22nd April 2016 - Issue 2
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
An All-Round Lap of Honour for Amber Congratulations to Amber Anning who won the UK Sportshall All-Rounder title at Sportcity in Manchester at the weekend. She is one of Roedean’s most promising sportswomen, and has a string of victories and titles to her name, along with an impressive collection of medals. The sole representative for Sussex at this competition, Amber qualified in March for the finals as a regional champion. She was one of 75 athletes in her competition from all over the United Kingdom, highlighting the calibre of this outstanding victory. The athletes had to take part in three events, each of which had a maximum score of 100, and Amber scored a winning total of 287 out
of 300, over 11 points ahead of her closest rival. This was a fantastic result as the most promising young athletes battled fiercely to be crowned UK champions at the flagship athletics development event of the year. Amber ends her six year Sportshall career, with an unprecedented ten county records across the age groups, two UK U13 titles, and, most recently, this UK U15 All Rounder title. This success bodes well, since many current members of the GB & NI Athletics Team experienced their first taste of Athletics through the Sportshall competition – Amber is definitely a star of the future, so we should watch out for her!
Head’s Introduction Firstly, of course, Roedean must join with the rest of the country in saying Happy Birthday to the Queen who was ninety this week. In School, at a time when many of our girls have a keen focus on their academic work and public exams, I am delighted that Sport and the Performing Arts continue to thrive. Our sports teams are enjoying the exceptional weather along with great success in their fixtures, and I am pleased to hear of some brilliant individual sporting achievements too. Rehearsals for the Brighton Festival Fringe concert, this weekend’s Falmer Concert, and the school’s drama production at the end of June are well underway. We are all looking forward very much to the amazing spectacle of the Dance Showcase this evening. I am hugely impressed by the dedication of the girls and staff involved in all of these activities, and by the sheer numbers involved. Last weekend, our three Marathon runners on the staff ran very well. They were spurred on at Roedean’s water-station at Mile 10 by girls and staff cheering and providing much-needed fluids and support. Thanks to all those who gave up their time to help with this – I know that they really enjoyed it. On Wednesday evening, we launched our new partnership with Deepdene at The Grand Hotel; it was wonderful to see the Years 5 and 6 pupils from Deepdene giving strong performances on stage and to hear Eleanor, in Year 9, and Flo,
in Year 8, both former Deepdene girls, talking about the move to Roedean. The Deepdene Headteachers and I outlined the benefits of the partnership to the parents who came. Given the limited space at Deepdene, it will be great to see the younger children benefiting from our sports facilities. Teachers from both schools will also work together to share good practice, and our girls will work on projects in a number of areas with the younger pupils. I am confident that the partnership will benefit both schools in the coming years and have the same impact as our partnerships with Ringmer Community Academy and City Academy, Whitehawk. It is important that Roedean keeps reaching out beyond our own boundaries to work with local schools and organisations for the benefit for all involved. Taking advantage of the wonderful weather, a photographer captured some wonderful moments around the school last week, showing what a unique place Roedean is, as well as the fantastic relationships between the girls and their relaxed interactions with the staff. This week, some of the girls have also been immortalised in a video we are making, focusing on the central role of the Houses at Roedean, for both daygirls and boarders, and I am sure that it will capture the very evident house spirit. Good luck to everyone involved tonight, and I hope that you all have a very productive week.
WHAT’S COMING UP IN THE WEEK AHEAD?
Sat 23 April
Concert at 5:30pm at St Laurence, Falmer
Mon 25 April
Charity Concert at 7pm in Chapel
Tue 26 April
U13 Cricket vs Ratton School (H)
Wed 27 April
6.1 Young Enterprise Trading event
Thur 28 April
Junior Maths Challenge (Years 7 & 8) 6.1 Young Enterprise Regional Final Event at Brighton University
Fri 29 April
House 2 Sleepover
Sat 30 April
U12 & U13 Cricket vs Hurst (A)
Charity Concert Monday 25th April At 7pm in the Chapel, Miss Kazem, Dr Barrand, and Miss Triddon, along with their accompanists and some students, will be giving an informal charity concert. It is open to everyone in the Roedean community, and there will be wine and cheese to enjoy along with the music. The repertoire will range from classical to contemporary (or nearly!), both singing and instrumental, so there will be something for everyone. It is free to attend the concert, but we hope that you will give generously to support the two charitable causes, which are the Refugee Crisis and the Lugoj Orphanage in Romania.
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
22nd April 2016 - Issue 2
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.
Chemical Analysts at Roedean Sixth Formers Tiffany Lam, Iman Shaukat Ali, Natalie Tang, and Consuella Zhao represented Roedean this week in the South East Regional Round of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s School Analyst Competition at Kingston University.
Betty Guo and Wendy Jiang (6.1) for being really kind to a member of staff in House 2 last Saturday [MDC]
Their first task involved estimating the mass of iron in iron tablets using a potassium manganate (VII) titration. They then measured the absorption spectrum of bromophenol blue and methyl orange, and from the Beer-Lambert plots found the concentration of an unknown solution. Finally, they used gas chromatography to determine the percentage of ethanol in an alcoholic drink. To score highly required much very careful practical work but our team members excelled themselves, scoring 22½ out of 30, to finish third out of the twenty schools that entered. The runners up on 24½ points were Westminster School and the winners, who scored 25 points, were our rivals at the Gala Bingo Academy – not only did we beat many other excellent schools, but we were very close to the winners. Congratulations to the Sixth Form chemists who competed!
Gracie Bernard, Jessica Kay, Amelia Jeyes (L4) for organising a pop-up tuck shop for next week to raise money for Cancer Research, following the death of Mr Alan Smith
Monica Phillips (6.2) for applying feedback immediately into the next lesson’s work [AK]
Bella Mason (6.1) for doing a really nice thank you to our teacher at Wakehurst Place [PCH]
Lynn Angerer (L5) for always being the first to offer help with IT in lessons [LJ]
Grace Robertson (6.1) for her mission to deepen the students’ understanding of politics in the school {KRH]
The school’s chemists have also done really in this year’s RSC Chemistry Olympiad competition, with Silver certificates being awarded to Roshni Mistry, Vivian Mak, and Lily Bridgeman-Rutledge, and a Bronze certificate to Janice Wong. Unfortunately, none of them will be going to Vietnam for the International Final (what an opportunity that would have been!), but congratulations nevertheless to these girls on their achievement.
Perusing ancient artefacts in London On Tuesday 19th April, the Classics Department took the U5 Latin and 6.1 Classical Civilisation classes to the British Museum in London, to observe the ancient Roman and Greek artefacts as part of their examination courses. The morning was spent with the U5 in the Roman Empire rooms, while the 6.1 group explored the Parthenon sculptures and the surrounding works of art. After lunch in the sunshine and a second visit to the museum, the group walked down to Trafalgar Square to observe the reconstruction of the arch of Palmyra, which was recently destroyed in Syria, but is now bring commemorated in London. It was a very pleasant trip and a source of great revision and study for the students. PWY
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HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Roedean musicians win an award Roedean is delighted to have been awarded a Gold certificate by ISM, the Incorporated Society of Musicians, whose aim is for more students to be encouraged to study the academic subject of Music as well as to learn an instrument. We are very pleased that the wonderful work which goes on in the Music Department has been acknowledged by an external body in this way. The award is based upon the school’s GCSE success in Music last academic year. Only the top 87 schools in the entire country had over 20% of the entire Key Stage 4 cohort studying Music and passing GCSE with A*-C grades, and this is the threshold for a Gold award. In fact, our national position is 45th, so congratulations go to the Music Department and to all those musicians in the school who combine dedication and talent to produce wonderful music.
Mr Lutwyche is nominated for a teachers’ award A member of our Maths department, Mr Lutwyche, has been nominated for the TES “Bev Evans Resource Contributor of the Year” Award for the second year running. It is given to the person that the judging panel, which includes various people from the world of education, considers has uploaded the most “quality resources”. Last year’s winner, who is nominated again, teaches in Malaysia. The event takes place on Friday 24th June at the Grosvenor House Hotel overlooking Park Lane. If you would like to find out more information, please follow this link: http://www.tesawards.co.uk/tessa2016/shortlist
Scarlett donates her hair to charity! The day we broke up for the Easter holidays, Scarlett Beasley (U3) had her hair cut short and donated it to the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children with cancer. What a wonderfully generous and laudable thing to do!
Mr Blond in the press Mr Blond has been given an award in the Senior ‘Top Heads’ section in the recent edition of the magazine, Absolutely Education. He was given the ‘oil tanker award’ for turning a school around, in reference to Roedean’s growth of pupils, recent improvements in examination results, and its development of extra-curricular opportunities and facilities. We are delighted that the fact that Roedean is becoming increasingly successful in a broad range of areas has been acknowledged in the press. The following is what was written about him in the magazine by the free-lance journalist, Charlotte Phillips:
Supporting Team Panda As well as cheering the runners on Sunday, Eva Fletcher and Scarlett Beasley (U3) seized the initiative and sold bags of sweets and their homemade cakes to Marathon spectators for Eva’s favourite charity, WWF. The enterprising pair raised £62.50 which was donated the same day. Well done to all the runners and the charities who benefited from Sunday’s event.
Great Rounders for U12A The U12A team started well in their tournament this week, fielding the ball effectively back to the bowler as they got themselves into the swing of the game. The first game was against Brighton College and they drew the game 5-5. The second game was against Bede’s, whom they had played the previous week, so knew that they needed to work hard to keep in contention. Despite Bede’s advantage of three rounders to start, the girls took to the challenge well and drew in the final seconds of the game. This meant that they had to beat Cumnor House in order to get into the final. They worked the ball meticulously in the field, making some tremendous catches, all supporting one another. In the batting, they were able to secure a few early rounders which gave them confidence to go for the win, which meant that they progressed to the final, playing Hurst. They played extremely well, but were pipped to the post by the Hurst girls in a nail-biting finale! There is some real potential for this young side – we are looking forward to the season ahead! Page 3
22nd April 2016 - Issue 2
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Holly wins with Sir Chancer Holly Fraser (U3) had great success again with her pony, Sir Chancer, at a showing show on the 19th March. These pictures show her with her pony, winning two classes at Plumpton Show in the Easter Holiday. She won ‘Best Condition and Turnout’ and the ‘Easter Fancy Dress’. With a little support, she made the Easter fancy dress costume herself – it took about two weeks to make all the flowers, the Easter eggs, and chick costume, and , no doubt, a lot of patience. Well done, Holly!
U13A beat Brighton College and Cumnor On Wednesday, the U13A team took part in their first Rounders tournament of the season. The girls have worked hard at training, and picked up new and advanced fielding tactics quickly. Their application of these on the field, combined with great team work and good fitness, led them to some great wins, including
beating Brighton College 4½-4, and defeating Cumnor House 8-3. Congratulations to all girls involved on a great start to what looks to be a promising season. The coaches’ player was Yelena Finnegan for her outstanding play and attitude throughout the tournament.
U13B win the tournament! The U13B team were magnificent on Wednesday in every way. They played against Brighton College Prep in their first game, and scored 6 rounders in their batting innings. The fielders were on point and worked together like a well-oiled machine to keep the opposition score down to 2. There was excellent work between Soha El-Faghloumi at backstop and Liv Henderson on 1st post resulting in several outs. The result was a 6-2 victory. The second game was against Hurst and the girls were keen to not drop their guard. Hurst chose to field first so we knew that we had to gain as many rounders as possible. The girls scored an amazing 10 with full rounders from Alys Dunne, Soha El Faghloumi and Liv
Henderson. We went into field and were again outstanding getting their team out before the allocated time. The result was 10-1½. The last game was against Brighton College, who batted first and scored 4 rounders which was the most scored against us at that point. Nervously, the girls knew what they had to do in the 8 minute innings. We had a shaky start, with a few early outs, but the girls soon found their form and we notched up a total of 9 rounders, winning by 9-2.
22nd April 2016 - Issue 2
Roedean wins the Swimming Championships for the 4th year The swimming team travelled to Brighton on Wednesday to compete against other local schools. This is the last event in our swimming calendar and is always a hugely competitive evening. We were keen to retain the trophy which has been in Roedean’s possession for the last 3 years. The girls swam well and, due to injury, we had Gracie Bernard and Niamh Smethurst- Caplice swimming up for the seniors. Throughout the competition we were neck and neck with Brighton and Hove High School and Dorothy Springer; just a minor disqualification could have been the deciding factor. The girls kept their heads in the last few races and we took some vital wins in the freestyle relay. A big mention goes to Georgia Hewitt for winning her breaststroke race. True to form, Lea Donovan won her race to cement the victory for the team. We will miss Lea next year and thank her for her time and dedication to swimming at Roedean – she is a true role model. The girls received the cup and it has been returned to the trophy cabinet for another year. Well done ladies, and thank you to Nigel Carrucan for his coaching expertise this season. KAN
The U13Bs were therefore overall winners of the competition, and the players of the tournament were Alys Dunne and Liv Henderson.
Tatum is ranked No1 in the UK Tatum Walker (U3) triumphed at the Brighton MiniMile races on Saturday to win the U13 girls’ race with ease and a new PB of 5.47! Tatum, determined as ever despite severe knee-pain all week, took to the start line on Saturday. With 191 in the race, she got a good start and for the first 200 metres tucked in confidently behind 3 other club runners before taking the lead. By halfway, she was about 10 metres ahead, increasing her lead by the finish line to about 40 metres, meaning she won by a full 9 seconds. This is the last of the 3 south coast Youth Mile races (Worthing Half, Brighton Half and Brighton Marathon) earning Tatum a hat-trick by winning all 3, and thereby retaining her current No1 UK ranking for U13 Girl in the Mile distance. 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: news@roedean.co.uk Page 4
Football win against Burgess Hill The U13 football girls travelled to Burgess Hill this week. In the first half, Burgess Hill applied a lot of pressure which created many goal scoring opportunities, and Roedean went into half time 1-0 down. After Mrs Robins’ half-time team talk, Roedean went up another gear in the second half, applying a lot more pressure on Burgess Hill’s defence, which led to early goal scoring opportunities. After a thrilling second half, Roedean turned the game around to win 2-1. There was great football played by both teams, and there is certainly a promising future for girls’ football at Roedean. ACA
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