To see the Headmaster's weekly letters please click on this link: WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS

July 6th

Prize Giving
Parents and pupils enjoyed the last day of term with a special leavers service and prize-giving ceremony with Guest speaker Preethi Nair. Full details of the day will follow next week.

July 4th

June 26th
PA Family Fun Day

click the photos to see a further selection of photos.

Parents v Staff Golf Challenge letter

June 22nd

Sports Day Postponed
Years 3 and 4 sports day has been postponed until Monday 25th June
Years 5 to 8 Sports day has been postponed until Wednesday 27th June

The Peasants Revolt
On Thursday Year 7 pupils re-enacted the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.  They burst out of their classrooms, waving banners and shouting demands for higher wages and freedom. They were learning about this important historical event through role play and had been preparing for the event for several lessons.

Parents and pupils had put much thought into costumes and this made the whole event very effective and realistic. Through this very enjoyable afternoon the pupils learnt about the problems faced by medieval peasants.

June 18th

Activity Brochure 2007 / 2008 a pdf file of the new activity brochure for 2007 / 2008 can be downloaded from this link.

Athletics News
The Bromsgrove Preparatory School U-14 (Years 7 & 8) have qualified for the ESAA Sainsbury’s English School’s Track & Field Cup Final. This will take place on Saturday 7th July at Chelmsford Essex. The girls are currently ranked 6th in England out of the 12 qualifying schools. This event is open to every school in England, so it’s a particularly impressive achievement.

The Prep School girls team have qualified for this event only once before, in 1994. It’s the first time ever in the School’s history that the girls have qualified for the National Final of the Cross Country Cup and the Track & Field Cup in the same year.

June 14th

Athletics
Two Prep School teams and one Senior School team took part in the Midlands Athletics Finals at the weekend – which means Bromsgrove were in the top 8 teams in the Midlands at three age groups out of over 100 schools. The inter boys team came 5th, the junior (prep) boys came 4th and the junior (prep) girls came 2nd overall. The Junior girls are waiting to hear if the have qualified for the National Finals.

May 25th

Henry 8th visits
Our Year 4 pupils had a fun day learning about the life and times of King Henry VIIIth and also about what life was like for ordinary people in Tudor times.

Year 3 trip to Slimbridge
The weather held out so that pupils were able to experience the wetland environment without getting too wet themselves. The children enjoyed learning about different types of birds in their habitat. They listened to a talk about taking care of our environment by using water wisely and not using unnecessary chemicals such as weed killer.

CRY Cheque Presentation
A representative from CRY - Cardiac Risk in the Young - came to Prep SChool on Monday to receive a cheque for £6200 which had been raised through a spellathon and through sponsoring Mrs Bourne to run the London Marathon.

May 22nd

Years 5 and 6 visit Senior School
Today Years 5 and 6 pupils visited Senior School to have a look at the facilities and to familiarise them with the school for future years. For many the highlight of the visit was the Chemistry department where some loud and firey experiments were demonstrated by Mr Dowling.

May 18th

The Parents’ Association Family Fun Day will be held on Sunday 10th June.  Full details and an application form can be downloaded on this link. There is lots to see and do for the whole family, so we hope that you will be able to join us.

Information from the Parents’ Association in connection with our Second-hand Shop, Ex-Changing Room.

May 14th

Malvern College Aquathlon 2007
This turned out to be another resounding success for Bromsgrove Preparatory School. Participants have to swim 100 metres and then run 800 metres. Our teams won all four of the age groups(U-11 boys & girls and U-13 boys and girls) and had three of the four individual winners.

In addition, our pupils won a further two silver medals and two bronze medals which meant that we won seven out of the twelve medals available

May 7th
Parents' Association Questionnaire Results

Representative Honours
In the Easter holidays, Todd Dudley represented the Midlands’ U14’s Hockey Team in their successful defence of the National Championship which he and Aden Symonds (Year 9) won as U13’s last year.  He has also been selected in the East Worcestershire cricket squad this year and named as Captain.  Jonathan Turner and Harry Eastgate are also in this squad.

Congratulations to Ryan Bowett, Jacob Bryne and Sam Waltier who are part of the Worcester Rugby Club team who became the North Midlands U13 Rugby Champions.

April 20th
Block 4 Activities

April 17th

Prep Ski Trip
74 pupils aged from 8  to 13 travbelled to Fiesch in Switzerland over the Easter break.  Throughout the week the skiing conditions were very good with several staff commenting that these were the best that they had ever experienced anywhere! One run from the top of the Eggishorn down to Riederalp contained every colour of run and included a timed speed trap – some staff found the need to be just as competitive as the pupils when it came to testing their skill. Each party member found that the resort offered ample skiing to suit their level of ability

The party stayed stayed at the Feriendorf Centre, which is used  to house the Swiss Winter Olympic team when they are training. The facilities at the Feriendorf Centre are first class and are ideal to enable the pupils to have supervised activities at the end of a long day skiing; pupils could relax, swim or enjoy very energetic games of football.  A big thanks to the staff members accompanying the group-  Mr. & Mrs Harris, Mr & Mrs. Bowen-Jones, Mr.Camden, Mr.Jones and Miss Winterbottom.  

March 27th

 School Shop
The School Shop is currently closed for major refurbishment, it will re- open on April 16th, 17th and 18th from 10m util 4pm. Normal working hours will resume at the start of term, from April 19th

March 13th

U12 IAPS Netball Finals Saturday March 10th.

It was a gloriously sunny day in Brighton overlooking the sea from the cliffs at Rodean School, and the day started well for the U12 team winning their first match against St Hugh’s school, Clifton.  The following 2 matches were extremely tight and both were drawn, the 1st against a very strong Millfield School 5-5 and the second against Cumnor House School from the Rodean Area 6-6.

The team then played better and better netball as the tournament progressed winning the rest of their group matches against Orwell Park, St Anselms, Brighton College and Holmewood House.

This meant that they progressed through to the semi finals and had to play the winners of the other section, Chafyn Grove School.  They won the semi comfortably 11-3 which set up a tense final against old rivals Millfield School.  Bearing in mind that the 2 teams had drawn their first match earlier in the day, it promised to be a close final, however, Bromsgrove played superbly well and cruised to victory 9-3. 

This meant that officially the Bromsgrove U12 netball team are the best U12 prep School team in the country!

Team:
Madelaine Heggett (capt)
Kathrine Keates
Pippa Brock
Claudia Cardinali
Sophie Luckman
Robyn Howcroft
Kaya Wilson
Libby Thornton
Rebecca Straw

Golf
The next meeting of the School Golf Society will be at the Redditch Golf Club on Tuesday 17th April. We will have a 9 hole Texas Scramble from 10:00 am, lunch at 12:30 and then 18 holes from 1:30 pm. As always, we welcome any player of any ability who has some sort of connection with the School, even friends of parents/staff/pupils, especially juniors (we had four playing last time) and ladies.

Please contact Mr. Pickering at his school address cpickering@bromsgrove-school.co.uk or by written note to the Prep School as soon as possible but preferably by Saturday 31st March. Note that we break up on 21st March for the holiday and so he would appreciate an answer before then if possible.

March 2nd

Thursday 1st March was World Book Day and Prep School was were treated to the most fabulous range of costumes as Year 3 and 4 dressed up as their favourite characters from books.  There were enough Harry Potters to change Bromsgrove into Hogwarts but, with the staff entering into the spirit of the event, we also had Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.  The children were as delighted by their friends' appearance as they were proud of their own. Well done mothers and fathers!

February 28th

Hockey County Champions Feb 25th

On Sunday 25th February U11 & U13 girls and boys County Championships were held at Bromsgrove School, making use of the school’s new (second) astroturf and improved changing facilities.  

We are delighted and amazed that the day culminated in no less than four county titles for Bromsgrove Prep School.  All four of our teams are now County Champions,  promising strength to come in future years for Bromsgrove School Hockey. 

U13 Boys – the County Championship is the the first round of the National 7 a side hockey tournament.

After winning their two group games, against Droitwich and Bredon Hill, 4-0 and 3-0 respectively, our U13 boys went into the semi-finals against Kings Heath Hockey Club. This was a little more competitive but we won comfortably in the end, 2-0.

In the final we played Malvern Hockey Club and this was our best performance, winning 3-0 against a good side. All the boys contributed to the team’s success during the day but Harry Capewell and Harry Eastgate were outstanding. Todd Dudley, our captain, was also excellent all morning, keeping a clean sheet in goal including a superb save in the final.

To go through the whole tournament scoring 12 goals and conceding 0 is quite an achievement  -  very well done to the whole team!

The U13 girls won their group section beating The Chase, Malvern St James and Blackminster Hockey Club and drawing with King’s School, Worcester. A win on penalty flicks in the semi final against Worcester Hockey Club put us into the final with Royal Grammar School, Worcester. Bromsgrove dominated the match put could not force the ball over the line until two seconds before time when Bromsgrove scored from a penalty corner. They deserved their win and consequent qualification to the Midlands Round in April. 

The U11 boys played really well to win their tournament by beating Stourport HC 2nds and Yardley HC in their league and then getting past Worcester HC on flicks in the semi-final before again beating Yardley 2 - 0 in the final. This was a really encouraging result for these boys, who have worked hard to improve their game play all season. We can now look forward with some confidence to the IAPS championships to be held next week.. 

The U11 girls were probably expected to do quite well and, going by the three wins in their league, over Worcester HC, St. Mary's School and Breden Hill School, they certainly played with a growing self-belief. In the semi-final they confidently beat RGS Worcesters and then had a very tense game against Kings Hawford (who beat them in the final of our own tournament in November). Yet again our girls dominated the match but couldn't score until the match went to penalty flicks, in which we showed a higher level of skill than our opponents by winning 3 - 0.

Both the U11 teams are to be congratulated for raising their game during these competitions and both are now deserved Worcestershire County Champions. 

Swimming Invitational Relays Feb 26th

Twenty five schools participated in this annual event, with schools once more travelling from across the region to participate.

Medley Finals – Four Bromsgrove teams reached the finals:

First up were the U-11 girls who, although being the fastest in the heats, came home in bronze medal position.

Our U-13 girls were truly amazing. The A and B teams were drawn next to each other in the final having qualified as the fastest two teams. The A team of Claudia Cardinali, Sophie-Anna Bales, Rebecca Straw and Victoria Stokes just held off the amazing effort of the B team of Annabel Cox, Gemma Sapstead, Rebecca Gordon and Sophie Luckman – the A team being the gold medallists and the B team the silver medallist. Nottingham were the only other school to have an A and a B team contest a final, so for our A & B teams to have come first and second is very special indeed and once more highlights the strength in depth of our senior girl swimmers.

In the boys’ competition the U-13 boys came home in forth place and unfortunately the U-11 A boys medley team got themselves disqualified for an early change over.

The freestyle relays were equally just as exciting.The U-13 girls once more stole the show winning the final and therefore completing a very memorable double – the first time the school has done so since 1991! The A team swimmers were Rebecca Straw, Claudia Cardinali, Sophie Luckman and Victoria Stokes. Most of whom will therefore be back next year to defend both titles!

Both the The U-13 boys and the U-11 girls can count themselves very unfortunate as both temas missed out on a place in the finals  through losing a swim off by the narrowest of margins, leaving them both in fifth place overall.  Frustratingly the U-11 boys were disqualified again. 

February 23rd

The Boyfriend
The Year 8 production was sparkling entertainment with our cast charmingly recreating the atmosphere of an ever-so-English 1950s musical about 1920s flappers and their boyfriends.  The colourful costumes, exciting dancing, delightful singing, spiced with plenty of humour provided an evening's entertainment that many people would have paid good money to see!  As one parent said to me in the interval.  "I am shocked!  I didn't think 13-year-old pupils could put on a show like this!"

Prep School' s Chosen Charity
Every year during the Lent Term, the Prep School as a community supports a charity. This year we have chosen CRY- Cardiac Risk in the Young.  This charity gives help and support to families where a young person – someone under 35, has suddenly fallen ill or died from a previously unknown heart defect.  This small Charity monitors schools, universities and other bodies to help detect and treat heart problems. Eight young people every week die in this country from heart problems no-one knew they had. Often it is the fittest young people who suffer as they have not been tested for any heart abnormalities. Their collapse is all the more frightening as it is so unexpected. To support this charity Mrs Bourne will take part in the London Marathon on April 22nd this year.  CRY helped her family a great deal last year when Jane Bourne (one of our best sportswomen in Year 9) suddenly collapsed.  Jane has now had a pacemaker fitted and is almost back to normal but not everyone is so lucky.    To find out more about CRY visit www.C-R-Y.org.

Year 5 pupils visited Selly Manor, a Tudor house and museum. They had the opportunity to play Tudor games and were given a detailed and interesting tour of all the rooms of the house.  Pupils found this fascinating and asked lots of thoughtful questions.  They enjoyed trying on Tudor hats, ruffs, helmets and armour and the whole day proved a valuable introduction to this term’s topic on life in Tudor times.

The Jarrow Crusade

Year 3 celebrated the 70th anniversary to the day of the Jarrow Crusade. This was when unemployed workers from the disused ship building yards in Jarrow marched to London. Rather than wlk 480km, our children crusaded round Maple House having prepared banners in their History lesson.

They were very enthusiastic in their demands for jobs, dole money and food.

Titus the Roman visits Year 4
This account was written by Rebecca in Year 4:
When Titus came to visit us in Year 4, he was dressed up in all of his armour. We found out all about how heavy it was and that they had to carry that (and much more) for at least 20 miles a day! He told us lots of stories about his life as a soldier. It was very hard work! He explained about how the Romans gave signals during a fight- they used a horn which they could hear over the shouting and screaming. The men who blew the horn were special soldiers who wore a wolfskin over their helmet. Titus had brought one of these with him. He called it Wolfy and kept on making us jump by pretending it was alive! It was scary and funny! Titus taught us about training to fight and we learnt some Latin commands. While one group was in the hall being soldiers, the other group was in the classroom learning some Latin. When we had lunch he sat with the children and asked the boys lots of questions about their food! We all had a really exciting day!