’S

WEEKLY REVIEW

Head’s Introduction

Horror Maze

November’s here and with it some very autumnal weather. Welcome back to the second half of term - I hope that you all had a good break, here or overseas.

The annual and infamous Horror Maze provided a great night of fun which was enjoyed by girls in every year in the school. There was apple bobbing, and other fun and frightening carnival games, and some rather terrifying surprises around the maze. Congratulations to everyone who dressed up – there were some amazing costumes.

The six different residential trips that took place before half-term were a great success, despite the weather challenges that some experienced. Thank you to the girls for throwing themselves into the trips, and I am grateful to my colleagues for doing the same - for 499 girls and 68 members of staff to be on residential trips at the same time is not only impressive in terms of our community’s engagement, but in logistical terms!

I am also very pleased to hear that the girls really embraced the aims of the trips, which were primarily for them to push themselves out of their comfort zones and to reconnect with a wider circle of people among their peers. Well done to everyone involved!

Well done and thank you to our Events Prefects, Lara and Siko, and their helpers, who transformed the Bunny Runs into a terrifyingly spooky horror maze!

I am looking forward to our annual Speech Day ceremony tomorrow, when we welcome back last year’s Leavers and celebrate the successes of the girls who were in Years 11-13 in 2018-2019. If you are attending the event, you will already be aware that we have delayed the start a little, so that the girls, parents, and staff can watch the England vs South Africa Rugby World Cup Final, a fantastic national sporting moment. I hope that the change has not inconvenienced you too much. I am sure that our guest speaker at Speech Day, Rachel Parris, the musical comedian and improviser, who stars in AUSTENTATIOUS and The Mash Report, will be both incredibly engaging and empowering. It will also be wonderful for the girls in the audience to see and catch up with the returning girls, many of whom have just started the next stages of their educations at university.

It was my pleasure to host an informal reception for the girls and tutors of Year 13 for mocktails and nibbles this week at Roedean House. This is a very busy time for the year group, with entrance examinations for those applying to Oxbridge this week, and the main UCAS deadline approaching, as well as the simple task of getting on with the work they need to do to be successful in the summer, so I hope that this small event provided them with a welcome distraction! I am delighted to hear that a good number of these girls already have very good offers for top university courses, and I am also grateful to our Events Prefects for organising our annual Horror Maze for the younger girls on Halloween yesterday. I, along with many others, experienced the quite terrifying creation.

I enjoyed it, but was also very glad when it was over.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and good luck for next week!

Speech Day

If you are unable to attend, and still wish to watch the ceremony, we will be streaming it live on Twitter. @RoedeanSchool

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

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.

Alya R (Yr7) for supporting the 1st team at National Schools – she was a great cheerleader on the side-line and even provided the girls with half time sweets to keep their energy up [LBA]

Siko M and Lara P (Yr13) for masterminding the Horror Maze – spookily brilliant! [RB]

Niah’s part of Project deSHAME – she’s one of 10 Ambassadors from the entire country!

Last half-term, Niah S (Yr11) received the Digital Leader newsletter, where she saw that the organisers were looking for applicants to be Youth Ambassadors for the Project deSHAME. This project focuses on sexual harassment online, and how we can educate and support people. She had to write an application, which was just under 1000 words, detailing why it is important to her and how she might have a positive impact on the project. After that, a short-list was drawn up from the applicants, all 14-17 years old, and these students had a 20-minute Skype interview with two members of the Childnet team. After this, 10 students from all across the UK were selected, and Niah is one of them! She will spend three days on a residential in London with the Project deSHAME team, doing workshops on online sexual harassment, and then there will be opportunities for the ambassadors to share their knowledge and experience, by, for example, writing articles for Childnet and speaking at conferences. What a brilliant achievement – well done, Niah!

University of Brighton Mathematics Masterclasses This term, three of our top mathematicians in Year 9 have been fortunate to attend the Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses on Saturday mornings at the University of Brighton.

Rose O, Yoyo Z, and Joy Z have joined other students from across Sussex to participate in lectures and workshops on topics as diverse as Mathematics at the Battle of Trafalgar, and the game of Nim. They also learned a whole new language (logic and truth tables) in one morning! All three enjoyed the opportunity to come face to face with new ideas in a university setting, and to mix with similarly enthusiastic students of Mathematics.

Battle of Hastings Re-enactment On Saturday 12 October, six enthusiastic young historians went to Battle Abbey to see the fabulous re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings. In spite of almost being washed away in the very wet weather, the girls had fun exploring aspects of life for Norman and Anglo Saxons warriors, getting a chance to sample food and talk to actors about their lives and the different jobs they had. The actual battle was a real highlight with the Norman cavalry and archers fighting their way to victory up Senlac Hill, breaking through the Saxon shield wall in a splendid live-action show. Mrs Black was super-impressed that all the girls were still smiling by the end!

SBB

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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

HALLOWEEN

Baking Club

House 1

These Ghoulish Pumpkins were baked in the Senior Baking Club on Tuesday evening.

We enjoyed carving pumpkins in House 1 on Wednesday evening. Zoe, Skylah, and Nicole all designed their own pumpkin faces – if you want a fright, pop along and have a look at them outside House 1's main front door! Happy Halloween!

Getting in a spooky mood in Lawrence The Lawrence girls had a great evening this week getting into the Halloween mood.

House 3 House 3 have been very busy this week getting the house ready for Halloween through a number of decorating activities. On Wednesday evening, the whole house took part in a team challenge which involved decorating a pumpkin in groups. After much laughter and creative energy, the pumpkins produced were an excellent collection of character and humour. Teams 3 and 5 won the competition, and they were thrilled to receive prizes for their efforts. We are very proud of our new additions to House 3 and have enjoyed taking selfies with our pumpkins; they now have all been given homes around the house.

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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS On the last two days before half term, 499 girls from Years 7-10 and the Sixth Form all went on residential trips, along with 68 members of staff – some went to the World War I Battlefields, others to Derbyshire or Surrey, and some to the Isle of Wight. The trips were a great success, and it was a lovely way to round off the first half of term, even if the weather could certainly have been kinder!

Year 11 remained on site, and they took part in excellent workshops designed to get them mentally prepared for the rest of this year, leading up to their GCSEs. Well done to everyone who took part, and to all those who worked so hard in the background to set these residential trips up – they were a brilliant experience!

Year 7 Residential Our 2-day experience at Blacklands Farm in Sussex was one to remember – rain, mud, a little sunshine, more rain and more mud, and plenty of challenging treetop activities, and more and more!

Between the changeable weather, there was a range of activities for the 71 Year 7 girls to get involved with, while chatting to each other, supporting and encouraging one another.

We have many positive moments to share with you, so here are just a few: ‘Encouragement really helped me overcome my fears and feel more comfortable doing the activities.’ – Hermione ‘The things that made a difference when our group was doing an activity was when everyone was so supportive, but also when they understood the right time to be quiet and let me concentrate.’ – Jasmine ‘I really enjoyed the trip, and the staff really encouraged us to take lots of risks. My favourite activity was ‘all aboard’.’ – Eloise ‘It was nice to work with different girls, and it was amazing how everyone motivated each other.’ – Liepa The girls really pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones – thank you to the Year 7 tutors for all their support and encouragement.

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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS

Year 8 Residential have completed the sensory trail; this felt like a real achievement because I would never normally choose to go army crawling around in muddy puddles whilst blindfolded! I learned that what you first think is your personal limit can be way less than you are actually capable of achieving.’

On Sunday 13 October, Year 8 travelled to the Isle of Wight for 3 days of activities, fun and, unbeknown to us, a lot of mud!

This is what some of the other girls thought about the trip: Merla: ‘I loved all of PGL, though my highlights of the trip would be the sensory trail, as it was strange, though brilliant, to see just how much we rely on our eyesight, and another highlight would be the campfire.

Something that I mainly overcame on the trip was my self-doubt, as I pushed myself on things that I didn’t know that I could do, including the vertical climb, as it seemed scary, though I managed to get to the top!

On the trip something I learned would be the fact that, if you put your mind to it and believe in yourself, there is nothing that you can’t do!’

Mairi: ‘The best part of PGL for me was the giant swing. It was a really cool experience and I would definitely do it again. I think that I have achieved a new sense of trust with my friends, and I have become much better friends with people that I wasn’t very good friends with before.’

Roma: ‘All in all I think it is fair to say that we all had a fantastic time on the Isle of Wight, making new friends, spending time with old friends, overcoming our fears, and trying out new things. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our tutors and teachers who accompanied us on the trip and for looking after us.’

Hannah: ‘My highlights of PGL was the giant swing because it was really fun and was a great experience to have. My personal triumph was completing the sensory course even though I really didn’t want to do it because of the mud, and the fact that I couldn’t see what I was going into terrified me. What I have learnt from the trip is to face your fears, and try and do what you don’t think you can.’

Elodie: ‘I loved scaling the Jacob’s Ladder, which is like a giant ladder where the wooden steps got further and further apart the higher you climbed. I have a small fear of spiders, so spending two nights in a cabin full of them is something I am proud off. Being cold and wet was a small price to pay for all the fun and laughter we had.’

Fleur: ‘The giant swing was so much fun – at first I didn’t want to go to the top, but then I watched everyone and I decided to try. I am also proud to

Anna: ‘I really enjoyed PGL. I loved my dorm – spending all that time with good friends, chatting and sharing snacks in our cosy pyjamas. I had such fun during the days with all of the activities. My favourite was the zip wire – I loved the feeling of whizzing along it. I thought I was quite scared of heights before PGL, but pleasantly surprised myself during this trip by being a lot braver than I expected. It definitely helps when you have the full support of your friends. I was also surprised to make new friends – I thought I knew everyone in my year pretty well, but I came back much closer to certain people. If I was invited to go again tomorrow, I would seize the opportunity. I haven’t laughed that much in ages.’

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Onose B

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS

Year 9 Residential The Year 9 Battlefields trip to Belgium before half term was another excellent opportunity to engage with history of the First World War, coinciding with what the girls are studying this term. Over two and half days the girls visited various sites of significance; remembering the fallen at the Menin Gate in Ypres, walking the fields of the Battle of the Somme at Newfoundland Park and Thiepval, exploring German trenches at Bayenwald and of course, the obligatory stocking up at Ypres' famous chocolate shop!

The enormity of soldiers' sacrifice was at times very personal for some of our girls, with both Maria V and Izzy B able to visit the gravestones and commemorative plaque of their own relatives who fought - a sobering moment and cause for reflection for the whole year group.

It was also lovely that the Chinese girls identified some Chinese gravestones which they translated – they discovered that there were 6 women buried there, which was news to the tour guide, who believed that there was only one British woman buried!

Well done to the girls and tutors who made it a brilliant and memorable trip and who behaved so impeccably throughout what was a powerfully moving trip.

NBE & SBB

Year 10 Residential Year 10 took part in an excellent residential trip to Blacklands Farm. They had been there before, but the activities were different, and they really loved them.

The trip was an opportunity for the girls to spend time together away from school, and get to know each other and themselves while undertaking thrilling and exciting activities in conditions which were, at times, challenging.

Here are just a few of the girls’ views on their experiences: ‘I liked working with people I had not had the chance to even talk to before.’

‘My favourite activity was the quad-biking, my first time – it was brilliant, and so exciting.’

‘I know so many more people just from the trip.’

‘I saw friends overcome their fears, and they are definitely more confident after the trip.’

NSH Page 6

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS

Year 12&13 Residential After a long first half of term, the Sixth Form headed up to the Peak District for our digital detox residentials. Highlights included abseiling, capture the flag, Dr Hobbs doing crochet, eating that American camping classic S’mores, never knowing what the time was without our phones, Mr Higginson’s sing-a longs, early morning walks in the mist, and a highly competitive quiz night.

Everyone certainly came away having achieved the aim of getting to know a wider cross-section of girls and staff. Well done to everyone involved!

‘I have never seen so many people knitting together!’ – Shan ‘The residentials were a great opportunity for us all to re-connect with each other!’ – Siko ‘I loved abseiling down the Roaches in the rain!’ – Rosie

Siko M

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1 November 2019 - Issue 7

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

Brighton Summit On the Friday before half-term, Lottie H, Zara M, and Ayla Z from Year 13 attended the Brighton Summit. These students are all planning to study Business at university, so it was a wonderful day in preparation. Brighton Summit brings together 400 businesses and entrepreneurs from Brighton’s diverse business community for a day, with inspiring speakers, workshops, and energising discussions. Key note speakers this year included Kamal Ahmed (Editorial Director of the BBC news), Hannah Dawson (CEO and Founder of business finance platform Futrli) and Gina Miller (best known nationwide for successfully challenging the government‘s authority to trigger Article 50 in 2016). Lottie said, ‘It was an incredible day with fascinating talks that were truly inspiring and very refreshing. I personally loved networking with different businesses within the area and learnt a lot from the workshops.’

SLO

CAP Music Project The CAP Music group, who will be working mostly with St Mark’s from now on, went to the Blind Veterans home this week, where they presented a short concert for the residents – it went really well, and they will be working with the children at St Mark’s over the coming terms to get them ready to present their own concert at the Blind Veterans, bringing together 3 groups within our local community!

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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

1 November 2019 - Issue 7

Hockey vs Brighton College U13A came out victorious!

Earlier this week, the girls returned after a successful first half of term. They started well, attacking down the right-hand side regularly, which resulted in an early goal to Roedean. Throughout the first half, the game was very open, but Roedean was more clinical, going in at half time 3-1 up.

In the second half, we deliberately worked harder on our defence, ensuring we were front-marking and that everyone was working hard as a team to ensure we made it difficult for Brighton College attack. However, with a good piece of skill and a well-executed shot by Brighton College, the game was 3-2 with 10 minutes to go. The final score was 3-2 to Roedean – it was a well-fought win by the girls, and their determination to win the ball back and to attack was encouraging! Well done to Grace T and Tallulah B on their U13A debuts.

Junior & Inter Cross Country at Hurst

U13C had a great match

The U13Cs had a very strong start against Brighton College, securing the first goal within the opening minutes. The girls sat back a bit after this and Brighton College dominated the rest of the first half, so Roedean went into the second half drawing. Both teams came out strong in the second half with more goals. Unfortunately, Roedean lost with the final score 3-2, bit it was a highly competitive game with some excellent play on display.

Congratulations to Katie for being named the opposition’s player!

U12B

Our Junior and Inter girls performed brilliantly at their first cross country event held at Hurstpierpoint College. It was a wet and windy day, and the course was a 2.5km lap.

The U12Bs were eager for their first match back after half term, however they were faced with tough opposition. Jasmine, in goal, made some excellent saves and did well to keep the score down to 1-0 to Brighton College at half time. In the second half, the girls stepped up their game and there were some great attacking chances coming from Orla in midfield. The player of the match was Izzy in defence, who closed down players quickly and cleared well from the top of the D. The final score was 2-0 to Brighton College. The girls are already keen for their next match versus Hurst, and to continue to improve on their performances. Well done girls.

The Junior girls set off at a fast pace, and they were all able to maintain this throughout. They showed some fantastic determination, especially in the slippery areas of the course, and they finished with a great sprint at the end.

A huge well done to all as we achieved some fantastic results, which are as follows: Tayla H – 18th, Pearl P – 19th, Isabella L – 59th, and Liepa M – 63rd.

A special mention must go to both Isabella and Liepa for doing brilliantly in their first ever cross country race.

The Inters performed really well, enabling us to go through to Regionals in Kent held in November. The results were as follows: Sophie N – 3rd. Amelia K – 11th. Isabella P – 15th. Nia S – 29th, and Rose O – 30th. Well done!

Further Success for Mollie Mollie T (Yr8) had a fantastic weekend in the pool, retaining her 50m, 100m, & 200m breaststroke county titles. She also came third in the 100m IM, and just missed out on 3rd place in the 200m IM and 50m Freestyle. This is an amazing start to the swimming season and she will hopefully be travelling to Guildford in a couple of weeks to swim against some of the fastest athletes in the South East. We will definitely be watching this space!

U12B

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1 November 2019 - Issue 7

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

National Schools’ Netball (Sussex Round) The first team had a tough job on their hands, with 12 schools competing at U19 in this year’s Sussex round of the National Schools’ hosted at Roedean. The girls worked really hard in every match – they took home 3 wins and had another 4 games that were extremely close. There were many different combinations played throughout the day, with strengths across the whole court!

The coaches’ girl of the tournament went to Liv B, who was called up from U15 to join the Sixth Formers for the day. Her confidence and consistency in the shooting circle were amazing to watch. Congratulations!

Swimming The English Schools’ swimming association Sussex County relay competition took place on 9 October at the Eastbourne Sovereign swimming centre. We took part in the second half of the event, as the previous week the West Sussex teams had competed.

Roedean took two junior teams and two intermediate teams, with 16 swimmers altogether competing. Our team was very wellorganised, very positive, and professional in their warm-up and preparation.

All teams competed in a freestyle relay and then a medley relay.

Our girls were extremely good at supporting each other and took great interest in their times and positions.

The times from this Sussex event will be ranked,

and then we will find out where we came nationally. On the day, our junior girls did exceptionally well, coming first overall in both the medley & freestyle relays. Our intermediate teams competed well, coming in the top ten overall in both relays.

We welcome contributions from all parts of the Roedean community.

If you have something you would like featured in the Headmaster’s Weekly Review, please email: marketing@roedean.co.uk

JJ WHAT’S COMING UP IN AFTER

HALF TERM?

Mon 4 Nov

U16A Hockey vs St Teresa’s Effingham (A) Open Music Teatime Recital U13A & U15A Swimming vs Benenden (H) Year 13 Art Trip ‘Art in Action’

Tue 5 Nov

U15A Hockey vs Ardingly College (H)

Wed 6 Nov

U13A&B vs Worth School (H) Year 8 Parents’ Evening KS3 & KS4 Drama Scholars’ Workshops

Thur 7 Nov

U14A Hockey EGHA U14 Cup Year 8 Parents’ Evening

Sat 9 Nov

U14A&B, U15A & 1st XI Hockey vs Christ’s Hospital (A) U15B & 2nd XI Hockey vs Christ’s Hospital (H) Cross Country Junior & Senior Regional Finals Life Drawing Workshop

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