WEEKLY REVIEW

Head’s Introduction

Congratulations to our netballers, who have enjoyed some excellent matches this week, and well done, in particular, to the U14s, who have been crowned Sussex Champions! They played against some very strong schools in the area, and then met Ardingly in the final. This was a great match, and the team played with determination and grit to win 9-5. Well done!

Well done also to Charlotte in Year 9, who has just won three medals competing for England in Taekwon-Do. She is already a black belt, and was competing with her team in the Nations Championships. She won one Silver and two Bronze medals, showing her strength in the three disciplines of this martial art. Congratulations, Charlotte.

Last night’s Evening Recital was a wonderful event, and I was thoroughly impressed by the range of pieces and styles performed by the girls, and by the number of outstanding musicians we have in the School. The performers not only played and sang with passion, but introduced their pieces with great poise. Thank you to all those who came to support, and well done to everyone who performed so beautifully, and to the Theatre team who set up the Old Ref and served the cheese and wine. Finally, a huge thank you to Mr Rous and Ms Bartlette for accompanying and organising the event, and for supporting, encouraging and inspiring the next generation of musicians.

I am pleased that the Year 8s took part in the sponsored visual impairment day. They were raising money for our neighbours, Blind Veterans, who have set them a series of challenges to undertake. These are things that many of us take for granted, but things which are very difficult if you are visually impaired. The 30 students learnt a great deal during the day, and the year-group has raised over £3000. More widely, congratulations go to the whole school community – together we have raised over £21,500 for charity since September, which is outstanding!

Good luck to the three groups of staff and students who have set off on trips today. Forty students have gone to Iceland, where they will have a wonderful time exploring this amazing country. Sixteen students have flown to Valencia to immerse themselves in Spanish culture. And eight musicians left at 4:00am to visit the Steinway factory in Hamburg, where they will be choosing the Music Department’s new Steinway pianos, as part of our programme to introduce Steinway pianos to Roedean. I hope these trips go well, and I am grateful to my colleagues for leading them, and for giving the students such wonderful opportunities.

Well done to everyone in a hugely successful first half of term, and I hope that you all have a lovely half-term break!

U14 Netball Sussex Champions!

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.