Head Master’s Final Assembly

What a wonderful term it has been – one of the best, in my own memory, and partly for the fact that we have finally just got on with things again. The singing this term has been a tonic; I hope you have all enjoyed that, too. This end of term assembly, notices come from whoever has submitted a report!  As ever, there will be much more online, but if your activity is not mentioned, it is only because it had no report. So, to start with the fundamentals…

Academic

IB

The Upper Sixth IB students received their results this week. Congratulations to all of them. Five students gained scores of over 42 points, which is a fantastic achievement. Obviously, all results are individual, and not every individual will be happy (it is always worth remembering this at results time), but overall, the University outcomes were also excellent.

Theory of Knowledge

The Lower Sixth IB students presented their ToK Exhibitions on Wednesday evening at Bedford Girls’ School. The Exhibitions explored how epistemological questions manifest in the world around us. Students selected philosophical questions such as ‘To what extent is certainty attainable?’, which they explored through the lens of three objects. Students, staff and parents from both schools participated in this inaugural event; it was fantastic to share high quality IB practice between Bedford Girls’ School and Bedford School.

The Remove Students have completed their Theory of Knowledge Extended Essays. The standard of the essays was extremely high. Many of the essays submitted would have won prizes in previous years, so the judging was very difficult. The prize for the winning project went to:

Eric He – Is globalism the new imperialism?

The Runners-up, in no particular order, were:

• Alexei Wright – The effect of microplastics on the environment and our surroundings
• Alexander Olleson – The benefits, disadvantages, and possible alternatives to rewilding the UK
• Henry Pascall – Is the EARNIT act (2022) ethical, and how does it affect the UK?
• Sahvan Jutla – Vegan diet in sports
• Jason He – Is China an imperial power?
• Ruben Jacob – Is hacking always immoral?
• Matthew Jones – Animal testing
• Tanay Rai – The effectiveness of online learning
• Ra ed Rizwan – Is 2D animation outdated?
• Milan Verwort – Why the prison system in England and Wales is ineffective and fails to rehabilitate
• Daniel McGregor – Do nuclear weapons make the world a safer place
• Fred Dickson – Scotland’s influence on the British Empire

Maths

Pythagoreans, our Sixth Form mathematical society, has really flourished this year with several lectures each half term. In some of the meetings there has been standing room only and it has been great to see so many students attending from other schools in Bedford. The last lecture of the year was given by two Bedford School students, Jason He and Nikolai Sorokin. Jason’s lecture entitled ‘Proving E=mc2’ and Nikolai’s lecture entitled ‘Approximating π’ were delivered clearly and the maths they produced impressive.

Every year, large numbers of boys take part in the UK Maths Challenge competitions. This year, 33 boys achieved gold in the Intermediate challenge and six in the Senior challenge. Every year, several boys qualify for the next round of the competition, which is a major achievement given that 700,000 enter the competitions, but this year was a little extra special. As a result of his performance in the Intermediate challenge, Jason He was invited to take the Hamiltonian Mathematical Olympiad. Only 600 students in the country qualify for this test, and this year Jason received a certificate of distinction and a gold medal, which is only given to the top 20 scorers in the country. 

Physics

Every Wednesday after school, the physics department has been buzzing with the Physics Project Club; a hub designed to allow students from all year groups to develop independent physics and engineering project work.

We have had over 40 students engage in project work across the department with themes such as aerodynamics in the wind tunnel, acoustic engineering, astronomy projects and students performing smaller projects such as building structures, motors and speakers.

Special mention must go to Carson Cheung, Edgar Cheung, Gordon Guo, Jason He, Kevin Xu and Vincent Xiang, who carried out a project ‘To Improve Acoustic Levels in a School Recording Room’ and submitted it as a CREST Silver award, an independently assessed scheme run by the British Science Association. Their CREST assessor was so impressed that they were awarded a gold award instead!

We also had 12 boys in the Remove and Fifth Form carry out an IRIS (Institute for Research in Schools) project, which saw the boys get trained in spectral analysis and spend hours analysing spectra from the Infrared Spitzer telescope to help astronomers identify interesting targets for the new James Webb Space Telescope. This culminated in presenting posters of their findings at the IRIS conference in London.

Boys have also delved into the realms of theoretical physics in Quantum Club, hosting talks from current researchers in the field such as Professor Vlatko Vedral from Oxford University in response to questions from Bedford School students on the information paradox surrounding black holes.

These opportunities will be continuing next year and increasingly making more cross-curricular links with other subject areas in the school. These projects would not be able to happen without the support of a number of experts coming in from outside of school, willing members of staff in other departments (such as Mr Rooke and Dr Barrett), the physics department and very importantly the physics technicians.

Debating and Public Speaking

Eight Lower Sixth boys travelled to Oundle on Thursday 23 June for what has become known as ‘The Friendly Debate’. They took part in a series of parliamentary-style debates involving four schools, learning how to structure and rebut arguments more effectively as they did so. After everyone enjoyed an excellent buffet and stimulating conversation with other pupils, Patrick Diamond and Louis Elder competed in the final they had reached by virtue of being the second-highest points scorers on the evening. Their side of the House finished second, but both showed excellent oracy skills when arguing that social media has an adverse effect on democracy.

An especially pleasing development this year was the involvement of two leavers, Sami Haroon and Harry Hine, as judges in the ESU’s Primary Public Speaking Competition. It was lovely to see them acting as judicious and friendly role models.

HM COMMENDATIONS

Fraser Morgan (Fourth Form) for sustained excellence across computing, linguistics and music-making

Kieran Hamel-Henn (Remove Form) for completing over 400 physics questions for the Educake Easter Challenge

Jason He (Remove Form) for delivering an outstanding lecture at the Pythagoreans Society to a large audience, in which he spoke calmly and clearly about a sophisticated area of mathematics

Alexander Olleson (Remove Form) for designing a superb Citizenship lesson for the Fourth Form on the changes individuals can make to help limit the climate emergency

Kevin Xu (Fifth Form) for entering the CREST Silver Award (intermediate level), but the assessors said his project was so good they gave him the gold award!

Max Pearson (Lower Sixth) for a superb performance in the 2022 NCH Essay Competition, coming third in the English category with his entry ‘Why does the modern world need literary critics?’

Oliver French (Lower Sixth) for an excellent lecture on marine ecology to younger boys, which inspired great interest in and understanding of conservation biology

sport

Cricket

The U14 age group has had a particularly good year, with both the A and B teams winning nine out of 10 games. The C team won all their matches (the only team to achieve this in the whole club) and the D team won six out of eight games. Well done to A team captain Danny Chapman, who also played several matches in the 1st XI. 

All U15 age group teams played excellent cricket throughout the season. The A team won 10 out of 16 games, which included strong performances from many players. Leading from the front were Abhinav Iarala, Fred Dickson, Oliver Simmonds and Oliver Briggs. The B team won 11 out of 13 games and it was good to see several players pushing hard for a place in the A team, such as batters Ashish Mishra, Alan Bastin-Titus, Max Waddington and bowlers Oliver Smith, Edward Dagg, Adam Foddering and Alfie Allen. The C team also had a super season, winning nine out of 11 games and the D team had a somewhat tougher campaign, mainly at the hands of higher-level teams from opposition schools.

Despite a surprise loss to Haileybury early in the term, the 1st XI quickly turned the corner, winning all their remaining block fixtures, including excellent wins against Stamford and Oakham. Whilst there was a disappointing loss in the two-day match at Tonbridge, the XI won 17 out of 20 matches in total, including the T10 competition. Special mention must go to Archie Houghton, who had an excellent season with bat, ball and in the field. However, every player in the squad played their part at some stage. Charlie Mumford scored plenty of runs at the start of the season, Jonny Huggins scored a 100 on a difficult pitch at Oundle and Lower Sixth boys Vedant Somal and Zaid Faleel scored vital runs at the top of the order, which bodes well for next year. With the ball, Dilan Sheemar was as reliable as ever, whilst Anish Katechia, Vedant Somal, Sam Bayley and Rohan Mehmi all bowled well. The culture in the 1st XI has been outstanding throughout and captain Rohan Mehmi has led the team superbly.

The 2nd and 3rd XIs won 50% of their matches, and several boys put in some really good performances which led to opportunities to play in higher teams. The 4th team manged to win three out of their seven games, including excellent wins against Oakham and The Leys. 

Overall, it has been another very strong season for the cricket club, which has been thoroughly enjoyed by the boys and the staff.

Cricket Honours Caps were awarded to: 

• Archie Houghton
• Dilan Sheemar
• Rohan Mehmi

Major Colours were awarded to: 

• Vedant Somal
• Jacques Wildon
• George Mansell
• Jonathan Huggins
• Anish Katechia  

Minor Colours were awarded to: 

• Zaid Faleel
• Charlie Blythman
• Sam Bayley
• Josh Stewart
• James Cutler
• Jonty Dawes
• Ethan Galbraith
• Chris Sporton
• Tomas Else 

Rowing

The summer term focus for the rowers is always the National Schools’ Regatta at the end of May, where all age groups get the chance to see how they compare with their peers around the country.

The 1st VIII improved through the season, culminating in a time trial that placed them into a much-coveted top 16 spot at NSR. The B final was another tight race in which the boys managed to snatch 7th from Hampton on the line, 2 seconds covering 4-8th place. With wins at Bedford, Reading, Star and pre-qualifying for Henley Royal, the senior boys certainly turned their season around.

The Colts and the Removes were the best of our year groups at NSR, with both winning the B finals, placing them 7th in the country and ahead of some of our bigger rivals. The Colts also went onto win a silver medal at the inter-regional regatta along with their pots from Bedford and TVP. These two-year groups then came together to make our Temple crew, who performed admirably at Henley Qualifiers to finish 37th from the 50 crews trying to qualify for four places in the regatta proper.

The Fourth form were running at about £1 a stroke in the NSR time trial, with broken blades and riggers littering the 1000m time trial course. The B crew with one breakage, and the A crew (having to outdo them) trying to qualify with two breakages, both missed the cut line and so none of the crews progressed passed the time trial stage. The year group have plenty of talent in depth and, once they managed to learn the trick of keeping the whole crew rowing for the whole of the race, they came home with silverware from the Peterborough and Thames Valley Park regattas. We look forward to working with them in the years to come.

We say goodbye to Mr Ruta and Mr Sheridan this year and would like to thank them for their commitment to the Boat Club and wish them well for the next step of their careers.

Major Rowing colours were awarded to: 

• Charlie McCutcheon
• James Deardon
• Jacob Bailey
• Oscar Whitcombe
• Sebastien Iles
• Gabriel Mann

Minor Rowing colours were awarded to: 

• Nathanael Lord
• Jasper Walter
• Harry Tongue
• Benjamin Edwards
• Joshua Cooke
• Cyrus Goddard
• Oliver Pope
• Daniel Hutchins
• Wilfred Barker
• Orlando Williams

Aquatics

Daniel Meier entered the England Schools’ Swimming Association Individual Championships on 2 July, where he competed in seven events. He finished in in the top five in all races and achieved: one gold, three silvers and a bronze.

On the same weekend, Sam Barnes was playing Water Polo for the East Region at the Inter-Regional Under 16 Championships. Sam is also a National Academy athlete and is the first to represent the school at this level.

Athletics

There were a number of relay events this year, including the Achilles Relays in Oxford, a prestigious event and a great experience for the boys.  Success was celebrated in the county finals for the U17s as Ayo Odumuyiwa came first in the 400m hurdles, with Jack Guest, a late replacement, coming second. Ali Ananenu also put in an impressive performance in the 100m hurdles to come a very close second. Ferdi Barnett-Vincent came along to support the boys as he was enjoying a trial boarding week, but ended up borrowing kit and competing in the shot put where he came third! Caleb Sanders captained the team very successfully and had the opportunity to showcase his athletic prowess in the 100, 200 and 400m.

Minor Sports Colours for athletics were awarded to:

• David Adeyemi-Abere
• Diego Citriniti
• Alex Edun
• Joe Huang
• Alex Moffatt
• Jake Pattison

Golf

The start of the term saw Alex Robins, Jack Peters and Fin Rennie travel to Formby Golf Club for the ISGA National Finals, where the team finished a somewhat disappointing 15th. However, congratulations to Fin Rennie who scored a 2-under par ‘69’ in the second round.

In the HMC Foursomes Knockout, the team faced a very strong Culford side in the regional final. Archie Mathers and Fin Rennie had the hardest pairing and managed to get a respectable half on the board. Jack Peters and Freddie Tucker secured their match down the last hole 2up. Alex Robins and Ed Wade were on top form for the majority of the match, making very few mistakes to record a 6&5 victory. This meant that the boys qualified for the prestigious HMC Foursomes National Finals at Little Aston Golf Club. At the finals, the team had a great start in the first match, beating Tonbridge School 3-0. However, this was followed by a surprising 2-1 defeat to Stowe. Archie Mathers and Fin Rennie were the only pair to win 2up and were under par for the round. All pairs battled hard against the number one ranked Reed’s School, but sadly lost to the eventual winners. The 9-hole Stableford finale was a fantastic success, as the team won the combined event and Jack Peters and Freddie Tucker winning the pairs competition.

Shooting

We have had another busy term, shooting in the BSSRA Summer Leagues for the first time. The team of James Barney, James Hine, Ryan Jordan, James Lumley-Wood and Harry Norris won rounds 3 and 4, to finish second overall in Division 2, our best ever placing in the Leagues.

Lumley-Wood, Hine and Norris achieved the 2nd, 3rd and 5th highest individual averages in the division.

James Lumley-Wood and James Hine have continued to shoot as part of the Eastern Region Squad and both were selected to shoot in the England team in the Schools National Match against Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. Both boys achieved a score of 193/200, contributing to England’s win.

House Shooting

The course of fire for this competition was two five-round groups per team member with the winner achieving the smallest aggregate size. This deceptively simple competition demands faultless consistency and is a true test of skill and accuracy. There was no minimum size for a team, and some houses were represented by just a single competitor.

The best groups this year were, in 3rd place Alex Hayward, in 2nd James Lumley-Wood, and in 1st place James Hine, giving Ashburnham the Doig Cup.

The Cup for Best Shot in the Shooting XIII is awarded to James Lumley-Wood with an impressive League average of 96.8.

Minor Sports Colours for shooting were awarded to: Deimis Sukys

Tennis

With over 200 players this term, tennis has continued to develop at a rapid pace. The boys have benefitted from high quality coaching and the opportunity to play regular fixtures, meaning significant progress has been made. The highlights for the senior teams were excellent wins against Bedford Modern and Kimbolton. The junior teams ran all other schools close and managed convincing wins against Kimbolton and Felsted, as well as winning the Regional Division LTA Championships. Last weekend, the Remove Form pair of Dima Gusev and Freddie Whittaker progressed to the last 16 of the ISTA National Championships, beating some excellent opposition on the way, before losing to a strong Whitgift outfit.

Two U15 teams also played in the Bedford Area Championships on Monday of this week and, after an excellent day of tennis, came first and second. Medals to be presented to: Harry Clifton, Hamish Whiteman, Edgar Maddocks and Ed Cotter.

This term, we also held the Bedford School Tennis Championships. The competition was open to all boys and there were many competitive matches over a superb evening of tennis. The winners were as follows:  

• Fourth Form – Jorge Garcia De La Rubia  
• Remove Form – Dima Gusev  
• Sixth Form – Josh Stewart  

Minor Sports Colours for tennis were awarded to:

• Kishan Patel
• Will Turner

CREATIVE ARTS

Art

For the Art Society, James Holliday (Lower Sixth) got the term underway with a talk about the Abstract Expressionist, Mark Rothko. James explained that, until he had seen the work in real life, he had not really appreciated it, which served as a reminder that you should not judge artwork on a computer screen. Well done to James for making it to Tate Modern to have a look at the work in person!

OB Harvey Toms is currently studying Art History at Edinburgh University, but found time to come and tell us about his course. He talked enthusiastically about his experiences to date, highlighting work by Caravaggio and Bernini as two artists he has really enjoyed studying this year.

Dr Wallace very kindly agreed to do another talk for us this term following his excellent spring term talk on Hieronymus Bosch. Grunewald’s ‘Isenheim altarpiece’ is a painting that, once seen, is never forgotten and Dr Wallace gave another informative and compelling presentation which was a reminder of just how much he will be missed when he retires at the end of this term.

Christian Tyrell (Lower Sixth) in his talk asked the question ‘Can a polka dot change Art History?’ in the context of looking at the work of Yayoi Kasama. Christian’s enthusiasm and passion for Kasama’s work was clearly evident as he persuasively argued that she has been influential in developing the concept of immersive art and the Instagram-isation of exhibitions.

Dr Koch chose Medieval architecture both in Bedford and Bedfordshire as the subject for his talk. This was an important reminder that if we look carefully at the environment around us there is always something to engage, inform and lift our spirits! We were delighted that Dr Koch agreed to talk to the Art Society for one final time before he leaves at the end of term and wish him well for the future.

Harrison Beveridge (Lower Sixth) talked about ‘Album covers’ as a very specific art form he had recently come across when looking at a friend’s collection of vinyl covers, while James Lumley-Wood (Lower Sixth) chose the hugely ambitious title ‘What is Art?’ as the subject for his talk. In a very well-considered and argued presentation, James persuasively supported his interpretation with plenty of examples, which generated an excellent discussion at the end.

The Architecture Society has continued to focus on observational drawing tasks but, to coincide with the Lower Sixth starting their UCAS applications, Upper Sixth boys Will Maltby and Henry Flatt talked about the whole process and why they had selected the courses and places they have applied to. In their only other talk this term, Merlin Toms (Lower Sixth) looked at contemporary Islamic architecture and, having lived in both Dubai and Qatar, he gave a very personal and well-informed talk.

The end of year exhibition is something of a highlight for the department and an opportunity to celebrate the boys’ hard work in GCSE, A-level and IB. It is also an opportunity for visitors to vote for their favourite work in the exhibition. This year the winner was Austin Ward for his huge and imposing cardboard head sculpture. The Head Master also makes a choice for the Head Master’s Art Prize and on his visit picked out the work of Charlie Barber, Bradley Cole and Jasper Cumming for special mention. But for the range, diversity and scale of work he produced for his exhibition, Charlie McCutcheon was his choice – a worthy winner.

Music

This has been an extremely busy, but successful, term for the music department. Due to COVID restrictions, we were not able to hold the Rock Night in the spring term, so the beginning of the summer term started with a trio of concerts: The Bands Concert, Rock Night and the Prize Winners’ Concert. It was great to see so many boys involved in such contrasting styles of live musical performance, with some outstanding individual performances in particular at the Prize Winners’ Concert. Weekly lunchtime concerts continued throughout the term, giving boys the opportunity to hone their performance skills. Towards the end of term, we were delighted to welcome two of our Visiting Music Fellows to run workshops and masterclasses throughout the Prep and Upper schools. Ralph Allwood (Vocal Fellow) and Mike Lovatt (Brass Fellow) both enjoyed working with the boys, and we were delighted that Mike was also able to speak to the whole Lower Sixth about his career as a jazz trumpeter. We have had two outstanding concerts at the end of term too. Last week was the turn of the jazz musicians (with Mike Lovatt) who performed in the Quarry Theatre, and this week we have heard the singers and instrumentalists perform in the Chapel and Great Hall. Mentions in dispatches must go to James Watson, Nathan Sankersingh, Chris Sporton and Feyi Okusanya for their solo and leadership roles this year and particularly in the concert this week.

Drama

It has been a busy term for the drama department, undertaking some specialist workshops, GCSE devised exam performances to parents, musical workshops for the forthcoming production of Bugsy Malone, and we have now cast this production and started singing rehearsals. Tickets are now on sale for this musical in November, available on the Quarry Theatre website.

The main focus this summer term has been our wonderful Creative Arts Festival. In the Quarry Theatre, we started the Festival with a splendid production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, directed by Lower Sixth Former Sami Hundal. Sami’s creative overview was unique and set the production in Feudal Russia. He comments that Macbeth is “a story that exposes the darkest corners of the human mind and shows what this mind is capable of doing. Shakespeare created a tale that was a warning to society, to man, of the corruption, the jealousy, and the maliciousness that comes with power.”

The dress rehearsal was performed to all of the Fourth Form and they clearly appreciated the production and its creative integrity on stage. The production was another collaboration with the music department, and we would like to thank Mr Rooke and Mr Bantock for all their time on this project. The music was absolutely stunning.

Remove Form Arthur Proctor is our student theatre reviewer this term and has commented on the production (full write up in The Ousel): “A multitude of actors presented us with scenes of horrific murder and gripping violence, it was fair to say that this play had it all. The cast was made up of a handful of boys ranging from Fourth Form up to Sixth Form, with inclusion of girls from Bedford Girls’ School. All actors threw themselves into their character and mastered the art of Shakespearean language, each playing their individual role and with the support of the lighting and sound team, were able to present a fantastic piece of theatre. Imaginative design is what stood out to me the most. Hundal used a fantastic range of design ideas, the favourite being the ghost of Banquo. In this scene, a white spotlight shone upon an empty chair at the dinner table. This spotlight represented the ghost of Banquo, a perfectly constructed technique that interested the audience and bought the scene to life, alongside the impeccable acting of Max Pearson (Macbeth) who supported the technique. The technical team supported this show with ease and thanks must go to Mr Tearle, Jacob Foster and Joe Travis for all their hard work. The projections creatively enhanced the different locations of the production hugely.

“A piece of theatre with such complexity requires a highly skilled team of actors, and every actor was excellent. Luca Moretto, Tom Hayward and Hasan Manji (as the witches) held the piece together, allowing the story to flow and unfold. Cole Balachandran (as Duncan) demonstrated his power and effectively catalysed Macbeth’s hunger for the throne. Theo Artus (as Macduff) treated the audience with an aggressive and well-constructed fight scene with Macbeth that allowed all in the theatre to truly visualise the gruesome nature of the piece, as well as showing the tender vulnerability when he hears of his family’s murder. Artus’ natural spontaneity was fantastic. Will Roberts as Malcolm gave a sound performance, heightening the torment that this play displays at some many moments. Josh Cooke (as Lennox) delivered the famous line of “There’s daggers in men’s smiles” brilliantly and his vocal clarity helped to deliver the complex Shakespearean language. Lastly, a mention must go to the youngest member of the cast, Prep school student Aryan Sohanpal, who played Macduff’s young son. A brief appearance in stage, but a sensitive and thrilling performance to watch. The whole ensemble cast were dynamic and purposeful throughout the entire show.”

This week, a performance of the National connections play Remote took to the Quarry Theatre stage, directed by our resident LAMDA teacher and professional actor, Mr Nick Banks. The director commented on what he chose this particular text: “What drew me to this piece instantly was the rawness of these teenage characters. They embodied what it was like to be a teenager: joyous, frenetic, brutal. Alongside themes of an appreciation of nature and having an awareness of one’s social interactions, it felt like an interesting project to bring to this group of boys. I hope you enjoy the show and that you get the opportunity to connect with the feelings that the youth of today sometimes experience.”

Many congratulations to all the cast; it was a great performance by all. A special mention goes to Josh Cooke who stepped into the production late(?) on and really supported the whole ensemble, who were:

• Tanay Rai – Antler
• Henry Gillham – Desk
• Arthur Polhill – Oil
• Ruairi Cassel – Chris
• Ferdi Barnett-Vincent – Blister
• Rufus Thwaite – Skin
• James Pinkney – Finn

Narrators:

• Josh Cooke
• Nathan Tharakan
• Ben Pickering
• Stephen Brown
• Lucian Davis

Our Academic Drama Society has continued to flourish, and we continue to meet weekly. We are delighted that our President of the Drama Society, Max Pearson, will be continuing with his role next year. He has welcomed the younger members with kindness. We welcome new members in September. The Society started with a fascinating lecture from Fourth Form drama scholar Daniel Hudson. His lecture was on Theatre History. Despite being one of the youngest members of the society, Daniel delivered a fantastic talk in which he not only taught us all about the origins of Theatre and took us back to Greek times, but highlighted Renaissance and the Restoration period. Boys were thoroughly inspired by Daniel’s passion for this challenging topic. Vice president Will Roberts led our final awards ceremony this week and 15 Oscars were presented to a range of boys for their hard work and support towards this society. We are looking forward to our first academic lecture in September by Professor Allain on the Polish Theatre practitioner Grotowski.

Finally, we wish Arthur Polhill and Charlie Eggleton all the very best in their production of Skellig outside of school in the summer holidays.

Before we move to co-curricular reports, a brass group got in touch the other day to ask if they could play some music they had been working on.  So here they are! Rocket Man

CUPS

Cricket

Tennis

Fives

Shooting

Rowing

The LAING BOWL for outstanding sportsman of the year; Archie Houghton         

Overall House Cup

“The McGavin cup is awarded annually in the memory of David McGavin, an old boy of the school, who was killed in a car accident a few years ago. David’s parents wanted to have the cup awarded to someone they felt exhibited the same qualities as their son namely, integrity, kindness, perseverance and leadership in a number of areas of school life.”

The McGAVIN CUP is awarded to Harry Oldham (not present today)       

There are three boys that are missing Speech Day on Saturday as they have a CCF camp.  They will be presented with their prize books at this Final Assembly instead.  They are: 

• Dylan Morgan Jones – The Talalay Science Prize
• Charlie Lawrence – New College Prizes for Classics Junior
• Felix Beckmann – P.K. Bourne Award for Best CCF Recruit

Heads of Houses for next year:

• Ashburnham: Kiran Katechia and James Lumley-Wood

• Bromham: Harry Tongue and James Barney

• Crescent: Louis Elder and Joe Mullaney

• Paulo Pontine: Patrick Diamond and Tomas Spice

• St Cuthbert’s:  Daniel Hutchins and Merlin Toms

• St Peter’s: Matt Weimann

• Burnaby: Mark Kantserov and Frank Wang

• Pemberley: Jasper Walter

• Phillpotts: Kabir Singh

• Redburn: Bertie Denton

• Sanderson’s: Sutong He and Tae Leepiboonsawats

• Talbot’s: Makar Molchanov

EXTRA CURRICULAR

 An interesting selection of reports this term!

Tai Chi

The weather has been very kind to us this term as, despite a chilly start, all sessions have been held in the library garden. The Lower Sixth students in particular have made excellent progress and Artin Lee in the Upper Sixth has been with us throughout, including after his exams, aiming to master the basics before he leaves.

Zoology Society

This term the society has been looking at the inheritance of characteristics using fruit flies. By looking at eye colour and the sex of the fruit flies, the pupils were able to determine whether the colour of their eyes (red or white) was linked to their sex. The pupils learnt how to tell the difference between the male and female fruit flies, and it was great to see actual science in progress.

Duke of Edinburgh

This term, the majority of the Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions finally took place. The Gold Practice Expedition that went at the start of the easter break set the tone, as the boys were superb and all the staff that went on the trip commented on how well the 14 boys did and how much they listened and took on board what they were being taught.

This was followed by the Bronze Practice day walks at the end of the Easter break. A lot was learned on this as quite a number of groups did take some unplanned detours from their routes! However, the boys doing Bronze did learn, as the majority of groups doing their Assessed Expeditions earlier this term stuck to their routes extremely well. There were a number of blisters, but it was great to see the boys back out walking and camping again after a couple of years of disruption.

The Silver Expedition happened in the penultimate week of term in the Peak District, and this was completed in a variety of weather conditions. The Gold Assessed Expedition goes on Sunday after Speech Day to the Lake District.

Thanks must go to all staff who help with the Award Scheme, particularly Mr Watson, Mr Peters, Miss Swallow and Mr Knight.

CCF

Whilst the summer term is traditionally a relatively quiet one for the CCF, the success of Fourth Form recruitment in January and the long shadow of COVID have resulted in a busy training schedule this term. Routine Wednesday training has continued for the Army and RAF, and the Navy have sailed at Priory every week. A significant part of the effort this term has been on preparing for the summer Annual Camps, the first after a three-year hiatus imposed by COVID. Staff training also needed to be maintained and the Officers all attended a three-day first aid course in the week after half term.

Thirty-five cadets attended a skill-at-arms training exercise on the weekend of 18 June, designed to hone their skills in preparation for the summer Camp, and the last Wednesday of term saw the usual CCF BBQ.

The Corps look forward to the Army camp from 9 to 16 July at Barry Budden and the RAF Camp from 16 to 23 July at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

Head Master’s Scarves

There are two to round off the year….

The first goes to a boy of real determination, one who has shown sharp focus in all his academic studies, who has shone on the sports field, representing two first teams, but whose real character has come to the fore in his life as a boarder. Disciplined and dependable, sensitive and kind – a real life gentle giant, in fact – he has been a great friend to all age groups. He has embodied what good leadership is: he has been central to promoting all House events (even creating his own, as his recent Open Air Cinema experience demonstrated) and has enlivened the House spirit with his team of House prefects. He has buoyed the younger boarders by recognising their strengths and talents in the House’s weekly Man of the Week event. Perhaps most striking, however, is how he has also been willing to do the less glamorous jobs of leadership such as handling difficult conversations sensitively and cleaning the Common Room when all else have left. Wonderfully, his care of boarders extended well beyond his own House, and I have heard from others who were touched by his generosity of spirit, especially if they were down themselves. I know that this will be a popular scarf – and it goes to Jake Pattison.

The last scarf of the year goes to somebody who I cannot quite believe has not already got one!  This young man has been almost everywhere we have in the last few years. However, he also embodies the qualities for someone who deserves a Head Master’s scarf – that of humility and not wanting to take or hog the limelight. He has led the musical development of House Singing unison and part songs and has served the school music community as a double bassist of considerable ability as well as a bass guitarist too. He has been an outstanding leader and role model in the Sixth Form of his House and lives out the House values in all that he does. He is brilliant with the younger boys, is reliable and trustworthy and he will be missed in so many ways when he leaves shortly. The reason you all know him so well, though, is through his extraordinary service to the whole school community as a musician and principally as an organist. Does that give it away? He has unstintingly played the organ for weekly assemblies in the Great Hall and Chapel, Boarders Singing every Friday in Chapel, accompanied the Sunday Chapel services, without once complaining about the significant amount of time it has taken. He leaves to take up a post in Wales – so, hopefully, this scarf will help to keep him warm in the chilly West. He is, of course, James Watson.

To round up

Very best of luck to those awaiting results; A-Level results day this year will provide the current Upper Sixth with another chance to meet up. We aim to put on some breakfast and coffee in school so that you can come in, hopefully celebrate, see your peers, ask any advice from teachers. It will be great to see you all. There will be careers and UCAS advice available here too that morning, so those who got their IB results this week may also wish to come along. It will be good to see you all. GCSE results day will follow a similar pattern to A-Levels this year, too.

We say farewell to several staff members tomorrow at Speech Day – please be sure to seek them out at drinks, to which you are all invited with your parents at noon. They are Ms Wainwright, Dr Koch (who very sadly cannot join us), Dr Wallace, Mr Walsh, Mr Bargiela, Mr Ruta, Ms Spyropoulos, Mr Crackle, Mrs Millington and Mr Pieris.

To these and you all your magnificent teachers, we owe a great thanks for the year.

We end, as it traditional, with Domus Pater.