Head's Weekly Review - Summer Issue 5

WEEKLY REVIEW

Head’s Introduction

Congratulations to the eighty-five Year 9s and sixty-five Year 10s who completed their Duke of Edinburgh practice expeditions at the start of the week. I am sure that they will all have learnt valuable lessons from the experience, and will now be more than ready for the assessed expedition – well done, and thank you to Mrs Finn and Mr Fieldsend and all the staff who went on the trip.

With the sun shining down and the School looking wonderful, we welcomed prospective families to Roedean on Open Day. They were incredibly impressed with everything they saw, and many commented on how confident and relaxed our students are – this is great to hear, and I am very grateful to all my colleagues and the students for making the day such a success.

Although the students are focusing on their end of year assessments, I am very pleased that they were still able to make time for events such as the Blind Veterans' Tea Party on Wednesday and yesterday’s Open Mic night. Seeing some the Year 8s and 12s chatting to the residents of the Blind Veterans, some of whom were over 100 years old, it was clear that they had developed a strong rapport over time – our guests really enjoyed coming, and they loved the cake and the music. I also enjoyed watching some students, and members of staff, perform at the Open Mic event – there were students from Year 7 to 12, and we have such a wealth of talent. Well done!

Congratulations to all of our athletes and cricketers this week – there have been some great matches and some new personal bests on the track, which is great to hear. Well done to those who have taken A Levels and GCSEs this week, including some Year 10s, and good luck to everyone next week for their school assessments and public exams!

Glorious Conditions for Sea Swimming

DofE Bronze and Silver Expeditions

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.

Maria on the West End!

Congratulations to Maria (Yr12), who performed in the West End last weekend:

Khadija

for compering the Blind Veterans Tea-Party event this week – they were confident and spoke beautifully [Mr Wilson]

Staff

Ms

for stepping in at very short notice to lead a brilliant creative writing workshop for St Mark's Year 4s [Dr Barrand]

Mr Carter – for a fascinating Academic Lecture entitled 'Great Britain – Maritime Nation' – we explored our connections to the sea throughout history, the economy, weather, climate, and culture [Ms Ibanez]

Mr Hardy – for going straight back out in his minibus after doing his own route, to cover a second route at the end of last week [Dr Barrand]

'Last Sunday, I had the honour of performing in the West End alongside many talented stars. I travelled to London with Apollo, the musical theatre group that I attend every Sunday, and we performed in a charity concert, raising money for Grassroots, a suicide prevention charity. This is even more significant, as it is currently Mental Health Awareness Week, and this is a super important issue, so having time to talk about it and raise money for this cause is vital. We performed in Wonderville, a beautiful cabaret venue, which was literally 200 metres away from Phantom Of The Opera! It was a fantastic opportunity and a great experience to develop my musical theatre skills.'

Year 7 and 8 Hunger Games

To enjoy the lovely weather and to take their minds off upcoming assessments, Mr Halsey and Mr Bond organised an activity for Years 7 and 8 this week – the had a brilliant time

doing sack-races outsdie the Clubhouse in the sunshine and worked off some energy in the process – watch the video, it's great!

Dr Barrand

and Almen (Yr8) –

Miss O'Neill – for taking great whole house photos for Lawrence [Dr del Campo]

Mrs Pynn – for rescuing one of Lawrence's beloved plants and reviving it [Dr del Campo]

Saville –

Farewell to the Blind Vets

Year 8 students and the Year 12 CAP group hosted a lovely tea-party for the residents of the Blind Veterans this week.

In recent years, we have worked closely with them, particularly Year 8, who have raised £3000 for them this year, and the CAP group on Wednesday afternoons. After 85 years of being our neighbours, the Blind Veterans is relocating to new premises along the coast in Rustington, so this event was to say good luck and farewell. The Blind Veterans plan to use the funds raised to purchase art work for their new library, providing a lasting legacy of the Roedean-Blind Veterans partnership.

Almen and Khadija in Year 8 opened the event, detailing their experiences of working with the Blind Veterans, and Paloma and Gracie in Year 12 also shared their reflections on what they had learnt over the course of the year. The spoken elements were interspersed by lovely musical items, performed by Abi, Emily, Alissandra, and Maria form Year 12, Holly, Scarlett, and Natalie from Year 8, and Rachel from Year 10, and they all received hearty applause from our guests.

We presented the Blind Veterans with a framed picture with connections to the School, and, in return, we were given a beautiful piece featuring butterflies, which had been made by the residents in the craft workshop – the intricate detail is wonderful, and it will remind us of our partnership for many years to come.

The afternoon ended with an amazing cake, made by Mrs Sambrook in the Catering Department – it looked amazing, and tasted better! Thank you to Mr Wilson, who has spearheaded this partnership over the years, and to Ms Bartlette, who has led the CAP Musicians.

We hope that we will be able to visit the new site next year, but, for now, good luck and farewell!

Dr Barrand

DofE Bronze and Silver Expeditions

On Sunday 14 May, Roedean's Duke of Edinburgh's Award participants embarked upon their training expedition in the Ashdown Forest.

85 Year 9 students successfully completed their two-day one-night Bronze training experience, and 65 students in Year 10 successfully completed their three-day, two-night training expedition. Training for this event was, in part, facilitated by 4th Dimension, which provided Mountain Leaders to train our students in navigation and camp-craft. They remotely supervised during days two and three, putting our students’ skills to the test.

The expedition section of the DofE Award is physically challenging and can be an emotional roller-coaster. This cohort of students rose to many challenges along the way, making us feel immensely proud! This is a real adventure where friendships are forged, tested, and strengthened. It's an opportunity to embrace the outdoors, develop skills, strengthen resilience, and laugh at the ludicrous. And I almost forgot... it's great fun too!

Thank you to Ms Saville, Miss Holmes, Mr Foster, Ms Shrubsole, Mrs Sturgeon, Mr Silvey, and Mr Fieldsend, for supporting and enabling this fantastic adventure!

Mrs Finn

This Week in Boarding...

There has been a strong enthusiasm for baking across the Houses this week: House 2 has enjoyed a classic Victoria sponge, Houses 3&4 baked and decorated a fresh summer berries cake, and Mrs Sampieri even won a baking award in Lawrence!

The Houses celebrated Eurovision last weekend in a variety of ways, including mocktails in House 3, and an ice-cream extravaganza in House 4! Everyone enjoyed a great evening of music from across Europe – congratulations to Sweden!

Weekend boarders had an exciting trip to the cinema to see the new Marvel movie, and there was plenty of popcorn and yummy snacks.

With the warmer weather on the horizon, the boarders have been able to enjoy our beautiful surroundings in all their glory. A walk to Asda, frisbee, and a running club are just a handful of ways the girls have spent their time in the fresh sea air this week. And boarders from Houses 3 and 4 have also made a big splash in the swimming pool!

Miss Barnett

Open Mic at Roedean!

Yesterday afternoon, we hosted a relaxed open mic event in the Theatre – there were 7 acts, performing a variety of pieces and styles, and it was brilliant to see a very different type of show. Both the performers and audience loved it, so watch this space – there will be more similar events in next term's calendar!

Molly (Yr8) opened the show playing Sweet Child of Mine on the drum kit, and this was followed by a lovely rendition of Alexandra Burke's Hallelujah by Amyra, Livvy, Beth, and Annabel (all in Year 7). The third piece was Apex Predator from Mean Girls, sung by Kyra and Daisy in Year 9. These Key Stage 3 performances were excellent, and they all have great potential for the future.

The first member of staff, Mr Low, sang and played guitar, performing his own composition, with a very personal tone, and this was followed by an amazing piece, Don't Cry, demonstrating the cross-over from classical to rock: Rachel, whom we usually associate with classical music, played the Violin, along with Sigrid on Bass Guitar, Emma on Acoustic Guitar and Drums, and Phoebe on Guitar – it was fantastic.

The next act was a performance of Stand By Me, but Mrs Andrews and Miss Orrells, which had the audience clapping from the first notes, and the finale was reserved for a Year 10 band made up of Siyun, Sihu, Sam, and Emma – they performed Gone by Rosé and Enchanted by Taylor Swift, and they did brilliantly!

Overall, it was a brilliant event – we're already looking forward to the next one!

Ms Bartlette

Music Dates for your Diary:

6 June Year 7 Musical Showcase

4pm Chapel

This is a chance to hear the whole of Year 7 perform from the Instrumental Project on the Violin, Trumpet,Trombone, and Bassoon, plus some solos from our younger musicians. This is always a fantastic and memorable event!

15 June Summer Evening Recital

7pm Chapel

This will be an opportunity to hear some of our extremely talented Roedean musicians perform a variety of music in the Chapel – there will be pre-concert drinks in the Cloisters from 6:30 pm

Please book tickets here  https://roedean.ticketsolve.com/

Diamond League –Athletics

Last Thursday, we took a group of Year 9 and 10 athletes, along with one Year 7, to compete in the Diamond League up at K2.

It was a ‘twilight meet’, beginning at 4:00pm and finishing at 7:00. It is a great meet where the students are able to participate in as many events as they want, so they experience a range of events in a competitive scenario.

We saw some fantastic performances from Ruby in the 800m, Katherine and Alicia in the 1500m, and Eva in the 100m. It was a great effort from all of the squad – we were all so impressed with the performances you put out this early in the season, well done!

Miss Hammond

Athletics – Lewes Training Evening

Last Friday, we hired Lewes Athletics track and invited 50 pupils from Years 7-10 for an extra training session on the rubber crumb, so they are used to it for official events. It was extremely beneficial for our students to get used to sprinting on the crumb and gave them an opportunity to measure long jump run ups, for example, as it will replicate the material used for the Track and Field Cup so will be more accurate.

The whole PE department was really impressed with our students' commitment to their athletics to be there on a Friday night and training as hard as they did. Keep up the hard work.

Miss Hammond

U12D Cricket vs Great Walstead

The U12D team travelled away to Great Walstead for their first cricket match of their Roedean experience!

We won the toss and chose to field first. Within 10 minutes of the match starting, we were struck by hail, so had a classic English style of Cricket moment, where we stepped off the pitch to see if it would dry up to resume play. We managed to get back out eventually and played a shorter match.

It was a fantastic learning experience, and Tilly managed to take a wicket! A big well done to all who played, but unfortunately it was Great Walstead who took the win – it was a great game nevertheless. We're already looking forward to the next game!

Miss Hammond

U12A Batters Batter Brighton

The U12A Cricket team had their second fixture of the season against Brighton College away – it was a great match, (and the alliteration of the title was too good to pass up!)!

Roedean won the toss and chose to bat first. Sophie and Maddie opened and made a solid 19 runs. With the loss of 1 wicket. the next 4 pairs all came in and scored above 22 runs, giving us a good total of 323 runs in our 20 overs. Hats off to Matilda, with a top score of 26 runs.

We then went into the field, and the opening overs were crucial to limiting scoring and taking as many wickets as possible. Bella and Maddie did just that, taking 4 wickets between them and only going for 15 runs. Sorcha and Erin followed suit, picking up a wicket each, and the rest of the bowlers limited the scoring.

Brighton College ended on 264, and Roedean won by 59 runs in the end.

Mr Campleman

U13A Netball vs 5ways

Our U13A Netball team had another run out last week to keep their skills up whilst out of season. They tried lots of new combinations, and worked really hard for a full hour of netball.

Our second half was much stronger than our first, where we had dusted off the cobwebs and were linking through court nicely. A big thank you goes to the squad for staying late after school to squeeze this match in and to 5ways for coming!

Congratulations to Izzy for being named Opposition's Player and Coach’s Player, for her ability to play in a range of positions to a high standard, including GA, GD, and C! Well done also to Maud, who was also named Coach’s Player for her brilliant defending.

Miss Hammond

U14: It was a lovely day for tennis, with the usual Roedean wind adding that bit of extra challenge for the girls.

The games were closely matched, which is great, as it makes for brilliantly competitive tennis. There was some brilliant tennis, as always, and it was lovely to watch the girls playing long rallies and moving their opponents around the court.

We started with the doubles: Amelie and Jemima played together and won 6-3; and Harriet and Alicia played singles against their no.3 as they were one player short. Harriet won 6-3 and Alicia lost 6-3, but both were close matches. Then we played the singles: Amelie came up against a very strong number 1 player, and their match was impressive to watch – I felt like I was at junior Wimbledon! She lost 6-3, but it was great! Jemima's match was close and they were both hitting great baseline winners, but she lost 6-4.

Regardless of the outcome, it is always a pleasure to watch them play. The overall score was 6-4 to Ardingly.

U15: It was another great day of tennis for the U15s, and they set the bar high, as always, with impressive tennis, even with the Roedean wind!

It's always very enjoyable to watch, as the girls hit with such power and accuracy, but they also mix up baseline hitting with approach and drop shots. We started with doubles – Mia and Maya played together and Tiphaine and Anna made up the second pair. Mia and Maya won 6-1, and Tiphaine and Anna won 6-2. The singles were next, and Mia won 6-1, Maya won 6-4, Tiphaine won 6-2, and Anna won 6-0. Well done girls! This match was great practice for their next league match against Bede's after half-term. The overall score was 12-0 to Roedean.

U14 and U15 Tennis vs Ardingly House Tennis

Well done to everyone who took part, and to all of the brilliant supporters – it was an amazing day for it, as you can see in the photos. The results for Years 10-12 are as follows:

Miss Patching-Jones

U13C Victory

The U13C Cricket team played their third game of the season on Tuesday, and the weather was much more favourable this week!

Matilda won the toss and opted to bowl first. With each player bowling at least one over, there was some really great talent on show, and it was clear how much progress the team has made over the term – well done!

Congratulations to Blaize, who took the only wicket of the innings, and to Sienna who only conceded 4 runs from her over. Hurst managed to score 308, setting us a difficult target to chase.

The Roedean players batted in pairs for three overs each, and, although we lost three wickets, we scored runs-a-plenty, finishing with a score of 318, winning the game by 10 runs.

Well done to Molly, Anya, and Sienna, who all batted extremely well.

Miss Kirby-Jones

Cricket vs Hurst

U12C

On Wednesday, the U12C team took to the Roedean cricket pitches for their third game of the season. They were excited to put all of their hard work in training into practice.

Batting highlights featured the duo, Georgie and Paloma, who were back to open the batting, and they were met with lots of wides and no-balls, which meant that it was hard to score runs. Then it was the next pair who stepped up – Bella boomed a 4 and Sofiia ran extremely well between the wickets. Joy and Katherine were the two fast runners of the group, running quick 2s and taking extras on the no-balls! Ezzie and Zaina were also met with some wides and no-balls, making scoring tough, but they still managed to run well on the no-balls to help rack up the points. Finally, Aya and Tilly went into bat, with some great running and another 4 from Aya. they got 390 runs on the board.

The team was super positive when fielding, talking to each other throughout, backing each

other up, and bowling well, and they had some great urgency in the field, putting the Hurst batters under pressure. The bowlers who took the wickets were Georgie, Ezzie, and Aya who took out the wickets with her bowling, followed by an immediate run out! The team managed to keep Hurst down to 323, and Roedean took the big win!

The Players of the Match were as follows: Hurst voted for Bella as Batter of the Match, and Georgie was Fielder of the Match. My Coach's Player was a tough decision this week, with some excellent performances all round. Well done to Bella for her constant positivity and talking in the field, and for her beautiful bowling, and also to Joy for her all round positive attitude and for keeping the vibes up in the team!

This was another great success for the U12C team!

Miss Bamford

Glorious Conditions for Sea Swimming

Our Roedean sea swimmers were greeted with still and beautiful conditions for another successful session last Friday.

We were also delighted, that our honorary member, Lord Rover Rusty Roedington III (the seal aptly named by our squad), joined us to impart his expertise in sea swimming to us!

Roedean Aquathlon

On Monday afternoon, we hosted an Aquathlon for our young multi-discipline athletes.

They swam 300m in our pool and ran 1km along the perimeter of the sports fields. We celebrated a fantastic performance from Year 8 student, Evelyn who won the event in a time of 10.37:21 minutes. The second place was taken by Ying, in Year 7, who came in just under 14

minutes, and Astrid in Year 7 finished third, coming in 4 seconds behind Ying.

Overall, six young athletes took part and each gained valuable experience in preparation for the invitational aquathlon we are hosting on 12 June! Congratulations on a marvellous effort, girls!

Mr Pocklington

Sport Stars of the Week

Congratulations to this week's Sports Stars!

Miss Kirby-Jones

Year 7

Ying, for great performance in the aquathon and her general hardworking attitude

Year 8 Izzy, for her great attitude in PE across the board

Year 9 Sonia, for excellent attainment in Cricket

Year 9

Sonya, for a great effort in Athletics

Year 10 Georgie, for her wonderful energy in Cricket

Year 12

Kaia and Maria, for consistently great effort in Cricket

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: aws@roedean.co.uk

Year 13 Emma, for her positive attitude and effort in Athletics

@RoedeanSchool

Ms Marek