7th October 2016 - Issue 5
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction A few short but frantic weeks of preparations and rehearsals have come to an end - the House Plays are tonight! This is one of those occasions when House spirit is at its very best, and I cannot wait to see the performances, and be swept along by all the excitement, the House chants, and the frenzy of pom-poms in four colours. I would like to thank everyone involved in Open Day last weekend. We again welcomed record numbers of visitors to the school, and I appreciate the great deal of work which goes into getting the school ready to look its very best for them. All the performances were excellent, as were those who spoke to share their experiences of Roedean with the audiences in the Theatre, and our visitors were very impressed with them and their tour-guides. A good number of girls hoping to join the Sixth Form next year also came back to Roedean yesterday evening to join with the girls in U5 for a very informative Sixth Form Information Evening joining the Sixth Form and making A Level choices can be a little daunting, so I hope that yesterday helped to dispel some of those worries, and that the girls and their parents had the chance to ask lots of questions and enjoyed the academic fair and presentations.
a hugely experienced clarinettist, and I am delighted that they then had a chance to put what they had learnt into practice in a tea-time recital on Monday; the History department took the U3s to Hastings yesterday; our girls in 6.2 are sending off their university application forms, which will be an excellent job done and a weight off their minds; girls are enjoying the farm, particularly our new egg-laying arrivals; and our diverse and successful sporting fixtures have continued as ever. Well done to everyone for a very positive week, and I wish you all well for the last full week before half-term.
U3 History trip to Hastings! 57 girls from U3 went to Hastings yesterday to find out more about the famous battle – this is what a few of them thought about the day:
‘I enjoyed the day. My favourite par was the visitors’ centre, becaus t e it was really interactive, with plen ty of activities to do.’ Blythe King
‘We enjoyed this trip, definitely. Especially when we got to re-enact the Battle of Hastings with shields, because it wasn’t just about sitting down and listening, but getting us to do something.’ Charlotte Archer & Alice Briggs
‘I enjoyed today when we all took part in a Battle re-enactment.’ Harriet Moore Holland
Our visitors had a great time at Open Day
As we approach half-term, I am pleased that there is no hint of slowing down at Roedean: our wind players enjoyed an excellent masterclass opportunity with
‘Being in a mock g battle fake fightin ’ together was fun! Persia Kosten
Modder
‘It was great fu wearing the hel n met with chain-mail attached.’ Poppy Stockt
on
s really fun ‘The day wa educational with lots of nities.’ opportu ng ambli
Phoebe H
£283
Congratulations to everyone who baked, bought, and ate cake at last week’s coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Support. £283 is a great total!
when ‘I enjoyed today lds ie sh we used our a to make a fan as r ou t ec wall to prot other.’ bodies and each Tilly Llloyd
‘It was great to see the secrets of the Battle of Hastings an d where the smugglers kept their goods.’ Millie Jenner
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.
Juliette Li (U5) for playing the piano for almost three hours on Open Day without complaint [DAS]
Ava Zoccola (L4) for her house contribution to the win in the bake off with her red velvet recipe [DGR]
Francesca Guldemond (6.1) for an outstanding essay on why people supported Mary I in 1553 [RCH]
7th October 2016 - Issue 5
Classicists go to Cambridge On Thursday 29th October, the Latin A Level students travelled to Cambridge for a day of Classics lectures. These were talks given by the Cambridge university professors about the set literature texts. Our first lecture was by Ingo Gildenhard, writer and Cambridge professor, about the ‘Pro Milone’ speech by Cicero, justifying homicide, written in about 60BC. We also heard lectures on the three love elegists, Catullus, Propertius, and Tibullus – and Ovid, who mocked the style of love poetry which disappeared as a result until the Renaissance period! After the morning lectures we had a tour of Homerton College, the newest college at Cambridge, and a quick lunch break in the grounds before returning to the lecture halls. The final two speakers explained the importance of context while reading a text, and why Augustan poetry is considered ‘golden’. At the end the day, we got a signature from Ingo in our books, as he was by far the best speaker and really quite inspiring. All in all, it was a very informative day and a great mid-week break! Emily Townsend 6.1
An interview with George McKay
Pan-Pan Niumpradit (U3) for her diligence with work this week [DGR]
Eva Hanna (L4) for not making a scene in Founders’ Chapel when she found a huge beetle crawling on her shoulder [RPL]
Minibus driver Pete, for taking 3 girls all the way home on Saturday after they missed their bus! [MCO]
Last Friday, George McKay, star of the film adaptation of Private Peaceful, as well as of Pride, and Captain Fantastic, How I Live Now, and Sunshine on Leith (and former pupil of our own Miss Whiteson), came to Roedean to talk to students in L4 who are currently studying Private Peaceful, coinciding with their studies on World War One. They were able to ask questions about the demands of being a professional actor, and about the journey from page to screen involved in filming a much-loved text.
National Poetry Day at Roedean Michelle Douglas, Melissa Dyson, Amber Anning (U5) and Rosie Jones (L5) for the fab Classics costumes they wore for Open Day [JBO]
On Thursday, KS3 girls were invited to read their favourite poems at lunchtime, and there were some beautiful readings, including Wordsworth’s Daffodils (read by Jemma Neill-Gordon Spicer) and Owen’s Dulce et Decorum est (read by Jane Simmons).
OR Artist with a prizewinning painting
Natasha Spinks and Miranda Liu (6.2) for their invaluable assistance to Admissions and Marketing with Weibo [JCO]
Congratulations to artist and Old Roedeanian Felicity Flutter (née Cole, House 3, 1967-72) who is a prizewinning exhibitor this year at the Society of the Graphic Fine Art’s ‘Draw 16’, with her beautiful painting Rock Pool, created using watercolour and graphite pencil. You can find the exhibition at the Menier Gallery in London until 15th October, and Felicity will be at the gallery herself on Friday 14th October. Page 2
7th October 2016 - Issue 5
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
Chickens, the first eggs, and keeping them in! Mr Blond was presented with Roedean’s first egg just after the Founders’ Day service, and it became a centrepiece in his Open Day speeches. But Open Day meant something else for our new chickens, as their gate was temporarily (and accidentally) left open, and three hens decided to explore the wider grounds. Luckily, three farm prefects, Millie and India Hoffmann (U3 and L4), and Iris McClafferty (U4), were on hand to scrabble them back into their run – the PE department may have to expand our sports provision to include Chicken Rugby! That notwithstanding, the hens are settling in well, and laying about a dozen eggs a day. They are making nice dust baths for themselves, and providing a certain amount of entertainment for their neighbours, the sheep!
More culinary delights in House 1 It has been another busy week and weekend for House 1. Our usual baking took place earlier in the week in order to ensure we had plenty of delicacies for the Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday, so at the weekend we prepared Chinese dumplings by some of the Year 11 and 12 girls, who taught us all how to make some amazing Dim Sum! Several girls (and staff) spent Saturday evening completing a dastardly jigsaw of the world, while others relaxed watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with popcorn. There was a veritable cornucopia of events... LSK
Wind Instrument Masterclasses and Teatime Recital Over twenty of our wind and brass players took part in the first of a series of masterclasses with visiting professional musicians. We were very pleased to welcome the accomplished clarinettist Margaret Archibald to Roedean to coach the players in their solo performance skills. Each participant took along current repertoire to work on, much of which was to be performed later the same day. All the girls thoroughly enjoyed the classes with Margaret Archibald, receiving new ideas about their music, building confidence in performance, and learning how to move to the next level of musical maturity. As a conclusion to the day, we
held our second teatime recital, featuring many of the pieces that had been worked on in the masterclasses. A very wide range of performers from Y7 to Y12 took part in the concert, playing flutes, oboe, clarinets, saxophone, and trumpets, both as soloists and in an ensemble. Musicians taking part in the wind and brass masterclasses: Charlotte Burrows
Scarlett Beasley
Anamika Nebhrajani-Wallace
Frieda Joyce
Freya Stewart
Briana Kelly
Katie Costelloe
Katarina Henderson
Ava Dodsworth
Tabitha McCulloch
Abby Ning
Michelle Douglas
Alice Briggs
Sophie Wood
Ellis Rossiter
Gabriella Kaye
Alya Mohamed Fauzi Maia Walker
Lucy Brown
Zarbanu Malekshahi
A warm and enthusiastic audience enjoyed a most delightful selection of performances and, once again, House Four was the best represented house amongst the audience. The next teatime recital is on Monday 17 October in the Theatre and will feature the whole of Year 7 in a lively performance of rhythmic samba and body percussion, following the day of workshops with the group, Beat Goes On. Page 3
7th October 2016 - Issue 5
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW SPORT
Victories for the 1st XI and U12 Hockey! There have been lots of fixtures this week, in a variety of sports, and we are delighted that the teams have all played well, and have understood the value of working together, whatever the results of the matches. SWIMMING On Monday evening, we welcomed Farlington, Moira House, and BHHS to our annual large swimming gala. There was a real buzz amongst the swimmers as we drew with Farlington last year and were definitely hoping for a win this time around. Moira House are always very strong as they boast several club swimmers, but the Roedean swim team is bursting with new girls as our school numbers have risen, and the quality and competition to gain a place on the team is stronger than ever. The gala did not disappoint and we were neck and neck with Farlington all the way through. It was particularly tense because the results in the final few races decided the placings. We are delighted to have won, by one point! Roedean –57 Farlington – 56, Moira House – 39, BHHS – 28 The swimmers were also busy on Wednesday as we entered the Secondary Schools’ Championships in Horsham. This is a national competition and the top 20 schools in the country go through to the next round. There were lots of schools competing, and it was a tough competition, with 4 heats in each race. Our girls did not disappoint and the Intermediate Girls won their freestyle heat. The results have not yet been published, but we have our fingers crossed that we have done enough. It was great to see several of our new U3 swimmers competing a year young, which shows great strength in depth for the future.
U13B
HOCKEY and NETBALL The highlight of the week for the Hockey players was a great 7 – 0 victory for the U14As against Farlington. The girls played very well, showing promising attacks down the wing. The player of the match was Beatrix Wright (U4), who demonstrated great skills down the wing to create numerous goal-scoring opportunities. The Netball and Hockey teams had some very tough fixtures this week against St Catherine’s, Hurst, and Millais, and many were very excited to play their first matches for Roedean. What is particularly pleasing is that they kept their heads high throughout, and they were a credit to themselves and the school. Defeat can be hard to take, but the girls will learn some valuable lessons, and we hope that they can put them into practice in their next matches.
CROSS COUNTRY On Thursday, our cross country runners competed in the first round of the Cross Country Cup in Chichester. Schools from Surrey and Sussex compete to be one of the top two schools to go through to the next round. The juniors went first, and Serena and Sophia Clyde (L4) both finished in the top 10, an impressive achievement. Gracie Bernard (U4) started hard in the Intermediate race and led from the front; she eventually placed in the top 5, so congratulations to her. We are now waiting with bated breath to see if we have qualified for the next stage of the competition. Congratulations to all of the girls who have represented the school this week! JJ WHAT’S
COMING UP IN THE WEEK AHEAD? BIOLOGY WEEK
Mon 10 Oct
U4 Parent/Tutor Evening
Tues 11 Oct
U14A Hockey vs LOGS (H) BMW Netball league Young Enterprise Launch Event U5 Keswick Open House Event 6.2 Maths Olympiad Competition
Wed 12 Oct
U5 Elevate Session: Study Sensei U12A&B Hockey vs Great Walstead (A) U13A&B Hockey vs Burgess Hill (A)
Thur 13 Oct
U12-U16 Indoor Rowing Competition (H)
Fri 14 Oct
Classics residential trip to Italy departs
Sat 15 Oct
U14A&B Hockey vs Lancing (A) National Schools’ Netball
U13C
Team of the Week - Roedean Swimming Squad
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