23 November 2018 - Issue 11
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction It really was wonderful news to find out last week that Roedean has been shortlisted for a National TES Award – I am incredibly proud, particularly because the award is in recognition of our partnership with St Mark’s Primary, which is a project involving so many girls of all ages in School and many members of staff. Supporting St Mark’s seems to have captured the imagination of so many members of our community, and I am impressed by the variety of activities going on. For me, a school without a library is missing a key element which underpins education, so it is brilliant that we, as a School, are raising funds to build a library at St Mark’s, and I would like to thank you all in advance for your support with this. Let’s see what comes of being shortlisted for this TES Award, but our partnership with St Mark’s is, in many ways, reward in itself. It is fantastic to read of so many individual successes over the last few weeks, in the sporting arena, in academic enrichment, and in other activities, and this reminds me how many girls at Roedean are involved in a wide range of exciting and interesting activities. Furthermore, I know that the girls enjoy taking part in competitions like the UKMT Maths Challenge and the Kids’ Lit Quiz, but I am sure that they have a wonderful time mixing with other like-minded students from other schools. Well done to you all, and keep it up – you are brilliant! Good luck to everyone who is involved in tonight’s Literally Music Gala Concert, and in particular to Miss Fewkes and the entire Music Department – I am sure that it will be wonderful! I wish you all the best for next week.
Roedean shortlisted for National 2019 TES Award! We are delighted to report that, in the TES Independent Schools’ Awards for 2019, Roedean has been shortlisted in the Independent-State School Partnership Award category. According to the TES, only the most outstanding individuals and institutions that the independent sector has to offer have been recognised in the shortlist, which was announced on 16 November.
#tesISAwards
The TES editor, Ann Mroz, said: ‘Independent education in this country is truly world class. It’s one of our great success stories. And those shortlisted for the TES Independent School Awards are the crème de la crème. We received a record number of entries this year and the standard is the highest yet, so to be shortlisted is an extraordinary achievement for any school.’ The winners will be revealed at a gala awards evening in London’s Park Lane on Friday 1 February 2019. To be shortlisted for the Independent-State School Partnership category is absolutely wonderful news and is in recognition of all the work we have been doing with St Mark’s Primary. Roedean is now supporting St Mark’s in a number of ways, including Year 9 Reading Buddies on Wednesdays, weekly Sports Leaders, Language Buddies, CAP, Maths stretch and challenge, swimming, and more. Particular thanks go to Mr Wilson and Mrs Pittingale who have spearheaded joint activities with St Mark’s over the last year, but the credit must also go to every student and member of staff who has been involved – you have each played a part in this success story, thank you! However, one award shortlisting is not enough, and even more exciting is that we have also been shortlisted for two Independent Schools’ Awards – read more on page 2… RB
23 November 2018 - Issue 11
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. Eden B (Yr12) and Charlotte A (Yr9) for giving their free time to help other girls with their preparations for Friday’s concert [BMR] Islay B (Yr11) for transcribing a section of the music for the alto section of the choir in preparation for the concert [VF]
Independent Schools’ Awards – Maria won ‘Rising Star’! We are delighted and proud that Roedean has been shortlisted for two national school awards, in the categories Boarding School of the Year, and Rising Star. These are two of a series of Independent Schools’ Awards, which highlight best practice and exceptional achievement throughout the country and in international schools abroad, so this is a wonderful achievement. The winner of Boarding School of the Year will be announced in December!
However, we were excited to announce on Speech Day that Maria Paduroiu, who left last year and is now studying Criminology at Lancaster University, has won the ‘Rising Star’ award, which is for someone who has achieved incredibly highly, despite difficult circumstances. Maria has been asked to be the face of the awards, and there is talk that she may even appear on television in the new year to talk about her experiences – what a brilliant achievement!
Stella L, Jaime H, Katie L, Abisha S, Phoebe C and Roma T (Yr7) for doing a fantastic job of looking after our visiting Maths Masterclass girls [JCO]
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. The Catering, Theatre (and IT team), for literally transforming Studio 2 for the Year 11 Social [RCH]
Mr Ebden for consistently demonstrating a positive and can-do approach to anything required of him [JCO]
Building a Library at St Mark’s The main focus of our fund-raising currently is the building of a Library at St Mark’s for which we are raising money, and we have asked all parents to help to stock the Library – thank you to the many who have already replied, but if you have not, please follow this link to find out more: https://roedean. wufoo.com/forms/book-donation-for-stmarks-library/ St Mark’s have also applied for some grants, but we are very pleased that the Roedean Mission has donated £10,000 – we are incredibly grateful for such a wonderful donation, and it gives us sure foundations from which to develop our fund-raising. Page 2
23 November 2018 - Issue 11
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Year 7 Kids’ Lit Quiz – Regional Competition A team of 4 Year 7 girls, Merla A, Olivia C, Katie J-A, and Amelia M, represented Roedean at the annual Year 7 Kids’ Lit Quiz on Tuesday. The girls came 11th out of 17 teams which was a lovely result for them and us as a school. The competition was in the form of 10 rounds of 10 questions, and after Round 2 the girls were in 2nd place, but their placing unfortunately slipped away in the last two rounds. The marks were very close, with the exception of the leaders (first and second place going to Portsmouth
Grammar), so the girls should feel proud of their achievements. Our team of 4 won a head-to-head round, having been the highest scoring team (along with another school) and won the 4 books they are holding in this picture. We are certainly very proud of our Roedean team, and also Mia B and Delilah B for showing a special interest in supporting the girls and event. Well done to you all! JC
Senior Team Maths Challenge On Thursday 15 November, Chelsy X, Lydia L, Shirley L and Elsie B (Yr12) attended the regional Senior Maths Team Challenge competition at Lancing College. The competition is run by the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematics Trust), and consists of three rounds of challenging Maths problems. Although the questions were tricky, we were no chickens and answered everything to the best of our ability. The first round was a series of ten questions to be answered by the group as a whole, the second round was a cross-number for which the team was split into pairs, and the final round consisted of a series of four question shuttles to be answered within an 8-minute time limit. The afternoon was an enjoyable one, and the team was placed a very respectable 8th out of 19, after being in the top three throughout the earlier rounds. This was all the more commendable given that our team was drawn entirely from Year 12, yet were pitted against teams that included Year 13 students. Our thanks go to Mr Weir for accompanying the team. Elsie B and JTH
Amelie’s going to the World Scout Jamboree
“AN Evening of Music”
Mulled wine and mince pies Hot Chocolate and Christmas cookies
with Amelie and friends Help fundraise for the World
Amelie S (Yr11) has been selected as one of nine Scouts in Mid Sussex to go to the World Scout Jamboree in Virginia in August 2019. This is an amazing opportunity, but she does need to fundraise £3500 in order to take up this opportunity. Amelie has organised a fund-raising concert and lots of her fellow musicians at Roedean (Eden W-N, Ava D, Katarina H) are all performing, amongst other youngsters from Amelie’s musical friends. Miss Money, Amelie’s singing teacher, is also supporting and assisting with this event.
Scout Jamboree
Saturday 15th December
Come and see talented
youngsters of Mid-Sussex perform – singers and instrumentalists
7.30pm – 10pm
Only £5 per ticket – to buy
email jenniesam@me.co m or text or call 07713403359
Venue: Mid Sussex Scout s HQ, adjacent to Clair hall , Perrymount road, haywards heath , Rh16 4DN
Watch this space to find out more from Amelie!
Page 3
Mini Raffle with exciting prizes
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
23 November 2018 - Issue 11
Individual Senior Mathematical Challenge – 19 Golds! Congratulations to all our Sixth Form mathematicians who participated in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge in early November. This is a national competition, the purpose of which is to stretch the problem-solving skills of students. They face 25 tough questions to solve in 90 minutes. Roedean students gained 19 Gold, 19 Silver, and 33 Bronze certificates, which is close to a school record. Particular congratulations go to Susan C and Charlotte Z (joint Best in Year 13), and Shirley L (Best in Year 12) – these three students achieved scores to qualify for participation in the British Olympiad competition. A further 16 students have qualified for the European Kangaroo competition later this month. Well done, everyone! JTH
Workshop with Pingu’s Animator On Thursday, the Art Department hosted an animation workshop, led by professional animator Will Hodge, who has worked on projects such as Pingu, Frankenweenie, Fantastic Mr Fox, and Chicken Run. Seven girls spent the day learning about the ins and outs of stop-motion animation, before having a go themselves. It was extremely helpful to learn about the stop motion industry, and how much work goes into the films and shows that use it. The models are very delicate and mistakes are easily made. After Midday, we set about creating our own models. These ranged from Centaurs to leaf people to video game characters. We then spent the remainder of the day creating an animation featuring all our creations. Will was extremely helpful and guided us through complex movements, such as a Centaur’s walk cycle. Animating was very entertaining and the result was both hilarious and amazing. I’m certain that everyone gained something from the experience, and we are very grateful to the Art Department for arranging this. Serene S-R (Yr11)
House 3 girls are getting into the Christmas spirit House 3 girls enjoyed starting to get into the Christmas spirit this week, making decorations with Mrs Allen for our tree that will soon be up! Whilst festive decorations were being made, other girls were baking cupcakes to celebrate a friend’s birthday, which were enjoyed by all.
It’s 39 days to Christmas! It’s only 39 days till Santa comes, but the Roedean Christmas Fair is even sooner! The Parents’ Guild is raising funds this year to contribute towards for a new recording studio for School and to support the School’s fundraising for the Library at St Mark’s. I really hope that you would like to support us at this year’s Christmas Fair. Support can be provided in a number of ways, as detailed in last week’s Review. If you have any ideas for the Christmas Fair, please contact Steve Pomery (Acting Chair and Yr11 parent) on pomerys@sky.com Finally, if you are interested in being involved in a team to organise a large fundraising event in the spring, please also contact Steve for details.
Cross Country Regional Finals
The Cross Country Team had a great race at the Regional Finals held at Judd School. The course was 2.8km long with some hills to climb. Roedean girls started off fast and paced themselves well in the first lap, maintaining this throughout the second. All the girls worked extremely hard throughout and they should be extremely proud of their achievements! All of them managed to complete the race in under 13 minutes. A huge well done to Sophie N, Sydney O, Serena C, and Sophia C!
23 November 2018 - Issue 11
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Hockey U13A vs Lingfield College
After a very successful week last week in the tournament, Roedean continued with a good performance against Lingfield College. In a very tight first half, both sides created opportunities, but lacked the decisive finish in the circle. As the game progressed with a few tactical changes, Roedean went up another level with Amelia K showing the confidence to drive down the wing and making a fast pass in to Amy N who finished the ball in the roof of the net. As the game went on, Roedean were fortunate to counter on the break and clinically finish around the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. With some excellent brave defending towards the end of the game by Isabella P, Roedean kept a clean sheet, winning the game.
Athlete of the Year for Amelia
Bryony is in the England Football Squad
Congratulations to Amelia K (Yr8), who was awarded U13 Girls’ Athlete of The Year at the annual Phoenix Athletics Awards Evening last week. She was delighted to receive this award, which follows a fantastic season, her highlights being two Golds at the Sussex County Athletics Championships and joining the U13 Sussex Track & Field Team. This is an outstanding achievement!
Congratulations to Bryony I (Yr13) who has found out from the Manager of the Independent Schools Football Association that she has been selected to be part of the National England representative squad. This is incredibly exciting, and the training camp and games take place on 11th and 12th December. Well done, Bryony!
Alex made it into the Speed Skating World Rankings Well done to Alex S (Yr7), who trained and competed abroad last weekend in the Hague.
U13C vs Lingfield College
The U13C had a touch match against Lingfield. The girls worked very hard in defence, with Polly showing exceptional blocking skills. Lingfield attacked strongly, which put our defence under lots of pressure. Nettie kept the score as minimal as she could with some phenomenal goal keeping. The whole team was determined right until the end, and it was great that they were able to implement on match play what they had practised in training. Stella performed well both in defense and attack, and congratulations to Dani for being awarded opposition’s player for great drives in attack.
U12C
U12C vs Lingfield College
The U12C team had a brilliant match against Lingfield. The teams were closely matched, so it was all to play for. Roedean had first pushback and used it to their advantage, allowing our girls to keep possession of the ball and they were executing their passes brilliantly. Lingfield showed some good defence work and came towards our players to try and tackle them. Our girls in midfield worked tremendously hard by tracking the opposition and enabling us to have a number of shots on goal. In particular, there was some fantastic teamwork between both Grace T and Katie L, enabling us to score 2 goals during the game, resulting in a 2-0 win. All our girls played brilliantly, and a special mention goes to Alex S, who received girl of the game for her fantastic efforts in midfield.
She achieved two great PBs for the 300m and 500m, and she has made it into speed skating’s world rankings which was a nice surprise for her. In the LYB category (U13), she is currently ranked 63rd for 300m and 86th for 500m in the world!
Relay team compete in the National Finals On Saturday, Rania K, Rose O, Mollie T and Tallulah H (Yrs7-8) competed at the London Aquatic Centre in the National Relay Finals. The team were ranked 15th going into the competition, so well outside the chances of making the finals, but they performed excellently and qualified for the finals 10th! During the final they pushed up one more place to 9th where they finished overall nationally. We are extremely proud of them and to see the Roedean name on the scoreboard in the Olympic pool for the finals was just brilliant! The girls were exceptional ambassadors for the school and held their own against some of the top sporting schools in the country.
We welcome contributions from all parts of the Roedean community. If you have something you would like featured in the Headmaster’s Weekly Review, please email: marketing@roedean.co.uk
JJ WHAT’S COMING UP IN THE
WEEK AHEAD?
Mon 26 Nov
Piano Masterclass and teatime recital
Tue 27 Nov
U16A Netball vs Ardingly College (H)
Wed 28 Nov
U13A,B&C Hockey vs Mayfield (A)
Thur 29 Nov
Year 10 Social
Fri 30 Nov
Sixth Form Social: Winter Wonderland Ball
Sat 1 Dec
1st, U15B & U14A Hockey vs Lingfield College (H)
YEAR 10 PARENTS’ EVENING U12A,B,C&D Hockey and Netball vs Christ’s Hospital (A)
2nd, U15A & U14B Hockey vs Lingfield College (A)
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