Head's Weekly Review - 21 June 19 - Issue 33 by Roedean School

21 June 2019 - Issue 8

Roedean appears to be struck by lightn ing during an impressive storm

HEAD’S

WEEKLY REVIEW

Head’s Introduction New Girls’ Day yesterday was a lovely occasion to welcome the girls and families who will be joining the Roedean community in September. They were full of excitement and enthusiasm, and it was clear that they enjoyed getting to know the School, staff, and current girls a little better, ahead of their arrival September. Thank you to the Admissions Department in particular, but also to everyone who made them feel part of the School already. This week has been National Boarding Week, and the Houses have taken the opportunity to celebrate everything that is brilliant about boarding all in one week. There has been a barbecue, karaoke, a party to say farewell to Year 11s, and much more, and the week’s events have highlighted the strength and cohesion of the boarding communities at Roedean. I am really looking forward to celebrating the successes and achievements of the girls in Years 7-10 at our two Prize Giving ceremonies tomorrow. It will be wonderful to hear from Wendy Young, who heads up one arm of the local charity Off the Fence, and we are also welcoming 230 Old Roedeanians back to School. Sports Day in the

afternoon will be a great way to round off a week in which 11 girls who passed their Silver Duke of Edinburgh expedition at the start of the week, the Roedean Musician of the Year finals took place and Freya won with a fantastic piece by Smetana, and last night’s Private View in the Art Department showcased the exceptional work of the Year 11 and 13 girls. Next week is the last week of term, and I am very grateful to Ms Boobis for masterminding two outstanding days of activities and projects for the girls on Wednesday and Thursday - I am sure that you will hear more from your daughters in the coming days! The first key event of the week is the School Charity Walk - 380 girls, along with staff from all areas of School, will walk 5 kilometres to raise funds for our school charities. It is brilliant that 180 girls and 30 members of staff have chosen to walk an additional 5 kilometres, and 21 children from St Mark’s will also be with us! Thank you to everyone who has donated to this cause we have already raised over £3150!

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I wish you all a great Roedean Day, and a fantastic last week of term!

School Charity Walk

£3150 already raised!

Musician of the Year Final

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Art Private View

Over this year, we have been raising money for St Mark’s, our partnership primary school in Whitehawk, and also the ten girls around the world we support through PlanUK. We are delighted that the Roedean community has already raised over £21,000 since September for our charities. As you will be aware, to round off the year from a charity perspective, on Tuesday 25 June, we will be holding a whole school charity event, with everyone in the school community (for Years 7-10 & 12) walking a 5-kilometre course to raise funds for our charities. Our target for the day is to raise £7000. https://www.justgiving.com/roedean-school

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21 June 2019 - Issue 8

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

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. Rita F (Yr10) for a fantastic speaking and listening presentation in English [HSH]

Musician of the Year Final

Siko M, Elena S, and Phoebe H (Yr12) for stepping in to be last minute ushers at Peter Pan [KNE]

On Tuesday this week, 18 girls took part in the finals of the Roedean Musician of the Year. The standard was incredibly high, and our adjudicator, Scott Stroman, praised all the girls for their accomplished and musical performances. Scott gave some very encouraging and helpful feedback, and his friendly and informative style was much appreciated. It was a difficult job to be able to choose between the performers, but we are pleased to announce that the following girls were the prize winners this year:

Grades 4 and 5: 1. 2. 3.

Lisha SH and Victoria C (Yr11) for giving up a whole afternoon the day after their GCSEs ended to help set up the Art Exhibition [SSN]

Each week, a member of staff who has gone above and beyond the call of duty can be nominated by their colleagues or the girls. Mrs Thomas for giving up so much of her time providing 1:1 support to A Level Mathematics students in preparation for their examinations – it really is a perfect example of going above and beyond [PHA]

Freya’s on Spotify! Congratulations to Freya in Year 12, who has successfully applied to have her music featured on Spotify. Her album will be available for streaming from the end of June and the Sixth Form team would like to congratulate her on this fantastic achievement. [CPA, CC, and GH]

Fleur F (Yr7) Bo Ana M (Yr9) Alma S (Yr9)

Grades 6 and 7: 1. 2. 3.

Constance S (Yr12) Eva F (Yr10) Galina B (Yr7)

Grade 8 and above: 1. 2. 3.

Freya S (Yr13) Ananya R (Yr9) Joyce W (Yr10)

Congratulations to Freya, winning in her final year at Roedean, and to all the performers. BMR

Kincso loves drama Kincso has a passion for drama and loves spending time developing her skills with a Theatre Company outside of school. In recent years, Kincso has been involved in local Drama Productions. Her latest performances were linked to Brighton Fringe Festival and the play was The Magical Voyage of Ulysses by John Wiles. ‘Recently I was in a play called the Magical Voyage of Ulysses, playing the lead role of Poseidon, as part of a Fringe Festival event at the Brighton Little Theatre. I had lots of fun playing this role with the rest of the cast, and we rehearsed for about 3 months. I was really delighted to have this opportunity and I think the show turned out really well.’

Campaign for Clean Air Congratulations to Amelie H (Yr10) and India H (Yr7), who recently took part in a campaign to raise awareness for Clean Air Day and to promote zero emission ice cream vans. It’s all over the press, but the Daily Mirror has the best photos and you can watch a video here. Nissan launches new electric ice cream van that tweets instead of playing jingle.

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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

Street Dance Success for Roedean Girls Well done to India H (Yr7) and Laila E (Yr8), who won the U14 Advanced Street Dance Southern regional title with their crew, Defiance. The routine was choreographed by Munya Muchati (pictured) and they train at Marina Studios. This is their second regional title this season, as they also won the South Coast championships. They are the current UK U13 UK Street Dance Champions.

Congratulations too to Amelie H (Yr10), won the U18 Street Dance Southern regional title with her crew, OriGen. She also placed in another advanced solo final, narrowly missing out on the top spot.

You can see them dance at ‘Straight Up’ at the Brighton Dome on 6 and 7 July.

What brilliant achievements – Roedean is incredibly proud of you!

In August, all 3 girls will go to Blackpool to represent England in the World Championships, also qualifying in other categories.

Art Private View The Art Department held a Private View last night of GCSE and A Level work. The standard, range, and variety of media was exceptional, including ceramics, painting, fashion and textiles, and printmaking. The friends and family of the artists joined the girls, and there were representatives from feeder schools and some who will be joining Roedean in September. Those who came were incredibly impressed with what they saw. Local gallery owner, Kellie Miller, who spoke on International Women’s Day, attended and awarded prizes to the artists whom she considered to have the most potential from the work she saw. The highly commended artist is Mary M, the runnerup is Cherry S, and the winner is Jingxuan W. The exhibition will be open on Roedean Day for anyone who was not able to attend. It really was a wonderful celebration of art at Roedean, and the event will become a permanent fixture in next year’s calendar. SSN

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21 June 2019 - Issue 8

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

21 June 2019 - Issue 8

Dorit Oliver-Wolff

Year 7 Microclimates

On Friday, Year 9 were honoured to have Holocaust survivor Dorit OliverWolff return to the school and talk about her experiences as a young Jewish girl during the Holocaust. Naturally the girls, who have this term been studying the Holocaust, were spellbound by Dorit’s account of her fascinating life and her fight for survival against all the odds, and they enjoyed talking with her more informally at the subsequent booksigning in the Library. Just as inspiring was hearing Dorit recount how she was able to move on after World War II to become an international recording artist and best-selling author – her talk, whilst educational and at times unbelievable, sometimes even funny, will no doubt have caused many to reflect on the true power of resilience and optimism. As the number of survivors of the Holocaust become fewer and fewer, Dorit’s visit is especially important as a living testament of the Holocaust and will continue to inspire the girls beyond their time here at Roedean – what a privilege. SBB

This week, all Year 7 Geography classes used their learning from the weather and climate topic to conduct fieldwork into local microclimates. Their challenge was to determine the best place in school to locate a picnic bench by measuring light, temperature, wind-speed, and wind direction. Not surprisingly the students came up with a wide range of excellent locations. JS ‘This was a fantastic activity which gave us a chance to explore different microclimates around the School. It was fun to go around with my peers and we decided the best place to put the bench was the Quad. However, to make this fair, we would have to measure this at different times of the day and year. Overall, it was a great experience!’ - Roma T (Yr7)

Amelie’s going to the World Scout Camp in America Amelie S (Yr11) has been selected to represent Sussex and the UK in the World Scout in America this summer. She has also now also been selected as a Patrol leader, which means heading up and managing a group of 8 young people on the trip after a long assessment process. What a brilliant opportunity this will be, and we look forward to hearing all about it!

Investigative Psychology Investigative Psychology is a weekly activity which will explore a range of human behaviours and thought processes using both experimental and non-experimental research methods. Students can either conduct investigations, or volunteer to participate in them. The investigations may be replications of established studies, or entirely new designs. The activity offers the chance to gain valuable insights into the methodological and ethical processes involved when conducting research with human participants, and will be particularly useful for students who are studying, or considering studying, Psychology. If this sounds intriguing, why not come along? PIH

‘News of Friends’ Congratulations to OR Katy Bourne (Waller, No. 3, 1975-81), a former President of the Old Roedeanians’ Association, on receiving an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for public and political services. Katy is in her second term as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex. She was first elected in 2012, and then more than doubled her majority in 2016. She is well respected both in Sussex and nationally, and is widely regarded as one of the most effective and innovative Police and Crime Commissioners. She brings a genuine passion and commitment to make a difference, and her work to support victims of crime has won her praise from successive Home Secretaries and Prime Ministers. Katy was also nationally recognised for founding the award-winning Sussex Youth Commission in 2013 and the Sussex Elders’ Commission in 2015.

Jane’s on the new TV quiz show! Congratulations to Jane S (Yr10) and her family who have taken part in the new television quiz show for the BBC, called The Family Brain Games. It must have been incredibly exciting, but also stressful to be part of this quiz, with families undertaking challenges head-to-head, and hosted by Dara Ó Briain. The concept is that different puzzles test different types of intelligence, from logic to maths to communication, with eight families up against the clock and each other to stay in the competition. At the same time, experts analyse the results and explain the science behind why individuals are better at certain tasks and how group dynamics can effect overall performance.

DofE Silver Despite an incredibly early start last Saturday, the Silver teams did very well during their Qualifying Silver Expedition in the Forest of Dean. They pushed themselves and remained positive despite many rain showers. This excellent attitude, coupled with putting their training into good practice, has meant that all of them have come away successful. Thank you to Mr Fieldsend and Miss Hyams for accompanying them alongside Outspark Ltd. We now look forward to welcoming new DofE cohorts in the next academic year!

The show has been on BBC2 this week, and it is fantastic that Jane and her family with be in the semi-finals next Wednesday! You can catch up on previous episodes on BBC iPlayer, but definitely watch on Wednesday to see how Jane and her family do!

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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

#iloveboarding National Boarding Week at Let’s celebrate boarding! Write all the things you love about boarding on a #iloveboarding note and pin it to the board in Reception

MONDAY 17 JUNE Boarding Obstacle Course When: 7-8pm Where: Low ropes course (on site)

TUESDAY 18 JUNE

WEDNESDAY 19 JUNE

When: 7-9pm

When: 7-8pm

Where: Mean Girls in the Theatre

Where: Main Reception

THURSDAY 20 JUNE

FRIDAY 21 JUNE

When: 7-8pm

Where: Keswick Hall

Where: Asda, Marina

SATURDAY 22 JUNE

SUNDAY 23 JUNE

Roedean Day

When: 5:30-6:30pm

Boarders Go to the Movies

Boarders Got Talent: Karaoke

NATIONAL BOARDING WEEK

‘#iloveboarding because I love spending time with my friends. Boarding is like having a sleepover every night! #roommates.’ Manon (H3)

Treasure Hunt

Food Bank Drive

Boarding Barbecue Where: Cloisters

# i l ove b o a rd i n g

‘#iloveboarding because I feel I am part of a big family and we live with our best friends.’

Obstacle Course for Boarders! Around 30 girls came to participate and Mrs Burns had a time trial challenge too. The girls represented 5 different year groups and we had a winner in each. However, the fastest overall (after a 3-way battle to beat their original scores) was Alex S in Year 7. Her impressive 55 seconds around the course even included a 5-second penalty for one cheeky foot down on the grass! She was lightning fast and we may well be making this an annual event to see if we can set and beat records.

Winners: Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Staff

Alex S (and overall fastest) Tara K Lucy H Onate O-D Abby L Mrs Burns

‘You make end fri s that you will keep forever’

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21 June 2019 - Issue 8

#iloveboardin g

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

#iloveboarding

NATIONAL BOARDING WEEK

21 June 2019 - Issue 8

#iloveboardin g

House 4 Farewell to Year 11s To celebrate the end of the Year 11 exams and to wish them a great farewell, we organised a party in our Hobbies room. The girls enjoyed pizza, pasta, and salad for dinner, followed by chocolate cake for dessert. The Year 7 & 8 girls made cards for the Year 11s earlier in the week; it was a joy to read the kind words and thoughtful messages written. These were given to the girls along with a small gift, so that they could remember us in House 4. The evening ended with our Year 11s planting seeds in their own personalised plant pots which would grow in their absence and leave a lovely memory in House. The seeds have already made great progress, with our Christine plant shooting up quickly! It was a lovely evening and a special event for the house staff and the girls; we will miss them terribly.

e I get to ‘#iloveboarding becaus ds every spend time with my friened for life ar night! Also you get prep !’ un #f ity rs at Unive Sara (H3)

Sixth Form BBQ Exams are over, and what better way to celebrate the end of such a busy academic year than to have a BBQ with our friends on a sunny day? That is what Lara and I had in mind when planning the Sixth Form Summer BBQ. This year we chose a tropical theme and dress code with the hope of injecting a summer spirit into everyone as we look forward to a well deserved summer holiday. All the colourful decorations helped us enhance the atmosphere even further as we felt transported into hot summer destinations such as Hawaii. It was amazing seeing the smiles from everyone’s faces when the ice cream van arrived and our year group all joining in on a game of Limbo. Ellie, Isobel, Lara and Lottie all showcases their skipping rope skills, which was a fun and impressive way for all of us to create a summer vibe. Teachers came to enjoy the barbecue as well, flocking to the ice cream truck just like the students. Mr. Woodhouse even brought his baby boy Ed, who also got the opportunity to bask in the sunlight, even though it was slightly windy. The barbecue was certainly a successful event that left a great impression on everyone in the sixth form. We hope events such as this barbecue (and more being planned!) will be something that returning girls and girls entering the lower sixth in the next school year can look forward to. Page 6

‘Boarding is enjoyable as I can chat with my friends all the time ☺.’

21 June 2019 - Issue 8

HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW

Aquathlon

A huge well done to the nine girls who turned up to compete in our annual internal aquathon. The completed an 800m swim, followed by a 1500m run, which didn’t include the run from the pool down to the track. Here were the times:

Olive A

25:55

Jamie O

25.30

Tallulah BH