Heads Review - Spring Issue 2

Head’s Introduction

Well done to everyone on a busy week, and I am pleased that the weather was not able to dampen anyone’s spirits. Following last week’s block fixture wins for Years 7 and 8 in Netball, there have been matches against Brighton College, and there will be 29 teams playing Netball on Saturday! It is wonderful that so many students have the opportunity to represent the School in this way, and congratulations to the Sports Department for achieving this.

House Swimming was fantastic – it was the usual combination of chanting and pompoms, close races, and fantastic House spirit. Well done to everyone who took part, to the Sports Department for running the event so smoothly, and congratulations to House 2, who won both Junior and Senior events. This will earn them valuable points in the overall House Competition, where things are definitely hotting up!

There have been some wonderful individual successes in the Arts. Well done in particular to Karena, who has won a Scholarship to study next year at the Royal Academy of Music. This is the result of two successful auditions before Christmas, and she will be studying Performance on the Double Bass at this prestigious institution. Congratulations also to those who took LAMDA examinations at the end of last term – every one was awarded Distinction, which is remarkable!

I am also pleased to hear that Lydia and Chaya in Year 10 were Semi-Finalists in the Paris International Film Festival. As part of their timetabled enrichment sessions on Fridays, they produced a short film which they entered into the competition, and their hard work was rewarded with this success – congratulations.

I am grateful to all my colleagues who attended the Year 9 Parents’ Evenings this week. It is at this point that the Year 9s are beginning to make their subject choices for GCSE, and I hope that this event and the conversations which took place helped with this process.

Good luck to Years 11 and 13 who began their formal assessments today, and to Years 10 and 12, who have assessments and tests next week. I wish you all a lovely 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.

Freya (Yr 9) – for an enthralling academic lecture: 'From Creation myths to the Modern Day: Misunderstood Women'. Thank you so much!

[Ms Ibanez-Barcelo]

Holly (Yr8) – for playing a Chopin Mazurka so beautifully in this week's Chapel services [Dr Barrand]

Beautiful Pieces of Art by Year 13

The Year 13 Artists are producing some lovely pieces at the moment, and, as ever, the different media employed and choices of subjects are so varied. This selection includes pieces by Ivy, Keira, Iras, April, and Jeanie.

Ms Strachan

Lila and Amelia (Yr12), Gabby, Bea, Sohana (Yr8), Erin (Yr10), Sarah and Helen (Yr13), Onose (Yr11) – for

Lydia and Chaya are Semi-Finalists in the Paris International Film Festival

Congratulations to Lydia and Chaya (Yr10), who made a highly successful initial foray into a field they both hope to join, cinematography – they produced a film, which they entered into the ‘Best Student Short Film’ category of the Paris International Film Festival, and they were semi-finalists, placing them in the top 7 out of very many entries.  Even more impressive is that many of the other entrants in their category were undergraduates, and Lydia and Chaya were the only semi-finalists who were under the age of 18.

Lydia said, ‘So, to start, we wanted to make a film about Halloween, with a Gothic, moody colour palette.’  They brainstormed ideas and background songs, and then carved a massive pumpkin head.  As co-cinematographers, they took it in turns to act in and film the scenes, and they then edited and colour-graded their film.

Here is a plot synopsis: Pumpkin Man is lonely and decides to craft a companion, but when it doesn’t fill the hole in his heart, he takes out his rage on the only other person in his life — the one behind the camera.

This project came out of their weekly timetabled Academic Enrichment activity, supported brilliantly by Ms Ibañez-Barceló, which allowed them to pursue an exciting and relevant challenge, while exploring the impact that music has in film when telling a story – it is wonderful that they have been so successful.  They have also submitted the film to another film festival, so let’s see how they do.  Well done!

Sport Stars of the Week

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

Year 7

Farah, for her amazing contribution to House swimming Year 8 Liv, for brilliant netball performance Year 9

Charlie, for great House swimming participation

Year 10 Clara, for outstanding engagement in netball and swimming Year 11 Mancy, for organising House swimming for House 1 Year 12 Joyce, for her great effort in swimming for Games Year 13 Lea, for her commitment to netball

Dr Barrand

Karena Wins Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music

Congratulations to Karena (Yr13), who has won a prestigious scholarship to study for a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Royal Academy of Music in London next year.  Alongside Music, she studies A Levels in Biology, Chinese, and Mathematics, but Music is her passion.  She chose to start playing the Double Bass at the age of 6, which might seem a strange choice, but she did so because ‘it was different’.  She made swift progress – she took Grade 8 at the age of 12, and achieved her Trinity Guildhall LTCL Performance Diploma in 2018, when she was 14, a remarkable feat.

Although the focus of the course will be performance, she will be able to pursue her strong interest in composition by choosing relevant modules.  Karena travelled up to London on the last day of the Autumn term for her audition.  Taking a Double Bass is not an easy proposition, and she is hugely grateful to Mrs Denyer, her teacher at Roedean, who transported it from Brighton for her.

When she arrived, Karena met her accompanist and had 15 minutes with him to go through the piece before her first audition.  She played the Concerto for Double Bass by Koussevitzky, a very challenging piece.  She said, ‘When I arrived, I heard someone else playing my piece, and I was really scared, but I later found out it was someone auditioning for a place on the postgraduate course!’  She then had an interview, before waiting to have a second audition with the Deputy Principal, no doubt to make a decision about whether she should be awarded a highly-coveted scholarship, which lasts throughout her degree.

Karena is not only a talented player, but she enjoys the camaraderie of music and performance, and she is one of five Double Bass players at Roedean currently, which is unusual in itself.

Congratulations, Karena!

Clean Sweep of LAMDA Distinctions

Congratulations to all those who took LAMDA exams last term – the pattern of outstanding results for our students continues, and every candidate was awarded a distinction:

Well done – these are brilliant results!

Name Grade Exam Result

Mia-Rose (Yr8)

Molly (Yr8)

Lyla (Yr8)

Molly (Yr8)

Izzy (Yr8)

Lucy (Yr8)

Zoe (Yr8)

Sonia (Yr9)

Mrs Sellers

Acting Distinction

Acting Distinction

Verse and Prose Distinction

Verse and Prose Distinction

Verse and Prose Distinction

Acting Distinction

Jasmine (Yr9) 5 Acting Distinction

Rida (Yr10) 5 Acting Distinction

Olivia (Yr10) 6 Acting Distinction

Mia (Yr11) 6 Acting Distinction

Amelia (Yr11) 6 Acting Distinction

Dr Barrand

House Spirit

To recognise those pupils who have displayed exceptional commitment and dedication last term, to either their house team or boarding house, we have awarded a small number of our new House Spirit badges. Congratulations to all the girls below – badges can be collected from the House Studies.

H1 H2 H3

Lucy (Yr10) Maria (Yr12)   Alma (Yr7)

Georgia (Yr7) Bea (Yr7) Bella (Yr7) Mancy (Yr11) Galina (Yr11)

H4

Siyun (Yr10)

Sihu (Yr10)

Samantha (Yr10) Alex (Yr7)

Onose (Yr11)

Georgie (Yr10)

Livy (Yr7) Charlie (Yr9) Martha (Yr7) Elise (Yr7)

Mbali (Yr11) India (Yr11) Ruby (Yr11)

Andrea (Yr7)

Ella (Yr11) Isabel (Yr13) Bea (Yr7)

Lawrence Keswick

Kira (Yr12)

Hebe (Yr12) Sigrid (Yr12)

Tammy (Yr12) Carmen (Yr12) Nicole (Yr13) Ottavia (Yr13) Ellen (Yr13)

Mosope (Yr13)

Nicole (Yr13) Lauren (Yr13) Veronica (Yr13) Savina (Yr13)

A huge well done to all the swimmers who competed in House Swimming on Thursday Activity 2. It was an excellent turn out from both swimmers and spectators. Although no school swimming records were broken this year, the introduction of the 25m butterfly and the removal of the 50m butterfly means that Evelyn ( Yr 8), is now a record holder for House 3 with a time of 16.77s and Holly (Yr 11), is a record holder for House 4 with a time of 15.33s.

Results are as follows:

U18A Netball vs Brighton College

This match was a brilliant start to the season for Roedean U18As. It was a competitive and close match, and it could have gone either way. We started off steady, with Phoebe and Izzy making some lovely circle edge drives and feeding the ball into Millie and Lizzie. They worked well with each other, moving around, keeping out of each other's space and getting nearly every shot in –we were up by 5 at the end of the first quarter.

Brighton started to put the pressure on defensively and were forcing errors from us in the second quarter. However, Lila and Sylva made many tips and interceptions, and they were making it hard for their shooters to get the goals in. The scoreline got closer, and there were 2 in it by the end of the second half.

In the third quarter the game was fierce, with both teams fighting for the ball, and it went from end to end with few goals scored. Maria, Katie, and Erin were linking the play in centre court well, enabling us to keep the lead – we were still ahead going into the final quarter. Lila was intercepting nearly every ball, and we capitalised on the turnovers, moving the ball down to our goal third, where Lizzie and Millie were sinking the shots.

We were flying ahead now with a 7-goal lead. All the girls worked hard and were focused throughout. Well done to Lizzie for being awarded Player of the Match, and the scoring accuracy was brilliant and the holding in the circle was lovely.

Well done!

Yr11 Spin Class

Miss Patching-Jones

U16B Netball vs Brighton College

The U16Bs played their first fixture of the year with a local derby versus Brighton College.

The girls started slowly, going 6-4 down in the first quarter. After this, the girls found their feet and played with calmness. Maddie, Clara, and Ella worked hard in defence, forcing Brighton College to shoot high up in the circle.

Liv, Phoebe, and Katie started driving towards the ball, leading to easier passing options and safer passes. This all meant that Roedean managed to claw back the score. Lucy and Alice showed great composure in the final quarter, scoring a number of important shots when the score was level. This meant Roedean won 21-19, and Lucy was named Girl of the Game.

Mr Borsoi

The Year 11s have the opportunity to choose a different sports activity for their Games choice each term. This group of girls who selected Spinning as their choice absolutely loved their first sessions. They are looking forward to next week, where they will be using weights on the bikes and choosing some of their own music.

Miss Wakeling

Sports Scholars talk on Time Management and Stress

This week at our Sports Scholars talk, we covered Time Management and Stress. We learnt about how to prioritise tasks based on their urgency and importance, and I found this useful in helping me organise my homework.

We learnt about stress and the different components of stress we have as athletes, such as how we are performing in matches, looking after our fitness and nutrition, and about the importance of also having a social life and time for social media.

We talked about how we coped with stress, and I learnt some useful ways to deal with it like resetting our mindset and the importance of talking to others.

U13B Netball vs Hurst

The U13B Netballers had a challenging first game of the season against Hurst on Wednesday.

With both teams being a little rusty, it took time for the game to settle after a frantic start. Hurst were able to find their feet quicker in the first quarter, and they pulled away to a 7-1 lead. With a few simple changes to their game however, Roedean started to find their rhythm, and they were able to turn the ball over and bring the ball back into the shooting D much more often.

The final score was 20-8 to Hurst, but there was plenty of great Netball on show – we've got areas to focus on for the next match, and it'll be great!

Miss Kirby-Jones

U12 Netball vs Burgess Hill

The U12s took four teams to Burgess Hill on Wednesday for a late night away fixture. They trained during their Games lesson and left fully prepared for the match, having gone over tactics and positions with their coaches.

Roedean's A, B, C, and D teams were commended on their outstanding team warm up. The girls arrived, got straight into their pre-planned pulseraiser and netball-specific dynamic stretches. The teams then worked through their individually set netball skills in their teams. All of the teams were up after the 1st 10-minute quarter:

■ U12A 4-0 ■ U12C 3-0

■ U12B 2-0 ■ U12D 3-2

Unfortunately due to bad weather the game was cancelled after the first quarter. A huge well done to all the girls who played – it was their second week in a row of excellent play. We are looking forward to seeing you all at training this week ready for our next matches.

Miss Wakeling

U14A Netball – Sussex Cup

The U14A Netball team played their first-round match of the Sussex Cup against Bede’s on Thursday. This was their first match of the Spring term, and they didn’t hold back.

After the first quarter, the team were 17-0 up due to some strong throughcourt passing and turn overs in the defensive end. At this point, it was time to focus on making the girls skills as sharp as possible in whichever position the played in, by shuffling positions and trying new rotations.

Layla and Ruby trialled shootin,g and Harriet and Gaby in defence, something new for each, with all players taking time out of their comfort zones. The final score was a decisive 52-5 victory and on to the next round we go!

Miss Kirby-Jones

U13A Netball Tournament

The U13As had a good afternoon on Wednesday at the Lingfield Annual Invitational Tournament. They started off strong against Downsend, taking the win 5-2. They then came up against the hosts, Lingfield. After a wobbly start allowing to Lingfield to get a 3-0 lead, they worked hard to pull it back to 3-2 at half time. Unfortunately, Lingfield pushed on and took the win 5-3.

This meant we had to win the next 3 matches in order to get through to the semi-finals. We played Sackville, Cumnor House, and Grey Court and took convincing wins in all three, which secured our spot in the semi-final. We played Hurst in the semi-final in a fiercely contested match. It was 2-2 at half time, and, with all to play for in the final 6 minutes, Roedean gave it their all. We dominated position with clever tactical play from our attack. Unfortunately, Hurst got an intercept in the closing seconds, which allowed them to take the win.

We then faced Copthorne in the semi-final when both teams had to battle the storm which made throwing and catching extremely difficult! Despite the girls’ best efforts, Copthorne won 6-4. This meant Roedean finished 4th place.

Well done to all the girls for their perseverance and positivity in what was a soggy day of netball! The improvements they have shown in just 2 weeks of training is phenomenal. Keep up the hard work, it is paying off!

Miss Hammond

Brighton Schools’ Cross-Country

On Tuesday, the cross-country team attended the Brighton Schools’ Cross Country event. After a very rainy morning (the cross-country gods know their days), the course was a classic mud bath and the hill was more akin to a ski slope, ready for the girls to get going.

The Year 7s went first on their 3km loop; Katherine was again on the heels of the hare, well ahead of the pack and easily clinchied 1st place. Lily, Georgia, and a muddy Elise followed in after. The Year 8s and 9s were running together on a 3.5km course with a couple of girls running their first ever race. Ruby was the first Roedean girl home in 25th place, followed by Alicia, Harriet, Lucy (our only Year 8), Bella, and Tiah. Izzy was our only competitor in the Seniors’ race, running alongside Year 11 girls and boys; she did a fantastic job and came in 15th place. These results put our Junior teams in 7th position in both the team events.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

Miss Kirby-Jones

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: abw@roedean.co.uk