14th October 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
Head’s Introduction
The excitement from the fantastic House Play Festival has subsided and I would like to congratulate every House for their hard work, creativity and teamwork. I am sure that everyone who saw the plays would agree that the standard was very high this year and all the girls involved did extremely well. The simplicity and clarity of the Roald Dahl theme leant itself to wonderful adaptations and interpretations by the girls. The two performances were the culmination of a great deal of hard work, so again, congratulations to everyone involved! I am currently in Hong Kong, where I am visiting Old Roedeanians along with Mrs
Stanway, maintaining and rekindling links with alumnae of the school. Mrs Banham and Dr Barrand are also doing similar work in China and Thailand, since it is so important for us to maintain contacts with supporters of Roedean all over the world. We have already seen the great benefits of our globalised community, with ORs coming to school to mentor our girls or give talks, or using their connections to secure work experience and the like - indeed, our Games Captain from last year, Luchia Leigh, has recently returned from a wonderful experience of volunteering in India through a connection of Seema Sharma, OR.
This week has been busy, as ever, with exciting sports fixtures, and good luck to those playing at the National Schools’ netball at the weekend. I hope that U4 parents enjoyed the opportunity to meet with teachers and tutors on Monday, and that the U5 girls were excited to attend the Keswick Open House event, giving them a chance to picture themselves inhabiting that space as Sixth Formers. I hope that those who left for the Classics trip to Italy this morning have a wonderful time, and I wish you all the very best for an enjoyable halfterm break next week.
Rowing Championship Roedean hosted its inaugural indoor rowing championship on Thursday, with over 50 girls from Roedean and visiting girls from BHHS taking part. It was such a great atmosphere and special congratulations go to Miss Sidney for winning the teachers’ race. Well done to all those who took part and to our winners listed below. Year 7 1st Jemima Venturi 2nd India Harrison 3rd Olive Andrews
Keswick opens its doors to welcome Upper Five The ‘Keswick Open House’ was a fun and relaxing evening to enable the girls in U5 to get a feel for life in Keswick House, to see the new refurbishments, and to talk to the Prefects about how Sixth Form life is different. The Roedean girls happily (and proudly!) cleared Papa John’s stock with a total of 35 pizzas devoured! The newly refurbished rooms and the light and airy communal areas are great, and when Keswick Hall is re-opened soon after its re-design, the girls will be able to use this fantastic space for relaxation, work, socialising, and fun! Music, snacks and pizza made for a very successful evening for both the U5s and 6.2s – thank you to the girls and staff in Keswick for hosting this event, and to Miss Brown and our Events Prefect, Miranda Liu, for organising it and keeping Papa John’s safely in business!
Year 8 1st Lara Sellins 2nd Poppy Townsend 3rd Ada Onyejekwe Year 9 1st Dione Wong 2nd Gracie Bernard 3rd Josie Fast Year 10 1st Clara Hollowood 2nd Eleanor Flavin 3rd Flo Andrews Year 11 1st Serena Serefimov 2nd Freya Finnegan 3rd Ayla Khan
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.
Holly Banfield (L4) for launching the Roedean farm welly collection ( – the farm is accepting all generous donations of wellies), and for being a good egg [KRH]
Miranda Liu (6.2) for doing an amazing job helping to organise the pub quiz in Keswick [ST]
Rosie Salt-Fernandez (U4) for a superb essay on the causes of the First World War [RCH]
Marianna Leonardos (U3) for still attending all of the training sessions even though she was injured, and for acting as team manager at the match [KAN]
14th October 2016 - Issue 6
Roedean YE group wins with its 10-minute product! On Tuesday, Roedean hosted the launch event of Young Enterprise in Brighton and Hove, with other schools from the area joining us. The next generation of entrepreneurs were welcomed by the Young Enterprise Board and were thrown straight into an innovation activity. Groups of four had to create, market and pitch a product made from items such as plastic cups, bin bags, and straws in 10 minutes. One of the Roedean
groups won with their “drink ez” product and impressed the Board with their passionate pitch. There was then a showcase with products from previous Young Enterprise companies. The evening ended with a talk from our own Natalie Tang, as last year’s Young Achiever in Brighton and Hove, and she gave some valuable advice to the newly-formed companies.
A traditional roast in House 2 Not to be outdone by the recent culinary delights coming out of House 1 last week, the girls from House 2 had a great time cooking a proper Sunday roast in house last weekend – after preparing such a feast, they had a great time eating what they had prepared!
Tara meets Mary Beard!
Maths Olympiad
Tara McMaster (6.2) spent last weekend in Cheltenham, where she went to hear the famous and eminent classicist Mary Beard speak about her new book SPQR – but just listening to the oracle that is Mary Beard was not enough, and Tara also managed to get signed copy of the book and get a selfie with her too!
Miranda Liu and Elsa Hu (6.2) sat the Maths Olympiad for Girls on Tuesday this week. The paper poses five challenging problems to give girls the opportunity to apply what they have learnt in the classroom to abstract situations. This competition is ideally suited to those who wish to pursue Mathematics at university and beyond, as it challenges them to think ‘outside the box’.
4. (a) In the trapezium ABCD, the edges AB and DC are parallel. The point M is the midpoint of BC, and N is the midpoint of DA Prove that 2MN = AB + CD. (b) The diagram shows part of the tiling of the plane by squares and equilateral triangles. Each tile has edges of length 2. The points X and Y are at the centres of square tiles. What is the distance XY?
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We should find out the results in early November, and the highest scoring students will be invited to participate in the British Mathematical Olympiad in December, as well as being offered a place on the UKMT Senior Mentoring Scheme, which is an exclusive body open to outstanding candidates. We look forward to finding out how Miranda and Elsa have done!
14th October 2016 - Issue 6
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
House 2 wins the Roedean House Play Festival From the moment I arrived at Roedean in January as Faculty Lead for Performing Arts, I began to hear stories of the famed Roedean House Play Festival. Having just had my first experience, I can see why the event has gained legendary status. I decided to set the girls a very specific challenge; rather than writing original scripts, I wanted them to focus on experimentation with dramatic techniques, specifically those of theatrical storytelling. For inspiration, I turned to the master of storytelling, Roald Dahl, and set the brief as a dramatisation of a story by Dahl, so that the Festival could also mark the centenary of his birth. There is also a Roedean connection in that the daughter of the acclaimed writer, Tessa Dahl, herself a celebrated novelist, is an Old Roedeanian. I must confess that it seemed like an almost impossible task with the timeframe set, but the girls certainly rose
to the challenge, with each of the four Houses creating lively, imaginative and totally engaging performances. For both the school performance and the evening competition, the Theatre was buzzing with excitement and there really was a sense of both the House community spirit and a wonderful whole school celebration. The judging panel consisted of our visiting Speech and Drama teacher, Katey Markey, Glenn Hawkes, Roedean’s site manager, and Sarah Bakhtiari, Head of KS3, and the chief judge, our Len Goodman of the evening, was Verena Lewis, the Head of Acting at Brighton Academy of Performing Arts. They had a tough job, as the standard was so high, but eventually they decided on the overall winners as House 2 for their film noir style dramatisation of ‘One Way Up To Heaven’. So what shall we do next year...?
Mrs Rigby
Plays: House 1
The Twits
House 2
One Way Up To Heaven
House 3
Fantastic Mr Fox
House 4
The BFG
Awards: Best Publicity
House 1
Best Crowd
House 4, for the orphanage scene
Best Movement
House 3, for the chicken dance
Best Cameo
House 4, for Eden Wolfe-Naughton’s Queen
Best Lead Role Actor
House 1, for Tanith Lawrence
Best Technical and Stage Crew
House 2, for the golden paintbrush
Best Costume and Make-up
House 3
Most Original Interpretation of the Material
House 2
Overall, Most Creative Piece of Theatrical Storytelling
House 2
Sixth Form Quiz Night
From start to finish, the process of directing the House Play was challenging; we were faced with so many hiccups and such a short time to overcome them that it seemed almost impossible. However, with the endless hard work of so many girls in the house, our play began to take shape in the way we had envisioned it – nearly every girl in the house took responsibility for some aspect or another, and the day of the play itself couldn’t have happened without their perseverance and determination throughout our month of preparation. On the day of the adjudication, we were all nervous, but the feeling of pride and house spirit when we won made all of the blood, sweat and tears worth it after all. Many thanks to everyone involved, both on stage and behind the scenes.
The House Play Festival was the best experience I have had at Roedean so far! It was full of hardship, but the overall feeling of house spirit was overwhelming and all the girls who took part were as enthused as Tori and I. The win was for everyone in the house, from the main cast to the people who came to the adjudication to support our nervous house! The adjudication was unlike anything anyone has ever seen before! The colours, the chants, and the sense of community are honestly something that could not be replicated elsewhere. Thank you to everyone who helped all the houses, and a special mention to every house - all the Plays were amazing!! It was truly a fantastic month and I couldn’t have asked for a better chance to meet the new girls in my house and an opportunity to show the rest of the school what House 2 can do!
Victoria Nathan-Maister (6.1, House 2)
Jade Ma (6.1, House 2) Page 3
On Wednesday evening, over 60 Sixth Form girls battled their collective wits against each other in the Sixth Form quiz night. Quiz master Mr Orys guided the teams through rounds based on Music, Literature, History, Sport, Science, and General Knowledge. Halfway through the evening, the girls and staff were treated to a sumptuous Chinese meal. The final results were very close, with only 6 points between 1st place and 7th place. Congratulations go to Dix, the winning team.
HEAD’S WEEKLY REVIEW
14th October 2016 - Issue 6
Fantastic gymnastics success for the Black twins Emilia and Lola Black (U3) took part in the British National Rhythmic Gymnastics League competition at Fenton Manor in Stoke on Trent last weekend, and they achieved a remarkable result in just their first year of competition! They perform with I-Star Academy, based in Shoreham, where they also do dance. Their routines are in groups of four, and their group, I-Star Pearl, came a fantastic third in their national group league. This is a huge achievement, as they were competing against 12 other squads from all over the UK, with teams from Birmingham, Bath, London, Cardiff, and more. This success is the culmination of lots of hard work – the twins train all day on Saturday for gymnastics and dance, and some weekday evenings too in the run up to competitions. With everything going on at school recently, they have had to maintain their high level of training as well as getting ready for the House Plays and Open Day, so they have done a brilliant job. Well done to Emilia and Lola.
SPORT
Sports Report Hockey Ardingly College were our opponents for a block fixture on Saturday, and there was some fantastic hockey played by our girls in all of the matches. Ardingly has a strong reputation as one of the best hockey schools in the region, and our 1st XI faced a very strong Ardingly 2nd team. The girls knew this would be a tough test, but, with two consecutive wins in previous games, Roedean played with maturity and showed real flair in attack. Unfortunately we lost the game in the final few minutes 4 - 3. It was an excellent game and a great indicator for how far our Roedean hockey has come in a year. The Roedean 2nd team played in their first ever match as a team on the same day, and Ardingly were a much more experienced side. The game started very evenly matched, with only 1 or 2 chances at either end. We dominated the entire second half, and the ball was mainly kept in the Ardingly half, with Roedean first to every tackle and showing expert skill when going around players. The match ended 0-0 overall, which is a huge success given the opposition and that it was our team’s debut. The U15 team played a fantastic game, working hard to use the space, moving the ball cleanly from defence to attack. Clara Hollowood (L5) worked tirelessly in the middle, linking the play. We scored a great goal from a wonderful set-play short corner, but Ardingly swept in a goal thirty seconds before the full time whistle to win – it was a great effort from
a strong and dedicated team. The U14s also played an exciting game, and they refused to let their heads drop when the opposition scored from a short corner. In fact, we replied almost immediately, after Sara Jameel cleared from defence for the midfield to feed the ball into Sophia Clyde who was well positioned on the back post. We were drawing at half-time, but tired quickly in the 2nd half and the game ended 4 - 1. This was not a true reflection of the closeness of the match, and the girls will have learnt a lot from the game. The player of the match was Abigail Briault (U4) for her solid defensive skills.
Netball The U12 A and B squads had their first netball fixtures of the year this week. It was a versatility tournament where all the girls got to rotate round and play in every position, so it was a great opportunity for as much playing experience as possible. The B squad had a tough day but battled through, finishing in 8th place, and the A squad playing well and
finished in 4th position against some very tough prep schools. India Harrison and Poppy Stockton (U3) were awarded the most versatile player awards for their teams, and Miss Crawley & Mrs Wilson praised the way that the U3s represented Roedean – we look forward to going back next year.
Football Roedean attended our second ever ISFA National Schools’ tournament this year, and the girls put in some impressive performances against strong schools. Our first game was against the current national champions and we played with impressive determination. This set us up well to secure good draws in half our fixtures, including against St Margaret’s, another good team. The girls were outstanding and were incredibly strong considering our lack of experience compared to some of the other sides. This is a great example of the depth of the sporting competition here at Roedean, and of the passionate and determined athletes we have competing for us. The player of the tournament was Josie Fast (U4), and congratulations to all the girls involved.
Victorious 1st VII at the BMW league! Our 1st Netball squad had a superb and convincing victory over MSN in the BMW league on Tuesday – they won 35 - 21. The match was played at Roedean and the great support the girls had from parents and students really spurred them on. We put out a full squad, with nearly all the players getting valuable court time and experience, which was extremely positive. The squad included Eleanor Flavin and Pippa Wilmot (both L5) playing their debut match in the BMW league, and they both proved their worth, putting in excellent performances – Pippa deserves a special mention for her countless interceptions in the circle. Captain Gabriella Riley (6.1) led from the front, and Zarbanu Malekshahi (U5) demonstrated some exceptional shooting. We can hardly wait to see how they play in their next match! 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: marketing@roedean.co.uk Page 4
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