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July 2010

Lord of misrule comes to Roedean

Once a year the tables are turned and the girls take control of the school: on their last night here the outgoing Sixth Form transform the school into somewhere extraordinary and different.

Over the recent years the younger students have woken up to the world of Harry Potter, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and a Magical Fairground.

This year the Sixth Form chose to show us the school through their eyes: why had we never thought of the dining room as a disco, and the library as the school refectory? The blue hall carpet was edged with pebbles as Brighton beach took shape inside Roedean itself. The whole of the school was festooned with balloons, and sweets were left out for the younger girls. Having only seen the school as it appears daily, we had walked into a parallel world!

In the girls’ very last Chapel and handshaking service, a much-loved Roedean tradition, I had a chance to draw out a further dimension from this creativity.

The pebbles led me to refer to the prophetic allusion of replacing the Israelites’ hearts of stones with hearts of love; I hoped that the girls were leaving with hearts that could love others rather than were devoid of emotion and life.

The central corridor had been transformed into a Hall of Fame with a star and a handprint for every leaving student: I hoped that this was a school where each girl’s name was remembered as in the manner of the biblical phrase: “I have written your name on the palm of my hand”

For a day the school had been turned on its head, with the Sixth Formers playing loud music and dancing in the quadrangle to the tunes of their teenage years. All too soon it was over and they walked away as individuals with an exciting and unknown future ahead of them.

Somehow, the school returned to normal and order was restored, but we will be a different community without these girls. We wish them every blessing on their journey.

Pebbles