It has been an eventful first week of term at Roedean. I am told that it is very unusual for the snow to lay so thick at our point on the coast, and it looked as if it was going to turn to rain. But the School was very quickly blanketed in thick snow.
I am very pleased by how well the community dealt with Wednesday –some waited very patiently for the roads to be cleared, while others adapted their plans to get home, and a few even boarded overnight! I am also very grateful to my colleagues, who supported the students, trouble-shooting problems on the hoof before making their own slow journeys home. Thank you! And on Thursday, there were hardly any signs left of the snow – it was almost as if we had dreamt it!
In the Performing Arts, there has been an A Level Theatre Studies trip to London, we have received another set of very strong results in Music exams, and I understand that the Roedean auditions for Sussex Superstars went very well indeed. Well done to everyone involved in these activities.
It was lovely to welcome the Year 9 parents and guardians to School on Tuesday. The students are about to make their GCSE subject choices, and this is the first step to very gradually narrowing their academic path. A little further along this trajectory, I am delighted that our Year 13s are receiving very good offers for a range of degree courses, and two students have already received all their offers –well done!
Today and on Saturday, we are welcoming students to Roedean for entrance testing and scholarship interviews – thank you to everyone involved in this. I wish you all a restful weekend!
Mr Halsey Checking the Snowy Sheep
Debating Workshop
Soloists for the Brighton Festival Fringe Concert
Roedean in the Snow
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.
Meghan and Chloe (Yr11) – for playing a lovely Flute duet from the 2009 Disney film, Up, in First Chapel [Dr Barrand]
Tabitha (Yr7) – for giving up her morning on Christmas Day itself to volunteer at a charity drive at Saltdean Lido, collecting and sorting donations, as well as assisting donors moving around the site – what a selfless thing to do [Miss Bamford]
Unsung Staff hero in the spotlight
Miss Barber – for a fascinating Academic Lecture on 'Painting Conservation' – thank you so much! [Ms Ibanez Barcelo]
Sussex Superstars is a talent show run by E3 Events in Brighton, aiming to bring talented young people in our area into the spotlight. Nearly 30 responded to the call out for dancers, actors, singers, comedians, magicians, and musicians, and two rounds of auditions have been held this week.
Ten performers have been selected to go through to the semi-final round, which takes place on 17 January in the Hilton Metropole, and the final four will perform at a Black Tie charity dinner on 1 February, with high-profile judges from the industry.
We are delighted and proud that six Roedean students have won seven of the ten places in the semi-finals, underlining the impressive talent we have at School:
■ Abby (Yr12) – ballerina
■ Bethany (Yr10) – singer
■ Charlie (Yr11) – dancer and singer
■ Cherrie (Yr12) – dancer
■ Ellen (Yr10) – violinist
■ Joy (Yr10) – actor
Well done to all those who auditioned, and who knows what might happen next year, but we wish our semi-finalists the best of luck on 17 January.
Well done to Haewon and Julia (Yr13), who competed in the BMO this year, and both achieved Merits. The Olympiad consists of a 3-hour written challenge of a very high level, so both should be very proud to have done so well!
Mrs Hopper
Congratulations to all those who took Music exams last term – these are another set of outstanding results. Special mention should go to those who have achieved impressive results at Grade 8 and Diploma level. Well done!
Lily (Yr9) Grade1 Harp (non-pedal) Distinction
India (Yr8) Grade2 Vocals
Vanessa (Yr12) Grade3 Viola
Dixie (Yr8) Grade4 Singing Merit
Lily (Yr9) Grade4 Violin
Cindy (Yr8) Grade4 Piano Merit
Amyra (Yr9) Grade5 Theory
Meghan (Yr11) Grade5 Singing Merit
Sofia (Yr10) Grade5 Piano
Ellen (Yr12) Grade5 Theory Distinction
Jemima (Yr9) Grade6 Singing Merit
Jemima (Yr9) Grade6 Piano Merit
Roedean Success in Sussex Superstars Auditions Roedean Musicians Excel in their Exams! British Maths
Amyra (Yr9) Grade7 Violin Merit
Sihu (Yr12) Grade7 Violin Merit
Siyun (Yr12) Grade7 Violin Merit
Shermane (Yr10) Grade7 Double Bass Merit
Jody (Yr11) Grade8 Violin Merit
Jade (Yr11) Grade8 Violin Merit
Meghan (Yr11) Grade8 Flute Distinction
Jamie (Yr12) Grade8 Vocals Merit
Ella (Yr13) ARSM Singing for Musical Theatre Distinction
Mr Rous
Soloists for the Brighton Festival Fringe Concert
Congratulations to the six soloists who have won places to perform a solo with the Roedean Orchestra at this year's Brighton Festival Fringe Concert, on Friday 2 May in All Saints' Church in Hove. It will be a fantastic experience for them to showcase their talent and musicality.
The programme will be lovely, with contrasting pieces and styles, and a range of solo instruments:
■ Galina (Yr13) will perform a movement from Spohr's first Clarinet Concerto
■ Sarah (Yr11) will give a rendition of Fauré's melancholic Elégie on the Cello
■ Elspeth (Yr12) will perform on the Recorder, playing a movement from Sammartini's Concerto in F Major
■ Julia (Yr13) will be playing a movement from Greig's iconic Piano Concerto in A Minor
■ Alicia (Yr13) will perform the very beautiful slow movement from Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No.2
■ Ellen (Yr10) will play a virtuosic movement from Wieniawski's second Violin Concerto in D Minor
We look forward to a wonderful concert!
Dr Barrand
Swedish Music Scholarship for Ellen Debating Workshop
Congratulations to Ellen in Year 10, who has won a Kerstin and Sigge Strands Foundation Scholarship.
This foundation, based in Sweden, where Ellen is from, has been awarding scholarships to talented violinists under the age of 16 since 2018.
We look forward to hearing more performances in the future, and Ellen will be playing in the Fringe Festival Concert in May.
Mr Rous
On Thursday, a group of students immersed themselves in the dynamic and challenging world of competitive debate, honing the skills required for the British Parliamentary format.
Schools Competition and the International Competition for Young Debaters later this year.
Learning how to debate is a vital skill that fosters critical thinking, enhances communication,
DofE Photographers in the Snow!
The DofE photographers were happy their weekly session coincided with the snowfall on Wednesday afternoon – here are some examples of the work they managed to capture.
Mrs Alexander
New Year: Bright Futures
As we enter into a new calendar year, all eyes in the Futures Department are on university admissions. The UCAS main round submission deadline is at the end of the month, but we have a record number of students already submitted and receiving some fantastic offers from Higher Education institutions all over the world.
Jemima and Onose have already received offers from all five of their UCAS options – very well done to them! Oxford University will be announcing their decisions early next week, with Cambridge following a couple of weeks later, but our clinical applicants are already starting to receive offers: Kate has received an offer to study Medicine at Brunel and Kaitlyn is holding an offer to study Veterinary Medicine at Surrey.
We have also seen some fantastic offers for a wonderfully diverse range of subjects: from
Ashley's offer to study Actuarial Mathematics at Leeds, to Zara's offer to study Social Anthropology and Politics at Edinburgh, we've got a selection that includes Ella's International Business at Loughborough, Haewon's Physics and Philosophy at KCL, Hanna's Comparative Literatures and Cultures and Italian at Bristol, Seraphe's Civil Engineering at UCL, and Suraya's Law at SOAS, to mention but a few.
Roedean's strong tradition in the Arts continues, with Galina picking up an offer to start in Year 2 for Music at The Royal Northern College of Music, whilst Carrie, Alice, and Mackenzie have all received unconditional offers to study Architecture, Fashion, and Fine Art respectively at Kingston University.
Finally, further afield, Michelle has received two offers from HKUST to study Global Business
Ceramics for Year
Some of the Year 9 Art students have created wonderful ceramic art forms, mirroring patterns found in nature. Their stimulus artist for this project was Peter Randall Page, and, inspired by his work, they produced lovely clay sculptures with different oxide glazes. They should be very proud of their creative pieces!
Mr Ford
9
and Finance, whilst Elodie's fantastic sporting record has earned her a Scholarship to study at Bucknell University in USA.
Regardless of the decisions our students make in the coming months, it is absolutely wonderful to see them have such an exciting range of choices available to them, and we could not be prouder of them. Well done everyone, and best of luck to those of you still awaiting news...
Ms Boobis
Here's a great photo of School taken by Ms Earl! Roedean in the Snow
