Head's Weekly Review 6th March 2015

Head’s IntroductionRoedean seems to be busier and busier every week, and I never cease to be impressed by the number of events which take place at school. This week has been no exception, and I would like to congratulate both the students and staff for their contributions.

The diversity of sport at Roedean continues to develop, and this week competitive cricket joined the ranks of sports on offer. We hosted the Under 15 SISNA Netball tournament and the IAPS Netball tournament, bringing lots of visitors to the school, and many schools were also represented at the Cross-Country races which circumnavigated our fields - fortunately the wind abated and the sun was shining, so everyone enjoyed themselves.

There have been performances of the A2 Theatre Studies devised piece, which was performed in and around the Theatre and Music department - the exclusive tickets were available by invitation only, and the audience members were led through a series of powerfully understated scenes. Our musicians have also been performing in Brighton, and all gave excellent accounts of themselves - performance skills are a vital part of a musician’s development.

There have also been a number of academic trips and competitions, with reports in this Review, but the series of events organised by Dr Blood around World Book Day have been very evident around school every day this week - the girls particularly enjoyed dressing up as their favourite literary character on Wednesday, and we had an impressive selection.

Open Day at the end of last week was very well attended, and the girls and staff ensured that the school was seen at its very best - we maintained our theme of challenge, and our visitors thoroughly enjoyed the day. We do so much at Roedean, and I am always proud to show the school off to those who come to visit, whether it is for performances, for sporting fixtures, or to look around the school.

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Roedean’s musicians in the Chapel RoyalMany of Roedean’s most advanced musicians gave a lunchtime concert at the Chapel Royal in Brighton on 3rd March, as part of the music department’s work in promoting music within the local community. A theme of contrast appeared to run through the programme. The concert opened with Purcell’s Chacony in G minor – its musical structure demonstrates how intense variety of texture, dynamics and mood may still be achieved as the piece journeys through its many repetitions, and the string orchestra, conducted by Sophia Bartlette, played beautifully. The Senior Singers presented three songs, the highlight of which was their rendition of ‘The Turtle Dove’. It started and finished with a gentle wordless accompaniment from the main body of singers while soloists Tillie Ng and Constance Lee presented solo verses, giving us a foretaste of what was to come from our many solo singers.

All the vocal soloists, Aanya Hirdaramani, Constance Lee, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, and Aimee de Havas sang with astonishing control, perfect intonation, and clear diction. There is indeed a great strength and depth in vocal talent this year, and contrasting repertoire took us from Mozart opera to jazz-influenced Gershwin, via the atmospheric hummingbird of Chausson and the Hove-born Roger Quilter.

More contrast came from pianists Annabella Chen and Berniya Hamie, who both performed pieces by Mendelssohn. While the former excited us with her dynamism and finger energy, the latter’s focus was on the controlled legato touch of pianistic melody, beautifully voiced and phrased over its accompaniment.

Finally, we heard two contrasting items for piano trio. The junior trio – Berniya Hamie, Freya Stewart and Dora Goode – performed Haydn and the senior trio - Hindy Lai, Hannah

Falcone and Aanya Hirdaramani – performed the mighty opening

movement of Mendelssohn’s D minor trio, unafraid to take risks in conveying its overt Romantic nature.

All in all, the musicians gave the near-capacity audience a wonderful

treat of which Roedean could be truly proud, and they thoroughly deserved the

numerous boxes of chocolates which were presented to them at the end!

Who says no-one speaks Latin?Congratulations to the winners of the Classical Sussex Reading Competition, which took place on 2nd March. Roedean was delighted to welcome around a hundred enthusiastic readers from schools around Sussex to the annual Classical Sussex Reading Competition. This venerable tradition was given fresh life by readers from all year-groups who read passages of classical Latin and Greek with passion and fluency. The judges were impressed by the pronunciation and fluency of the readers, and the winners in each section were those who were most able to bring out the meaning of the passages. There were some wonderful renditions of passages from Virgil’s Aeneid (Euryalus’ furious slaughtering of the enemy and the depiction of Queen Dido as a doomed deer), Horace’s Odes (the Ship of State, which was probably the night’s most dramatic performance), Homer’s Iliad, and Cicero’s ‘de imperio’. Younger, sometimes toga-clad,

contestants regaled the audience with tales of dishonest merchants and crazed bears.

The evening was a wonderful opportunity for students from all over Sussex to come together and share their enthusiasm of Classics. We are delighted that Greek continues at all levels and look forward to hosting even more schools at this distinctive and distinguished event. Special congratulations to our Roedean winners: Hannah Thomsett and Mary McHarg won First Prize in the Intermediate Latin section for their expressive and colourful performance of Rufilla and Salvius’ domestic dispute. Congratulations too to Maia Walker and Ishika Ali (Rufilla and Salvius), Polly Kos’ele and Anna Kachmazova (Hermogenes, the swindling merchant), and Victoria Nathan-Maister (The killing of the crazed bear), all of whom won Highly Commended in the Intermediate Latin section. Well done to all!

Roedean AGM & DinnerGreat fun and food were had by all at the Old Roedeanian Association’s AGM & Dinner on Monday 2 March. Amidst the impressive setting of London’s Inner Temple, a unanimous re-election of the President and Vice-Presidents was followed by a brief yet informative meeting,

in great anticipation of the fun and frolics to follow at the dinner. Tables were divided loosely into decades which allowed for catch-ups with old friends as well as the discovery of new ones. Enchanting speeches were given by Vice-President Julia Mackworth, Chairman

of Council’s Simon Rothon, and, of course, the Headmaster. But the pièce de résistance was the food: a beautifully presented tian of tomato and avocado, followed by delicious roast guinea fowl, and topped off with a generous helping of chocolate truffle cake.

The Battle of Gettysburg at RoedeanNine AS Historians re-enacted the Battle of Gettysburg this week. Their aim was to understand better how the battle became an important turning point in the American Civil War, and how it affected the morale of both the Confederates and the Union soldiers. Learning History in a different and more physical way was an interesting experiment!

Scholars’ lunchEach Friday, there will be Scholars’ Lunches in the Old Ref, giving our scholars the opportunity to present a personal passion or piece of research to their peers. The speakers and their topics for the first lunch are Aamna Manzoor – Should I be worried that The Hunger Games is my favourite book?; Maia Walker – Understanding change; and Olivia Henderson – The importance of independent travel

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A week of events for World Book DayThe World Book Day events kicked off on Monday with the launch of the Shakespeare Film Competition in Assembly in which Mr Woodhouse showed an extremely sophisticated staff interpretation of Act III Scene I from Romeo and Juliet. Special mention must be given to electric performances from Mr Maxwell and Miss Triddon as the star-crossed lovers, and to Mr Orys and Ms Boobis for their highly energetic swashbuckling roles as Mercutio and Tybalt. Girls were encouraged to submit their own Shakespeare film adaptations of their favourite scene in the next few weeks. Also on Monday, Years 8 and 9 were treated to a macabre and scintillating presentation by author James Dawson, current holder of the ‘Queen of Teen’ award. As well as talking about and reading from his books, Say Her Name and Under My Skin, James went on to engage the audience in a lively discussion about role models and feminism.

On Wednesday, Years 7 and 8 were transported to the fantasy world of the enchanted island of Eridor by the author Alison Gardiner. In The Serpent of Eridor, the hero of the story battled man-eating mud swamps, murderous crocodiles and vengeful wizards. The girls were asked to brain storm ideas for a story and came up with a fantastic tale involving the adventures of an exploding cow and a purple rat in New York. The girls got candy snakes from Alison at the end of the talk and promised to write a story based on the Serpent of Haribo.

The girls were invited to dress as their favourite book character on World Book Day on Thursday. Teaching staff were startled to find themselves teaching a myriad of characters including Miss Haversham, countless Dalmatians, the Mad Hatter, Katniss Everdeen, Hagrid, Thing One and Thing Two, Richard Parker, Snow White, and Mr Twit. On Friday, Year 9 participated in a book-themed chapel service organised by Ms Semple and Ms Boobis where the girls spoke about the books that had had the most impact on them.


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Churchill’s country home‘The trip to Chartwell brought Churchill alive in my mind and made me feel closer to him. The visit also gave me a better understanding of his daily life and greatly helped me understand some of his decisions during the Second World War’ – Frances Zhang, 6.1 History student.

Last weekend, twenty three Roedean students visited Sir Winston Churchill’s beautiful country home in Kent. We were lucky that the weather was fine, which meant that, as well as visiting the house, which is maintained exactly as it was when Churchill lived there from 1924 until his death, we could also explore the extensive

grounds and visit the Studio where Churchill spent much of his spare time painting. Going around the new exhibition commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill’s funeral was a very moving experience; Mr Davis can remember following the funeral live on TV, as a young boy, in 1965. The girls were impressed with the extensive collection of military uniforms and hats which Churchill liked to wear, and they also enjoyed the cream tea afterwards! This visit was of special interest for our 6.1 History students who are studying the political career of Churchill for their AS Level examination.

The life of an astronomerDr Darren Baskill, from the University of Sussex’s Physics and Astronomy Department, gave a talk to the Sixth Form last week on his work at the UKIRT and James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. This was a fascinating insight into the everyday work of an astronomer and his research using the data collected from the telescopes, as well as showing that science is the way to go if you like to travel. At lunchtime, there was also an opportunity for girls in any year-group to listen to him talk about why he studied Physics and chose to become an astronomer.


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Roedean Cross CountryThe sun shone over Roedean on Wednesday 4 March resulting in perfect conditions for our inaugural Cross Country Competition. The main purpose of the event was to get girls out running and enjoying it. Schools could enter as many runners as they liked, but only the top 4 counted towards the final result. Each runner was given a “I ran at Roedean” band to honour their involvement.

The opening race was for girls in Years 5 and 6, and it was great to see 25 girls running for their various junior schools. The course took the girls round the perimeter of our games fields and it was a perfect spectacle for parents based at the top of the pitches, because they could see the whole race panning out in front of them.

Amelia Knight and Maisie Hancock from Westdene came in first and second, closely followed by Charlotte Richardson from Deepdene.

Overall there was a tie between Westdene and Windlesham for the final winner so they both shared the shield.

The next race was for girls in Years 7 and 8, and Roedean had several runners raring to go on the start line. India Terrasa and Gracie Bernard put in a gallant effort and were placed 2nd and 3rd. Matilda Atkins from Benenden won the race overall, but it was Cardinal Newman who were winners with the Roedean team coming 2nd.

The Years 9 and 10 team ran over 3.5 kilometres and found it hard going along the back fence into the wind. Hurst were outright winners, with 4 of their runners being placed in the top 5.

The senior race was the most exciting of the day as our own Phoebe Connolly started so well taking the lead early on, but unfortunately took a fall on the 1st lap to lose this lead. She admirably kept going and clawed her way back, but just couldn’t close the gap. Both Phoebe and the first place winner did brilliantly and the juniors were in awe watching them going round with ease.

Overall it was a very successful event and there was a real buzz out on the field. This will definitely be an annual occurrence, and Miss Andrew is hoping for bigger and better next year. Thank you to Mrs Anning, Jane Chandler and Nicola Dobbs for their support organising the marshals.

IAPS Netball tournament Saturday 14 March will see 600 girls from across the South East converging on Roedean for the IAPS netball tournament. Please do come down and cheer the teams on – support will be welcome at all of the events and refreshments will be served for parents in the Marquee or Horizons Café.


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U15 SISNAOn Tuesday 3 March the U15 team were represented by Gabby Riley, Georgie Tomlinson, Martha Nicholas, Loretta Sargeant, Emily Townsend, Natasha Rustemeyer, Francesca Seaborne, and Maggie El-Beleidi.

The girls had a very close first match against Burgess Hill, unfortunately going down by one goal in the final minute. The second match was the toughest against finalists, Christ’s Hospital, where the team suffered a defeat of 10 goals. The final two matches against Hurst and Ardingly, saw the team in the lead at half time, but they unfortunately let the harsh weather conditions take control, seeing two narrow loses. The girls should be particularly proud of their match against Hurst.

The team was determined in their play-off match against Lancing College not to be defeated and stormed through both halves to win 19-3. Francesca Seaborne was named player of the match.


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Cricket at RoedeanTuesday saw Roedean host the Sussex rounds of the Lady Taverners U13 cricket competition. A number of local schools joined this competition and all fought hard to score as many runs as possible. Roedean’s team was made up of girls from U3 and L4. Our first match was hard, playing against last year’s winners, Dorothy Stringer; we fought hard holding them to only 86 runs and this was the

fewest runs they scored all afternoon. In our second game, we played Cardinal Newman when some exceptional bowling from Zara Ghani and Yelena Finnegan, coupled with some excellent batting from Tabatha McCulloch, saw Roedean triumphant, scoring a magical 125 runs, the highest score of the day! Roedean came second overall to Dorothy Stringer – a fantastic achievement.


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More medals for AmberAmber Anning won a silver medal in the U15G 200m at the National Championships in Sheffield last weekend. She ran brilliantly in her heat and semi-final, smashing her personal best in both with a time of 25.18 seconds in the semis. She therefore went into the final as

fastest qualifier, but one of her keenest rivals ran a scorcher from the outside lane, knowing Amber was immediately inside her, and just held her off to win. The final had a formidable line-up, including the Welsh Champion, the Scottish Champion, the Northern Champion,

and Amber as the Southern Champion – it was a fantastic race. Amber was initially disappointed not to win gold because she is so driven to succeed, but she knows how well she did, and her new PB puts her at number 12 on the 200m indoor all-time rankings for U15 girls.

Table-tennis coachingThe Roedean table-tennis team were extremely fortunate this week to have a visit from Mr Kinson Hui, who is a very talented and enthusiastic coach, and a current parent. He spent the first hour with Roedean’s number one and two seeds, Eva Wang and Chermaine Sin, giving them expert coaching and developing their skills, focusing mainly on their forehand shot selection. In the second hour, he spent time with the U16 and U14 teams, again developing their timing of shot and making small technical improvements. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Hui for his time and allowing us to have access to his expert knowledge.

Determination leads to excellenceAt the start of the week, U5-DWY set us off with a spring in our step at the start of the week, ready to push ourselves harder to achieve what we want and realise our dreams – this is a transcript of their Assembly:

Ariel: This morning, we will be talking to you about different people who have achieved personal excellence through their determination and commitment. We will give you some wise words from these successful individuals, ranging from politicians to sporting heroes. In life, we constantly look up to these figures and the role they play in society.

Miranda: Confucius was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. He said, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Catherine: Leonardo da Vinci was a famous Italian painter who was famous for paintings such as the ‘Mona Lisa’. He said, “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

Phoebe: my quotation is from double Olympic Champion, Usain Bolt. He said, “For me, I’m focussed on what I want to do. I know what I need to do to be a champion, so I’m working on it.”

Hatty: Andy Warhol who was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. He said, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art, and good business is the best art.”

Tara: Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, who also suffers from Motor Neurone Disease. He said, “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

Consuella: Mother Theresa, was a Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary who lived most of her life in India. She said, “I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.”

Aimee: Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and also Leader of the Conservative Party. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. She said, “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”

Natalie: the last quotation is from Albert Einstein who was a German-born theoretical physicist and scientific philosopher. He said, “If A is a success in life, then A = X + Y + Z; work is X, Y is play, and Z is keeping your mouth shut.”

Ariel: Having heard these inspirational words, we hope they will get your minds thinking. I will now leave you with the quotation by Confucius from Mrs. Ellis. “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”


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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: [email protected]

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Head's Weekly Review 6th March 2015