Head’s IntroductionHaving just returned from a wonderful L5 dinner and social event, I have to say how impressed I was with the confidence and self-assurance of the girls as they looked after their guests.

With so much happening in a relatively short time this half term, I think the girls should be congratulated not only for keeping on top of all of their studies and other activities but for retaining their composure and sense of humour. I know it cannot be easy.

As we look ahead to a weekend with the Dance Showcase, Flash Conference and Music Scholars’ Concert, it is worth remembering how many girls also have their eyes keenly focused on public examinations and the targeted revision required over the coming weeks.

This last week has encapsulated all the elements of Roedean life and I hope you enjoy reading all about it. While some girls were enjoying the art and gastronomy of ‘la vie Parisienne’ at the weekend, others gave up their time freely to help with the IAPS netball finals, guiding visitors, cake-baking, taking photographs, and selling hot chocolate.

There have also been four music concerts, including a masterclass with an international concert pianist, there have been individual sporting successes, and there have been numerous rehearsals in order to perfect the routines for this evening’s Dance Showcase.

It is exactly this participation in diverse activities and their determination to succeed which makes Roedean girls who they are.

This reminds me of a TS Eliot quotation: “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”

It strikes me that, at every turn, the girls are ready to challenge themselves to achieve more highly, play or perform better, and try different things - well done!

Paris & Pâtisseries‘A feast for the eyes and the taste-buds’, the Paris and Pâtisseries trip combined the beauty of the late 19th century impressionist paintings and the present-day art of the pâtissiers of Paris, all set against the back-drop of historic and majestic architecture and the Eiffel Tower lit up and twinkling in all her glory.

On Friday 13th March, thirty five girls and eight members of staff set off for their wonderful weekend away in Paris. We arrived in Paris just in time to see the 10pm illumination of The Eiffel Tower, to choruses of ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s from the girls. Next stop was the Ibis Hotel, our residence for the weekend. It was straight to bed as we had an early start and a busy day ahead of us…

In the morning, we headed to the Orangerie Art Gallery, where we looked around Monet’s incredible Nympheas paintings in our groups. The girls enjoyed the art work and for some it was their first opportunity to really ask themselves what they like and do not like in art. Then we took in the beautiful sights of the Tuileries Gardens, and on to Hevin or Angelina’s Pâtisseries. In both, the pastries were amazing, and they were thoroughly enjoyed by all – in fact, Mlle Bonnel nearly cried when she tasted her Millefeuille!

After lunch, we visited the Musee d’Orsay, where ‘Starry Night’ and ‘Self Portrait’ by Vincent Van Gogh were popular with all the girls. After that and a long walk through the streets of St Germain, we reconvened at the hotel to freshen up, before heading off again on a tour of Paris by night. The girls loved spending a bit more time at the Eiffel Tower and took hundreds of photos, and selfies of course!

Sunday arrived far too quickly, and we headed off to the Pont des Arts to add the Roedean Padlock to the thousands of padlocks left by lovers in the past. Lois and Iris were chosen for this important job and they made a wish as they threw the key into the water under the bridge. Then we walked along the bank of the Seine to Notre Dame. Despite the

associations with Beauty and the Beast, it was all beauty as we stepped inside and marveled at the spectacular stained glass. After that, it was a quick dash across the bridge to see Shakespeare and Co, a bookshop where Ms Boobis used to live (!), before some last minute souvenir shopping and our last hot lunch of snails and frogs legs for the adventurous, or roast chicken and chips for everyone else.  

As the coach pulled off from our final stop, there was time to reflect on how fun-packed and interesting the trip had been. It wasn’t quite over yet, though, as Nic, our driver, drove us through the underpass where Princess Diana was killed and we saw her memorial. Mrs Stanway put it best, when she said “this trip was meant to be about Paris and Pâtisseries, but none of them have been as sweet as you.”

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Juliette Binoche’s Antigone at the Barbican

‘Wondrous, monstrous, dreadful, awful and weird,’ to quote the chorus, summed up our mixed reviews about the Barbican Theatre’s performance of Sophocles’ Antigone on March 12th. Juliette Binoche in the title role of Antigone was strangely remote and hysterical. She seemed older than the teenage rebel she was supposed to portray. The background scenery of shifting images tended to distract at times, yet it worked brilliantly in the opening scene and at the fi nal burial of Antigone. From our high seats, we had an excellent view of the comings and goings in the grave. The major themes of man versus woman and men versus Gods were played out but the audience’s connection with the main characters was not always present.

‘It was a really clever interpretation’ said one Sixth Former. ‘I liked the changing roles of the actors within the play and diff erent

interpretation of Creon as a character more deserving of our sympathy’. The end of the play with Creon clutching the cloak of his dead wife while all around him the other actors began to clear up, even washing up some cups, really highlighted the idea of life going on in the midst of a personal tragedy. This is an idea which is pertinent to us all.

It is always good to go to London and see these landmark productions in the top theatres in this country. These occasions create lots of discussion and ideas which we can develop further in the classroom on our return. The very fact that in the last six months we have seen Helen McCrory as Medea at the National, Kristin Scott-Thomas as Electra at the Old Vic, and now Juliette Binoche as Antigone, is telling. Our appetite for these ancient stories, and their relevance to modern issues, seems boundless.

Sixth Form Society Event: Casino NightLive music, fun casino tables, and a chocolate fountain! The Sixth Form Society’s annual Casino Night was once again a great success and gave the girls a well-deserved evening of fun and relaxation. The band played some great music which had the girls and some staff bopping the night away – Mr Lawrence’s performance on the dance fl oor deserves a special mention! Girls and tutors alike gathered around the casino tables to try their hands at Black Jack and Roulette, all with ‘funny money’, of course. It was especially hard to keep the Maths teachers away – Mr Tarbet was apparently trying very hard to lose, but just kept winning and winning! In the end, the prize for the most successful performance on the Casino tables went to Vicky Ip – congratulations!

The chocolate fl owed on the fountain amid sticks bearing jelly babies, marshmallows, and much more. Thank you to the Sixth Form Prefects for their part in the organisation of the event.

Parents’ Guild Quiz NightLast Friday evening we held the second Parents’ Guild Quiz Night, after the very successful fi rst quiz inquisition in May 2013. This time we were in Keswick Hall (very apt as the origin of the name Keswick in Roedean history was one of the questions) and 10 intrepid teams of 8 people took part. Each had creative teams: “In it to win it”, “Oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts”, “The 50 percenters”, and, of course, the previous champions “The Magic Badgers”.

There were ten rounds of questions from Capital Cities (anybody know the capital of Madagascar), via Sport (world’s fastest tennis serve?) and Famous Couples (Black and ….what? Decker certainly, but I also allowed Tan), culminating in the fi endishly diffi cult Roedean History round. One rule which is somewhat daunting is that the Quizmaster’s decision is fi nal… no pressure there then! All was going well until the question: how many acres does Roedean sit in? Our answer was 44 acres, alas the Headmaster begged to diff er, claiming nearly three times as many acres! Despite never having counted the acreage personally, I overruled a possibly correct answer and sided with the more modest 44!

A huge round of thanks is due to Julie Sands who was the driving force behind the evening – she set many of the questions and organised the many parental and student helpers before and on the night. There was a well-stocked bar and plenty of tasty cold snacks to act as brain food for all involved.

What about the result, I hear you ask. Well, the Magic Badgers, a staff team who were put on a pedestal on the stage above all the other teams to be symbolically shot at, dourly held on to a narrow lead throughout and managed to defend their title. Congratulations to the “50 percenters” (aka Senior Team) who fi nished strongly and came within an acre or two of victory!

Overall it was another Roedean night to remember, good natured rivalry, moments of enlightenment and lots of fun and laughter. Thanks to all who participated. After that philharmonic of an evening I can now rest my plates of meat until the next time…

Neil Hargreaves

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Maria Marchant Piano MasterclassSome of our more advanced piano students took part in a day of masterclasses on Wednesday 18 March, given by the international concert pianist, Maria Marchant. Each participant took along current repertoire, that they are soon to perform, either in forthcoming examinations or at the upcoming evening recital at St Laurence Church Falmer, on Saturday 21 March at 5.30pm, or our Brighton Festival Fringe concert on Saturday 2 May at 4.00pm in Roedean Chapel. The following pianists took

part in the masterclasses: Berniya Hamie (U4), Spenser Shen (U5), Angus Chan (6.1), Kelly HT Chan (6.1), Katherine Mao (6.1), Charlotte Wong (6.1), Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (6.2), and Hindy Lai (6.2). All the girls thoroughly enjoyed the classes with Maria, receiving new ideas about their music, building confi dence in performance, and learning how to move to the next level of musical maturity.

As part of the day, Maria also gave a wonderful recital at lunchtime, performing the highly energetic and rhythmically diverse Hungarian Peasant Songs by Bartok, followed the amazingly virtuosic Ballade in B minor by Franz Liszt. Maria is a former pupil of St Mary’s Hall School, and it was a lovely surprise that four of her former teachers joined the audience to enjoy her recital. We were all completely stunned by Maria’s thrilling display of pianistic bravura; a real musical inspiration for us all.

A musical springboard to success!Saturday, 14th March, Springboard Arts Festival held at Brighton and Hove High School

SINGING

Four Roedean girls entered the Springboard Festival singing section. The class was adjudicated by the international soprano and coach, Jacquelyn Fugelle. The girls all acquitted themselves very well. Amelie Samarasinghe made her Springboard debut in the 9-11 year old classes, and she won 3rd place for some very expressive singing. Lizzie Wilmot returned to the Festival for a second time and this year her performance showed just how far she has advanced in the intervening time. She came 2nd in both her classes – “A promising voice” as the adjudicator said! Annabella Chen was making her fi rst appearance at Springboard and distinguished herself by coming 3rd in the Intermediate Lighter Side Class, singing

Gershwin’s Love walked in and by winning the Intermediate Art Song Class with a truly touching performance of Reger’s Maria Wiegenlied, bringing a lovely warm tone and legato line to her singing. Tillie Ng was already a seasoned performer in Hong Kong when she arrived at Roedean in September. She proved this by sweeping the board in her classes: she came 2nd in the Intermediate Lighter Side Class with Bernstein’s very ambitious aria Glitter and be Gay, 1st in the Junior Recital Class, winning the Laura Eaton Cup and a cash prize, and 1st in the Intermediate Operatic Class with a very advanced aria from Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor. Tillie was also awarded the Madame Palgrave Turner Cup for the performer with the highest overall mark in the senior classes, an off er to sing at The Springboard

Concert in Lewes on 25th April, and the off er of an Opera Coast Boast bursary on a course in July. All in all, the girls performed excellently!

PIANO

Berniya Hamie has won the Junior Recital (U14) and the Christine Pembridge Cup (Junior) with honours for achieving an outstanding mark at Springboard. As a result, she has been invited to perform in the Springboard Festival Highlights’ Concert on 28th March, at 7.30pm at the Brighton and Hove High School.

Dance Showcase 2015Roll up, roll up – put your pointe shoes on

and pirouette along to the fabulous Roedean Dance Showcase 2015.

Venue: Roedean TheatreDate: Friday 20 March

Time: 7:30 pmTickets are free.

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National Winter Tour Finals for BellaBella Swann has qualified for the National Winter Tour Finals, as she has ended the tennis winter season in the top 16 on the National Leaderboard. This is a fantastic achievement. One if her goals was to qualify so she is now training hard in order to put her best possible performance in over the weekend of 27th March.

D of E Gold and Bronze training weekendThe Duke of Edinburgh Award training weekend in the Ashdown Forest was both a wet and cold one for the most part. Despite this, the girls all came through having learnt plenty and went away with a great sense of achievement – perhaps the onesie will go next time Oonagh! The next expeditions will be a practice in the Brecon Beacons for the Gold groups, and the South Downs for the Bronze groups – bring on the fun times!

IAPS National Netball FinalsIt was a pleasure to welcome 68 prep schools to Roedean for the IAPS National Netball Finals on Saturday, and there were over 1500 visitors to the school on the day. Fortunately the weather stayed dry, so the standard of play remained high throughout. Regional finals take place across the country for U11s, U12s, and U13s, and then the top teams go through to the national finals which are held at Roedean every year. Our students welcomed the teams and parents, and it was exciting to hear their stories of the previous rounds. Across the board, the standard of netball was strong and the competition is getting tougher each year.

Horizons was open from 8.30am, and the parents were delighted with the hot bacon sandwiches and soup, which helped fend off the cold wind. Later on in the morning, the catering staff lit the BBQs, and the pulled pork rolls and burgers were extremely popular. The Parents’ Guild hosted refreshments throughout the day and talked to parents and girls about Roedean. The houses had also made cakes in the week and it was great to see how many of the boarders came down to sell them – they were

delicious and almost all were sold by the end of the day. Young Enterprise companies were also out in force and the girls had a stream of people buying their produce.

The finals started at 3.40pm and were fiercely fought games, ending in a superb final in the three age groups. Mr Blond was on hand to present the shields and trophies to the winning schools and also a Roedean match ball. Overall, it was an extremely successful day.

Phoebe at the NationalsPhoebe Connolly ran excellently at the weekend, representing Sussex in the ESAA Cross Country Championships. She came 135th out of 300 finishers, and was the 5th Sussex runner home, beating two of her Sussex teammates for the first time. Her team came 7th overall, which is a fantastic achievement.

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