Head's Weekly Review - 24 May 19 - Issue 30

24 May 2019 - Issue 5

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HEAD’S

WEEKLY REVIEW

Yr 7 Form Compe

Amalie dancing with English Youth Ballet

Head’s Introduction Half Term’s here! Well done to everyone in Years 7-9 who have had their exams this week. Given that everyone has had exams over the last fortnight, the School has been in remarkably good spirits – I would like to congratulate everyone for maintaining a positive outlook while tackling their exams. The public exams continue after half term, but the break will provide an opportunity for a much-needed rest, as well as further preparation.

This week, we have had rehearsals for Peter Pan, which will be soon after half-term, as well as performances of devised GCSE and A Level pieces – well done to everyone involved. The quality of the GCSE and A Level performances impressed the audiences and showed a depth of commitment, abundant creativity, and a sensitive response to complex issues. There has also been some Year 12 Geography fieldwork, and a trip to Christ’s Hospital School for some budding entrepreneurs.

I am looking forward to the Leavers’ Ball this evening. It is always a wonderful event which we hold at The Grand Hotel, after a pre-dinner drink at the top of the i360. It is a special event for our Year 13s who are almost at the point of moving on to the next stage in their education.

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The second half of term will be short but exciting, as we have a lot to pack in – I hope that you all have a good holiday next week, and see you in June!

Charity Evening of Song Congratulations to everyone who took part in the light-hearted Evening of Song last Friday evening – it raised £125 for our charities, and there was a lovely atmosphere. Dr Barrand sang a few wellknown pieces, but the highlight of the evening was the girls who performed – thank you and very well done to Poppy H, Zarbanu M, Ava D, Eva P, and Sorcha H. They all sang with fantastic confidence and obvious talent, and given that this is exam time, that they gave up their time and sang so well is even more impressive.

Thank you too to Mr Rous and Mr Hawkes who accompanied brilliantly on piano and guitar.

It was a lovely evening!

Roedean Entrepren eurs at Christ’s Hospita l

Maria and SE Cricket

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24 May 2019 - Issue 5

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

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.

Maggie Z (Yr12) for singing a Mozart aria so beautifully in Chapel this week [BMR]

Roedean Entrepreneurs at Christ’s Hospital Poppy H (Yr8) for taking on a massive Adele song in the charity concert, performing alongside more experienced singers, and doing an amazing job! [RB]

On Tuesday evening, Selena, Shandy, Ayla, Lottie, Wendi, Cheryl, Cici, Calista, and Jacqueline, nine budding-entrepreneurs from Year 12 Economics and Business, participated in an exciting ‘Guild of Entrepreneurs’ conference at Christ’s Hospital, in Horsham. Led by a wide range of successful, local business women and men, the girls had the opportunity to listen to the panel, ask questions, and network. A DNA-mapping service for exercising, biodegradable wipes, designer handbags, sweets, and cocktails were just some of the fascinating new products that were being developed and sold.

The girls were particularly intrigued by one entrepreneur who began selling sweets at the age of 15 and developed his business whilst also studying for his GCSEs and A Levels! The entrepreneurs were also asked about both the pleasant and unpleasant surprises they had encountered on their entrepreneurial journeys, and the most important qualities to nurture in order to be successful.

‘I realised that it is of utmost significance to be open-minded and to treasure every opportunity’ Selena commented, whilst Jacqueline happily fed back: ‘their journeys to pursue their passions has enthused me to develop a growth mind-set and chase my dreams.’

PCL

Niah and Jane (Yr10) for tech-ing the Peter Pan rehearsals, even though they are not performing [JWS] Megan R (Yr8) for being positive with others and for challenging to deal well with the exams [KNE]

Lizzie R-L (Yr7) for challenging herself always to do her best in all areas of school life [JC]

Tabitha K (Yr7) for stepping up at the last minute to cover an absence at a highly-competitive athletics meet [TSP]

Each week, a member of staff who has gone above and beyond the call of duty can be nominated by their colleagues or the girls.

Mr Silvey and Ms Walker for supporting the girls doing Silver DofE so brilliantly [Mrs Beasley]

National Competition Winners in Classics!

This week we have had very exciting news in the Classics Department. Over 40 students across all year groups recently entered two National Competitions for Classics, creating fabulous masterpieces ranging from poetry and short stories to art.

The first competition deadline this term was for Artefact to Art, run by the University of Leicester.

Many students explored artefacts found in Roman Britain and were then inspired to create a piece of art or written piece relating to the artefact. We are absolutely delighted that two students have been chosen as winners of this competition in the 11-16 age category: Aitana A in Year 9 and Hannah D in Year 7. Aitana wrote a fabulous poem inspired by a pair of shoes found at Vindolanda, and Hannah made a beautiful mosaic with help from her sister Mairi, inspired by the mosaics she had seen at Fishbourne Palace.

Two other students, Edie F in Year 9 and Manon A in Year 7 have also been Highly Commended for their pieces, which is fabulous. Edie created an amazingly detailed miniature dinner party, Page 2

inspired by the many examples of Roman influence on food in Britain, and Manon took photos of numerous Classical sites she has visited and created a beautiful piece of art to celebrate Roman Britain.

All four students will have their art displayed in an exhibition in London in July and the two winners have been invited to a masterclass in London with artists and poets. Amelia M in Year 7 was one of our students who entered the University of Kent Classical Short Story Competition; she wrote a story inspired by artefacts in the Roman and Late Antique Artefacts from Egypt exhibition, and she has come second in the age 11-16 category!

We are so impressed with the dedication the students throughout the school show to their study of the Classical World, and congratulations to all the students who have entered the competitions – your effort and creations have been phenomenal.

CEH

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

Chess success for Madison Congratulations to Madison, who will be joining Roedean in Year 7 in September, for her outstanding achievements in chess. Following on from the success of Sussex Under 11 Girls, who achieved 2nd Place at the National Finals in March, Madison has done brilliantly in the Sussex Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix are for Under 11s and Under 18s, for both girls and boys. The 6 Grand Prix competitions are held throughout the season at Crowborough, Worth, Horsham, Hastings, Eastbourne, and Worthing. Each player’s Grand Prix score is the total of their best 4 scores.

Overall, across the 6 events.

Madison achieved 2nd place, with a score of 17, just 1½ points behind the winner – well done!

24 May 2019 - Issue 5

Amalie dancing with English Youth Ballet Congratulations to Amalie SJ (Yr8), who has been awarded the Senior Prize (for an outstanding dancer in the 12-18 age group), after dancing in three shows of Coppelia with the English Youth Ballet, for which she has been rehearsing for 5 weeks. The prize was presented by ballet company director, Miss Janet Lewis, who commented on Amalie's excellent technique. Miss Lewis is no stranger to Roedean: when she was Amalie's age, she accompanied a Royal Academy of Dance lecturer here in order to demonstrate the dances. Well done, Amalie!

Team Games in House 4 This term in House 4, the boarders have been placed in teams across the age groups, giving them the opportunity to work together and spend time with girls in other year groups.

The teams came up with their own fun team names which included Gucci Pizzas, The Rainbow Warriors, and Lemonade. The teams are working together in a series of challenges over the term accumulating points for a final prize to be awarded in the last week of term.

We have already participated in a Disney quiz and tower-building contest, and the team Gucci Pizza won both of these events. There are still 6 events to play for, which will include a rounders competition, cake decorating, and a logical challenge.

EHA

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Pre-Exam Stress-Busting in House 3 The House 3 Year 7 boarder have taken part in a revision break and a pre-exam stress-busting activity. Chocolate cake seems to go down very well at this time of the year.

MMU

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

24 May 2019 - Issue 5

Drama at Roedean There were two afternoons of excellent original theatre this week, beginning with the Year 12s on Tuesday as they performed their A level devised piece, while the Year 10 GCSE group performed their devised component on the Wednesday. The piece performed by Constance C, Grace R, Scarlet P, and Isobel S (the Year 12 group) was inspired by the play Stowaway by Analogue, which recounts the true story of a young Indian man who died while trying to get to the UK by hiding behind the wheels of a British Airways plane. In response to the play, the group created a story that followed the journey of Rachel, who had been saved from a refugee convoy. The range of performance skills used to depict the family relationships included live instrumental music, singing, acting, physical theatre, and puppetry.

The students had recently participated in a Frantic Assembly workshop alongside the Year 10s, and this introduction to physical theatre was embedded in both groups’ performances. The workshop took place last month and involved two hours of intense physical skill training, where the pupils learnt to lift one another to add dramatic tension and effect to their story telling. Frantic Assembly is worldrenowned and has had recent West End success with A Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night Time.

The Years 10s used the techniques to good effect, with three groups developing their dramas based on the story of Rosa Parks. Her actions inspired the students to write, create, and perform issue-based theatre that explored topics such as social media, anxiety, and segregation. These serious topics were retold using pathos and humour to illuminate the ridiculous response society can have towards people who are different.

The girls challenged themselves creatively and thematically, sensitively handling mature topics with dignity and, at times, touching humour. Thank you in particular to Ms Stephens, and the technicians Miss Ray and Mr Tompkins. We also had a very large audience, made up of some very supportive Year 10s – thank you!

SW

Frantic Assembly w

orkshop

Geography Fieldwork The aim of the Year 12 Human Geography Fieldwork trip to Brighton and Rottingdean on Thursday was to investigate urban change in Brighton from the centre to the edge. Attendees were Sophia E and Atlanta S (Yr12), accompanied

by Mr Sheriff and Miss Smith. The students were superb, showing strong geographical skills of questioning, observation, collaboration, and critical analysis. Sophia, co-chair of the Roedean Geographical Society, really enjoyed the day: ‘On a sunny Thursday, the Year 12 geographers went on a fieldwork day to compare aspects of the centre of Brighton to those in Rottingdean.

During the day, we looked at the age and ethnicity of people in the places, how friendly it was for the elderly, and how it catered to their needs, as well as looking at the upkeep of the areas in general. We used both standard surveys when looking at quality of life and the environment, but came up with our own checklist when determining whether the place was friendly for the elderly, which included whether shops had manual/automatic doors or if the pavement is even throughout. The trip helped with the vital data collection skills needed for our A Level, as well as giving us ideas for our coursework, which will go towards our final grade next year. It was a great day and really helped us develop the skill of looking at a place in a more critical way!’

JS

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24 May 2019 - Issue 5

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

Cricket

Hockey In order to keep the girls playing hockey through the off-season, we have introduced a Summer Hockey League at Roedean this term. It is for girls form Years 9-12, and there are matches every Thursday, with girls randomly split into 4 different teams.

U14A vs Burgess Hill

The U14A girls played Burgess Hill in their first cricket match of the season this week. Roedean won the toss and put Burgess Hill into bat first.

Roedean bowled well, but unfortunately our fielding let us down – we will learn from this.

With a good final two overs by Issy J and Erin S, Roedean limited Burgess Hill to 259 runs.

Roedean went into bat and started slowly, conceding two wickets in the first over. However, by the time Roedean gained some momentum in the middle of the innings, the game was gone and the run rate required was too high. Roedean finished on 210 runs. It was a really good lesson in fielding, and hopefully the girls have gained more experience in batting for future games, learning how to chase the runs.

U14B vs Burgess Hill

The U14B faced a challenging team in their match – despite the loss, there were a myriad of experiences that the girls took from the game, and we left feeling positive and looking forward to learning from our mistakes. The girls dramatically improved both their fielding and batting communication, and India and Sylva managed to score 16 runs in 2 overs.

Maria V (Yr8) played back-to-back Twenty20 games and was top scorer in both – she scored 31 in the first match, and 49 (including 8 boundaries) out of a total of 84 in the second match. But Maria’s not just a batswoman – she also kept wicket.

House Cricket Whilst the exams were on all week, the girls had a Junior House Cricket Tournament in the afternoons to relieve some stress. With plenty of hard hitting, fierce bowling, and tactical fielding, over 80 girls were playing cricket. We had 2 categories of tournaments: A league and B league, which all collated into the final standings.

All houses were very competitive and House 1 dominated the A league with some powerful hitting partnerships from Maria V and Luella W, scoring 27 runs in 12 balls.

In the B league, there were a lot of runs scored in the ‘kwik’ cricket format with most teams scoring over 800 runs in the tournament. House 3 won this league on the total runs scored, but it was very close!

ACA

Points

Position

Team 1 = Jemima’s Jets

7

1st

Team 4 = Lucy’s Lions

6

2nd

Team 2 = Eloise’s Eagles

4

3rd

Team 3 = Clara’s Chiefs

0

4th

It has been great to see players mixing from different age groups as well as different teams, with players who did not play regularly featuring alongside experienced 1st teamers. There has been some excellent hockey on show whilst the biggest controversy stems from Mr Carter’s record keeping, as Lucy is convinced her team have won all 3 games!

Maria and SE Cricket

U14B

Team

Sussex cricket twitter gave her a shout out for her amazing performance. It was definitely the highlight of her Sussex Cricket experience so far, and she now has her eyes fixed firmly on her first half-century sometime soon!

A league

Points

Runs scored in total

House 1

9

880

House 3

6

864

House 2

3

793

House 4

0

552

B league

Points

Runs scored in total

House 3

6

837

House 2

6

828

House 4

6

806

House 1

0

818 Page 5

The league has been great fun, and it has kept the girls playing through the summer term. Well done to Jemima’s Jets who won, and also to the two top scorers, Jemima G (Yr11) and Liv B (Yr9).

ACA

Athletics Congratulations to Tatum W (Yr10) who has recently been selected to compete in the Inter 300m for Brighton, Hove, and Portslade!

24 May 2019 - Issue 5

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

Tennis U13A vs Brighton College

Our U13 Division 1 team had some brilliant close matches against Brighton College Prep. Madeline E, who was our number 1 seed, played some fantastic rallies against her opponent. It was clear to see that her opponent was placing the ball well, but Madeleine showed some fantastic resilience and played some brilliant defensive shots. Amy N also had a good singles match, and she was hitting strong groundstrokes, moving her opponent around the court. Amelia K rallied well, hitting the ball deep to the back of the court, resulting in a 6-2 win. Nia S demonstrated some fantastic play in her singles, hitting consistent groundstrokes and making it hard for her opponent, and she won 6-0 win.

It was all to play for in the doubles, as were tied on overall rubbers. Both Madeline E and Amy N demonstrated some great teamwork throughout their doubles match and played some fantastic volleys! Both Nia S and Amelia K had some fantastic rallies and communicated well throughout, considering this was the first time they had played together in a competitive match.

Their score was a close 6-4 to Brighton Prep.

Overall, the girls all played brilliantly in the heat, and the final score was 8-4 to Brighton Prep. A huge well done to all!

U13A

U15A

U15A vs Mayfield

The U15 Division 1 had a great match vs Mayfield, as they were closely matched. All girls had brilliant rallies throughout. Lucy P had a really close match against her opponent with a score of 5-7. Lucy played some brilliant forehand groundstrokes and placed the ball well, putting her opponent under pressure. Scarlett R had a great match and her serves were consistent alongside her groundstrokes, resulting in a 6-1 win. All doubles matches were great matches, with our girls performing some brilliant teamwork and communication throughout. In particular, Sophia C & Delphine C performed some great forehand down the line shots and their serves were consistent. Lucy P & Scarlett R had some brilliant rallies throughout and demonstrated some fantastic volleys. Overall result was Mayfield 10, Roedean 2. A huge well done to all!

K2 Athletics The ESSA Sussex Schools Track and Field Cup was another highly successful day for the Roedean athletics teams. Entering a junior team (Years 7&8) and inter team (Year 9) allowed Roedean to show their strengths in a range of disciplines, including our first ever pole vault entry from Amalie S-J! All girls performed exceptionally well and dominated both on the track and in the field in a range of events. The juniors came 2nd out of 13 schools scoring 288 points, narrowly missing first place with a score of 304. The level of competition was exceptionally challenging, with a combined tournament from schools with strong athletics backgrounds from both the state and independent sector. Everyone performed to the highest standard with particularly strong successes for Sophie N, Pearl P, Amelia K, India H, Talya H, Sydney O, and Maria V. Well done to everyone!

CSI

U15A

Junior Athletes at Hurst Prep 14 schools entered the annual Hurst Prep Athletics Meeting, and the PE department is exceptionally proud that our combined Year 7 and 8 team came 2nd out of the 14 schools in the combined team category, and the Year 7s won their age-group.

The level of competition was exceptionally high, and Roedean beat many schools such as Hurst, Brighton College, Cranleigh, Westbourne House, and Ardingly. They narrowly missed out on first place by only a few points.

Throughout, the level of support and performance was exceptional from all Roedean students and the following girls who broke long standing records deserve particular congratulations: Ruby A (100m and 200m), Pearl P (300m and 800m), and the Relay quartet (Ruby A, Grace J, Holly G, and Pearl P).

Well done!

CSI

Sea swimming this week

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