20th May 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction Positive Mental Health Awareness Week has been very successful at Roedean, and I am pleased that the girls and staff have engaged with it well. With GCSE and A Level examinations well underway, and the younger years’ school exams next week, discussion about dealing with pressure and stress for example has come at a good time. Despite their imminent exams, the remaining girls in the Academic Mentoring Programme have indulged their intellectual curiosity and given fantastically engaging presentations about their chosen research topics – it really is wonderful to discover the unusual interests of some of the girls when they are given free rein to research independently. Drama and Music have had a number of performances this week: our Strings specialist, Sophia Bartlette, performed in Chapel on Saturday as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival; girls from U3 and L4 gave a concert on Monday to show the progress they have made on their instruments; and the GCSE
Drama group performed their devised pieces to an audience with an examiner in its midst. All of these performances went very well and were hugely enjoyable, so the girls involved should be congratulated. We have had some wonderful individual successes in sport this week, with athletes winning medals at county level and great results for county netballers and a club hockey player, but the biggest congratulations go to Amelie who is now European Champion in Street Dance – what an amazing achievement! Well done too to our cricketers who played excellently, but lost by just a few runs on Thursday – given that the sport is very new at Roedean, they should be proud of all the successes they have had, and I know that this disappointment will spur them on in their next match. Good luck for the last week before half-term, especially to those with exams, and I wish you all a wonderful break when it comes.
Amelie’s gone even better – European Champion! We are delighted that Amelie and her crew, Stereoshok, won at the UDO European Street Dance Championships 2016, held in Kalkar, Germany. This means that they are now the U14 Advanced European Street Dance Champions. On top of this, Amelie also won her U14 solo category, and came second in the Advanced U14 duos. What an amazing achievement! Amelie and her crew represented England after winning several regional titles including the Southern Advanced title. She competed over three days in solos, duos, and teams, against the defending champions and crews from all over the continent, some of whom had taken part in their country’s Got Talent show. Follow this link to watch Stereoshok with their winning routine in Germany on 15th May: https://goo.gl/photos/CKNREeyfxQfVKaui8
Are you aware of Positive Mental Health? At Roedean, we certainly are, after our first Positive Mental Health Awareness Week took place this week. We invited a number of external speakers to deliver presentations to our students and staff. All week, there has been a rich variety on offer during lunchtimes and after school, with talks on the history of mental health, positive psychology and exam stress, Mindfulness, and supporting LGBT students. In the evenings, we have had opportunities to take part in yoga, smoothie-making, and rounders for the staff. One lovely aspect of the week was our focus on carrying out random acts of kindness for each other. By Wednesday, it was wonderful to see that our display board had been filled with kindness! (see below, and examples of the postings are on page 6). With mental health issues on the rise among young people today, we feel the programme has been a positive step to breaking down the barriers and stigma associated with mental health – we are determined to make next year’s events even better!