Children in Need Charity Week

14th November 2014

Autumn Term, Issue 4

Head’s Weekly Review

Speech Day

‘PHENOMENAL WOMEN’

Speech Day applause rang out for our inspirational speaker, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. Having won the audience over by beginning her talk with an aca-pella rendition of ‘It’s a man’s world’, she went on to tell the girls that one of her favourite songs, ‘Something Inside So Strong’, sung by the choir, should be an inspiration to overcome all obstacles. The opening line: ‘The higher you build your barri-ers, the taller I become’ had inspired Rose to con-tinue to grow even when faced with seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

Her message to the school was not just directed to the girls. She told parents to continue to guide their children whatever their age. She then told teachers to never stop trying and never give up. Her passion was for the best and she wanted the girls to realise the privileges they had, the im-portance of education and to never take it for granted. Her words were certainly taken on board if the stream of people waiting to meet her and speak to her was anything to go by.

She ended by urging all the young women in the audience to be phenomenal women.

AAMNA, VALERIE & FRAN

This year we introduced additional speakers so that we could hear more from the girls themselves. Aam-na (U3), Valerie (U5) and Fran (our Head Girl) all spoke with great poise and passion. Aamna spoke about the wonderful opportunities at Roedean and looked forward to a great adventure at Roedean. Valerie remembered the year through our art, music

and drama, ending with the truth that ‘A Roedean girl never stands still.’ Fran talked about change, in society, technology, fashion and in school. She asked the school to embrace change and to see the positives in life . She made a link between our era of change and childhood, suggesting that we are forever in a state of childhood, never knowing what might come next, but that this was an exciting prospect.

Following our Chairman’s opening address on the three issues of politics, religion and gender, I spoke about our need to approach the next phase of Roedean’s development with an openness to change, an attitude of mind that will allow us to embrace the opportunities ahead, both in educa-tional terms and in terms of our need to develop our community service and engagement with the world outside Roedean.

THE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

We listened to wonderful music and the audience was completely spellbound. The processions at the beginning and end played by the String Orchestra played from on high and the three songs (Zulu Free-dom Song, Something Inside So Strong and Nella Fantasia) were simply phenomenal!

Speech Day Speaker, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, with Head Girl Team and prize winners

“A Roedean girl never stands still.” Valerie, u5

Every day this week, the girls have been raising money for Children in Need. The programme put together by Ruth and Reihaanah, our Charity Prefects, has been brilliant. I hope this gives you a little flavour of their ambition and the sense of fun gener-ated:

Monday - in HOUSE 4, House 4 Chari-ty Reps made some FABULOUS FOOD!

Tuesday - Mrs Jones' tutor group’s BAKE SALE, and House 2 Charity Reps’ BABY PHOTOS of TEACHERS competition

Wednesday - ANOTHER BAKE SALE!

Thursday- in HOUSE 1, a BRING AND BUY SALE

Friday - A MUFTI DAY with the theme of SUPERHEROES and in HOUSE 3 ODR, House 3 Charity Reps will be doing a FOOD THEMED FETE -how many sweets in the jar? - deco-rate Pudsey biscuits! - doughnuts, cakes and even more!

Well done to all! Let’s hope we’ve raised a lot of money throughout the week for Children in Need.

MATHS,MUSIC AND THE STARS

Mr Alan Smith, who joined Roedean in September to teach Maths after being Head of Mathematics at Christ’s Hospital, entertained and amazed us in assemblies this week. He showed the evidence of his interests, playing classical guitar while showing his own photographs of the stars and planets, which you can see here. Wow!

He said: ‘I have been photographing the night sky for many years – initially with film cameras, then with electronic camer-as, and also I occasionally use a robotic telescope on Hawaii controlled via the In-ternet. Recently I have taken up the classi-cal guitar, and my assembly playing of Sa-tie’s “Gymnopedie no 1” was my first per-formance on this instrument.

“The more clearly we can focus our atten-tion on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”

Rachel Carson

CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN 2014

KIDS COMPANY AT

ROEDEAN

For vulnerable children the Christmas period

can be a time of devastating loneliness, shame

and despair. This year, with rising levels of

poverty, too many children face waking up on

Christmas Day without a hot meal or warm

clothes and without a single gift to open. They

would rather forget Christmas altogether. It

shouldn’t be this way.

With your support we can make this a magical

day to remember for thousands of vulnerable

children so they can feel the joy of being a child

at Christmas.

You can help Kids Company hold a huge party

for the 4,000 children and young people. The

day will be complete with games, storytelling,

Santa’s grotto and of course a Christmas din-

ner and presents! They also aim to support a

further 12,000 children in the community with

desperately needed food and gift parcels.

Last year, Roedean raised over £4,000 in our

Christmas Campaign for Kids Company. This

year we want to buy presents that will be

opened by vulnerable children on Christmas

Day.

The theme of my own talk on Speech Day was

about developing a social vision for Roedean.

There will be many ways in which this can be

achieved, but starting with a simple gift for a

child who would otherwise not get one, seems

a good way to begin.

We will be collecting presents to support Kids

Company in the next few weeks and launching

this next week with the girls. Our aim is to see

if everyone can contribute by giving a gift.

All presents can be brought to main reception.

3

U3: THE FIRST NINE WEEKS

With our first parents’ evening of the year this

Friday, it is time to congratulate our u3 girls on a

brilliant start to their time at Roedean. From

their first meeting at our new girls’ briefing,

through their bonding at Windmill Hill, their

performances at Open Day and House Drama to

their contribution to Speech Day , they have

been a wonderful year group.

We know that they are lively and curious in les-

sons, eager and committed in sport, music,

dance and drama and energetic in their extra-

curricular activities. We have enjoyed getting to

know them and learning all about their passions

and talents. Although homework might have

been hard at times and the days have been

tiring, they have always been happy and smiling.

We have a lot to learn from their positive atti-

tude and willingness to try everything. Welcome

to Roedean, U3, we hope you’ve enjoyed things

so far. OB

KEEPING PACE WITH IT

Information Technology continues to move forward and there have been a number of areas upgraded during the recent months.

With the development of mobile devic-es in and out of the classroom, the girls will have seen the investment being made in new smartboards and audio-visual systems in Maths, Humanities, English and Modern Languages, includ-ing a new state-of-the-art touch screen in Geography.

We have installed a new site wide wire-less system to cover the increased demand, and implemented a new inter-net link that is five times faster than the previous system. Also, the Art and Design Technology computer labs have

been replaced.

To further support the increase in IT usage throughout the site, we have consolidated and rewired the network infrastructure in key areas such as DT, Music, the Main School Houses, Maths, and Modern Languages.

E-SAFETY TALK

Paul Platts, Brighton & Hove Council's E-Safety Advisor, was in school this week to speak to parents about how to keep in touch with what’s going on in

the digital world. He gave a reassuring talk exploring the risks that our children may face and offered advice on how to talk about what they are doing online.

With our new girls settling in so well, our attention is turned to

next year and all our prospective girls. On Monday, we had over

seventy girls arrive for a day of activities in Drama, English, PE

and Physics. They had a terrific day and really got to experience

the delights of Roedean. Thank you to all the staff and girls who

made their day so special.

DISCOVERY DAY AT ROEDEAN

"...I still believe, in spite of every-thing, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consist-ing of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thun-der, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heav-ens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again." Anne Frank

REMEMBRANCE DAY CHAPEL SER-

VICE

For those who saw the Tower of London’s

extraordinary field of poppies, this year’s Re-

membrance Day has special significance as the

centenary of the onset of the First World War.

Roedean families were deeply affected by the

war, with many young men in their families

losing their lives. At that time, the four White

Ensigns in our Chapel were presented by each

House to battleships stationed off Brighton.

They were flown in the Battle of Jutland and

later returned to Roedean.

On Remembrance Sunday, a number of girls

and staff , including Deputy Head Girls Sophie

Sheaf and Imogen Davies and Assistant Head,

Mr Rainey, joined with the local community’s

service in Rottingdean.

On Tuesday, 11th November, the school held

our own Remembrance Day Service led by Rev.

Graeme Rainey. The school held a two-minute

silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the

11th month. The Act of Remembrance was

followed by the laying of the wreath, this year

by Alice Hinton, U3.

Conflicts have changed their nature, but the

world continues to struggle with competing

beliefs, limited resources and changing power-

bases. Are there other ways to deal with

change, disagreement and shifts in economic

and military power? We wait in hope. OB

14th November 2014

Remembrance Day

This incredible prayer of optimism in the face of overwhelming evidence of human cruelty was written only a month before Anne Frank and her family were arrested by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps. Remembering is a defining act of our intellect, hope a defining act of our spirit; we are compelled to both through these simple and inspiring words. OB

HALLOWEEN

HORROR

MAZE!

6.2 traditions don’t get much more frightening

than the annual horror-fest that is the Halloween

Horror Maze. This year, Keswick Hall was trans-

formed into a spine-tingling and nerve-shredding

maze. Sinister characters and bloody faces

appeared from every direction, moaning, grab-

bing, staring and generally terrifying. The whole

hall was filled with with shrieking and scream-

ing.

It was charming to see the girls outside queuing

for this ordeal with Roedeanesque politeness .

Well done, 6.2, a great evening’s entertainment

and a worthy Halloween, albeit delayed due to

Half Term. The toffee apples were much appre-

ciated to help calm the nerves. OB

Roedean School Roedean Way

Brighton

East Sussex

BN2 5RQ

Phone: 01273 667500

E-mail: schooloffice@roedean.co.uk

Web: www.roedean.co.uk

@roedeanschool

@roedeantheatre

@roedeansport

In this week in November 1962, Roedean appeared in a Giles cartoon in the national press. Roede-

an had made an application to license its staff common room to serve alcohol(!). Look carefully

through the window on the left to see Roedean’s entrance. The caption read: ‘Licensed Common

Rooms might be all right for Roedean, but Miss fell over three times during maths …’

Swimming Gala Moving Up

Last year in this swimming gala, despite great com-

mitment from the girls, the depth of Roedean’s team

meant that competing against the larger teams was

difficult. We came in sixth place. A year later and

Roedean’s team is stronger with new girls

joining the school adding depth and talent to

our squad.

After huge effort from everyone in the team,

across all year groups, Roedean achieved a

fantastic second place. Well done to the

team, a great result for Roedean.