Weekly Head's Review

Head’s Introduction

The last week of term was full of festive activities and performances, and it was good to see so many members of our School community involved. The Christmas Fair was a true example of the entire School community working together to achieve a common goal, in this case raising funds for our school charities. To have raised in excess of £10,500 in one day is remarkable, and the funds will make a huge difference to the charities. Thank you to everyone involved.

Tuesday saw two performances of the Dance Showcase, featuring over 70 dancers demonstrating a variety of styles. The audience was impressed by the diverse talents of the girls and their enthusiasm. In between these two shows, each of the six boarding houses hosted the annual House Christmas Decorating Competition. Each year, the standard gets higher, and we enjoyed the girls’ singing, the Staff Santas, the home-made gingerbread, and their generous hosting.

The Carol Services on Wednesday were very moving and poignant. The candlelit procession to start the evening Service was very atmospheric, and Niamh in Year 12 performed the first solo verse of Once in Royal David’s City with a beautiful tone. It was lovely to hear the different choirs and the congregation in full voice, despite the chilly weather.

On Thursday, we had Christmas lunches and the Staff pantomime, a Roedean re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. The girls always enjoy seeing the teachers take on different roles, and there was a lovely atmosphere, lots of audience participation, and quite a few missed lines and cues!

After a busy, varied, and exciting term, I wish everyone a peaceful and restful break over the festive season.

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.

Fantastic Charity Fund-Raising for the Local and Global Community

The Christmas Fair on the last weekend of term was as popular as ever, and we welcomed many members of the wider community into the School – there must have been well over 1400 people on site for the morning. The girls were as ingenious as ever with their stalls, coming up with all sorts of ideas to sell their wares.

This year’s fair was a record-breaker, raising over £10,600 for our charities. Thank you to the Roedean’s Parents’ Guild for all of their hard work in setting up the external stalls, raffles and tombola, and the café, and for donating the funds they raised to the School. It was a brilliant event, and the funds raised will allow important charitable work to be done – congratulations to everyone involved!

The School has also achieved an unbelievable total for charity at the end of the first term –

Festive thanks and congratulations go to Helen, Otti, and Isabel (Yr13), Maria and Sigrid (Yr12), and Amelia (Yr11), for organising and directing a cast of rowdy Roedean academic staff into a fabulously funny pantomime show of Beauty and the Beast! A further thanks to Phoebe (Yr13) for joining the cast at the last minute.

For the first time this year, each year-group has a dedicated charity, and this has certainly galvanised the School body even more than normal. Although it is important to realise that some year-groups have not yet held their key fundraising events yet, here are the running totals for each:

Thank you, and well done, to Sara (Yr7), Lyla (Y8), Sonia (Yr 9), Amelia (Yr10), Mbali (Yr11). Portia (Yr 12), and Helen (Yr 13), for speaking with such composure in the Christmas Carol Services at the end of a busy term.

Well done to Maddie, who has won the last Golden Ticket of the term – congratulations!

A massive thank you to Year 7 and to those who donated to the Rockinghorse Christmas present appeal. As you can see from the images there was a fantastic response! The presents will be distributed to any children who are unfortunate enough to spend Christmas day in at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital. The presents were labelled with a gender and appropriate age range.

I am certain they will bring happiness and a smile to the children and parents during difficult times. Rockinghorse is Year 7's dedicated charity and the students have been working hard fundraising for them since the beginning of the academic year. You can donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/roedeanschooly7

[Mrs Chamberlain]

The End of Term has been amazing!

Mr Wilson

Dr Barrand

Maria's Collection for 'Stand for Ukraine'

Maria, in Year 12, has been collecting gifts from the Roedean community to give to Ukrainian children who have fled thecountry to come to the UK – everyone has been incredibly generous, and it is wonderful that we can share some Christmas cheer with those who are far from at this time:

'I would like to sincerely thank every single person who donated a gift to my charity appeal for Ukranian refugees. Your generosity has provided at least one gift for every child living locally. This means so much to this community, who have endured the worst possible circumstances, and have been separated from loved ones this Christmas.

I know that the Roedean community is generous, but I have been blown away by how kind and thoughtful people have been. I have seen students, parents, and teachers placing full bags of gifts in the boxes provided, and I am so grateful.

When I delivered the gifts to the charity ‘Stand for Ukraine’, the volunteers were tearful and thankful, and actually shocked by the fact that something wonderful like this could have happened for them.

So, thank you very much to everyone who made someone’s Christmas happier and thank you for your unwavering generosity. Happy Christmas to everyone!'

Rhea Scored 200/200 in the Bebras Challenge 2022

This year’s BEBRAS challenge had 262 pupils from Years 7 to 11 taking part at Roedean. This is a worldwide computing challenge run by Oxford University. The challenge involved solving a range of problems online, using computational thinking skills; these skills are essential for Computer Science and a good indicator of success in the subject and future careers.

Nationally, the challenge saw a total of 329,466 pupils from three categories: Juniors (Yrs6-7), Intermediates (Yrs8-9), and Seniors (Yrs10-11) competing. Students whose score is within the top 10% nationally receive a gold award and are invited to take part in The Oxford University Computing Challenge, which aims to encourage these pupils to develop their skills further and produce programmed solutions to computational thinking problems.

We were so proud to see 43 of our students receive Gold awards, which is more than last year. In addition, 68 of our students were in the top 25% and received a Distinction certificate. A particular mention needs to go to Izzy (Yr10), Katherine (Yr7), and Rhea (Yr9) who came top in their category and were awarded the 'best in school' certificate.

Even more remarkable is that Rhea achieved the full marks in competition, 200/200, and she joins only 207 other pupils nationally with this accolade, and there were 330,000 entrants globally – brilliant!

We are delighted to congratulate the following students on their success and wish them good luck in the next round, which will be held in January 2023.

Mrs Griffiths

Senior Maths Kangaroo Results!

Congratulations to all those who qualified for the Senior Maths Kangaroo and performed so well – this is the follow-on round to the Senior Mathematical Challenge, and takes the form of a 60-minute challenge, consisting of 20 problems. Entry is only by invitation, based on qualifying scores.

Well done to Skylah, Diana, Elodie, and Cathy (Yr12), and Sabina and Betty (Yr13), and particular congratulations go to Vanessa and Hebe (Yr12) and Yilin (Yr13), who scored in the top 25% of entries, and therefore are awarded a Certificate of Merit.

Mrs Hopper

Dance Showcase Extravaganza

This year’s amazing Dance Showcase saw 71 performers take to the stage, some more than once, and dancing a variety of styles! The theme of the evening was A Night at the Movies, and the performances were definitely worthy of the red carpet!

There were dances from Chicago, Step Up, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Everything was amazing, and the groups included some of our best dancers alongside others who are developing their skills, having only just started their dance lessons. A few particular highlights include A Star is Born, in which April (Yr13) performed a stunning lyrical solo, three ballerinas ‘en pointe’, ten students in a tap routine, and a group of our commercial dancers performing Step Up

It was a lovely evening, and a great way to round off the term – congratulations to everyone involved, and, of course, to the wonderful Theatre team!

Miss Abaza

You!’ –Roedean’s Beauty and the Beast

The Staff Panto was great fun, and well done to all the staff involved who were up for making a fool of themselves a day before the end of term. Congratulations to the Charity Prefects, Helen, Otti, and Isabel, who were the drivers behind the event, and Amelia (Yr11) and Maria and Sigrid (Yr12) – together they produced a Roedean version of the pantomime classic, Beauty and the Beast

The girls fell straight into the audience roles, booing at the baddies and laughing along with the story. With simple costumes, the Staff were transformed into characters from the story, some were type-cast, others not! – Mr Lutwyche played the Beast, Ms Shillito was Belle, Mr Orys was Belle’s father, and Dr Barrand played Gaston, along with a whole raft of villagers, a pair of horses, and, of course, the castle Staff who had been cursed with the Beast, Lumière, Cogsworth, Chip, and Mrs Potts.

It was great fun all round, and the staff were surprisingly well-rehearsed given the time of year. Thank you to the Theatre team, and well done to everyone involved!

‘She’s Behind

House Christmas Decorating competition

It was lovely to go around the 6 boarding houses on Tuesday to see all of the fantastic effort which had gone into spreading festive cheer – thank you all.

The prize for the best performance of a carol goes to House 2, who moved through different styles and traditional to go with their international theme, ending with a gospel choir in the ODR.

The category for the best looking Christmas tree is awarded to a House 1, whose concluded their remarkable story telling of The Dragon Who Stole Christmas around a tree covered in their favourite photos.

The House Staff Santa goes to Lawrence –they presented a sun-drenched Santa who was responsible for Global Warming, a nod to their ‘save the polar bears’ theming.

The best Christmas-themed cookie goes to House 4 – not only did they present us with a delicious treat each, they also presented each of us with a personalised card in all of the languages represented in their house.

The house which has won the best atmosphere of Christmas cheer goes to House 3. They welcomed us to their Greek island with a beach in their foyer, with real sand! A creative Christmas twist on the story of Mamma Mia, which sparked irreverent joy throughout.

The category for the best home-made Christmas cracker, goes to Keswick. Despite the questionable joke from Mosope, it was beautiful to have the whole of Keswick house singing by candlelight, even if was the chorus of a famous pop song over and over and over again!

This year sees the introduction of the Christmas Decoration trophy. Something the winning house can keep proudly in their ODR until next year.

The winner is House 3 – the story telling was brilliant, the genre-busting nature of their presentation was phenomenal and the entire house dancing to Abba in the ODR will not be forgotten easily.

Caligrams in French

For their French lesson this week, Year 7 have learnt more about the end of year celebrations in France: stockings aren't so popular, the Christmas meal is on 24 December, and the French love kissing on the cheeks to say Happy New Year.

They also discovered caligram art, where they created some Christmas shapes with the new vocabulary seen in class.

Joyeux Noël et bonne année, Roedean!

Year 12 Community Action Programme (CAP)

The Community Action Programme (CAP) has been typically busy this term, with our Year 12 students serving the local and wider community in a range of different activities.

The Junior Roedean Academy (JRA) has been a new and popular addition to the CAP Programme for this year, and has involved 90 primary school children joining us on site each week. Over the course of a seven-week programme, our Year 12 students have worked with the Year 5 children from City Academy Whitehawk and St Margaret’s to deliver activities such as Science lessons, Art and Craft lessons, and sessions on the Farm.

This has enabled our Year 12 students to hone their teaching, communication, teamwork and leadership skills by undertaking the roles of Teaching Assistants and Class Teachers.

Our off-site placements this term have included weekly visits to Chailey Heritage Foundation, Blind Veterans, Downsview School, and St Mark's, whilst onsite, we have had Community Music, Sports Leadership, Community Cooking, Eco-changemakers and Language pathway groups. These groups have all made their unique and individual contributions to the community, ranging from gardening at St Mark's, Creating Storyboards at Chailey Heritage Foundation, cooking sweet treats for Off the Fence, and playing a musical concert at The Blind Veterans.

The value of these community activities cannot be underestimated. For those involved, there is an obvious sense of accomplishment, personal development and self-fulfilment whilst, for the communities that they serve, a sense of gratitude and appreciation.

These quotes are from Year 12 students explaining what they have learned or been doing this term.

“I have been learning all about the animals in the farm, such as their breeds, commercial purpose, needs and behaviour, and how to prepare and carry out a lesson for primary school students who may or may not have special educational needs. I have made a lesson plan and a booklet for the farm sessions”

Farm – Lok You

“Learning how to put together lesson plans, behaviour management, how to positively interact with younger children in an educational setting”

JRA – Mary

“We have been brain storming ways to make the school more sustainable and we have talked to the people who we need to, to get some of our ideas implemented”

Eco-Changemakers – Ruby

“We have been putting together a repertoire of music to perform in events such as a St Mark's assembly, Blind Veterans, and with CAP cooking. We have worked as a team and had great fun rehearsing and researching”

Community Music – Maria

Sixth Form Snow Ball 2022

The Sixth Form celebrated the end of a busy term with their annual Snow Ball. Keswick Hall was filled with music as students and their guests danced the evening away. It was lovely to welcome back former students and guests from other schools and colleges.

Thank you to the Catering team, the Housemen, and the Theatre technicians for their support in making this such a successful event which raised nearly £200 for the Sixth Form charity, Chailey Heritage.

Miss Carragher

Boarding Weekend Activities – Autumn

Term

This term has seen some exciting and memorable weekend activities for our boarders. As new and former students arrived in September, they were able to explore our amazing local attractions and enjoy adventurous activities, including the Brighton Marina, Brighton Pier, Laser Tag, trampolining, and the iconic Brighton i360.

As Halloween approached, they went further afield, with a spooky trip to the London Dungeons that both enthralled and terrified those who participated! Finally, in the run up to Christmas, the students were thrilled to explore the quintessential British store, Harrods, to purchase Christmas gifts for their loved ones (although, I'm not sure if anyone will be receiving the honey from Harrods this Christmas, as it was enjoyed in House). They also enjoyed the annual ice-skating trip, where fifty-five students were able to skate under the majestic lights of the Pavilion and truly feel the Christmas spirit.

Look out for next term's exciting programme!

Mr Wilson

Classics Department Baking Competition

This half term the Classics Department ran a Classically-themed cake-making competition. This was an excellent opportunity for bakers from across all year groups to get creative in the kitchen. The challenge was to produce a cake decorated to replicate a genuine mosaic from the Classical World. Years 7-8 produced cakes modelled on mosaics from Pompeii; Years 9-10 modelled their cakes on a mosaic from Rome; and Years 11-13 created cakes depicting the theme 'Conflict in the Ancient World'.

We were hugely impressed with the creative flair and fantastic attention to detail shown by all of the entries, and congratulations to all who took part! The cakes that we sampled demonstrated that our bakers had, without a doubt, given attention to aesthetics and flavour in equal measure! You can find a list of participants and winners for each year group below.

Year 7

■ Winners – Greta and Jolie: Cave Canem cake

■ Dhiya, Elsa and Bella: cake depicting Salve mosaic

■ Beth: cake depicting a crown

Year 8

■ Winner – Bonnie: cake depicting squid mosaic

■ Sohana, Lucy: colourful mosaic cake

Year 9

■ Winner – Rhea: cake depicting the Cave Canem mosaic

■ Millie: cake with a dolphin alluding to myth of Arion

■ Daisy: cake depicting a mosaic of a peacock

Year 11

■ Winners – Hannah, Eva: Cave Canem cake

Year 12

■ Winner – Sigrid: cake depicting a mosaic showing a personification of Spring

Student

Newspaper

Congratulations to Matilda and Alma (Yr13), who have completed the Winter issue – all of the articles have been written by students on a variety of topics.

Music Results

Congratulations to all those musicians who took ABRSM Music examinations earlier in the term –the results are excellent:

Alicia (Yr8) Grade 2 Piano, with Merit Scarlett (Yr8) Grade 3 Oboe, with Distinction

Darcey (Yr9) Grade 3 Piano

Daisy (Yr9) Grade 4 Singing, with Merit Ayla (Yr10) Grade 4 Singing, with Merit

Mia (Yr11) Grade 4 Piano

Holly (Yr8) Grade 6 Piano, with Distinction

Yolanda (Yr11) Grade 8 Flute, with Distinction

Mr Wilson

The Seaside Standard – Roedean’s

First Fencing Fixture at Roedean for Years

Our girls had their first fencing fixture of the year (and indeed for some years!) with two friendly team matches against Ardingly College, one foil match and one épée match.

With fencing being only recently reintroduced to Roedean, the majority of our girls are new to the sport and were relishing the opportunity to try out their skills!

A little about fencing and the format Fencing is fast-paced, requiring decisive action and accuracy to score. As a result, experience and exposure are highly influential, with even small differences in ability tending to yield large score differences.

We played the standard team format, which sees teams of three fencers fence individually against the opposing team for a total of nine bouts. A bout is a one-on-one encounter where athletes fence for a duration or target score.

In the case of a team match the initial target score is five, and is raised by five for each consecutive match, giving a maximum score of forty-five after the nine bouts.

Match report

We fielded two teams from Years 7 through 10 whilst Ardingly College could only pick from their Senior School (Years 9+), making for a tough match-up. Our girls more than rose to the challenge, giving everything they had and having a blast in the process. We came away with scores of 30-45 (foil) and 12-45 (épée), both losses, and at this stage very heartening. In one bout Edelweiss (Yr 10) managed to steam-roll her opponent, scoring three points to his every one! However, these matches are most often games of constant progress, and unfortunately the titanic performance wasn't enough to secure a victory.

That said, every girl went out to play her part and had success.

The girls achieved exactly what we set out to do, which was to experience a form of competitive fencing, have fun and come away with respectable scores. We all left in high spirits, exhausted yet excited for future opportunities!

Last Swimming Gala of the Term

Thursday night saw the last gala of the term. We competed against Hurst and Mayfield in Junior and Inter teams. Six Roedean girls made up the Junior team and Harriet Captained the squad. Charlize, Evelyn, Katherine and Ashley all completed in individual events and relays.

The Inter squad was captained by Mollie, with Rose as Vice. The team of five did exceptionally well and a huge well done goes to Clara, Holly, and Jamie, who all stepped up on the night. The team's combined score was 38, which left us 1 point away from Hurst's score of 37. We are looking forward to a rematch against Hurst when we have our full squad in school next term.

Miss Wakeling