Heads Review - 2024 Issue 15

HEAD’S REVIEW

Head’s Introduction

Following last Friday’s successful 11+ Open Afternoon, today we welcomed families who are considering entry into Year 9 at Roedean. Again, the School and grounds looked wonderful, and the families were really impressed with everything they saw, especially the Year 9 tour guides.

I had the pleasure of hosting this term’s Girls’ Schools Association conference for Southeast Heads this week. Twenty two Heads spent the morning in our impressive new Library, discussing current issues affecting our schools, after which they had a tour of the School. It was a really productive day, and I enjoyed collaborating and sharing ideas with the other Heads.

It is lovely to see so many students playing cricket down on the fields, and I am pleased to hear of some great successes in fixtures. I am delighted that our sailing team had their first outing against another school at the weekend, and this underlines the breadth of opportunity the girls enjoy here.

Good luck to all those in Years 7-10 for your end of year assessments next week. Year 10 have already had two days, and I am pleased that they seem to have started well. Those taking GCSEs have also had a busy week, with exams for a number of compulsory and large-entry subjects, and there have been a number of early A Level papers too – I hope that they have gone well.

Roedean Saturday Sailors in their First Sailing Fixture vs Lancing House Adventure

Roedean Welcomes Danish Students

This week, we had the pleasure to welcome 21 students from a boarding school in Denmark, which has a specialism in arts and handicrafts –it is the top school in the country in this respect.

In addition to their normal curriculum, the students at this school have 6 hours each week devoted to their primary arts specialism, which could be jewellery-making, woodworking, or ceramics, as well as 2 hours a week for each of three additional handicraft activities.

Our visitors were keen to compare life in their boarding school with ours, and they really enjoyed the tour and looking around our lovely grounds.

Dr Barrand

Five Roedean Students Invited to China Homemade Biscuits for the Somerset Centre!

Five of Roedean's nineteen winners of the 2023 World Chinese Creative Writing competition have been invited to an all-expenses paid 10-day trip to Jiangsu Province in China this summer. The programme of activities sounds amazing, and all they will have to pay for is their travel to China, as everything else will be covered by the Chinese government – wow, what an opportunity!

Mrs Wu

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.

Hannah (Year 12) – for a fascinating Academic Lecture on ‘What should we spend a £100k medical research grant on?' – really well done! [Ms Ibanez Barcelo]

Every week a group of Year 10 students visit the Somerset Day Centre in Kemptown. The centre provides day care for people over fifty, with the aim of promoting independence and enhancing the quality of life of those who attend.

The Year 10 students have been attending since September and have forged some lovely relationships. This week, Emilia kindly baked over fifty biscuits to share with the members and staff – they loved the cookies so much that they were asking for seconds! Well done to Emilia for such a generous act of kindness.

Mr Wilson

House Adventure

The Houses competed in the House Adventure competition on Friday last week. They all worked well as a team to complete the essential bushcraft skill of fire-lighting! The competition was strong, but House 1 just pipped House 3 to first place. Well done to all the students involved.

Mr Fieldsend

Roedean Mission

As a school, Roedean takes great pride in its community and charity initiatives, and values its role as a pillar in the community.

Nothing highlights this more than the Old Roedeanian Charity, the Roedean Mission, which is run by a committee of Sixth Form students and staff. Rarely discussed or publicised, the Roedean Mission awards funds to local and national charities and NGOs on a tri-yearly basis. The funds allocated are selected by a small committee of Year 12 and Year 13 students, who carefully consider each application. The only stipulation is that the funds must go to charities that support children under the age of 16. The process is highly rewarding, and a fantastic way to nurture a philanthropic doctrine into the Roedean students. Hopefully, this is a conviction that they will carry into their future lives and careers.

The Summer term meeting was chaired by Martha (Yr12), who led the team of students with direction and clarity. After careful consideration the following donations were awarded:

■ Step by Step: funds were awarded to help support children with disabilities, via a programme of activities, such as Sports Extra, Stay ‘n Play, Play-Scheme, and the Sunday Club

■ CASE: a donation was awarded to fully fund a trip to Blackberry Farm for 80 children from low income families in the Brighton & Hove area

■ Achieved Dreams: funds were awarded to help with a Rockclimbing Day for disadvantaged children from London

■ Life Education (Wessex): was awarded funds to help with the provision of academic programmes addressing issues such as obesity, drugs, alcohol, smoking, internet safety, and emotional health and well-being for children aged 3 – 11

■ Safe Families: funds were awarded to help support children in difficult family situations, and so prevent them going into care

■ Blooming Blossoms: funds were awarded to help support the Spare a Pair project which will provide a full set of underwear to 100 children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

■ LearnnGrow: a donation was awarded to help support girls from disadvantaged homes via programmes such as Personal Pantry (personal hygiene and food bank), Upskills (careers and education guidance) and ASAP (recognising red flags and dangers in daily life).

The students were extremely proud to be involved in such a process. They were thrilled to know that the funds they had allocated would make such a huge difference to local and often disadvantaged children. Martha explained, 'Being a member of the Roedean Mission is very fulfilling. Having the opportunity to play a role in giving funding to charities who work so hard helping children of my age and under is a privilege. The Mission aims to make a difference to young people by enabling charities to support their needs, and being involved in the decision-making process feels very worthwhile. I decided to become involved because I wanted to make a positive impact helping my peers, and give some of my time funding the charities that offer that help’. Well done to all involved.

Dance Showcase and Bollywood Spectacular!

The Year 8 had a great time doing their Bollywood workshop this week, and they had the chance to show off what they had learnt as the finale to the Afternoon of Dance. This featured 18 short pieces of dance, many choreographed by the students themselves, demonstrating a wide range of styles. Well done to everyone involved!

The Last Two Weeks in Boarding...

The past fortnight has been jam-packed with more House competitions and plenty of fun activities! House Adventure saw Year 7 and 8s come head to head, testing their bushcraft skills. Well done to House 1, who are expert firelighters! Boarders also enjoyed a very warm and sunny trip to Eastbourne, visiting the beach and doing some shopping. Year 11s celebrated their year, and had a last hurrah before upcoming exams, in style! Everyone looked beautiful in their glamorous gowns, and they enjoyed dancing the evening away! We wish them all the best in their GCSE exams.

House 1 got round to enjoying their homegrown cress by making egg and cress sandwiches, to go alongside some scones with cream and jam for the perfect bank holiday weekend afternoon tea! Another classic bingo night for House 1 girls saw a boarder win some bubbles, which were immediately enjoyed outside in the warm evening air.

House 2 expressed their creativity with Hamma beads, and relaxing colouring in. Miss Roe had a helping hand baking, and eating, her famous brownies. Girls enjoyed having an impromptu ABBA dance party in the evening! House 2 tried their hand at making pasta from scratch, and by all accounts succeeded!

House 3 celebrated International Harry Potter Day by watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, while decorating some magical cupcakes! A fabulous House 3 harp soloist performed alongside other talented Roedean musicians at this year's Brighton Fringe Concert. A birthday was honoured by a homemade, and delicious, Jellycat-themed match cake! House 3 also celebrated National Donkey Day, which included a very serious game of 'pin the tail on the donkey', and even a donkey adoption! The whole House came together in a Bake Off competition, going head to head in year group teams. The Year 8s won, creating a very accurate representation of all members of House 3, including Gus the rabbit and Daisy the dog, out of yummy gingerbread men! After a very busy day, girls had fun making pina colada and strawberry daiquiri mocktails to celebrate National Cocktail Day.

House 4 boarders got baking, making chocolate Chewbacca cupcakes to celebrate Star Wars Day. May the fourth/force be with you! Girls got competitive, practising their badminton skills and helping each other improve. Some even challenged Mr Wilson to a match! Due to popular demand, the House 4 Pizzeria reopened, with pepperoni pizzas going down a treat! Lei Day is a celebration focusing on Hawaiian culture and aloha spirit – boarders recognised the occasion by making tropical smoothies. Year 11 boarders had a little surprise from House 4 staff, to wish them good luck in their upcoming exams – girls enjoyed pizza, sweet treats, and playing on the Nintendo Switch! Boarders got busy making beautiful and colourful cards to give to their teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Keswick and Lawrence made the most of the sunshine when it appeared, enjoying ice cream, topped with flavoured sauces and sprinkles! The girls also enjoyed a Year 12 vs Year 13 water fight, with Year 13s spraying unsuspecting Year 12s from a window and even staff getting involved! Year 13 boarders were celebrated in a wonderful evening hosted by the House Council. This included bubble tea and an awards ceremony!

Miss Barnett

Cricket vs Brighton College

U13B

Roedean's U13B team hosted Brighton College in a very entertaining Cricket fixture, which resulted in a very nervy finish.

Brighton College won the rock, paper, scissors, and selected to bat first. Whilst bowling and in the field, the team were formidable, conceding just 95 runs from the 24 overs. Our bowling and fielding highlights were Andrea, Ying, and Bea as wicket-keeper.

When batting, the Roedean team started fast, with 25 runs off the first over. Andrea and Joy hit early boundaries and quick runs – this was very important for the end result. The middle pairings were limited by careful Brighton bowling and fielding, resulting in only singles.

However, with our final pairing of Andrea and Rosa requiring 16 runs off the last four overs, it started with an immediate run out, reulting in 21 off 3.5 overs. Rosa was facing in the second to last over, and whacked three quick boundaries in succession, putting us ahead of the required rate, meaning that the last over needed no risks, and the pairing managed the game very well, resulting in a 10 run win.

Batting highlights: Andrea, Rosa, and Martha.

The final totals were:

■ Brighton 295

■ Roedean 305

Mr Foggoa

U12A XI Victory in Rematch

The U12A were prepared for their rematch against Brighton College, after losing narrowly the previous week. We won the toss and batted first, with the goal of playing straight, defending our wickets better, and hitting the balls off the wickets hard.

Mabel and Isabella started well, and got us to 16 before Mabel was bowled. Sophia came in at number three and scored freely, boosting the run rate. Betsy soon joined her after Isabella was out LBW (leg before wicket). Betsy and Sophia put on a good partnership and were especially good at hitting the bad ball. Both were retired as they approached 20 runs to give others a bat. Brighton bowled quite a few extras, which took the pressure off the batters, and we ended on 111 for 7 after our 20 overs.

Brighton came in to bat with their strongest batters, but Betsy and Heidi had other plans, taking 3 wickets in the first 3 overs and stopping Brighton dead in their tracks. The rest of innings continued accordingly, with bowlers bowling accurately and focusing on not conceding too many wides and no balls. Brighton ended on 45 runs for the loss of 10 wickets, just over the halfway mark, and Roedean won with an improved performance.

Roedean Saturday Sailors in their First Sailing Fixture vs Lancing

We had warm sun and an increasing wind over the morning, which gave us a good warm up session whilst we waited for Lancing, who were very late due to road closures.

We then successfully sailed together in a line of seven boats around a course demonstrating great boat handling skills. Sadly there was not time for a race this time, but plans are already in place for the next meeting!

Ms Carr

Mr Campleman

U15 Tennis vs Burgess Hill

We had our final LTA league match this week against Burgess Hill. We knew that, if we won this match, we would go through to the next round of the competition.

All the matches were brilliant to watch – the girls were playing out long rallies, some players using power to win their points, others more tactically moving the ball around the court to tire their opponent out. It’s great to see how much they have all improved since our first match at the end of March.

We dominated from the start, although Burgess Hill did put up a good fight! We won all of our singles matches, which meant we had already won the match before even playing the doubles... but, secretly, we still wanted a clean sheet of wins.

Tennis

– Biggest

Fixture Ever!

The results were as follows:

Singles:

■ Betsy won 6-3

■ Ruby won 6-3

■ Amelie won 6-1

■ Miranda won 6-3

Doubles:

■ Betsy and Ruby won 6-1

■ Amelie and Miranda won 6-4

The girls have won all their matches in the league, so we now go through to play the winner of the other group in our league.

Well done!

I’m proud to say that I think we had the biggest tennis fixture ever at Roedean at the weekend. 12 girls played in a fixture against Lingfield College.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and to see all the courts full of girls playing tennis, ranging from Year 7-12, was quite the sight to behold. We also absolutely smashed it, winning 7 out of 10 of the singles matches, and 4 out of 5 of the doubles matches.

The overall score was 12- 5 to us. It just goes to show what talent we have here at Roedean. Thank you to all those who took part: – Betsy, Ruby, Amelie, Miranda, Megs, Jemima, Luciana, Ivana, Seraphe, Tessa, Zoe, and Ottie. Well done!

Miss Patching-Jones

Sport Stars of the Week

Well doen to this week's sporting stars! The Team of the Week goes to U15C Cricket, for their exceptional performance against Burgess Hill. Congratulations!

Mr Campleman

Year 7

Violet, for making superb progress in swimming and her effort in PE this term

Miss Patching-Jones

U15B XI Improved Against Last Gasp Lancing

The U15B team played against Lancing College in their picturesque grounds. Roedean won the toss and decided to bat first. Isabelle and Chloe opened the batting, and only conceded a wicket in the first 3 overs. Sienna and Chloe came in next and batted very well for 15 runs in their 3 overs. Tiah and Aimee hit the ball around and took the total on, and this would have been more if Lancing hadn't had two direct hits. Maya and Alice continued the runs, and Alicia and Jemima finished off with Roedean on 248 runs after their 15 overs.

Lancing got off to a good start, but were pegged back by a brilliant double wicket maiden by Jemima. The next pair steadied the ship for Lancing as they got their run chase off to a decent start. The next three pairs followed suit, and they managed to end 16 runs ahead at the end of their 15 overs. Some tighter bowling is required, and urgency in the field will be improved for the next match against Eastbourne after halfterm.

Mr Campleman

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

Year 8

Georgia, for fantastic performances in Athletics

Year 9

Michelle, for her excellent progress in Cricket this term

Year 10

Aimee, for excellent commitment to Athletics

Year 12

Trinity, for an outstanding attitude and her excellent effort in all sports this term