9th December 2016 - Issue 12
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction We are all so excited about the imminent start of the Christmas holidays, but there has simply been no let-up in the last week of term. In fact, that is an understatement. The three performances of A Christmas Carol have been wonderful, with so many girls involved – I would like to thank and congratulate them all, and Mrs Carolyn Rigby and her team, on their impressive achievement. The play was also enjoyed by members of Council, who were in school for a meeting on Wednesday, and then had dinner with members of staff before the watching the last night of the show. The play performances were followed swiftly by two stunningly beautiful Carol Services in the Chapel yesterday. The girls sang with gusto in the congregational carols and this was matched by the wonderful musicality of the three different choirs (or four if you include the staff choir), and the readers presented the story of the nativity with great clarity and poise.
We must also not forget that this week was hot on the heels of the Christmas Fair last Saturday, which was a brilliant example of the entire Roedean community pulling together to achieve something wonderful which will ultimately make such a difference to so many lives. I would like to thank the Parents’ Guild, led admirably by its Committee, for their huge efforts, and, of course, the girls and staff. The event overall has raised in excess of £5600, which is a remarkable figure – thank you to everyone and well done.
Candy cane-grams!
of this term, and I would like to wish them all the very best of luck in their future endeavours - it was fitting that we were all able to say goodbye to them with our tradition of handshaking straight after Chapel, which marked the end of the term. I wish you all a wonderful and restful holiday – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The success of all the events this week is testament to the girls’ wonderful abilities to push themselves and get things done. The term’s ‘last hurrah’ was Final Chapel, which was quite a raucous affair in comparison with the polished performances of the preceding days, but the girls let their hair down and threw themselves into the inter-house Carol Challenge, which was great fun. We are saying goodbye to four members of staff and to six girls at the end
£5600 raised at the Christmas Fair Santa’s Grotto, a tombola, carol singers, mulled wine, a raffle with great prizes, tinsel galore, and a huge array of stocking-fillers to buy - the moviethemed Christmas Fair last Saturday was a wonderful event, and the Roedean extended family pulled together brilliantly. The Parents’ Guild ran a whole range of stalls and the café, as well as organising external stall-holders, but most of their work was actually in the preparation for the event, and they did an exceptional job! The girls transformed the classrooms on the Main Corridor into a winter wonderland, with carols
playing, paper chains, candy-floss, henna tattoos, and lots of Christmas games and challenges. We also had Young Enterprise companies selling their products, and 6.1 CAP groups raising money for their charities. In total, the Fair raised over £5600, double last year’s figure; the lion’s share of this will go to the school’s main charity for the year, The Malala Fund, and we will also be making valuable donations to two local charities, St. Wilfred’s Hopsice and CLAPA, to support their work in the local community. Congratulations to everyone involved - the fair’s success is down to the contributions of every single one of you!