Head’s IntroductionWelcome to the Summer Term. The school looks idyllic at the moment, the sun is shining, the sea is shimmering, and we are surrounded by flowers and manicured grounds, thanks to the spectacular efforts of our grounds team. I want to follow U5’s first message of term, which was showing appreciation for others, by saying thank you. I also want to thank all the girls, staff and parents who represented Roedean with such enthusiasm when supporting the Brighton Marathon. We have only been back for one week, and already there is a great deal happening. On the first Monday, a group of staff and girls were welcomed to a special reception at Town Hall in Brighton by the Mayor in honour of our contribution to the local community. It was wonderful with the elections so close to see the girls engaging with local politics and sitting in the Council Chamber. We’ve also had an exciting beach volleyball match against Burgess Hill, seen our Chemists competing at the University of Sussex in the Top of the Bench Competition, and have been visited by colleagues from Sweden, and all in just five days!

I am delighted to report that the Houses at Roedean have been described in glowing terms in the national and local press recently – I hope that you had a chance to read the article in the Sunday Times Style magazine on February 15th this year, and the one in the May edition of Tatler, entitled “the swankiest boarding house in the world”. It is great that our facilities have been recognised in this way, and I know that the girls are very proud of school facilities too. The Argus also carried the story, along with the story of Roedean’s contribution to the marathon, so it’s excellent to see such positive stories about Roedean in the national and local press.

We cannot get away from the fact that the main focus for many girls this term is public examinations, but all girls in the school have examinations, so everyone is in a similar position. Of course, this can be a stressful time, but this is only because the girls want to do as well as they can, and I am confident that they will perform well and will realise their potential. I asked the whole school in the first Chapel of term to be mindful of each other, and, to repeat a line from J M Barrie, to ‘always be a little kinder than is necessary’ – this should be relevant at all times, but perhaps it is even more pertinent at this time of year.

I wish everyone a wonderful term, and I hope that all of your efforts, in whatever field, bear fruit.

Symbolism and iconography in the Art DepartmentOn Tuesday 21st April, the Art Department held an Upper Four Art Study Day which was a glorious mixture of Art History and practical sessions.

We held a special workshop on ‘Symbolism & Iconography, Vanitas & Cabinets of Curiosity’ for 44 girls from Upper Four who spent the whole day in the Main Art Studio.

Lavinia Harrington and Olivia Dobell from ‘The Bigger Picture’ (an Arts Enrichment organisation which works with many top independent schools, including Eton College, Cheltenham Ladies’ College, and Wellington) gave a series of short, illustrated presentations on the titles above, and then spent time with the girls on constructing presentation boards with discussion on symbolism specific to Damien Hirst, Holbein’s ‘The Ambassadors’, and Van Eyck’s ‘The Arnolfini Marriage.’

The work done keyed into our current Upper Four Project ‘The Art of the Vanitas’, and the girls were soon heavily into discussion and lively exchange.

In the afternoon, girls worked under the watchful eye of David Nicholls, our artist for the day, who introduced his extraordinary installations of ‘Cabinets of Curiosity’, where it is hard to tell what objects are actual historical examples and what are, in fact, fake.

The girls enjoyed producing some highly imaginative and very believable ‘curiosities’ in a packed two hours, and David was full of admiration for the variety and sheer inventiveness of the ‘exhibits’.

Olivia stayed to observe the practical session and was herself bowled over by the enthusiasm of our girls. In all, it was an amazing learning day and all the work produced will be displayed in the Studio on Open Morning.

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Beating the MarathonRoedean is delighted that Phoebe Connolly (6.1) ran fantastically and won the Brighton Mini-Mile on Saturday 11 April this year. Her time was an impressive 5:54, and she saw off all her rivals, winning the race for the fourth time. Phoebe has been running seriously for about ten years and is ranked 20th in the UK for the U17 mile; she has also won the Brighton half marathon youth races, and has a personal best for the 3000m on the track of 11:40. Not only is Phoebe a very talented runner, but she is also an excellent artist and an Art Scholar of the school. She loves photography too, and she been a finalist for the last two years of the British Wildlife Young Photography Award. Phoebe says that one of her ambitions is to run a half-marathon next year, and she intends to run at least two marathons over the next ten years.

But Phoebe wasn’t the only person from Roedean to run at the weekend: our Director of Sport, Miss Karen Andrew, who has played rugby for England 42 times and played professionally for eight years, was also out in the beautiful conditions, and she completed the Marathon in just over 3 hours 48. Her target was under four hours, and we are so pleased that she achieved it. This is obviously impressive, and shows her leading the girls at school by example – congratulations to her.

We would also like to thank our fifteen students who manned a water station at the 10-mile mark of the Marathon as the route passed the school, supported by seven members of staff and four parents, all shouting and cheering for the hot and tired runners. The girls had had to report at 6:15 in the morning, getting the water-station ready, so that they could work as a well-oiled machine, handing out cups of water to over ten thousand runners. Miss Andrew said that, even though she was exhausted, seeing all the smiling faces, cheering for her, lifted her hugely. “I thought that the marathon was another magnificent event as always. Brighton certainly knows how to put on a marathon. All of the volunteers leading up to

and on the day were so friendly and supportive and without them the runners would not have had an event to take part in. I was so proud that Roedean were part of this and coming up over the hill from Rottingdean and seeing the pink “Roedean” flags and all of the girls - I had goosebumps. I think it was my quickest mile all day and, as I grabbed the water from Ivy and heard all of the support from everyone, I certainly had a spring in my step!”

Bryony Doick loved the experience of helping: “The atmosphere was incredible as the mass of runners were coming in to the water station. Volunteering for the Brighton Marathon is a great way to become a part of the wider community and help out. Although it was a very early start, it was really worth it!”

Let’s see if Phoebe and Miss Andrew have inspired any others from Roedean to take up the challenge and run next year!

Water-station helpers

Alex Marini (staff)Alex Turck (6.1)Andrew Naughton (parent)Bryony Doick (L5)Denise Donovan (parent)Ebru Keyman (staff)Eden Wolfe-Naughton (U3)Fiona Walker (staff)Flo Andrews (joining Roedean in September)Florence Hersey (U4)Hana Al-Arari (U3)Hannah Kerr (U3)Ivy Robin (6.2)Jane & Terry Chandler (staff)Katie Sanderson (6.2)Lesley Morrill (staff)Liv Henderson (U3)Lois Adams (U3)Maddie Turck (U4)Rachel Burgess (parent)Rhiannon Burgess (U4)Richard Poffley (staff)Roz Balthazor (parent)Sophie Sheaf (6.2)Tallula Reece (U4)

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Mayoral Reception in the town hallOn Monday, a number of girls from different years attended a Mayoral Reception at Brighton Town Hall. They were greeted by the Mayor and his wife, and joined in friendly conversation with other guests, who have made contributions to Brighton. After speeches by Mr Blond, the Mayor himself, the Mayor’s wife, and Mr Poffley, the girls enjoyed a tour of the Town Hall, and the Council Chamber. They were told a great deal about previous Mayors and Brighton’s history, and even a little about the architecture of the building. For example, did you know it was one of the first buildings in England to have a glass roof and no windows? They also had the opportunity to sit in the Mayor’s seat in council and to hold the Mayor’s mace of Brighton, worth £350,000!

At the end of their tour of the building, the girls found out more about what the council actually does, and also they decide how to spend the £470 million budget which Brighton has. One

of the other things the council does is bestow citizenship on people coming to the area from other countries, and they were shown into the room where those who have just been granted their British citizenship receive their first cup of tea as a True Brit.

The evening was very enjoyable, and it was great to hear the Mayor show his appreciation for what Roedean girls contribute to the local community – it really underlined how closely the school and a variety of schools and charitable organisations are working together.

Silver Jubilee certificateLesley Morrill, our Library Assistant, ORA Liaison Officer and Accounts Assistant at Roedean was recently awarded a Silver Jubilee certificate for her role as County Instructor for the charity Riding for the Disabled (RDA). The award, which was presented by Princess Anne, was given in recognition of Lesley’s 25 years’ service to the RDA.

Swedish teachers visit RoedeanOn Thursday, we were very pleased to host six teachers from Gothenburg University, who came to the school to find out more about education in British schools and to observe some lessons. This is what they said:

“Amazing facilities!”, “Creative lessons and lovely atmosphere!”, “I want to go back to being 11 and

start my education at this school!”, and “Wish that we had schools like this in Sweden!”

Hopefully some of our teachers might have the opportunity to reciprocate the visit in the future, as it would be interesting to compare and contrast the education systems in the two countries.

Water-station helpers (continued)

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6.1 girls through the Air, on the Land, and in the SeaWe are delighted that six students in 6.1 are the first recipients of the new Air, Land, and Sea Awards. These awards were introduced this year to help support students to undertake an activity or go on a trip in the summer holiday between 6.1 and 6.2, which involves personal challenge and will provide invaluable experience which will be beneficial to an area of university study or a later career. The students applying were required to submit a detailed proposal, including precise costings and the rationale behind their trip. A good number of students applied for the awards, which made the decision-making difficult, but the successful students will be undertaking projects which will be hugely rewarding.

Lily Bridgeman-Rutledge will be working on a two-week project based at a children’s hospital in Nepal. She will be volunteering at the hospital, observing medical procedures, and experiencing the day-to-day running of the hospital. She will also be shadowing a nurse at a local orphanage and assisting with various community outreach programmes. This will give her experience which will be both impressive and valuable when applying to read Medicine at university. Elysia Holmes and Megan Foster will be undertaking a similar project with GapMedics based in Tanzania. The girls will travel to Dar Es Salaam soon after term ends, in order to undertake

a one-week placement in a government hospital, and there is the option to extend the trip by another week. They are looking forward to the challenge of travelling independently to another continent and meeting up with other like-minded young people. Angharad Dunkley and Lea Donovan will be working in Tenerife for a week, doing whale and dolphin conservation. Both are passionate about animals, and intend to apply for university courses in Zoology and Animal Psychology. Not only would the trip be an incredible opportunity for them and very relevant to their chosen degree courses, but they would also be making a significant contribution to the conservation of vulnerable whale and dolphin species in the Mediterranean.

The last successful applicant is Helena Hope-Carter, who is considering applying for Oriental Studies at university and is studying Japanese to AS level in school. She will be going with WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), an organisation which arranges for local farmers to “host” visitors who will work on their farms in return. She will spend sixty days in Japan, on a trip centred around cultural, historical, and linguistic immersion. The trip will combine her interest in Japanese with her passion for History.

The girls should be congratulated on these awards, and we wish them god luck with their trips and projects.

Success in Athletics and Water Polo!Over the Easter holidays, Amber Pennington (U4) competed at an athletics event at K2 recently and won the U15 Javelin with a personal best throw of 32.74 metres. This currently places her seventh in the UK rankings for her age-group. At the same event, she also put the shot further than she has ever done before, coming third with a distance of 9.41 metres. These excellent

achievements are all the more impressive because she is also a hugely talented water polo-player. She has been selected for the inter-regional U16 Girls’ Water Polo competition in July in the West Midlands, in which she will represent the South East. She has also been to Cardiff last weekend for the Great Britain Water Polo Squad training event. Congratulations to her.

National Finals for Roedean netballersAmber Anning and Freya Finnegan (U4) are part of the MSN (Mid Sussex Netball) Regional U14 team which has qualified for the England Netball National Clubs’ U14 Finals in Newcastle in May. It was a highly competitive league, with fourteen fixtures against the strongest netball teams in the Southern Region. MSN clinched one of the two qualifying spots in a nail-biting last couple of matches, so the girls should be very proud of their achievements.

Amber Pennington (throwing the ball)

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