June has been a wonderfully busy month at Roedean as we mark the end of the School year this week. It has been wonderful to be able to once again celebrate as a community, and to welcome parents and ORs back to School again on several occasions.

Brighton and Hove Athletics Championships

Earlier this month, our Inters (Years 10 and 11) and Juniors (Years 8 and 9) athletics teams competed at the Brighton and Hove Championships. The girls had a brilliant day both on the track and on the field, with lots of new PBs made. Minnie inmproved her Long Jump PB by 50 cms, Pearl won her race, and improved her 300m time by 1 second, and Ruby won all four events she entered.

The result of all their hardwork, was returning to Roedean with three trophies, including an enormous shield for the Inters winning their age group overall.

Rockpools Day

The new admissions cycle officially starts in June with Rockpools Day. This year, we were joined by 65 visiting girls who spent a fantastic day in the sunshine getting to know Roedean. They started the day with fun and challenging team-building activities organised by the Sports Department, before having a talk in the Theatre from Mrs Borsberry about the biodiversity found down on the seafront. This was followed by an exciting trip down the tunnel to explore the rockpools. Plenty of crabs and fish were found, and even starfish! The final part of the day was an exciting Physics challenge designing and building the best paper aeroplanes for distance and tricks.

AMSP Maths Picnic Winners

Six students from Roedean attended a Mathematics competition against other local schools in  early June. The Maths Picnic required students to work in teams of three on a variety of logic and mathematical problems. Our students had a great time building their problem-solving and team-working skills. One group achieved a superb score and beat all other contestants to come first overall! Congratulations to all the competitors, but particularly Freya, Martha and Sihu, the winning team.

Roedean Academy

This term saw the return of our Roedean Academy, and we welcomed 65 students from six local state schools across the city to take part alongside 20 Roedean students in Year 10. Held across three weeks, the sessions were designed to give an opportunity to explore intellectual challenges which go beyond the specifications for their GCSEs. 

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Awards

Earlier this month, 80 Bronze and 50 Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award participants successfully passed the Expedition Section of their Award. Congratulations to them all.

The expedition was a brilliant weekend in the Ashdown Forest, and the girls did us proud. On their return, some were a little muddy, others a little battered, bruised and blistered, and most were very tired. Others had a new anthem - The Proclaimers, but with new words - "Well I have walked 5000 miles and I couldn't walk another more", and some (who clearly weren't carrying enough already) returned with free gooseberry plants, which they had carried the entire way, and even given names to. Some even returned declaring "Silver next" or "Gold next" so they must have enjoyed it!

Classics Trip to the British Museum 

On the 16th June, the Classics department took a group of students to the British Museum. They visited the Feminine Power: From the Divine to the Demonic exhibition, and were then extremely lucky to have a talk from Miss Allen's mother, Lesley Fitton OBE. Mrs Fitton spoke to the girls on the restitution of the Elgin Marbles to Greece, and about the long-standing cultural argument between governments in the world, dating back to 1983. Mrs Fitton gave no easy solutions to the issue, but despite the short session she had with the girls, piqued their interest hugely.

Music for a Summer's Evening

Our final concert of the year was a beautiful evening in the Chapel. The evening began with delicious drinks and canapes in the Cloisters with the sun streaming down. The musical performances were all exceptional, and varied from a lovely flute duet celebrating Hong Kong and a beautiful Mozart aria to a lively rendition of Bare: A Pop Opera - All Grown Up amongst many other wonderful performances. This was a glorious evening of music from start to finish. Congratulations and thank you to the Music Department, and all of the performers. If you missed the concert, you can watch the recording here.

Year 9 Etching

Year 9 have been recording feathers inspired by the work of printmaker Angie Lewin, producing their own drypoint etchings exploring delicate textural qualities. The results are quite breathtakingly beautiful.

The Houses

There have been lots of fun activities in the Houses this month, culminating in a Boarding Summer Party to celebrate the end of the year.

House 3 brought the competition with a video game evening playing Mario Kart and Just Dance.

House 4 had an interesting moment when they realised an opportunistic pigeon made the most of an open window and had built her nest inside! The girls carefully relocated her eggs outside the window.

There was a build the tallest tower challenge, with only pasta, marshmallows and teamwork to do it, and a a paper plane competition along main school corridor to keep the girls' brains and creativity active.

The year was rounded off with a brilliant game of lazer tag in the sunshine on the School grounds.