Head Master’s Final Assembly

Good morning, boys.

Before I start today, I just want to say well done to you all for your hard work, resilience and sense of responsibility to yourselves and others this term. It has been, for the very most part, a happy and purposeful three months, and we finally feel like we are back up and running again at something close to full power. Your good humour, commitment and spirit has been brilliant, and, as ever, at the end of term, there was a list so long that I have had to cut it right down to the bare bones for today. However, the whole script will go on to the website later today, so do by all means go to it to see if your own name is in lights! If it is not, then well done to you as well – as you have all played your part in a communal effort; you all make your own unique, but collective, difference to this special place.  Well done!

So, this term, I start with academia….

HM COMMENDATIONS (FOR OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL PIECES OF WORK)

Well done to the following boys:

Charlie Diamond (Fourth Form) for achieving three academic commendations, including one for an outstanding timeline of Hitler’s Foreign Policy from 1933 to 1939 – a detailed cartoon storyboard of the road towards the start of World War Two

Ethan Clifford (Fourth Form) for achieving academic commendations across languages, sciences and humanities

Eric Breslin (Remove Form) for demonstrating outstanding endeavour and academic curiosity, in particular creating an animation demonstrating and explaining the pollination process in biology

Adhu Mahesh (Remove Form) for his detailed and insightful essay on ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ in drama

Krishnan Nair (Remove Form) for producing the best spring term computer science workbook that Dr Wallace has ever seen!

Barnaby James (Fifth Form) for his superb poster of the Hertzsprung Russell diagram, demonstrating excellent engagement and curiosity

Louis Cooke (Fifth Form) for all the enthusiasm, ideas and drive for change that he has brought to the pupil Citizenship group, including an impactful whole-school assembly

Sho Kudo (Lower Sixth) for excellence across his subjects, success in the digital leaders’ programme and being highly supportive of other boys’ learning

Sami Hundal (Lower Sixth) for an outstanding lecture on Chekhov, with fine attention to detail and thought-provoking insight into the world of his plays

Luca Moretto (Lower Sixth) for his excellent presentation on the Stasi, including a superb handling of the forensic questioning of Mr Graham!

James Wootton Evans (Lower Sixth) for an excellent piece of investigative research following the Queens Park geography trip

Reuben Glenville (Upper Sixth) for his engaging, accessible and accomplished lecture to the Pythagoreans Society, in addition to having been awarded the highest number of merits in his year group

ACADEMIC

75 Academic Merits

Sahvan Jutla

Academic Stripes

• Scott Gildersleve (1^st stripe)
• William Wright (1^st stripe)
• Mohammad Ibrahim (1^st stripe)
• Luke Langridge (2^nd stripe)
• Thivamsan Karunakaran (2^nd stripe)
• Arun Penhall (2^nd stripe)

Bedford School Independent Project (BSIP) Results 2022

All Lower Sixth boys do a BSIP. We had some outstanding projects – both essays and artefacts. A selection of projects is available to browse in the Library.

Overall Winner

Luca Moretto:  Suez: the End of an Empire? (essay)

Runners-up

• Sami Hundal: How can film artistically expose the effects of police brutality? ‘To be in the Gallery’ (short film and commentary)
• Mohammed Shadid: Antibiotic Resistance: is it the defeat of modern medicine? (essay)

Highly Commended

• Max Allman-Ward: Should the minimum wage be abolished, and, if so, should a maximum wage be introduced in return?
• Charlie Dowrick: The physics behind the design of the Formula One car.
• Ben Edwards: Will the use of Artificial Intelligence benefit transportation in the future?
• Thomas Hayward: To what extent does a codified constitution help or hinder liberty?
• Kiran Katechia: Perceptions on terrorism are defined by global norms.
• Rob Parrish: Why are investors so interested in the art world?
• Max Pearson: Why does the modern world need literary critics?
• Murray Silk: What are the limitations of Roman historical writing, and how does this affect the reliability of Roman writing?
• Shazil Sohail: Is the effect that stem cells will have on the future of medicine worth the controversy that encompasses them?
• Tai Tsang-Goodwin: The information paradox: what are the answers to humanity’s greatest scientific problem?
• Christian Tyrell: Lolita: an exploration into how Nabokov’s cautionary tale on Paedophilia became fetishized by society.
• James Wootton-Evans: How does Formula One influence the world around us?
• Nathanael Lord: Can physics disprove the existence of a God?
• James Lumley-Wood: Is quality actually valuable?

Talalay Science Presentation Competition

This is an amazing annual competition, where (Lower Sixth) boys present for 15 minutes on a scientific topic of their own choice, before being grilled for another 15 minutes in front of an audience by all three Heads of Science!

The finalists were as follows:

• Anthony Muffoletto: Can mRNA vaccine momentum propel tumour immunotherapies?
• Sutong He: Flow chemistry
• Varun Nathan: Muscles and citrulline malate
• Dylan Morgan-Jones: The relativity of simultaneity
• Shayaan Jadoon: How regenerative medicine has brought us a step closer to mending broken hearts
• Tai Tsang-Goodwin: The Black Hole Information Paradox​ – what are the answers to Hawking’s challenge to physics?

The winner, Dylan Morgan-Jones, will be giving his talk to parents in May; Anthony, Varun and Shayaan (and Mohammed Shadid of the MedSoc) are arranging dates to speak to Prep School boys.

House Chemistry Competition

The House Chemistry Competition took place on Monday 21 March. The boys were challenged to predict the time for an iodine clock reaction. It was a close-run competition with Ashburnham producing the most accurate clock ahead of St Peter’s in 2nd and St Cuthbert’s in 3rd.

Biology Olympiad

Over 10,000 students took part from more than 700 schools.  Well done to those who won medals:

Gold

• Ciaran Kilbane
• William MacGillivray

Silver

• George Ashcroft
• Oscar Terry

Bronze

• James Deardon
• Ben Eidmans
• Olaoluwa Apesin
• Raoul Flora

Gold = top 5% in the country
Silver = next 10%
Bronze = next 15% (so still in the top 25%)

The Library

Throughout this term, the Library has been challenging boys to ‘Read Around the World’, accessing literature from a diverse range of authors and highlighting global communities and cultures. A number of boys have participated – a huge well done to those who completed the challenge, who will be invited to a film night hosted in the Library, with details to follow after the Easter break. From those that completed the challenge, the Library conducted a prize draw, and Rayhaan Menolee won an Amazon voucher and a book of his choice from the ‘Read Around the World’ collection.  

The Library has also been running a design competition as a precursor to the launch of our ‘Lit in Colour’ book collection, celebrating works by writers of colour. Boys were invited to submit a design for the sticker that will adorn the cover of each book in the collection, and on future books, creating a legacy for years to come. A panel of judges from the Eckersley Society (our boy-led society, set up to give minorities a voice) and Student Librarians met to discuss and vote on a winner – Ayo Odumuyiwa’s design was chosen and will be printed and stuck onto the ‘Lit in Colour’ books, which will be ready to borrow after the holidays. Congratulations to all who entered, and especially well done to Ayo. 

CREATIVE ARTS

Music

We have had a very busy term (as usual!) in the Music Department, with one of the main highlights being the Choral Society Concert performance of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio in the Great Hall on Sunday night. It was so encouraging to see a large-scale choral music event taking place again after a number of years’ absence due to COVID. It has also been good to see the Creative Arts Faculty getting together to present material at the Detweiler Competition, which had a strong field in all disciplines this year. The Music winner was Daniel Hutchins. Chamber Music is also flourishing, and all the small ensembles performed in a Chamber Concert last week to great effect. The Chapel Choir has continued to provide music for all the Chapel services this term – it is wonderful to see so much diversity in the music that is performed at Bedford School, very ably led by our new Head of Choral Music, Mr Roberts. We have held all of the instrumental and singing prizes this term and have awarded House points to those placed in each competition – there were many excellent performances in both the junior and senior competitions. Overall, Crescent House was the winning house, the overall Junior Young Musician of the Year was Harry L’Estrange, and the Senior Young Musician of the Year was James Watson. We have again had a number of individual successes at the Bedfordshire Festival of Music and Drama with nine Upper School boys winning music classes, and Alexander Olleson and James Watson being invited to perform at the Gala Concert at the end of the festival. Weekly lunchtime concerts have continued to take place giving opportunities for every boy to perform at least once per term. It has been a real tonic to both boys and staff to be able to get back to ‘normal’ with regard to music-making at the school!

Art

It was a real pleasure to have the first live Gilbert Lloyd lecture since 2020 this term, with a fascinating and enthralling talk from artist John Duffin. John’s work, and his prints in particular, are hugely popular with the boys so it was thrilling for them to hear him talk about his own inspiration and working methods.

Tyler Choga (Upper Sixth) competed in the regional heat of ARTiculation at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich and was praised by the adjudicator for his “masterful and well-researched” presentation on the artist Elizabeth Catlett. Tyler won the heat and is now competing in the final of this national competition.

The Detweiler competition this year celebrated its 25th anniversary so it was great to welcome back Rob Campbell, the former Director of Art who introduced the competition to Bedford School in 1997, to judge the Art prize. Highly commendeds were awarded to Ta Leepiboonsawats (Upper Sixth), Samson Lok (Upper Sixth), Charlie McCutcheon (Upper Sixth), Alex Hayward (Lower Sixth) and Sashin Kambli (Lower Sixth). Excitingly, and for the first time, a Remove won the 2D prize – well done to Will Turner – while Chris Sporton (Upper Sixth) won the 3D prize.

We have hosted two Artist Masterclasses this term, one for the Upper Sixth on silk-screen printing with Dale Devereux Barker, and the other for the Lower Sixth using mono-printing with Jane McDonald. Taking place all day on Sundays, they proved to be immensely productive and inspiring.

The Art Society on Friday lunchtimes has had a busy term. Joe Hart (Lower Sixth) spoke articulately about Frida Kahlo, Harrison Beveridge (Lower Sixth) talked about NFTs, Tom Howe (Lower Sixth) talked about fashion designer John Galliano, Dr Wallace spoke insightfully and passionately about Hieronymus Bosch’s extraordinary painting ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, Louis Cooke (Fifth Form) talked about Karl Lagerfeld, Rob Parrish (Lower Sixth) reprised his BSIP prize winning talk ‘Why are investors so interested in the Art world?’. The society continues to cover thought-provoking and exciting subject matter, so it has been great to see audience sizes growing.

Drama

It has been a very busy term for the Drama Department, undertaking four specialist workshops, two theatre trips, musical auditions/workshops for the forthcoming production of Bugsy Malone (over 70 students from Bedford School and Bedford Girls’ School auditioned), auditions for Macbeth and Remote, Fourth Form drama club, Scholar workshops, GCSE performance mock exam evening, Speech and Drama Evening, Tech club and of course our weekly Drama Society meetings. We now have over 20 boys join the society each week and we welcome new members at the start of the summer term.

Our Academic Drama Society has continued to flourish, with Max Pearson as our president and Will Roberts as Vice. The Society started with a fascinating lecture from drama scholar Henry Gillham (Fourth Form). His lecture was on the acclaimed theatre practitioner Jerzy Grotowski. Despite being one of the youngest members of the society, Henry delivered a fantastic talk in which he not only taught us all about Grotowski’s unique style of ‘poor’ theatre, which we learnt focuses on the actor and dismisses the need for costume and props, but also sparked discussion on his own and others’ thoughts about Grotowski’s style of theatre and how it relates to both an actor and an audience member. Boys were thoroughly inspired by Henry’s passion for this challenging practitioner.

Later in the term, the society members were lucky enough to have an online lecture by BAFTA award winning playwright Mark Cately, perhaps most well-known for his work on EastEnders. Mark delivered a thought-provoking talk detailing not only his own writing process but also on how anyone can improve their scriptwriting, he also gave an intriguing insight into the often-overlooked structure that so many of our favourite films and plays follow, surprising boys by asking for their favourite films and then revealing how each one fits the structure. With a few budding scriptwriters in attendance, the talk was a fantastic opportunity and a superb experience for all present. 

Fourth Former Stanley Breed (Drama exhibition award student) gave an excellent talk on Pantomime. Perhaps one of the most rooted forms of theatre in our society, Stanley gave an insight into the history of Pantomime. The result was an eye-opening discussion. 

One of the main highlights of the Drama Society was a visit from OB Thomas Liggins. Having recently been cast to star in a new West End production of My Fair Lady, Thomas gave a superb talk on his journey from his first musical at Bedford School, Sweeney Todd (coincidentally one of Mrs Keylock’s first shows at the school), to his time at university and drama school, before detailing his audition process.

Towards the end of the term the president of the Society Max Pearson stepped up to give an incredibly detailed and interesting talk on Federico Lorca. Perhaps one of the most acclaimed Spanish playwrights, Lorca is less well known in the UK. As the President, Max said he wanted boys to learn about different styles of theatre and different writers’ works which they otherwise would not have been introduced to. Max conveyed the comparisons between Lorca’s work and Shakespeare’s tragedies, as well as highlighting Lorca’s work and how it can be explored within the modern world. Speaking to boys afterwards there was a strong sense of a new interest in lesser-known theatre.

The final talk of the term was given by Lower Sixth Former Sarmukh Hundal on illustrious playwright Anton Chekhov. Perhaps most known for his principle of Chekhov’s gun, Sarmukh’s talk was titled ‘More than just the gun’ and explored the beginnings of Chekhov’s career, initially as a doctor, going on to become perhaps one of the most influential playwrights of all time and credited as one of, if not the, father of realism theatre. This lecture sparked discussion across the Society. Throughout there was fantastic discussion on how Chekhov’s work can be interpreted as a modern audience. Students were intrigued and inspired by Sarmukh’s erudite lecture.

(Credit to Sam Maling for his contributions. A full write-up of the Society will appear in The Ousel)

We also held a highly successful Speech and Drama Evening which was very well attended by friends and family. Many congratulations to all involved. Thirty-seven boys took to the stage for the first time since 2019. Thank you to Miss Fowler, Mr Banks and Mr Revill for all their hard work and dedication.

Yearly awards: 

Most Improved:

• Tom Barnes
• Murray Silk 
• Misha Savitski

Contribution to Speech and Drama:

• Louis Cooke
• Will Roberts
• Tanay Rai

The following boys performed on The Quarry Theatre stage:

• Tanay Rai & Tom Barnes – Pterodytals
• Oliver Bymolen – Eight
• Oscar Easterbrook – Helen Of Troy
• Luca Moretto – Hamlet
• Murray Silk – Macbeth
• Louis Cooke – Twelfth Night
• Tobi Akinola – One Man, Two Guvnors
• Nathan Tharakan – Talking To Terrorists
• Owain Harries – Deep Heat
• Josh Cooke – Home
• Max Pearson – I Am Not Batman
• Varun Nathan – Blue/Orange
• Aiden Reid, Thomas Taylor & Koya Okusaga – Private Peaceful
• Henry Gillham – School Play
• Christian Tyrrell – Drip
• Ethan Ofosu – Caged Bird
• Mike Halahan & Misha Savitski – Skulduggery Pleasant
• Akshat Buddineni – The Maze Runner
• Mikel Deans & Alfie Redfern – Robots
• Will Hayward – Lose Yourself
• Dilan Sharma & Jake Reynolds – Tis Pity
• Leo Butler – Hospital Food
• Stanley Breed – Chatroom
• Milan Verwoert – The Exam
• Tom Hayward, Rob Parrish and Charlie Eggleton – Colder Than In Here
• Will Roberts – Posh
• Dominic Ray & Aadhi Arun – Noah
• Tom Ferrari – Sleuth
• Tom Spice – An Inspector Calls
• Oliver Phillips – The Play That Goes Wrong

SPORT

Hockey

We returned to hockey fixtures after a two-year absence due to the pandemic and managed to play 114 games of hockey, scoring 239 goals. It was possibly the strongest season for the four senior teams for many years, and congratulations must go to the 3rd XI on an unbeaten season. Another honourable mention goes to the U15As who had a 100% record in block fixtures until a final day defeat to Merchant Taylor’s, with a slightly depleted squad. It has been great to see so many boys represent the school hockey club – some for the first time and others for the final time.

The 1st XI had a strong season, playing an exciting brand of hockey, but were left frustrated after some of their dominant displays were not always rewarded with the results. The leadership group of William Maltby, Rohan Mehmi and Captain Archie Houghton led from the front throughout the season, setting high standards at all times.

A massive thank-you to all boys, staff and spectators for their commitment and efforts in making hockey a success this year!

Hockey Honours Caps were awarded to:

• William Maltby
• Rohan Mehmi
• Captain Archie Houghton

Major Sports Colours for Hockey were awarded to:

• Calum Nanda
• Rohan Mehmi (Vice-Capt)
• Eldon Craven
• Thomas Hayward
• Joshua Stewart
• Nicholas Challacombe
• Archie Houghton (Captain)
• William Maltby (Vice-Capt)
• Charlie Blythman
• Max Pearson
• Ben Guest
• Charlie Mumford
• Thomas Herbert
• Benjamin Ingram-Moore
• Tom Godber

Minor Sports Colours were awarded to:

• James Cutler
• Jonty Dawes
• David Adeyemi-Abere
• Johnny Huggins
• Harry Oldham
• Harry Hine
• Rob Parrish
• Khush Shah
• Aryan Sisodia
• Vedant Somal
• Jasper Cumming
• Abid Hussein
• Caleb Sanders
• Joe Mullaney
• Peter Moore
• Oscar Terry
• Miles Ratcliff
• Tomas Else
• Zaid Faleel
• Ciaran Kilbane
• Harry Wootton Evans
• George Mansell
• Gabriel O’Neill
• Freddie McPhail
• Ellison Hendry
• Will MacGillivray
• Varun Nathan
• Patrick Diamond
• James Wootton Evans
• Cole Balachandran
• Arthur Sell

Rowing

The boat club was at capacity this term, with 2 x senior, 2 x Colts, 3 x Remove Form eights, and 4 x J14s Octos and 2 x quads, all regularly boating, and 15 boys land training with Mr Bridle. We were blessed with the weather and so lost very few sessions due to flooding and only a couple due to the wind.

The club had wins at Bedford and Star Club heads at all levels, including the Colts and J14 quad winning the vests to represent the East of England in the upcoming Junior Inter Regional Regatta in April.

At the Schools Head, the lower age groups again did well, the Colts missed out reclaiming their National J16 1st VIII title by 0.9 sec over the 18 min race, the Remove Form boys A crew had their best result in several years under Mr Ruta, finishing 3rd (2 seconds off the winners). The 1st VIII could not match previous years’ performances and slipped to 7th place in their event, and all other boats produced solid performances to finish mid table in their categories. Well done to all the boys who participated in this race, which is a test of stamina and mental aptitude.

The school sent 4 x Fourth Form crews to the national scullery event held at Dorney on what must have been the wettest day of the year. The A and B crews finished in the top half of their events, while the C and D crews had a bit more of an exciting time, snapping blades and losing them out of the gates, and so finished towards the bottom of their group, but with a lot of lessons learnt!

Hopefully, most of these boys will be continuing in the summer term, when the weather should be better, and the focus turns to the National Schools Regatta and side-by-side racing in May.

Major Sports Colours for Rowing were awarded to:

• James Deardon
• Seb Iles
• Gabriel Mann

Association Football

A fully loaded term for the football club saw plenty of successes, frustrations, firsts and memorable moments. The 1st XI, led by Raoul Flora and Freddie Sellars played some wonderful football at times, more akin to the blue side of Manchester rather than the red with which we share our colours, and impressed almost all of their opposition coaches: “You certainly play better football than all of our other opponents” became a weekly compliment. Unfortunately, brief lapses of concentration proved costly on too many occasions and the team finished 3rd (out of 9) in the inaugural Mercian league, the highlight being a George Ashcroft leveller with the last touch of the game vs Loughborough. There were plenty of goals to be found throughout the 2nd, 3rd and 4th XI fixtures, Feyi Okusanya delivering multiple hat-tricks for the 2nd XI while the 4th XI signed off with a spectacular 13-0 victory. An honourable mention to the 5th XI who were unlucky in their maiden fixture, suffering a narrow defeat to St Edwards.

The desire to play good football was continued throughout the junior teams: Luton Town are flying in the championship and the impact of their coaches with our U16 and U15 groups was increasingly evident as the season progressed. The U16As enjoyed a terrific season, so much so that Pharell Peters, Tommie Baddeley, Zak Wasterfall, Daniel Eidmans, Tom Clark and Luke Langridge all finished the season having appeared at U18 level, Pharell and Tommie for the 1st XI. The U16B side came storming back from a tough away fixture at Haileybury to strong performances at Rugby and Oundle, a last minute ‘Beckham-esque’ halfway line goal from Tim Karunakaran sparking scenes of wild celebrations from both the home and away sides to round the season off! The U15s experienced a similar season to their counterparts in the U16B squad, namely some tough opening fixtures in which the boys demonstrated the resilience and tenacity we have to come to expect, before finishing the season with some strong performances and results to match. A particular well done to the U14 boys who ably stepped into the U15A side: they are certainly a group to keep an eye on in the future!

The formation of the ‘Superstars’ XI at U16/15 and a 5th XI were notable firsts for the football club. Both demonstrated the school values in abundance, and those involved will look forward to further opportunities to represent the school in the coming years.

Fixtures, however, are only a small fraction of what has been achieved this term. All boys have committed whole-heartedly to their games sessions, creating a pleasant and supportive atmosphere regardless of rain, wind, sleet or snow. Nowhere was this more evident than in the House football event just gone and the Old Bedfordian weekend, where 30 Sixth Form boys gave up their Sunday to face off against two teams of OBs.

Enjoy the off-season, boys; do keep an eye and an ear out for notices, as there will be an increasing number of opportunities to involve yourself within the football club in a variety of roles!

Minor sports colours were awarded to:

• Freddie Sellers
• Jacques Wildon
• Tom Norton
• Tai Tsang Goodwin
• Jerry Williams
• Raoul Flora
• Ethan Galbraith
• Ellis Morgan

Athletic Development

This term has seen the boys develop well in the athletic development sessions. Their movement competency has come on exponentially after learning a lot of new things in the first term, and the boys are visibly improving well week on week. Those that attend consistently are enjoying the process, too, and starting to ask a lot of questions as they are keen to learn. The weekly competitions to end each session are concluding soon, with the boys getting into the competitive spirit and pushing each other on.

Badminton 

The badminton first team pairs won three of their five fixtures in the spring term, and our second team pairs won their first fixture of the year against Stamford. There have been excellent contributions from Gideon Chan, Timothy Wai and Jacob Yau, and we are very grateful for the efforts of those students leaving this year too – Andy Wang, Aaron Qiu, Dell Kang, Ben Chan, Seb Peacock and Ian Chan.

Minor sports colours were awarded to:

• Ben Chan
• Henry Hu
• Dell Kang
• Aaron Qiu
• Andy Wang

Basketball

Frustratingly, several matches have been postponed or delayed due to our opponents having COVID problems. There has never been a time when so many players are capable of having a positive impact in the first team, making choosing the squad rather difficult. Since a narrow defeat to a competitive Stamford team, the first team core has developed a great team spirit and has remained unbeaten. The Bedford County championships remain unfinished, and the team are ready to step up after Easter to compete in the final should the chance arise; watch this space.

Fives

In Fives, fixtures were held against the University of Cambridge, Derby Moor, Oundle, Rugby, and the OBs. Captain Rob Menhart, and Vice-Captain Sachin Kambli performing admirably deserve a special mention, as well as notable contributions from new players and the first year of extra-curricular Fives. Senior House Fives will take place in the summer term.

The Mellor Cup for Junior Fives to Toby L’Estrange

Silver in the East Midlands Regional Singles RFA Tournament to Rob Menhart

Junior House Fives: Ashburnham (Toby L’Estrange and Charlie Lawrence)

Cross Country

There were some excellent performances from our runners yesterday at the District and County Cross-Country Championships held at Ampthill Park. Eight boys from the squad of 13 qualified to represent Bedfordshire at the National Schools competition on Saturday on 19 March. All the boys involved deserve credit for giving of their best over what was a challenging course.

Minor sports colours were awarded to: Alex Moffat

Golf

Our golfers competed for the inaugural BS Golf Club Championship over two Saturdays, the last in February and the first in March. Played over 36 holes on the Marquess and Dukes courses, Archie Mathers recovered from a 4-shot deficit after the first round to win by a single stroke from club captain Alex Robins. The top three players were to be chosen to represent the school at the ISGA finals, to be played at Formby GC in late April: both Ed Wade and Fin Rennie tied for third place, just two shots adrift of the winner, and a play-off hole in the fading light ensued. Having made a birdie on the 36th hole to force the play-off, Fin had all the momentum. Both boys played the par 5 well, reaching the green in three shots, but neither in close proximity to the hole. With Fin to play first, he holed a remarkable 35ft uphill putt, and Ed couldn’t match that feat. Overcoming his disappointment and frustration, Ed’s reaction was to be magnanimous in defeat and congratulate his friend on how he had played, exemplifying the integrity that we hope to see in our boys. A new trophy has been commissioned – The Ormerod Cup, named after OB Anthony Ormerod, who played a role in setting up our golf scholarship programme and was a benefactor for the installation of the golf simulator.

Although we haven’t had any external fixtures through the spring term, the boys have kept their competitive edge by competing in an intra-squad Winter League. This round robin format had all boys play each other in a 9-hole match over 9 rounds of fixtures. This culminated in a winner takes all match in the final round of fixtures – Jack Peters vs Archie Mathers. Jack was half a point behind, so a draw would not be good enough for him. Indeed, the whole season came down to the final hole; Jack was dormie 1 (1 up with 1 hole to play) and managed to halve the last in order to win the match and with it become our inaugural Winter League champion.

Rugby Sevens

All age groups committed fully to the programme, and this was reflected in significant success at every level. The U14 team were semi-finalists at Ipswich and finalists at Reigate. The U15 team were finalists at Ipswich and winners of the Plate at Wimbledon College, beating strong Warwick and Whitigift outfits on the way. However, the highlight of the term was probably the U16 victory over Sedbergh, to claim the title at Oakham. The U18s were finalists at Shiplake and performed well at the prestigious Surrey Sevens.

Well done to all the boys involved and huge thanks to the staff for giving up their time to take the boys to the various tournaments.

Shooting

January saw the Fourth Form join the Rifle Club. This was delayed by a term to allow the focus to stay on our current shooters a little longer and build more strength in the team to meet the challenge of the growing post-COVID competition schedule. The school has been steadily rising through the divisions of the BSSRA Leagues and this term competed in Division 2. The timings of this 5-round, 10-bull competition are always tight. The first two rounds are due only two weeks into the term and the boys must find their form very rapidly after the Christmas break. The Team was up against some ‘heavy-hitters’ in shape of Wellington College and Gresham’s, and shot well, achieving 3rd place overall. James Lumley-Wood’s average of 97.6 was the highest in the division, with the only ‘possible’ from any of the shooters.

Several boys competed in the individual, BSSRA Senior Championship. James Lumley-Wood dropped only five points across the three 10-bulls of the qualifying round, placing him second, and we are still awaiting the results of the final round. Training resumed for our Eastern Region Squad members, James Hine and James Lumley-Wood, and both boys were selected to be part of the Schools England Team against Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and The Channel Islands.

The match against the OBs returned to its usual date in March. The afternoon was very busy with 10 boys and 13 OBs shooting a course of fire of Group, Rapid and Snap targets. The OBs once again presented formidable opposition, with a number of highly experienced shooters and at least one with multiple GB Caps, although by now the pressure of competition had hardened the school team as well. The Rapid of 10 rounds in 60 seconds proved to be the deciding factor, separating the men from the boys, and the boys won, with the top-score trophies going to James Lumley-Wood and Andy Barnes (OB).

Squash

While the squash season has not produced on results, it has certainly had enthusiasm in abundance. With a new influx of Remove Form boys, focus has turned to developing talent. Particular mention must go to Charlie Barber, Wesley Hilton, Krish Nair and Alex Olleson who have all faced tough competition this term and taken every opportunity to advance their game. Louis Day led the team with excellent enthusiasm and ability, and consequently the teams have played every game in a wonderfully sporting manner.

Minor sports colours were awarded to: Louis Day

Swimming and Water Polo

Whilst individual boys have been having great success with their club teams, school swimming competitions have been slow to start back. This term saw the culmination of the National Water Polo Championships. The Senior Team played in the Plate semi-final playing competent water polo. In a number of close fought matches the team were unable to win any games. The U15 Team managed to qualify for the Plate Final with finishing 2nd in their group in the semi-final.

Minor sports colours were awarded to:

• Nikolai Sorokin
• Will MacGillivray
• Tomas Spice
• Merlin Toms
• Daniil Smirnov
  

CCF

The spring term usually starts slowly for the Corps, however this January saw the Fourth Form recruits join, which had been delayed from September to give our existing cadets more time to catch-up with COVID-delayed training.

Interest in the Corps exceeded all expectations, with 90 recruits joining across all three Arms. This proved to be a baptism of fire for the NCOs, as the first half of term became a frenzy of activity as they set to work training their Sections in the basics of first aid, shooting, fieldcraft, sailing and watermanship and the principles of flight, amongst others.

A joint services shoot at RAF Wittering on the Sunday before the half term allowed 30 senior cadets to reacquaint themselves with firing the L98A2 rifle, after a long, COVID-induced hiatus.

The Corps competed in the inaugural Intelligence Corps Competition over half term, performing very well, coming second by just one half of a point.

After half term, the lengthening days and better weather saw the programme of exercises and competitions start in earnest. The first was a Field Weekend over exeat designed to prepare for the Combat Cadet Team for the competition the following weekend. The team of nine cadets competed against other contingents in a series of activities to test their infantry skills such as ambushes, section attacks, patrolling, house clearing and close-quarter battle drills. Despite limited opportunities to practise, they acquitted themselves extremely well, bringing home a silver medal.

The same weekend saw the Navy embark on their first exercise of the year, sailing and cruising in the Solent from a base in Cowes.

The last week of term was very busy. The Corps was reviewed by The Venerable Air Vice Marshal Jonathan Chaffey CB QHC in the Annual General Inspection, and the RAF managed to secure a flying day, their first for two years.

CUPS FOR spring TERM 2022

Hockey

Volleyball                           

Fives

Badminton

Waterpolo

Basketball

Swimming

Football

Chemistry 

House Relay

House Instrumental Cup

HM SCARVES

There are three this term. Very well done to these Upper Sixth boys.

The first boy has been an exceptional leader in his House and in his unobtrusive actions across the school. His caring and thoughtful approach puts the quieter boys at ease and his quietly consistent championing of other boys’ achievements has been brilliant – this has been seen at his attendance of concerts, societies and fixtures that the boys in his House (in particular) have led or performed. He is an incredibly talented young man himself; his modesty results in many in his boarding house initially not knowing how accomplished he is as a pianist and trombonist, but every now and then he sits down at the piano and stuns the surrounding boys in the games room. He has been outstanding in art this year. Conscientious, diligent and incredibly hardworking, he has led his fellow artists from the front. His extraordinary drawing of the school, which he calculated took 109 hours in total, speaks volumes about his patience and work ethic. He has grown in confidence as an artist and his willingness to experiment and push his creativity reflects an admirable maturity. He is a natural draftsman and consistently produced quality work in the weekly life drawing sessions. As Secretary of the art team, he has embraced his responsibilities and been exemplary in sending out emails and communications to all the Sixth form boys about weekly art events. He has taken the opportunity to participate in everything the Department has to offer including Art History and the Art and Architecture Societies, and has been a regular at both the early and after school art sessions quietly getting on with things. Courteous and polite, he has been a pleasure to teach. This young man undoubtedly exemplifies the school values of kindness, curiosity, responsibility, integrity and endeavour. He is Samson Lok.

The second recipient joined the school in the Fourth Form. He has always contributed to all areas of school life, whether that be in the 3rd XV rugby, the music school with his singing, his writing and directing the Movember music video, or in the Art Department. His contributions to his boarding house have been numerous over the years and his compassion for boys across all years of the school rightly resulted in him being made Head of House this year. In this role he has displayed phenomenal kindness and compassion for others, always around to help the younger boys and to organise House events and activities. He has led the effort to align his House to his twin day House, and has done so brilliantly. However, most of all, his work behind the scenes with boys who have experienced difficulties at school, in ways that nobody will be fully aware of, has been simply inspirational. He is Henry Flatt.

The last recipient is the sort of person who has achieved an awful lot at his time at the school, but always remains incredibly modest. For someone who has achieved major colours in both hockey and cricket and been awarded an honours cap in hockey, he comes across as incredibly down-to-earth and kind. His hard work and dedication to both aforementioned sports are inspirational to all around him and his commitment to helping the younger boys in developing their game is admirable, especially in cricket. Well-liked by his peers and his teachers, he demonstrates our school values every day and he goes about doing so in a very quiet manner, never looking for the limelight, instead always seeking to help others to flourish. This scarf is a very well-deserved reward for a young man who has conducted himself impeccably, supported others, and been so humble with his many impressive achievements. He is Rohan Mehmi.

Many congratulations to those boys.

Finally, a huge thank-you to all the amazing staff members who make this all possible. I do hope you find time to thank them too. They really have gone the extra mile, not just through the pandemic, but also emerging from it, so that you can continue to thrive and enjoy all the many opportunities that you do. Well done to you all for seizing that, and for playing your own part in making this a great place to work and learn together. I wish you all a wonderful holiday.