6th October 2017 - Issue 5
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Digging in the sunshine
Head’s Introduction
Roedean Charities
It is both amazing and exciting to see how quickly the construction of the all-weather pitch is coming on, as can be seen in the photos in this review. Our youngest hockey players in particular are performing very well at the moment, and I can only imagine where their sport will be in six years’ time, having played and trained on an on-site all-weather pitch for all that time. This wonderful facility will be enjoyed by so many girls, and, alongside our wonderful boarding accommodation, the refurbished classrooms, and the Sixth Form Centre, it will only enhance what we already have at Roedean. Mr Taylor, our Director of Development, is delighted with the responses which have already come in to the Pitch Perfect appeal. Next week, he and I, along with Mrs Banham, will be travelling to Hong Kong and China to meet with ORs and prospective Roedean families. At the same time, Dr Barrand will be going to Mexico, as we continue to develop the already wide range of countries from which our girls come.
Maria P (Yr13), our Charity Prefect, and her team of Charity Reps for every tutor-group in the school made a decision this week about which charities the school will be supporting this year. We always have a local charity, and one international organisation.
I would like to thank the girls in advance for their contribution to Open Day tomorrow. We are expecting far more families than ever before, and everyone who visits Roedean always comments how impressive, confident, and positive the girls are, so their role is vitally important to the success of the day. I am sure that it will be a wonderful day.
The local charity is Nacro, which has a base in Brighton, where it houses and educates disadvantaged young people and adults, and runs
a consolidated and integrated drug and alcohol treatment service. The international charity is Lumos, which works hard around the world to replace institutions, like orphanages, with community-based services to give children access to health, education, and social care. We look forward to working hard to raise money for these amazing charities this year.
A Roedean Bronze Age Pit! The photos show a Bronze Age pit which has been excavated by some archaeologists on the site of the new all-weather pitch – it took them about a week, using mostly hand trowels! They found a small piece of shaped flint and a piece of antler. The pit was likely created to excavate chalk using a stone head axe (or possibly an antler head axe). Looking at the geophysics, we are not expecting to find much more as the land in front of the pool has been disturbed previously, but these finds are exciting anyway!
Good luck to our U14 and U16 netballers who are going to the Nationals tomorrow, and to you all for next week, especially those in Year 11 who have the Sixth Form Information Evening on Tuesday – I hope that you have a great week!
79 days to Christmas, and the Parents’ Guild is already thinking about the Christmas Fair! If any parents would like to donate any unwanted bottles of booze for the Bottle Raffle, they can be left with House Staff when the girls go home for Half-Term. There will also be a Silent Auction,
for higher-value prizes, such as a Helicopter Flight Simulator Experience, a Roedean bike, and the use of a beach hut on the promenade for a week. If anyone would like to offer
a special prize for the Silent Auction, the Parents’ Guild would be very grateful – please email parentsguild@roedean.co.uk