13th May 2016 - Issue 5
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction While I am in danger of being justly accused of going on about it, I remain delighted with the findings of our ISI Inspection report, and it seems that everything I see around the school recalls one of the findings to my mind. To give just three examples from this week, the Roedean concert last Saturday as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival highlighted the ‘outstanding levels of creativity’ in the school, the girls who presented their projects to their peers, staff, and parents as part of the Academic Mentoring Project demonstrated ‘exemplary attitudes to learning’, and the U5 and Sixth Form Social showed the ‘strong bonds of friendship’ that grow here between the girls. Roedean is a truly exceptional school, with a dynamic and positive atmosphere, and while we will always continue to find ways to improve and develop what we do, it is wonderful to watch the girls growing up happily in this special environment. The concert last Saturday really was the highlight of the week, and congratulations must go again to Miss Fewkes and the Music Department for masterminding such a remarkable spectacle. It was wonderful to watch so many girls performing, alongside teachers, friends and choir members, not least our six soloists who performed to an incredibly
high standard. The audience, many of whom were members of the public visiting Roedean as part of the Brighton Fringe, were so enthusiastic and full of praise as they were leaving. To end with an impromptu piece sung by the Senior Singers by way of a farewell and thank you to a very surprised Miss Fewkes was lovely, and an indication of the high regard and affection they have for her. Well done to all involved. In memory of Carol Gao and Mr Alan Smith, two members of our school community who died this year, we have created a memorial garden between the Science and Music blocks. At lunchtime today, we had a small service and planted two cherry trees in full bloom as a memorial to them; it was a touching occasion, and the trees will serve as a beautiful reminder of Carol and Alan for the school. Those girls doing public exams in Art have been working hard to produce excellent pieces over the last two weeks, and I look forward to seeing some of their wonderful work. The main summer exam period will begin in earnest very soon, and Study Leave has begun today for 6.1 and U5. I wish all the girls in the top three yeargroups the best of luck with their revision and preparation, and, of course, with their exams.
Jartisan in the Young Enterprise Finals After winning the Best Young Enterprise Company of the Year in Brighton and Hove, Jartisan returned to compete again in the Young Enterprise Sussex Finals. They competed against five other companies from the Sussex Area. The competition was extremely tough, with each of the rival companies having won their own regional finals. Jartisan set up their trade stand for the judges and all of the attendees of the event to see. They handled questions from the judges with confidence, and demonstrated their excellent business knowledge. The group then presented their company journey to a large audience, speaking enthusiastically and with professionalism. Journalist and BBC news presenter John Young gave an exciting key-note speech before the awards were presented, and he emphasised how much of an improvement the students have made throughout their Young Enterprise journey. The results of the Young Enterprise Sussex TV advert were also announced, with 91 receiving a Highly Commended Award for their very professional adverts. Unfortunately Jartisan did not make it through to the next stage in the competition, but they have worked incredibly hard and should be congratulated on their success to this point. Well done!
We also bid farewell today to Mr Neil Roscoe who has been at Roedean for 4½ terms, initially here as maternity cover for Mrs Harrison. He has taught Biology at all levels, and been a great support to those preparing for Medical applications to university. He is taking up a Head of Department position at an international school in Bangkok, Thailand – we wish him all the best. I hope that you all have a wonderful week good luck.
Distinction at Grade 7 for Yelena Yelena Finnegan (L4) sat her Grade 7 Voice in April, and congratulations to her for her distinction, with a score of 89%. In one of her pieces, Mr Snow, from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, she was awarded 100%. Well done to her, and we look forward to hearing about her Grade 8!
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
13th May 2016 - Issue 5
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.
Natasha Tan (6.1) for showing compassion and kindness to the girl whose grandmother was taken ill at the concert [HDE]
Maia Hobbs (U3) for an excellent answer to a question in the Academic Mentoring Presentations [HBO]
Michelle Dyonisius (6.2) for preparing Politics revision notes for the girls in 6.1 [KT]
On Tuesday last week, the whole of L4 packed their bags and embarked on a four-hour coach journey up north to Derbyshire. We were all very excited as we had been looking forward to this trip for months! When we arrived at the youth hostel, we spent a bit of time getting settled in our rooms (as well as making friends with the goats and rabbits that lived there!). After this, we put on our walking boots and set off on a lovely walk through the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. We all got a bit muddy, but it was a great way to detox after the long journey there, and we took lots of amazing photos of the wilderness!
Florence Gordon, Poppy Arnold and Georgina Coates (L4) for extreme kindness in Derbyshire [SMS]
Katherine Mao and Kelly WK Chan (6.2) for preparing for their A2 Art exam straight after performing solo pieces at the Festival Fringe Concert [SS]
Bakewell tart for L4!
Tabitha McCulloch (L4) for her outstanding catch at the Rounders match on Wednesday [KAN]
After a restful night’s sleep, we sat down in the classrooms and spent some time studying gothic literature, then went to visit the Hermit’s cave. Although we had to walk quite a bit in the boiling heat, when we arrived at the scene, we were all amazed. We had lots of fun climbing the rocks around the area. At Bolsover Castle we studied the surrounding area for our Geography project and took photos for our English coursework. That evening, when we got back to the youth hostel, we had fun writing poems about the Black Death, in preparation for our visit to Eyam (the plague village) the following day. It was a great way to end the day and, once again, we retreated to our rooms to bed down for the night. The next day, we got up early and made our way to Eyam, a tiny village that is well-known for its attempts to quarantine its inhabitants during the devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the 16th century. We visited the well where the villagers would trade food with other neighbouring villages, paid our respects at the Riley grave, and learned all about how the plague first got to Eyam in the local parish. After relaxing in the sun and eating some delicious ice-cream, we got back on the coach and travelled a few more miles to the well-known town of Bakewell, a popular honeypot site and the origin of the Bakewell tart. After interviewing tourists and collecting data for our Geography work, we headed back to the youth hostel, where we enjoyed playing numerous games of bingo. All in all, Derbyshire was an amazing experience and I learnt so many new things, as well as spending some quality time with my friends. I am super-grateful to all the staff who organised this trip and to everyone who came with us, as we were, no doubt, a handful to manage at times! Cherry Tenquist
Parents’ Social - Thursday 9th June Rosie Jones and Mya Roberts (U4) Laura Mercade for their patience and commitment Lucaya (U4) for towards the reading project with the an amazing effort Year 1s at Whitehawk [SDA] to improve her spoken English [DWO]
The Roedean Parents’ Guild is holding a Parents’ Social at 7.30pm on Thursday 9th June at Malmaison Hotel Bar, Brighton Marina, BN2 5WA (the entrance is in-between Pizza Express & Coast to Coast). This will be a perfect opportunity to meet other parents, and, as it is a hotel, children are welcome in the bar, if you would like to bring them along. It would be great to see everyone there – please RSVP to your Guild Secretary - meriel.spicer@yahoo.com Page 2
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
13th May 2016 - Issue 5
Roedean musicians lift the roof off the Chapel! Roedean girls “have outstanding creativity” (ISI Inspection 2016) – there cannot have been a better illustration of this quotation from our recent Inspection report on Saturday. Our girls performed excellently, whether playing in the orchestra, singing in the choir, or doing both, demonstrating outstanding talent and skill. In the Chapel, excitement built, performers started to feel ‘butterflies’, and proud parents were almost as nervous. The harpist, tuning her instrument, lent a real texture to the sounds of brass and percussion finding their note. ‘ I can’t bear the tension,’ said another lady, ‘ I wish it would start.’ Six soloists had the honour of playing a concerto movement with the full orchestra, a wonderful experience for those so young. The first was Ada, composed and serious, as she waited for her orchestral introduction with Mozart’s familiar waves. When she came in with a melody of ice-crystal sounds, the tumbling notes of his Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor evidenced her virtuosity and immediately transported us to the eighteenth century. Sitting watching the string performers, I could see why so many major painters have been inspired by that very subject, the still profiles, the fixed concentration, and the dextrous fingers are ever-fascinating. The exquisite ‘Laudate Dominum’ came next, gentle but insistent, and, accompanying the
choir, the most elegant strings. We were all earnestly anticipating the next solo and is it not a real challenge to present a piece so very familiar to thousands? Our chapel rang then with Tillie’s exceptional rendition of Mozart’s ‘Queen of the Night’ from The Magic Flute. The audience was transfixed by her mastery of the incredibly difficult notes, including top Fs beyond the range of all but the most accomplished; her applause was rightly long and deafening. Dora’s cello was rich and lustrous in Bruch’s ‘Kol Nidrei’, and her first notes evoked the Jewish homeland with Jane Lister’s exquisite harp cadences introducing an entirely different section of concentrated strings. Katherine’s emphatic mastery of Sibelius’ piano ‘Romance’ was wonderful – she lingered over the very last notes with real longing and the piece gained her two bouquets. Kelly HT’s Ravel was carefully built and the lovely two-melody movement from his Piano Concerto in G was carried by her beautiful ice-shard notes. Her mastery was superb, with real beauty, and Miss Fewkes’ hug confirmed her triumph. Kelly WK had the hard task of presenting a very familiar violin piece by Kreisler, which she carried through with perfect composure. The great crescendo, heralded by Miss Bartlette, was full of graceful tones and Kelly’s insistent violin was extremely well-mastered – what control! I noticed Kelly smiling briefly as she
completed certain sections, and how carefully she communicated with the conductor whilst appearing to be totally carried away by the piece. The audience went wild! The finale was the Karl Jenkins’ ‘Requiem’, when the choir, bolstered by members of the local community, joined the orchestra to perform a piece which was full of colour and perfect for our chapel with its rising, haunting melodies. The percussionists were powerful and confident, and the flutes returned us to the original theme, and the liquid notes of the very modern harp in the ‘Lacrimosa’ gave rise to great emotions. When the applause, shouts and whistles died away, we were treated to a final surprise ‘gift-song’ from the leaving choir-group in worthy honour of Miss Fewkes, who, with Miss Bartlette, had conducted for the twohour performance, both demonstrating their commitment and unfailing attention to detail. Thrilled, we heard the touching ‘If I loved you’ from the musical Carousel. We filed out, exhilarated and proud for yet another year to be part of the Festival’s start. Congratulations to all involved. Roedean girls “develop a deep appreciation of nonmaterial aspects of life through the creation of high-quality art and music, which encourages reflection and a spiritual response.” (ISI Inspection 2016) SS
The power of a Gap Year Congratulations to two ORs in particular from last year who have taken a GAP year and subsequently achieved great things. Having not been successful in winning a place at highly competitive Drama Schools last year, Marisa Abela taught English in Fiji for the first half of this year, and then returned to the UK, refreshed and ready for the challenge
of applying again. She has done exceptionally well to win places at a number of prestigious Drama Schools, but most remarkably has one of 28 places at RADA, to which well over 5000 normally apply each year – what an amazing achievement!
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The second success-story is last year’s Head Girl, Fran Amewudah-Rivers, who decided to apply to university to study Music this year, instead of her other love, Classics, and she is now in the unenviable position of trying to decide whether to accept her place at Oxford next year, or at Harvard! Congratulations to both, and good luck.
13th May 2016 - Issue 5
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Following passions in research This year, twenty-five students have embarked upon Mr Blond’s Academic Mentoring Project. For some students, education in the curricular sense does not allow enough time for them to develop their passions and interests, and to undertake deep and meaningful research into them. We know that intrinsically-motivated learning is far deeper and more enduring, so this project has created an outlet and a focus for this wider learning. This week, a good number of the girls have given presentations to their friends, the staff, and some parents. The range of interests is astounding, and reiterates many of the points raised in our recent ISI Inspection about positive attitudes to learning, strong self-reliance, and desire for personal development; the following just gives a flavour of the half of the projects, and the others will be covered in next week’s Head’s Review.
Two cricketing victories in one week! On Monday, the U13 girls travelled to Claremont for their second league cricket match. After a promising start, Roedean made 77 runs on a tricky wicket, with Alice Eltringham playing some textbook cover drives. Roedean then put on a terrific bowling display, with Zara Ghani and Sophia Clyde restricting Claremont to 56 runs. It was a great team performance, where Roedean showed a significant improvement in the field. Well done girls! On Thursday, the team travelled to Moira House. After winning the last two matches in the league, the girls’ played with confidence, scoring 105 runs in 12 overs. Roedean then restricted Moira House to 73 runs, winning the game by 32 runs. This was down to some excellent fielding, particularly by Esme Boden and Poppy Townsend. Overall, it was another excellent performance. The U13s next league game is against Bede’s at 5:15pm on Thursday 19th May at Roedean cricket ground – please come to support the girls as they are in contention of making the semi-finals.
Another two fantastic rounders wins for Roedean On Wednesday, the U12B team played rounders against Brighton College. The girls batted first and scored a strong 8 ½ rounders to Brighton’s 6. There was some lovely fielding from Imogen Donald as bowler, Lucy Petit as backstop, and Serena Clyde at first post. The girls were set a challenge in their second batting innings to score at least 10 rounders, which they achieved easily with a score of 13½. In the second fielding innings, Darcey Priddle and Maddie Quinn worked extremely well. Roedean won the match, with a final score of 22 to 15. Well done to Lucy Petit who was voted Player of the Match. The U12A team performed exceptionally against a well-drilled Brighton College side. They were neck-and-neck in the first innings, but took the win convincingly by catching the whole team out before the end of the 2nd innings. The final score was 16 - 7.5.
Niah Salmon (U3) – Mental Health Issues in Girls – Niah has written a short story to illustrate her findings.
Rosie Jones (U4) – A Comparison between His Dark Materials and Paradise Lost – Rosie has researched the influences of Milton’s work on Pullman’s trilogy.
Ndali Brume (L5) – Representation of Race in 20th Century Literature – Ndali compared The Help and Roll of thunder, Hear My Cry.
Tabitha McCullough (L4) – Why We Should Not Go To Mars – having started by wanting to explore Mars, Tabitha has come to the conclusion that we should not go to Mars.
Maia Hobbs (L4) – Childhood – Maia explored whether children are exposed to too much in the 21st century.
Ishika Ali (L5) – Women’s Rights in the Middle East – Ishika chose to research why women in the Middle East do not enjoy the same rights as those elsewhere in the world.
Bella Mason (6.1) – What is Sustainable Architecture? – Bella looked into the ecological impact of different types of housing.
Consuella Zhao (6.1) – Are You Happy? – Consuella, our Academic Senior Prefect, looked into happiness from a religious and philosophical perspective.
Fleur Read-Riseley (U3) – Life after Death – using a questionnaire, Fleur examined her peers’ views and the perspective of different religions. Emily Townsend (U5) – Cow or Corn: Can You Taste the Difference? – Emily explored whether we could manipulate the senses to remove beef from our diet. Tara McMaster (6.1) – Are the Poor of the Ancient World Invisible to Us? – Tara examined why the poor were under-represented in Ancient literature. Darcey Priddle (U3) – Ai WeiWei-inspired Sculpture – inspired by the Chinese artist, Darcey is making a chess board with pieces representing world problems. Lili Banks (6.1) – The Katana – intending to study Japanese at university, Lili has become interested in the history of the samurai sword.
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
JJ WHAT’S
COMING UP IN THE WEEK AHEAD?
Mental Health Awareness Week Sat 14 May
BFF Concert in Chapel – ‘Missing Voices’ – Sophia Bartlette
Mon 16 May U3 & L4 Music Concert in Keswick Hall Tue 17 May
Years 7-10 Athletics at Crawley
Wed 18 May
Junior House Rounders U5 GCSE Drama Performance
Thur 19 May U13 Cricket vs Bede’s (H) L5 Geography Fieldtrip to Stanmer Park Sat 21 May
U12AB&C (A) & U13AB&C (H) Rounders vs Windlesham U14A&B & U15A&B Rounders vs Benenden (A) Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Assessed Expedition
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