August 23rd

GCSE Results
Bromsgrove School pupils celebrated a 99.9% A-E GCSE pass rate. A mighty two thousand eight hundred and forty seven GCSEs were taken in twenty seven different subjects. Nearly half of all grades were achieved at A and A*.

Headmaster Chris Edwards said: “Once again the message is that success can come without hothousing. The results prove, as if proof were necessary, that a school can be rigorous and disciplined without abandoning breadth. We don’t offer soft subjects to produce league table fodder but we also insist pupils get more out of their time here than academic results. Flair, creativity and academic rigour remain happily united.”

The Head reminded parents that the many IGCSE’s (which are taken at Bromsgrove and some other top academic independent schools because they are deemed more challenging) may not be taken into account when league tables are published. “The situation is comical if you know what is going on but very misleading if you don’t.”

 

August 16th

A Level Results
Once again, over 80% of Bromsgrove School’s A level grades were achieved at A and B standard, confirming the 2007 Good School Guide’s pronouncement that “Bromsgrove inhabits the academic stratosphere.” The Upper Sixth of one hundred and fifty six pupils saw over a quarter attaining straight A’s, including local Heads of School, James Millington and Katherine Perry.

Headmaster Christopher Edwards said: “Just because people are accustomed to Bromsgrove standing proud in the A level league tables and achieving these superb results does not mean these scores should not be celebrated. It’s about people, not numbers. We are not nearly as selective as some may think, and it is breadth and pizzazz, not a slavish adherence to quantifiable results that mark us out. If I thought these results had come about as a result of hot-housing, I’d resign tomorrow. Happy, creative, civilised young people do not need exam factories. Bromsgrove is proof enough of that.”

August 14th

Results Days

A2 Results
The ‘A’ Level results should be in School on Thursday 16th August.  They may be collected personally from the School, in the foyer of the Library and Resources Centre, after 9.30 am.  Any results not collected will be sent first class post on that day at 4.00 pm.  Those pupils living abroad who wish their results to be emailed should leave full details with Miss Leech before 15th August. 

Please note that UCAS is offering an additional service this year; pupils can go online from 7.30 am on 17th August and ascertain whether or not they have been accepted by their 1st or 2nd choice University.

Mr Barr and other members of the Careers team will be available to deal with any problems arising out of the results from Monday 20th August every weekday from 9.00 am – 12.00 noon until the beginning of term in the Careers Room.

AS Results
These should be in School also by Thursday 16th August, but as they come to the School in a very different format to the main ‘A’ Level results and require a fair amount of processing here, they will not be available until 11.00 am.   They can be collected from the foyer of the Library and Resources Centre.  Those who would like them posted should have already left a S.A.E.

Those living abroad who would like them emailed should ensure that details are left with Miss Leech before 15th August. 

GCSE Results
The GCSE results should be in School on Thursday 23rd August.  They may be collected personally after 9.30 am in the foyer of the Library and Resources Centre.  Any results not collected by 3.00 pm will be sent by first-class post.  Pupils living abroad who would like the results emailed should have left details with Miss Leech by Wednesday 22nd August. 

No results can be given over the telephone or by fax.

July 9th

End of Term
The End of Term Celebrations were enjoyed by pupils, staff and parents. During Friday's Mark Reading and Routh assemblies many prizes and honours were awarded, new Heads of School were announced - congratulations to Simon Gummer and Harriet Eales (Heads of School) and Celine Goodwin and Henry Newman (Deputy Heads of School) and to Laura Brunning (Senior Boarder).

Commemoration Day was blessed with fair weather and the alternative parking and picnic arrangements made very good use of the School grounds, giving the day an added feeling of closeness.

Click on this link to see more photos from the Commemoration Day

Click to read the Deputy Headmaster's End of Term letter, 9 July 2007

Official Opening of the Sixth Form Centre
Rear Admiral Sir David Haslam officially opened the new Sixth Form Centre. Sir David - the staunchest of Old Bromsgrovians and a true supporter of the School - recalled that when he became a pupil that building was already 38 years old and it was 70 years since he had used it as a pupil. We thank Sir David for opening what was once the very first Science Laboratory at School and now serves another very important purpose.

Viscount Cobham visits
Viscount Cobham, President of the Foundation Trustees, recently visited the School where he was met by the Headmaster Chris Edwards, Foundation Director John Rogers and Chairman of the Foundation Trustees, John Wheatley. Viscount Cobham (of the Lyttelton family) has strong family links with Bromsgrove and School is extremely pleased that he is to preside over the newly established Bromsgrove School Foundation.

July 2nd

Commemoration Day Details
The full day's programme can be downloaded here as a pdf.
The Service at the Parish Church is by ticket only and is now full. Our Preacher of the Sir Thomas Cookes Sermon is Reverend Nigel Marns, Vicar of St John's. Lower Fourth parents please note that the Lower Fourth do not attend this Service.  Prize Giving is open to all parents and guardians. It takes place at noon in the Marquee on Gordon Green; you are advised to be seated by 11.50am. The Guest Speaker is Edwina Currie.

Fashion Show
The senior School fashion show, held in the ADT building over two evenings last week was a huge success. Click on the picture for a selection of photos from the show.

June 19th

Saturday Activity Choices
Pupils have been issued with forms to complete indicating their option choices for Saturday activities in the Michaelmas Term. Parents can download these forms as pdf files for discussion with pupils. Pupils do require parental signatures on the forms to return. Please click on the link for your child's year-group from September 2007.

Lower Fourth	Upper Fourth
Fifth Form	Sixth Form

Fashion Show
This popular event takes place this Thursday and Friday June 21st and 22nd in the ADT at 7.30 pm; space is limited.  Tickets may be obtained from the Art Department.

Chamber Music Concert
Mr Knight and other music staff perform a Chamber Music Concert (Beethoven and Mozart) in the Housman Room from 6.00 pm - 7. 00 pm on Friday evening June 22nd.  Admission is free.

June 12th

Swimming Honours
Dan Ruckwood has been selected for one of the eight teams competing in the UK Schools Games in August.  Regional teams come from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and follow the full Olympic programme of 32 events.   The UK Games, to be held in Coventry,  are working towards the London 2012 Olympics and are designed to give the teams involved a sense of what it will be like at an Olympic Games with an athletes village and  opening and closing ceremonies.

The event is for pupils in the  U16 category which makes his selection a remarkable achievement for Dan who is only 14 years old.  

Athletics
Three teams from Bromsgrove School competed in the Midlands Athletics Finals – 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.

 

June 4th

MOS Success
Seven Lower Six pupils have achieved some of the highest marks in the UK in the MOS test and have qualified for a place in the UK final. The winner of the National Final is invited to America compete in the World finals.
Congratulations to Herman Ho Lam Wong  and Ada Cheng (Excel)Adam Warburton, Edward Eden, Jung Yoon Kim, Ho Chit Yang, Sui Chi Ng ( Word)

CCF News
Three Bromsgrove Cadets in the RAF Section have been offered prestigious courses during the summer holidays.

Ben Coombs has been offered a flying scholarship: a week long course of flying training in light aircraft and is primarily intended to encourage young people of high calibre to obtain a Private Pilots Licence.

Catherine Hele has been offered a gliding scholarship: a week long course designed to train cadets to fly solo in a glider.

Daniel Swan has been offered a place on the RAF Cadet leadership course at RAF Cranwell: an intensive course designed to improve cadet’s leadership skills up to a very high level… Daniel has a lot to live up to as Emma Hayward gained a commendation 3 years ago and Ben Coombs gained a merit last year on the same course.

 

June 1st

Ghurka Recruit
Bromsgrove School is delighted to welcome its first pupil from a serving Ghurka family since the Ghurkas were given equal rights to British Forces personnel. Archana has already settled well into Oakley boarding house.

May 22nd

Lower Fourth Falconry Display
Today the Lower Fourth enjoyed the annual falconry display - they watched birds of prey catching lures and chasing dummies for food.

May 17th

Signing-in of New Monitors
Sixteen new Monitors from the Lower Sixth were signed-in during a special Routh Assembly today. Congratulations to: Oliver Binks, Charles Eden, Edward Eden, Simon Gummer, Adam Kanas, Henry Newman, Michael Palmer, Luke Simonds, Dan Southall, Joseph Taylor, Laura Brunning, Rebecca Day, Harriet Eales, Celine Goodwin, Katie Murray, Vanessa Tse, Meng Meng Yan.

May 14th

Dominica Presentation
On Thursday May 10th Gavin Rose of NS Optimum came to Bromsgrove to present the school with a letter of thanks from Stephen Hyacinth, Education Minister on the island of Dominica for the school's part in supplying schools on the island with refurbished computers as part of their sustainable living initiative.

Visit to Auschwitz
Last week two Bromsgrove School pupils, Emily Heizler and Nathan Stone, visited Auschwitz with Reverend Paul Hedworth as part of the Government's Lessons from Auschwitz Project which seeks to educate today's younger generation about the Holocaust.

Bromsgrove International School Thailand
Bromsgrove School is delighted to welcome the first two scholars from BIST this term. Pat and Nan will be studying in the Senior School and are already enjoying life in Oakley and Wendron-Gordon Houses. Chairman of BIST, Ian Davison, is also visiting our School this week and has today received a cheque for a donation of library books.

Swimming

May 2nd

School Photograph
The Senior school photograph was taken today in glorious spring sunshine. It always takes a while to get everyone in place but the whole school behaved impeccably and we look forward to seeing the final printed version - a sneak preview below (but Marketing's digital camera is not quite the same calibre as that used by the professionals, so forgive us if you can't pick out your child).

From this ....... to this in just 40 minutes

 

Golf News
The school golf team played in the regional final of the ISGA (Independant Schools Golf Association) against RGS Worcester. RGS had a strong team with all of their team playing off single figure handicaps including their number 1 player who plays off a handicap of 2 and captains the boys’ county golf team. At number 1 Laurence Shah gave him a good game before eventually losing 4 and 3. This meant Bromsgrove had to win the next two games to win and in two tight games Anna Perrott and Ryan Cleary both won on the 18th hole which means that the team go through to the national finals to be held over 2 days next week at the Hollins Hall Golf and Country Club in Leeds. After an initial entry of over 100, the top 15 schools in the country will be there, including Millfield, Oakham, Canford, Loretto and Gordonstoun.  Laurence, Anna and Ryan have contributed much to school golf over the last few years and this is due reward for their efforts and we are confident that they will all compete well at this level next week.

 

April 30th
Blue tits webcam update:
8 eggs have been laid and mother is doing fine, sitting comfortably and being well supplied with food by her partner

Geography Field Trip to Birmingham
On Wednesday 25th April, 19 A2 Geographers embarked on a field trip to Birmingham. In the morning they were given a presentation and walking tour of the Lee Bank and Park Central areas by representatives of Optima, a Housing Association. This was a fantastic opportunity for pupils to see redevelopment in action.  They got to walk down Rickman Drive, which was the former heart of the “slum area” of Birmingham and go into Cleveland Tower, an example of 1960s high-rise living. In the afternoon, pupils looked at urban conservation in the Jewellery Quarter before completing a walking tour of Central Birmingham covering sites such as Millennium Point, the Bull Ring, Symphony Hall and Brindley Place

April 27th

Young Enterprise Area Finals
On the evening of 25th April, both of our Young Enterprise companies (U&I and 99%+1)  took part in the Redditch and Bromsgrove area finals Presentation Evening.  Accompanied by their link teachers, Mrs. Clee and Mrs. Mackay, both companies gave excellent presentations, outlining their hard work and achievements throughout this year, to judges from the Young Enterprise board and local businesses. Unfortunately neither company came away with any prizes this time but all pupils did remarkably well presenting to such a large audience; perhaps most remarkable was that all of the pupil-presenters were, as International students, speaking in their 2nd language. 

We are very proud of them and although both companies have achieved a pleasing profit during their year of business, more importantly they have learnt valuable (and sometimes difficult) lessons in setting up and running a successful company; no academic lessons could ever teach them so much about the hard world of business and they may consider the experience to be their very own try at ‘The Apprentice’; fortunately without the possibility of being fired on a weekly basis.   The companies will now begin the task of liquidating and distributing wages and profit.

 

April 24th

GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE AWARDS

Bromsgrove School is delighted to have been awarded the following certificates at A and AS level results 2006 by the Good Schools Guide.
Art & Design  A level – Best Independent school for girls
Art & Design (Textiles) AS level – best English School for all pupils
Art & Design (Textiles) AS level – best independent School for girls
Chemistry AS level – Best English School for all pupils
Chemistry AS level – Best Independent School for girls
Leisure and Recreation  Vocational A level – Best Independent  School for Boys

To see Bromsgrove’s full write up by the Good School Guide follow the link at the top of the page.  

April 23rd

Art trip to New York
Our artists once again succumbed to the delights of New York; the Guggenheim, the re-furbished Museum of Modern Art and of course the incomparable Metropolitan Museum: the thrill of panoramic views from the Empire State Building as darkness fell on the first evening; Times Square; 5th Avenue, China Town, Central Park and - for those still awake on the flight back home - the spectacle of the Northern Lights.

Drama – Youth Theatre success
Congratulations to Iskra Lawrence who has successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre. 

Deputy Head’s History of Bromsgrove School - Part 1
On Thursday evening in Routh Hall at 7.30 pm - assisted by James Millington, Will Fisher, Jess Hancock and Sarah Hullah, Choir and musicians, Mr Bowen will be undertaking the first of two illustrated presentations on the history of our School.

The first evening begins with the School's origins in the 15th century and reaches 1901. The presentation  will  speculate when we may have first begun and where;  discover that Queen Mary and Philip of Spain played a crucial role in our history;  find out about the fascinating Sir Thomas Cookes and Mary Windsor; surviving civil war;  how  we nearly closed several times;  we learn about the first sports and the start of cricket and rugby; cholera in the town; stage coaches collecting pupils; a railway nearly built to where Kyteless is;  the tunnel;  Irish connections;  how we might have amalgamated with KES; and the scandal of how we treated the poor boys which led to a petition to Parliament.  Part 2 is planned to follow next term. 

Parents and pupils are most welcome, for further details about booking seats please contact Mrs Camden, PA to Mr Bowen.

April 20th
Biology Department's Bird Box webcam
April 30th
8 eggs have been laid and mother is doing fine, sitting comfortably and being well supplied with food by her partner

April 20th
Once more bluetits are nesting in the box. Nest making started during the last week of the Easter holidays, but as of yet no eggs have been laid. Follow the progress of the birds by clicking the link above.

April 17th

Cricket Tour to South Africa

During the Easter holidays the School 1st XI embarked upon it’s first major cricket tour since visting Antigua in 2003. South Africa was the destination and all five matches were located in and around the Cape Town region, taking in Stellenbosch and Paarl along the way. School won three out of the five matches, beating Durbanville High School, Western Province Cricket Club and Langa Cricket Club. The latter was a real highlight of the tour – the tour party was taken on a township tour and were immediately swamped by scores of local children wanting to become acquainted with the group. In between innings, lunch was taken at “Sheila’s Café”, where we were treated to a sample of the local culture and music. They were delighted that supporters included two Old Bromsgrovians, Robert Black (Lyttleton '50-'55) and Ian Walker (Gordon '46-'51).

The tour party were fortunate to enjoy fantastic weather throughout the trip, meaning that visits to Table Mountain, The Cape of Good Hope, Robben Island and the Spier Cheetah Sanctuary were made even more enjoyable. The tour party also took in excursions to Boulder’s Beach and Duiker Island to view penguins and seals in the wild. Many evenings were spent relaxing around the vibrant Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. It was an ideal way to prepare for the 2007 season.