15 June 2018 - Issue 8
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW The King of
Head’s Introduction Congratulations and an enormous well done to the cast, crew and directors of our summer term production of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. With over seventy girls involved from Years 7-9, a number of challenging sets to create, one of the most bizarre costume lists of any show and an incredibly complicated, illogical plot, it was a brilliant achievement. The girls created a wonderful, energetic, funny and wildly eccentric and episodic show which was bright and fearless. It gave a platform for so many girls to enjoy being on stage, in the lights and part of a great team. If you haven’t seen it, do go along tonight for a bundle of conundrums, confusions and fabulous set pieces. This week, we have also welcomed many visitors to Roedean. We started the week with a vocal masterclass from a visiting expert. In the sunshine, the girls teams continue to thrive at our sports fixtures with visiting teams. We enjoyed a fantastic Oxbridge Conference earlier this week with great speakers and many visiting schools. We continue our university preparations with today’s UCAS Day. I am very grateful to Mr Homer and Dr Hannan for the huge amount of work which went into liaising with so many people to bring them all together on one day - I know that all the students will have got a great deal out of it. I am delighted that we have had the opportunity to share our facilities with over 200 primary children this week, for both the Primary Science Day and the Reception class from St Mark’s visiting the Farm. Thank you to Mr Wood and the entire Science Department, and also to Mr Wilson - the children had a wonderful time! I can hardly believe that there are only two weeks left before we break up for the summer. The lion’s share of the A Level and GCSE examinations are now complete, which must be a great relief to those in Years 11 and 13. I am looking forward to the Roedean Musician of the Year Competition next week, and, of course, Roedean Day when we welcome parents and guardians to celebrate many of the girls’ wonderful achievements at the two Prize Giving Ceremonies for Years 7 to 10. We also welcome back many Old Roedeanians who love to visit their old School. It will be great to hear from a British sporting icon like Kate Richardson-Walsh as our Guest Speaker, and for her to ‘cut the ribbon’ on the all-weather pitch and then share Sports Day with us. I wish you all a wonderful week!
Hearts
This week, the Roedean community was taken down the Tweedle rabbit hole into a dreamlike world of enormous Dum & tea cups, flamingo croquet mallets, and a dazzling array of Tweedle characters, who grew ‘curiouser and curiouser’ by the minute. Dee This was the ambitious and thoroughly entertaining junior production of Alice in Wonderland. Miss Dobbs and Ms The Caterpillar Stephens’ programme notes make a link between the secret tunnel from Sussex Square to the beach that inspired Lewis Carroll’s rabbit hole, and Roedean’s own tunnel to the sea, thus preparing us for an evening of magic that somehow feels more possible at Roedean than anywhere else. And so it was that, with ters dizzying pace, we fell into Wonderland with Beatrice S’s naïve, and the Oys The Walrus but spirited, Alice, and met all of Carroll’s iconic characters. Scene followed seamlessly after scene, as the chaos of Wonderland was built in front of our eyes with synchronised choral and choreographic performances (Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, and the soldiers ensemble), imaginative stage business The Unicor n (the consumption of the oysters) and some of the most assertive – and irrational – queens you will find in theatre. The cast clearly revelled in the playfulness, absurdity and weirdness of the piece, and it was a delight to find oneself yielding to the magic and silliness as the The enjoyment permeated the room. This was not a story, so Dormouse much as a best-of album: all your favourite Wonderland moments presented in glorious technicolour, with humour, affection and joy. This was a celebratory and enchanting performance, of which the cast, crew and directors should be very proud. Bravo! The Red HBO Queen The Cheshire Cat
The Jab
The Queen of Hearts
berwock
The Mouse and the Young Crab
ey
The White Queen
The March Hare and the Mad Hatter
15 June 2018 - Issue 8
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
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. Ms Lay (Staff) for her smile and constant support in serving lunch every day [Year 7 girls and staff]
Primary Science Day
All of the girls and staff that helped at Rockpools Day - you made the day so special for our visitors! [Admissions]
Mrs Muggeridge and Mrs Howe (Staff) for looking after Darcey when she was poorly during an actual GCSE, and putting everyone’s minds at rest [Mrs Walker]
The Science Faculty hosted over 180 Year 5 school children from local primary schools (Saltdean, St John’s, Lourdes, St Margaret’s, St Bernadette’s, Westdene) providing them with a series of hands-on practical science activities. For many of the children, it was their first opportunity to experience learning in fully equipped science laboratories. The children’s enthusiasm was palpable and they all engaged in the day with such a positive sense of energy. In Biology, they used Bunsen burners to burn different food stuffs to calculate their energy content. In Physics, they designed and built rockets to fire – many indeed, I think, flying over the school buildings. In Chemistry, they extracted carbon dioxide from coca cola, made carbon dioxide by heating copper carbonate, made a fire extinguisher using marble and acid, and finally they saw the amazing properties of solid carbon dioxide (dry ice). Everyone had a brilliant day!
A special thanks to Year 7s who helped at Primary Science Day for assisting the staff so enthusiastically and really making our visitors feel welcome and to Mrs Hawkes who works tirelessly every week to prepare experiments for the girls and regularly goes above and beyond to make sure they have everything they need. This week was exceptional, though! On top of the preparation for all of her usual experiments, she also had the Primary Schools Science Day to get ready. This involved obtaining 20 kg of dry ice and miraculously keeping it from disappearing into thin air over night (it turns into gas and literally floats away). She carefully wrapped the boxes in her own sleeping bags and stashed them away in a cool cupboard. We had no idea whether the dry ice would still be there in the morning, as we couldn’t open the boxes before we needed to use it; it was fine though! All thanks to Isabel!
AWO
Singing Masterclass with Susannah Greenan We were delighted to welcome Susannah Greenan back to work with our talented young singers. Her insight into the songs presented, and her ability to encourage singers to communicate and perform these songs, proved a real inspiration to all who took part. Once again, she was superbly supported by Mr Ray Maulkin at the piano. This year, the repertoire presented by the students ranged from early Italian Arie Antiche via a whistle-stop tour of German Lieder, Music Theatre songs, settings of English poetry, and even a song from a Disney film. The Teatime Concert in which nearly everybody participated was a great success and Susannah was very impressed that the girls had been able to achieve so much in such a short time. Congratulations to all the girls who took part, especially those who performed in the concert: Eden W-N, Marina B, Katarina H, Grace R, Vanessa T, Charlene Z, Eva P, Niamh A, Alma S, Ava D, Amelie S, Maggie Z, Zarbanu M, Jacqueline L and Sorcha H. Page 2
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Vivian’s won a place on an Architectural Summer School Congratulations to Vivian L (Yr12) who has won a place on Kingston University’s Architectural Summer School this August. This decision was a result of looking at her impressive portfolio and written statement - there was stiff competition this year, as the course was massively oversubscribed.
Roedean – Junior Maths Challenge Success Forty-two Roedean girls from Years 7 and 8 sat the Junior Maths Challenge and the results are in. Seventeen girls won certificates with Isabel H topping the Year 8 standings and being best in school, whilst Dawn T achieved the best result for a Year 7 girl.
15 June 2018 - Issue 8
The Junior Maths Challenge is a set of multiple choice questions which take students beyond the curriculum, whilst at the same time using skills learned within it, and it is organised by the University of Leeds. The Mathematics Department would like to congratulate all those who sat the paper on another impressive performance. ALU
Dawn has won the World Chinese Writing Competition Congratulations to Dawn T (Yr7) who has won the 18th World Chinese Writing Competition. The UK awarding ceremony will be at the University of Westminster, London, on Sunday 21st October. This is an amazing achievement, and Dawn is in a long line of Roedeanians who have been successful in this competition: Natasha Spinks and Ariel Jin won the 12th; Yian Z and Amy Ma won the 13th; Yian Z also won in 14th and the 15th; Gabriella R won the 15th; and Ashley W won the 16th and 17th. It must be said that this is also down, in large part, to Mrs Wu. We also have another success: in the 13th UK Chinese Writing Competition, Jean D (Yr11) has won the 2nd prize in the category of Non-Native Chinese student over 15. Well done!
St Mark’s Visit 27 excited students from St Mark’s visited Roedean this Monday. Blessed with beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies, the Reception class enjoyed a fun-packed visit to the school. First up was a tour of the farm, where the students were able to feed the hungry chickens and sheep. The sheep were overwhelmed to see so many tiny hands offering them food! The students enjoyed feeding the animals and the excitement on their faces was clear. Next, the students had afternoon tea in The Old Ref, which was kindly supplied by our catering team. Sausage rolls, chocolate cake, orange juice, and fruit - what else is needed on a hot summer’s afternoon?
Finally, the Reception class enjoyed a music masterclass from six talented Year 7 students, who showcased their piano, violin, guitar, and singing skills. The Reception class teacher, Miss Rhodda, was very impressed with the confidence and talent of our students, and also revealed that her students must have enjoyed it as they rarely sit still for that long! They were clearly mesmerised to see our girls perform. Thank you to Miss Rose, Mr Fieldsend, Mr Rous, Alissandra, Niamh, Dominique, Hope, Poppy, Maria, and the Catering team for making the students feel so welcome and giving your time to look after and entertain the students. GWI
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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
15 June 2018 - Issue 8
DofE Expedition This weekend, the qualifying expedition for the Bronze DofE award took place. Everybody arrived sharply with packed rucksacks, ready to begin the walk. The coach journey was short and our briefing was easy and quick, as we had already practised several times, and so knew what to expect. Day one was a breeze. Everybody was supportive of one another, making sure our group morale was constantly high, and this helped us to perform at our best. When we arrived at camp, we set up our tents and were on a mission to keep the mosquitoes out of them. As the sun began to set, we celebrated our achievements of the day over a warm dinner and cup of hot chocolate. Day two was a challenge to most of us, especially with the mountainous terrain, hot sun, and heavy packs. The night was humid and so prevented us from getting much sleep. Navigation also proved difficult, but we kept our spirits high and eventually found our way towards our final destination (after getting lost a few times). All in all, it was a fabulous experience which taught us valuable skills which included team work, navigation, independence, commitment, and much more. We all found out that we had passed which was a huge relief and a great achievement.
Thank you to all the Outspark leaders and teachers who provided us with good knowledge, useful skills, and much needed water. Darcey P
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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
F24 Project
15 June 2018 - Issue 8
‘Having only joined in ago, I have really enjoywiedth the F24 project a few months race day on Sunday was what we have done so far and at 6:15am and travelled brilliant! We had an early start to Goodwood. I was the fir person to drive in the prac st Having only driven before tice lap and it was amazing! upgrading to a famous ra on the school tennis courts, right and centre, was amce track, with planes landing left day, despite having the miazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the car and myself sent back nor mishap which resulted in the of hysterical girls! Overall in the recovery vehicle to a bunch next year and I’m excited , I can’t wait to do this again happen with the car in thto see what exciting things will e near future.’ Tatiana C (Yr9)
exciting day in the F24 Sunday 10t h June was another car at Goodwood motor circuit. calendar as we raced our electric team in the 11-16 category as This year we were able to enter a was a particularly exciting, well as the 16-25. The 11-16 race rting line all moving off at wit h a total of 82 car s on the sta improvements to the design the same time. We had made several nce was improving the gear from last year. The main differe ed from 16mph to 23 mph. We rat io which increased the top spe in 13t h position out of 26 car s were extremely pleased to finish tic achievement given the high in the 16-25 category, a fantas s. We have lots of plans for performance of the other teams’ car uding a motor cooling system, develop ing the car next year, incl monitor motor performance, and a computer-controlled system to ics of the car. We also plan to an improvement to the aerodynam using either an aluminium design and build an improved car It should be an exciting year for frame or possibly carbon fibre. driver s. JHI Roedean’s student engineers and
Tatum in the top 3! Tatum competed on Saturday at the Sussex Schools’ Championships. Unfortunately, she was not able to retain her title as Champion, but she did come a very credible 3rd in a time of 2 minutes 25, and came away with another Bronze medal. The top 3 were over 6 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, showing their dominance over the best 800m runners in Sussex.
Family Rounders Athletics On Monday 11th June, Roedean’s Year 7 team competed at an athletics meeting versus Burgess Hill. The girls performed exceptionally well, with several achieving PBs. We narrowly lost 60-68, by coming in second in the relays by less than half a metre. Unfortunately these were worth double points. It was a really positive end to a successful athletics season, with many Roedean girls winning field or track events. Well done to all and we look forward to next year. Page 5
15 June 2018 - Issue 8
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Tennis U14 Tennis vs Lingfield
The U14 Tennis team had a fantastic afternoon of tennis in the sunshine against Lingfield. The format of the matches were short sets to 4, and to play as many pairs as possible. Roedean girls were positive and started well, with all the matches having some great close rallies. Lingfield had demonstrated that they were strong at the net, so Roedean had to develop their tactics quickly. There were some very positive matches with the majority of the girls scoring a number of games. A special mention must go to Ines, Lucy, Tatiana, and Ashley, for winning 2 out of their 4 matches. A huge well done to all and to those who played their first match ever! It was a very positive afternoon where the girls learnt a lot which they can now put into practice for their next match. Well done!
Cricket U14/15s victorious against Burgess Hill
On Monday, the A and B teams played on a beautiful sunny evening against Burgess Hill. Both teams played some fantastic cricket and the B team particularly put on a great display of batting, with Jemima and Eloise G putting on 18 runs in two overs. A special mention must also go to Ian Veness, who has kindly volunteered to coach the girls this half of term and he has made a huge impact. Ian, who currently coaches at Brighton and Hove cricket Club, has a fantastic knowledge of the game. He has brought a lot of great ideas to training to help develop the girls’ skills. A team Roedean 231-6 Burgess Hill 223-6
B team Roedean 262-0 Burgess Hill 210-5
Brilliant cricket and 3 victorious U13 teams!
Wednesday was both a great occasion and advert for girls’ cricket after England Ladies destroyed South Africa the night before!
U13A Roedean 141-3 Westbourne House 138-5 Roedean won by 3 runs U13B Roedean 138-1 Westbourne House 135-3 Roedean won by 3 runs U13C Roedean 81-2 Westbourne House 64-3 Roedean won by 17 runs U12A Roedean 255-4 Windlesham House 275-3 Windlesham House won by 20 runs U12B Roedean 237-4 Windlesham House 266-6 Windesham House won by 29 runs It was brilliant to see over 40 junior girls playing competitive cricket, and we are expecting 48 girls compete against Hurst Prep next Wednesday. This will be the last fixture block of the term, so please come down and support. ACA
Maria watching England Ladies’ Cricket On Tuesday night at The County Cricket Ground, Hove, I was lucky enough to see England Ladies’ Team beat South Africa by a comfortable margin. Even better was that I later met the whole team and my idol Sarah Taylor, the wicket keeper, who has inspired me to become U12 wicket keeper for Sussex. It was such an amazing experience! Maria V JJ WHAT’S COMING UP IN THE
WEEK AHEAD?
Mon 18 June
Roedean Musician of the Year Final
Wed 20 June
U12A Cricket vs Hurst (A) U13A & B Cricket vs Hurst (H) U12B & C Rounders vs Hurst (A) U13C & D Rounders vs Hurst (H)
Thur 21 June
NEW GIRLS’ DAY
Sat 23 June
ROEDEAN DAY, PRIZE GIVING & SPORTS DAY
Sun 24 June
U13A Rounders vs Bishop’s Stortford College Prep D of E Silver Award Qualifying Expedition
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