Welcome to the first Head’s Weekly Review of the new academic year! Roedean is full of girls and staff again after nearly 170 days of absence, and we are delighted that the first full week of term has run so smoothly. It is truly wonderful for the fields, corridors, and classrooms to be full of smiling faces and excited voices.

On Saturday 5 September, both Roedean Head Girls and other Prefects attended a Girls’ Leadership Summit 2020, hosted by our sister school, Roedean South Africa. The summit, which was virtual for the first time, aimed to give girls a platform on which to be able to discuss women in leadership and the injustices impacting young female leaders in our world today. In other news, congratulations and thank you to everyone who took part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Roedean last year – collectively, the girls donated 819 hours’ worth of voluntary service to the community which is a fantastic achievement. Congratulations also to Venetia (Yr13), who entered the Newnham Essay Competition just before lockdown in March, her essay was Highly Commended, which is an excellent achievement. This competition, with essays in eleven categories, is run by Newnham College, Cambridge, with which Roedean has strong historical connections.

And finally a huge well done to Alex (Year 9) who is now officially the fastest female skater in the UK under the age of 18. Despite not being able to train on the ice since lockdown in March, she has recorded a new Personal Best times for the 500 metres, 777 metres, and 1000 metres, at an international short track competition in Spisska Nova Ves, in Slovakia. What an amazing achievement.

Read all these stories and more in this week's Head's Weekly Review.