Year 10 Silversmithing and Cuttlefish Casting Workshop

This month, our GCSE pupils had the opportunity to work with a professional silversmith to learn the principles of casting in precious metal. The pupils were able to watch demonstrations of silversmithing, to create a pewter cast from a cuttlefish mould and anneal copper, to pattern, solder, and form a unique ring design. It was wonderful to see the girls working with such purpose in the workshop, and learning new skills to enhance their passions in design and making.

Geography in the Surrey Hills

Fifty Year 11 GCSE geographers spent two nights and three days in the Mole Valley region of the North Downs, carrying out investigations into urban regeneration and river processes. The brief but intensive course brought to life the essential fieldwork skills required for GCSE Geography.

They stayed at the recently refitted Field Studies Council Centre at Juniper Hall near Dorking. Whilst the group spent significant time in the field and following up in the classroom, the students were also able to have a lot of fun with their friends, including singing and marshmallows around the bonfire, as well as a beautiful group walk and picnic at the top of Box Hill. It was an absolute delight to see them enjoying their time together beyond the school site, and to experience Geography fieldwork again following an 18-month hiatus.

Year 7 visit to Arundel Castle

This month the History department took the whole of Year 7 to Arundel Castle in search of medieval enlightenment! This was the department’s first trip since before the Covid pandemic, and was an exciting opportunity to re-engage with real history and explore an iconic historical site. The girls were full of enthusiasm and asked masses of questions. They visited the Keep, the Armoury, the Dining Hall, and the ‘oubliette’, which for some reason really captured many of the girls’ imaginations as a place of punishment! The visit closed with a visit to the newly opened ‘stew ponds’, where the Friary’s inhabitants would keep fish for eating in stews.

It was wonderful to see the new Year 7s bond as a year group, and enjoy just exploring the past in a hands-on way, outside of the classroom. Hopefully, this is the first of many other school trips to exciting locations!

Year 9 DofE Bronze 

Our new Duke of Edinburgh Bronze participants were given a variety of problems to overcome, giving them the opportunity to develop their team skills this month. Some got a little wet, some got a little tangled, and much laughter emanated as they successfully worked together!

Open Day

Open Day on Saturday 2nd October was a huge success. Our students were excellent ambassadors for the School, and our visitors were impressed by everything they saw, but most of all by the composure and confidence of all the girls they met, and their clear love of their school.

Brighton to Bulgaria

It was brilliant for Emily, Olivia, and Megan to be able to complete the task they had set themselves in September 2020. They were finally able to meet Simon Streeter, who runs the charity, in person and not via a Teams link. They, and a few friends, filled the 125 bags with stationery, in a record time: 

‘We started this project over a year ago, and there was so much we could do in isolation, like writing and illustrating the book, raising the money, and ordering the educational materials. But the one thing we couldn’t do until the situation relaxed a bit, was actually packing the bags. So it felt amazing on Wednesday to meet Simon from the charity, and to put all the materials in the bags themselves. To see our CAP project and all the hard work come to fruition is brilliant, and it feels great to know that the children in Bulgaria will have their bags in time for Christmas!’ – Megan and Olivia

STEM Festival – Admissions Experience Day

We were delighted to welcome 60 girls from a range of schools in the local area and beyond to the Science Faculty on Wednesday for a STEM experience day focusing on the theme of Space! The Science Faculty put on a carousel of brilliant practical activities, covering Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and our visitors loved being in full-size Science labs, where they discovered why we look for water on other planets when searching for life, what the perfect angle for firing a rocket is, to making their own rocket fuel by hydrogen and oxygen gas in the lab and then firing a mixture of this! Thank you to the Science Department and Admissions, for organising such a brilliant event!

Roedean Charities 2021 - 22

We are very pleased to announce that the School’s chosen charities for this academic year are Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, and the Hummingbird Project Brighton, which works locally to support young refuges. We will continue to support our on-going charities, Off the Fence, the Brighton homeless charity, the 10 girls around the world whom we support through PlanUK, and St Mark’s Primary. Molly and Lara – Charity Prefects

News from the Houses

House 1

There were celebrations in House 1 as they won their first House competition of the year, becoming both junior and senior Badminton champions - congratulations House 1! To help the girls get to know each other, they had a selfie scavenger hunt, where they were grouped together with buddies. They also held theur annual Macmillan Coffee Morning, selling lots of tasty cakes to their fellow students and teachers. House 1 also enjoyed celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncakes and glowsticks.

House 2

Were busy baking flapjacks and brownies for the Sussex Bake Down group to support local food banks. It is great to see the girls getting involved in such a good cause. Also in the kitchen, the girls made a roast chicken. The girls have also been taking part in some well-being activities – including gratitude journaling, autumn crafts and giving back to the local community.

House 3

Got creative this month with creating their own tie dye t-shirts, with fantastic colourful results. House 3 also did some baking – with their first Bake Off challenge of the season – blueberry muffins, with winners for the best looking and the best tasting muffins, and spent an afternoon making tiffin for the Sussex Bake Down. They also spent some time channelling positive thoughts, quotes and kind words to share with the school community for World Mental Health Day.

House 4

House 4 kept themselves active with a badminton session. Baking is clearly a very popular activity, as House 4 have also produced delicious baked goods this month, this time for International Boarding Day. They have also been enjoying lots of games like Jenga and Twister. Spooky fun was had by the girls as they carved pumpkins and held a Halloween Party to conclude the first half term.