20th May 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction Positive Mental Health Awareness Week has been very successful at Roedean, and I am pleased that the girls and staff have engaged with it well. With GCSE and A Level examinations well underway, and the younger years’ school exams next week, discussion about dealing with pressure and stress for example has come at a good time. Despite their imminent exams, the remaining girls in the Academic Mentoring Programme have indulged their intellectual curiosity and given fantastically engaging presentations about their chosen research topics – it really is wonderful to discover the unusual interests of some of the girls when they are given free rein to research independently. Drama and Music have had a number of performances this week: our Strings specialist, Sophia Bartlette, performed in Chapel on Saturday as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival; girls from U3 and L4 gave a concert on Monday to show the progress they have made on their instruments; and the GCSE
Drama group performed their devised pieces to an audience with an examiner in its midst. All of these performances went very well and were hugely enjoyable, so the girls involved should be congratulated. We have had some wonderful individual successes in sport this week, with athletes winning medals at county level and great results for county netballers and a club hockey player, but the biggest congratulations go to Amelie who is now European Champion in Street Dance – what an amazing achievement! Well done too to our cricketers who played excellently, but lost by just a few runs on Thursday – given that the sport is very new at Roedean, they should be proud of all the successes they have had, and I know that this disappointment will spur them on in their next match. Good luck for the last week before half-term, especially to those with exams, and I wish you all a wonderful break when it comes.
Amelie’s gone even better – European Champion! We are delighted that Amelie and her crew, Stereoshok, won at the UDO European Street Dance Championships 2016, held in Kalkar, Germany. This means that they are now the U14 Advanced European Street Dance Champions. On top of this, Amelie also won her U14 solo category, and came second in the Advanced U14 duos. What an amazing achievement! Amelie and her crew represented England after winning several regional titles including the Southern Advanced title. She competed over three days in solos, duos, and teams, against the defending champions and crews from all over the continent, some of whom had taken part in their country’s Got Talent show. Follow this link to watch Stereoshok with their winning routine in Germany on 15th May: https://goo.gl/photos/CKNREeyfxQfVKaui8
Are you aware of Positive Mental Health? At Roedean, we certainly are, after our first Positive Mental Health Awareness Week took place this week. We invited a number of external speakers to deliver presentations to our students and staff. All week, there has been a rich variety on offer during lunchtimes and after school, with talks on the history of mental health, positive psychology and exam stress, Mindfulness, and supporting LGBT students. In the evenings, we have had opportunities to take part in yoga, smoothie-making, and rounders for the staff. One lovely aspect of the week was our focus on carrying out random acts of kindness for each other. By Wednesday, it was wonderful to see that our display board had been filled with kindness! (see below, and examples of the postings are on page 6). With mental health issues on the rise among young people today, we feel the programme has been a positive step to breaking down the barriers and stigma associated with mental health – we are determined to make next year’s events even better!
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
20th May 2016 - Issue 6
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.
Claudia TorrasCostafreda (L5) for the huge amount of effort she put into her Biology revision, making excellent progress [PCH]
Eva Fletcher (U3) for performing 2 pieces of a Grade 2 standard on the Oboe at the teatime recital this week, after only 6 lessons! [MTR]
Angus Chan and Annabella Chen (6.2) for entertaining a group of visiting Prep School Heads by playing Debussy and Mozart beautifully on the piano, despite the windy conditions in the Cloisters! [RB]
Amelie Samarasinghe (L4) for showing maturity and kindness when helping a fellow student [GMG]
Alicia Taggart (L5) for reading and giving feedback on 16 books on the SSBA (Southern Schools’ Book Award) long list over the past few months [SBL]
Drama Exam Performances Both the AS and the GCSE Drama courses culminated in the presentation of their performance work to a visiting examiner and large audiences in our Theatre at Roedean, and both evenings proved to be very moving and engaging. On May 10th, the AS group performed When We Were Mothers by Lisa Evans, which was directed by CRI, with Sophia Bartlett underscoring the piece with atmospheric viola music. The play tells three separate stories of motherhood and was an ensemble production, with the girls playing a range of challenging roles. The girls’ emotional conviction certainly touched the audience and several members were seen wiping away tears when the lights came up. The girls then had to switch roles immediately for their monologue performances, and we were treated to a range of characters from different time periods and theatrical styles. On May 18th, the GCSE drama group, led by KLA, presented three devised pieces created in response to the stimulus of Joan Littlewood’s Oh What A Lovely War. The girls wrote and directed the pieces themselves, and all performances were extremely thought-provoking and hard- hitting, showing very imaginative use of drama and theatrical devices. Although nerve-wracking, the girls all agree that this still has to be the best way to be examined in Drama – it is, after all, a subject that can really only be assessed by a live audience!
Mary McHarg (L5)/Darcey Priddle (U3)/Martha Selby (U4)/ Mackenzie Waller (U4) for dressing up wonderfully as the artists presented in Chapel [GRE]
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20th May 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Roedean’s star musicians of the future Monday’s Teatime Recital in Keswick Hall, performed by the vast majority of girls in Years 7 and 8, was a new event for this year and a huge success. It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic the girls were to jump up and perform. The programme was very varied, including many excellent solo and group items performed on a range of instruments including trumpets, clarinets and violins, and the girls showcased their work in the curricular instrumental projects in these year groups and had the opportunity to demonstrate how much progress they have made – some girls performed on three different instruments! There were some lovely vocal solos and a great rendition of “The Cup Song” from the Upper 3 Singers. The finale of “William Tell” involved the whole company of girls playing together, and it was a fantastic way to end the concert. Many thanks to all the girls involved for their hard work and commitment to their instrumental studies, and to the music teachers who helped rehearse and organise the event. In addition, particular thanks must go to Mr Maulkin for his sensitive piano accompaniments and to the catering department for the lovely cake! We look forward to following their musical progress.
Junior Inter-House Rounders On Wednesday afternoon, the Year 7 and 8 girls took part in the annual Junior Inter-House Rounders competition, and each house entered an A team and a B team. All girls played well, despite the windy conditions, and it was really good to see every girl taking part and playing competitively for her house. Team cohesion and sportsmanship were displayed across all four houses, and everyone should be proud of their team’s performance.
Results: A teams B teams Overall 1st
House 3
House 3
House 3
2nd
House 1
House 4
House 1
3rd
House 4
House 1
House 4
4th
House 2
House 2
House 2
Roedean musicians playing in local orchestras
Lucy’s Player of the Year
Over the past weeks, Freya Stewart (L5) has performed in three Festival concerts, starting with the Roedean Fringe Festival Concert. Only a few days later, she and Dora Goode (U5) played in ‘Symphony of a City’ with the Orchestra of Sound and Light at the Dome, which was a wonderful experience. Last weekend, Freya also played in the Brighton Youth Orchestra’s Brighton Festival Concert, with the guest cellist Laura van der Heijden, who was the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2012.
Lucy Petit (U3) has been awarded Junior Hockey Player of the Year at South Downs Hockey Club – congratulations!
A fabulous evening on Brighton Beach We walked down the Roedean Tunnel last Friday and along the undercliff, heading towards the beach. Along the way, we saw a shoal of fish, a little labradoodle enjoying a swim, and the girls chatted and laughed all the way to the beach. When we got there, some girls tried skimming stones, whilst other paddled their toes, but the water was cold! It wasn’t long before Mr and Mrs Chandler arrived with the fish, sausage and chips, followed by ice lollies – delicious, and we were all starving by then too! A really pleasant evening was had by the girls and staff. Page 3
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
20th May 2016 - Issue 6
OR makes cinematographic waves in Cannes The first female-centric film finance initiative, called Boudica, has been launched at the Cannes Film Festival by OR, Rebecca Long (House 4, 1982-91). The initiative, supported by Women in Film & TV (UK), will offer finance for films which fulfil certain criteria, in order to support the growing recruitment of women in the film industry. Boudica, headed by Rebecca Long and Ian Davies, has co-financed seven films, including The Iona Falling.
Parents’ Guild
Boudica will look at the gender of the director, screenwriter, producer and lead protagonists, as well as the overall gender balance of the crew. The aim is to increase the representation of women in the films it supports. Rebecca commented, “Our investors are excited about the ethical implications of financing these films, as well as the commercial possibilities.” Rebecca made the following comment on social media after the story had broken: ‘As I know from my wonderful time at Roedean, when women come together and support each other, it is hugely powerful and positive. Thank you to Roedean and all my friends from Roedean who taught me to respect and love women!’ We all look forward to following Rebecca’s future successes.
The Parents’ Guild works very hard throughout the year to support the school by manning stalls and serving refreshments at school events, in order to raise money which is ploughed back into the school for the girls’ benefit. Recently, we have taken delivery of two out of five beautiful benches which they have purchased for the school, which are in the cloisters – the hope is that the girls will take advantage of them to sit outside to enjoy the summer sunshine. The Parents’ Guild has also bought some outdoor games for the houses, such as giant chess and croquet, and we are expecting them to arrive any day now – they will, no doubt, go down very well as the evenings continue to get warmer. Thank you again to the Parents’ Guild for its efforts – we are very grateful.
Would you sell your soul to the Devil? After Dr Faustus was unexpectedly cancelled two weeks ago, we enjoyed a pleasant hour in the National Gallery, but it wasn’t quite the Kit Harington fix we had been looking forward to. This week, not only were we not disappointed, but the theatre kindly upgraded our seats so that we could enjoy the play from the stalls. Dr Faustus deals with an over-reacher who tries to surpass earthly knowledge; this version updates the message so that we are dealing with the emptiness of celebrity and its accoutrements. Unfortunately, it was not clear how self-aware the production was about parallels, with its lead actor being the main draw for most of its audience, but it was an interesting interpretation, challenging and enjoyed by all. HBO
Netball glory for Amber and Freya Last Sunday, Amber Anning and Freya Finnegan (L5) took part in the Netball South Regional Festival at Chichester University. Here the U16 County Academies from across the South of England battled it out for top honours. With two teams entered, the Sussex netballers played extremely well on their home training courts. Amber’s team ‘Sussex Yellow’ did not drop a game and were the eventual tournament winners, and Freya’s team ‘Sussex Blue’ came third overall, with the same points as the second ranked county, but losing on goal difference. This was an excellent result for Sussex, and for Roedean, and both girls won praise for their game play. Well done to Amber and Freya! Page 4
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Roedean Rocks! As we approach exam season, we are very aware of how our Year 13 are looking outwards to the wider world beyond Roedean. We are confident in their abilities, as well as our own in preparing them for this next step. We wish them all the best of luck! BUT… this is not goodbye. Roedean is more than bricks and mortar, it is more than the beautiful building with seaside views we know so well. When you finish your studies here, you join the broad Roedean Community where former students go on to universities and careers to find themselves sitting next another girl from Roedean, or realise that their new boss was their Head of House! We know your lives will be extraordinary and that you will live them with the values that Roedean instills: ‘Honneur aulx Dignes’. An important initiative that has started this year is Roedean Rocks, a social media group focussed on careers and networking for alumnae. It is not just social chat – the stats are very impressive. The group has grown to 1,300 in just 3 months, a dozen members of Roedean Rocks have returned to school and have so far given talks to 200 of our students on a wide range of subjects, from Basking Sharks to Girls’ Rights on International Women’s Day. We are excited to have two more coming up before the end of term on Stem Cell research by PhD student Stephanie Juniat and ‘How to Bake π’ by the world renowned Dr Eugenia Cheng. This grassroots alumnae support and engagement is vital to the life-blood of the school, and it creates invaluable opportunities for our girls – we are immensely grateful. Why do they do it? Because they too are grateful for the education and experience the school gave them, for the opportunities they enjoyed, and ultimately for where it has got them today. In the true spirit of a Roedeanian, they want to give something back. Former student Sheena Kandhari said: “Attending Roedean, gave me the best foundation for independent living. Through boarding, I established lifelong friendships. I am very grateful to my parents for having sent me there. With the newly founded Roedean Community Network, I am fortunate enough to continue to form new friendships with those who have Roedean rooted in their soul.”
Roedean Rocks looks forward to welcoming all of Year 13 in the next couple of weeks. https://www.facebook.com/ groups/1217913431570510/ Special thanks go to our Alumnae speakers this year: ■■
Beatrix Ong OBE (House 3, 1992-94) Dec 2015
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Clare Prebble (House 4, 1999-2004) Feb 2016
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Seema Sharma (House 1, 1983-85) March 2016
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Miranda Newboult (House 1, 1979-85) March 2016
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Tanya Hardy (House 1, 1983-87) March 2016
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Teresa Outhwaite (House 1, 1985-91) March 2016
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Tracy Coult (House 4, 1982-88) April 2016
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Sophie Louise Bradley (House 1, 2002-07) April 2016
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Alexandra Rock (House 4, 1974-82) May 2016
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Juliet Menager (House 4, 1991-98) May 2016
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Ranjana Appoo (House 4, 1985-88) May 2016
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Becky Profit (House 4, 1985-91) May 2016
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Stephanie Juniat (House 3, 2000-07) June 2016
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Dr Eugenia Cheng (House 4, 1987-94) June 2016
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20th May 2016 - Issue 6
20th May 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
The Headmaster’s Academic Research Project There could not be a better illustration of “an exemplary attitude towards learning” than “strong self-motivation encouraged by excellent individual support” allowing “the more able to make rapid progress” (ISI Inspection 2016). We could not have imagined the diverse range of topics which would be thrown up, but this only happens if you leave the curriculum behind for a minute and allow the students to research whatever they want. These are the topics of the remaining girls on the pilot scheme: Amelie Samarasinghe (Year 8) – The Happiness Project, using a scientific and psychological approach to discovering how best to attain happiness.
Maia Walker (Year 10) – What would happen if there was a nuclear war?, analysing the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse, based on historical evidence.
Isabelle Sembi-Hallam (Year 8) – Fair Trade - So what? Why bother?, looking at why fair trade is better than sweat shops, because it is based on sustainability rather than exploitation.
Mya Roberts (Year 9) – London, exploring the historical factors which have made the UK’s capital such a prominent city globally.
July Liang (Year 11) – Organisms which live at high temperatures, looking at the strategies employed by creatures which thrive at extremes, and how they have evolved.
Alicia Taggart (Year 10) – Reading a horse’s expressions, exploring how a horse can read our emotions, and has 17 facial expressions itself to communicate.
Ksenia Novikova (Year 7) – Where do our thoughts come from?, looking into different ways of thinking, and how perspective can influence this.
Eden Wolfe-Naughton (Year 8) – Old Traditions in the Modern World, asking whether characters like Punch and Judy have made our culture what it is, or whether themes like domestic violence and racism put them at odds with modern values.
Mary McHarg (Year 10) – How to build an Iron Man suit, indulging her passion for comic books, looking at the science behind it and asking how realistic would it be to build one if there were no financial constraints.
Flo Andrews (Year 8) – Roman Women, researching the education of women and the impact this had on their daily lives.
Clara Hollowood (Year 9) – H2OASIS, exploring third world poverty and trying to make a product in hope of ending world hunger and thirst.
Ella Spall (Year 7) – Animal Captivity, researching the effects on animals of being kept in zoos, and how they cope with this unnatural environment.
Thank you to: Here are a few examples of postings on the kindness board.
Ain for sur us with a pprising corsage to retty to May Bwa ear ll
Holly for helping me in chemistry
Page 6
Niah for re with mevising t Miss Harknetor t for all the suppe two and time thes years Sophia for givin me daily hugs g and never leavin g me out
Ms McGuiness for helping me to prepare for my chemistry IGCSE exam Yevgeniya a d Natalie for venry kindly brin g me a tasty sngianck to thank me for my support
Ella for being such a great moral support during our GCSEs
Mrs Swa thinking of lems for bringing me lie and jelly – my favo me urite! helping Darcey fohr all of me wit and my revisionress exam st
Ksenia for lending me a pencil in study period
My friends for always bringing me up when I’m down
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
20th May 2016 - Issue 6
Inspiration – from double lung transplant to Marathon The Sports Academy welcomed guest speaker Amanda Chalmers to talk this week, a continuation of our theme of motivation and goal-setting which started the week before. Amanda has an incredible life story and journey, throughout all of which returning to participating in sport has been her inspiration and motivation. Amanda was born with Cystic Fibrosis which affected her growth and development, especially her lung capacity and efficiency. She never let this stop her though and, around her long hospital stays, she took part in her games lessons and represented her school and club as much as possible. Unfortunately when travelling abroad, Amanda caught a chest infection that quickly deteriorated and left a keen sportswoman dependent on an oxygen tank 24 hours a day. Sadly her condition worsened and Amanda was hospitalised, connected to oxygen, and fed through a tube, and on the donors list for a double lung transplant.
After a long and hard period in hospital, Amanda received her new lungs and with it a new lease of life. She once again had something to aim for, her carrots, as she called them. First it was to learn to walk again, then to walk up stairs, after that to cycle and run. Finally it was to finish something she had signed up to two years previously – complete the Brighton Half Marathon… and she did. She finished in a very respectable 6 hours, raising both money and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. With this carrot, or goal achieved, Amanda set her sights on returning to play hockey and representing Brighton and Hove Hockey Club in goal. She still does this to this day and what a fearless and able goal keeper she is, a true inspiration to the entire club. The transplant games next year also await her, we look forward to hearing how she does and wish her the best of luck. We hope her goal-setting, determination, and positive outlook on life helps to inspire our scholars to set high sporting goals and achieve them.
Athletics teams at K2 The Intermediate and Junior Athletics teams travelled to K2 in Crawley this week, to compete in the Sussex round of the Track and Field Cup. This is an interesting competition, as each team is only allowed to enter a maximum of 12 girls, each of whom have to enter 2 events, one on the track and one in the field. Each performer gains points for their school, and the top school goes through to the next round. The Juniors started on the track and the girls did us proud, with wins from Tatum Walker, Gracie Bernard, Adaeze Onyejekwe, Sophia Clyde, Ruby Anning, and a 2nd place from Alys Dunne – overall, we were in 2nd by the lunch break. The Intermediate team were placed 3rd at lunch after the field events, with outstanding performances from Amber Anning, Freya Finnegan, and Pippa Wilmott. The afternoon was just as exciting and the Juniors performed well in the field.
The Intermediates also ran well on the track, and Amber Anning smashed the field in the 300 metres, gaining 33 points. The Juniors continued strongly and solid placements by most athletes meant that we were strong contenders going into the relay. Page 7
Unfortunately, the girls were disqualified for a late change-over, which put us 7 points behind Dorothy Stringer. It was an amazing achievement by our Junior team, who have great promise for next year.
20th May 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
An impressive medal haul for Roedean athletes
There were County Athletics Championships taking place all over the UK last weekend, and we are delighted that Roedean athletes were particularly successful. In the Surrey County Athletics Championships held at Kingston, Ada Onyejekwe ran 28.51 seconds over 200 metres, to take the Silver medal in the U13 girls’ race, and added a Bronze medal in the 100 metres, with a terrific time of 13.72 seconds into a headwind. Roedean had three athletes competing in the County Track & Field Championships in Brighton, with Ruby Anning, Amber Pennington, and Amber Anning all producing great results. Ruby was the joint winner of the U13 girls’ Minithon title, which combined a jump, a run, and a throw, the three elements of athletics. More than forty of the best young athletes took part in this multi-event competition, and Ruby set personal bests in the Long Jump (4.30m) and Discus (17.96m), and ran the fastest 150m
time of the day, to score 70 points and become joint County Champion with an athlete from Horsham. At the same event, Amber Pennington, last year’s Sussex U15 champion, made the podium, winning a bronze medal in the U17 Javelin. Amber Anning, Ruby’s older sister, won the U17 300 metres title, with a Championship Best Performance of 39.51 seconds (only Amber herself has run faster over this distance this year), and she also went on to win the much shorter sprint distance of 100 metres in a time of 12.31 seconds. Congratulations to all these athletes on their outstanding achievements!
Great victories over local rivals for Junior Rounders teams On Saturday the 14th May, Roedean hosted an U14 and U15 A and B team Rounders tournament, attended by Brighton College, Mayfield, Burgess Hill, and Lancing. Roedean U15A team put in an incredibly strong performance, coming in second with a total of 25 points, narrowly missing out to Mayfield’s total of 26 points. It was a strong performance from all, with good wins over both the A and B teams from Brighton College and Lancing. The Roedean A team beat Brighton College A and the Roedean B team played very well, including one of the catches of the tournament, with a particularly good performance and victory over Lancing. The U14B Roedean girls went on to beat Brighton College A and B teams, and also had outstanding performances against Mayfield and Burgess Hill, meaning that we placed well in the tournament. Overall, this was a great tournament where many students excelled themselves and represented the school to the highest standard. Well done to all involved!
JJ WHAT’S
COMING UP IN THE WEEK AHEAD?
Cricket’s going very well at Roedean Yesterday, the Roedean U13 cricket team played against Bede’s in an important match that may determine who will go through to the Sussex semi-finals. Roedean batted very well against a strong bowling attack, conceding only 1 wicket in the innings. With a strong batting finish, Roedean scored 62 runs. Bede’s then started their batting innings strongly, scoring very quickly, however, with some good bowling
by Alice Eltringham, Poppy Townsend, and Sophia Clyde, Bede’s were put on the back foot, making it a tense finish. In the final over, Bede’s needed 6 runs from the over; in the final two balls, Bede’s made the total, winning by 4 runs. This match was an excellent advert for the game, with both sides playing some very good cricket. Thank you to parents, pupils and staff for coming down to support. ACA
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: news@roedean.co.uk Page 8
Sun 22 May
Big Steam Print, 2pm-2.50pm
Tue 24 May
U3 Geography fieldwork, Black Rock Beach
Thu 26 May
L5 Geography fieldtrip, Stanmer Park
Fri 27 May
6.2 Leavers’ Celebration Breakfast 6.2 Leavers’ Chapel & Handshaking U4 Geography fieldwork, Black Rock Beach HALF TERM HOLIDAY STARTS 6.2 Leavers’ Ball
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