15 November 2019 - Issue 9
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction
This week at Roedean began with two very beautiful services on Monday to mark Remembrance Day. Thank you to Anamika for playing the very moving Last Post and the Rouse so well. The service is very poignant, and I am grateful to all the girls who spoke, and particularly to Isla, Erin, and Izzy for sharing their own experiences and feelings in Belgium as part of the Year 9 residential to the Battlefields. This week has been Anti-Bullying Week, and this was most evident on Tuesday when many girls and staff wore odd socks to show their support. There have also been a variety of other activities during the week, and the middle of the week saw hundreds of post-it notes with positive messages appearing all around the School! It was both moving and impressive to see the girls in assembly sharing their own experiences with the community, as this openness and ability to speak about how bullying can affect someone helps to create an ethos where we take joint responsibility for the welfare of all. Congratulations to everyone involved in the Dance Showcase on Tuesday. It was lovely to see so many girls performing, and such a range of dance styles, from ballet to tap and contemporary. The girls presented themselves with great confidence and poise, and I have no doubt that all the Dance teachers were incredibly proud – thank you to them and to the Theatre team, and, of course, to Miss Markey and Eden for overseeing the event. I am pleased that Discovery Day and the Sixth Form entrance interviews have gone well this week – I am grateful to the Admissions team for running these events, to the boarding team for hosting the girls on the boarding taster, and to all of my colleagues who have been involved in the lessons, activities, or interviewing. Year 13 also enjoyed a lovely formal meal last night, organised by Dr Hannan and the Sixth Form team – it was a great way to relax, enjoy each other’s company and also see the competitive spirit rise again in the quiz organised by Mr Orys and Dr Hannan. Just this morning, we were delighted to welcome Molly Hocking, the winner of The Voice 2019, to Roedean – she is only 18, but is enjoying great success. As a result of a chance meeting between their fathers, Eden in Year 13 is now collaborating with her, and she has arranged and produced some acoustic covers of well-known songs for piano and voice to perform with Molly. It was fantastic to hear these and a little of Molly‘s story in Chapel – if ever there was an example of following your dream, this is it! Well done to Year 11, who are halfway through their trial GCSE examinations, and good luck to those girls in Year 13 who are attending the Roedean-Lancing Oxbridge Forum and dinner next week. I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Eden and Molly, the winner of The Voice
Eden and the Winner of The Voice 2019
Anti-Bullying Week Click on title to jump to article
Dance Showcase
Operation Christmas Child
Hockey vs Christ's Hospital
News from friends
The Roedean Shop has launched!
2019
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. Rosie (Yr10) for delivering an excellent Academic Lecture on palm oil AND performing in the Dance Showcase within two days! [HBO]
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
Eden and the Winner of The Voice 2019 Molly Hocking, the Winner of The Voice 2019, came to Roedean this week, to perform with Eden (Yr13). Chapel was packed with excited students and staff – having watched The Voice last year, I was definitely a bit star-struck! – and it was absolutely brilliant to hear two incredibly talented musicians performing together so beautifully. The girls in the audience watched open-mouthed, and erupted into applause when they finished! Molly and Eden’s collaboration was the result of a chance meeting when their Dads started chatting about their daughters’ love of music – they shared each other’s SoundClouds, and Molly and Eden realised that their music styles are very similar, and they clicked. As a result, Eden was asked to arrange and produce an acoustic version for Molly of the Spice Girls’ hit, ‘Say You’ll Be There’, for piano and voice. It was a great success, and they are now working on other collaborations. They sang this in Chapel, as well as a stripped back version of the Lewis Capaldi hit, ‘Someone You Loved’ – this was the song Molly won the show performing, but she and Eden only really pulled this version together the night before. It was amazing – you can listen to it here: https://vimeo.com/373420358 Molly also shared a little of her story with the girls, about how she got to judges’ houses in the X Factor two years ago, but then was not able to perform because there were too many acts. We know that music is a cut-throat business, but this was a huge blow for Molly, and she dropped out of school and didn’t want to be involved in music for quite a while. Luckily, her friends convinced her to audition for The Voice last year, and, after three judges turned in the Blind Auditions, she joined Olly Murs’ team, and went on to win! Hearing her talk so frankly about this experience was incredibly powerful for the girls in the audience – you must follow you passions. It was a fantastic start to Friday, and we look forward to hearing more of Molly and Eden’s collaboration in the future!
Leila, Annabel, Scarlet, Grace, Atlanta, Maggie and Ayla (Yr13) for being brave enough to stand up in Assembly to share their experiences of bullying [RCH]
Tara, Galina, and Fleur (Yr8) for their thoughtfully choreographed performance in the Dance Showcase [HBO]
Sukie, Isabel, and Ashlyn (Yr11/12) for helping their housemates with mock exam revision [MDC]
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. Mrs Tsaousi and Mrs Herridge for stepping in to help run Junior Baking Club! [HBO]
Anamika (Yr11) for playing the Last Post and Rouse so well in the Remembrance Services [RB]
Page 2
Mr Fieldsend for being so generous with his local knowledge when he took the Year 12 Geographers on a guided tour of Rottingdean this week – his depth of knowledge and insights into local history were greatly appreciated by the students [JS]
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
ANTI-BULLYING WEEK
The Roedean Shop has launched!
Roedean Christmas Fair
Please visit www.roedean.co.uk/shop to view our range of Roedean-branded products. We will shortly be launching a further range of beautiful prints, greetings cards and tea towels, featuring a bespoke illustration of the School by Katie Cardew, which would make for lovely Christmas presents. Collection from the School is offered on arrangement.
Are you already looking forward to Christmas? This year’s event has a fantastic Harry Potter theme, and it will be brilliant. If you have anything you would like to donate to the Parents’ Guild for the event, you can drop off any raffle or tombola prizes in the Houses – if you are leaving alcohol, please drop it off personally into the House Study! Thank you in advance, and, of course, parents and guardians are welcome to come – you might find some cracking stocking-fillers!
Page 3
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Dance Showcase Tuesday saw 2 performances of the annual Dance Showcase, an event that we greatly look forward to every year. This year the showcase was entitled 'You Will Be Found' and followed the story of a teenager struggling with the pressures of technology and social media, on a journey of discovery to empowerment and loving the person she finds she really is. Featuring 75 girls from across the entire school, we saw pieces from co-curricular ballet, tap, modern and jazz students, Junior and Senior Dance Company, girls’ own choreography and the debut public performance from Artemis, our new performing arts school. It was so wonderful to see so many girls, of all different ages, on stage enjoying dancing and showing off their fantastic skills. Congratulations to Eden (Y12) who showcased her own solo piece entitled 'Mad World' and to Galina, Fleur and Tara (Y8) who showcased their own trio entitled 'Come Back To Reality'. It was brilliant to see the girls’ creativity and skills within their own work. Huge thanks must go to the teachers and choreographers; Miss Abaza, Mrs Harrison, Mrs Orys, Miss Wells, Ms Stidston and Ms Wallis for all of their hard work in preparing these wonderful pieces, as well as for their help backstage on the day and to the technical team; Mr Tompkins, Mr Bower, Miss Ray and Stage Manager Jane (Yr11). It was a real team effort! Thank you to all those parents, carers, friends and students who came to support both performances – it meant so much to the girls and the whole dance department. What a wonderful evening of entertainment!
Page 4
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Eris’ Unfinished Self
Operation Christmas Child
Eris (Yr13) and the Art Department have borrowed an incredibly valuable horse’s skull from the Booth Museum in Hove. Studies from this will help form work as part of her A level Art Personal Investigation. Eris' chosen theme is concerned with 'The Unfinished Self', and, combining her Art and Spanish A Levels, she is working on a painting inspired by the play 'El Publico' by Federico Garcia Lorca. SAL
This week, some students in 8P contributed to a project run by The Samaritans called Operation Christmas Child. Galina, who is the charity representative in 8P, suggested to the tutor group that they took part in this project where they purchased some gifts to put into a shoebox which gets posted around the world. The shoeboxes are given to less fortunate children as a Christmas present – it may be the only present that they receive this year. Galina and Miss Bamford worked together to coordinate the project, which provided a lovely focus tutor time!
Sixth Form History Society venture to Hever Castle Last Sunday, the Sixth Form History Society ventured to Hever Castle to explore some Tudor history. The castle is the supposed childhood home of Anne Boleyn and contains many original portraits of some of the key characters the girls are studying in their A level Tudor course. The sun shone and the grounds looked splendid in their autumnal hues – what better way to immerse oneself in the Tudors. SBB
Poppy Cupcakes in House 1 House 1 girls baked 50 poppy cupcakes on Saturday. In this week's Sunday House Meeting, we talked about the meaning of Remembrance Sunday and enjoyed the cakes at the same time. JWL
Page 5
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
Year 13 Dinner and Quiz Night Year 13 were joined by members of Senior Team, including a very competitive Headmaster, and their tutors for a wonderful meal in the Studios. During the meal, tables competed against each other in short quick-fire rounds of general knowledge, as well as a ‘guess the teachers’ baby photos’ round and ‘Would I Lie to You?’ Everyone had a brilliant time, and enjoyed each other’s company.
Endocrinology trip review by Edie and Emi
News from Friends Congratulations to Emily Townsend, who left Roedean the year before last and is now studying at Oxford University. While she was at School, she ran the Brighton Half Marathon, and a few weeks ago, she ran the Bilbao Marathon in Spain. This is what she said: ‘It was a really great experience. About 40 university students from all over the country, including a team of 8 from Oxford, ran the Bilbao night marathon in the pouring rain, after raising over £50,000 for 4 charities. It was miserable weather, but the atmosphere was great, with live music and supportive crowds shouting “Animo!”. It was pretty plane sailing for the first 30 kilometres, but the last 12 felt like they lasted forever. When I finally crossed the line, I felt completely overwhelmed – it was crazy to think that all of the training from the last year came down to only 4 hours and 25 mins. After flying back to Oxford, I didn’t have time to relax or celebrate as it was straight into 2 hours of lectures and 5 hours of Chemistry labs the following day! I’d like to thank everyone for donating towards my £1200 target for Action Against Hunger and for all the supportive messages – I can’t wait to plan my next challenge soon!’
Ten girls from Year 10 went to the Brighton Centre to a conference about hormones. The conference was very interesting, as there were a variety of activities which taught us about how hormones work, and how you can study them. One of the most interesting aspects of the conference was that we were able to ask questions and talk with scientists and doctors, who are studying at various universities across the UK. We were able to understand and get some insight into the very different lives of scientists and doctors or nurses. We also learnt that there are many pathways in the world of medicine, for example, a degree in biochemistry can lead to many other career paths, other than just medical science. There are a variety of options available for further education, and future careers which involve science, not simply the broad professions that we are exposed to. There are many specialised areas of all aspects, and something that will intrigue anyone interested in a STEM career. One of our favourite activities to do was to diagnose Hal, who was a life-like mannequin, who blinks, breathes, and speaks six languages. We were given a list of clues and quotations from Hal, to match up with a sheet of symptoms to find out whether he had an overactive thyroid. This gave a real insight about how to recognise symptoms and practise interacting with a patient in a controlled environment. We all really enjoyed the trip and would highly recommend others to look into the field of endocrinology disorders and hormones, as it is an interesting area of expertise. We thank the school and the Society of Endocrinology for offering us this opportunity, and we would love more trips like this to be available in the future.
What a brilliant achievement for Emily, and a huge amount raised for charity – congratulations! Page 6
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Alex is Specsavers Young Sports Personality of the Year Alex (Yr8) attended the Sport Guildford Awards on Thursday evening and we were incredibly proud to learn that she won the ‘Specsavers Young Sports Personality of the Year 2019’ category. British Olympic and World Champion canoeist Liam Heath MBE presented the award to Alex alongside a senior manager from Specsavers. Liam brought his three Olympic medals in with him and Alex was in awe holding his Gold medal from the Rio Olympics. Congratulations, Alex, who is also now a nominee for the Surrey County Award.
Hockey vs Christ’s Hospital 1st XI win!
Despite a torrential downpour, the Roedean 1st team warmed up to play Christ’s Hospital like it was a sunny day. The ball was distributed brilliantly around the back, opening up space in the wide areas for our midfielders to carry the ball, and creating goal-scoring opportunities. With the game 0-0 at half time, we adapted our press and spoke about exploiting the wide base line areas to create more opportunities and hopefully more short corners. And that was exactly what the 1st team did in the second half – they worked hard to create 4 short corners, and Jemima finished one off with a great backhand in the corner of the goal. The final score was 1-0. Congratulations to Eliza, who made her debut in goal and made an important save in the second half to secure the win.
2nd XI
The 2nd XI got off to a great start at home versus Christ’s Hospital, with some early attacking chances and some shots just missing the goal! We continued to put pressure on in our attacking end and had lots of possession. However, Christ's Hospital were quick to take advantage when they intercepted the ball and made two breaks in quick succession, to go 2-0 up at half time. The girls played some of the best hockey they have played all season, with Jess distributing out to the wings and Tatum taking on defenders with her skill. The score did not reflect how well the girls played and how much determination they showed to continue playing in the hail!
U14B
Page 7
U15B
The U15Bs battled hard in the torrential rain! They had a difficult first half, but we went on in the second half like a new team and managed to stop Christ Hospital scoring in the second half and secure a goal for themselves! It was a great end to the game, well done!
U14A won 3-0!
The U14A team made the journey to Horsham to play Christ’s Hospital, whose teams are traditionally strong physically and highly competitive. But even the cold and monsoon rain conditions didn’t deter our Roedeers! There was some beautiful Hockey played, with Elodie making some great runs up the left, linking well with Roma and Talya. Amy was relentless throughout the game, and was involved with all 3 winning goals, and Alice in goal played her part as well in what was a brilliant team display of skill and determination. It was an impressive 3-0 win to Roedean!
U14B
The U14B team played exceptionally well against a strong Christ’s Hospital team in very wet conditions on Saturday. The defence did a great job at the back, and Laila, Georgina, and Poppy worked hard on their communication and spacing throughout. A special mention must go to Eleanor, who stood in at late notice. Despite conceding 2 goals in the first half, the girls came back stronger after half time, and didn’t let any goals in, leaving the final score 2-0 to Christ’s Hospital. A huge well done to Nettie and Phoebe, who were nominated Players of the Match by the opposition.
15 November 2019 - Issue 9
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Cross Country Regional Finals Our Inter Girls showed some fantastic determination in the Regional Finals. They were up against a number of good schools, but our girls gave it their best shot. The course was a 2.8km course with a short hill at the top. Our girls set off quickly, and then got into their strides and paced themselves well. During the second lap, Roedean started to pick up the pace and they all ended with a strong sprint finish, which was great to see! A huge well done to all for making the Regional Finals – it is a brilliant achievement! The results were as follows: Sophie 22nd, Amelia 38th, Isabella 41st, Nia 42nd, and Sydney 55th. We managed to place 11th out of 14 schools overall.
Silver for Alice in a National Badminton Tournament On Sunday, Alice (Yr7) took part in the TheDKWay U13 Bronze Hertfordshire Badminton tournament. She already plays badminton for Sussex and this is her first national tournament. The England junior tournament circuits are nationwide and split into three tiers: Gold, Silver and Bronze. This means that they provide access to all players looking for more competitive opportunities.There are junior circuits for age groups U11, U13, U15, U17, and U19. Points are awarded for achievements in tournaments, and these points go towards national rankings. Alice played brilliantly, and won silver in the Ladies’ Singles, and this will therefore start her national ranking.
Netball U14A
Victorious Badminton vs Burgess Hill Girls Our Senior Girls had a great fixture versus Burgess Hill. The format was timed matches of 10 minutes, allowing each pair to play all the others. Roedean girls performed brilliantly throughout, and they showed great teamwork and resilience. In the first round, we managed to secure a 2514 win, and a 21-16 win in the second round. There was some great attacking play and some brilliant backhand low serves. In the final round, Roedean secured two more wins, 22-18 and 23-15. Both Roedean and Burgess Hill performed well throughout, and had some great rallies in each match. A huge well done to Skylar, Sophia, Sandra, Yoyo, Jacqueline & Sabrina.
The girls travelled to Croydon on Wednesday for an early game in the SNS National Plate. It was a cold fresh morning with bright blue skies, and the girls were really excited for a well contested match. The girls started strongly with some lovely passages of play into the circle, Eliza and Ava playing beautifully together. Isabella P was absolutely on fire picking off balls coming into the circle and Sasha and Tia both helped out playing in the GK bib in other members absence. The girls pressed on to take the win comfortably 37-21. They now progress into the next round to face Walthamstow Hall in Sevenoaks
JJ What’s Coming up IN THE
Mon 18 Nov
Wind Masterclasses and Teatime Recital
Tue 19 Nov
U15A Hockey vs Hurstpierpoint College (A) U16A Volleyball vs Burgess Hill Girls (A) U13A Netball vs Walthamstow Hall (A)
Wed 20 Nov
U13A,B,C&D Hockey vs Mayfield School (H) U12A,B,C&D vs Mayfield School (A) Year 10 Parents’ Evening
Thur 21 Nov
Year 10 Parents’ Evening
Fri 22 Nov
INTERNATIONAL DAY A Level Biology Trip to ‘Science Live’ London
Sat 23 Nov
Year 13 English ‘Brighton Rock’ Trip 1st & U15A&B Hockey vs Mayfield School (H) 2nd & U14A&B Hockey vs Mayfield School (A)
U12A
Our Year 7 Netball girls had a superb match against Royal Russell on Wednesday morning. The girls were very excited to be playing and all gave their best efforts on and off the court. Polly S was up and down the court making lovely drives to the circle edge. Joanna and Orla worked hard in defence and took away lots of things they can now work on in training. Alya played well in the WD position, pressuring the WA and turning the ball over. Some wonderful shooting from Jasmine and Liepa in the circle as well as playing nicely together. Clara was reading the game beautifully and got her fair share of turnovers as well and Tildy completed the team with some really nice play. Not the win this time but so much learnt and we shall go away and train together to work on the things we can do better. Well Done girls!
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
WEEK AHEAD?
Follow us
@RoedeanSchool
@RoedeanSchool