6th May 2016 - Issue 4
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction
This has been a wonderful week for Roedean. The report from our ISI Inspection in March has been published, and I am absolutely delighted that it describes the school in extremely glowing terms. In every category, Roedean has been judged ‘Excellent’, the highest accolade. This remarkable success is the result of the fantastic work which goes on here every day, across all areas of the school. It reflects the collective commitment, hard work and aspirations of the girls, staff, and the entire school community. Roedean is an ever more dynamic and vibrant school, and I believe that this positive ethos will continue to enable us to improve and develop. We are all proud to be a part of this success, but there is much still to do to ensure we provide the very best education for every girl. You will all soon have a copy of our Inspection brochure with an abridged report, as well as access to the full ISI report. I am sure that you will agree that it describes Roedean in the most positive way, and I am very proud of the school – well done to all! The week started with Open Day, to which we welcomed over a hundred families, despite the Bank Holiday being the one misty and damp day in the last fortnight. Those girls with public examinations continued with their lessons, with the visitors enjoying their tours and another wonderful performance by the girls in U3 and some from L4, followed by an ‘Alice in
Wonderland’-inspired lunch. We immediately received a lot of very positive feedback, so thank you to everyone involved for making it a success, when there is so much else to concentrate on at this time of year. This week, two year groups have been away on residential trips, which are great opportunities for the girls to learn in very different ways and get to know each other even better. The Year 8 girls have been in Derbyshire, returning today, and those in Year 9 got back yesterday from three days of outdoor activities at Bushcraft. I have no doubt that they will have some stories to tell, and I look forward to hearing all about what they have been doing. I am looking forward to the Fringe Festival concert tomorrow, where it will wonderful to see so many girls performing together with members of the local community. I know that it will be the culmination of weeks and months of dedicated work, and I wish all the performers, including our six outstanding soloists, the best of luck. This has been a fantastic and varied week, and I wish you all another great week to come.
Excellent in all areas – ISI Inspection 2016 We are delighted that Roedean was judged to be excellent in every area by the ISI Inspection at the end of last term. A copy of the abridged findings has been sent to you by post, and you will be receiving the full report by e-mail next week – some of the quotations from the report have been included here: The ‘girls have an exemplary attitude towards learning’, along with ‘high levels of success in the many extra-curricular activities’, and ‘excellent standards of personal development’. The seven highly experienced and respected Inspectors remarked on the girls’ exemplary attitude towards learning, which, combined with excellent teaching, allows them to achieve excellent results in public examinations: ‘teaching is excellent’ and ‘pupils display excellent levels of knowledge, understanding and skill in their academic studies’. Beyond the academic, the girls are also highly successful in the many co-curricular activities available
to them: ‘the school provides a range of excellent facilities and resources which enhance the educational experience’ and ‘the contribution of extra-curricular opportunities strongly supports pupils’ excellent achievements’. Roedean’s commitment to its holistic vision of education is clear to see: the girls are becoming intimidating adversaries in sport, they achieve very highly in the Performing Arts, and they feel strongly about charity fund-raising and are keen to be involved in community action work, as well as being supported as much as possible to realise their full academic potential. Roedean is a dynamic school, where the girls are happy, confident, and flourishing – ‘pupils have outstanding levels of creativity’, they ‘feel happy and safe at school’, and display ‘high levels of self-esteem and mutual respect for each other’. Whether the girls are boarders or day-girls, relationships are often central to a thriving boarding school, and the
Inspectors found at Roedean that ‘pupils are very supportive of each other and develop strong bonds of friendship’; it is a school where the ‘staff express their pride in their pupils’ and ‘know their pupils extremely well’, and where the ‘outstanding integration between pupils of different nationalities and between day and boarding pupils results in mutual respect’. This is a very exciting time at Roedean, and we are delighted that the school’s remarkable provision in terms of teaching, facilities, pastoral care, boarding, and co-curricular opportunities has been recognised in this way – Roedean received the highest of accolades from the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate, highlighting the fact that the school provides a fantastic all-round education for it students.
All-round Excellence at Roedean
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.
6th May 2016 - Issue 4
Chapel With just one day before the annual Roedean Brighton Fringe Festival Concert, Miss Fewkes, the Head of Music, described the school’s strong links with the festival, and it was wonderful for the entire school to have the opportunity to hear some of the music which will be performed tomorrow: Starting tomorrow and running for four weeks, the city of Brighton and Hove will once again be transformed, as it has been since 1967, into England’s largest Arts festival, bringing unrivalled local, national, and international creativity to one of the nation’s most popular seaside cities. Last year, the fringe festival brought live performances across the Arts to over 400,000 people in our local area, and tomorrow, this Chapel will be full, with about 140 performers and 360 audience members, for Roedean’s own concert as part of the BFF.
Ella Ranson and Tallula Reece (L5) for their excellent assessments on the final years of the Cold War [RCH]
Our musicians have taken part in the festival since 2003, and tomorrow it will be a great privilege once again to present in performance some of our most outstanding musicians. We have been rehearsing some of the music for this concert since September, whilst we have started to tackle other pieces just this term. This year our choir, consisting of girls from U3 to 6.2, with the largest 6.2 membership I can ever remember, augmented by adult singers from our school community, as well as from local choirs, will be performing the hugely popular Karl Jenkins’s Requiem, a work which regularly fills the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Senior Singers sang two short movements from the Requiem, based on the Japanese haiku, and the six girls who will be undertaking challenging solo performances as part of the concert introduced their pieces – the soloists are Ada Lam (U5), Dora Goode (U5), Katherine Mao (6.2), Kelly HT Chan (6.2), Tillie Ng (6.2), and Kelly WK Chan (6.2), who also performed a section of the Praeludium by Kreisler, accompanied by the orchestra.
The Library’s missing portrait has returned Megan Foster (6.2) for doing a great job helping with the Biology activities and answering questions on Open Day [PCH]
Helena Hope-Carter (6.2) for singlehandedly planning and writing this week’s assembly [SKA]
Martha Nicholas, Gabby Wickham and Eleanor-May Wade (U5) for organising team cycling to school [SEL]
In 1928, past and present pupils in House 1 commissioned a portrait of one of the founding sisters, Dorothy Lawrence (1860-1933). Born in 1860, Dorothy was the second daughter of 14 siblings, and, with her two sisters, Penelope and Millicent, she acted as joint Head until their retirement in 1924. The noted British portrait artist, Hugh Goldwin Rivière (1869-1956), whose work can be seen in the many public collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, undertook the task. Earlier this year, the painting was selected as part of Roedean’s rolling conservation programme to be restored, leaving a space on the north wall of the Library alongside her sisters. Stig Evans, a local paintings’ conservator, carried out the restoration work over a period of seven weeks, and the painting is now restored for future generations to enjoy.
How to bake π at Roedean
Delilah Saxena (6.2) for exceptional effort in her English Language coursework [HBO]
Megan Stevens (U3) and Jane Simmons (U3) for organising and creating a card and gift, on behalf of the whole year group, for Mr and Mrs Rigby, to say thank you for all their help with the U3 Open Day performance [PWY]
We were delighted to see an Old Roedeanian, Eugenia Cheng, recently appearing in a feature of the New York Times on 2 May. Eugenia is ‘a professor and author who spreads the magic of numbers through dessert recipes’. We are thrilled to announce that she will be visiting Roedean as part of a trip to the UK, to give a Roedean Academic Lecture on 20 June. Not only was Eugenia a stellar mathematician who went on to study at Cambridge, but she was also a very gifted pianist. Students may wish to get a signed copy of her new book, ‘How to Bake π: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics’. A virtual alumnae bookstore is in the process of being created, so that students may access titles from all of our illustrious alumnae. Follow this link to read the New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/science/eugenia-chengmath-how-to-bake-pi.html?mwrsm=Facebook Page 2
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
6th May 2016 - Issue 4
HHH Photo-journalism
The annual House 2 Sleepover returns On Friday 29 April, 29 House 2 day-girls enjoyed games and activities as part of their sleepover. The indoor rounders involved plenty of cheering with a good competitive spirit, and the mass ‘fun splash’ in the swimming pool was great to see. Homemade popcorn and hot chocolate followed, with a short DVD and everyone was excited to settle into re-created House 2 dorms, with the Year 7 and 8 girls in the Drawing Room, and 9 and 10s in our GDR. After buffet breakfasts on Saturday morning from 7:15, 29 very happy girls were collected at 10:30, by mums, dads, grandmas and grandpas, all so pleased to see happy girls, even with fewer hours of sleep than usual! Thank you to Dr del Campo, Mrs Arnall, Mr Stearman, Miss Hyams, and Mrs Blackburn for their full support and creative ideas. JC
“I enjoyed every moment of the sleepover, apart from feeling a bit queasy… I ate far too much popcorn! I really enjoyed swimming. Daisy and I were the last people in the pool at 21:15!” - Madeleine Quinn “It was really nice to bond with the different years and to play sport as it made us work together” - Lara Patching “The sleepover was amazing – the film, popcorn and hot chocolate were super!” - Ella Spall “I love having the opportunity to spend quality time with people in the house that I may not usually socialise with in the school day” Lucy Brown “I really liked the swimming and talking in the night… we just need Mrs Chandler to let us stay up even longer next time.” Darcey Priddle
May Day performance on Open Day The presentation for this Open Day, overseen by Mrs Rigby, Faculty Lead for Performing Arts, was a joyous celebration of May Day, with a piece based around the old tradition of collecting may blossom branches, to mark the beginning of summer. The wonderful set of folk songs and original compositions were provided by Robert Rigby, who also accompanied the girls on guitar. The two-week rehearsal schedule was a challenge, but the excellent cast, consisting of the entire cohort of U3 and some L4 girls,
certainly rose to it! Despite the rain, the performance lifted the spirits and left us in no doubt that summer is, indeed, “coming in!” Robert Rigby is our visiting musical director for the summer production of the play with songs, I Could Always Find Tears, which he wrote and composed. The piece is a moving, but uplifting, tale of the lives of young girls ‘in service’ during the early part of the twentieth century. Performance dates are June 23rd and 24th, and on Roedean day on June 25th. Page 3
This term in HHH, some junior girls have been working on a photo-journalism project with Mr Earl and Mr Reid, based around the theme of ‘Work, Rest and Play’. Having looked at the work of famous artists and photographers, they have been taking pictures of people at work, shots of people sleeping to capture the ‘rest’ element of the task, and photos of people in fancy dress or pulling funny faces. All the time, they have been considering the composition, the main focal point, colours and textures, the direction of light, the location – and, more importantly, what effect all of these factors have on the final piece. These pieces by Gracie Bernard, Saoirse Jackson and Tabitha McCulloch are a few examples of what the girls have produced.
6th May 2016 - Issue 4
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Beach Volleyball – we won 5 out of 6 matches On Wednesday the 1st Beach Volleyball team played in a mini tournament held at Yellow Wave. Divided into teams of five, the girls played in six matches, against Farlington and Burgess Hill School for Girls. They worked well together to keep the ball moving on the sand and were able to secure comfortable wins in 5 out of the 6 matches. It was a beautiful evening for such a fun tournament and they were fantastic ambassadors for Roedean!
U12As win against Burgess Hill Bushcraft This week, 39 girls from U4 set off for an adventurous three-day, two-night residential in the Oxfordshire woodlands hosted by The Bushcraft Company. We arrived in Oxfordshire and we were guided into a field by a member of the Bushcraft staff who jumped onto the bus and took us further into the wilderness, with no sign of houses or people. As we were driving, a roedeer ran in front of the coach and we saw this as a sign that we were in the right place and set to have a great time! When we finally stopped, we were greeted by 5 enthusiastic instructors who helped load our bags onto a trailer before guiding us on a 30-minute walk through fields
and woodland until we eventually found our camp. When we arrived we were welcomed by even more staff who were on hand to supply us with some small snacks and a drink around a fully flaming fire. From that moment on we began learning about the outdoors, with talks on the wildlife we would encounter and how to survive in this environment. The first handson experience was to make fire, and each group began this ready to cook their lunch of lamb kebabs and rice. After this it was full steam ahead making shelters that would be slept in by only the very brave, with some braver than others lasting the entire time in the outdoors. The first night was very cold, however the fires stayed alight, keeping those outside in their shelters the warmest!!
On Wednesday, the three U12 teams played rounders against Burgess Hill. The As played against Burgess Hill’s U13A team, so were keen to get off to a good start. We batted first and only managed to score 3 rounders, with big hits from Bonnie and Scarlett Riley. We fielded well and kept Burgess hill from scoring, but towards the end of the innings they had a few big hitters and scored several late rounders. The second innings was much better and our girls scored 4½ to their 4 rounders. The final score was 11-7 ½. The Bs were playing against their U12As and again made a good start showing tight fielding to keep their score down. There was great fielding from Serena Clyde and Poppy Townsend. Imogen Donald batted well and scored some vital runs in the second innings. The final score was 10-4 to Burgess Hill, but the score did not reflect the game, as our girls showed great promise.
The next two days were filled with activities where girls learnt how to make traps, how to stalk and remain hidden, first aid for survival, camouflage, archery skills, knife skills, and how to strip wood, as well as having lots of fun finding their way through the blackout maze and flinging tennis balls with the human catapults!! The two main highlights included an SOS scenario where the girls encountered a plane crash involving two members of staff, and watching a whole salmon being prepared for lunch, where four lucky volunteers had a competition that had something to do with the eyes of the salmon!
The U12C Rounders match saw some great performances from Eva Fletcher, Evie Hawkes and Mwaba Mwiko, who was given player of the match. It was a close game, with Roedean the last to bat, and to try and chase Burgess Hill’s lead. We just missed out on the win by 3½ rounders. Well done to all the girls.
All who went are now very confident that they could survive in the wild, and they all made some new, and strengthened old and existing, friendships with others in the year group. Congratulations to all and a special thank you to the staff who made this possible.
Thur 12 May U13 Cricket vs Moira House (A) Shakespeare Theatre trip, Brighton
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
WHAT’S COMING UP IN THE WEEK AHEAD?
Sat 7 May
Brighton Fringe Festival Concert, Chapel
Wed 11 May
U12A&B Rounders vs Brighton College (H)
Sat 14 May
U14A&B and U15A&B Rounders Tournament (H) Sophia Bartlette Brighton Fringe Festival Recital, Chapel
Follow us @RoedeanSchool