On Tuesday 18th April we welcomed 56 students and 5 members of staff from Roedean School South Africa. They were visiting the UK on a literary and cultural tour, and it was a real privilege to have them take some time out and spend the day with us.

It has been wonderful for our two schools to be involved in so many joint projects in recent years, including Mrs Dlamini, the Executive Director of Roedean School South Africa, speaking at our International Women’s Day festival last term, lots of corresponding between students via social media, a joint virtual ‘race around the world’ during Covid lockdowns when we collectively walked or ran over 40,000 kilometres, and, most recently, a former Roedean student on a gap year spent 5 weeks volunteering at the school in South Africa. 

The students were exceptional ambassadors for their school – they were engaging, and funny and it was great to see how interested they were in the school, keen to see what is the same and what is different. Despite the distance between the schools, the most obvious similarity is that our holistic ethos is absolutely fundamental to the education provided – Roedean is celebrating 125 years on the current site this year, and was founded in 1885 by three Lawrence sisters, and Roedean South Africa was founded in 1903 by a fourth sister and her friend, and their vision, that girls and young women deserve access to the very best all-round education to prepare them to make their mark in the world, remains at the very heart of what we do. While there were some other similarities, there were also some differences, and it was fun to see the students from Roedean SA create a ‘wish list’ for their school, including an on-site Farm, which they loved!

A tour of the school and attending lessons to see what teaching is like in the UK were among some of the activities our visitors enjoyed. There was also a chapel service at which the Heads from both schools, Mrs Green and Mrs Dilani, addressed the staff and students, along with students representing both schools. A highlight of the service had to be the most incredible performance of Malibongwe, sung by the students of Roedean South Africa. 

To end the visit, students took a trip down our ‘secret’ tunnel and along to the marina where they could look back at our school, on the top of the cliffs! It really was a pleasure to welcome such a fantastic group of staff and students to Roedean.