Heads Review - 2024 Issue 14

HEAD’S REVIEW

Head’s Introduction

Our Year 13s begin their study leave today, as their A Level examinations approach – they have enjoyed their last day all together at Roedean, with a celebratory breakfast this morning, lots of photos in the sunshine, and their Leavers’ Chapel, where they reminisced about their time at School. We all wish them the best of luck – and we look forward to celebrating their successes at Speech Day and on Results’ Day, and beyond.

Yesterday evening’s charity event was fantastic – 49 students and staff, mostly from Year 9, dropped 165 metres from Brighton's i360. Nerves, excitement, screaming, and relief at the bottom were all very much in evidence, but there was also a strong sense of a collective endeavour, with lots of parents and guardians cheering at the bottom. Well done to everyone involved, and the fundraising total for the Year 9 charity, Raystede, is outstanding – £10,889!

It was great to welcome families looking at entry into Year 7 this afternoon. Our visitors toured the School, seeing the running of a normal day, including lessons, the lambs on the Farm during Wild Fridays, and Cricket down on the fields. Thank you to everyone involved in this important day.

I hope you all enjoy a lovely weekend, and good luck again to the Year 13s!

49 Take on the iDrop for Charity

Roedean's Brighton Festival Fringe Concert

Romantic Poets in the Wild!

As part of their Romantic poetry revision for the upcoming assessments, my Year 8 class set off out in the wilds to visit nature, hug trees, and feel small moments of joy in our beautiful grounds. This was followed by a chance to channel our own inner Wordsworths, and write our very own Romantic poetry!

Ms Shillito

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.

Eva and Onose (Yr12) – for delivering two fantastic Academic Lectures on 'Exploring Representations of Leda and the Swan Through Time' and 'The Psychology behind Politics and Law' – really well done! [Ms Ibanez-Barcelo]

Good Luck, Year 11s

Year 7 and 8 have been writing good luck cards to our Year 11 students ahead of exam season. They received them on Friday night at their dinner dance.

House Science –a Win for House 4

This year's House Science competition was launched as part of British Science Week back in March. The Houses were tasked with creating a short film about anything to do with science. Students were encouraged to think about aspects of science that they found interesting, and to plan, film, and edit a 3-minute film.

The Houses submitted their films, which were then edited together and showcased in the Theatre on Friday 3 May, with members of the Science Faculty acting as judges. The judges were looking for creativity, scientific accuracy, and cinematography!

All the Houses rose to the challenge, and each of the films stood out in its own way. The judges decided that the prize for creativity

went to House 4, House 1 won for scientific accuracy, and House 3's film was the most cinematographic. A special mention goes to House 2 for their comedic interpretation, thanks to the creation of their very own puppets!

Overall the final prize went to House 4, with House 2 coming a very close second.

Thank you so much to our amazing House teams for embracing the challenge and really getting involved.

Mrs Bond

Year 12 CAP Finale

The Year 12 Community Action Programme (CAP) concluded last week, with student presentations about the outreach and community-based projects that they have undertaken over the Autumn and Spring Terms.

In total, we had 12 different groups taking part in a variety of projects and placements, with a focus on community-based service, gaining skills, developing teamwork and offering support to others.

CAP this year has involved students going to places such as Chailey Heritage Foundation, The Somerset Centre, St Mark's, and Saltdean Primary School, as well as some communitybased projects in and around Roedean, including our Community Cooking group who have supported Off the Fence with their weekly culinary creations.

The Community Music group have provided music workshops at local primary schools, and our Junior Roedean Academy groups delivered enrichment sessions to almost 120 Year 5 and 6 primary school pupils. In addition to this, our BSL group have made visits to Bevendean Primary School in order to support deaf children and children with hearing impairments, whilst our Language Pathway Group have delivered cultural workshops at several primary schools. Our Community Art group has led a ceramics

project at St Mark's, so that the Year 2 and 3 children can display their artwork in a local art trail at Elderflower Fields, and another of our groups has supported the Rocking Horse Children’s charity. Galina and Fleur took on the challenge of forming a choir at St Mark's, where they taught the Year 5 children a selection of songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. These songs were performed at a celebration assembly before Easter, with the parents of the singers invited to watch – it was a very moving experience!

A personal highlight for me this year was the afternoon tea party that we hosted for members of the Somerset Centre, with the catering being undertaken by our Community Cooking Group and the entertainment being provided by our Music Group – the event was a huge success, and enjoyed by both the Rodean students and the elderly members of the Somerset Centre in equal measure. It was lovely to see the different generations interacting with each other and smiling together. This event really emphasised the mutual benefit of our CAP Partnerships and the importance of community outreach projects such as this.

The CAP Exhibition last Wednesday enabled students to reflect on these experiences, and on their personal growth as they shared their CAP programme highlights, the challenges they had faced, and a summary of the skills that they have learned during the two terms.

It was evident from the excellent presentations and self-reflection questionnaire that this has been a highly positive experience for Year 12 and very worthwhile. They have developed lots of personal skills and many life skills, including teamwork, leadership, resilience, empathy, and communication.

The two quotations below highlight the huge benefit of the CAP Programme to both our

students and local community:

'Running the choir at St Mark's has taught me how to utilise teamwork and leadership together to create a safe and productive rehearsal space. I've learnt so much about me and others in the process.' – Galina.

'At the Somerset Centre, we are very grateful to have been included in the CAP programme this year. It has been rewarding to have your students working with our own staff, and their contribution has been much valued. Our older people particularly looked forward to and enjoyed their friendly, helpful and lively support. Engagement with young people is so valuable for older people, especially if they have been experiencing social isolation and low selfesteem.

During the CAP Exhibition, I was struck by the girls' perceptive comments about working with older people. I was also much impressed by the realism and maturity of what all the group presentations had to report in their reflections.

Our members, the older people at the Somerset Centre, look forward to future sessions with your students, and our staff report to me that they found the students to be a credit to your school.' – Mr Barry (Trustee and Chair of the Management Committee at The Somerset Centre)

Congratulations to all of Year 12 for engaging with the programme so successfully. They have been fantastic ambassadors for Roedean, and great role models to the younger primary school children they have worked with. Many thanks to the CAP Mentors and staff who have supported the students so enthusiastically each week, and provided so many fantastic learning opportunities.

Miss Kelsey

Roedean's Brighton Festival Fringe Concert

All Saints Church in Hove was the perfect replacement for our own Chapel for last week’s annual, highly-acclaimed Brighton Festival Fringe Concert. This event provides some of our most accomplished musicians with the exciting opportunity to perform solo concerto movements or operatic arias with full orchestra, and the Church was a lovely venue for this. Six incredibly talented musicians performed solos in the first half of the programme, and this was complemented in the second half by two choral pieces with orchestra.

Not only did the Church look beautiful, the acoustics were excellent, and our musicians really enjoyed the experience. Ella (Yr12) and Niamh (Yr13) each performed an aria from a Mozart opera, and their incredibly impressive runs and top notes soared around the high, vaulted ceiling. Both singers captured the drama of their pieces, from Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, and were remarkably accomplished. Niamh and Ella both demonstrated precise diction, a lovely dynamic range, and were wonderfully expressive in their presentation.

Hearing a harp played exceptionally well is extraordinary. So, to hear a student in Year 10, Vanessa, demonstrating amazing skill and dexterity on this unusual instrument was an absolute privilege. She played all three movements of Handel’s Concerto for Harp –her performance was outstanding, and it was mesmerising to watch her fingers dancing over the strings. Alissandra in Year 13 played the first movement of Mozart’s third Violin Concerto – she played with great confidence and it was clear that she was in complete control of her instrument. Her cadenza was particularly impressive, showcasing the Violin wonderfully.

The other two soloists played Piano Concerto movements – Galina in Year 12 played the iconic slow movement from Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto, and Zyta in Year 10 performed a movement from Clara Schumann’s beautiful, but often overlooked, Piano Concerto. Both are Romantic pieces, with sumptuous slow sections and dramatic changes of tempo – they require great confidence and skill on the part of the soloist to hold a note just long enough before moving on, and all this with the entire orchestra waiting to move at the same time. Both performances were hugely impressive.

In the second half, the choir sang Bernstein’s famous and very challenging Chichester Psalms, concluding with Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, all accompanied by full orchestra, included a supercharged percussion section! Not only is the music itself challenging in Bernstein’s piece, but there is the added difficulty of singing in Hebrew – that said, the choir coped brilliantly well. There were a number of solo elements in both pieces, but Charlie in Year 10 sang the stunningly beautiful solo in the

second movement of the Chichester Psalms – it is definitely in my top 10 favourite pieces of all time, and she sang it brilliantly.

It was lovely to feel the joy of the performers in their music-making – there were nerves, but there was also a tangible sense of enjoyment in performing together. The composer, Sally Beamish, who lives locally and was one of our speakers at this year’s International Women’s Day festival, was in the audience: ‘Congratulations on a really impressive showcase – the instrumental soloists were remarkably accomplished, and it was wonderful to hear so many truly gorgeous voices emerging in both halves of the concert!’

Congratulations to Mr Rous and Ms Bartlette, as well as to all the musicians who took part. Thank you also to everyone behind the scenes who had a key part to play in ensuring that the concert was such a success!

Dr Barrand

49 Take on the iDrop for Charity

Congratulations to all those Year 9 students and members of staff who took on the challenge last night to drop out of the iconic i360 on Brighton's seafront – what an amazing experience!

Our year-group charity is the local animal sanctuary, Raystede, and I am so proud of everyone who chose to take part in this personal challenge to raise valuable funds for this local charity – well done!

The current total of funds raised is £10,889.

The is simply remarkable – wow!

Mr De Costa

Year 13s Go on Study Leave

U18 and U15 Tennis vs Mayfield

We took our U15 squad team and six U18s to play against Mayfield on Monday. It was a glorious sunny day, perfect for Tennis.

The U15s were playing their 2nd league match, whereas the U18s were playing a friendly match. The U15s won convincingly – they all won their singles and doubles matches, which meant the overall score was 12-0 to Roedean. If we win our final league match, we will go through to the next round of the competition and be in the regional rounds. The scores were as follows:

■ Singles: Betsy 6-0, Ruby 6-0, Amelie 6-3, Miranda 6-0

■ Doubles: Betsy and Ruby 6-1, Amelia and Miranda 6-3

The U18 team was a mixture of four Year 12s and two Year 10s. They played doubles, and looked to be having a great time. Although Mayfield dominated and won quite a few of the matches, there were some good games being played. Holly and Maya almost won one of their matches, but it ended 6-5 to Mayfield. It was lovely to see them playing in some competitive matches against another school and having fun whilst doing so.

Miss Patching-Jones

U15B XI Batted by Brilliant Ardingly Batters

The U15B XI played against Ardingly College and were looking to see where their cricket was in this first game of the season. Roedean won the toss and elected to bowl first.

The Ardingly openers took to their role, and played some brilliant cricket shots to keep the run rate ticking over and ensure a large total would be needed. One of their openers got 50 runs and was retired, with the other still on over 30. The biggest run scorer was however the 'extras', with a lack of consistent bowling from the Roedean bowlers. Ardingly finished on 180 in their 20 overs, with Roedean needing to get 181 to win.

Sienna and Chloe opened for Roedean, and saw the score hit 28 for the loss of 1 wicket, and the run-rate looking on par to chase 181. Subsequently, it was a case of consistently losing wickets which stifled the Roedean batters, as they were not able to get in and spend time at the wicket to build a partnership. Roedean ended on 96 all out, falling 84 runs short.

Mr Campleman

U13C Cricket Continue their Winning Ways

For the second time this season, the U13C cricketers played Brighton College, this time travelling away to play. When arriving, we were faced by an opposition rather depleted in numbers, so, after offering some substitute fielders, we got started.

Roedean batted first and did a great job of getting runs on the board. Although we lost

more wickets this time, we still scored plenty of runs. The top scorers with the bat from their 4 overs were Georgie (13) and Eva (19). At the end of our 20 overs batting, we had managed to post 328 runs. We knew that the pitch's varied bounce meant that we needed to bowl straight to bring the wickets into play. The bowling this week was great, and there were far fewer extras than last time, and 30 less than our opposition.

Stand-out performances came from Florence, for getting 2 wickets for just 12 runs. In the end, Brighton managed to score 288 sending us away as winners.

Well done to Georgie and Ezzie who were named Opposition's MVPs.

Miss Kirby-Jones

Year 7 and 8 Football Tournament

On Wednesday, we hosted a Year 7/8 football tournament, with Patcham High School making the journey to us.

We played a four team, seven-a-side tournament, with a Year 7 and a Year 8 team representing us. Both groups worked extremely hard, with stand out performances from Ore in goal for the Year 7 team, whilst Paloma in Year 8 scored the only goal for both Roedean teams. Patcham had some very good players, but, as usual, every Roedean student gave their absolute all and did not give up.

If you are keen to play more football, please sign up for Football as a Co-Curricular activity on Wednesdays, in Activity 1 or 2 on the hockey astro.

Mr Foggoa

Historic Home Hardball Cricket Match for the U12As

The U12A had their first T20 match of the season at Roedean, and, after some good preparation, they went into the match determined to play well. Roedean won the toss and chose to bat, with Sophia and Heidi opening up. The partnership lasted 9 balls before Heidi was bowled by a good straight delivery. The innings struggled to get going, with partnerships not lasting long and with some good straight bowling. Mabel and Isabelle finally stabilised the innings and were ticking along nicely, running between the wickets well. Maisa came in next, after Isabelle was caught, and continued to build the score towards a hundred. Roedean were bowled out for 79 off the second last ball of the innings, with Brighton needing 80 runs for victory.

Betsy and Heidi opened the bowling, and did an exceptional job, only going for 11 runs in their two overs each. During that time, the fielders backed up the bowlers by taking 6 run outs and really putting the Brighton batters under pressure. Roedean looked in control and pushed for more wickets. However, Brighton managed to stabilise their innings, just like Roedean had, and were ticking along nicely towards the target. Roedean managed to take a few more wickets, but an excellent partnership between the number 9 and 10 batters saw them home with 4.3 overs to go. Brighton won by 2 wickets, and next week's rematch at Brighton should be an enticing encounter!

Mr Campleman

U13C Cricket vs Brighton College

U15A Football vs Burgess Hill Academy

On Thursday, we hosted another Football fixture, this time against Burgess Hill Academy, in a 9-a-side fixture. It was time for Year 9/10s to have their fixture with lots of excitement in the air.

The game started in a cagey manner, with a few too many mistakes, but the team stuck in there. Big defensive performances from Flo in goal and defenders Abbie and Anya were important. Burgess Hill scored two quick goals in succession, then the Roedean team took control of the game and had more attacking opportunities.

The team was on a counter-attack, when Molly was taken out when running in on goal, and we were awarded a penalty. Unfortunately, the shot went wide of the mark so we went into half time two down.

Half time was a time for regrouping and getting fired up for the second half. It worked, with the team having the majority of possession and having lots of chances, but Burgess Hill hit us on the counter to go three up. Nevertheless, there was fightback from everyone and Harriet quickly scored a goal to bring to scoreline back to two. Unfortunately time ran away from the team, and the full-time result was 3-1. Overall, it was a great game with lots learnt ready for the next football fixture against Cardinal Newman on 16 May.

Mr Foggoa

Karate Grading for Phoebe

and Bea

Phoebe and Bea in Year 7 have recently had their karate grading and both achieved their Yellow belts. Phoebe wrote: 'In my karate grading, I did a cater which is a series of different punches and kicks, and some sparing which is when you fight in a controlled way, Then I did some simple but crucial punches and kicks, and it then ended with 25 round house kicks on each leg and 15 burpees!' Well done, Phoebe and Bea! Miss Bamford

We welcome contributions from all parts of the Roedean community. If you have something you would like featured in the Head’s Weekly Review, please email: aws@roedean.co.uk

Sport Stars of the Week

Well done to this week's Sports Stars! Mr Campleman

Year 7

Lily, for excellent attitude and effort in all PE lessons this term

Year 8

Farah, for excellent effort and progress in Sea Swimming this term

Year 9

Elizabeth, for superb progress in athletics and effort in PE lessons this term

Year 10

Romey, for a fantastic attitude and commitment to PE this term

Year 12

Zara, for consistent effort and attitude in all PE lessons