Head's Weekly Review - Autumn Issue 5

Head’s Introduction

It was great to see every girl in Year 7 playing in the Samba drumming and body percussion workshop this week. They learnt to play on a range of percussion instruments, before performing at a showcase concert for their parents before their Parent-Tutor Evening.

The Modern Languages Department has run a number of activities this week to celebrate languages from around the world. In this week’s Chapel services, Mr Sampieri invited a number of the Language Ambassadors to share their experiences of growing up with and learning other languages, and it was wonderful to hear each of them speaking in different languages. The service also included Alma in Year 13 performing a beautiful unaccompanied song in Hebrew, to mark Rosh Hashanah at the start of the week. Thanks to the MFL Department and everyone involved in Chapel.

I am delighted that Roedean’s Ukrainian Bursary Appeal is going so well, and that it has almost met its £50,000 target. This will mean that the School can continue to provide transformational bursaries to those who are in need of our support at this most difficult and troubling of times. I am very grateful to everyone who has made a donation to this fund, which will change young lives. Thanks also to Grace Chaston and the Roedeanian Office who have led our fundraising campaign.

I am very pleased that the Year 11 Geography Fieldtrip went so well – a party of over 60 students and staff spent a long weekend in Somerset, completing required skills for their Geography GCSE, and they were excellent ambassadors for the School. Thank you to Mr Carter and his team. There have also been some excellent sporting successes at all levels this week – some of the highlights are that our U12,U13, and U14 Netballers have all got through to the next round of the National Cup, and we had some good hockey wins against Ardingly, Well done.

Looking ahead, Black History Month begins tomorrow, and it will be our great pleasure to welcome Baroness Floella Benjamin to Roedean on Wednesday this week. She will be speaking to the entire school community, as well as our Academy partners from local state schools, about the Windrush, and it promises to be a very enlightening event.

Thank you to everyone who is involved in this weekend’s Open Day. We are expecting well over 300 visitors to the School, and I have no doubt that they will enjoy meeting the girls and staff, and seeing all that Roedean has to offer. Thank you to all our parents and guardians for their support. I wish you all a restful weekend.

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.

Ukrainian Bursary Appeal

We are incredibly grateful, and excited, to be able to announce that, due to a very generous donor sponsoring a student for a whole year, we are within touching distance of our appeal target of £50,000.

It has been so wonderful to welcome our nine Ukrainian students to Roedean this September. The girls have settled in very well, and shown tremendous dedication to their school work. Their resilience to be able to do this, in such exceptionally difficult circumstances, is remarkable.

This is made even better by knowing that, due to the generosity of our community, we have now secured almost all the funding needed for these students. Of our £50,000 target, we have so far raised £47,283. This means we need to raise just £2,717 more to reach our target.

Reaching our target will ensure that all of the students are funded at 110%. This means that they won't just have their fees covered, but also their uniforms, sports kit, bus travel to and from school, and any co-curricular activities or school

trips they wish to take part in. If we exceed the target, it means we can release school funds allocated to Ukrainian Bursaries to help support our main Bursary Fund.

Thank you to every one of you who has supported the appeal so far, either through a direct donation, sponsoring our Channel Swim Team, or encouraging others to give.

If you would like to help us with this final stretch of the appeal, you do can so by donating online here https://community.roedean.co.uk/pages/ ukrainian-bursary-appeal or by downloading and returning our Gift Form, which can be found here https://issuu.com/roedeanschool/docs/ ukraine_appeal_donation_form_-_final).

If you would like a hard copy of the appeal brochure or gift form, or if you would like to discuss making a donation either to this appeal, or another area of the School, then please contact Grace Chaston on 01273 667398, glc@roedean.co.uk, or by post at The Roedeanian Office, Roedean School, Roedean Way, Brighton, BN2 5RQ.

Roedean Member of Staff was the International Correspondent Covering the

for Brazilian TV

Ingrid and Navya (Yr11), Lea (Yr13), Derin (Yr10), and Alma (Yr13) – for speaking so well in Chapel, and Alma's song was beautiful [Mr Sampieri]

Sofia & Molly (Yr8) – for speaking incredibly confidently about their experiences last year to 3 separate groups of Year 7 parents, and each time they received an enthusiastic round of applause – we were impressed with both girls' willingness to take part, and their enthusiasm and passion conveyed during the talks [Mrs Sharp]

Georgia & Greta (Yr7) – for speaking so beautifully at the Year 7 Parent-Tutor evening about their first few weeks at Roedean! [Mrs Chamberlain]

Ellen (Yr13) – for a fantastic Academic Lecture on 'Jewish Languages in the Diaspora' which turned into a masterclass! [Ms Ibanez-Barcelo]

Ronaldo Montagnini, a member of Roedean’s domestic staff was the live anchor for Brazilian television covering the Queen’s funeral in London on 19 September – what a fantastic accolade!

Mrs Chamberlain – for pioneering the Year 7 Social Club and creating a space for the youngest members of our school community to thrive – this week they decorated some nature themed cupcakes [Miss Hart]

European Day of Languages Cake Competition

Thank you so much to those who baked some really delectable sweet treats for the cake sale and competition, which took place on Monday this week.

We raised over £30 for Macmillan in a very short period of time. The standard was very high!

The winners were Alma, Lili, and Flo (Yr7) for a fantastic Swiss Roll which included snowy mountains. Our Language Ambassadors were really impressed by your team effort!

The runners-up were Bea and Astrid (Yr7).

Ms Ibanez-Barcelo

Sport Stars of the Week

Congratulations to this week's Sports Stars! [Miss Kirby-Jones]

Year 7 – Alex, for great enthusiasm to sport and hockey in particular this week

Year 8 – Amelie and Sorrell, for their excellent effort and performance in HockNet

Year 9 – Marta, for getting involved with sport at every possible moment!

European Day of Languages

For European Day of Languages, staff across the School also contributted to the celebration by sharing some of their personal stories on languages and foreign cultures. Here are some of them:

Mr Lutwyche: 'Asking for "poubelle et legumes" in the restaurant scene of my GCSE oral exam instead of "poulet"'

Mr Foster: 'I Taught English over a summer in a city called Esteli in the north of Nicaragua. Whilst in the country, I went volcano-boarding in Leon.'

Miss Bye: 'When I was born, my Greek uncle came to see me and my mum in hospital. As he walked into the room, he whispered something in Greek and my mum thought it was some sort of blessing as it sounded so nice! He was actually whispering under his breath "that baby has a big head"'

Mr Weir: 'My wife is Italian and I learned it so I could understand what my in-laws were saying about me!'

Miss Orrells: 'When on holiday in Germany with my family as a child, my brother was the only person who could speak German. I was 9, and he was 13. I still remember the face of the waiter when he ordered two large beers (for our parents) and a selection of snacks in fluent German! My parents were embarrassed!'

Dr Hobbs: 'As a student in my first week of a year abroad studying in Portugal, I was involved in a car crash with a man who turned out to be the manager of one of Portugal's biggest banks. He was very cross and called the police. When they arrived and discovered I could speak Portuguese, they instantly changed their approach and helped tow my car back to where I lived, and even followed up with me the next day to check I was okay.'

Year 10 – Clara, for brilliant levels of effort in hockey and swimming

Year 11 –Onose and Hannah, for their commitment to the sporting programme

Year 12 –Tiffany, for progress in hockey, and Belle, for enthusiasm in swimming

Year 13 – Lauren, for excellent swimming commitment

Congratulations to Amyra (Yr7), who is this week's Golden Ticket Winner!

Chamberlain]

European Day of Languages

Roedean Marking Europe’s Celebration of World Languages

On Monday 26 September, we, as a community, celebrated the European Day of Languages, an initiative launched in 2001 by the Council of Europe celebrating the languages of the world, and promoting linguistic diversity as a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and that ‘diversity is our strength’.

I hope you also enjoyed the quiz during tutor time and that you found some of the facts about languages interesting, especially the ones about your teachers. How about Mr Homer saying in his best Czech accent that he was his wife’s wife at his wedding in Bohemia. Or how about Ms Allen, who, during a French exchange, sang all the words to a song by Johnny Hallyday to her French family. Or how about Ms Ibanez meeting Prince Charles, now King Charles III, and his wife Camilla on a trip to Wales when she was 14. It is amazing what speaking a foreign language can make you do!

' My name is Derin and I’m currently a student in year 10, I joined Roedean last year and I moved to England from Turkey 5 years ago.

I can speak fluent Turkish and English and I’m currently undertaking the IGSCE French course.

It is really important to me to know how to speak a foreign language as it helps me see the world in a different perspective and helps me understand and connect with my culture.

Knowing a second language is also useful as it strengthens your memory which helps you learn new languages and it makes it very useful for when you travel.'

Derin

Hello everyone, my name is Lea, I am currently studyingSpanish, politics, and English literature in year 13, and todayI am going to talk to you a bit about my languages-learningexperience.

An exposure to different languages has always been a part ofmy life. My father is German and my mother is Chinese and inmy household, we speak both English and Mandarin. Moreover,for the past 12 years, I have lived in Dubai. In the schools Iwent to there, something that was different, compared to inEngland, were the huge 'international days'. Every year, thiswas an entire day dedicated to celebrating diversity. Sinceonly 20% of Dubai's populace is native – the other 80% beingexpats like me – my day-to-day interactions with others wereall done in English, the global lingua franca. However, it wasa compulsory part of the school curriculum to study Arabic.My favourite part of those classes was writing, which isan entirely different system to that of English. I found thelanguage's alphabet and pronunciation to be beautiful, and Ihope that one day I can continue to learn it.

For me, I love learning about the idiosyncrasies of differentlanguages. Not only does learning a new language equip you witha skill for life, it also provides you with many opportunitiesin the future, it is also a deeply fulfilling activity in itself.Progress is clearly measurable, and seeing the fruition of yourresults really engenders a long-lasting sense of self-beliefthat will make you love the language-learning process."

Hello I’m Ingrid and I am in year 11. English is my first languageas it has always been the language I speak with my family.

I also speak French fluently as I was born and grew up inBrussels, Belgium where French is one of the three nationallanguages. I attended a Jewish Belgian primary school whereI was taught Flemish, French and Hebrew. In my secondaryschool, which was a French school, I decided to start learningSpanish and Latin.

I think it is very important to be able to speak multiplelanguages in addition to English to enable you to communicatemore easily with people around the world and this allows youto immerse yourself in the country and its culture. Here atRoedean, we have a multilingual community and being able tospeak lots of languages has helped me communicate betterwith my new friends that come from all around the world. Themulticultural body of pupils at this school really allows tocelebrate difference and promote tolerance of other cultures.

I have particularly enjoyed studying Spanish for my GCSE andit is great that at Roedean, they offer GCSEs and A levels inRussian, Spanish, French and German as well as in Japanese,Chinese and Italian. The MFL Department have made languagesaccessible and fun by motivating and encouraging the studentsto take on the challenge of language learning through differentmedium and we are encouraged to be the best versions ofourselves.

Ingrid

' Namaste. Mera naam Navya hai aur aaj mein aapko bhaashaon ke saath mere anubhav ke baare mein bataoongi - ‘Hello. My name is Navya and today I will talk to you about my experience with languages.’

I was born in Delhi and lived there for the first few years of my life.

I do not remember much about India, but I do remember learning how to read, write and speak very simple English in the brief amount of time I attended school there. When I was 4, my family decided to abruptly move to England, and I was suddenly thrown into a strange, new world where I could barely keep up with the way people spoke English, where every day seemed like Monsoon season, and where 25 degrees Celsius was considered a heat wave.

When I first started school here, I struggled a lot with trying to articulate my thoughts and communicate with others in my class because of the language barrier. For me, English seemed impossible to master because of its sheer differences to Hindi. I couldn’t even understand basic English idioms (why would you want to break someone’s leg in order to ensure them good luck?). but, within a couple of years, I managed to get the hang of it and was able to speak English without barely any remnants of my Indian accent, but I felt, and I still feel as if I speak English a little differently, perhaps a little less naturally, than native speakers.

I believe that learning languages and the culture of the countries that speak them is an excellent way to broaden your knowledge of the world we live in. I find it fascinating how languages and cultures have such an impact on the way people think, act and perceive life. Learning another language is not only a great skill to have, but it also bridges the gap between cultures, and it helps us to realise that, as humans, there are more similarities between us than differences.'

Navya

Lea

Thursday 6 October

On Thursday 6 October, we invite you to join us for music, tea, and cake in the Old Ref at 4:00pm.

This is an informal event and a wonderful opportunity for students to practise performing with an audience.

This is a free event, but please prebook tickets at https://www.roedean.ticketsolve.com/ Ms Bartlette

The programme contains varied repertoire performed by girls from different yeargroups, and they would love to see you in the audience:

Venetian Gondola Song Op.30 No.6 –Mendelssohn

Isabella (Yr9) – Piano

She's Like the Swallow – Traditional (arranged by Carol Barratt)

Daisy (Yr9) – Voice

What a Wonderful World – Bob Thiele Ellen (Yr10) – Trumpet

Sea echo – Sally Adams Ella (Yr11) – Voice

Jazz Waltz – Shostakovich Elspeth (Yr10) – Viola

Etude in A flat major – Chopin Zyta (Yr9) – Piano

The Dormouse's Carol – Elizabeth Poston  Ayla (Yr10) – Voice

Cute Duet – English Folk Song Janice and Hilary (Yr7) – Flutes

Cusp – original composition Catherine (Yr8) – Voice

Terminal 2 – Béra-Tagrine Sihu (Yr10) – Piano

Ladies in Lavender – Nigel Hess Siyun (Yr10) – Violin

Nocturne in C sharp minor – Chopin Hettie (Yr10) – Piano

Cantabile – George Enescu Queena (Yr12) – Flute

Clarinet Quintet K 581 (1st movement: Allegro) – Mozart Carmen (Yr12) – Clarinet

Romanza Andaluza – Sarasate

Natalie (Yr8) – Violin

June (The Seasons) – Tchaikovsky

Samantha (Yr12) – Piano

CAP Music

This week in CAP Community Music, the Year 12 students met with Molly Mathieson, who started the "New Note Orchestra", a charity which uses music to transform people who have experienced addiction.

Molly created the Channel 4 documentary "Addicts Symphony" after spending time with renowned musician, James McConnel. This then inspired her to set up New Note. You can find out more about it here.

https://www.newnote.co.uk/who-we-are/

The CAP musicans will be helping to raise money and developing projects for the charity. New Note is always looking for spare instruments, so if anyone has any instruments not being used at home, please donate to the School to pass on – thank you in advance!

Cat-exercise

Juliet from Lawrence House photographed the resident cat outside Mr Blond's home, in the middle of its morning exercise. Not to be caught cat-napping, this fit feline will next week host a spinning class for all the doggie residents!

Year 7 Samba Day

On Tuesday this week, all the Year 7s and a group from St Mark's took part in a fantastic Samba drumming workshop.

Each group learnt how to play Samba rhythms on the Surdo, Tamborim, Agogo, and Repique. They also learnt body percussion, which is surpisingly difficult!

At the end of the day, they gave a superb performance to the Year 7 parents. This was a lively and energetic event with everyone (even the parents) taking part. Thank you to all those who helped out and supported the girls during the day, and thank you to Ollie and the team at The Beat Goes On.

Distinction for Holly!

Congratulations to Holly (Yr8) for achieving a fantastic Distinction in her Grade 5 music theory examination – well done, Holly!

Ms Bartlette

Ms Bartlette

Ms Bartlette

Mrs Diplos

Year 11 Geographers Head West for the Weekend – Fieldtrip

2022

Fifty-six Year 11 Geography students and five staff left rainy Roedean last Friday for a weekend away to complete their GCSE fieldwork requirement at Nettlecombe Court in Somerset.

By the time we arrived, the sun was shining over the west-country, and we were treated to a bright couple of hours on Minehead seafront assessing the town's coastal management provision. This was after experiencing the beauty of the Nettlecombe Court site itself, which is surrounded by stunning green rolling hills and ancient woodland.

The students worked hard all weekend, both in the field and in the classrooms each morning and evening back at Nettlecombe. On Saturday, we were dropped off high in the Quantock Hills and spent the day tracing the course of the River

Holford down towards the sea, with the students split into groups measuring changing channel dynamics as we went.

That night, after lessons, we spent the evening around the fire pit located high above the field centre, relaxing and toasting marshmallows over the flames. The autumn sunshine remained into Sunday, where the students spent the final morning completing their sequence of investigations around Nettlecombe.

The journey was a long one and the days were packed, but the students had a great time together, whilst familiarising themselves with this essential component of geographical study.

I would like to say thank you to all the students for representing the School so well throughout the weekend, and to Miss Smith, Mrs Finn, Mr Halsey, and Mr Marchant for giving up their time.

Mr Carter

House 4 Reflections

House 4 is a home away from home for many Roedean girls in Years 7 to 11. Our house is filled with independent, brave, intelligent, and lovely young women from across the world. Therefore, we decided to ask some of our wonderful boarders who have come from various countries to tell us about their experience in House 4. They have written their responses in English and their home language, in honour of the fact that Europe is celebrating world languages this week! We hope you enjoy them.

Mrs Wilson

Me encanta estar en ‘House 4’ porque los miembrosdel personal son muy amables y atentos con nosotrasy se aseguran de que nos sintamos como en casa. Megusta mucho la opción de poder salir los fines de semanaa Brighton ya que tenemos la oportunidad de tenermás libertad y hacer lo que disfrutamos. Estar en uninternado y en una casa como ‘House 4’ me ha brindadomuchas oportunidades de hacer amistades y de ser más independiente.

I love being in ‘House 4’ because the members of staff arevery kind and attentive with us and they make sure we feellike at home. I really like the option of going out to Brightonon weekends as we get the opportunity to have more freedomand do what we enjoy. Being in a boarding school and ina house like ‘House 4’ has given me many opportunities ofmaking friendships and being more independent.

Spain – Maria (Yr10)

こんにちは、ハウス4のモモです。今日は、ロディーンの 良いところ、寮生活について書きます。学校そのもの を除けば、ロディーンの一番の魅力は寮生活です。寮 長のオニールさん、バーネットさん、レッキーさん、ウィ ルソンさんは、世界で一番親切で、一番愛情深い寮 長さんです。彼らは、学校の両親のように親切で最高 の存在です。パンケーキやナチョ·ナイトなどの夜のア クティビティも最高ですが、何よりも私たちの友情が 日に日に強くなっています。チャーリーとザックはハウ ス4のハウスチルドレンで、毎週末、壁越しにモアナを 歌う声が聞こえてきて、その姿はとても愛らしい。

Hello, my name is Momo from house 4, and today I will be writing about the best things about Roedean and its boarding life. Except for school itself, the best part about Roedean is the boarding life, the house mistresses Ms O’Neil, Ms Barnett, Mrs Leckie and Mrs Wilson are the kindest most loving house mistresses in the world they are the kindest and best school parents they could be. The evening activities such as pancakes and nacho nights are by far the best but most importantly our friendship becomes stronger by the day. Charlie and Zach are the house children of house 4 every weekend we hear then singing Disney songs through the walls and it's ADORABLE!

Japan – Momo (Yr7)

In the house, I enjoy taking part in house activities andspending time with my friends. I also like meeting newpeople in the boarding house and contributing in housecompetitions. The house staff are very supportive andrespectful to the pupils that live in the house and theymake the house spirit super fun to be in.

Korea – Siyun (Yr10)

I’ve been to House 4 for a month, there have been a lot of interesting things happening. Every evening, the House Mistress will plan a lot of different activities after prep time. All of us enjoy it very much. In the weekends, they will bring us to some famous attractions nearby, like Brighton Pier, i360 and Land Yachting. It lets us relax after the whole week of school.

My most favourite thing about house 4 are the activities after homework. They are always so fun and exciting. I also love hanging out with the other girls in House 4. They have been so kind to me since I came. I hope I will enjoy the rest of my boarding house life.

Hong Kong – Gladys and Janice (Yr7)

Lo más me gusta de ser border en house 4 es que desde el primer día que lleguesentí ese ambiente de bienvenida, en donde todas las niñas me hicieron sentir querida y aceptada. Lo que más me gusta de ser border son todas las actividadesen las que puedo participar, cómo cocinar, comer, ir de shopping y otras actividades divertidas.

What I like the most about being a border at house 4 is that since the first dayI arrived I felt that welcoming atmosphere, where all the girls made me feel lovedand accepted. I also love all the activities that I can participate in, like cooking,going shopping, eating and other fun activities.

Mexico – Andrea (Yr10)

As a new student, and a new boarder in house 4, I particularly appreciate the kindness all over the boarding house. It is greatly performed in everyone, both the teachers and the boarders. The boarders in house 4 are very nice, they helped me a lot including both academically and my daily life. We usually have different activities quite often, and we respect the culture and rules of every country. It is an extremely good chance to spend time with people all around the world, although our first language is different, we can still get on well with each other. We take care of each other's emotion and I have made many friends since the beginning of the school year.

China – Emma (Yr10)

Year 7 Reflections on their First 3 Weeks at Roedean

Greta and Georgia shared their reflections on their first few weeks at Roedean with Year 7 Parents this week – here is some of what they said:

Greta – ‘Hello everyone my name is Greta and I am a weekly boarder in House 3 at Roedean! I have only been here for about half a term and already I love this school. There are so many opportunities here.

As boarders, we are fortunate to have such an enriching routine and lifestyle. Late afternoon starts with a delicious tea and snacks, and then we all have time to either relax or do one of the many activities offered. The evening concludes with a fun activity before ‘lights out’, when we all get the rest we need after our incredible and active day at Roedean.

My favourite part of Roedean so far are the teachers. When I first came I was really quite nervous, but in all my lessons the teachers were so welcoming and kind. I love Roedean and cannot wait for the next term.’

Georgia: 'I am Georgia – so far, I have loved being a Year 7 Roedean girl. As a day girl, I have enjoyed making new friends and meeting already known friends, that I have known from group chats, days at Roedean, and picnics arranged by parents. I am having lots of new experiences, like taking the school bus to and from school, having a packed timetable, and getting lost 24/7!

Highlights of my days so far are exploring new and quicker routes to get to classes, going from one House to another through the secret passageways, or even ‘chilling’ in my House's ODR. Another highlight are lunchtimes – the amazing choice, from sandwiches to a full plate of hot foods and a selection of puddings really do fill me up.

An experience that blew my mind was ‘House shout’. The atmosphere and the creativity of practising and preparing was worth the time to bond with our other housemates.

Another stand-out moment was the visit to Blacklands Farm with the whole year group. Hearing all my friends scream at the top of their lungs was well worth the long bus ride.

An opportunity that is new to me and probably many other girls is having an Activity 1 and 2. Activity 1 is after lunch and Activity 2 after tea, and they are the times for co-curricular programmes or prep. Recently, I have signed up for 3 sporting activities, but the school offers so many more that I wish I could do them all! There are also so many choices for academic subjects, so if you're not sporty then you have a range of things to do too. But for me, an all-rounder, I am going to do as many as I can.

So, this is my experience at Roedean. So far, so good!  No. Excellent!’

House Spelling Bee

Thursday evening saw the first ever House Spelling Bee at Roedean, hosted by the English Department. Pupils represented their House teams in Junior, Inter, and Senior age categories, spelling tricky words such as 'mellifluous', 'penicillin' and 'connoisseur', with the speed round seeing teams spell as many words correctly as they could in two minutes. The Inters compeition even went to sudden death!

Winners are as follows:

Juniors (Years 7-9) House 4

Inters (Years 10 & 11) House 2

Seniors (Sixth Form) House 2

Well done to everyone involved, and thank you to the English Department.

Miss Hart

This Week in Boarding...

Monopoly, jigsaw puzzles, spotting Jupiter, pinata festivities, nachos, card games, mindful yoga under the stars, face masks, and chocolate dipped strawberries...

Miss Hart

SPORT

U18B Hockey vs Lancing

The U18B had a great game against Lancing. It was a well-balanced game, with both teams having a number of shots on target.

All three of the Roedean goals were scored in the first half, with Amelia, Erin, and Izzy all getting their names on the score sheet. A special mention should go to Dawn, who played some fabulous hockey to set up the final goal. Nicole and Phoebe had a great game in goal, and we were unlucky to concede a goal which was initially saved on the line with some heroics from Cherry.

MVP went to Lila who had a brilliant game, linking defence and attack well, and making some great drives through the pitch.

Miss Kirby-Jones

U14A Netball vs Reigate Grammar

The U14A team played their first round match of the National Cup against Reigate Grammar on Friday.

After winning the plate last year, the girls knew the pressure would be on, and Reigate put up a good fight. With some new additions to last year's squad, it was the first opportunity to play new combinations. The girls started the game off strongly with great deliveries down the court and into the D, giving Gaby and Harriet plenty of chances on goal. Not only this, but the through-court defence was brilliant too, with all players working hard to put pressure on the ball – this allowed us to turn the ball over countless times.

Ruby and Aimee had a challenge in the defensive D, but were able to keep calm, make lots of intercepts, and return the ball back down the court. Special mention must go to the opposition's MVPs, Molly and Aimee, and Coaches' MVP, Gaby. The final score was a comprehensive 45-19 win for Roedean.

Miss Kirby-Jones

U12A Hockey vs Ardingly

The Under 12As had their 2nd fixture of the year playing against Ardingly this week.

Ardingly put out a strong athletic team, which put our girls under pressure from the get-go. This shocked the girls at the start, but Roedean grew into the game, having several great counterattacks led by Alex upfront. Andrea and Chloe defended well, showing some great defensive grit and always pressuring the ball.

The final score was 3-0 to Ardingly.

Mr Borsoi

U12B Draw 1-1 Against Tough Ardingly U13s

The U12B team took on the Ardingly U13E team in a very tough and tightly-contested match this week.

Both teams defended well in their respective Ds and found it difficult to put the ball in the goal. With some really good attacking play, Ardingly managed to score in the first half. Roedean responded immediately and took the ball through a lovely flowing move on the right and finished it off in style by scoring, even hitting a defender's foot, but it was behind the goal line.

The second half saw lots more attempts at goal for both teams, but both goal keepers had impressive performances and kept the score dead even. The game ended 1-1, and the U12B team keep their winning record as they tackle Mayfield next week.

Mr Campleman

U13B Hockey vs Ardingly

Sienna scored a hat-trick to help the U13B team to a 5-0 win at Ardingly!

The first half was tightly contested, with chances at each end. Anya was again outstanding in goal, and Flo and Amara were aggressive in the tackle and excellent with long-range passing and clearances. Sienna sneaked a late goal to give Roedean a 1-0 half-time lead.

Roedean began to dominate in the second half, breaking up Ardingly attacks and creating lots of chances. The midfield of Amber, Nathalia, and Liv worked tirelessly, and two more goals for Sienna, plus two from Nathalia sealed the game.

Mr Smethurst

U13s Storm their First Game of the Season!

The U13s had their first Netball match of the term in the National Cup. They had drawn St Christopher’s, so we knew it would be a tough game.

The first quarter was extremely close, with Roedean getting one turnover and taking it to goal successfully. We finished the first quarter up by 3. The second quarter was also very close, going goal for goal until the final 7 minutes where Roedean took another intercept to extend their lead further.

At half time it was 11-6 to Roedean. We made some changes to get fresh legs through the court and this paid off well, with us coming off after the third quarter 19-10 up. The girls steadied through court, with Amber backing up nicely, and Amelie and Sophie being patient with the feeds. YanYan stayed strong at the back, making crucial intercepts which allowed us to finish the game winning 25-12.

It was a fantastic first match which sees them through to the next round of the National Cup. Well done, girls!

Miss Hammond

U12A Netballers into Round 2 of the National Cup!

The U12A Netball team had their first ever match for Roedean this week, and it was Round 1 of the SNS National Cup versus Burgess Hill!

The newly-formed team were excited and raring to go! With Captain, Sophie, and Chiara working the shooting circle, Alex, Paloma, Beth, Yasmin, and Florence holding down the mid court, and Katherine and Andrea dominating the defensive circle, the girls played some excellent netball.

Sophie was named Girl of the Game, putting up some outstanding shots from all over the D. Katherine firmly earned Coaches' Player for her relentless hustle and turnovers at the defensive end. The girls should be really proud of their efforts, and I am excited to get back to training ahead of round 2! Well done Year 7!

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Miss Bamford