THE LONG

WALK Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition a success!

November 15th-16th 2014

In true Roedeanian spirit, three teams of girls set off across the South Downs in spite of the typically British November rain and wind, car-rying their tents and sleeping bags high on their backs, singing and laughing all the way.

Orienteering their way without any guidance or help they all suc-cessfully, and in excel-lent time, found their way to the campsite at Plumpton Racecourse where camp was hur-riedly pitched before

the more important task of getting dinner on the go.

The girls sat together in high spirits before the skies sadly, but not surprisingly, opened up once again, sending all of them rushing back to their tents for the night.

Following a rather chilly night, the girls rose a little bleary-eyed but rushed to strike camp and set off ready for the finish line.

All 3 teams made their way around the South Downs, some pass-ing Ditchling Beacon and the famous 'Jack & Jill' windmills where a quick spot of lunch refuelled their tanks before heading off again to meet the rest of the expe-dition eagerly awaiting them in the Upper Lodge car park.

On arrival, we could honestly say that we’ve never seen the girls so happy to see a member

of staff!

The girls worked really hard as a team, drawing on all their skills

and knowledge. It was fantastic news to hear that every single girl successfully passed her Bronze DofE expedition.

In school on Monday, it was easy to spot the intrepid explorers as they moved slowly and awkwardly around the site on tired legs.

Well done girls. You did your-selves proud! Now it is just a case of planning for the Silver and then the Gold expeditions.

What’s Inside?

Children in Need Charity Week.

See inside for what we raised

Kids Company Christmas Campaign

See details for how to contribute.

Boys Make Historic Roedean Debut!

Read about our dramatic premiere and

the new voices in the ensemble

Table Tennis at Sussex Schools !

How did our new team get on?

NEXT WEEK

Roedean Rocks! Our fantastic winter

concert next Friday is SOLD OUT!

21st November 2014

Autumn Term, Issue 5

Head’s

Weekly

Review Two of the delights of DoE: full backpacks and cooking by torchlight

‘A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and

space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.’ Albert Einstein

It is only just over a year ago

that we welcomed L4 into the

school and they have continued

to make the most of everything

on offer.

They remember what it is like to be new girls and are super buddies to the new U3.

They have also experienced a few changes already and taken to their new tutor and house groupings very happily.

We think that they really enjoy the new HHH programme too(particularly cookery and sign language).

They have welcomed the new starters, both local and from further afield, with open arms.

They have been excellent am-bassadors for the school on open morning, taking tours and

by hosting prospective stu-dents on taster days. Thank you!

The girls have asked for more opportunities to engage with girls outside of their immediate friendship groups and we are working with them on a num-ber of ideas.

In order to ensure L4 becomes a larger U4 next year, we are working hard talking to pro-spective new girls and families.

All in all, a year has flown by in which they have enjoyed many new opportunities but seem eager to try even more in the future. A great attitude.

We look forward to meeting all L4 parents and guardians on Friday after school.

OB & SBA

L4: The Second Time Around

HARRY POTTER A visit to the home of the boy wizard

This term, the Weekend Programme has offered students the opportunity to try their hand at something new and explore places not seen be-fore. The term started with the thrills and spills at Thorpe Park which is always a favourite destina-tion and, as ever, very popular, with over 90 girls having a fun day out. Later in the term, a similar number of students enjoyed the paintings and beauty of Buckingham Palace; cared for animals at Raystede Animal Sanctuary; imagined the ‘world beyond’ at the Science Museum and then thoroughly enjoyed the shopping at Westfield! A visit to The Harry Potter Studios followed in early November. The excitement before departure

was evident; over 90 girls looked forward to an insight into the world of Harry Potter.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

‘Once the theatre doors opened at the studios, the wow factor was clear. The Great Hall was before us all! We were transformed into a world of sto-ries and tales, which we knew much about. We gazed with starry eyes and imagined Harry’s worlds unfolding and saw at first hand the props and set designs that had brought the series and mystery into our homes and schools.’ 'The day was amazing!'

I loved every minute.’

'It was magical.'

'It was as if I was living in a magical world.’

'I am so pleased I had this opportunity.’

Thank you to all those who organised and ac-companied the girls on this trip.

‘You place too much importance...on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what theY grow to be!’ Albus Dumbledore

'Just magic, the whole day was just magic!'

DIFFERENCE & DIVERSITY

Miss Carragher’s Chapel ‘I have always been fascinated by the fact that every single person on the earth is different. That represents just over seven billion different versions of a human being. Even identical twins have different finger prints. Even more staggering is the thought that every single human who has ever existed has been different. Archaeologists have calculated that modern humans have been on the Earth for about 200,000 years. So the current estimate is that about 107 billion people have existed at one time or another. So, 107 billion different versions of a human being.

The German philosopher Frie-drich Nietzsche said, ‘Every man knows well enough that he is a

unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvellously picturesque piece of diversity ever be put together a second time.”

Beyond our physical differences, we also know that we all have different interests and talents, different characteristics, differ-ent likes and dislikes and some-times different cultural back-grounds. We are all different, and yet, we all live and work

together to form a strong and happy community. The senior prefects will remember from the leadership training that a pro-ductive team needs people who have different skills to work together to achieve their aim. A successful team or community needs a range of skills and per-sonality types.

At Roedean we have many girls and staff with different skills, interests and talents and this makes our community diverse. This diversity is a good thing and is something to be celebrat-ed. Each member of our school has the ability to contribute to the richness of our community. Let us appreciate the strength and unity that this gives us. As a final thought, the late and cele-brated author Maya Angelou said, ‘It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

When we are young we know we are right, And everything is black or white. No place for shades of grey to be It’s clear for all the world to see Quite simple, no complexity.

We stay with those who look the same Who sound like us, who share our name. Whose culture, language, what we hear Is everything we hold most dear. And what is known will bring no fear.

But as we grow we start to find That all we’ve thought about mankind Is from a blinkered point of view. We see the need to look anew For others’ ways are valid too.

So ‘different’ does not mean wrong. It helps to know that we belong To earth’s amazing tapestry Of nations’ great variety And people's rich diversity.

It’s not a case of wrong or right And certainly no cause to fight. Let’s celebrate the fact that we Will often do things differently. There is no need for enmity. Extract from a poem by Bronwen Taylor

21st November 2014

Chapel

“If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differ-ences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear.” Gene Roddenberry Creator of Star Trek

Thank you to our five 6.1 speakers, who com-pared Roedean to their previous schools or home lives.

Vivian and Tillie enjoy the new style of learn-ing (interactive, discur-sive and engaging), which is very different from the uni-directional teacher-to-pupil teach-ing they were used to. They like the way Roedean does not spoon-feed but tries to

encourage them to seek knowledge for themselves.

Annabella enjoys the new-found choice she has at Roedean, so that she can study what she enjoys. ‘Roedean gives me the chance to learn the things I am really interested in, so I enjoy my life here.’ Georgia enjoys the level of independence at Roedean and the spon-taneity. ‘I now do every-

thing because I want to not because I have to.’ Yidi enjoys the many conversations about the weather and is interest-ed in food. She said ‘food is probably the most significant thing in our life. Let’s make food more delicious.’ Thank you to Miss Car-ragher. Vivian, Tillie, Annabella, Georgia and Yidi

After the Halloween Horror Maze last week, 6.2 have found an even louder way to entertain themselves. The Karaoke night was a very high energy, entertain-ing and amusing evening where all of 6.2 rallied to-gether to sing and dance. The house captain and dep-uty house captain opened the evening up to the 6.1s from other houses too. Those that came thoroughly enjoyed the singing, pizza and popcorn. Thank you to the organisers. Well done.

Karaoke at Keswick

SUCCESS IN SUSSEX SCHOOLS TABLE TENNIS

Roedean’s newly-formed U13 table tennis team competed in the U13 Sus-sex Schools Zone Finals of the Butterfly National Table Tennis Champion-ships, earlier this week. It was a great competition and the team gained a brilliant 3rd place! Congratulations to the whole team:

Clara Hollowood L4 House 4

Scarlet Parfitt L4 House 3

Magali-Kay Clark L4 House 4

Hana Al-Arari U3 House 4

Olivia Henderson U3 House 1

Our girls played out of their comfort zones and performed with determina-tion and courage against well drilled opposition from a variety of schools. The Sussex Schools Table Tennis Coordinator was extremely impressed with the performance of our girls and looks forward to seeing Roedean represented at future competitions.

Miss Robins and Mr Blackwell were delighted with the girls’ application and desire to win. Congratulations to Magali-Kay, who was awarded our Girl of the Tournament.

Our campaign this year is to sup-port Kids Company to help vulner-able children enjoy an ordinary family Christmas with food and presents.

HOW TO GIVE

We are asking all girls and parents to consider contributing a gift suitable for a child of any age you choose, from a baby to a teenag-ers.

If you or your daughter want to contribute, it is simple. Buy a pre-sent (which must be new and unwrapped) and take it to your daughter’s House.

PRESENTS OF ALL KINDS

We aim to collect a present from every member of our community, but please feel able to give as much as you want to in support of this campaign.

DONATING MONEY

If you would prefer (or if it is easi-

er due to location) to donate mon-ey, we will happily accept and we will be taking a shopping trip to buy presents with all the donated money. Donations should be sent to the school office labelled ‘Christmas Campaign’ and any cheques made payable to Roedean School.

VISITS TO KIDS COMPANY

Many of our girls did not only want to donate a gift but wanted to help wrap the gifts and help with the party on Christmas Day. We now have two trips planned for girls to travel to see this mod-ern day Santa’s Grotto first hand.

THANK YOU

Thank you for your support in this important gesture of solidari-ty with those who will feel especially

Our Christmas Campaign

Different Voices in Historic Debut at Roedean

Roedean’s theatre production is set to feature the first male actors in its 129 year history. The show is also the first

amateur performance of Tristan & Yseult. The decision to use boys in the cast has been hugely significant for the School. Head of

Performing Arts, Jay Green, said, “The richness of our performance arts provision ensures girls will always have multiple opportunities to take

leading roles. However we are also celebrating co-educational enrichment as we prepare our pupils for the wider world.”

The ancient Cornish tale of seaborne lovers and swashbuckling romance is universal and much-loved and the production gives a fresh and folky

feel to the story. With Rebecca Hall and Honeysuckle Weeks amongst our Old Girls, as well as the fictional Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward of

Thunderbirds and Chummy Brown of Call The Midwife, a strong tradition continues.

Opening Doors through Language Since 2001, I have been a founding member and Academic Director of the Prince’s Teaching Institute. The aim of this charity is to encourage and inspire passionate and rigorous subject teaching across all subjects.

My role is to direct the academic strategy and design the courses. We reach hundreds of state schools each year and thousands of individual state school teachers. The charity is run for teachers by teachers. Last weekend, I was in Oxford running our Modern Foreign Language Residential to allow MFL teach-ers to reinvigorate their subject knowledge and consider how languages can change perspectives and shape lives.

As well as lectures, seminars and workshops with eminent linguists, teachers took part in positive, constructive discussion with peers from other schools about the development of their subject. OB

This Autumn Residential for French, Spanish and German teachers is one of a series of events in languages across the year. This event involved many aca-demic speakers including:

Dr Martin Ruehl, University of Cambridge

Professor Nicholas Harrison, King's College London

Dr Michelle Sheehan, University of Cambridge

Modern

Foreign

Languages

21st November 2014

’To speak another language is to possess a second soul.’ Charlemagne

Thank you for

Roedean’s

Children in

Need Week

for CHILDREN in NEED

THIS is AMAZING

so so so so MUCH to everyone that helped out

(particularly all the House Charity Reps and Ms

Jones' tutor group) and everyone that got

involved and donated so

Ruth and Reihaanah :)