11 May 2018 - Issue 4
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
U12 & U13 Hockey Teams using the new pitch on Open Day
Head’s Introduction The Brighton Festival Fringe Concert at Roedean last weekend was simply excellent. The calibre of musicianship shown by all of the singers and players was impressive, and I was delighted to see our soloists performing to their best and enjoying their moment in the spotlight. Congratulations to everyone involved, and to the Mr Rous, Ms Bartlette, and Miss Fewkes in particular. I am grateful to all those who were involved in Open Day on Monday. The School looked fantastic in the sunshine, and we welcomed nearly 100 families to Roedean to visit the school. Of these, there were a good number looking at the Sixth Form, as a result of attending the Roedean Academy last term. The performers and speakers in the Theatre presentations were excellent, and our visitors left with an wonderful impression of Roedean. Well done to our sports teams who have played well this week, and to Roedean swimmers who competed in Denmark last weekend. Congratulations to Maria who became Romanian National Champion in Karate, despite being seriously injured in her first fight. Roedean’s involvement in community projects is outstanding, and I am grateful to Mr Wilson for organising the first of a series of visits by Year 5 and Year 6 pupils from City Academy Whitehawk to the Roedean Biology labs, and to Miss Best for showing them the wonders of Science. Good luck to Year 11, who officially go on Study Leave today - I hope that your revision goes well and good luck for the exams. I wish the entire Roedean Community the best for next week!
Tea with Mary Beard! On Friday 4 May, current and future Sixth Form Classicists at Roedean had the brilliant opportunity to have tea with Professor Mary Beard from Newnham College, Cambridge. Professor Beard is a formidable force in the study of Classics: a highly and widely respected historian, television presenter, and general lover of all things Ancient. This was a unique chance that our students grabbed with both hands. The Roedean girls sat with Mary in an intimate setting within the Theatre Royal and, fuelled by tea, juice and cake, debated matters such as Dido’s suffering and Tacitus’ self-determined authority on
the Roman Emperors. Needless to say the girls revelled in such erudite conversation and kept Mary on her toes with some excellent questions. We were delighted to give the girls this special opportunity in such a small group and they enjoyed every moment. Many of the girls attended the Theatre Royal event later that evening with Natalie Haynes and Mary Beard – although they enjoyed it, they were pleased to have met with Mary earlier in a more personal setting. We hope all the girls who met Mary will share their experience and encourage girls lower down the school to engage as wholeheartedly with Classics outside the curriculum. CEH
11 May 2018 - Issue 4
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
House 1
Unsung heroes in the spotlight
Beautiful blue skies and happy House 1 girls jumping with joy at the thought of a lovely walk down to Brighton Marina. JWL
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. Miss Robin (Staff) for helping with preparations for the Year 11 Celebration event on Friday [DRO] Emily R (Yr11) for her kindness and compassion towards a younger student in distress [HHY]
Jemma NG (Yr9) for soldiering on despite a badly broken arm [ALU]
こんにちは Ziyi’s a finalist in a Japanese Competition
Maria’s National Champion! Congratulations to Maria P (Yr13) who competed at the Romanian National Championships last weekend. She came 4th place in enbu (with her brother), but we are delighted that she won 1st place in kumite (fighting), and is therefore the National Champion. This is all the more impressive because she sustained a serious injury in her 1st match, dislocating her knee and breaking a toe. Maria’s father treated the dislocation, and the kumite category was actually her fourth fight of the day. As a result of her success, she has qualified for the European Championships, which take place in Slovenia in the autumn. If she is successful there, she will qualify for the World Championships next year.
DofE 30 girls from Year 9 upwards did their practice Bronze DofE expedition at the weekend. There were minimal navigation errors on the South Downs, and the three accompanying members of staff, Mr Ebden, Mrs McGregor, and Miss Hyams were impressed with them. They all performed brilliantly, despite the very hot weather - well done! LFI
Ziyi Z (Yr10) has just been selected for the finals of the Nihongo Cup, which is a Japanese Speech Contest for UK Secondary Schools. She got through the first stage with flying colours, and as a result she will go to London for the finals in mid-June, where she will have to speak in Japanese in front of an audience. What is most exciting is that, if she does well in the finals, Ziyi has the chance to go to Tokyo to compete in the World Cup! What a brilliant achievement! THI Page 2
11 May 2018 - Issue 4
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Brighton Festival Fringe Roedean is extremely proud to present the opening concert of the Brighton Festival Fringe each year, continuing our 17-year association with this wonderful event series, and this year’s concert was yet again excellent. The concert began with two movements from Handel’s iconic Messiah, sung by the combined forces of Roedean’s singers and members of the local community. The first soloist was Gabriella, from Year 11, who played the final movement of Weber’s challenging Clarinet Concerto in F Minor with great confidence and bravura. She played equally beautifully in the slow and fast sections of the movement, and her command of the clarinet’s very wide range was outstanding.
Gabriella K
The next soloist was concert’s youngest, Joyce, who is only in Year 9. She performed the very famous Andante from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 in C Major. To play a concerto movement with a full orchestra at such a young age is very unusual, but Joyce clearly loved the experience and played beautifully throughout.
Joyce W
Having taken her bow, Joyce picked up her violin to play in the String Orchestra which accompanied Katarina’s performance of Vivaldi’s G Major Violin Concerto. The middle Largo movement was beautiful in its simplicity, and Katarina contrasted this wonderfully with confident and metronomic semiquaver sections in the faster movements which preceded and followed it. Freya, the leader of the orchestra, and Charlotte swapped violin for flute and oboe for harp to perform Mozart’s C Major Concerto for Flute and Harp. There are very few opportunities for a harpist to play a concerto, so it was particularly lovely to hear it played so well, and Freya’s melodic playing complemented it beautifully.
Katarina H & the String Orchestra
Martha played the challenging Vaughan Williams Concerto for Oboe and Strings, and was in complete command throughout the performance. At times melancholic and contemplative, the piece is also often jaunty and sprightly, seemingly at odds with the accompanying strings. Her performance was excellent.
Freya S & Charlotte B
However, it was Soprano Fran from Year 13 who stole the show with a wonderful Recitative and Aria from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. With its tragic repetition of the phrase ‘Remember Me’, when the heroine realised that she must let her lover go, Fran’s portrayal of Dido’s lament was absolutely beautiful. The Roedean Senior Singers gave a wonderful rendition of Brahm’s Song of Fingal, accompanied by two French horns. In three and four parts, the singers’ performance evoked with ease the bleak Scottish landscape where a young maid mourned her beloved warrior.
Fran S
This led beautifully into the main choral element of the programme, Fauré’s Requiem, in which the massed choir negotiated the lovely melodies and textural harmonies very well. Despite her comparatively young age, Amelie sang the well-known Pie Jesu soprano solo with incredible control and poise, and it is testament to her confident performance that it complemented the professional baritone soloist’s movements very well indeed.
Senior Singers
The finale was William Walton’s orchestral Crown Imperial, and it was the perfect conclusion to a wonderful concert, in which Roedean and members of the local community came together to make music. Congratulations to everyone involved in making this such a success, and in particular to our maestros Mr Rous, Miss Bartlette, and, of course, our Director of Music, Miss Fewkes – bravo! RB Page 3
Amelie S
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
11 May 2018 - Issue 4
Keswick BBQ The Sixth Form and Year 11 BBQ last Friday outside Keswick was a wonderful way for girls and staff to relax together at the end of the week. The sun shone and the sausages sizzled as girls enjoyed practising their hula hooping and
skipping skills. Thank you to the Prefects, Katie, Nadia, Fisayo, Amber, and Sophie, for organising such a fun event and thank you to the catering team for the delicious food. CC
Roedean Thrill-Seekers at Thorpe Park Two weekends ago, 41 thrill-seeking girls braved the chilly weather to ride the rollercoasters at Thorpe Park. Luckily for us, the rain held off and most of the rides were open for business, much to the girls’ (and staff’s) delight. They were clearly on a mission to squeeze in as many rides as they could. They also ate countless doughnuts and sweets (despite the rollercoasters), and Pan Pan even won a giant Pikachu on one of the fayre games! As soon as they were back on the minibuses, they were all fast asleep – clearly the excitement of the adrenalinefuelled day had tired them out! JBO
Positive Mental Health Awareness Week At this time of year, when everyone in the school has examinations, Roedean’s Positive Mental Health Awareness Week is especially valuable. Many of the students have really enjoyed the wide variety
of activities available, including colouring, cooking, and Keswick’s extreme ‘glow-stick rolling’ in the dark! We hope that these different activities have helped everyone to maintain a positive mindset!
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11 May 2018 - Issue 4
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Tennis U13 AEGON Victory vs Sion
Our U13 tennis players had their first match of the season against Sion School in the AEGON team tennis competition. The format was for the girls to play one singles set and one doubles set. India was our 1st seed and she had a close game but and the score did not reflect the match. Ella had a really close game with some fantastic rallies, and she played some brilliant winners, resulting in a 6-4 win. Harriet demonstrated good consistency and placed the ball well, allowing her to win confidently 6-0. Olivia had a fantastic start as she has only just begun to play competitively, and she demonstrated great determination throughout. Her result was a fantastic 6-0 win. Sion girls showed huge resilience and determination throughout the doubles matches. Both games had some brilliant groundstrokes and net play. Our girls managed to win both matches 6-1. It was lovely to see our girls playing some great tennis in the sunshine, and it was a confident win overall.
Yr10 AEGON vs Heathfield
On Tuesday, our Yr10 played their AEGON fixture against Heathfield Community College. This followed the same format of one singles match and a doubles match for each pair. The girls all got off to a positive start, with fantastic groundstrokes and effective ball placement. This resulted in a positive result for all our girls in the singles matches. Eloise had a particularly close match, with a score of 6-4. In the doubles, all the girls showed great teamwork and used a variety of shots throughout. Heathfield girls had some strong groundstroke winners and this meant our Eloise and Jemima were playing defensively, so this resulted in Heathfield winning 6-4, but it was a great game. Maia and Olivia dominated throughout in their doubles match. Both served excellently, and they were able to show fantastic ball placement – they had a confident win of 6-0. Overall, our girls played brilliantly and we ended with an overall win of 5 matches to 1. Congratulations!
U12/U13 Tennis vs Lingfield
Our U12 and U13 pairs had a friendly match against Lingfield this week. The girls were following a 1 set format and sudden death at deuce. It was both Rose and Harriet’s first competitive tennis match, which was fantastic! All the girls had some incredibly close matches against their opponents, showing some great resilience and determination. A special mention goes to Harriet who performed some super backhand winners. Both Harriet and India had a superb second match, as they placed their serves and hit some strong groundstrokes into the space, resulting in a 7-5 win. Phoebe and Darcey also performed well in their match and had some lovely rallies. They also won 7-5. Overall though Lingfield won by 57 games to 36.
52 Marathons for Lesley Congratulations to Lesley Morrill (Library Assistant and Bursary), who completed her ‘52 marathons in 52 weeks challenge’ on Sunday at the Chocathon Marathon in Northampton. These are 52 official marathons, each with a minimum field of 25 runners and results published on the internet. Having completed this challenge, she received a commemorative shirt from the Race Director, Mr Traviss Willcox. He is himself a veteran Page 5
of over 400 marathons and recently retired as Chairman of the 100 Marathon Club. Fewer than 100 people in the UK have managed this feat, and only a third of these are women. When asked about the challenge, Lesley said, ‘Trust me, running is totally out of my comfort zone, but I think it does us all good to step out of our comfort zone from time to time, especially when we work in schools!’
11 May 2018 - Issue 4
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Brighton Swimming Club in Denmark Seven Roedean girls were chosen for the squad that swam for Brighton Swimming Club in the Farum Cup in Denmark last weekend. Congratulations to Josie F, Gracie B, Jemima V, Ruby L, Freya T, Tallulah H, and Rose O, who all swam brilliantly. They came home with lots of fantastic PBs and loads of good memories!
opportunity ‘It was a fantastic te in a m to be able to co pe d to different country, ananish D be welcomed by the I enjoyed . m swimming club, Faru ally pushed re the challenge as it en I gained wh me, which showed some great PBs!’
Lucy playing regional Hockey Well done again to Lucy P (Yr8) who played for Sussex at the weekend, drawing against Bucks 0-0, and unfortunately losing against Kent 4-1 – it had been 1-1 at half time, but the players were all just too tired by the end!
‘Denmark was an amazing opportunity and I really enjoyed using the Olympic-sized pool. It was good practice for other long course galas that we may compete in. I also enjoyed experiencing a bit of Danish culture.’
Tallulah H (Yr7)
‘Denmark was an amazing experience, swimming in an Olympic pool and meeting the 4 Danish swimmers. I achieved 0m 20 in ls PBs and 2 silver meda IM and 50m butterfly.’ Rose O (Yr7)
Ruby L (Yr8)
‘I loved competing in the Farum Cup in Denmark with the BSC Squad, especially as I achieved lots of PBs and made some Danish friends (who luckily spoke amazing English)!’ Jemima V (Yr8)
‘I enjoyed the experiencing an international gala as well as being with my friends. I also enjoyed meeting new people from different teams and I hope to say in contact.’ Freya T (Yr8)
JJ WHAT’S COMING UP IN THE
WEEK AHEAD?
Tue 15 May
Year 7 Music Recital
Wed 16 May
U12 & U 13 Athletics at Hurstpierpoint (A)
Sat 19 May
U15A&B & U14A&B Rounders vs Brighton College U14 & U15 Cricket vs Sutton Valence School (A)
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 Page 6
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