5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction Welcome back to the second half of term! Although I know that some of the girls would have been revising, I hope that the half term holiday was a welcome opportunity to take an extended break from screens. I am very pleased to hear that the summer assessments are going well, and that Years 11 and 13 are enjoying their ‘pre-Sixth Form’ and ‘pre-degree’ courses which began this week. These will provide an excellent springboard to higher level study in the girls’ chosen subjects. As well as dealing with the global pandemic which is currently a key part of all of our lives, this last week has thrown all of us and society into turmoil with a focus on discrimination, particularly by race. I am immensely proud of the School’s rich diversity and the tolerance it shows to all groups, but, as you have seen in my letter sent earlier today, and reproduced here, we must all be constantly vigilant to determine that discrimination has no place at Roedean.
I am delighted that the girls continue to engage brilliantly with a whole range of activities outside the classroom, from choir and Tutor Group socials, to sporting challenges and the Houses’ Race Across the World. It is also clear from the student contributions in Dr Barrand’s Chapel this week, that many girls are observing and considering the positive impact of the current pandemic on the environment and nature. It is wonderful that many girls are trying new things, and challenging themselves in various ways. I am particularly impressed by one such challenge, and I wish Liv and Gracie in Year 12 good luck for their challenge of swimming 35 kilometres along the Sussex coastline over the course of a week, to make up for the fact that their cross-Channel relay has been postponed until next summer. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and good luck for next week.
Gracie and Liv are aiming to swim the equivalent distance of the Channel crossing
roedean stands in solidarity with our black students, parents, teachers, support staff members, friends and colleagues against racism and injustice. we pledge to initiate an open dialogue, have honest converstations, educate and inform ourselves, and stand up to dismantle racism. this is a call to action and a catalyst for us all.
we stand together – #blacklivesmatter
5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Race Across the World Week 3
UK
Together our two schools have travelled 24,978km! Week 3 has shown that the Roedean community has had a busy, active half term – well done!
er Alg
House 1 has made an amazing effort, doubling their previous week’s results, and, in turn, recording the most house kilometres this week. However, House 4 continues to record their distance consistently and is maintaining a convincing lead in the race. Average km per person House 4 – 19.89
2nd Place
House 1 – 16.39
3rd Place
House 3 – 15.46
4th Place
House 2 – 14.97
ia
1 Place st
Roedean South Africa has also covered 8377 kilometres in total, and they will be back in the House competition next week! From a Year Group perspective, Year 7 continues to record the most kilometres, and they are eagerly trying to catch the staff team, which remains dominant. Here are the top 4 groups:
Year 7
1488.44km
Year 8
889.26km
Year 10
881.14km
As a school, we have covered 6465.03km this week, bringing our total distance travelled to 16,602.55km. This means that we are already on our way back from Roedean South Africa to Brighton and entering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Please keep on logging your distances, and do encourage your family and friends to sponsor your brilliant efforts to exercise and keep healthy, while also raising funds to support Off the Fence.
You can upload your distances as often as you want, but they are updated every Tuesday – click here!
la
1923.59km
o Ang
Staff
tic a r c mo ublic e D ep he R of t o ng Co
As you know, 100 freshly prepared meals are sent to the charity every week, and this costs approximately £3000, so it would be wonderful if we were able to raise funds for this now ahead of next academic year.
Please ask your relations to support everything you are doing to keep fit and healthy at this difficult time, and, if they would like to donate to our charity in recognition of your hard work, click here!
Sout Afri h ca
Roedean Strava Community A huge well done to all of you that have joined our Roedean page on Strava, and it is brilliant to see so many of you active throughout the week and working towards our Virtual Sports Day results! • A huge well done to Sophia (Yr11) who was the winner in our first event which was a 5K Run – she completed the run in a fantastic time of 24:13! • Well done to both Gracie (Yr12) and Ella (Yr8) who were our winners from last week's leaderboard, coming in with the longest activity time in one go which was 1 hour 58:42.
• Marina (Yr11) has also set herself a fantastic challenge of cycling 100 kilometres a week, which is incredible and a great way to stay motivated! She also managed to secure her top spot on the leader-board for undertaking the most activity for the week, with a total of 5 hours 48:19. This week’s Strava Challenge: Between Saturday 6 June at 9:00am and Sunday 7 June at 6:00pm, we will be holding our 1 MILE CHALLENGE. Page 2
How quickly can you run a mile? You can run this at a time which is suitable to you! We look forward to seeing as many of you involved as possible! Happy Running :) SCH
5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
‘As a young Black wo ma Black role models to n, I have always had because you have ma look up to at Roedean due to experiences in de them visible. However, an still working towards d outside of school, I am Therefore, I really ap a positive racial identity. pr aware that racial dis eciate that we need to be and that we are work crimination is a problem, ing towards improvin g this.’
A Letter from the Headmaster We are in the midst of a tragedy. People across the world are joining together to ask for justice. This tragedy mirrors an underlying truth about the world we live in and the experience of many people who suffer from racial discrimination, injustice, and abuse. It is important to speak out and stand in solidarity, whatever our circumstances, and to offer a message to all our girls, former girls, staff, parents, and friends. The message is simple – we offer our support and understanding to all and anyone who is fighting against and has suffered racial injustice. Just as vitally, we must work to improve and develop our understanding and empower all our black students. It is important that all our girls hear us speak because many of our teachers and parents will have themselves experienced discrimination and abuse at some point in their lives, perhaps even at school, and will know from their own experiences how hard it is to share what has happened. We do know that even in places that are privileged, supportive and secure, discrimination and abuse can and does occur. We also know that often people suffer in silence. This may be because the discrimination is subtle and difficult to pin down or because there is an overwhelming sense of marginalisation; it is painful to express and share hurtful experiences. Often, those who are discriminated against feel that they can only discuss their experiences behind closed doors.
All of this is just to say, we know that racial discrimination and abuse can happen even at a school like Roedean, as with any other school in the world. What is important is that we try to respond by ensuring that we reflect upon and improve what we do and how we do it at Roedean, and give voice to the experiences of black, Asian, and ethnic minority students, and enable those students full expression of their identities and cultures. Roedean is a truly international school with pupils from countries around the world, and inclusivity and globalism are woven into the fabric of everything we do. Discrimination of any sort, whether it be about the colour of your skin, your faith or your sexuality, is simply not tolerated here. But that does not mean it does not exist. We absolutely encourage and welcome dialogue with students, past and present, about their experiences, because it is everyone’s duty to strive to do better, listen more, and play our part in stamping out racism. We are producing a video that will help amplify the message here and give voice to the girls and staff themselves. If you would like to be part of our community’s response and voice, please email Miss Katy Markey (km@roedean.co.uk). I want to thank the girls and staff of Roedean who helped me to find the right words to speak to you about this issue. I now give this space over to the girls to express themselves directly to you – thank you to Awele, Eden, Serena, Shan, Siko, and Sophia.
we acknowledge our ‘It is important that n and we confront the situatio responsibility in this w small, that we have made. mistakes, no matter ho to avoid this confrontation, se If we knowingly choo e cyclical, as in the case of m co be ll wi re the futu e to add orge Floyd. I’d also lik have, Ge d an er rn Eric Ga e leg owledge the privi we that it is vital to ackn itution which values us as being part of an inst feel safe. Furthermore, s us individuals, and make must do what we can to we with that awareness, t possess such liberties.’ aid those who do no ‘I very much apprecia Roedean will stand as te the message that a students can be hear space where Black understood. As a mem d, supported, and be community, I would als r of the Roedean Black a message of allyness o very much appreciate school and the rest of – a commitment from the engage in active supp the Roedean community to or around white privileg t, by engaging in education e, callin and committing to be g out casual racism, havioural change.’
‘I think that it is easier to condemn the obvious racial abuse such as racial slurs and comments against black people and people of colour, but the casual racism that takes place daily is not as highlighted, which it needs to be. I believe that the build-up of small offensive comments and actions that go unnoticed day to day definitely has consequences on a person's mental health.’
Discrimination can make us feel ashamed because that it what it is designed to do, and sometimes solutely we can feel like hiding it away. The current community are abcal a as ke ta e w voices we hear across the world are doing the ‘The steps that r us to see a change in our lo ion. opposite and it matters. We want our girls to mandatory fo rst step is in the right direct this fi ally of know that they don’t need to hide away any community, and ts, knowing that Roedean is an rate le unpleasant or discriminating behaviour, and For many studen atter Movement, and will not to ng.’ that they can share it, safely, and confidentially. ri ck Lives M ely reassu
trem the Bla racism, will be ex any such kind of
‘As young adults, we ar life and we are amba e starting out in ssadors of the new generation: to establ discriminatory beha ish peaceful, nonvio embracing all races an ur, in welcoming and is an important first d nations globally. It influencing others wh step in believing and our futures that ‘disc o will cross our paths in rimination is damag ing’.’
5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW CO-CURRICULAR
Clemmie (Yr8)
Tilly Photography ) Competition – (Yr7 Spots & Stripes
Bingo Week 6
Congratulations to everyone who submitted a photo for this competition, with the theme of Spots and Stripes. Here are seven excellent submissions, and well done to Indigo for her green bubbles!
It is Smee again, bringing you another update from Week 6 of BINGO. We had a Disney theme this week and it really was Maleficent! Although the game started slowly, one player told me to Mufasa and speed up. The number of girls involved was Tigger than expected, with many looking to Flynn some merits at the start of the new half-term. Winners this week were:
1 Line Miss Bamford
Maria (Yr9)
3 Lines
Martha (Yr8)
Full House Orla (Yr7)
Indigo (Yr8) Madison (Yr7)
Shan Yu imagine how we will top this next week? Email PHA@Roedean.co.uk to let me know Stitch theme you would like for Week 7. PS: I think for once I have gone one step too Scar PHA
HHH – Floral Crafting Over a three-week period, girls in Year 7 have been learning how to do floral crafting, and here are the wonderful results of some of their work. EGM
Moselle (Sept 20)
7P Social 7P had a great time this week in their tutor group social, where we did a quiz – well done to Heidi, who won with a total score of 11/15! SCH
Work made by Evie, Liepa, Naisha, Pippi and Poppy
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5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
House Competition – Wednesday 21 May – the results! Mental Health Awareness Week – on Wednesday 21 May, a House competition was organised to raise awareness about Mental Health, promote fun and collaboration, as well as camaraderie amongst our House Teams. We decided to focus on the theme of creativity – it is essential to remember what benefits being creative can have on our well-being.
a portrait of objects they’d found, and task 3 was to create a song, poem, or short story, on mental health awareness and the importance of being kind and listening to others.
We started our session with a quiz about inventions! Questions ranged from fashion creations, codes made up of dots and dashes, and company mottos, as well as explosive inventions!
The winners:
Next, the girls completed 3 tasks individually or in their chosen teams. Task 1 was to design a poster about mental health awareness using their house colour, task 2 was to create
We had some fantastic entries and loved each girl’s tasks; we were so impressed with their imaginative approach – there was so much creativity!
Teams
Winners of the Quiz
Winners of the Task
House 1
Fleur 13/15 Yanka and Mora 13/15
Nia and Maria
House 2
Daisy 15/15
No entry
House 3
Emily 10/15 Oyinda 10/15
Alex
House 4
Evie 15/15 Jana 15/15 Samantha 15/15 Tildy 15/15 Megan 15/15
Megan and Martha
For the Quiz: Daisy, Evie, Jana, Samantha, Tildy, and Megan and Martha For the Tasks: Nia and Maria Listen to the amazing song created by Nia and Maria, House 1 here.
The overal winners: Nia and Maria
Gold in the Junior Physics Challenge!
Humanities’ Diplomas for Year 9
Congratulations to all those in Years 7 -10 who took part in the British Physics Olympiad’s Junior Physics Challenge! Our girls applied themselves to answer some very interesting Physics questions with fantastic results:
Congratulations to twentyone Year 9 students who have been awarded Humanities’ Diplomas.
Gold Award: Chelsea (Yr10)
The students each undertook an academic research project, to answer a challenging question which is relevant to their study of the humanities. The entries were academically presented, carefully investigated, and drew on skills and knowledge from a diverse range of subjects. The focus was ‘Conflict’, and essays covered human rights, the ethics of war, the link between conflict and resources, and what, if anything, humans have learned about this topic through ancient and modern history. Each recipient of this diploma will be awarded a certificate and badge when they return to school, and will also have their work recognised with a commendation. A few students were awarded a Distinction; they set themselves apart with the quality and insight of their research, the strength and logic of their arguments, their careful consideration of different perspectives, and their thoughtful evaluative comments. A special mention, therefore, goes to Maria, Caroline, Nettie, and Amelia.
Silver Award: Amelia (Yr9), Jemima, Michelle & Chloe (Yr10) Bronze Award: Maria (Yr9) & Phoebe (Yr10) Commendation: Rosa (Yr7) & Betty (Yr10)
Summer SheepShearing! In order to maintain the excellent health and welfare of our sheep, Mr Fieldsend was joined by Holly, a highly experienced local shepherdess, to shear them. The fleeces will be kept, and they will be spun in Textiles when we are back at School!
The following were also awarded the diploma: Yanfei, Joy, Louise, and Yoyo. Diplomas with Merit were awarded to the following: Amelia, Cynthia, Lila, Dawn, Laurine, Bridget, Izzie, Polly, Nia, Jessie, Ashley, Sophie, and Alisa. Well done to everyone – you should be really proud of what you achieved! EEA Page 5
You will receive your certificates when we return to School. Do you feel inspired? If so, you can join us in November for the online Junior Astro Challenge, which will be open to anyone in Year 11 and below. LBY
5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW SPORT The PE Department hope you had a restful but active half-term enjoying the sunshine. We were delighted to hear about so many of you going sea swimming, running, on long walks, and cycling! Thank you all for your contributions to Roedean Virtual Sports Day so far – the results have been particularly impressive. Keep up to date with all things sport-related on the sports 'teams', sharepoint, and Twitter. This week we launched our morning sessions which have gone really well – thank you to those of you who came bringing lots of energy and enthusiasm. The week before half-term winners were as follows: • Well done to Eloise who received Individual Performance of the Week for her continued dedication to Triathlons – training via Zoom with her Tri Club. Eloise also represented Roedean the most times across all the different sports on offer out of the whole of Year 7! Well done, Eloise!
• Congratulations to the Year 9 PE GCSE class who have started their course early, showing hard-work and enthusiasm, which has allowed them to make fantastic progress on the course. Well done girls! • The winners of the Netball shooting challenge set by England indoor nets player, Kalea Stagg, was won by Talya (Yr8) and Isabella (Yr9), managing to complete the sets in the time limit – this is excellent work, especially as they are mid court and defensive players – well done! We look forward to seeing you in the sessions next week and continuing to see all your entries into the Sports Day and Netball Challenges coming in. Keep up the hard work, you are all doing so well. If you would like any additional support or guidance in relation to PE and Sport let us know, we are always happy to help. AHD
Virtual Sports Day – Week 1 This week, the PE department launched a Sports Day with a twist. As Roedean has moved to virtual learning, so has PE and sport, with Sports Day being no different. For the next 3 weeks, 3 different events will be released which are available to complete from home. The girls have had a week to submit their results and responses. This week's events have been the 100m sprint, 3km distance run, and speed bounce. Years 7, 8, and 9 have been busy competing in the events within their PE lessons, and Years 10, 11, 12, and 13 are competing as a co-curricular activity. So far we have had some exciting results coming in and some excellent video footage. As we finalise the results table for the end of the week, we are excited to see which House comes out on top. Will it be House 1? House 2? House 3? Or House 4? It's not too late to get involved. Key Stage 4 and 5, follow the link to gain access to the ‘Team’ and submit your results.
The wild flower b ank are fina lly in blo s om!
Next week, we are looking forward to seeing your attempts at the standing long jump, shot (sock) putt, and 800m. To get ahead of the game, find the Virtual Sports Day folder in the Enrichment folder on SharePoint, where we have explained how to compete in these events! LBA
Sea Swimming Gracie and Liv (Yr12) were part of the team who would have been attempting the Cross-Channel relay to France this month, before the current situation delayed the race until next summer. Not wanting to let all of their training go to naught, they decided to set themselves another challenge – over the course of the week beginning 15 June, they are planning to swim the equivalent distance crossing the Channel, 35 kilometres, along the Sussex coast.
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They are aiming to swim around 5-8 kilometres per swim, weather permitting. They will be raising money for charity, splitting the money between the Brighton Food Bank and Off the Fence, our School charity. If you would like to support them on this amazing endeavour, please go to Just Giving. It seems that the Argus have also picked up on the story, and this was on their FaceBook page earlier this week! JHO
5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW SPORT
Online Tournament: Tin Can Alley Before half term, some of the Roedean staff and students competed in the second online tournament. This time round, they needed to try and knock over a tin can tower as many times as they could within 30 seconds. This proved to be an exciting and difficult task for some! In the first round, Eloise (Yr7) knocked out Miss Bodsworth by scoring an impressive 11 points. Talya (Yr8) also knocked out Miss Cheesman, progressing into the next round. Willow (Yr7) knocked out Miss Wakeling after knocking over the tower with incredible force and accuracy, and Maria (Y9) knocked out Clara (Y7) after finding a technique that worked in her favour. Eloise, Willow, Talya, and Maria all progressed into the semi-finals, knocking out ALL of the teachers! In the semis, Talya automatically progressed through into the finals. She scored an impressive 15, which was a huge improvement from round 1. The second match saw Willow play against Maria. This was another tough challenge, with Maria's technique allowing her to progress to the finals.
Pre-A Level Biology
The pre-A Level Biology course for Year 11 students has started this week and we have been focusing on magnification calculations and developing biological drawing skills. Some superb drawings have been produced, Mrs Borsberry is very impressed and this really bodes well as these students look forward to being A Level Biologists next year.
The finals took place after half term, giving both Maria and Talya a week to practise. This time they increased their distance to 5 metres, and both scored an amazing 18. It went down to a photo finish after the tight final submissions, and Maria just edged the win, knocking over her 18 tins first. It was another very exciting tournament, and a huge well done to Maria who took the win and to all 8 competitors across the school! To watch the videos and see the excitement unfold, head to @RoedeanSport on Twitter. LBA
Feedback from the Roedean Community We are very grateful for the wonderful feedback the School has received – please do continue to let us know what is going well, as well as what you think we might improve:
d my thanks an ‘Please pass on all the teachers to appreciation ff for their extra a st t or ing and supp aking the learn the m in k te hard wor pi enjoyable des experience so circumstances.' challenging nt) (Year 7 Pare
‘Whilst we are a Roedean life yet, long way from embarking on our I just wanted to e w on ti situa em ge se n ai n d l ra to yo st u sa a a y y b h el ri ow ef ‘It is definit and I know my duaghter newsletters. Th much we enjoy receiving your , in s ey s m ar ve a el e ex m rs os er ou t appreciated a gh daughter has fo find nd ou ttled not sittin un felt a bit unse . I would like to take this been so good to d them very interesting. It h r a se this summer thank you and all her to and what hom e what your girls have been up s to s a y t it e es sc un b h rt s oo a lin po g activities you op been doing, and ssons have w ions maintaining le provision! It is e are very impressed with your teachers for ’m sure these pre-uni sess I already feel part also such a lovely way for us you could and helpful in the long term' to of ry ve e b ill w her to have a sn your wider community, and for rent) (Year 13 Pa apshot of what lies ahead.' (Year 7 2021 Entry Pa rent)
‘Willow really learning format enjoys the online an with every lesson d is fully engaged . She especial loves the class interactions an ly d how the teachers ch answers so tha oose people to give t everyone is in volved.' (Year 7 Pare nt)
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‘It’s a shame the girls and parents have lost time growing up organically within their 1st year experience of school life at Roedean with you and your Year 7 team – again this is just to say, we are personally beyond impressed and grateful for the incredible attention to maintaining motivation and a thorough schooling schedule. Amazing!' (Year 7 Parent)
5 June 2020 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
HERE'S WHAT SOME OF THE GIRLS JOINING US IN THE FUTURE HAVE BEEN UP TO
Caroline’s Collages Caroline has put together 2 collages via an app as part of ‘outdoor school’ day. She took the photos mostly in front gardens in neighbouring roads.
Molly’s Motivational Quote (joining 2021) Reading the newsletter has inspired Molly to share a daily motivational quote with her form at registration each morning this week – the most recent one you can see above!
Evelyn’s Artwork
Alice’s Wall Sit
Evelyn has been regularly joining Brighton Art Room for classes – each session is inspired by a different artist and sometimes mash ups of a couple of artists. She also joined in with the National Youth Orchestra and their rendition of Ode to Joy for the key workers. On top of this, she’s been helping to settle in her new chickens!
Alice has been taking part in the virtual Sussex School Games. This week was fitness. One of the challenges was to see how long you could do a wall sit for – she managed an amazing 30 minutes and 13 seconds!!! She can’t wait to join Roedean in September and experience all of the sporting opportunities that the school has to offer. She’s normally busy swimming, dancing, and trampolining, but she is adapting her fitness regime to running, cycling, and fitness, which she does with her sister, Mollie.
Iris' Tap-Dancing Iris choreographed this fab little tap dance for her Dance School. Well done, Iris!
Gulang is keeping busy 'I am Gulang. I am joining Roedean in September, but have been busy preparing for my coming Senior High School entrance examination, which every Middle School student in China must have after 3 years' middle school study. Besides this, I have also been watching comics. I just finished Alchemist of Steel and now I am enjoying Tokyo Ghoul. I really agree that experiences are the best teachers, and, sometimes, we just can't go through some things, so I think watching comics is really a great way to improve my mind. I am also finding a short time to do exercise every day. My life is not so colourful, but I really enjoy it.'
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
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