Head’s Introduction
I have enjoyed seeing the students return to Roedean refreshed after the half-term break. The Year 11s and 13s went straight into their first set of assessments, and I am glad to see how positive and calm they have been – I hope that they have gone well.
I am looking forward to the performance of Alice By Heart at the end of next week. It is impressive that all of the roles, on stage and off, have been taken by students – the actors often take the limelight, but there is so much more which goes on behind the scenes, including directing, lighting, and sound, to name a few, so I hope that it all goes well. Tickets are available through the Theatre Box Office for this, and for the Dreams and Nightmares Gala Concert on 29 November, which I am sure will be wonderful.
Congratulations to the eight Sixth Form Mathematicians who took part in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls, a competition designed to highlight and celebrate girls’ excellence in Maths –they all achieved either Merit or Distinction, which is excellent, but Haewon in Year 13 was in the top 45 of over 4700 entrants, placing her in the top 1%, which is remarkable. Congratulations!
It was a pleasure to welcome the HMC scholars from schools in the South of England to Roedean on Tuesday, and they clearly had a lovely time networking with each other and talking about their experiences of boarding in the UK. They were very lucky that the weather was warm and sunny, so they even had the chance to go down through the tunnel to the beach!
There have been a number of charity events this week: on Tuesday, the Year 7s undertook a sponsored silence for an hour, and I was impressed with their discipline; students across the School have been researching information about those who have fought and died in battle and writing this on poppies, and these have been turned into an installation which will be displayed on Monday for Remembrance Day; six students have made up 50 boxes for the homeless in Brighton, which will be distributed by Off The Fence; and Ms Holmes, Mr Bullock, and Ms Sturgeon are taking part in ‘The Big Sleep-Out’ tonight – well done to everyone involved in these endeavours!
Jo Fuller from The Merry Menopause spoke to students in Year 10 and above, as well as to the parents, about embracing their menstrual cycle as their superpower. I hope that they found this useful, and that this perspective might be beneficial in the future.
Our Chapel services this week have marked Remembrance Day, and we will also hold a minute’s silence on Monday at 11:00. I hope that you all have a restful weekend!
This week in Boarding…
‘Comfort Boxes’ for the Homeless
Haewon is in the Top 1% Nationally in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls
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.
Kosi (Yr7) – for representing the School in our Remembrance Chapel services with such poise [Miss Bamford]
Lydia and Angelica (Yr12), and Scarlett, Sana'a, Anya, and Molly (Yr10) – for packing 'comfort boxes' for the homeless in Brighton to support the work of Off The Fence – well done! [Dr Barrand]
Ellen (Yr12) – for playing the Last Post and Rouse so well in our Chapel Services for Remembrance [Dr Barrand]
Haewon is in the Top 1% Nationally in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls
Eight Roedean A Level Mathematicians took part in the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls at the end of September. The olympiad is a 2.5-hour written challenge, which is marked out of 50.
All eight performed brilliantly, and every one achieved either a Distinction or a Merit. The challenge is such that a mark of 16 or more out of 50 receives a Merit, and 28 marks or more achieves a Distinction.
Particular congratulations go to Haewon (Yr13), who scored an astonishing 45 marks out of 50, 17 marks over the Distinction threshold. This mark puts her in the top 1% of the 4749 entrants, who are all the best Mathematicians in their schools.
Distinctions were also achieved by Sihu, Ronni, and Nina (Yr12), and Ashley (Yr13), and Ellie, Siyun, and Jola (Yr12) were all awarded Merits. These are excellent results, and we wish Haewon the best of luck in the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1 later this month.
Well done!
Mrs Hopper
Dreams and Nightmares
Our next gala concert has the theme of Dreams and Nightmares – it is at 19:00 on 29 November in the Theatre.
All friends and family are welcome to come along and watch our wonderful Roedean musicians perform in our end of term gala extravaganza!
There's music from Debussy and SaintSaens with dancing skeletons, to The Cranberries, Laufey, Hans Zimmer, Abba, and much more! Book your tickets here:
https://w3u.uk/dreams-and-nightmares
Ms Bartlette
NEWS
OF FRIENDS MBE for OR Elizabeth Furber
Congratulations to OR Elizabeth Furber (Quin, No. 3, 1964-69), who, together with her husband, was awarded an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours earlier this year.
They have been awarded the honour for 'Services to Education, to Health, and to the Environment in Malawi', due to their work as Co-Founders of Ripple Africa. Ripple Africa's mission is to inspire communities to achieve a sustainable future. They do this through empowering communities to make changes themselves, rather than through hand-outs. You can read more about their work here: https://rippleafrica.org/
Mrs Chaston
Fowlers’ Fundraising
Funds Raised for RISE
Congratulations to everyone who was involved in the RISE 8K run before half-term – together they have raised over £2500, which is outstanding. Particularly impressive is Sonia's total – she has raised £1388! Well done!
Miss Orrells
Over half-term, Emma's family took part in a fundraising event for GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital), where they ran over 5k together, raising £1,185, which is over double their target! This is a charity really close to their hearts. A huge well done from all of the Roedean community!
Year 7 Sponsored Silence
On Tuesday this week, the Year 7s took part in a sponsored silence for sixty minutes during lunch and Activity 1.
They are raising funds for Rockinghorse, their year-group charity. This is the official fundraising arm of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton, and raises money for life-saving equipment, specialist projects, and enhanced services for sick babies, children, and young people throughout Sussex. So far, they have already raised over £500 for this important charity, and there will be more mini-fundraisers throughout the year.
Well done to everyone involved!
Mr Wilson
Miss Bamford
This week in Boarding…
House 1 spent an evening getting competitive, while learning, as they played the Great Women Matching Game, pairing influential women with great achievements, fuelled by chilli crisps!
House 2 hosted a 'FangTastic' Halloween party, with plenty of games including apple bobbing and a mummy wrap race. The girls were very creative with their creepy costumes, including props and facepaint – which is your favourite?
House 3 had a relaxing evening making some marvellous origami creations – there were paper birds, butterflies, and bows!
House 4 have loved exploring foods of cultures from around the world, and were keen to get their hands messy making their own mochi!
Both House 3 and 4 came together for a spooky evening of Halloween fun! There was a pumpkin-carving competition, with lots of creepy faces, and even using the offcuts to make a bat. Biscuits had to be decorated before they could be devoured, so the girls got creative, making ghoulish faces and creatures with chocolate designs!
Keswick held a frightful Halloween party, complete with a murder mystery, and plenty of of snacks and dancing!
Lawrence had a very Mindful Monday, catching up with friends over smoothies and milkshakes, and having a go at a very complicated jigsaw!
Bonfire Night was a wonderful evening, as everyone came together to use sparklers and spot fireworks in the distance over Brighton. Then, the boarders came back indoors and enjoyed s'mores to warm up!
Miss Barnett
‘Comfort Boxes’ for the Homeless
At the start of this term, Lydia and Angelica (Yr12) came up with a plan to raise funds to produce 'comfort boxes' for the homeless in Brighton. They researched everything they wanted to go into the boxes, and then had a meeting with Julio, the CEO of Off The Fence, to check that what they hoped to include was appropriate. Using the funds they raised earlier in the term from a bake sale and a non-uniform day, £506, they sourced all of the items, ready to be boxed up and delivered into the community.
As Off The Fence is the Year 10 charity, Angelica and Lydia recruited some helpers from that year-group and created a production line to make up the boxes. Scarlett, Sana'a, Anya, and Molly prepared the boxes and then filled them with gloves, a sleeping bag, shampoo, wet wipes, some food items, a quick-dry towel, and feminine
Roedean Hosts 34 HMC Scholars
On Tuesday this week, Roedean welcomed 34 HMC Scholars from schools in the the South of Engliand on a glorious November day. Irina and Marija, our HMC Scholars from Moldova and North Macedonia, hosted their peers excellently.
hygiene products, and the task was completed in record time.
Lydia said, 'We have been thinking about this since the start of term, so it is just amazing that the boxes are all made up and ready to go. It must be incredibly hard to be homeless, so if one of our boxes brightens up someone's day, that will be brilliant.' Angelica added, 'I wanted the process to be quicker – it took time to raise the money and then get all of the items, and we had to be patient, but then getting the boxes packed up was really quick, thanks to the Year 10s who helped us.'
This endeavour builds on our long-standing connection with Off The Fence, a homeless charity in Hove – the School has been working with them for seven years, and we send 100 hot
meals each week to their centre to be distributed to those in need. In addition, about fifty students in Year 10 sleep out under the stars overnight each summer, to gain the smallest impression of what it might be like to be homeless, and this helps to make their fund-raising just a little more tangible.
Three Roedean members of staff are taking part in the annual 'Big Sleep-Out' in November, organised by Off The Fence, and the School's fantastic Catering Team are preparing a hot meal to feed the 200 volunteers to help stave off the cold.
Well done and congratulations to everyone involved!
Dr Barrand
The students who attended are in both Year 12 and 13 and at schools in the UK as the recipients of scholarships through the HMC Projects scheme, which identifies exceptionally talented students from fourteen countries in Eastern and Central Europe. Those who came represented eleven of these countries, and they impressed immediately with their excellent ability in English and their outstanding intellects.
During the day, they enjoyed a virtual talk given by David Hawkins from The University Guys, about university options in Europe and the
United States, as well as in the UK. However, most of all, they relished the opportunity to meet and chat with each other, and share their experiences of boarding school life in the UK, while touring the School and going down to the beach through our 'secret' tunnel – some even paddled their toes in the sea!
Overall, it was a hugely successful day, and we wish all the Scholars the best of luck in the future.
Dr Barrand
Harry Potter Tea Party
On the last day of last half-term, Roedean was treated to a sumptuous Harry Potter-inspired feast. Our lucky students in Years 7 and 8 got to enjoy amazing sandwich letters, owl biscuits, cupcakes, chocolate wizard hats, and sweet golden snitches, all thanks to our amazing Catering team!
The feast was brilliantly decorated with candles and Harry Potter-themed scrolls and table accessories. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the end of Roedean’s Book Week!
Ms Shillito and Mrs Bailey
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
Florence's Short Story is Being Published!
Congratulations to Florence in Year 9, who wrote a beautiful story in Ms Shillito’s creative writing club. She decided to send it off to CAAB publishers as part of their short story competition for young writers, and she received the wonderful news that her story has been chosen to be published!
Well done, Florence – you are a fabulous young writer, and you should be very proud of yourself!
Ms Shillito
