Head's Review - 14 September 2018 - Issue 3

14 September 2018 - Issue 3

HEAD’S

WEEKLY REVIEW

Head’s Introduction Congratulations to everyone for getting to the end of the second week of term! I know that every girl will have done or experienced something new, met someone new, and, I hope, challenged themselves to try a new activity. For the girls and staff in Years 7, 8, and 10, I know that they have all pushed themselves outside their comfort zones on their residential trip, where they have thrown themselves into climbing, bivouacking, hiking in the dark, and much more.

In school too, I am very glad to hear that the girls in Year 12 have started their Electives. This is academic enrichment for one period each week, giving them the opportunity to do something which goes beyond their chosen A Level subjects. They have chosen from a selection, including Life Drawing in Art and Psychology, to taking an EPQ or learning Beginners’ Russian or Portuguese. Reports are that the first sessions went very well, so good luck to everyone involved. Many activities and clubs, including music rehearsals, have also started this week, and, following auditions last week, the cast for the Year 8 Shakespeare’s Festival production was announced this week.

As you know, I set the School a charity fund-raising target of £25,000 this year. As part of our support for the local community, we are focusing on St Mark’s Primary, in order to make a big impact. One of our major projects is to build a Library for the children there. Work is already underway, and we hope that this will be ready to open by Christmas. The Prefects responsible for our community fund-raising have lots of brilliant ideas which you will hear about in due course, but a library needs books. Our aspiration is for every girl in the school to nominate and then donate their favourite book from their primary school years.

Donating their personal favourite book will be a way for them to contributing personally to this project in the knowledge that they are passing on their own love of reading to younger children. Dr Barrand will send out more information about this very soon.

Good luck to Year 9 and Year 11 Geographers for their residentials next week, I hope the big fixtures go well, and enjoy Exeat next weekend.

Bubble Football on the pitch On Sunday, House 2 enjoyed a brilliant game of bubble football. We played football, bulldog, and tumble races, all in giant blow-up bubbles. It was great fun watching the girls jumping around and knocking each other over, and bouncing around on our new Astro. It was so good that we had to even got our Housemistresses, Mrs Waller and Miss Ford-Senior, to join in the fun.

There was a wonderful atmosphere of girls cheering each other on and others knocking their friends down. It really helped the new girls bond with the old girls. After two hours of sheer laughter and bubble hysteria, we went back up to the house to enjoy some pizza and reminisce about all the memories and photos of the day. Needless to say, we all enjoyed it. So on behalf of all the House 2 girls, we would like to thank the house staff for organising such an amazing day for us all.

Nour A (Yr11)

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

14 September 2018 - Issue 3

Chapel on the north-south divide Mr Chamberlain led this week’s Chapel, which focused on the north-south divide in England – we are thinking about making connections, and how we can celebrate our differences while also appreciating that we are all part of our rich and diverse community: What have the following staff all got in common? Dr Barrand, Mr Blond, our new Classics teacher Mrs Wooldridge, Mr Wailes, Mr Fletcher, our new English teacher Mrs Shillito, and Miss Dobbs. They are all from the north.

Now for a harder question. Where do all the accents come from? Let’s start with Mr Blond and Miss Dobbs. Mr Wailes? Mr Wilson? Dr Barrand? Me? You may never have considered that there is such a thing as a north-south divide in England, but today we aim to shed a little light on what historically has, at times, been an uneasy relationship. The north-south divide is not an exact line, but one that is built on cultural and economic differences, and perpetuated by amusing, and occasionally offensive, stereotypes. The existence of the north-south divide is not in doubt, but researchers have recently argued that it is getting ever wider, with sociologists highlighting key social inequalities.

Health conditions and life expectancy are generally seen as being worse in the north, with men expected to die 8 years before their southern counterparts. House prices are far higher in the south, particularly the south-east, where the average home costs £393,000. In the north it is just £165,000. Average earnings are also 26% higher in the South of England.

Even in education, there are clear divisions.

There is a significant attainment gap between northern and southern schools. Pupils in the three northern regions are less likely to achieve five good GCSEs than the national average.

Northern students are under-represented at Oxbridge, where three times as many places go to southerners as to northerners.

Ask anybody about the north-south divide and they will usually have strong opinions. Writer, journalist and northerner, Stuart Maconie argues that ‘there is no south of England...

There’s a bottom half of England... but there isn’t a south in the same way that there’s a north. There’s no conception of the south comparable to the north. Good or bad, ‘the

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.

north’ means something to all English people wherever they hail from. To southerners it means desolation, arctic temperatures, mushy peas, a cultural wasteland with limited shopping opportunities and populated by aggressive trolls.

To northerners it means home, truth, beauty, valour, romance, warm and characterful people, real beer and decent chip shops’. This suggests that few people view the north-south divide from an unbiased perspective. So where does the rivalry and stereotyping originate from?

In the 19th century, the north was the prosperous industrial centre of the British Empire, supplying most of the world with textiles, steel, ships, and coal. In the depression of the 1930s, that manufacturing collapsed and unemployment soared. Whole towns simply choked and died. In George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier he described the town as broken by depression saying ‘It seemed a world from which vegetation had been banished; nothing existed except smoke, shale, ice, mud, ashes and foul water’. And all the while London and the South East boomed. Never had the country been so bitterly divided. As is so often the case, it took a war, a world war, to reunite the fractured nation against Nazi Germany.

Since 1945 the relations between the north and south have been calmer, but the stubborn perception remains that it is ‘Grim Up North’.

whereas Malham in Yorkshire got soaked 205 times. That amounts to an extra 14 weeks of rain. If that wasn’t bad enough, it is on average 5 degrees colder in the north too.

So to conclude, there does appear to be a clear north-south divide and some worrying aspects of social inequality. But it would also be right to say any differences are the source of celebration and even genuine amusement.

Northerners and southerners may never truly understand each other, but it doesn’t mean we don’t love each other any less!

If there is one trait the north is famous for, it is the appalling weather. Brighton and Hove experienced 104 days of rain last year,

Leila L (Yr13) – hearing the new goats bleating constantly, she went up to the farm, only to discover them with their heads caught in the fence again, and she freed them by herself! [HSM]

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Do you love a good quiz? What’s your general knowledge like? Is your head full of apparently useless facts? Why not come along to the Parents’ Guild Quiz, to put your knowledge to the test?

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

14 September 2018 - Issue 3

Ms Gwendoline Thomas

Miss Louisa Byrne

Role: French Language Assistant University: BA in English Language, Literature and Civilisation (Rennes, France), MA in English and Education (Rennes, France) Previous school: Teacher of English as a Second Language in Ozanam School, Cesson-Sévigné, France Interests: I love climbing and drawing, and have recently started painting; I’ve also been travelling a lot for the past few years You’d never guess… I didn’t like wine and cheese until I moved to Brighton... The UK made me more French than ever!

Role: Teacher of Physics University: BSc in Physics (Imperial College London) Previous school: Teacher of Maths and Physics at Tolworth Girls’ School Interests: Reading, solving puzzles, and walking my 13 year old dog You’d never guess... I auditioned to play Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter – it didn’t go well

Mrs Kate Camara Role: Enrichment Administrator Previous role: PA at Brownbill Asssociates Ltd, a case management company which assists people who have a life-changing injury and who need help in managing their lives Interests: I lived in Devon for a large part of my life and enjoy walking on Dartmoor or at the coast.

I also lived in Germany for 18 years when I was younger and speak the language, and have visited Borneo, China, India, Peru, among others You’d never guess… I used to be part of a belly dancing group

Miss Lucia Sanz Mateo Role: Spanish Language Assistant University: BA (Hons) in English Studies (Valladolid, Spain) Previous school: Warlingham School (Surrey) Interests: Travelling and languages You’d never guess... I know by heart all the songs of Les Misérables!

Miss Natasha Galukande

Ms Sabina Novikova

Role: Teacher of Biology University: BSc in Biology (Manchester) Previous school: Clapton Girls’ Academy (London) Interests: Travelling, BBQs and spending time in my rubber dinghy You’d never guess... I’m currently learning different circus skills such as aerial hoop and silks

Role: German and Russian Language Assistant University: Degree in English and German (Immanuel Kant-University, Kaliningrad, Russia, and Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany) Interests: Fashion, Design, Music and Dancing.

You’d never guess... I am a citizen of three different countries!

Karaoke in Keswick – boarding at its best!

Thank you so much to Keswick for hosting nearly the entire boarding community at the weekend. Girls from all houses really enjoyed doing Karaoke and dancing together. Year 13 were brilliant, showing that they are natural born leaders, and all the younger girls really love looking up to the older girls in the school.

Marmalade-making in House 1 House 1 made a start on the Macmillan Coffee Morning preparations at the weekend. Ten jars of House 1 Secret Ingredient Marmalade were made to sell.

All are welcome, so please do put the date in your diaries: House 1, ODR, 10:30 - 11:30, Friday 28th September. JWL

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14 September 2018 - Issue 3

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

Year 10 on their residential Year 10 had an early start on Tuesday to travel to the Forest of Dean for an exciting and challenging few days in the wilderness!

The girls had a programme, including a canoe bivouac, sleeping under the stars in an outside shelter. The night hike proved to be an interesting historical tour of the surrounding woodland, and the girls were able to see the wonderful stars with no light pollution to spoil the view. The programme continued with some caving and climbing, which were a brilliant opportunity for the girls to overcome their fears and try something new.

Best trip so far!

The night hike was brilliant, the stars wer e so beautiful!

The ‘ready steady cook’ challenge saw some interesting sauce concoctions for the pasta.

Everyone on the trip achieved something that they didn’t know they could, and the girls come back with stronger bonds of friendship and camaraderie – it really has been a wonderful start to Year 10!

HHY

Had a great time!

JJ WHAT’S COMING UP IN THE

Caving was my favourite part and the games at the end!

The girls pushed and d challenged themselves beyon le what they thought possib LFI

WEEK AHEAD?

Mon 17 Sept

Year 9 Blacklands Farm residential trip

Wed 19 Sept

U13A,B,C&D Hockey vs Windlesham House (A) U12A&B Hockey vs Windlesham House (H)

Thur 20 Sept

U13 HocNet Tournament (A)

Fri 21 Sept

Year 11 Geography Field Trip to Juniper Hall Music Scholars’ Alexander Technique Workshop Years 12 & 13 Parent & Guardian Wine & Cheese Evening

Sat 22 Sept 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 4

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