Head's Weekly Review - Summer Issue 4

Head’s Introduction

Last week’s Brighton Festival Fringe concert was really superb – it was such a pleasure to sit in the audience in our Chapel, and watch so many talented musicians. And that wasn’t just the soloists, because the choir and orchestra were brilliant too. The repertoire was exciting and challenging, and it was clear that our players were more than up to it! Congratulations to the Music Department and everyone involved in such an impressive concert.

The Dance Showcase on Wednesday included nineteen acts, which covered a range of styles, from hip hop to classical ballet, to contemporary and jazz. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the performers were clearly loving the experience, and the full audience in the Theatre was very appreciative. The finale was the culmination of the day’s Bollywood workshops, with the whole of Year 8 on stage, and lots of audience participation too. I was again impressed by our students’ range of talents, and their readiness to take on the challenge of performing something that they had just learnt that day.

I would like to congratulate Jasmine in Year 9, who is performing at the highest level in ShowJumping, recently representing Great Britain at two international competitions. Last week, she won an individual competition in Austria as a GB rider, which is an outstanding achievement –congratulations!

Today, we bid a formal farewell to our Year 13s, as they go on Study Leave to prepare for their public examinations. They enjoyed a lovely breakfast, including some speeches, followed by photographs in the Cloisters, and their Leavers’ Chapel service. It has been a lovely day, and I wish them all well, both for their examinations over the next month, and beyond.

I am looking forward to welcoming prospective families to our Open Day tomorrow – thank you in advance for the role you will all play in making this day such a success. Good luck to all those who have GCSEs and A Levels next week, and good luck also to the 159 students in Years 9 and 10, who have their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver expeditions this weekend. Good luck everyone!

International ShowJumping Victory for Jasmine

Congratulations to Jasmine in Year 9, who has been show-jumping for Great Britain at two Nations Cup international events, the first in Compiegne, France, competing for the British Children on Horses team, and then in Lamprechtausen, Austria, as an individual British athlete.

In France, Jasmine opened her first international class with a double clear round, which meant that she proceeded to the team competition on the second day, and the British team finished in 7th place overall.

In the second competition in Austria, she and her horse were in great form, despite the exhausting journey from France. They opened day one with a superb individual 2nd place, and Jasmine then went on to win second day's individual 'against the clock' speed class, competing against the best Children on Horses combinations from across Europe!

It was a world-class competing experience, and it is just unbelievably brilliant that Jasmine has won a competition for Great Britain in her first international event!

Well done, Jasmine – we cannot wait to hear about future successes!

Mrs Shrubsole

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.

Mr Woodhouse –for a fascinating lecture on ‘Language Change and its relationship to Different Generations’, which the students truly enjoyed, sparking very interesting conversations! [Ms Ibanez]

– for making the most amazing birthday cakes for three ORs celebrating their 80th birthdays with a visit to the School

Emily and Jasmine (Yr12) – for setting up a Psychology Society, which had its first session this week [Maria (Yr12)]

Mrs Sambrook

[Ms Ellis]

Year 8 Photographic Collage

This term, Year 8 have been exploring the theme of portraits, and manipulating images through digital and physical processes. They have produced some wonderful results – this example is by Izzy. Well done, Year 8!

Glittering Results for the Junior Maths Challenge

Year 9 Maths Picinc

On Thursday, six Year 9 students travelled to Brighton and Hove Girls' School to take part in a regional Mathematics competition for girls, organised by the AMSP.

Fourteen teams pitted their wits against each other to solve a variety of mathematical and logical puzzles. Our students showed excellent teamworking and problem-solving skills: Chloe, Michelle, and Zyta came joint 3rd, and Charlize, Chloe, and Chloe were hot on their heels in joint 4th place. That's right, three Chloes – what are the chances of that?

Congratulations to everyone who took part.

Congratulations to all those who took part in the Junior Maths Challenge – the results have just been published, and our students are celebrating some amazing successes.

Special congratulations go to Regina and Koi, who have scored sufficiently highly to qualify for the Junior Kangaroo, which is the followon round – well done!

Year 7

■ Silver Awards: Janice and Katherine

■ Bronze Awards: Gladys, Ying, and Dayspring

Year 8

■ Gold Awards: Regina and Koi

■ Silver Awards: Kathy, Molly, Ruth, Evelyn, and Guoer

■ Bronze Awards: Izzy, Gabriella, Almen, Sabrina, and Sofia

Mrs Hopper

Mrs Alexander

Mrs Hopper

4th Place

3rd Place

Dance Showcase and Bollywood

Nineteen acts entered the Dance Showcase, and it was wonderful to see the range of styles on show. I also particularly enjoyed the fact that new dancers were on stage alongside more experienced performers – this experience allows the different performers to learn from each other, and this is exactly how dancers develop their skills.

The first performance was a contemporary dance by Juha and Tiffany (Yr12) to Lovely, and it was a highly expressive piece to open the show. The next piece was Opportunity, a lyrical piece performed by Florence in Year 7, and it was stunning, In a change of styles, the next piece was from Coppélia – Megs danced this classical ballet piece excellently, and she demonstrated beautiful lines, and she also danced en pointe.

Chloe and Jasmine (Yr9) presented a commercial street dance duet, to Who’s that Chick? – it was wonderful, and they enjoyed rapturous applause from the audience. The next piece was Borealis, a beautiful piece of contemporary ballet, performed by Luciana in Year 7.

The next piece has been prepared by Galina and Isabella for their GCSE – Night Time is a contemporary piece, which reflects the different stages of sleep. This was followed by an excellent hip-hop dance, performed by Georgia and Yasmin (Yr7), which led straight into Dandelions, presented by Livvy and Henrietta (Yr7).

Tough Lover, danced by Cherrie in Year 10, was a spectacular jazz show dance, with a strong finish. It was great! The next piece was Turn Up the Base, performed by Elisabeth. They both presented strong performances, followed by Driving Just to Drive, by Charlie (Yr9). It was stunning power – it was so expressive, a blend of power and grace.

Greta and Jolie in Year 7 then performed Somewhere Only We Know – it was both lyrical and fast-paced. This was followed by a street dance performance of One Two Step by Mimi and Bobby (Yr9), who have quite recently started dancing, and it was brilliant!

Molly and Lucy (Yr8) performed ballet to Million Reasons, and their synchronicity was fantastic. In an Emergency was a GCSE contemporary piece, performed by Galina, Isabella, and Alison (Yr11) – the interplay between the dancers was impressive, as was their story-telling. The next piece was Whitney Houston's iconic I Have Nothing – Aya (Yr7) presented a contemporary dance, with great spins and timing.

As a last hurrah to her dancing career at Roedean, Helen in Year 13 performed the Spanish variation of Coppélia, and she most definitely captured the Hispanic feel with her flamenco-inspired dress and fan.

Summertime Sadness was the next piece, which was contemporary dance performed brilliantly by Lois and Coco in Year 8. In start contrast, India (Yr11) performed some street dance to Beggin', and her experience was clear and she communicated well with the audience.

The last piece of the Showcase was Trust –Charlie, Charlotte, Jasmine (Yr9) performed this street dance piece excellently, and it was characterised by strong attitude and perfect timing. Overall, it was wonderful to see so many styles and performers from across the agerange.

The performance ended with the whole of Year 8 on stage, ready to show off what they had learnt during the day in their Bollywood workshops. As ever, Kalpesh had done a brilliant job, and it was clear that the students were having a great time. He also managed to get everyone in the audience on their feet and dancing too, but special mention goes to Mr Halsey, the Head of Year 8, who was up on stage and throwing himself into the moves!

Well done to everyone who was involved, and to Miss Abaza who pulled the show together.

Dr Barrand

Soloists Raise the Chapel Roof!

Four remarkable musicians relished the wonderful opportunity to perform a solo movement with full orchestra, in the second half of our annual Brighton Festival Fringe concert in the Chapel. What a privilege it was to hear such talented musicians.

Alma in Year 13 sang Blute Nur from Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and her lyrical Soprano voice shone out in the Chapel’s lovely acoustic.

Natalie, who is only in Year 8, demonstrated a prodigious talent, performing the virtuosic Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate – she showed complete mastery of her instrument, and exuded confidence throughout.

Bernice in Year 10 then played the slow movement from Shostakovich‘s Piano Concerto No.2, performing beautifully on the School’s new Steinway Model B Grand Piano – she captured the soulful, melancholic tone wonderfully.

The last piece was a movement from Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto in F# minor, which was performed by Karena in Year 13 – the Double Bass ordinarily has few opportunities to shine, so it was lovely to hear it played so beautifully and with such panache!

Congratulations to all four of our soloists!

Brighton Festival Fringe

Dido and Aeneas at Roedean

This year’s Brighton Festival Fringe concert featured a semi-staged performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Performing this baroque work is particularly pertinent, since one of its first showings was at Joisias Priest’s Girls’ School in Chelsea in 1688. Dido and Aeneas represents the first performance of an opera at Roedean for a good number of years, and it was a fantastic spectacle –congratulations to everyone involved!

The opera boasts nine soloists, all of whom were outstanding, led by the tragic heroine, Dido, Queen of Carthage, sung by Alma in Year 13. They were ably supported throughout by the Roedean Choir, made up of students, and members of staff and the local community. The story centres around the conflict between destiny and desire.

Alma performed her tragic role with great skill, her voice conveying the pathos of her situation brilliantly – she has fallen in love with Aeneas, but he abandons her. Dido’s arias showcase the soprano’s full vocal range, and the rich tone of Alma’s voice lent itself perfectly to this role. Her final aria, featuring the famous repeated ‘Remember me’ sequence, was exquisite.

Dido’s lover, Aeneas, was played by Ellen, and the interaction between the two characters captured their doomed relationship well. Ella played the role of Belinda, Dido’s sister, and she mastered the expressive, fast-moving passages with ease, and this was complemented strongly by Candis, who performed the role of 2nd woman.

In the woods, Dido is tricked by the Sorceress and two witches. Kaitlin’s characterisation as the Sorceress was brilliant and highly evocative, and the vocal interplay between Alissandra and Grace was perfectly timed. The remaining two roles of Spirit and Sailor were performed by Alice and Galina, and both displayed great confidence and skill. These five characters all have key roles to play in moving the story forward to its tragic conclusion.

The School’s musicians were not only represented by singers, because the String Orchestra and Harpsichord play throughout the opera, and baroque music is characterised by few breaks and lots of repeated sections, meaning that the players need to be focused from the start to the finish. These musicians represent the foundations of the music, and they should be congratulated on executing their role so well, led by Ms Bartlette, and directed by Mr Rous. Thank you also to Georgia Bishop, who directed the opera; it was clear that the performers responded excellently to her.

The opera was a triumph, and congratulations go to everyone involved – bravo!

Dr Barrand

This Week in Boarding...

Roedean really got into the spirit for the Coronation over this past week! Quintessentially British tea parties were held in House 1 and Lawrence – there were cream teas, egg and (home-grown) cress sandwiches, pork pies, cupcakes, trifle, cheesecake, and more! The House staff put together a beautiful spread of food for the occasion.

Themed bakes were made in House 4, with crown cookies decorated by the girls. House 4 also celebrated National Lemonade Day on Sunday. House 1 spent Tuesday evening flipping pancakes, and then enjoying them with various toppings.

As the weather warms up, we look forward to making the most of our beautiful school site, and soaking up the sunshine. What will next week have in store?

Miss Roe

U12C Cricket vs Brighton Girls U15A Cricket Win vs Burgess Hill

On Wednesday, the U12C team jumped on the bus to head round the corner to our neighbours, Brighton Girls. This was our second match of the season, and an opportunity to play the BG squad again. We beat them by 5 runs two weeks ago, so we were gunning to take another victory.

Losing the toss, and fielding first, Amyra and Ying opened the bowling. Stand out performances for fielding go to Katherine for her 2 run over, Joy and Bella for their two wickets, and Ying for her wicket and excellent intensity in the field. We managed to keep BG down to a 299 total for us to chase.

Captain Georgie and Tilly opened the batting, with the team facing lots of wides and no balls, making runs really tough to get. Bella, Alma, Katherine, Tilly, Georgie, and Sofiia managed to hit a few 4s, which was great to see, but, with not much time to go, we finshed the innings with 289, just 10 runs short of the win.

It was another good performance from the squad, but we still have lots to work on to improve. Congratulations to Georgie, for being named Fielder of the Game, and to Ying for being named both Batter and Coach's Player of the Game. Well done team!

Miss Bamford

The U15A Cricketers played Burgess Hill Girls on Tuesday, and, with it, secured their first win of the season.

It was an important game to win, with the potential to keep us in contention for the Sussex League Cup. Burgess Hill won the toss and elected to bowl first, much to the glee of openers Orla and Eloise, who, although on a very slow outfield, quickly racked up the runs. Orla managed to retire on 40, and Eloise scored 20 before getting out. Saffron, Grace, Lydia, and Dot all followed, adding 24 more runs off the bat. The final score was 157/3 off our 20 overs.

Feeling confident, the team warmed up and headed back out to bowl. Tilly opened the bowling, and got three wickets in her first over and one in her fourth. Mia took another quick wicket, and the fielders played their part by running the rest of the team out.

Burgess Hill finished on 52 all out in 11 overs. This was a great win for the team.

U12E Cricket vs Great Walstead U13D

The Roedean U12Es travelled to Great Walstead on Wednesday for their first ever match against Great Walstead's U13Ds.

The girls won the toss and batted first. The day started sunny, and Captain Jemima hit 3 spectacular 4s in the first 9 balls! The sky then turned dark and the girls were hit with a hail storm, followed by heavy rain that thankfully didn't last long, and play resumed on the astro.

Unfortunately, the girls lost by 11 runs in a close game, but there were still some stand-out performances. Farah prevented several 4s with some excellent fielding, and Sara was selected by the opposition as our Bowler and Batter of the Match.

Well done, Team Roedean – you did us proud!

U14Tennis vs Lingfield

Captain Darcey, with tennis partner Elisabeth, led the Roedean tennis team versus Lingfield. Alongside them, Anna was partnered with Lucie, and Lucia with Ava.

Sport Stars of the Week

Congratulations to this week's Sports Stars!

Miss Kirby-Jones

Year 7

Jolie and Greta, for super commitment to Sea Swimming

Year 8

Lucy, for her great performance in Sea Swimming

Year 9 Kylie, for wonderful progress in Tennis

Year 9 Kelly, for progress and engagement in Athletics

Year 10 Rose, for her ongoing commitment to Swimming

Mr Pocklington

Each of the three teams had an opportunity to play their respective Lingfield team. Each team played their opponents for 15 minutes, and, at the end of this time, the final scores were collated.

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: aws@roedean.co.uk

Roedean played well, and there were some moments of excellent tennis. Despite an 8-4 loss overall, there was some really promising tennis and wonderful team camaraderie.

Miss Marek

Miss Kirby-Jones