The Roedeanian The magazine of The Roedeanian Society
Autumn 2019
Developments at Roedean 2019
Founders’ Day and Commemoration Service 2019
Students welcome 6 Bantam Hens to the School Farm
With Churchill at The Savoy at the Heads of Prep Schools event
Year 9 World War 1 Living History Day
Roedean Book Week Willy Wonka’s Tea Party
Alumnae Events
House 2 Reunion Lunch at the Little Ship Club, London
ORs Kealey Harding and Shanta Sundarason reunite in Unionville, Toronto
ORs celebrating Brighton Pride
OR Sailing Team Drinks at the Royal Thames with Jill Edwards
OR London Lunch 2019
What a fantastic year this has been at Roedean! Welcome to the latest edition of The Roedeanian magazine. The School has returned for another academic year buoyed by some fantastic results over the summer and some impressive new facilities. This year we have welcomed a record 622 girls, and it has been wonderful to see everyone’s excitement at coming together as part of our community. I am delighted to see that many of those who have joined Roedean this term seem to have settled very quickly. The girls are all happy, involved and engaged. This half-term we have re-launched the Co-Curricular Programme, and the breadth and variety of activities on offer each week is really impressive. We are also very pleased that two new ambassadors will be joining the School this year. The first new ambassador is an Old Roedeanian, Anabela Chan, who is an incredibly successful jewellery designer. She has a strong background in Art and Design, and she will be the School’s Ambassador for the Creative Arts. The second new ambassador is Dr Suzie Imber, Professor of Space Physics at Leicester University, who will be our STEM Ambassador. Read more about our new ambassadors on page 4. On 27th September, the School held two beautiful services to mark Founders’ Day. These give the entire school community the chance to reflect on the work of the Lawrence sisters, and all those who have made significant contributions to developments at Roedean over the past 134 years. It was wonderful to be joined at the afternoon service by ORs, former staff, friends, and relations of those who have passed away this year. I am immensely proud of the great strides forward Roedean is taking, and I have no doubt that you share this pride.
Contents School Highlights
4-5
OR News
6
OR Feature
7
With best wishes
Dates for your Diary and News from the Roedeanian Office
8
Mr Oliver Blond Headmaster
Obituary
9
3
School Highlights Sixth Form Pathways Programme This term we have started a new programme of lectures for our Sixth Formers, designed to extend knowledge and understanding beyond the curriculum in a way that is exciting, relevant to career pathways, and, that will aid the development of key skills. Each fortnight we have held lectures for Sixth Form students relating to the four different ‘pathways’: STEM, Economics, Business and Enterprise, Society and Creative and Performing Arts. We are delighted that many ORs have been supporting the programme by giving a lecture in their chosen field, and feedback from the girls on the series so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
Roedean Ambassadors We are very pleased to announce that two new ambassadors will be joining Kate and Helen RichardsonWalsh, our Olympic Champion Sports Ambassadors, to swell the ranks this year. Old Roedeanian, Anabela Chan (No.1, 1995-2003), will be the School’s Ambassador for the Creative Arts. Anabela is an incredibly successful jewellery designer, and has a strong background in Art and Design. The second new ambassador is Dr Suzie Imber, Professor of Space Physics at Leicester University, who will be our STEM Ambassador. Suzie came to Roedean to speak at International Women’s Day last academic year, and the girls found her obvious passion for Science, coupled with her remarkable achievements and challenges undertaken, completely inspirational – they were talking about it for weeks afterwards, so we are sure that she will make a deep impression on the girls in this field. Our Ambassadors’ visits over the coming year will, no doubt, be a series of wonderful events.
4
Founders’ Day Service and opening of the Clubhouse This year the School held two beautiful services to mark Founders’ Day. These give the entire school community the chance to reflect on the work of our Founders, the Lawrence sisters, and all those who have made significant contributions to developments at Roedean over the last 134 years. It was wonderful to be joined at the afternoon service by ORs, former staff, friends, and relations of those who have passed away this year, and hearing their names read out by one of the ORA Vice-Presidents as a candle was lit for each was very moving. For the girls, the service is always a powerful link to Roedean’s ground-breaking heritage. After the afternoon service, we were delighted to officially open the newly refurbished Clubhouse. OR Teresa Outhwaite (Brach, No.1, 1985-91), whose donation helped to complete the work, in memory of her late aunt, cut the ribbon to open the space. The Clubhouse will be used in a variety of ways, including being used by the Sports Department to host match teas, and by the boarding houses for socials and activities in the evenings and at the weekends. It really is a fantastic space overlooking the pitches and the sea, and for a number of years, it has just been used for storage, so it is great to breathe some new life into it!
STEM Day at Roedean 150 girls in Years 5 and 6 from London and the South East came to Roedean on Tuesday 1st October to take part in a challenging and really enjoyable STEM Day. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics are areas of strength at Roedean, which we are very proud of since it bucks both national trends and common stereotypes about girls and subjects in this field. Our visitors undertook a carousel of hands-on group activities during the day, including experiments on Bunsen burners to find out about the chemical processes to make rocket fuel, designing a balloon-powered car, creating tall and stable structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows and learning about binary code. The grand finale was an inspirational lecture with our remarkable STEM Ambassador, Dr Suzie Imber, who is Professor of Space Physics at Leicester University.
ROEDEAN AT A GLANCE A LEVEL
RESULTS 2019
GCSE
RESULTS 2019
22% 56% 78% 94% 16TH 253 A*
A*-A
A*-B
A*-C
52% 68% 93% 98% 9-8
9-7
9-5
9-4
INDEPENDENT
FULL
BOARDING
SECRET
GIRLS’ SCHOOL AT A LEVEL
46
16
WEEKLY
TUNNEL TO THE SEA
FLEXI
312 DAY
256 215 156 KS3
KS4
KS5
1885 FOUNDED IN
BETWEEN THE SEA AND THE
SOUTH DOWNS
33% 61% 30% NUMBER ONE £9 MILLION £1.5 MILLION GRADE 9 1:8 75 MINS 20 30 MINS 1 20 128 DIFFERENT 1 1 22 ACTIVITIES 1 114 TRAVEL TO 53 LONDON LONDON 35+ VICTORIA VICTORIA 21 1 2 112 1 OF ALL GCSES
GOING TO TOP
CHOICE FOR GIRLS IN SUSSEX
ARE GOING TO STUDY
TEACHERS: STUDENTS
RUSSELL GROUP STEM SUBJECTS
UNIVERSITIES AT UNIVERSITY PROCESS OF FACILITIES IMPROVEMENT
THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE GRADE
DIFFERENT
SPORTS
THE HOUSES 2014
MAIN SCHOOL 2015
SIXTH FORM CENTRE
OFFERED
AT KS3 SUBJECTS
AT GCSE SUBJECTS
AVAILABLE
AT A LEVEL
2017
ALL-WEATHER PITCH 2018
ARTS & LIBRARY
CO-CURRICULAR
25M POOL
ON-SITE CAFÉ
1
AMERICA
67 EUROPE 28
2020
320FLOOD-LIT SEAT HOCKEY SCHOOL THEATRE PITCH FARM
SUBJECTS
AVAILABLE
2016
SCHOOL FARM
MUSIC ROOMS
PITCH DANCE TENNIS SPORTS HALL & PUTT STUDIOS CHAPEL COURTS
A GLOBAL SCHOOL
ASIA
4
HOUSES REFURBISHMENT
SIXTH FORM CENTRE REFURBISHMENT
EXTENDED
FROM HEATHROW
MINIBUS
ROUTES FOR
AFRICA
GIRLS FROM
FROM GATWICK
MINS FROM
2019
CHAPERONED
COUNTRIES
INDEPENDENT DAY AND BOARDING FOR GIRLS AGED 11-18
BN2 5RQ | 01273 667500 | WWW.ROEDEAN.CO.UK
5
OR News Jean Naggar
Malaysia OR Dinner
(Mosseri, No.3, 1949-54)
On the 10th August 2019, we held an OR dinner in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am pleased to announce that it was a huge success with a 100% turnout! The evening included ‘Human Bingo’, a game played by the ORs to get to know everyone, ‘Quiz Night’, a quiz about Roedean, and ‘Roedean Time’, an open mic where everyone shared their fondest memories of their time at Roedean. ‘Roedean Time’ was the highlight of the dinner, as the group shared their best experiences whilst at school. From witnessing partially dressed male teachers walking around the corridor, to British sausages “raining” from the sky, everyone had a great laugh from the beginning until the end. The most interesting story was from the oldest OR present, who was the third Malaysian ever to go to Roedean, who told us that during her time at the School, Roedean used cheque books! It was a brilliant event which we hope to repeat next year.
Congratulations to Jean on the publication of her first novel, Footprints on the Heart, a mesmerising tale of adventure, romance and survival. Driven by a mother’s sacrifice to save her daughter from abuse, and a lifetime of poverty, deprivation and neglect, Footprints on the Heart unwinds an epic tale of love, loss, and exile in the lives of unforgettable characters, as they navigate the turbulence of six decades against a backdrop of powerful world events.
Table Talk Thanks to Sue Epps (Former Staff, 19862005), Brighton is on track to be the UK’s first ‘talking city’. Table Talk aims to spread the restorative powers of a good conversation. The idea is wonderfully simple, cafes have a table marked with a ‘Table Talk Brighton’ stand, where you can sit if you are happy to talk to other customers. So far, Sue has recruited 40 cafes across the city to host their own Table Talks. Sue says ‘it requires a change of attitude and I realised that’s not easy. But that’s what I’m determined to try and change. To make table sharing and talking to people, if they want to talk, more acceptable. Encouraged, even.’ For more information on the project and to find out where your nearest Table Talk café is see http:// tabletalkbrighton.org/
The Bajan Kitchen ORs Tamara Spencer (Purvis, No.3, 1987-93) and Sophie Domenge (Morrison, No.3, 1984-91) have recently started their own business, The Bajan Kitchen Ltd. It has been a labour of love for them both, as the company reflects their shared heritage and roots in Barbados which go back three generations to their Grandparents, who met whilst living in Barbados. They have both grown up with their Grandmothers’ delicious dishes and sauces, passed down through the 6
Natasha Tan (2015-17, No.3)
generations, and would now love to bring them over here for the UK to enjoy! Starting off with selling three delicious bottled sauces, including their signature Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce, there is lots more to come, including recipes from their Grandmothers’ handwritten cookbooks. The Bajan Kitchen is sure to bring some Caribbean warmth to any dish, come rain or shine. Find them on social media, Instagram @thebajankitchen or Facebook thebajankitchen plus their beautiful website and online shop are now up and running and ready to take orders! www.thebajankitchen.com
OR Feature Remarkable discoveries in a Sussex cottage with a Roedean connection We are always delighted to hear news of ORs, and were fascinated to find out about the discovery in a remote Sussex cottage of work by acclaimed artist Macdonald ‘Max’ Gill, who was married to OR Priscilla Johnston. (No.1, 1924-26) Priscilla was one of three daughters of renowned calligrapher, Edward Johnston, who taught lettering at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. It is here that Edward taught Max Gill, and they became close friends. Max was an incredibly talented, well-known decorative map artist, as well as an architect, graphic designer, calligrapher and typographer. His work was prominently in the public eye, particularly his brightly-coloured pictorial maps, graphic designs for book covers and posters for transport and communications companies in the first half of the twentieth century. There had been little contact between Priscilla and Max when she was a child, and when they met up again by chance in London in 1932, Priscilla was 22, an independent and talented young woman, who had already had success with three novels, and was writing a fourth. Max and Priscilla became constant companions, and Priscilla became his second assistant, working alongside him on many important commissions. One of Max’s most notable works was the North Atlantic map that presides over the first-class dining room of the RMS Queen Mary, which Priscilla was an assistant on. The picture in the top-right shows them working together on this map. We were excited to find a mention of this work in the November 1936 edition of the Roedean School Magazine, in an OR’s account of her journey on the Queen Mary’s maiden voyage in May earlier that year.
too. At one side is London or rather Southampton, with the Queen Mary putting out to sea and at the other side is New York with the Queen Mary going in.’ With a small legacy, Priscilla bought a cottage deep in the Sussex woods. It became a muchloved retreat for the couple, and was to be her home until her death. Max’s first wife Muriel agreed to a divorce in 1946, and Max and Priscilla were eventually able to marry. Sadly, their married life was short as Max died in January 1947. Priscilla was an instinctive writer, and from 1927 to her death in 1984 she wrote a daily diary. These have been an invaluable record, not only of her life, but also of her work with Max. Priscilla’s last novel, partly autobiographical, was published in 1947, but her finest work was her acclaimed biography of her father, published in 1959. The cottage is now the home of Max’s nephew, Andrew Johnston and his wife Angela, who discovered the enormous collection of Max’s work which had been stored there. Carefully packed away and labelled long ago by Priscilla, they discovered rolls of maps wrapped up in brown paper and tied up with string in the attic, drawings in the outbuildings and little portfolios resting on the tops of cupboards. Alongside Max’s great-niece, Caroline Walker, Andrew and Angela, have curated a number of exhibitions of Max’s extraordinary work discovered in Priscilla’s cottage.
‘On the wall above the ledge for all the plates is a diagram, or map, of the course which the Queen Mary takes. When the ship begins its voyage and gradually crosses the ocean, the little light that represents the ship moves slowly across 7
Dates for your Diary Thursday 5 December 2019 6.30 pm
ORA Christmas Drinks Upstairs Room at The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, London, SW1W 8EZ Please RSVP to Lois Johnson membership-secretary@oldroedeanians.co.uk
Saturday 7 December 2019 10 - 1 pm
Christmas Fair Roedean School
Wednesday 11 December 2019 11 - 2 pm
Carol Service Roedean Chapel – followed by Lunch. Spaces are limited so booking is essential; to book, email alumnae@roedean.co.uk
18 December 2019 2 pm
OR China Reunion Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai. For more information please email Di Wu china@oldroedeanians.co.uk
Wednesday 3 January 2020 12 - 3 pm
Dubai Champagne Brunch Venue TBC For more information please email Suzie Sheehan middle-east@oldroedeanians.co.uk.
Monday 3 February 2020 6 pm
ORA Annual General Meeting The Caledonian Club, 9 Halkin Street, London, SW1X 7DR Followed by drinks and canapes.
Wednesday 27 March 2020 12 pm
Year of 1978: 60th Birthday Lunch No. 11 Pimlico Road, London, SW1W 8NA. Please email organisers plem.andrews@gmail.com and Ruth Mills ruth@ruthmills.co.uk if you would like to attend.
Friday 3 April 2020 TBC
ORA Recent Leavers’ Drinks London. More details to follow
Wednesday 6 May 2020 6pm
Governors’ Annual General Meeting The Caledonian Club, 9 Halkin Street, London, SW1X 7DR.
Saturday 21 June 2020 TBC
Roedean Day Our annual reunion day.
For more information and booking, please contact us on alumnae@roedean.co.uk. You can also call us on 01273 667398
News from The Roedeanian Office Sophie Osborne We are delighted to introduce a new member of the team, Sophie Osborne, who will be supporting the office full-time as an Alumnae Relations Administrator. Sophie studied Education Studies at Oxford Brooks University and is a keen equestrian in her spare time. As well as event bookings, Sophie will be working on keeping the database up to date, so if your details change, or you would like to update your contact preferences, please email her on so@roedean.co.uk.
8
Obituary Sheila Winifred Barker (Scott, No.3, 1940-47)
Shelia Scott was born in 1929 in Pontefract, Yorkshire, the daughter of Winifred and Frank Scott. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Sheila joined Roedean when it was evacuated to Keswick. After two years in Junior House based at the Millfield Hotel, she moved to the Keswick Hotel, where the Senior House lodged, and took their classes in the Keswick Station waiting rooms and the local museum. My mother and her friends recalled that the food was terrible, but even in wartime there was always a cooked breakfast! The highlight of that time for my mother was the freedom the girls were given. Whenever there was a fine day, the whole school was given the day off, and the girls could climb the surrounding fells and peaks as long as they were in groups of 3. My mother always looked back at her Roedean days in Keswick, and after the war, in Brighton, as a very happy time, where she made lifelong friends. After school, my mother trained as a physiotherapist at St Thomas’s hospital, and in 1953 married my father. They had four children, and farmed until very recently in Suffolk. Alice Fookes
Notices Keeping up to date with news from Roedean For more news about the School, make sure to follow us on social media. As well as the ORA and Roedean Rocks alumnae Facebook groups, you can also follow the main school account (RoedeanSchool) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Get in touch with your news!
We always love to hear good news stories from ORs. So, if you have an exhibition coming up, a book being published, started your own business, just got married or had a baby, please do drop Harriet an email and let her know hdb@roedean.co.uk.
Merchandise
We are excited to announce that we will be launching a new range of Roedean Merchandise soon. Many of the items will feature this fantastic illustration of the School by popular artist Katie Cardew and include mugs, cards and prints of Roedean. The first items will be available in time for Christmas!
If you would like to arrange a visit to Roedean, or would like to help to arrange a reunion, please get in touch with Grace on glc@roedean.co.uk or by calling 01273 667398. You can also read more about OR businesses and books on the Roedean Community Network Business Directory (https://community.roedean.co.uk/news/business-directory) and Virtual Bookshop (https://community. roedean.co.uk/ news/virtual-bookshop). To add your own entry, please contact Harriet on hdb@roedean.co.uk. 9
Drawing by House 1 student Ashley L, 2019
roedean.co.uk The Roedeanian Society, Roedean School, Roedean Way, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 5RQ Tel: +44(0)1273 667398 • Registered Charity 307063