issue 349 | 2015 - Bradford Grammar School

Transcription

ISSUE 349 | 2015
Contents
4
Section One - School Notes
6
Introduction from the Headmaster
6A message from the Incoming Headmaster
7
Speech Day - Headmaster’s Speech
9
Changes to the Governing Body
10 Leaving Staff
12University Degree Course Admissions 2014
15 Examination Results and Comparisons 2014
19University Degree Course Admissions 2015
22 Examination Results and Comparisons 2015
24 Section Two - Junior School
26Trips
27 Notable Events
30 Section Three - Societies and Features
32 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 2015
33Link between Year 7 and Chellow Heights
School
33 Faiths in the City
34 The NPA Fashion Show
35 Debating Society
35 Fairtrade Society
35 Manningham Youth Talks
36 Barnardo’s Mentoring Scheme
36 The NPA Christmas Fair
2
The Bradfordian 2015
38 Section Four - Visits
40
41
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
47
48
Barcelona Trip 2014
French Exchange 2015
Introduction to the City Trip
Economics and Politics Study Visit to
Washington DC
Year 11 Battlefields Trip
Trip to Berlin
Senior Classics Trip to Greece
Madrid trip
Year 7 and 8 Rhineland Trip
Junior Classics trip to Italy 2015
SW USA Geography Trip April 2015
50 Section Five - Arts and Performance
52Two
53 Lady Windermere’s Fan
53 As You Like It
53 The Chairs
53 17 Main Street
54 Chamber Concert
54 Christmas Concert
55 Leavers’ Concert
56 Section Six - Sport
58Athletics
59Cricket
63 Cross Country
64Hockey
68Netball
74Rugby
80Swimming
81 Table Tennis
82 Girls Tennis
83Waterpolo
Contents
3
Section One
School Notes
Inside this section…
6
Introduction from the Headmaster
6A message from the Incoming
Headmaster
7
Speech Day - Headmaster’s Speech
9
Changes to the Governing Body
10 Leaving Staff
12University Degree Course Admissions
2014
15 Examination Results and Comparisons
2014
19University Degree Course Admissions
2015
22 Examination Results and Comparisons
2015
4
School Notes
5
I am sincerely grateful to our students (who are surprisingly
forgiving of my assemblies), parents, colleagues and our
wider school community for the very warm welcome that I’ve
received at BGS. The relationships and friendships that are built
at our school are something special. A recent trip to visit Old
Bradfordians working in the City of London with members of
our Sixth Form reminded me of the high regard in which BGS is
held by alumni and it is a rare honour to lead it as the new Head.
The school is in great shape and I’m thankful to Kevin Riley my
predecessor and our Governors for the model of wise leadership
they have provided over the years.
I wish Kevin and his wife Elspeth a long and happy retirement
in Bristol. I know however that Kevin will not be leaving the
world of education entirely and is looking forward to inspecting
international schools in warm, exotic parts of the world –
something to reflect on during wintry days in BD9.
Hoc Age!
Introduction from
the Headmaster
As ever it’s a great privilege to write the introduction to this
year’s Bradfordian. School publications are both a historical
record and an opportunity for teachers and pupils to contribute
artistically to the life of the school. What this edition does
is reflect the rich and varied education which is on offer
here; from trips to Pompeii through to the War Gaming Club
there is something which helps broaden and deepen pupils’
understanding of themselves and the world in which they live.
It’s also a testament to the fact that the school’s motto ‘Hoc
Age’ (get on with it is the popular translation) manifests itself in
the everyday life of the school. We like to describe ourselves as
a school which is ‘at ease with excellence’. I’m delighted that
this publication is testimony to our success in that aspiration.
A message from the
Incoming Headmaster
BGS is a terrific school and the opportunity to apply for the
Deputy Headship was one not to be missed. Having survived
the first bout of the selection process I fixed my tie and settled
into the drive north for round two. Twenty minutes later I found
myself stirring a mug of lukewarm transport cafe tea stranded
on the A449 in no-man’s land between Wolverhampton and
Stafford after the engine of my car noisily disassembled itself
at the previous junction.
After a quick phone call and a few concise words of
‘encouragement’ from my better half, a bacon sandwich for
courage, and the arrival of a hastily hired car, I was back on the
6
road and arrived at BGS with less than two minutes to spare. I
knew BGS well by reputation and after two days of interviews,
presentations and tours, and most importantly an opportunity
to meet students, staff and Governors, I had everything crossed
for good news on the phone later that evening. Luckily I was not
disappointed.
Less than one year into the job and after further rounds of
interviews and exercises, (I have to be honest, BGS has put me
through my paces these past months!), I was extremely honoured
to be offered the Headship of this wonderful school.
It is a tremendous privilege to have the opportunity to serve
Bradford Grammar School as its 29th Head and I am hugely
excited by the prospect of working with students and their
families, colleagues and Governors in my new role. I fully
intend to play a full and active part in the life of this highly
successful and busy school. The range of students’ interests and
achievements at BGS is simply astonishing. This latest edition
of The Bradfordian represents a very happy school, at ease with
excellence, deeply committed to developing the whole child - a
school that provides a fabulous start in life for those who pass
through its classrooms and halls.
I genuinely believe in the power of an inspiring and well-rounded
education to build character and fundamentally change lives for
the better. If we get it right, and BGS does, education will kindle
an intellectual and emotional response from students, encourage
insight and curiosity, and provide the tools and disposition to
make a valuable contribution to society and the economy. It will
enthuse and equip young people with the flexibility, confidence,
fortitude and sense of fair play for whatever comes next in their
lives. It will be fun too, providing our students with many happy
memories of their time at school. BGS does all these things as
part of its daily routine providing an education that enriches
mind, body and spirit.
Speech Day –
Headmaster’s Speech
Deputy Lord Mayor, Peter, Lady Lynne Morrison, Honoured
Guests, Governors, Ladies and Gentleman and members of the
school. Thank you Lynne for those very kind words, my mother
would have loved it, she wouldn’t have known who you were
talking about but she would have loved it.
You’ll be familiar with Sir Michael Wilshaw who is the Chief
Inspector of schools - quite a controversial figure. He made
a speech last week that I really took to heart because he said
‘great head teachers who improve standards in their own schools
deserve to have statues erected in their honour’. And I thought,
well you know, nothing ventured nothing gained, so I had a word
with the Chairman and I said to Lynne, you know, how about it?
And she looked at me with that quizzical Cumbrian gaze that I’ve
become very familiar with over the last four years and she said:
‘Great idea Kevin, we’ll put it up on the Governors lawn, and it’ll
provide shade in the summer, and shelter in the winter, and the
pigeons can speak for all of us’.
I began my teaching career 37 years ago, as Lynne said, in East
Yorkshire in Pocklington and always had a great affection for
Bradford Grammar School. I brought my U14 rugby team over
for a ritual thrashing, but I’m not going to spend today looking
back on that. All I would say is that you never quite know when
the significant things in your career are going to happen, and
probably the most significant event that’s affected the whole of
my educational career over those 37 years actually happened on
7 September 1978 - one week after I started teaching.
Those of you of a certain age might be scratching your head
thinking about that, we won’t do question and answer but that
was the day which Jim Callaghan announced he wasn’t going
to hold a general election in October. At the time his party were
substantially ahead in opinion polls, and his own popularity was
hugely in front of the opposition, one Margaret Thatcher. And had
he gone to the polls, I’m pretty sure Mrs Thatcher would have
been confined to the footnotes of history as an experiment with
women that didn’t work.
So there we are, one week into my teaching career, and then
36 years 51 weeks later, there it is. I’m very used to powerful
women, in particular my wife, who was, when I arrived here,
memorably described as a ‘living saint’ - and she probably is. But
I am reminded of the John Lennon quote ‘life is what happens
while you’re busy making other plans’ and we’d be wise to keep
that in mind.
Two years ago I talked about our values, and I talked about the
importance of stories. I want to come back to that. Stories are a
key part of cultural life and stories are really important in schools
- stories of what we are and what we might become. And we do
that in this magnificent hall; we have our celebration assemblies
on a Monday, we produce our magazine Hoc Age, which gives a
wonderful picture of all the many, many things that go on in the
school. But the key thing is that lots of schools can do that - lots of
schools will be having speech days, and yet what is it that makes
people really care about this place, what is it that makes us us?
You won’t be surprised to know that I’m a keen fan of the
philosopher Schumacher, the ‘small is beautiful’ man, and when he
wrote about education this is what he said : ‘when people ask for
education they normally mean something more than mere training,
something more than mere knowledge of facts and something
more than mere diversion. Maybe they can’t formulate what they’re
looking for but I think what they’re looking for is ideas that will
make the world and their whole lives intelligible to them.’
And that’s what we do in schools isn’t it? We try to give children
the means by which they can live their lives and make them
intelligible, and to begin that process of being successful in adult
life. And when you hear from Peter later you’ll hear what BGS can
do, and I’m delighted that you’re here today with us Peter.
Our values - we talk about compassion, determination, diversity,
excellence, justice and service and I think of three key things
we’ve done this year that encapsulate our values in a way very
particular to us. The first is that we hosted an exhibition about
Anne Frank earlier this term, and I think it’s rather appropriate
that the Queen today is visiting Bergen-Belsen because that
kind of an event in European history is something that none of
us should forget. So we had the exhibit here, and Year 9 pupils
trained as mentors, taught other pupils, presented to visitors
to the school, to our local community. It was very powerful and
was an example of the school in action - not just in an academic
sense, but in terms of a rounded education, of remembering
where we came from and where we might go, and why of course
European history is important as we go into difficult times.
The second occasion was in this hall, and it was our extremely
moving assembly to recall the 30th anniversary of the Bradford
School Notes
7
fire at Valley Parade. We had a lot visitors here that day, it’s a very
emotive subject and I was really proud of how it was done. That
was an example of the whole school community coming together
because this school is wonderfully served by all staff, all adults in
school, whether serving dinners or teaching Latin. So it was a very
powerful day, and one where we welcomed people into school,
and were resolute about being at the heart of Bradford as a city.
The third occasion I want to bring to attention is our wonderful
series of remembrance services, to remember those Old
Bradfordians, all 215 of them, who served and died in WW1.
The war memorial is at the back of the hall on the first floor,
and there we gather to commemorate each Old Bradfordian on
the anniversary of the day that they died. And Nick Hooper, our
Head of History., whose project it is, has driven it very well, with
help from Trevor Smith from the Governing Body and John Stott
from the CCF who has produced little biographies. And those
biographies really make it because they reach out to current
generations of Old Bradfordians 100 years later and remind them
that those men were like them, that their lives were lost. It is a
very, very powerful and poignant reminder of the past - which
also shows us our future.
We have been at the heart of what it means to be at our great
city. Part of that was last year’s Lord Mayor who gave us a civic
reception for the CCF to celebrate it’s centenary. The CCF and a
number of us from Management and Government of the school
were invited into City hall and it was great day. The day reminded
us of what we are and what we might become and in a way all
of those events are focused in here, the Price Hall - the spiritual
heart of the school.
We come in here at least three times a week, but as one of my
former heads of Art used to say “you look but what do you see?
What do you know about this great building around you?” The
CCF parade and civic reception really took us back to 1914, but
if you go back to 1912, a lot of that is in here, which you might
find quite peculiar given that this wasn’t built until 1937. But
those three windows, up here, the stained glass windows on my
left, they’re from the old school on Manor Road, they were put
into the old school in 1912 to celebrate its 250th anniversary.
They record George V and John Arthur Clapham, whose ancestor
was the famous vicar of Bradford who was both vicar of Bradford
and Headmaster of BGS. The far one was given by the Chairman
of OBA in 1912 in memory of Reverend Thomas Clapham, as was
the window on my right. Not just those windows but the portraits
you come past, the two magnificent portraits on my right. They
were painted by Ernest Sichel, an OB, who was at school when
Delius was here. He was a very famous painter in Victorian times,
and the Reverend Keeling, now he really deserved the kind of
eulogy that Lynne gave as he was Headmaster from 1871 - 1912.
If you think what happened to all these boys in 1914, it brings
you up short. And those are beautiful paintings which invigorate
our life every day. There is a virtuous circle.
I want to pay tribute today to my four colleagues retiring - Nick
Hooper as Head of History, Liz Boyes-Watson a Maths teacher
and Kate Bough who has led the Learning Support Department
over a number of years and also Linda Morris. We shall say
goodbye to Linda next week at Clock House, but I wanted to
bring her in today because we’re all part of BGS. All have given
great service to the school and I’m enormously grateful to them.
So where does the history lesson lead? Well the history lesson
tells us that our forebears did a lot for us. That they understood
how important education was, to build this hall and the school in
the 1930s when Europe was about go up in flames, 20 years after
215 Old Bradfordians had died in a war that was supposed to be
end of all wars. This shows a degree of optimism for the future
that we would do well to heed. We need to remember about this
school that we are custodians, and to us it falls to be able to
drive it forward. To be able to say we did our bit for our school.
And particularly to the boys and girls here, what I say to you is
what I’ve said every time I’ve taken an assembly. Make the most
of your opportunities. It is a fantastic school. And you have a
duty to make the most of it. It’s been a wonderful privilege to be
part of the story of this great school. And I wish you well in the
next exciting chapter.
Changes to the
Governing Body
Andrew Chang
Suzanne Watson
Andrew Chang is a Senior Assurance Advisor for MWH Global,
an engineering and construction consultancy company
operating within the water and natural resources sectors and in
his spare time he is fill-in coach at Harrogate Fencing Club.
Starting her professional life as a weekly and evening news
reporter in North Wales and Bradford, Suzanne Watson moved
into PR in 1992 and has worked with leading consultancies in
North Wales and Chester before setting up her own business,
Approach PR Ltd, in 2001.
Prior to this he worked for Kelda Group Ltd which is the parent
company of Yorkshire Water where his role as Chief Internal
Auditor serving Kelda’s Audit Committee and heading up the
Internal Audit function.
As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management
Accountants and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Internal
Auditors, Andrew was born and raised in Jamaica then lived in
New York, USA for three years and came to England in 1979.
Andrew and his wife Caroline have two children. He was
appointed a Governor of Bradford Grammar School in October
2014.
She is also a business mentor and PR trainer, member of
Bradford Chamber Council, judge for the Chartered Institute of
Public Relations, Leeds Metropolitan University guest lecturer
and a regular guest on BBC Radio Leeds.
Suzanne was appointed a Governor of Bradford Grammar School
in June 2015.
Shirley Congdon
Victoria Davey
Professor Shirley Congdon is Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Academic) at the University of Bradford responsible for the
strategic development and oversight of the standard and
quality of learning and teaching and the student experience.
Victoria Davey was educated in Bradford before qualifying as
a solicitor in 1995 via Lancaster University and York College of
law. She then joined Yorkshire law firm, Gordons LLP in 2004
where she acts as Head of Operations.
She is passionate about the student experience and committed
to creating excellence in learning and teaching and believes that
the cultivation of an environment in which students and staff are
supported to be outstanding and creative will enhance student
success.
As a lawyer she undertakes work on behalf of the regulator, the
Solicitors Regulation Authority, with over 14 years’ experience of
acting as its agent when it closes down practices. She has also
taken responsibility for mentoring, encouraging and supporting
other women in her firm and beyond who are striving to follow
her lead and fulfil their potential.
Her professional and academic expertise lies within the area of
health and social care service modernisation and cultural change,
research methods and evidence-based practice. She has worked
within the field of higher education for 22 years during which time
she has held a number of senior posts in a number of Higher
Education Institutes.
Shirley was appointed a Governor of Bradford Grammar School
in March 2015.
8
As a mum of two, Suzanne is also a lifelong eczema sufferer and
talks at healthcare professional events and in the media about
the condition that led her to becoming a trustee of the National
Eczema Society in 2010.
Her desire to help other women comes from her own experience
and the help she herself received to get to where she is today.
She has also undertaken work on behalf of the Serious Organised
Crime Agency and regional police authorities and acted as an
expert witness.
Victoria was appointed a Governor of Bradford Grammar School
in June 2015.
School Notes
9
Leaving Staff
Kate Baugh
Nick Hooper
Stuart Rees
Liz Boyes Watson
By S Palmer, Head of Learning
Support and Psychology Teacher and J
Chapman, Pastoral Director
By R Page, Data Manager and
Mathematics Teacher
By LW Hanson, Head of English
By D Fishwick, Head of Mathematics
Kate Baugh joined BGS as a Specialist
Teacher of dyslexic pupils in September
2005. Her two boys, William and
Richard, were already at the school so that she arrived as a
familiar, friendly face to both pupils and staff.
Her considerable teaching experience, her extensive knowledge
of how to teach dyslexic pupils and her passion for her role
within school meant she was a wonderful support to all the
pupils she came in contact with. She was also hugely helpful to
the teaching staff and was instrumental in changing attitudes
towards supporting dyslexic pupils at BGS. When she first
arrived at the school, dyslexia support was only offered as a
private arrangement with parents, and for a fee. Kate fought
long and hard to change this, and her success in doing so was
a key factor in the successful development of the BGS Learning
Support department.
Not only was Kate a wonderful mentor to pupils academically,
she was a deeply caring person who was known for her nurturing
abilities, warmth and generous heart. Her energy was inspiring,
and she never stopped fighting for the pupils she referred to as
“my dyslexics”.
Kate recognised the importance of enabling parents to support
their children, and ran a number of lively and informative outof-hours workshops and talks. When parents arrived for these,
they were often nonplussed to find their tables equipped with
industrial strength rubber gloves, cotton wool and blindfolds!
They left the training understanding much more about what it
was to be a pupil with a special need.
Kate supported the school wholeheartedly both as a parent, a
colleague and a teacher. She made a great difference to the
lives of many of the school community. She has now retired to
focus her talents and energy on her family, home and travel.
Nick Hooper finally stepped down
as a teacher of History and Head of
Department after nearly four decades of
service. During his time here, he initially
taught late medieval English history but latterly delivered
Tudor History as part of the A level syllabus. Under Nick’s
stewardship the History Department became one of the most
vibrant and academically reliable of any in the school. A History
Society now meets every Monday covering topics ranging from
the SAS to Mao. We regularly send students to take history
at the country’s leading universities and public examination
results support the career aspirations of all the students who
take History at GCSE or A level. This success owed much to
Nick and his eye for administrative detail.
Nick’s own passion for history came through very strongly in his
lessons. For Nick the sources were always the basis for rigorous
historical analysis and he spoke with personal authority, have
published several scholarly books and articles. Nick was your
go-to-man if you wanted to know where the Anglo-Saxon navy
was in 1066 or why Napoleon’s plan to bounce cannon balls at
Waterloo misfired.
Generations of Bradfordians will associate Nick most
strongly with the World War One Battlefields trip which he
led, almost uninterrupted throughout his time at the school.
The accompanying resource material he crafter over these
years, together with Nick’s detailed evaluation of every site
visited meant that more than any other educational visit, the
‘Battlefields’ became almost a rite of passage at BGS. Typically,
it is Nick who has headed up the research into the more than
200 Old Bradfordians who gave their lives in the Great War and
whose death day we are commemorating 100 after the war at the
school war memorial and elsewhere.
Nick would often be found after school playing squash against
a variety of colleagues and he was a regular member of the
teaching staff squash team. He continues his strong links with
school through his on-going research and games of squash.
Nick will continue to pursue his many interests in retirement. His
love of a good pint, English folk traditions, continued research on
the First World War and dog walking upon on the moor will easily
help him fill the void left by BGS. We all wish him well.
Stuart joined the teaching staff at BGS
in September 2004. No stranger to the
school – Stuart was educated here
– he made the transition from former
pupil to staff member with ease. Ever
popular with pupils in all year groups his ten years of service
were successful and there are many current students and Old
Bradfordians who, if asked, would testify that they had enjoyed
his teaching and his inventiveness. The remarkably positive
relationships Stuart built with the pupils in his teaching groups
was without doubt a stand-out aspect of his time here; they
mirrored his enthusiasm, skill and the wit that he brought to
lessons. Few pupils taught by Mr Rees in full swing will ever
forget the experience. Although lessons were entertaining and
lively, academic standards were maintained and the results his
classes achieved were consistently good. It is fair to say that
over time he gained the respect and popularity of students of
all ages.
Stuart held several posts within the English Department including
KS3 and also KS4 coordinator. He introduced a number of new
methods and procedures and always sought to develop his own
knowledge and improve his own performance in the classroom.
He was particularly successful encouraging wider reading,
introducing a reading adventure programme in Years 7 and 8
and an off-the-shelf list of titles for older pupils. Both of these
engaged pupils in reading beyond the classroom.
Stuart gave much more to the school than teaching and was
involved in a number of extra-curricular activities. As a skilful
golfer he regularly took pupils to Shay Grange and beyond for
golf matches and practice sessions. He was also an excellent
member of the Senior Ski Club and always went the extra mile
for the students. Mr Taylor informs me that this was often literally,
due to his en-piste map reading skills. He helped run training
visits to The Chill Factor in Manchester, always factoring enough
time to visit Nandos before the journey back. His contribution
to the senior ski trips to Europe was outstanding and he was
integral to the trips becoming the full educational experience
they are. According to Mr Taylor his snowboarding ability remains
legendary, despite some impressive wipe outs over the years and
some renowned excuses for his backsiding 180s on the wrong
snow and various other skiing faux pas. His Master of Disaster
award will never be forgotten as will his company, not to mention
the trip’s fines system, which will never be the same again. Along
with skiing and golf Stuart was a highly-skilled debating coach
who was integral to the success of the BGS Debating Society for
a number of years. He not only accompanied the team around
the country but also encouraged participation in debating by
younger pupils, helping to ensure that a steady stream of pupils
made it to the senior ranks.
It is fair to say that when Liz Boyes
Watson was short listed for the vacancy
for a new maths teacher at BGS back
in 2006, she was not the “bookie’s
favourite”. Up against the (then) usual
opposition of well qualified maths graduates, Liz’s background
in finance – she had only moved into teaching relatively
recently, might have told against her. It was the early days
(certainly at BGS) of candidates performing trial lessons,
however, and this rapidly redressed the balance.
Liz’s quite excellent lesson, supported by some very impressive
use of IT, ensured she was offered the position. And what
a fine choice Liz turned out to be. She handled (a perhaps
unreasonable) initial workload including five lower school classes
in her first year, with no complaint and much skill. Her air of calm
authority in the classroom was evident with all age groups and
this quiet, unruffled approach characterised Liz’s teaching over
the following nine years. One striking innovation Liz immediately
introduced to her classroom was a (previously unheard of)
collection of potted plants. My immediate thought was, “there’ll
be soil all over the floor before the end of the day”, but it was not
to be.
Indeed there was great demand amongst her younger pupils
for the final collection of plants, when she offered them as raffle
prizes (free entry!) upon leaving, last year. Liz was unstinting
in her support of her charges, always prepared to offer help at
breaks and lunchtimes, and she was equally committed to the
maths department (most notably as “social secretary”!) and the
school as a whole, where she was a keen member of the choir
as well as a regular supporter of badminton and tennis. Liz was
a most reliable, conscientious member of the maths department
(just one day off in nine years) and we shall miss her calming
presence and friendly, unassuming manner (and her cakes).
I know Liz is looking forward to her retirement, in particular the
opportunity to devote more time to her favourite pastime of
gardening, and, so she tells me, a plethora of “lady’s lunches”.
Enjoy, Liz …
Stuart left BGS to take up the position of Head of English at
Featherstone Academy.
10
School Notes
11
University Degree Course Admissions 2014
This year we have included two academic years of leavers’ university admissions and A level results. This means in future The Bradfordian will include
leavers’ destinations and achievements in the edition that covers their final year.
A
George Thomas Akester
Northumbria
Engineering with Foundation Year
Haseena Ali
Salford
Diagnostic Radiography
Bessie Allan
Nottingham Trent
Theatre Design
Ibrahim Amin
Kings College London
Medicine (5 years)
Tyne Anderson
Durhamham
Chemistry (4 years)
Robert Lloyd John AndrewsAberdeen
Economics
Ben Appleyard
Sports Technology
Thomas James ASheffield HallamrstLiverpool
Architecture
Elizabeth Ayre
Modern Languages
Bristol
H
Roshan Emma Hagan
Bangor
Biomedical Sciences
Joseph Hargreaves
Sheffield
Physics (4 years)
Charlotte Amy Hewitt
NottinghamPolitics
Freddy Hoban
Newcastle
Zoe Holmes
LiverpoolGeology
Elizabeth Louise Horsman
NottinghamEconomics
Jeremy Hotham
York
Hannah Hussain
ManchesterMedicine
Mohammed Shoaib Hussain
Newcastle
Economics and Finance
Daniel Hydleman
Liverpool
Business Economics with a Year in Industry
I Faiz Ilyas
Bradford
Engineering with foundation year
Nahian Islam
Queen Mary University of London
Economics
J
Eden James
BathInternational Management & Modern Languages - German
James Oliver Johnson
Newcastle
Business Management
Laura Jones
Sheffield
Civil and Structural Engineering (4 years)
K
Shadmaan Saleem Kader
Nottingham
Mechanical Engineering
Helen Kelly
University of Central Lancashire
Psychology
James Christopher William Kennedy
Keele
Business Management and Computer Science
Vanessa Kennedy
English
Alasdair Kerr
Manchester
Social Anthropology
Mohammed Akmal Khalil
Bristol
Mathematics and Computer Science
Aqib Khan
BirminghamMathematics
Muhammad Hassan Khan
Economics
Muhammed Daniaal Khan
Manchester
Medicine
Shomeil Khan
Hull
Mechanical Engineering (with foundation year)
Conor James Kilduff
Leeds
Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
George Kirk
Northumbria
Politics and History
Computer Science (with a year in industry)
B
Rhea Balmforth
Sheffield
Structural Engineering and Architecture (4 years)
Keshav Bansal
Nottingham
Ava Barker
LancasterMarketing
Alexander Hastings Barnett
MMU
Raja Haseeb BasitKeele
Medicine
Samuel Baxter
Newcastle
Film and Media
Rowan Beckett
CambridgeMedicine
KriSt Andrews BennettNewcastle
Psychology
Henry Charles Wain BerryLancaster
Economics
Joa Benjamin Bhagaloo
Business Economics
Laura Boardman-SlackLincoln
Zoology
Ella Aisha Bower
Birmingham
History
Caitlin Boyd
Sheffield Hallam
Architecture
James Brassington
MMUInternational Business Management (with overseas study)
Kodie Brook
London Metropolitan
Sport Business Management
Kieran Brophy
Coventry
William Bryant
WarwickMathematics, Operational Research, Statistics, Economics
Joseph Mark Buckley
Newcastle
Luis Patrick Koenig Gimeno
Cardiff
Economics/Philosophy
C
Anaisia Katherine Caffrey
Manchester
Ancient History
James Celaire
Birmingham
Medicine (5 years)
Samuel John Lader
Hull
Geography (with foundation year)
Lucile Chave BristolNeuroscience
L
Miaochen Judy Lai
Imperial College London
John Coen
LeedsMedicine
Caroline Lavery
London Metropolitan
Fashion
Natasha Collier
Lancaster
Management Studies and European Languages (4 years)
Abigail Leach
Bath
Management with Marketing (with professional placement)
Gregory Cox
St Andrews
Geography and International Relations
Joseph Leach
Bournemouth
Multimedia Journalism
Jonathan Stephen Lee
Birmingham
Physics (4 years)
Victoria Lewis
Nottingham Trent
Veterinary Nursing FT
Elizabeth B Linfield
University College London
Natural Sciences
Simon Lovitt
York
History
M
Lily Catherine MacTaggart
Oxford
English and French (4 years)
Georgina Machin
Newcastle
Civil and Structural Engineering
Adam Mahmood
Newcastle
Biomedical Sciences
Hasan Mahmood
St Andrews
Electronic Engineering
Raheem Mahmood
Medicine (6 years)
Maisie Manners
Liverpool
Business Management with a Year in Industry
William Masterton
Queen Mary University of LondonScience and Engineering Foundation Programme
Joa McDermott
LiverpoolGeology
Harriet Meakin
St Andrews
Classics
Rajan Midha
Bradford
Business Economics
Glasgow
Aeronautical Engineering
Leeds
Computer Games Technology
D
Niamh Darren
Newcastle
Philosophical Studies: Knowledge and Human Interests
Neil Dattani
Nottingham
International Relations
Sarah Dewhirst
Sheffield
History
Owain Edward George Downes
NottinghamPolitics
James Downey
MMU
International Business Management
Monica Kaur Duggal
Sheffield
Dentistry
Susannah Duncan
BirminghamGeography
F
Charles William Farrar
Loughborough
Geography and Management
David Fear
Salford
Contemporary Military and International History
LouiseFraser
12
Loughborough
University Degree Course Admissions 2014 continued…
BirminghamEnglish
G
Jillian Rachel Gaunt
LiverpoolGeology
Freya George
NottinghamClassics
Arrandeep Singh Gill
Warwick
Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics & Economics
Alasdair Glen
Cambridge
History
Michael Charles Grant
Sheffield
Medicine (Phase One)
(Materials Science 4 Year)
HamzahMushtaq
School Notes
13
General Certificate of Education (A Level) 2014
N
Qais Nazir
Anglia Ruskin University
Optometry
Vlad Neagu
Bristol
Aerospace Engineering
O
Martha Ellen O’Sullivan
Leceister
Biological Sciences (Genetics)
Samuel Ogden
NewcastlePhysics
Molly Rose Orviss
LiverpoolLaw
Elizabeth Oxley
BirminghamPsychology
(* indicates A and ** indicates A*)
P
Sarah Parry
Language and Culture (4 years)
Erin Hannah Pettit
Hull
Chemistry (with Industrial Experience)
Akester: GT
ek, ma, ph
bu*, gy, sp
Emma Prophet Phillips
Cambridge
Human, Social and Political Sciences
Ali: A
bi, ch, ma*
F
Farrar: CW
A
Flavell: JT
cl, hi, pl
Charlotte Pinder
Economics with a Year Abroad
Allan: BS
ar*, gl, ts
Fraser: LA
ea*, el, ph
Charlotte Pogson
Durham
Geology
Anderson: TL
ch**, ma**, fm**, ph*
Claire Helen Powell
BangorGeography
Andrews: RLJ
ec, gy, ma
Appleyard: B
dt**, ma, ph
Gaunt: JR
ar**, gl*, ph
Ashurst: TJ
ar**, dt, ph
G
George: FL
ch, cl*, pl**
Ayre: EK
fr*, pl**, sp*
Gill: AS
ch*, ma**, fm**, ph*
Glen: AG
ec**, gy**, hi**, pl**
Grant: MC
bi**, ch*, ma*, ph*
Gundry: CJ
gl
H
Hagan: RE
bi, ch, ea
Hargreaves: JA
ch, ma, ph*
Hewitt: CA
el, gy*, pl*
Holmes: ZL
bi, gy, gl*
Horsman: EL
ch*, ma**, ph**
Hotham: JJ
cs, ma, pl
Hussain: H
bi*, ch*, ma*, ph*
Hussain: MS
bu*, ec*, ma
Hydleman: DL
ec, ma*, ph
I
Ilyas: F
ch, ma, ph
J
James: EE
bi*, gn*, ma
Johnson: JO
ec, hi*, ma
Jones: LF
fr, ma*, ph
K
Kader: SS
dt**, ma**, ph**
Kelly: H
cl, el, py
Kennedy: JCW
bu, cs, sp
Kennedy: V
el, hi, pl**, ts
Khalil: MA
cs*, ma**, fm*, ph*
Khan: A
ma**, fm**, ph*
Khan: MD
bi*, ch*, ma**, ph*
Khan: MH
ec*, ma*, ph*
Khan: SA
ma, ph, rs
Kirk: GL
bu*, ma, ph
Koenig-Gimeno: LP
gy, pl, rs*
R
Kishan Rana
Exeter
Economics & Politics with Industrial Experience (4 years)
Eron Samee’ Ul Rasul
Manchester
Chemistry with Industrial Experience
Nathan Daniel Kasoka Rattray
Manchester
History
Ailis Marie Rhodes
Newcastle
English Literature
Alexander Robinson
Newcastle
Business Management
Joseph Rowbottom
Newcastle
Earth Science
S
Daniel James Sanderson
Cambridge
History
Haroon Shafiq
Manchester
Dentistry (BDS first-year entry)
Vikram Sharma
Brighton
Pharmacy (4 years)
Alexander Mountain Sheldon
LincolnChemistry
Annabel Valerie Shelton
Physiotherapy
Amelia Lucia Lawson Smith
Exeter
Mathematics, Business and Finance
Charles Smith
Liverpool John Moores University
Civil Engineering
Andrew Francis Styles
Oxford
Physics (4 years)
T
V
Fine Art (AR), Biology (BI), Business Studies (BS), Chemistry (CH), Classical Civilisation (CC), Design & Technology (DT), Economics (EC), Electronics (ES),
English Language (EL), English Language & Literature (LL), French (FR), Geography (GG), Geology (GL), German (GM), Greek (GK), History (HI), Information
& Communication Technology (IT), Latin (LA), Mathematics (MA), Further Mathematics (FM), Additional Further Mathematics (FA), Music (MU), Music
Technology (MT), Philosophy (PL), Physical Education (PE), Physics (PH), Politics (PO), Psychology (PY), Religious Studies (RS), Russian (RU), Spanish
(SP), Theatre Studies (TS).
B
Bailey: D
ma*, fm, ph
Balmforth: RE
hi*, ma, ph
Bansal: K
dt*, ma*, ph*
Barker: AMB
bu*, py*, pl*
Barnett: AH
ek, cs, ma, ph
Barrett-Casey: KE
cl*, el*, fr, hi**
Basit: RH
bi*, ch*, ma
Baxter: SG
bu, ec, ma
Beckett: RTJ
bi**, ch**, ma**, ph**
Bennett: KH
py**, pl**, rs*
Berry: HCW
ch, ec, ma
Bertrand: GL
bi, ch, py
Bhagaloo: JB
ec*, ma, sp*
Boardman-Slack: LE
bi, ch, ma
Helen Thornton
BirminghamPhysiotherapy
Bower: EA
ea*, hi*, py**
Stephanie Xiao-Mei Tye
Cambridge
Boyd: CA
dt, ec, ph
Brassington: JW
bu, en, hi
Broadbridge-Kirbitson: FK
bi**, ch*, ma*
Brophy: KP
ek, ma, ph
Buckley: JM
dt, ma*, ph
Natural Sciences
Laalithya Vadlamani
Oxford
Economics and Management
Jake Vaughan
East Anglia
Medicine
W
Ciara Walsh
Leeds
James M A Walsh
YorkPhysics
Emma Whittam
Nottingham
American Studies and English
Francis Williams
Birmingham
American and Canadian Studies and History
Georgie Laura Williams
ManchesterManagement
George Worthington
Sheffield
Z
14
Examination Results and Comparisons 2014
Syed Asad Abbas Zaidi
St Andrews
French and Italian B
Politics
Computer Science
C
Caffrey: AK
cl, el, cs
Celaire: JM
bi**, ch*, fr*, ma**
Chave: L
ch*, ma*, ph
Chivers: ML
bi, ch, ph*
Clegg: OP
dt
Collier: NLA
bu*, hi, sp*
Cox: GJ
bu**, gy*, pl*
D
Darren: NE
py*, pl**, rs**
Dattani: N
ec, pl*, sp*
Dewhirst: SL
bi*, gn, hi
Downes: OEG
el, gy, pl*
Downey: JW
bu, en, hi
Duggal: MK
bi*, ch*, rs*
Duncan: SH
bu, gy*, py
School Notes
15
L
Lader: SJ
gl, cs, ph
ec*, ma*, pl*
ch*, ma**, fm*, ph*
R
Rana: KA
Lai: MJ
Rattray: NDK
el*, hi**, py, rs
Lavery: CE
ar*, gy, ts
Rhodes: AM
el*, fr, pl**
Leach: AF
bu**, ea, py*
Robinson: AC
bu*, en, pl*
Leach: JD
en, pl*, ts
Rowbottom: JA
ec, gy, hi
Lee: JS
ma**, fm, ph, pl*
Lee: OG
ar*, bu, rs*
Lewis: VG
bi, ch, dt**
Sanderson: DJ
el**, hi*, ma**, ts*
Linfield: EB
bi*, ch**, ma**, ph*
S
Shabir: YMB
ch, ec, hi
Lovitt: SAE
hi, ma, ph
Shafiq: H
bi*, ch*, ma
Sheldon: AM
ch, mu tech*, py
Smith: ALL
ch, ma*, fm*, ph
M
Machin: G
gn*, ma, ph*
Smith: CN
bu, ma, ph
Mactaggart: LC
cl**, el**, fr**, gk**, hi**
Starling: ES
ch, en*, py
Mahmood: AA
bi, ch, ma
Stell: E
bu**, ea*, py*
Mahmood: H
ek, cs, ma
Styles: AF
ch**, ma**, ph**
Mahmood: RYH
bi**, ch*, ec**, ph
Manners: MC
bi, bu*, gy
Masterton: WM
ch, ma, ph
Thornton: HC
bi, ec*, hi
McDermott: JS
gl, ma, ph
T
Tye: S
bi**, ch**, ma**, sp**
Meakin: HF
cl*, gk*, la*, ts
Merrick: SAC
ec, hi, pl**
Vadlamani: L
ec**, ma**, fm**, pl**
Midha: R
bi, ch, ma
V
Mistry: UVB
ek, cs, ma
Walsh: CM
bi, fr, gy*
Mushtaq: HT
ma*, fm, ph
W
Walsh: JMA
ch, ma, ph*
Whittam: E
bu, en**, pl*
Williams: FJV
ec, hi, pl
Williams: GL
bu**, en, gy*
Worthington: GA
ec, hi, pl*
16
N
Nazir: Q
ch, ph, py
Neagu: V
ek**, ma**, fm**, ph*
O
Ogden: SJH
bi*, ma*, ph*
Orviss: MR
el, pl, ts
O’Sullivan: ME
bi, mu
P
Parry: SM
ar**, bi*, gy**, gn*
Pettit: EH
ch, el, ma
Phillips: EP
el**, hi**, pl**
Pinder: CE
bi*, ch**, ma**
Pogson: CA
gy*, gl*, py
Powell: CH
bi, ea, gy
School Notes
17
University Degree Course Admissions 2015
A
Umair Akbani
LiverpoolMedicine
Faraaz Najum Shahid Ali
Bradford
Pharmacy (4 years)
Haseena Ali
Biomedical Science
Iona Claire Anderson
NewcastleZoology
Zoe Louise Andrews
NewcastleMedicine
Jack Appleyard
Sheffield
Journalism Studies
Oliver Joa Arthurs
Birmingham
History and Political Science
William George Ashby
Modern Languages (4 years)
Adam Christopher Atkinson
CambridgeMedicine
Nicholas Alexander David Atkinson
Nottingham
Chemistry (4 years)
Zacharea Sahil Ayub
Plymouth
Medicine and Surgery
B
David William Bagshaw
University of Edinburgh
French and German
OmarBaha Durham Bradford
Mechanical and Automotive Engineering
Nabeel Bhatti BradfordEconomics
Talha Bhatti Bradford
Pharmacy (4 years)
Isabel Connce Blackhall
Liverpool
Music and English
Kennedy Brankin Sheffield
Chinese Studies with French
Harry Foster Brayshaw
Physics
Harriet Frances BrearLeeds
Management
Poppy Briggs
Newcastle
Biology (Cellular and Molecular Biology)
Edward Brownlee
Nottingham
Veterinary Medicine
Saqib Mahmood ButtBradford
C
Emily Carroll
LiverpoolPsychology
Helena Patricia Casson
Durham
Geography
Peter Clegg
Birmingham
Modern Languages with Business Management
Thomas William Henry Cockcroft
Northumbria
Business with International Management
John Coen
Bradford
Clinical Sciences/Medicine Foundation (Year 0)
Jason Aaron Collins
WarwickMathematics
Oliver Michael Crew
NewcastleBiology
Aliir Cripps
Politics of the International Economy
Rachael Elizabeth Currie
Durham
Modern Languages
D
Vishal Dattani
Nottingham
Politics and Economics
Emilia Rose Davies
Durham
History
Navjyot Devesher
WarwickEconomics
Simran Singh Dhesi
Jade Dhesi
NewcastleMedicine
Zoe Elizabeth Dickinson
Liverpool
Classical Studies
F
Alexandra Julia Farrar
University of Manchester
Medicine
Piers Alexander Fisher
WarwickChemistry
Guy Thomas Foggitt
Birmingham
Medicine (5 years)
Nicole Fordham
Loughborough
Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Katharine Rachel Foxton
Bradford
Archaeological Sciences (4 years)
G
William Garforth
MMU
Business Management (with Foundation Year)
George Declan Gill
University of Aberdeen
Geology and Petroleum Geology
George Goddard
Durham
Chemistry (International)
French (4 years)
SophieGreen
18
ICT
Medicine (5 years)
School Notes
19
H
Ella Hainsworth-Brear
Newcastle
Combined Honours
WarwickMathematics
University of Oxford
Biological Sciences
N
Liza Grace Nelson
Elizabeth Catherine Heard
Paul Richard Norfolk
David William Heslop
Nottingham Trent University
History
P
Zainab Patel
BradfordPsychology
Ebrahim Adnan Patel
Medicine
Akash Patel
University College London (2015)
Information Management for Business
Harry David Petyt
WarwickMathematics
Selina Tanuja Pillai
LiverpoolMedicine
James Pinto
Leeds
Environment and Business
Q
Umair Qadeer
Bradford
Pharmacy (5 years practice-integrated programme)
Haaris Aytishaam Mahmood Qureshi
Newcastle
Computer Science with Industrial Placement
R
Hamza Rehman
Leeds
Chemical Engineering
Gemma Louise Robinson
French and Hispanic Studies (with year abroad)
Sarah Ross
Leeds
International History and Politics
S
Bilal Saleem
Leeds
Mechatronics and Robotics
Harjan Singh Sandhar
Medicine
Benedict Scantlebury
History
Mark Scholefield
Sheffield Hallam University
Software Engineering
Liam Scott
Physics
Tayyab Shahzada
Sheffield
Physics (3 years)
Christopher Wolfgang Silberberg
Durham
Ancient History
Hector S
WarwickEconomics
Alexander William Smith
University of Southampton
Geology
Charles Snowden
Nottingham
History
Alexander Thomas Spencer
Newcastle
Civil Engineering
Christopher Paul Alexander Steenson
YorkArchaeology
Gabriella Swansea
LiverpoolMedicine
Nicolas Swansea
Nottingham (2015)
Industrial Economics
T
Ajay Taheem
English and European Law (4 years)
William Alexander Templeton
University of Brighton
Geology
Olivia Jane Thomas
French and German
Emma Topham
Durham
Modern Languages
William Truby
Liverpool
Music/Popular Music
Tamsin Turner
History and American Studies
V
Rachel May Varley
History and Politics
W
Emily Wadden
University of Gloucestershire
Psychology
Fergus Alexander Walden
YorkEconomics
Francis Joel Walker
Northumbria
International Business Management
Hanyu Wang
Swansea University
Mechanical Engineering (with a Year in Industry)
Nicholas James Winn
University of Bath
Civil Engineering
Samuel William Wood
Heriot-Watt University
Biological Sciences
Joseph Wood
History
James Woods
University of Southampton
Computer Science
Catherine Wright
Edinburgh Napier University
Nursing (Child Health)
Rowan Wright
WarwickEconomics
Annabel Hewitt
NottinghamPolitics
Sophie Rebecca Hill
Anglia Ruskin University
Law
David Hillmen
Chemical Engineering
Katherine Olivia Holmes
Liverpool
Geology (Northumbria America)
Isabelle Holmes
University of Manchester (2015)
Politics and Modern History
Matthew James Hull
Classics I
Harry Hurren
Leeds Metropolitan University
Sports Coaching
Grace Rachel Hurren
York
History of Art
Sumiya Hussain
BristolMedicine
Aneesa Hussain
Biomedical Sciences (Human Biology)
I Blair Illingworth
University of Aberdeen (2015)
Geology and Petroleum Geology
Libby Mary Illingworth
University of Leicester (2015)
Medicine
Imaan Iqbal
LiverpoolMedicine
Imran Iqbal
St George’s, University of London
Medicine
Hamish Irvine
Leeds College of Art
Photography
Laura Elizabeth Irwin
BristolEconomics
J
Katherine Jowsey
K
Parvathi Kanakath
Hull York Medical School
Medicine
Anisha Kaur
Nottingham
French and Philosophy
Hamish Kay
Newcastle
Civil Engineering
Olivia Ashleigh Kelly
Psychology
David Ker
Mathematics
Ciaran Patrick Kilduff
Politics
L
James Joseph Thornton Laing
University of St Andrews
English
Sophie Louise Lane
Dentistry (BDS first-year entry)
Laura Layton
English Language and Communication
Hean Yeung Lee
Nottingham
Pharmacy (4 years)
Jacqueline Ga Yi Li
Natural Sciences
Philip Liburd
BirminghamEnglish
Harriet Liddington
BirminghamChemistry
William Liddington
Royal Holloway University of London Geology
20
Geology and Physical Geography
(2015)
James Loney
Warwick (2015)
Engineering
Samuel Longfield
Geology
Michael Gordon Harry Lord
Music Production
M
Joel MacFarlane
Newcastle
Civil and Structural Engineering
Charles Harry Nicolas Manock
Northumbria
Design for Industry
Roma Alexandra McNeil
Leeds
Dental Surgery
Hannah Mears-Young
Glasgow
Music/Theatre Studies
Luis Millares-Bobet
York
Computer Science
Emily Natassja Misbert
Queens University Belfast
Medicine
Jamie Dominic Moss
Geography and Economics
Toby Mountain
Loughborough
Human Biology
Samuel Peter Munro
NewcastleMedicine
Physics
School Notes
21
Examination Results and Comparisons 2015
General Certificate of Education (A Level) 2015
Fine Art (AR), Biology (BI), Business Studies (BS), Chemistry (CH), Classical Civilisation (CC), Design & Technology (DT), Economics (EC), Electronics (ES),
English Language (EL), English Language & Literature (LL), French (FR), Geography (GG), Geology (GL), German (GM), Greek (GK), History (HI), Information
& Communication Technology (IT), Latin (LA), Mathematics (MA), Further Mathematics (FM), Additional Further Mathematics (FA), Music (MU), Music
Technology (MT), Philosophy (PL), Physical Education (PE), Physics (PH), Politics (PO), Psychology (PY), Religious Studies (RS), Russian (RU), Spanish
(SP), Theatre Studies (TS).
(* indicates A and ** indicates A*)
A
Akbani: U
bi**, ch*, rs*
cl, gy, gl
Ali: H
bi, ch*, sp*
G
Gill: G
Goddard: G
ch*, gn*, ma**, fm*
Amin: I
bi**, ch*, ma**
Green: S
el*, fr*, mu, rs**
Andrews: Z
ch**, ma**, fm*, ph**
Appleyard: J
ec*, en, ma
Arthurs: O
gy, hi, pl*
Ashby: W
fr, gy**, sp*
Atkinson: A
bi**, ch**, fr*, ma**
Atkinson: N
bi*, ch**, ma**, ph*
Ayub: Z
bi**, ch**, it**
B
H
Heard: L
bi**, ch**, ma**, sp*
Heslop: D
bu, dt, hi
Hill: S
bi, ru, sp
Hoban: F
gl, hi, pl
Holmes: I
hi, pl*, rs*
Holmes: K
bi**, ch, gl*
Hainsworth-Brear: E bu, en*, rs*
Bagshaw: D
fr*, gn*, ma**, ph*
Hull: M
fr*, gk*, la**, ma*
Bahadur: O
bu, ma*, ph
Hurren: G
fr, hi, pl*
Blackhall: I
bi, el*, mu
Hussain: A
bi, ch, pl
Brankin: K
ch, fr*, ma
Hussain: S
bi**, ch*
Brayshaw: H
ch*, ec*, ma**, ph*
Briggs: P
bi, ch, cl
Brook: K
bu, gy, pl
Brownlee: E
bi**, ch*, gl*
Bryant: B
ec, ma**, fm*, ph*
Butt: S
bu, en*, it
C
Casson: H
el*, gy*, rs**
Clegg: P
bu, gn, sp*
Cockcroft: T
bu, dt*, gy
Coen: J
bi**, ch*, ph
Collins: J
ch*, ma**, fm**, fm*, ph*
Crew: O
ar**, bi, ph
Cripps: A
ec**, gy*, pl**
Currie: R
fr*, gy*, sp*
22
D
Dattani: V
ec, hi, pl*
Davies: E
el**, fr*, hi**, pl**
Devesher: N
bi**, ch*, ec**, ma*
Dhesi: S
bi**, ch**, ma*
Dickinson: Z
cl, el, hi
F
Farrar: A
bi**, ch*, fr*
Fear: D
ek, hi, ph
Fisher: P
ch, ma*, fm, ph
Foggitt: G
bi*, ch*, hi**
Fordham: M
ar**, bi, ph
Foxton: K
bi, cl, gl
I
Illingworth: L
bi**, ch**, ma**
Iqbal: I
bi*, ch*, ma*, rs*
Irvine: H
ar**, bu*, en*, hi**
Illingworth: B
bi, ec, gl*
Irwin: L
ec**, ma**, ph*
Ishtiaq: R
bi, ch, rs*
Islam: N
bi, ch*, ma*
J
Jowsey: K
K
Kanakath: P
bi*, ch*, el, ph
Kaur: A
cl, fr, rs*
Kay: H
ch, ma*, ph
Kelly: O
en*, gy, hi
Kerr: A
bi, ec, gy
Kilduff: P
bu*, en*, pl*
ch, gy*, hi*
L
Layton: L
cl, ea*, el*
Leavor: R
ar, en, gn
Lane: S
Examination Results and Comparisons 2015 continued…
M
Macfarlane: J
dt*, ma*, ph*
bi, ec*, hi
ek, ph
T
Thornton: HC
Mahmood: H
Taheem: A
hi**, pl**, rs*
Manock: H
ar, bu, dt
Templeton: W
bi, gy, gl
McNeil: R
bi**, ch**, gy*
Thomas: O
ec*, fr*, gn, la*
Mears-Young: H
el, mu, ts*
Topham: E
bi*, la*, sp*
Melville: S
bi, bu, pl
Truby: W
ma*, mu, mu tech, ph
Millares-Bobet: L
ek*, ma*, ph
Turner: T
en**, hi*, ph
Moss: J
ec*, el, gy*
Twaddle: J
bi*, ch*, ma**, fm*
Munro: S
bi**, ch**, ma**
ar, hi*, pl**
ch*, ma**, fm**, ph**
V
Varley: R
Nelson LL
Vaughan: J
bi*, ch*, ma*
Norfolk: P
ch*, ma*, fm*, ph*
ch, ec*, ma**, ph
ec
W
Walden: F
Okorie: E
Walker: F
bu, ec, pl
Oxley: E
bi*, ch, ph, rs*
Watson: E
bu, gy, gl
Wilcock: M
it, ma, ph
Winn: N
ar**, ch*, ma*, ph*
Wood: J
ch*, ec*, hi*, ma**
Wood: S
bi, ch, ph
Woods: J
ek*, ma**, fm*, ph*
Wright: R
ec*, ma**, ph*
Z
Zaidi: A
ch, ma**, ph*
N
O
P
Patel: A
ec*, it*, ma
Patel: A
bi*, ch**, la*, ma*
Patel: Z
gy, it
Pearson: G
bu, gy, pl
Petyt: H
ch*, ma**, fm**, fm**, ph**
Pinto: J
bu, gy*, gl
Q
Qadeer: U
bi, ch, hi*
Qureshi: H
ek*, it, ma, ph
R
Rasul: C
bi*, ch*, ma*
Robinson: G
ec, fr*, sp*
S
Saleem: B
ch, ma**, fm*, ph
Sandhar: H
bi*, ch*, ma*, ph
Scott: L
hi*, ma**, ph**
Shahzada: T
ch, ma, ph*
Sharma: V
bi, ch, ph
Sheldon: A
hi
Silberberg: C
gk, hi**, la*, ma
Smallwood: H
el, hi
Smith: A
gy, gl, ph
Snowden: C
ec*, hi*, pl*
Spencer: A
fr*, ma*, ph
Swanepoel: G
bi*, ch*, ma*
Swanepoel: N
bu*, ec*, ma
bi*, ch*, el**
Lee: HY
ch*, ma*, ph*
Li: J
ch**, ma**, fm**, fm**, ph**
Liburd: P
el, hi, pl
Liddington: W
ch, gl, ph
Lintin: C
ar**, dt*, ma*
Loney: J
ch, ma**, fm*, ph*
Longfield: S
ek, gl, ph
Lord: M
hi, mu tech, ts
School Notes
23
Section Two
Junior School
26Trips
27 Notable Events
24
School Notes
25
Trips
Notable Events
Ingleborough Hall 2015
By E Burke, Year 4 pupil
First we all went to the Falconry Centre to see all the birds of prey. My favourite bird was the Golden Eagle. We had a big owl
land on our arms, it was really heavy! The Barn Owl was misbehaving by being stubborn. After our picnic lunch we went to
Ingleborough Hall.
When we arrived there we unpacked our bags and went outside to play. Afterwards we came inside and had our tea of pizza or fish
fingers and then off to the outside classroom for country/folk dancing. It was really fun! Mr Smith’s dancing was very funny!!
In the morning one group went into the village whilst the other group studied the hall. It was good because we got to buy sweets in
the village shop. After lunch it was change-over time. In the evening we enjoyed a very good barbecue and we played loads and
loads. All the mummies and daddies came.
On Sunday we all went down Ingleborough show cave. It was very very cool!! When we came out we bought jewels and gems from
the shop.
After we packed our bags we met downstairs with our suitcases and all filed on to the coach to go back to Clock House. What a great
time we all had!
Shakespeare week
Visit from NSPCC
In March 2015, the Junior School joined 6,632 other schools in
celebrating Shakespeare Week. Shakespeare Week is a national
annual celebration giving primary school children a great first
encounter with Shakespeare and is run by the Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust. Clock House pupils were inspired to take part
in all sorts of Shakespeare based activities throughout the week,
including watching a national screening of a short film version of
Henry V, and writing and acting in Shakespearean style dramas.
Each child received a passport to Shakespeare, an illustrated
booklet, to encourage their relationship with Shakespeare
beyond the classroom. The week was a huge success and the
Year 6 pupils were proud to perform their short dramas to friends
and family on Grandparents’ Day in June.
Lyn Hallard from NSPCC recently visited Bradford Grammar
Junior School and held a captivating assembly explaining all
about the work the NSPCC carry out and how it helps children
with unhappy lives.
The whole of Clock House took part in a biathlon to raise money
for the NSPCC. Every child swam two lengths of the school pool
and ran 800m gaining points for the times they achieve. All the
children have been busy obtaining sponsorship for the event. The
final total raised was £4,300 - one of the most successful charity
events the school has ever undertaken.
Over the last few years the annual inter-house biathlon
competition, which is run in conjunction with British Pentathlon
Association, has become a big part of the school’s sporting
calendar.
A Rare Talent
Nicholas Miller was selected at regional level (and came top) to
play in the National Table Tennis Championships at Ponds Forge.
Nicholas has also been selected to play cricket for Yorkshire with
three other pupils for Bradford Schools.
Pom Dancing
During the last month of the Summer Term our Year 5 pupils
became National Champions at Pom Dancing. This is the fifth
year in a row that we have won a national award. Our pupils
performed with hundreds of other children from schools across
the country at the Manchester Velodrome. The pupils practiced
throughout the year and it certainly paid off with this excellent
victory. Our thanks go to Dawn Murray our dance coach.
26
Junior School
27
Fashion Show
Over 50 of our pupils took part in the fashion show. Molly Orviss
Head Girl was choreographer for the pupil’s dance routines
and Mrs Allen and Mrs Orviss were on hand to organise the
logistics. The whole show was a fantastic event involving pupils
throughout the school and indicates just what a great school this
is when sixth formers and six year olds can take part in the same
event with such enthusiasm.
Oxford German Olympiad
Our pupils entered the Oxford German Olympiad poem
competition. We were delighted to hear about the following
successes:
• Winner - Diya Basra
• Runner Up - Rebecca McCash
• Highly Commended - Shui Liu
• Commended - Joseph Rogers
• Commended - Anja McCormac
• Commended - Alexander Flaherty
All entrants selected as winner, runner up or highly commended
were invited to a prize-giving ceremony at Oxford University’s
Bodleian Library on 23 June. Michael Morpurgo presented
our pupils with their prizes and certificates on what was a
spectacular evening.
Wharfedale Festival of
Performing Arts
Congratulations to Tabitha Wood who recently entered the
Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts playing the piano. She
entered a number of categories and achieved amazing results.
At the age of 10 Tabitha entered the 16 and under recital and
the 15 and under solo and finished 2nd in both. The following
day Tabitha competed in the 10 and under solo, 12 and under
solo, 10 and under duet, 10 and under trio and 12 and under trio
finishing in 1st place in all categories and achieved a distinction
grading in all five!
Following the Festival Tabitha was invited to play in the
Wharfedale Festival celebration concert at Christchurch and
gained the overall special award for the most promising young
pianist in the whole Wharfedale Festival and the Ashbrook
Memorial trophy.
House Music Competition
The House Music Competition had over 130 individual pupils
involved out of a total of 196 children in the school. This is
fantastic and shows just how popular music is within the junior
school. Each pupil performs in front of over 600 parents and
guests so whether they are playing three notes in the orchestra
or an individual piece, the experience is excellent. We encourage
everyone to play an instrument, sing or just be on hand to help
out moving equipment. This is truly a whole school event.
28
Junior School
29
Section Three
Societies
and Features
32 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 2015
33 Link between Year 7 and Chellow
Heights School
33 Faiths in the City
34 The NPA Fashion Show
35 Debating Society
35 Fairtrade Society
35 Manningham Youth Talks
36 Barnardo’s Mentoring Scheme
36 The NPA Christmas Fair
30
Societies and Features
31
Duke of Edinburgh’s
Award 2015
By SR Hoath, Biology Teacher and Duke of Edinburgh
Coordinator
It has been another very busy year for students and staff with over
200 students actively participating in the award. Participants are
successfully managing their own areas using the much improved
3rd generation version of the online ‘eDofE’, and as the electronic
wizardry improves more and more students are completing their
award. There are now over 420 Bronze Award holders and a
further 76 who have completed their Gold. This would not have
been possible without the support and time given by 30 staff over
the 12 days of training, practice expeditions and assessment
expeditions. Over the past year the school has passed all of the
criteria needed to run its own award scheme. The school has
been granted a licence which allows us to take ownership of
all elements of the award with the exception of the Gold award
assessments. This has been a great success and the award runs
much more smoothly thanks to the addition support from Diane
Truby and Lucy Daxner in the administration office.
Bronze award
Building on the previous years’ experience we have 103
pupils participating in this year’s Bronze Award. The practice
expeditions took place over four days in lower Wharfedale,
where our pupils experienced some uncharacteristically fantastic
bank holiday weekend weather. The assessed expeditions took
place in Nidderdale where the conditions were even better and
even the generic biting insects couldn’t keep our spirits down!
The expeditions provide an invaluable outdoor experience that
is available to all pupils. The award itself enables pupils to take
ownership of the programme and also teaches skills that are
useful across many aspects of their life. The numbers involved
show that there is a real appetite for an outdoor element to the
curriculum.
Gold award
The Gold practice expedition was completed during the Easter
holiday where the weather was pretty much spot on. Five teams
enjoyed some great views during the four days in Kentmere, with
one team of lads completing the Ill Bell and Stoney Cove Pike
horseshoe in sun glasses and shorts! All students completed
their training and went on to pass their assessment after our
annual pilgrimage to Buttermere. It was a great effort by all the
teams and I am confident that within a few months they will be
completing their entire award.
Old Bradfordians Gold Award hall of fame
Congratulations to the 76 Old Bradfordians who have made a
massive commitment and a determined effort to complete their
Gold Award. They are: Daniel Collett, Tim Sutton, Ian Marshall,
Nick Harker, Jeremy Taylor, Anna Young, Stephen Goodman, Phil
Buckham-Bonnett, Pratik Adusumilli, James Haigh, Jamie Moore,
Charles Proctor, Sophie Cooper, Michael Kipling, Rachel Hassey,
Victoria Stevens, Katie Essex, Will Baugh, James Ball, Harry
Chapman, Mike Palframan, John Deriex, Josh Brear, Lottie Driver,
Victoria Barker, Rachel Barker, Joe Holloway, Ben Robertson,
Will Grant, Jonathan Waite, Nathan Chalk, Jamie Davidson,
Michael Thornton, Aiysha Puri, Jessica Lintin, William Barker,
Katherine Dixon, Ben Balmforth, Oliver Gillat-Jones, Alistair
Kwan, Jonathan Lewis, Rebecca Palframan, Courtenay Fisher,
Rachel Pinder, Anisah Rasul, Ravi Prasad, Toby Mountain, Chloe
Ramsden, Leanne Brumby, Sam Weatherhead, Rebecca Irons,
Freya Hall, Will Paget, Angus Mather, Rohan Misra, Seb Tullie,
Lydia Holloway, Ollie Boncey, Sam Liddington, Jamie Boden, Will
Johnston, Parvathi Kanakath, Imran Iqbal, Georgie Kay, Hannah
Whitford , Mike Lord, Liz Bailey, Nick Winn, Hean Yeung Lee,
Jacqueline Li, Laura Jones, Matt Chivers, Monica Duggal, Sarah
Dewhirst, Roshan Hagan and Libby Linfield.
Link between Year 7 and
Chellow Heights School
By P Merckx, Head of Year 7 and Mathematics Teacher
In 2014, the annual Year 7 sponsored walk to Ilkley was done in
aid of Chellow Heights School in Heaton, just two miles from BGS.
Chellow Heights is a school for children with a variety of physical,
medical, sensory, communication and social, emotional and
mental health needs which impact on their ability to learn and
who are learning at levels below those expected of their peers.
Pupils are drawn from throughout the Bradford district.
We were so struck by the positive atmosphere at Chellow Heights
that we seized an opportunity to forge a partnership with the
school. Year 7 pupils from BGS now have an opportunity to
volunteer at Chellow Heights. Chellow Heights pupils benefit
by having an extra (young, rather inexperienced, but very keen)
teaching assistant in the classroom, while BGS pupils experience
a school for pupils with very different life expectations to their own.
Every Tuesday lunch time, groups of up to 10 BGS pupils spend
an hour at Chellow Heights. Some read to the children, or with
them. Others help with learning through play, inside or out. All
find the experience challenging but very rewarding. They do it for
four weeks at a time, and most want to go back for more.
This year, we raised money for Chellow Heights again through
our sponsored walk. So far we have contributed £2,500 to the
purchase of a wheelchair adapted tandem tricycle, and £3,500 to
the purchase of a trampoline, also accessible to wheelchair users.
The link between BGS and Chellow Heights has proved hugely
valuable to both schools over the last 18 months. Long may such
a fruitful collaboration continue!
32
Faiths in the City
By R Skelton, Head of Religious Studies
Faiths in the City was a faith celebration day held in October
for Year 9 pupils, held annually at BGS. The event involves faith
communities opening a window into the world of their distinctive
practices and beliefs through active workshops held around
the school. Pupils worked with faith leaders and presented their
ideas about faith (as well as a film documenting the day) during a
Thursday special assembly.
The film was a series of interviews conducted by Year 9
themselves, questioning the workshop leaders about their faith
and its significance in their own lives. The workshops this year
included a Hindu dance workshop led by Shrikant who taught a
classical Indian dance. Pupils were certainly put through their
paces! The complexity and elegance of the dance were not lost
in the performances! The Christian Theatre Company focused on
Jesus’ teaching of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Islamic
calligraphy workshop was led by Zareena who inspired pupils
to make traditional calligraphy designs and the Sikh workshop
allowed students to learn about Sikh culture and dance
(performing the ‘Gatka’, or Sikh Sword Dance).
The Jewish workshop was led by Tamar Yellin (a local
Jewish author) who taught pupils about ‘Shabbat’ and about
foundational Jewish beliefs and practices. And finally, the
Buddhist workshop was very enlightening and thought provoking
(and with the opportunity for a lot of meditation!). Faiths in
the City was richly rewarding and stimulating for students
celebrating and exploring the richness and diversity of faith in our
community.
33
Debating Society
By P Shepherd, Physics Teacher and i/c Debating Society and
T Bateson, Head of Higher Education and Classics Teacher
BGS’s oldest society enjoyed a fine year. Attendances at our
Thursday evening debates were at record levels with numbers
regularly exceeding 40, and sometimes 60. Our debating squad
took part in a record seven competitions, and our internal
competition received popular support.
The NPA Fashion Show
By DM Bloomfield, PE & Games Teacher and i/c Netball
The Fashion Show this year was a huge success, raising more
money than ever before for Teenage Cancer Trust and our tour
fund to Australia next year. We were joined again by some
fantastic retailers including Attic who continued to show their
support for such a great event and new retailers including
Pageant Boutique and Jacamo. The Sixth Form students put on
a great show and created some great routines to showcase the
products. Molly Orviss in particular choreographed some fantastic
scenes, including two for the Clock House pupils and three for the
Sixth Form students.
We were also joined by Old Bradfordian Jack Appleyard, who
compered the evening bringing a fantastic sense of humour to
the show, which was very well received by our guests and those
taking part. Connor Tracey also joined us as an Old Bradfordian,
and kindly donated a day out at ITV studios and backstage for
some of the shows for the raffle. It was great to see support from
past pupils at an event they had obviously enjoyed whilst they
were at Bradford Grammar School.
We were also supported by Keelham Farm Shop who provided
delicious sweet treats for our champagne tables. After popular
demand last year we increased the amount of champagne tables
available on both evenings which sold out straight away and as
a result raised a significant amount for the netball tour. I would
like to take this time to thank all of those who helped support the
evening, parents, retailers, students and staff. See you next year!
Debating was ably run by our two secretaries, Dan Sanderson
and Lily McTaggart. We held approximately 31 debates with at
least 45 different speakers, including old lags and novices. The
arrival of Christian Burke and Edmund Milwain heralded the
invasion of the society by a very talented (and argumentative)
group of Year 9 pupils. Debates were introduced by our tribune,
the erratic James Brassington, and sergeant-at-arms, Andrew
Styles. Topics included taxing fatty foods, banning all face
coverings in public, and taking Amish children into care. The
Christmas debate turned into a series of speaking challenges set
by Dr Shepherd, concluding with the now traditional dance-off.
The high point of the year for many was the challenge debate
between Mr Riley and Dr Hinchliffe on one side, and Year 13
speakers Dan Sanderson and Yousef Mahmood on the other.
As Dan and Yousef had spent years honing their skills on the
ruthless school competition circuit, the decision of the school
leadership to accept battle seemed foolhardy, especially on
the topic of “This House Regrets the Removal of Wednesday
Afternoons”. The audience for the debate was so large that the
venue was changed to the Price Hall. The contributions from
the audience were outstanding, with many heartfelt comments
lamenting the change to the Wednesday arrangements. Mr Riley
and Dr Hinchliffe lost by the greatest margin in the Debating
Society’s History: 282 to 3.
Competitive debating results were a mixed bag. After the
previous year’s heroics the society was looking forward to a
historic year of success. It started well when Dan Sanderson and
Yousef Mahmood won the University Of Lancaster competition,
as well as being the two best rated speakers. Success was also
enjoyed at Manchester (Dan Sanderson and Lily McTaggart
reached the final) and Nottingham (Andrew Styles and Anika
Prasad reached the final). It is worth noting that BGS was the
only northern school in the finals at these competitions. We also
used a variety of speakers to reach the Northern Final of the
English Speaking Union Mace. The Finals’ Day at Cambridge,
however, and the Durham competition proved disappointing.
Fairtrade Society
By E Kingsley, Head of French
This term sales at the Fairtrade tuckshop have been as brisk as
ever, thanks to our dedicated team of volunteer students and
staff who help to run it. We were able to donate £700 to the
Syrian refugee crisis, via Save The Children, and this sum was
matched by a group of young adults’ authors, headed by Patrick
Ness. By Christmas we’re planning to make another donation,
this time to Mary’s Meals. So keep buying Fairtrade – it really
does make a difference!
Manningham Youth Talks
By E Milford, Geography Teacher
Manningham Youth Talks provides local students with an
opportunity to discuss and debate the issues which are most
important to them. It is a voluntary group run by retired BGS
teacher Mike de Villiers and it meets roughly ten times a year.
The topics of the dialogue sessions are decided by the students
themselves and topics such as ‘organ donation: should it
be compulsory?’, ‘privacy vs security’ and ‘who controls the
media?’ have been discussed over the past year. The students
come from a range of backgrounds and schools, in particular
Bradford Grammar School and Oasis Academy Lister Park. One
of the aims of the group is to provide another opportunity for the
young people of Bradford to take part in growing a new sense of
community.
“I learnt more about the world affairs of today and the past which
I would not necessarily research or read up on. I was able to meet
people of different backgrounds to me and interact with them, I
had an amazing experience.” - Year 13 student Oasis
“I gained a good understanding of other people’s opinions from
different backgrounds. I became more confident when talking in
public or in a group.” - Year 12 student BGS
As well as the regular dialogue sessions there was also an away
day at Burnsall (pictured) in June and an International Youth
Exchange in August where the students discussed a variety of
subjects and issues while they were getting to know one another.
They realised during the day that they had a lot more in common
with one another than they thought.
Our internal competition had a large number of entries. Over
20 teams of experienced and novice speakers took part. In a
departure from tradition the winners of the final (Rowan Beckett
and Beth Horsman) were announced Oscar style at our annual
dinner.
This year also saw the departure of Mr Rees, who had helped
to shape and lead our society for over a decade. He had
accompanied huge numbers of teams all across the country, and
encouraged speakers of all ages to take part in debating. His
humour, hard work and enthusiasm will be missed.
34
35
Barnardo’s Mentoring
Scheme
The NPA Christmas Fair
By L Croudson, Learning Support and Business Studies
Teacher
The Christmas Fair proved yet again to be a huge success. We
have built up a fantastic, well established event that makes a
huge difference to our fund raising for the Netball tour. The NPA
run four stalls including a bottle and chocolate tombola and a gift
stand with products that have been kindly donated by our netball
players in school. Similarly our netball players are required to sell
raffle tickets for a chance to win an iPad and a variety of luxury
hampers ranging from beauty products to fine foods.
During the last four years the school has worked with the
Barnardo’s mentoring scheme to assist young carers in the
Bradford area. The school’s Year 13 students help young carers,
who care for ill and disabled family members by offering a one
to one weekly mentoring session to assist with homework and
revision. It ensures that young carers do not fall behind in their
own school work and gives them confidence in their ability.
In February 2015 the scheme had a visit from Chris Reed the
Head of Volunteering at Barnardo’s. He said that the scheme is
a fantastic example of how the passion of one of our volunteers,
Carole Rowe, who was recently recognised with a Marsh Trust
award, can lead to a partnership that really transforms the lives
of Bradford’s young people, both Barnardo’s young carers and
the students from Bradford Grammar School. It was a pleasure to
visit and spend time with the young carers, students, volunteers
and staff.
This year the scheme was nominated for The Diana Award for
Champion Volunteers which is a charity that was founded as a
legacy to Diana, Princess of Wales, and her belief that young
people have the power to change the world for the better. Since
1999, the Diana Award has recognised over 42,000 young
people who have made a positive difference to their community.
The Diana Award encourages young people to contribute to
their communities, empowers young people to achieve their full
potential and engages young people in social action to make a
difference in the lives of others.
By DM Bloomfield, PE & Games Teacher and i/c Netball
The DT department also put together an incredible Santa’s
grotto, with a special mention to Stuart Taylor and Shelby Deal
who put a lot of time and effort into making it look spectacular.
Thank You! The Price Hall stage is completely transformed to
create a magical experience for all the children who come and
visit him on the day.
Like the Fashion Show, a percentage of the money raised on
the day went towards The Teenage Cancer Trust, and this year
in total the NPA raised was nearly £1,800, which was donated
to such a great cause. A cheque was presented to a TCT
representative by Lydia Beckett and Sally Bertrand on behalf of
all the netball players at school.
Next year we look forward to rebranding the Christmas Fair into
the BGS Christmas Market and injecting some new ideas. We
look forward to seeing you all there.
Louise Croudson, Ella Bower and Eden James attended the
awards ceremony at Barclay’s Headquarters in Canary Wharf,
London on 13 July 2015 and came back as winners. At the time
of writing, the scheme is in the process of being entered for the
Queens Award for Voluntary Service – the highest award given to
volunteers across the UK.
36
37
Section Four
Visits
40 Barcelona Trip 2014
41 French Exchange 2015
41 Introduction to the City Trip
42 Economics and Politics Study Visit to
Washington DC
43 Year 11 Battlefields Trip
44 Trip to Berlin
45 Senior Classics Trip to Greece
46 Madrid trip
47 Year 7 and 8 Rhineland Trip
47 Junior Classics trip to Italy 2015
48 SW USA Geography Trip April 2015
38
Visits
39
Barcelona Trip 2014
French Exchange 2015
By E Thorpe, Year 10 pupil
By B Taggart, Year 10 pupil
On 23 October some of the Year 9 pupils went on the school trip
to Barcelona to experience the culture of Spain and to see the
beautiful sights.
On 2 April 2015 a group of 20 pupils and three teachers travelled
to Auvergne in France for the French Exchange. The pupils
were made up of Year 9 and 10 pupils and the teachers that
accompanied them were Mrs Kingsley, Mr Woods and Mrs Whyte.
We journeyed to France by bus and ferry, and after leaving at
11pm everyone was shattered. Luckily there was little snoring
on the bus so it did mean that we could get some sleep. By the
time we reached France, the long, exhausting journey was almost
completely forgotten by the stunning Auvergne landscape. There
were big, rolling hills and mountains covered by luscious green
grass and flowers as well as decent weather, which improved
throughout the week. On arrival in France all of the pupils were
quite excited to meet the French families however there were
some nerves, not helped by all of the French pupils that were
running towards the bus.
We set off to Barcelona from Leeds Bradford airport to arrive at
our hostel called Casa Gracia. It was a warm and friendly hostel,
which had an amazing, modern interior and a delicious cuisine.
After settling in to the hostel, we walked through the city to one
of the main streets called Las Ramblas. It cuts through the heart
of the city and is the famous pedestrian promenade. It has a few
shops on it and lots of restaurants. After lunch, we headed to
the Picasso museum where we were split into two groups and
looked at all of his famous pieces. We then had some free time,
where we sat around the big fountain in the middle of the market
place.
The next day, we went on the Metro to the Gaudi Museum. It
was a very artistic and decorative museum with gardens and
buildings that had little mosaic pieces in all the different colours
and patterns. We spent a while there, enjoying how unique it was
and the gorgeous weather too! We then went to the Cathedral,
which is still in the process of being built. It has a magnificent
tropical theme, with all different colours coming through the
windows, but still had an elegant exterior. Every part of the
Cathedral had a meaning and ‘hidden story’. It was so much
more modern and brighter than the churches in England. We then
went back to the hostel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
On the following day, we went to the theme park, Port Aventura.
This was my favourite day of them all. We went around the park
all day, going on the rides and taking pictures of the tourist
attractions. We all had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed
ourselves.
On the last full day, we started the day by going to the Camp
Nou. This is the Barcelona football stadium. We took many
pictures here and had a tour of the whole stadium. After, we went
to the coast in Barcelona to go to the Aquarium. The aquarium
had a moving walkway, which you could stand on and it took
you around looking at all the tropical fish. They also took your
picture at the start of the tour as a souvenir. Later on we headed
to the shopping centre for the rest of the evening to shop in and
experience Barcelona at night. It was a really fun way to spend
the last evening.
All in all, we all had a really great time on this fabulous trip and
would definitely recommend it to anyone considering going on
future ones.
40
The families were all very welcoming to us and happy to see
us all. The house in which I was staying was very beautiful
with some traditional Auvergne features. Moreover the distinct
characteristics of the region around the house were astounding,
as there were both mountains covered in snow and rivers
surrounded by flat land. It was definitely a landscape that we
had not experienced before and it was breathtaking. The small
school also fitted into the town in which it was situated – La Tour
d’Auvergne. It was very modern and showed the differences in
the French schooling and English schooling. After spending a day
in the school, we were all able to appreciate how lovely it was.
Plus the teachers were all very nice as well as the other pupils,
and the teaching was both different and similar to the teaching
in England. It was great fun to be involved in the school and
the lessons ranged from Maths and French to Firefighting and
Country Dancing, which were all fascinating to be a part of.
During our stay in France we visited many places in Auvergne
along with our French partners. Clermont Ferrand was our first
stop off and we visited the town as well as the Michelin museum.
The museum was entertaining and we all came out of it with a lot
of knowledge of the tyres. The boys especially enjoyed seeing
the Formula 1 track cars and motorbikes. The town itself was full
of history and the free time and guided tours provided us with
many fascinating facts and a look into French culture. On Easter
Sunday we all spent the day with our French families. There was
a big range of activities, which we all participated in. Along with
my family, I visited Mont Dore, which is a ski area in Auvergne,
where we went sledging and afterwards took a dip in a natural
heated lake with water that came from the mountain. It was very
memorable and we had great fun. We also did traditional Easter
celebrations like a big Easter Egg Hunt during the morning. Other
trips during our stay included a day at Le Chateau de Val which
is an amazing French Castle dating back hundreds of years. The
stunning weather enabled a fabulous lunch on the beach and a
refreshing boat ride around the reservoir that is used to generate
electricity. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour around the castle,
although the French-speaking guide spoke quite fast, making it
hard to understand all of the history of the castle.
I am certain that anybody on this year’s exchange will say that
the trip was educational, rewarding and genuinely enjoyable. We
all spoke an incredible amount of French, which has definitely
improved our speaking skills. Moreover we all gained new friends
and I will stay in touch with my French partner and later on in
life we will all hopefully be able to visit them again. I would say
that if you have the chance to go on any exchange, do it, as it
will unquestionably benefit you with the language that you are
studying.
Introduction to the City Trip
By SJ Flaherty, Careers Coordinator and Chemistry Teacher
On 4 November 30 Sixth Form students were given the
opportunity to visit the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
headquarters in London. The “Introduction to the City” day was
organised by Old Bradfordians Dave Archer and James Parker,
both now working in the City of London.
The pupils were able to listen to a variety of speakers, from an
Invesco Fund manager through to a Foreign Exchange dealer.
Old Bradfordian Sir David Wootton (former Lord Mayor of the City
of London) also spoke. The students were then shown around
the dealing floors and were able to watch live transactions taking
place. The fact that we all had to sign confidentiality agreements
and leave our phones behind added to the excitement and
realisation of how lucky we were to have this opportunity.
Our students were able to spend time with recent graduates
working at RBS and to ask questions of them, I think we were all
amazed at the hours they were expected to work but also by the
number of champagne bottles sitting on desks!
The trip provided students with a fantastic insight into the way a
city bank operates and the variety of roles available to them as
possible career options, as well as creating a great networking
opportunity.
I am very grateful to Dave and James for enabling this event
to take place and look forward to building on the relationships
forged during our visit.
Visits
41
Economics and Politics
Study Visit to
Washington, DC
Year 11 Battlefields Trip
By H Baines, Head of History
On Saturday 18 October, we said goodbye to England and
embarked on a six hour coach journey that was to take us to the
Battlefields of the First World War.
By A Brown, Year 13 student
We touched down at Dulles Airport on a warm October afternoon.
It’s a place very similar to home but very different at the same
time. One of the first things you notice is the United States flags,
they aren’t hard to miss because they seem to be on every
building you pass. With this all around us it didn’t take us all long
to get in to the American spirit.
That first afternoon we spent wandering the grid pattern streets,
pausing by the lit up Capitol Building. Before long, however, it
was time to collapse into bed after a long day travelling.
The second day we hit the ground running, a quick breakfast,
then we hopped on the Metro to visit various pressure groups
in the centre of DC. Our first stop was The National Rifle
Association, a pro-gun group. Safe to say, there was a lot of
debate and the difference in culture between ourselves and the
US soon became apparent, however they did put forward a lot
of interesting ideas, and taught us how they were organised as
well as how they lobby government in various ways. Our next
stop was the CATO Institute, a think tank which is against big
government. They hold the mind-set that capitalism and free
markets are always beneficial and will find a better solution than
federal intervention. While I don’t think they changed our minds
completely, a lot of their arguments were well reasoned and gave
us all a lot to think about (we later heard a counter argument
by the Economic Policy Institute). After a long day, and a lot of
heated discussion, we were pleased to sit down in the grand
surroundings of the city’s Union Station, and tuck in to the first of
many typically American dining experiences.
The rest of the week passed in a blur. During the days we went
to think tanks, monuments and museums including the National
Holocaust Museum, which is renowned as one of the best in the
world. We walked the length of Pennsylvania Avenue, starting at
the White House all the way to Congress, stopping along the way
at the National Archives where we saw the U.S Constitution, the
Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, as well as
the Media Museum, which included parts of the twin towers in a
new exhibit, and the Air and Space Museum. In the evenings we
visited Chinatown and American institutions including the famous
Ben’s Chili Bowl (where Obama and many celebrities have
stopped for a famous ‘chili dog’). We got the opportunity to take
plenty of touristy photos in front of the Washington Monument,
the Lincoln Memorial and the White House. We also stopped to
pay our respects at the Kennedy gravesites and the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier (where we saw the changing of the guard) in
Arlington Cemetery, the Korean War memorial and the Vietnam
War memorial.
A particular highlight for me was meeting the Clerk of the
Supreme Court who organises the cases for the judges to hear.
Learning about one of the most influential judiciaries in the
world was fascinating, just as it was amazing to see both the
House of Representatives and the Senate in action. We got
tours of both Congress and the Supreme Court, engaged in a
very passionate debate with some pro-life protesters outside
the White House (which I like to think we won!) and learned the
state of U.S prisons in a very moving presentation by the ACLU.
Overall I think the trip gave us an insight into the true working
of the American economy and its politics, while broadening our
knowledge of American society. As we were watching films, or
playing battleships on the way back, I don’t think any of us held
all the same views we had on the way there.
On the first two nights we stayed in a youth hostel in the French
town of Albert; Albert in particular retains a symbolic importance
for the British. The statue of the Golden Virgin on the town’s
basilica, which was hit by a German shell in January 1915 and
came to be known as the “Leaning Virgin”, gave rise to a belief
amongst the troops that its fall would mean the end of the war.
The first day we visited the British front line of The Somme in
Serre. Completely unaware of what to expect, most of us were
met with a shock as the first sight of British gravestones started
to show on the horizon, standing proud, casting long shadows
down the hill. We then stood in the front line trenches and looked
out onto the same sight that the soldiers would have seen
seconds before the whistle blew for them to go over the top.
After visiting another British cemetery and placing a cross for Old
Bradfordian Donald Packett, we made our way to the Canadian
memorial at Newfoundland Park, where we really got an idea of
what the trench system was like. We then visited the preserved
trenches in Thiepval Wood; again this really put into perspective
the brutality of life in the trenches and what trench warfare was
like for all men involved. Following that, we went to place a
wreath for all the fallen British soldiers at the Thiepval Memorial
to the Missing. This was a huge monument, adorned with 72,000
names belonging to the men whose bodies were never identified.
Many of us saw names that we recognised, and found family
members that had been lost. After seeing all these lost men’s
names, it really hit home how much the First World War impacted
civilians, some towns and villages losing whole local battalions,
nearly wiping out whole generations in some areas.
We then went on to the famous Talbot House, a place for allied
soldiers to drink, play games and take a break from the stresses
of the front line. What was so inspiring about the Talbot House
philosophy was that once inside, rank meant nothing. It was
the only place on the Western Front where privates and officers
could talk as equals.
On behalf of the group, I would like to thank the teachers for
giving up their holiday in order to provide us with this amazing
experience in the capital of the world’s most powerful country. In
particular, we are extremely grateful to Mr McCartney for putting
it all together, especially all the effort he put in to organising all
the specially arranged visits, and giving us a perspective we
would never get if we were simply normal tourists.
We also visited the Lochnagar crater in Laboiselle; this crater on
the 1916 Somme battlefields is the largest man-made mine crater
created in the First World War on the Western Front. It was laid
by the British Army’s 179th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers
underneath a German strongpoint called “Schwaben Höhe”. The
mine was exploded two minutes before 07.30 am Zero Hour at
the launch of the British offensive against the German lines on
the morning of 1st July 1916. It was said that the explosion could
be heard all the way back in London. Seeing the sheer scale of
the gash in the field showed us just how strongly the scars of the
war can still be felt today.
42
On the second morning, we departed Albert and made our way
to Ypres. On the way, we stopped to visit the German cemetery
Neuville St-Vaast. We think it’s safe to say that the sight of this
bleak, minimalistic cemetery was the most harrowing of the
whole trip. The tall pine trees overhead seemed to link arms to
shield the graves from daylight, as if to hide them from the world.
The cemetery held 44,833 bodies, however upon further
observation it was obvious that there were a lot fewer crosses
than that. We then came to discover that there were up to eight
men to each grave, a fact that both shocked and upset us all.
The dark iron crosses that were disseminated across the Belgian
fields were a stark contrast to the effulgent, well-kept graves of
the Allied troops. Another powerful moment of the tour came
when the pupils and teachers visited cemeteries like Tyne Cot in
Belgium, where nearly 12,000 First World War soldiers are buried
(a memorial to the missing commemorates a further 35,000
whose bodies were never found).
We then continued on to the ferry, accompanied on our journey
by Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder Goes Forth to give us a further,
if not over comical, idea of what trench life was like. Overall,
we think we speak for everyone when we say that the trip was
thoroughly educational and extremely eye-opening. Sadly, it
was Mr Hooper’s last trip to the Battlefields after 25 years, so on
behalf of all the pupils who have had the privilege of his company
and knowledge during that time, we’d like to say a huge thank
you!
Visits
43
Senior Classics Trip
to Greece
By K Meakin, Head of Classics
The Classics department’s trip to Greece in April 2015 brought
together 33 pupils from Years 9 to 13 with a budding interest in
anything from the language and literature of the ancient Greeks to
their mythology, archaeology and the history of art.
After travelling through the night and early morning on 1 April
it was a delight to arrive at the Doric temple of Poseidon,
overlooking the sea at Sounion, to bask in glorious spring
sunshine and to toast the sea god with an ice cream or two.
A packed itinerary the next day took us to the still fairly new
Acropolis Museum in Athens, designed and oriented to give
a perfect view of the Parthenon, and then on to the Acropolis
itself, where Classical Civilisation students were able to observe
at first hand the wonders of the Periclean Building Programme.
Milling amongst the thousands of tourists who flock daily to the
Acropolis, we could not but admire the effrontery and vision
of the fifth century Athenian general Pericles, who took funds
contributed by other Greek cities and originally intended to fund
the Greeks’ joint defence force against the Persians, and lavished
them instead on the enduring beautification of Athens.
Trip to Berlin
By J Pikes, Year 13 pupil
In February 2015 a group of Sixth Form History and German
students travelled to Germany’s capital city, Berlin. This
cultured and bustling city provided a spectacular insight into
the tumultuous history of Germany and its people, with a wide
variety of museums, tourist attractions and places of vast
historical significance on the agenda. The country is studied in
depth as part of both the AS and A2 History curriculum, whilst an
understanding of its past is critical to any German speaker since
topics like the Holocaust and the separation of East and West are
rarely shied away from by locals.
On the first day a tour of central Berlin gave views of (and
from!) sights like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the
Bebelplatz, where over 20,000 books were famously burned by
Nazis and the nationalist German Students Association from the
adjacent Berlin University. Memorials to the soldiers and Jews
of Germany followed, before crossing the Spree into the old
East. Amongst old DDR government buildings, the last remaining
balcony of the old Royal Palace remains, left standing by the
Soviets when they realised it was where the German revolution
had been declared by the socialist Karl Liebknecht.
44
From the bustling capital we drove north west to the contrasting
calm and stillness of Delphi, following in the footsteps (though
at greater speed and in much more comfort!) of those curious,
determined or troubled souls who made their way across ancient
Greece to consult Apollo’s oracle and learn from the enigmatic
utterances of his priestess what the future might hold. Pupils
were stunned by the sheer beauty of this mountainous site and
many voted it the highlight of the trip.
Leaving Apollo for Zeus, we headed down to the Peloponnese
and the sanctuary of the king of the gods at Olympia, where
with the help of our expert guide Liliana we were able to identify
many of the remnants of buildings, ranging from ancient hotel
complexes to the archaic temple of Zeus’ wife Hera, before
participating in men’s, women’s and Paralympic races in the
ancient Olympic stadium itself.
En route back to Athens we stopped at Mycenae for a taste of
pre-Classical Greece, and were awed by the fortified citadel
itself, its impressive Lion Gate and the extraordinary Bronze
Age tholos tombs. A final morning in Athens visiting the
‘modern’ stadium that saw the re-launch of the Olympic Games
in 1896 and taking in the remarkable exhibits of the National
Archaeological Museum concluded the trip, and we returned to
school truly enriched by the whole experience.
The Holocaust was always a prominent feature throughout the
trip, given the impending coursework on it and its controversial
commentator, Daniel Goldhagen. Germans use the somewhat
long-winded word ‘Vergangenheitsbewältigung’, loosely
translating as ‘struggle to overcome the negatives of the past’ to
best describe their nation’s attitude to this event. This was made
clear by visits to the poignant, powerful Berlin Jewish Museum
and to Saachsenhausen, one of the many concentration camps
that tarnish both Europe’s landscape and history. Studying and
seeing first-hand sites of such atrocities can be horrific, but is
absolutely necessary to view the vast numbers of dead as more
than just figures on a page. In particular, the fact that Wannsee,
a beautiful suburb of Berlin, hosts a scenic lakeside house
where the extermination of an entire people was orchestrated
means it can never be viewed in the same way. Germany’s dark
history does not end in 1945, as the old Stasi headquarters and
Checkpoint Charlie allowed a fascinating look into the gritty
divide between East and West that lasted until only 25 years ago.
It goes without saying that the trip wasn’t all serious, with
pleasant memories taken away by all who went, but the
experience was an unforgettable and a thoroughly humanising
one.
Visits
45
Madrid Trip
Year 7 and 8 Rhineland Trip
By D Windle, Year 10 pupil
By GP Woods, Academic Director
The Spanish trip to Madrid, in late December, was definitely an
interesting, enjoyable and cultural visit to the historic capital.
Pupils from Years 10 and 11, and students from Year 12 who are
studying Spanish, could attend the trip. I decided to go as it
seemed like a great opportunity to improve on my Spanish whilst
visiting a new city, and also visiting mainland Spain for the first
time.
Fifty very excited pupils from Years 7 and 8 boarded a coach
after school on the Thursday before the spring half term holiday
bound for Hull and the overnight ferry crossing to Rotterdam.
From there, it was a three hour drive to Cologne, where we visited
Germany’s most visited tourist monument, the city’s cathedral
which dominates the skyline. We climbed to the top of one of
the cathedral spires – 533 steps – for a superb view of the city
and surrounding area. A quick lunch break gave many pupils the
opportunity to try an authentic German Bratwurst or the even
more delicious Currywurst, before we continued to the city’s
chocolate museum, where we learned about the history of this
foodstuff, saw chocolate bars being made and tasted some of
the goods on offer. Later that afternoon we travelled on to the
Hotel L’Europe set on the banks of the majestic River Rhine in the
picturesque town of Boppard.
Some of the places we visited during the trip included: the
House-Museum of Lope de Vega, the Museo del Prado, the
Real Jardín Botánico, El Escorial and of course the Santiago
Bernabéu Stadium. Like a lot of the other pupils that attended
the trip, I thought that the Bernabéu Stadium was probably
the most enjoyable site. It was amazing to just look around an
80,000 person capacity stadium and to see where, so many
times, sporting history had been made. The House-Museum of
Lope de Vega was also widely enjoyed. At first I thought looking
around a Spanish writer’s house (who I admittedly hadn’t even
heard of) would be rather tedious. However, the general history
lying within the house was strangely alluring and, similar to most
of the tours we had, the tour-guide spoke in Spanish the whole
time. With help from the impressively fluent and knowledgable
Sixth Formers, as well as the helpful teachers, we really got good
practice at listening to a Spanish person speak. This was one of
the things I thought was so great about the trip.
Since Madrid isn’t as popular a destination for English-speaking
tourists, compared to cities such as Barcelona, Paris or Berlin, it
meant people didn’t tend to speak English as well or as willingly
as I was expecting. This meant ordering food or visiting a giftshop made speaking Spanish almost a necessity. This was really
great practice for speaking the language for basic things when
we had free time in an area.
The accommodation was comfortable and in a good location and
the staff there were welcoming and friendly. However, I must say
the daily early morning Spanish music was a bit of a shock, to
say the least. The language wasn’t the only Spanish aspect to
get involved in; the food on offer in Madrid was also something
a lot of pupils wanted to try. There were lots of well-priced,
traditional Spanish restaurants to go to and churros were very
popular for both the teachers and the pupils. I would definitely
like to go to the city again, maybe next year when I am more
fluent at the language. I think, for the perfect mix of culture,
linguistic opportunities, food and interesting sites to see, Madrid
was definitely a successful trip.
I would like to say ‘muchas gracias’ to the staff members of the
school who made the trip possible.
On Saturday we had a river cruise from Boppard to St
Goarshausen through the romantic Rhine gorge which is lined
with dense forests, vineyards and impressive medieval castles.
We passed the statue of the Lorelei where a mermaid is said to
have sung to sailors on the Rhine, luring them to their deaths
on the rocks below. This was followed by a visit to Rüdesheim
am Rhein, a typical German village with half-timbered houses
and lots of tourists thronging the picturesque streets. We visited
Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet, a surprisingly interesting
but quirky collection of mechanical musical instruments
before taking a cable car ride up to the Niederwald memorial
overlooking the village. We walked back down to the town in
glorious sunshine through the vineyards for which this part of
Germany is so famous.
The following day began with a visit to Burg Eltz, which must
have a claim to be Germany’s most picturesque castle. We then
moved on to the pretty town of Cochem on the River Moselle
where we went up a rather scary chair lift before making an
interesting visit to the castle, which looked like it had come
straight from the pages of a fairy story. We started Monday with
a tour of a renowned vineyard in Koblenz, where pupils got to
taste several varieties of grape juice and the teachers managed
to taste six or seven different wines, even though it was only 10
o’clock. From there we went to Ehrenbreitstein, Europe’s second
largest fortress, and took the modern cable car down over the
Rhine to the Deutsches Eck, where the River Moselle flows into
the River Rhine. We returned to Boppard, where a little free time
was available for souvenir hunting and cake eating before an
evening spent at the local bowling alley.
On the way back to Rotterdam, we spent the day at the
Phantasialand theme park near Cologne, where the pupils (and
the braver members of staff) were able to ride the Black Mamba,
Talocan and Colorado Adventure rides; everybody had a great
time and we were sad to have to leave to make our way to the
overnight ferry back to Hull.
46
We enjoyed great German hospitality all week and the pupils
got to practise their German language skills as well as explore a
beautiful corner of this fascinating country. I would like to thank
my colleagues Miss Corrigan, Miss Powne, Mrs Haslam, Mr
Page and Mr McOwen for their unfailing sense of humour and
for all their hard work in making this trip the huge success that
it was. Next year the junior Modern Languages trip will be to the
Château de la Baudonnière in Normandy, and then in 2015 we
hope to be back again in this part of Germany.
Junior Classics trip to Italy
2015
By K Meakin, Head of Classics
Wreathed in cloud, Mount Vesuvius was at its atmospheric
best, and pupils were able to scale its heights and look down
both into the crater on one side and across towards ancient
Pompeii on the other. This was followed by a chance to roam
around the spectacularly well-preserved remains of Villa
Oplontis, a Roman country villa situated outside Pompeii and
thought by some to have been the property of Nero’s third
wife Poppaea. Frescoes on the walls here coupled with the
generous dimensions of rooms, gardens and even a swimming
pool that gave us a sense of the life of leisure and luxury lived
by some under the rule of the emperors. Poignantly, several
of the mosaics we went on to see in Naples Archaeological
Museum the following day were designed to remind the viewer
of death, the great leveller who comes to rich and poor alike.
Continuing heavy rain in Herculaneum on Wednesday gave us
a memorable insight into the original purpose of all those tall
pavements and stepping stones! Shelter was found in the still
intact baths, where pupils were able to admire the original floor
mosaics as well as hunt for evidence of the Romans’ underfloor
and even behind-the-wall heating systems. Those who braved
the floodwater draining in torrents down to the original sea front
were rewarded with moving close-up views of the skeletons of
some of those inhabitants of the ancient town who perished in
the pyroclastic blasts that followed the 79 AD eruption. Back at
the hotel, pupils participated in a quiz on what they had learned
so far. All groups impressed teachers with how much knowledge
they had retained, but a tie-breaker question on the height of
Mount Vesuvius saw Lex Galloway lead his team to victory.
The climax of the trip came with Thursday’s all-day visit to
Pompeii. In the amphitheatre gladiator Thomas Howson was
mercifully condemned to a quick, clean death by emperor Lewis
Griffith, acting to placate a unanimously bloodthirsty Year 8
crowd. This was followed by a moving recitation of Pliny’s eyewitness account of the eruption, ably performed by Alice Barnes,
Max Bradley, Isabella Kenyon and Daya Dhesi. On the final
evening, pizza, shopping and ice cream in Sorrento made the
perfect end to an unforgettable trip.
Visits
47
SW USA Geography Trip
April 2015
By F Handbury, Head of Geography
There can be few experiences to match a trip to the SW USA
visiting the main National Parks before finishing with two
days exploring Las Vegas. This then was the ‘lot’ of 40 BGS
Geographers and their teachers for seven glorious days during
the Easter holidays.
The long journey seemed a distant memory when, on leaving the
airport, we caught our first glimpse of the Vegas Strip, but that had
to wait as early next morning we were on our way to Zion Canyon.
The shear scale of Zion is quite mind blowing with huge sandstone
monoliths towering over 2,000ft above us and in unfamiliar hot
weather the group particularly enjoyed paddling in the Virgin River.
All too soon we were on our way to our hotel in Kanab. A good
night’s sleep saw us up bright and early, eager to get on our way
to Bryce. A short stop and scramble to the top of Red Canyon
whetted our appetite, but this paled into insignificance when
compared to the majesty of Bryce. The bright blue sky contrasted
perfectly with the pink, ochre and orange hues of the etched
columns, spires, windows and arches that make up the bizarre
hoodoos while the residual snow patches encountered on our walk
through the Canyon only added to the splendour of the landscape.
48
Another dawn start saw us driving to Page to begin a packed day
with a visit to Antelope Canyon. A bumpy ride in some 4x4s took
us to the entrance of a narrow slot canyon, in places only just wide
enough to walk through but over 100ft deep. Swirling water has
etched the natural features of the sandstone in the canyon walls
and play of light through the narrow slot produced an amazing
visual experience. After lunch we headed down to the base of Glen
Canyon Dam to board our rafts for a two hour trip on the Colorado
River. The red canyon walls towered above us as we drifted down
the river, the scale of which we were really able to appreciate at
our stop at Horseshoe Bend where we hesitantly crawled our way
to the precipitous edge to photograph the river we had just rafted
1,000ft below.
The next day we were off again to the most famous of sites, the
Grand Canyon. Again the weather was superb and we were able
to appreciate the full grandeur of this amazing landmark as we
hiked along the rim.
Leaving mid-afternoon we arrived back in Las Vegas early evening
and the group was anxious to sample the delights of the USA’s
top tourist destination. Over the next two days we were able to
appreciate the many sights and experiences including the rides
on the Stratosphere, the Bellagio Fountains and the Volcano at
Mirage. All the other iconic hotels were explored and many quite
literally ‘shopped ‘til they dropped’. After two days of excitement
the trip was over and the party departed exhausted but much the
richer for a fantastic experience.
Visits
49
Section Five
Arts and
Performance
52Two
53 Lady Windermere’s Fan
53 As You Like It
53 The Chairs
53 17 Main Street
54 Chamber Concert
54 Christmas Concert
55 Leavers’ Concert
50
Arts and Performances
51
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Members of Years 12 and 13 took to the stage in October to
perform an abridge version of Lady Windermere’s Fan. With Hatty
Meakin in the title role, the students told the tale of the naïve Lady
Windermere who mistakenly believes that her husband (played by
Alex Priestley) is having an affair. Secrets and lies abound in this
satirical play by Oscar Wilde and the cast dealt with the difficult
Victorian language and behaviours excellently.
Daniel Sanderson gave a fantastic comic turn as a bloated, upper
class twit named Lord Augustus, bumbling his way through
awkward meetings and trying to woo Mrs Elynne. Vanessa
Kennedy’s portrayal of Mrs Elynne highlighted her confident,
impudent personality at her entrance before mellowing into the
more vulnerable, kind character she becomes later on. The cast
were helped along by the accurate costumes, hired to ensure a
Victorian feel throughout the production. For those studying the
play, performing it onstage was an invaluable tool to further their
understanding and exploration of Wilde’s language and characters.
Two
By C Bruce, Head of Drama, English Teacher and Year 7 form
tutor
Normally performed by only two actors, the play Two by
Jim Cartwright could be described as a series of disparate
monologues and duologues, set in a pub in the North of England.
From 11 to 13 March, the Hockney Theatre was transformed into
a pub, with the audience seated on bar stools in the centre, as
various scenes happened around and within them. At the front
the working bar stood, where the Landlord and Landlady could
preside over the eclectic mix of characters that stopped by for
a drink. A mixture of humorous and thought-provoking scenes
followed as the night progressed.
Hatty Meakin and Dan Leach gave a particularly harrowing
performance as Roy and Lesley, subtle and sophisticated giving
a realistic portrayal of a relationship under the strain of domestic
violence. The stunned silence after their scene clearly showed the
shock of the audience as both actors dealt admirably with this
sensitive issue.
Providing some excellent comic relief, Billy Lucas’s portrayal of
Mr Iger perfectly captured a man with a shortness complex and
his tantrum at the bar had everyone in stitches. Similarly, Adare
Robins portrayed Mrs Iger with skill, broadening her Yorkshire
accent and delivering her awkward (highly sexual!) monologue with
the pace and talent of a professional.
52
A special mention must go to the excellent supporting actors
who created the atmosphere of the pub by interacting with the
audience as they came into the theatre – a challenging skill to
accomplish.
A huge congratulations to the entire cast and crew who made this
mature play a success.
Extra mention must go to Marcus Steward as the nasty-turnedgood character of Oliver, Niamh Gregg as the vicious Phoebe,
Sarah Whitelaw as the clown Touchstone and Umaira Waheed as
Rosalind’s best friend Celia.
The Chairs
Year 12, AS Level students, Georgia Pickles and Alex Priestley
took their love of Samuel Beckett to the stage as they performed
their interpretation of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs. Set in some
post-apocalyptic time, it features the last man and woman
on earth imagining that they are holding a party for numerous
invisible guests. Beckett as a practitioner is a pioneer of the
Theatre of the Absurd, and Georgia and Alex certainly embraced
this aspect of their interpretation, including bizarre mimes,
rhythmic movement and awkwardly long silences. At one
point, the two actors burst into a long, fast-paced speech of
nonsensical half-words with no hesitation or mistakes.
This was Georgia and Alex’s examined piece and they hugely
impressed the visiting moderator with their original interpretation
of Beckett’s style and passion for performance. Although a
very challenging text, the students made it accessible for
the audience, who laughed throughout and left with a much
deeper understanding of Samuel Beckett – which is quite the
accomplishment.
Similarly hilarious were Georgia Pickles and Alex Priestley,
who performed admirably as a strange couple, Alice and Fred,
watching TV in the corner of the pub, whilst dealing with the
particularly challenging costume requirement of wearing fat-suits.
Taking on the lead roles of the unnamed Landlord and Landlady,
James Pike and Clementine Hall had quite the challenge on
their hands. The characters are the only ones to remain onstage
throughout, interacting with the other customers as well as the
audience themselves. Having to make the audience laugh one
moment, think the next and then cry in the final, climactic scene
is no mean feat but Clementine and James put in the effort and
attention needed to make their portrayals a rousing success.
James fared particularly well as the banterous barman, interacting
with strangers in the audience every night with confidence,
bringing out the humour in every one of his lines. Clementine’s final
scene is one of the most challenging an actor will face but she
poured her heart out as she told the story of losing her young son,
striking just the right chord to induce tears on every night of the
performance.
she, disguised as a man, helps Orlando (played excellently by
Fraser Barton) figure out a plan to seduce herself! The play is
clearly complex but the brilliant cast dealt with the strange plot
with professional care and delivered outstanding performances.
17 Main Street
As You Like It
On 17 November a group of pupils from Years 8 to 10 took to the
stage to perform Shakespeare’s classic comedy As You Like It.
This performance was another chance for Bradford Grammar
dramatists to showcase their skills at the Shakespeare Schools
Festival after the great success of The Winter’s Tale the year
before. To participate in this festival, pupils take an abridged
version of a Shakespeare play and create a performance with very
little set, costume or props to be performed in a real, professional
theatre to paying members of the public. This is not an easy task
but our pupils took on the challenge with alacrity, impressing
those present with their understanding of Shakespeare’s language
and their confident performances.
As You Like It is famous for its gender-swapping, disguises and
secrets. The play takes place mainly in the Forest of Arden, where
Rosalind disguises herself as a man, Ganymede, to keep herself
safe as she hides out from the evil Duke Ferdinand. Hanna Johal
took on the role with immense skill using modern costume and
attitude to create some great comic moments, particularly when
Expressionism is a highly inventive, highly physical and often
challenging style in which to perform. But it was just this
challenge that the Year 13 students embraced for their practical
exam in April. Having to devise their own performance from
scratch, the group of seven students took inspiration from the
challenges they have had to face as teenagers, including the
pressures to conform, to be successful and to engage in typically
teenage activities.
Creatively using the voice of a Sat-Nav to guide the characters
through their lives, the students explored the psychological
pressures in a physical way, using such visual techniques as
projections, water, torches as well as their own bodies.
The set was designed by Bessie Allan and featured covered
crash mats and exposed scaffolding, which was climbed by the
cast during the course of the performance. The commitment and
energy of the students impressed the moderators and overall the
production was a thought-provoking, frenetic success.
53
Chamber Concert
By E White, Director of Music
On 19 March 2015, we held our annual Chamber Concert in the
Price Hall. This concert showcases our smaller school ensembles,
many of which are led by our peripatetic staff. Music performed
in the first half ranged from Bernstein to Holborne, Bob Dylan and
Paul McCartney to Tchaikovsky and included performers from
all year groups in school. Solo items were provided by Han Zhao
who performed a Scarlatti sonata, Hannah Crookes who played
Dvorak and Alex Priestley who entertained us with two movements
of a suite by Gordon Jacob. In the second half of the concert,
our Senior and Chamber Choirs gave an excellent performance
of Vivaldi’s Gloria, one of the great choral works of the Baroque
period. The chorus items were interspersed with impressive solo
movements, sung by Matthew Chivers, Ruby Hendry and Sarah
Parry and accompanied beautifully on harpsichord, cello and
oboe. As usual, the standard of performance was incredibly high.
The Music Department would like to congratulate the students
who were involved and thank the teachers who prepared the
ensembles so well.
Christmas Concert
Leavers’ Concert
On 30 of April, we held our Leavers’ Concert in the magnificent
surroundings of the Price Hall. The concert began with Junior
Orchestra’s rousing version of ‘Born this way’ by Lady Gaga,
which included clapping, cheering and dancing from the
performers. Junior Choir performed three pieces and their breathtaking performance of Bob Chilcott’s Can you Hear Me, complete
with sign language was a favourite of many of the audience
members. Lively performances from the Wickermen, Dixieland
Crackerjacks, Big Band and Soul Band entertained us and got
everyone’s feet tapping.
Large school ensembles were represented by Concert Band and
Senior Orchestra who entertained us with Vehicle and Uptown
Funk complete with vocals from the singers and the band
themselves. Senior Orchestra departed from their usual classical
repertoire and performed the music from Gladiator by Hans
Zimmer.
Soloists at our concert were Tyne Anderson, Greg Bertrand,
Lily MacTaggart and Martha O’Sullivan, performing music from
the Swedish twentieth century composer, Jan Sandström to
Argentinian Astor Piazzolla. The evening was a wonderful way of
celebrating the talents and hard work of our pupils and thanking
those Year 13 musicians who lead by musical excellence and
commitment to rehearsals.
The Bradford Grammar School Christmas Concert is a wonderful way of getting into the Christmas spirit and this year was no different
with hundreds of pupils performing together in the Price Hall. The Concert opened with Once In Royal David’s City, the first of our
audience Carols led by the school choir, and was followed by a rousing performance of Mele Kalikimaka from the Junior Orchestra.
Junior Choir, Soul Band, The Wickermen and Concert Band all contributed to the first half as we got into the Christmas Spirit.
After a short interval, and another rousing Christmas Carol, Senior Choir sang music by Handel and local musician, Andrew Carter.
In contrast to this, Big Band entertained us with some Charlie Mingus, followed by the Dixieland Crackerjacks. Finally, the evening
concluded with a delightful performance of Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Song Suite from the Senior Orchestra. After the singing of
the final carol, both performers and audience members left full of Christmas Spirit.
54
55
Section Six
Sport
58Athletics
59Cricket
63 Cross Country
64Hockey
68Netball
74Rugby
80Swimming
81 Table Tennis
82 Girls Tennis
83Waterpolo
56
Sport
57
Athletics
By G Jones, PE and Games Teacher
In 2015 BGS continued to develop Athletics as a summer sport
for both boys and girls. Junior Girls, Junior Boys, Inter Girls
and Inter Boys have competed in a number of events through
this term with success.
At local level BGS has set up and hosted a Bradford Schools’
athletics league with 14 schools from across Bradford. The top
three schools at each age group contested a final on Thursday
25 June. BGS qualified in top spot in both the Junior Girls and
the Junior Boys competitions and went on to become Bradford
Schools Champions in both competitions.
The junior and intermediate teams competed in the Northern
Schools HMC event at Gateshead stadium on 29 April with the
Intermediate Girls the best performing team, coming 3rd out of
19 schools at their age group. This is the highest placed we have
been in the competition for some years.
In the English Schools’ Cup three out of four of our teams qualified
through the first round to a Regional Final. Junior Girls came
2nd in their county competition leading them to a Regional B
final on Monday 15 June at Thornes Park Stadium where they
finished in 4th place. The Junior Boys also qualified for that event
after finishing 3rd in their county competition and showed great
progression by gaining 3rd spot. Again the Inter Girls have been
the highest achievers, finishing 1st in their county competition and
8th in the Region which includes Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire,
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. With Roisin Ramage accumulating a
Platinum Standard personal points score and Phoebe Ogden and
Louisa Duncan achieving Gold standard in their respective events.
As a result our Inter Girls took a place in the Regional A final where
the top placed teams go on to National finals. This took place on
17 June at Moorways Stadium in Derby where the team performed
well. Despite losing Phoebe, due to a tennis commitment, they
moved up a place to come 7th in the Region. It is the first time in
many years that three teams have progressed in the competition
and that BGS made an A final.
We have also seen a number of Athletes from Year 8 upwards
who were selected to represent the Bradford District Team at the
West Yorkshire Schools Championships. Ella Moran – Hurdles,
Anna Masterton – 100m, Millie Ellison – Long Jump, Louisa
Duncan – High Jump, Roisin Ramage – Shot, Harrison Gill –
Triple Jump, Naj Bassit – Shot, Rowan Hirst – Javelin, Emerson
James – 800m, Emile Cairess – 1500m.
Ella Moran, Roisin Ramage, Emerson James and Emile Cairess
are West Yorkshire Champions in their respective events and
Roisin, Emerson and Emile gained the qualifying standard for
English Schools’ Finals and were selected to represent the
county in the English Schools’ Finals in Gateshead.
The Inter Girls and Boys and Junior Girls and Boys attended
the Yorkshire and East Midlands Independent Schools’
Championships at Mount St Mary’s on 11 June and 16 June
respectively, competing against teams across our region
including Nottingham High, Sheffield High, Hymers and
Silcoates. Unfortunately due to exams our inter teams were
missing the Year 10 students but the Year 9 competed well
throughout the day and gained valuable experience. The Junior
Girls and Boys were at full strength, the boys finishing 2nd and
the girls clinching 1st place from Sheffield High by one point as
a result of BGS coming 1st or 2nd in every event.
We are very much looking forward to building upon the
successes of 2015 in the forthcoming 2016 season.
Cricket
1st X1
1st X1 Results
By AG Smith, Head of Geology
Played 18
Won 4
The season was always going to be a challenge given the
resources at our disposal. The bowling had the look of a 1st XI
attack but Kyme Tahirkheli was the only batsman with any 1st
XI experience. As a consequence much of the early part of the
winter was spent with coach Simon Kellett supervising small
batting groups facing ball after ball from the ‘stingers’. We later
graduated to the larger bowling machine but even after hitting
literally thousands of balls it was not always evident where our
runs were going to come from.
April 18 2015
Ashville College Won by 1 run
BGS
159-9Celaire 38, Mahmood 31, Khan 21
AC
158
Tahirkheli 6-36
April 24 2015
Ermysteds GS
Lost by 102 runs
EGS
182-5
Khan 4-25
BGS
80
April 25 2015
St Peter’s School, York
Lost by 2 wickets
BGS
129
Tahirkheli 33, Celaire 32
St P
130-8
Tahirkheli 4-46
However, all this practice must have had some effect, for despite
a couple of disasters the batting held up well and we passed
200 on three occasions. After some experimentation the opening
partnership of Kyme Tahirkheli and Jawad Shad proved to be our
most reliable, with Jawad’s doggedness complementing Kyme’s
more expansive stroke-play. James Celaire played a number
of attractive cameos and Matt Handy proved the ideal man to
accelerate the innings in the middle order. After half term the
promotion of Robbie Williams from the U15s gave us increased
stability and he went from strength to strength as the season
progressed.
Despite our progress with the bat, wins proved hard to come by.
The initial impetus given us by a one run victory over Ashville
was quickly lost by defeats to Ermysteds and Huddersfield New
College and while we could have beaten St Peters, Woodhouse
Grove quickly put us in our place with a comprehensive
performance. Remarkably GSAL could not raise a 1st or 2nd
XI (exams!) but we started the second half of term positively.
Kyme and then Robbie Williams impressively guided us to a
win at QEGS chasing 200 and then the bowlers, Yusuf Khan,
Milan Patel and Haroon Mahmood took over in securing a very
impressive victory over Durham School.
The last week of term saw us play some of our best cricket
although frustratingly we didn’t have a win to show for it. After a
very creditable draw against Ampleforth, we then faced Saltaire
in the 5th Jack Sanderson Memorial Match. An unbeaten
century from Saltaire’s new professional left us chasing 180 but
we showed real spirit in coming within 15 of our target and we
followed this up two days later scoring 202 in 28 overs chasing
211 against the Old Bradfordians.
So the school season ended disappointingly but it was not
without its positives. Great credit must go to captain James
Celaire for the sympathetic way in which he handled the team,
the spirit was always good even at the low points and I could
never question the effort of the boys at any time during the
season. They practised harder than any team of recent years
and the fact that we had few problems in getting players out
on Saturdays during the exam period speaks volumes for their
commitment.
58
Drawn 2
Lost 12
Abandoned 1
April 29 2015 Huddersfield New College
Lost by 8 wickets
BGS
124Mahmood 29, van Berckel 28,
Celaire 25
HNC
125-2
RGS Lancaster
Match Drawn (rain)
BGS
204Tahirkheli 94, van Berckel 31,
Ghafoor 22
RGS
77-0
May 9 2015
Woodhouse Grove
Lost by 9 wickets
BGS
69
WG
70-1
June 6 2015
QEGS Wakefield
Won by 4 wickets
QEGS
199-7
Ghafoor 4-44, Tahirkheli 2-36
BGS
200-6Tahirkheli 79, Williams 46*,
Handy 30
June 13 2015
Durham School
Won by 60 runs
BGS
133
Handy 38, Khan 20
DS
73Tahirkheli 4-25, Mahmood 3-14,
Patel 3-19
June 20 2015
Ampleforth College
Match Drawn
AC
236-3d
Tahirkheli 2-98
BGS
179-8Williams 53, Tahirkheli 31,
Mahmood 22, Handy 20
May 2 2015
June 24 2015 Saltaire CC (Jack Sanderson Memorial Match)
T20
Lost by 15 runs
SCC
179-2
BGS
164-6Handy 35, Tahirkheli 28.
Mahmood 20, van Berckel 20
June 27 2015 Old Bradfordians
Lost by 9 runs
OB
211J Druce 56 , L Stockill 55;
Mahmood 5-23, Patel 3-33
BGS
202Tahirkheli 54, Celaire 36, Heard 27,
Nazir 22; G Gill 3-48;,
J Appleyard 3-51
June 28 2015 Hymers College
Lost by 4 wickets
BGS
186Tahirkheli 38, Williams 33, Nazir
23, Shad 20
HC
187-6
Tahirkheli 2-60
Sport
59
St Vincent and the Grenadines Tour
Tour Results
In July the Senior Cricket Squad embarked on a Caribbean
tour playing cricket on four different islands. The tour was
everything it promised with good weather, idyllic beaches,
memorable ferry transfers and competitive cricket, usually
played in front of some very vociferous but good natured and
appreciative crowds.
We arrived on the beautiful island of St Vincent at Carnival
time and but had little time to acclimatise. After one morning’s
practice at the International Stadium we were quickly in action
with five matches over the next three days. Both sides played the
U16 and U19 sides of the two leading schools on the island and
the 1st XI also played an area representative team. Three of these
games were on a ground immediately adjacent to the airport
while the final two were played at a picturesque mountain village,
South River, and here we were to experience the real Caribbean
atmosphere as the ground was adjacent to a noisy bar and it was
Carnival Sunday. The Development side competed well winning
their first match and narrowly losing the second but a young 1st
XI struggled against older, more experienced opponents losing all
three games although they were always competitive.
Moving on from St Vincent we found the small island of Bequia
quite stunning and the beach-front location of our hotel was
a true Caribbean paradise. The stadium in Port Elizabeth was
the venue for our matches, the Development playing the island
U16s and the 1st XI the island U19s who were preparing for
a T20 competition. The Development XI encounter proved to
be the match of the tour with BGS winning by one wicket from
the last ball of the game but the following day the Bequia side
proved too strong for the 1st XI with their star fast bowler doing
much of the damage.
The next day was possibly the most memorable as we were
able to appreciate real Caribbean from ferry, calling at the
islands of Canouan and Mayreau before arriving at Union Island.
Unfortunately Saturday’s games were washed out by a torrential
tropical storm and play was only possible on the Sunday after a
huge mopping up operation. Fifteen over games were definitely
not our strength and both sides were well beaten by the Island
adult side. Truly men against boys but the welcome was fantastic
and the crowd large and enthusiastic.
July 3 2015
Troumaca Ontario Secondary School
T20
Lost by 43 runs
TOSS
105-4
Tahirkheli 2-12, Khan 2-20
BGS
62-8
July 4 2015
Mariaqua XI
35 over
Lost by 4 wickets
BGS
134
MXI
135-6
July 5 2015
Georgetown Secondary School
T20
Lost by 40 runs
GSS
168-7
Arshad 2-29
BGS
128
Celaire 57
July 9 2015
Bequia U19
T20
Lost by 33 runs
BU19
163-4
BGS
130Williams 29, Mahmood 24,
Celaire 21
July 12 2015
Union Island
15 over
Lost by 8 wickets
BGS
80
UI
81-2
July 14 2015
St John’s School, Grenada
30 over
Won by 7 runs
BGS
90-8
Williams 22
StJ
83Zamir 3-12, Tahirkheli 3-25,
Mahmood 2-13, Khan 2-20
Williams 58
Patel 2-22, Tahirkheli 2-31
Celaire 20
Individual awards
Full colours: re-awards
new awards:
K TahirkheliJ M Celaire, M Y Khan,
H A Mahmood, M Patel
Club colours
J B Gray Batting Trophy
M D Handy, J A Shad, K Tahirkheli
S M van Berckel
T H C Balaam Bowling Trophy
The Davies Cup
K Tahirkheli
(Player of the season)
J M Celaire
A two-legged ferry journey (via Carriacou) took us to our final
destination, Grenada, where both teams had games against
local schools. The Development side lost a competitive game
while the 1st XI had the thrill of playing at the National Stadium
and finally secured their first victory on tour by seven runs in an
exciting climax.
The tour was planned as a ‘development’ exercise and the fact
that the 1st XI won its final game with five U-15s on the field
suggests that the younger players made good progress. With
most of the party returning for the next few seasons the real
benefits will be felt in the future. All the boys worked hard at their
game and can only be better players for the experience.
60
Sport
61
U15
U13
By LW Hanson, Head of English
By A Galley, Assistant Director of Sport
The U15 season was a superb one and I was delighted to
have the opportunity to work once again with this talented and
eager group of players following our undefeated 2014 season
at U14 level.
In difficult conditions against RGS Lancaster and on a lively
wicket BGS lost the toss and batted first. The bowling from
RGS was tight and pressurised our batsman into some rash
shots which led to their downfall. Thankfully an enterprising
last wicket stand between Harley Robertshaw and Oli
Sunderland gave our bowlers something to bowl at.
Our first match against St Peters was rather a one-sided affair
and resulted in a formidable victory for us. We skittled the
opposition for a lowly 126 with Dan Brennan taking an excellent
4-24. We achieved the total with ease after steady contributions
from Will Smith, Ollie Croudson, Charlie Andrews and Robbie
Williams. This was a most positive start to the campaign against
a school that typically provide strong opposition.
Lancaster RGS proved a somewhat more exacting affair. They
batted first and accrued 182-6 from 35 overs. Dan Brennan was
the leading wicket taker with two and also the most economical.
Adroit batting from Will Smith 75no and Robbie Williams 44no
saw us reach the target in only 24 overs. Both showed they had
the flair and discipline needed for such a chase.
Woodhouse Grove provided us with our easiest win of the
season. Charlie Andrew’s 4-29 and Ravi Patel 2-17 led the
bowling as the Grove were all out for just 111 on what looked a
good batting surface. Charlie Andrews 56no and Will Smith 44no
then proved the flat-nature of the pitch by reaching the total with
ease in only 15 overs.
Perhaps over-confidence crept in for our next match against a
typically determined QEGS side. Here we batted first and didn’t
really make full use of a good wicket despite a stylish knock of
59 from Charlie Andrews. QEGS dug in and showed resilience,
passing our total with a couple of overs to spare for the loss of
just four wickets.
Away victories against Durham and Ampleforth followed and I was
pleased the boys bounced back so effectively. Durham scored
175-8 with the wickets shared between Dan Brennan, Hamza
Arshad and Hamza Shaukat. An accomplished batting from
Charlie Andrews 75no and Will Smith 73no saw us home. The
Ampleforth game was rain reduced to 20 overs and we chased
down their 113 in the final over. Charlie Andrews once again
scoring well with 44. Earlier Will Smith had been the star bowler
with 5-10, a performance that proved a match-winning one.
Our final game saw us amass a giant score of 261-5 from 30
overs on the Colts’ Square. Will Smith hit a wonderful 111 and
was ably supported by Ben Merchant and Hamza Shaukat who
both made 30 apiece. Hymers were bowled out for just 124 in
reply making it a brilliant end to the season. Dan Brennan 3-8 and
Ravi Patel 2-12 were the chief wicket takers.
As I stated last year this group of boys will provide BGS with a
number of 1st XI players in the years ahead. I hope they go on
to play cricket in exactly the same manner as they move up the
school. Well done boys – another terrific season.
62
After James Harrop took two quick wickets the RGS batsman
applied themselves well to stay at the wicket and wait for the ball
that behaved itself off the wicket. Two missed chances with these
batsman meant that RGS pushed on to a well-deserved victory.
This match against Woodhouse Grove saw us beat the elements
but left a wicket that looked like a World War 1 battlefield! WHGS
batted first and tight bowling from James Harrop and Matt
Corkindale brought 2 wickets to the team, before the first change
bowling pair of Harry Pope and Oli Sunderland put the Grove
batsman under more pressure with Harry Pope finishing with 3-12.
An effective partnership from the middle order of Grove took them
towards a solid total for this wicket until Oli Sunderland returned to
take 2 wickets in 2 balls to finish their innings.
BGS started poorly with the ball doing alarming things off the
wicket and were left at 22-4 from 5 overs. Henry Smith 22* and
Oli Ogden 37 saw the team over the line with powerful straight
hitting to take the team to the brink of victory in 11 overs. Henry
Miller came in to finish the match off with a 6 from his first ball
In our first T20 match of the season, we batted first against
a strong Ermysteds GS bowling attack. Some strong batting
and good running between the wickets saw the team amass
129-6 with Wahab Khan 52, Oli Ogden 23 and Ben Ceirpol 18
contributing.
The bowling was highly effective and restricted the opposition’s
scoring on a quick outfield, with Ermysteds GS falling short on
115-5 from their 20 overs.
The next fixture saw GSAL bat first on a windy and chilly day and
they raced away against our bowlers who struggled for control in
the conditions. After reaching 62-1 from 8 overs the BGS team
upped their game and eventually dismissed the opposition for
123 in the 26th over, with our extras contributing to the home
team’s total.
A fluid opening partnership from Wahab Khan and Sam
Harrison put the team into a strong situation which a fine 53 run
partnership from Oli Ogden and Henry Miller took the team to the
brink of victory, before Mark Horsman scored the winning runs.
The next match played on a bright and breezy day saw QEGS
bat first and they were put under pressure by Matt Corkindale
and James Harrop who claimed early wickets. Muneeb Basit and
Oli Sunderland followed this up with some strong bowling which
restricted their scoring. The spin pairing of Harley Robertshaw
and Ben Ceirpol bowled well to put QEGS into a difficult situation
but the return of their main batsman after he retired injured saw
QEGS finish on 97 all out.
BGS made a solid start against some tight bowling and a
combination of good catching and panic to score quick runs
saw BGS in trouble at 36-5. But a strong partnership from Henry
Smith and Ben Ceirpol took BGS towards victory which after the
loss of Ben, who played on, Captain Matt Corkindale partnered
Henry Smith to victory.
The annual Junior Cricket tour to play King’s Worcester and
Chigwell School, saw us playing a 35over match in fantastic
conditions against a very good King’s Worcester team. With
Kings batting first our opening bowlers of Matthew Corkindale
and James Harrop put pressure onto the Kings batsman reducing
them to 22-3. An excellent partnership from Kings put them
in sight of a daunting total until Harley Robertshaw produced
excellent figures of 3-27 from his 7 overs. Eventually a valuable
last wicket stand of 25 runs took Kings to a total of 177.
BGS batted well and were always in sight of the run rate
especially with valuable contributions from Wahab Khan 46 and
Will Luxton 43 who unfortunately were dismissed to excellent
catches which put BGS under pressure on the scoreboard. A
powerful innings from Matthew Corkindale 29 brought BGS back
into the match until an excellent 33rd over removed the remaining
batsman leaving BGS short by 24 runs.
In temperatures reaching 33 degrees BGS batted first in our T20
Blast with the openers Wahab Khan and Henry Smith making the
most of the power play overs and reaching a 61 partnership from
6 overs. A slight stubble of wickets brought Aneeq Hamdani 45*
and Matthew Corkindale 47* together who batted with control
and aggression in a 118 run partnership to post a daunting 184-3
from our 20 overs.
Enterprising tactics from BGS with spinner Harley Robertshaw
and left arm James Harrop opening the bowling immediately
put Chigwell behind the run rate and a quick 4 wicket haul from
Oliver Sunderland supported by Harry Pope put the match
beyond our hosts Chigwell.
There were 20 pupils who represented the school at U13 cricket
with the match against St Olaves happening the same day as
the Silcoates School 6-a-side tournament, where both squads
performed well. Well done to the whole squad on their season.
Squad
Matthew Corkindale, Whab Khan, Henry Miller, Sam Harrison,
Harry Pope, Oliver Sunderland, George Moran, Oliver Ogden,
James Harrop, Zain Khan, Ben Ceirpiol, Muneeb Basit, Harley
Robertshaw, Hamza Zamir , Matthew Lansbury, Henry Smith,
Mark Horsman, Alistair Christian, Joe Hopper, Jake Fitzpatrick
Cross Country
By S Harris, Mathematics Teacher and i/c Cross Country
Once again, the Bingley Harriers Schools’ Cross Country
Challenge was our first race of the season, and here the
highlights came from our committed senior runners, many of
whom have competed for BGS since Year 7. Sarah Dewhirst
was 3rd in the Senior Girl’s race, leading BGS to team victory,
and Emile Cairess was a comfortable winner in the Senior
Boys race. With superb runs from Oliver Daffern (3rd) and Max
Duckett (4th), BGS were clear winners in the team competition.
This year, a major event for the cross country club was the English
Schools Cross Country Cup. BGS hosted the first round match for
the first time in many years, and thanks to the efforts of BGS staff,
pupils and parents, the event ran very smoothly. In between acting
as marshals and finish funnel officials, and dismantling the course
at the end, our pupils produced some tremendous performances.
The standout effort of the day came from the Junior Boys team
of Max Bradley (7th), Oliver Sunderland (11th), Amrit Sharma
(13th) and George Moran (21st), who finished 3rd team and
therefore qualified for the Regional Final. Amrit showed particular
sportsmanship when, after seeing Max fall, stopped to help him
to his feet. In the Regional Final, the boys narrowly missed out on
qualification to the National Final.
In January, over 50 runners braved extremely cold and windy
conditions to take part in the Bradford Schools’ Cross Country
Championships at Northcliffe Park. Four BGS runners took
individual Bradford Schools’ titles: Max Bradley in the Year 7
Boys, Grace Dawson Year 7 Girls despite being a year under age,
Oliver Daffern in the Intermediate race, and Emile Cairess picked
up yet another championship title in this competition when
winning the Senior Boys event.
There were also notable performances from Alex Flaherty who
came second to Max Bradley in the Year 7 Boys, a year under
age, Milly Fewlass- Jones had a great run to finish third in the
Junior Girls race, and Sarah Dewhirst was runner up in the Senior
Girls competition.
The Bradford Schools’ Championships is also a team event, and
here BGS picked up three titles, with the Year 7 Boys, Year 7
Girls, and Intermediate Boys all winning their respective races. It
wasn’t just the quality shown that was pleasing, but that this was
allied to a real strength in depth in some races. The B team in the
Year 7 Boys race, for example, finished second to the A team,
pushing local rival Ilkley GS into third.
Following the race 11 boys and girls were selected to represent
the Bradford team at the West Yorkshire Schools’ Championships
at Silcoates School. In the Intermediate Boy’s race, seven of
the eight runners in the Bradford team were BGS pupils, and
a victory for Emile Cairess and 8th place for Oliver Daffern
earned them selection for the West Yorkshire team at the English
Schools’ Cross Country Championships. Emile went on to finish
9th in this race: one that is widely regarded as the toughest, most
competitive junior race there is.
Sport
63
Hockey
U18 National Schools
It has been another successful season for the Hockey club at
BGS. We have had an increase in the number of girls playing
and representing BGS in fixtures with a grand total of 119 girls
playing throughout Senior School. The weather, however,
unfortunately took its toll on the fixture programme, with many
having to be cancelled due to either a frozen or snow covered
pitch.
1st X1
The 1st XI squad have had a good season and have played some
great hockey to watch. In total they won six matches, drew two
and lost three. The first game of the season was against local
rivals Silcoates.
Match Report Vs Silcoates (10/09/14)
The game against Silcoates was an excellent start to the season
for the 1st team, especially for a newly formed squad with a new
formation. The team embraced the unfamiliar structure and played
with real determination from the offset, linking play and looking
dangerous in the D for most of the first half. We headed into half
time with a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by Corrie Jackson- Levrier,
and with most of the possession a win for us looked promising.
Great attacking work down the wings led to a number of short
corners in the second half, with many of the shots just going
frustratingly wide. A second goal was then bagged for BGS
by Izzy Austin, whose reverse sweep from top D neatly found
the backboard. In the run up to the final whistle, our fitness
perhaps started to diminish and unfortunately Silcoates found the
backboard themselves to make the score 2-1. A few mistakes
in midfield led to another Silcoates goal in the final few seconds,
leaving the final score at 2-2. On the whole though it was a very
promising performance from all the BGS players, with many
positives to take away from what was a great team effort. It is an
incredibly strong squad which can only get stronger, and it is going
to be great to see how we progress as the season unfolds.
Captain
Player of the match
Louise Fraser
J M Celaire
The change to the structure of Wednesday afternoons for the
whole of the BGS community obviously came as a shock. On
the positive side it allowed us to introduce a combined games
afternoon for Years 11 to 13 which gave us the opportunity to
run a true 1st and 2nd XI which is something that we had been
considering for a long time.
In the National Schools competition we again reached the semifinal stage which definitely shows the progression of Hockey at
BGS.
Our semi-final match was against GSAL. We knew this was
going to be a tough match so went into the game with a
defensive strategy. Marking was effective and we played a very
competitive game which unfortunately ended with us being
knocked out at this stage by a penalty flick to end the game 0-1.
Despite this loss the whole team worked together and played to
a very high standard developing cohesiveness throughout the
afternoon.
1st XI Squad Awards
Player of the Year Beth Horsman
Players’ Player Fiona Holdsworth
Most Improved Player Maisie Manners
2nd XI
In the Saturday fixtures the 2nd XI have really excelled. Winning
seven, drawing two and only losing one match. This included
some great victories such as defeating Queen Marys 8-1, and
Mount St Marys 8-0.
Match Report v Queen Marys (13/09/14)
It was an excellent start to the season and we played really well,
we used the width of the pitch nicely and made some great
passes down the side, when in the D there was some excellent
play - posting up and passing, working around their defenders
which resulted in some great goals! When it came to their hit outs
we made plenty of interceptions of the ball and so they rarely
managed to break free and head to our D. Because there was
little action in the defence, the defenders also pushed up and
got involved further up. Overall it was a great game and a welldeserved win.
Captain Player of the match Katy Boden (Captain)
Izzy Austin
Unfortunately six of the 2nd XI games were cancelled due to a
variety of weather conditions, but the match against Rishworth
one Wednesday afternoon in late January was the worst where
the game actually had to be abandoned part way through due to
a torrential hail downpour which covered the pitch.
2nd XI Squad Awards
Player of the Year Maddy Oliver
Players’ Player Yusra Shabir
Most Improved player Annabel Smith-Moorhouse
Senior Hockey Tour to Rotterdam
U15 XI
The inaugural hockey tour to Holland in 2014 was a
huge success for the development of our girls’ skills and
experiences and for the continuing growth of Hockey at BGS.
The U15 XI squad have had a mixed season with eight wins,
seven losses and eight games cancelled. They are one of our
smaller squads, yet what they lack in numbers they certainly
make up for in enthusiasm and discussion on any topic. They
have faced some tough opposition this year and suffered
a couple of heavy defeats yet they never let their heads go
down. They play some excellent textbook hockey such as the
importance of getting a player ahead of the ball or defenders
really going HTTB ‘hard to the ball’ which paid off in games
towards the end of the season such as beating Ashville 6-0 and
Sheffield 2-1.
Early Thursday morning we boarded a plane bound for Holland,
excited to be going to the country regarded by most as the
hockey central of the world. After a quick lunch upon landing,
we transferred straight to a pitch where we were set to train
with a high level Dutch coach. He took us through some drills
that he used with his own teams, which were incredibly useful.
Later that day we then threw everything we had into the game
against Almeerse HC which ended with a 1-1 draw, this felt like
a win against tough Dutch opposition! We arrived late to our
iconic ‘cube’ hostel so it was straight to bed. The team was tired
going into our second match and although the game was hard
fought it ended in a loss; although our spirits were raised by the
cheery opposition and the lunch we shared after the game (which
included our first discovery of chocolate sprinkles on bread).
That evening we had match analysis with Mrs Dowley, which was
incredibly useful and enlightening for the whole team. We broke
down the previous game and looked at the positives, as well as
ways our play could be improved. Saturday was our day of rest
from hockey; we travelled into Amsterdam where we went on a
boat cruise, had time to explore the city ourselves and went on
a guided bike tour. The team all agreed the bike tour was the
best part of the day, as it was really interesting as well as having
plenty of funny moments. The next day we trained with the BGS
staff, and watched the Barendrecht ladies 1st XI in a league
game. This showed the team some higher level hockey and
inspired them to play at a higher intensity and to try new things.
After this it was time for photos, before our last match. We
played the best hockey I have ever seen us play, and ended with
a thoroughly well-deserved win. Overall it was an amazing trip,
where our strength as a team majorly expanded and we learned
loads of vital skills, as well as having great fun in two amazing
cities in the Netherlands.
1st XI Captain
Louise Fraser
We are delighted to be able to announce that we are at the stage
of planning the second BGS Senior Hockey Tour, which will travel
to Holland in October 2016. Holland is arguably the best place in
the world to play hockey. We are lucky that it is on our doorstep
(compared with other major hockey nations) and, despite the
inaugural tour also travelling to Holland, we feel that the quality
of play, the enthusiasm for the sport and the culture surrounding
hockey in Holland, into which we can immerse ourselves, will
provide us with new and exciting challenges and opportunities
for a second tour there.
The squad fared quite well in the Bradford arena, comfortably
beating South Craven in their league matches. Ilkley were unable
to field a team on the three occasions we have tried to play
them – maybe they have just heard about our reputation and are
scared of the challenge! This meant we were both league and
tournament winners.
U15 XI Squad Awards
Player of the Year Charlotte Pickard
Players’ Player Charlotte Pickard
Most Improved Player Maddy Silberberg
U14 XI
The U14 girls are one of BGS’ smallest squads who started
the year as very quiet individual players. Towards the end of
the season they started to play with increased confidence in
their own and each other’s play and this is reflected in their
results this season. They have had some mixed results in the
Saturday fixture programme such as losing to Wakefield 1-4 and
Stonyhurst 0-4. Yet the squad have also had some great results
such as drawing with Ashville 0-0, and beating Queen Marys 3-0,
St Bedes 5-2 and Sheffield 3-1.
Under 14 National Schools Report (23/9/14)
Our first game was against Silcoates, the score was 0-0 and
we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t win and I think that
it was the same when we lost our next game 0-1 to Ilkley.
Our first and only goal was scored in the third game, against
Rishworth, by Alicia Cumberland. Unfortunately they scored
one shortly after making the final score 1-1. The good news is
that we maintained a great score against GSAL keeping it at a
low 0-1; though not our highest score I feel that this was one
of our biggest achievements of the tournament. Our last game
was against Wakefield and the score was 0-5 but we fought
hard and remained positive. We had a successful and enjoyable
tournament and will train hard to try and do better next time!
Captain
Milly Fewlass-Jones
In the Bradford Schools matches the U14 girls played some great
linking hockey and beat South Craven 3-0 twice over. Ilkley were
unfortunately unable to field a team which meant we were league
winners.
64
Sport
65
U14 XI Squad Awards
Player of the Year Emerald Hellewell-Weir
Players’ Player Siena Anderson
Most Improved Player Eleanor Beaty
U13 XI
The U13 A and B teams have not played many matches as
7-a-side squads due to cancellations of the Bradford league
matches, yet the ones they have played have definitely had
good results with both the A and B squads beating both South
Craven and Ilkley. The move onto the 11-a-side game on a full
sized pitch took them a bit of getting used to as communication
to each other was tested and brought a couple of early defeats
against the likes of Stockport and Wakefield. This was soon put
right and we ended the season winning convincingly against
Sheffield 3-1 and St Bedes 5-1.
In the Mini Hockey Nationals they fared quite well with some
very tight matches, where just one goal would have clinched it.
Drawing 0-0 with GSAL B and Ilkley and losing to Wakefield 0-1
meant they came third in the section and so would progress no
further. I’m sure this will come together next year when they play
in the U14 National competition.
Scoring goals in the remainder of the season was not a problem
with 50 goals in total being scored and only 20 being let in
defensively thus a goal difference of +30. This makes the U13
XI squad the top team for the second season running. Very well
done!
U13A Squad Awards
Player of the Year Ella Stuttard
Players’ Player Grace Lancaster
Most Improved Player Lucy Hopton
U13B Squad Awards
Player of the Year Ella Moran
Players’ Player Lizzie Hamer
Most Improved Player Sophie Clough
U12 VII
From September most of the girls in Year 7 attended lunchtime
practices which is fantastic, if a little daunting with coaches
having on average 30 girls attending training sessions on a
regular basis. The girls showed depth not only in numbers but
also in skill and went from strength to strength which was proven
in the Bradford District tournament when our BGS teams took
5th, 3rd on goal difference alone, and 1st place.
We really do look forward to seeing these two squads combine
into a full 11-a-side squad for the Saturday fixtures next year they have loads and loads of potential.
Girls Representative Honours
U12A Squad Awards
U17Isabel Austin, Olivia Dovernor, Holly Hellawell, Fiona
Holdsworth, Rosie Ogden
U16 Charlotte Horsman, Abi Spencer, Bea Taggart
U15 Milly Fewlass-Jones
U14 Grace Lancaster
U13 Freya Bellamy, Lucy Hopton
U12 Alice Barnes, Lucy Spencer
Player of the Year Lucy Spencer
Players’ Player Eve Murphy
Most Improved Player Maeve Barrett
U13B Squad Awards
Player of the Year Olivia Eastell
Players’ Player Olivia Eastell
Most Improved Player Millie Sunderland
Parents Hockey
This is the highlight of the year for the parents, also an
opportunity for our young players to play both with and against
their parents. Whilst it is highly competitive it is played with
the right spirit and gives everyone a chance to see how much
progress the girls have made. The crunch match was always
going to be staff against pupils. The 1st XI gave the staff a real
run around and at times looked like scoring. However the final
score was 2-0 to the staff, winning for the second year running,
and being awarded the coveted ‘Broken Stick Award’.
U12A Squad Awards
North, Junior Regional Performance Centre (JRPC)
Izzy Austin
Olivia Dovernor
Milly Fewlass-Jones
Fiona Holdsworth
Charlotte Horsman
U17 JRPC Tier 1
Isabel Austin
2015/16 Captains
1st XI Captain
1st XI Vice Captain
Charlotte Horsman
Annabel Smith-Moorhouse
2nd XI Captain
2nd XI Vice Captain
Holly Hellawell
Katy Boden
U15XI Captain U15XI Vice Captain Emerald Helliwell-Weir
Katie Elmore
U14XI Captain
U14XI Vice Captain
Amy Claxton
Astrid Knox-McConnell
U13XI Captain
U13XI Vice Captain
Lucy Spencer
Gowri Kanakath
Well done to all those who have represented school at hockey
this year and thanks again to all those staff and parents, without
whose contributions the hockey at BGS would not be the
success it is!
Hockey Dugouts
Huge thanks to the Parents’ Association for the kind donation
of the two hockey dugouts following the request that was
made through the School Council. They have made a massive
difference for players, coaches and parents and are a real
positive for the Hockey club at BGS.
Summer Fair
The decision to run a stall at the Parents’ Association Summer
Fair 2015 was a huge success in raising a small amount of
money for kit for upcoming tours, but also to continue the growth
of the hockey profile at BGS. The hockey staff really entered
into the spirit of the day and wore costumes to reflect the Alice in
Wonderland theme. The Clock Croquet was a real eye catcher in
the centre of the Governors Lawn where lots of fun was had by
all. This was much more popular than the ice cream sodas which
funnily enough were not selling well on a cold, wet afternoon in
June!
They have also had some great results in the Saturday fixtures
with the A team beating the likes of Rishworth 4-0, Ackworth 5-1
and claiming a narrow 1-0 win against Silcoates. The B team in
particular made huge progress in terms of skill and confidence
and really pulled it together to draw 2-2 with Silcoates,
Stonyhurst and Wakefield
66
Sport
67
Netball
1st and 2nd team
By C Taylor, Director of Sport
The season started a bit earlier for some players in here tonight when we
flew to Australia for the pre-season tour. It was an amazing experience
and those who went brought back lots of enthusiasm for those who
didn’t. They also brought back lots of great stories, in particular one
about their favourite teacher who managed to secure them a date with
Will.I.Am! Beat that Miss B!
We had an amazing time, and learnt a lot from the Australian style
of play – the sheer aggression that the Ozzies show in every single
game is something that we as a nation, never mind a school, can
really learn from. The girls improved throughout their stay and by
the end of the tour, we were playing some of the best netball we
had ever played.
The season started well for both teams as the 2nds found their
form straight away, beating Stockport in a very high scoring game.
12-3. The 1sts drew with Stockport 21-21 as they struggled to gel.
It didn’t take long for them to pick up though as they beat Cheadle
the following week 39-16.
Training was a bit of an issue at the start of the season, but that
soon changed as we swapped the sessions round to try and
meet everyone’s needs. It soon became clear that the girls were
benefitting from the strenuous fitness regime that Miss B had
instilled last year!
As the season progressed, we had some excellent results from
both teams. The 2nds beat Cheadle, Ashville and Hymers College
to name a few. The 1sts met St Peters in the first round of the
Independent Schools Cup and to be honest, it was like being
transported back to Australia! Their focus and determination to win
was brilliant and for want of a better phrase, there was some real
champagne netball played that day. We beat them 44-21 and went
on to meet The Grange in the next round, whom we beat again
before losing out to Guess Who? Yes, GSAL in the last 16.
We came back from Australia and lost a few players to injury.
Ava made huge progress in Oz and it was a real shame to lose
her on our return, but she was suffering with an ongoing back
injury. Also Ella. Ella was making huge progress and Dani and I
had even talked about where we could fit her into the 1st team. I
was cursing that rollarcoaster! She ended up with whiplash and a
twisted pelvis, which meant she didn’t play much in Australia and
has not been able to play this season at school.
68
off court, but Alex has a huge presence on court and I’m sure
she will be knocking on the door of the 1st team next year. Holly
Dixon has been a very reliable shooter, but she has also shown
real potential in other parts of the court – watch this space Holly!
I’ll mention Evie and Harriet together cos they do most things
together! They have both had moments of despair with netball,
but I’m really pleased to say they have kept coming training and
have both made big impacts in the 2nd team.
Evie is very deceptive and comes from nowhere to make
interceptions, and Harriet is a very positive player who has made
huge improvements, especially with the zone. Olivia Newman has
been really impressive this year with her feeds into the circle and
she has stepped up to shoot when needed and done a great job.
Although Enya has struggled somewhat with an ongoing injury,
she has managed her training well and makes a huge impact on
court, whether its at WA or WD. Lizzie Winn has been fantastic
this year as 2nd team centre. She has really noticed the step up
from U16 netball to senior netball, but she has given it everything
and she never gives up. Last but not least, Pascale. What can I
say about Pascale? She is one of the most naturally skilful netball
players I have ever had the pleasure to coach.
1st Team Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Georgie Williams
This could have gone to a number of players this season in the
2nd team, but I chose a player who has made a huge impact in
the attacking circle this year and is probably the most consistent
shooter we have. She learnt a lot from the Australian girls and
brought back a new found confidence. Most Improved player goes
to Georgie Williams.
Players’ Player – Molly Orviss
We always say that this is the best award to get – as voted by
the rest of the girls in the team. She obviously has the respect of
all the other girls, as well as the coaches. Players Player goes to
Molly Orviss.
Player of the Season – Molly Orviss
This was a very easy choice to make for me, as this player has
been outstanding this season. She never gives up and somehow
manages a very busy schedule with being at every single training
session and every single match. She has been a pleasure to coach
this year: Molly Orviss.
She is still part of the squad though and I’d like to wish her all the
best and hope that she will continue to play at university. Monica
also decided to stop playing netball this year – she just couldn’t
fit everything in, and something had to give. This did open a door
into the 1st team for a few other people though and those players
grabbed the opportunity with two hands.
The girls who are leaving this time have been an absolute
pleasure to coach over the last seven years, and they will all be
missed. Rhea Balmforth and Suzi Duncan have co-captained the
1st team this season and have done a fantastic job. They have
different strengths and complement each other tremendously,
both on the court and off. They make up a very strong defensive
unit and are a real force to be reckoned with. They have both
been fabulous captains that as a coach, I have been proud to
work with. Bessie Allen has shown true determination to improve
and that she has done! She has made her way into the 1st team
on a number of occasions and has never looked out of place.
Emma Whitham plays with a certain flare on court!
Some of the L6 girls have made huge progress this year. Alex
Christian in defence has been a force to be reckoned with – quiet
She is a very technical player, who has developed a good
understanding of set plays such as the zone. And if she forgets,
Sport
69
she simply ‘gives the signal’ for the overhead ball! Krista Bennet
has been Emma’s right hand woman on court, mainly playing
Goal Attack or Wing Attack. She is a very feisty player, who has
the ability to change games with one move – and quite often
does. Carrie Lavery has made the step up into the 1st team as a
regular starter and has made huge improvements over the years.
She has always brought the fun element to training and along
with Emma, makes everyone laugh. Caitlin Boyd has had a slight
lack of confidence over the last few years after struggling with a
severe back injury, but she has come back fighting (sometimes
literally!) to secure a regular 1st team place - her centre court
play has improved immensely.
Georgie Williams and Charlotte Pogson have made a really
successful partnership in the shooting circle for the 2nd team
and have both benefitted from the tour to Australia in terms of
their style of play. The 2nd team defensive unit consisted of
Sophie Merrick and Erin Pettit in the circle, and Molly Orviss at
WD. Molly is also known as the ‘terrier’ on court as she is so
tenacious and always fights for possession of the ball, whether
we are winning or not. Sophie and Erin have built up a great
partnership in the circle and have perfected the art of calling in
there.
Corrie Jackson-Levrier joined us at BGS in Year 7 and fell in love
with netball. She is now leaving us to live in Singapore with her
parents, and we wish her all the best for her future out there. We
will really miss her next year, and I really hope she will carry on
playing netball out there.
2nd Team Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Krista Bennett
This player has made a huge impression on me this year. I always
had faith that she could be brilliant, but this season, she has
showed it more than ever. She takes set plays really seriously
and has mastered the attacking zone to a T. She has stepped into
shoot when needed and has rarely missed; which is a mean feat
when you have been playing WA for most of the season. Most
Improved Player is Krista Bennett.
Players’ Player – Corrie Jackson-Levrier
Again, as voted for by the girls. This is a lovely way to end her
career at BGS. Players Player is Corrie Jackson-Levrier.
Player of the Season – Corrie Jackson-Levrier
This again, could have gone to more than one player this year,
but when deciding who to give it to, I was thinking about game
changing moments. Who is it that can turn a game around with an
interception or a lob into the circle or a rebound at the right time?
Who is it that has at least one of those moments in almost every
game? The answer is clear. PoS goes to Corrie Jackson-Levrier.
I just want to end by saying that I feel that this is the end of an era
for me. I have coached senior netball now for 14 years (give or
take two maternity leaves!) and I have watched these girls grow
from kids into fantastic young women who are going to take the
world by storm. I feel honoured and extremely proud to have
coached you this year and I wish you all the best for next year and
beyond. Please keep playing and please come and have a table at
the fashion show next year – stay in touch!
70
U15A - The Dream Team
By D Bloomfield, Games and PE Teacher and i/c Netball
These girls have really come together as a squad and are extremely
cohesive both on and off the court. The majority of girls in the squad
represented Bradford District with the district A team winning the West
Yorkshire tournament beating Leeds in the final, which has only boosted
the girls confidence for when they come to meet them next year at school
level.
It has been great to see two of the A team players, Phoebe Ogden
and Claudia Dobson, stepping up and representing the U16s in
the National Schools squad and not just being on the squad but
actually competing on court in all three rounds and particularly in
the National Schools Finals at Whitby High School in Cheshire. As
a coach it was a very proud moment to see the girls making the
starting seven and have outstanding performances. Similarly with
some of the girls making that transition into the year above lower
down the school, it has already begun the process of moulding
our senior squads and preparing for our development tour to
Australia next summer. Not only is it promising that we will have
a strong seven girls that will take the court, but a strong squad
with substitutes who can challenge for those positions and offer
something different.
Winning the Bradford Schools tournament meant that the girls
have qualified for the West Yorkshire Invitational Tournament next
season where they will be joined by the B team. Here the girls
will have a chance to see who their strong competition is likely to
be for National Schools next season and stamp their mark as a
strong opposition for other schools.
The squad also competed in the Independent Schools National
Cup where they faced Cheadle Hulme, and despite beating them
earlier on in the season 32-15, they ended up losing by 2 in the
final quarter. This taught the girls to ensure they are consistent
and to never be complacent, which they did and they remained
undefeated for the rest of the season.
Other games where the girls showcased some of their best
netball was against Woodhouse Grove where they won 3915 despite drawing to them 29-29 the year before. This was
just another demonstration of how the girls have shown huge
improvements and performing stronger and stronger every
season. I know the girls will be out to prove a point and compete
for a place in National Finals next season.
U15A Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Sally Bertrand
Her shooting has become so consistent and she is an asset to the
team, she listens intently to every piece of feedback given to her
and as a result has improved dramatically.
Players’ Player – Sally Bertrand
Clearly respected amongst her teammates and has at times been
their saviour on court with some outstanding shooting.
Player of the Season – Claudia Dobson
Dobson Despite at times lacking in confidence, Claudia has had
some outstanding performances this season. She has represented
U16 at National School finals and despite not making the starting
seven during the earlier stages of the competition, she was
determined to step on court and when she finally did in the finals
she was brilliant. She showed everyone the reason she had been
selected and that she had the ability to compete. As a coach it
was a very proud moment.
Due to their performance both on and off court, their commitment
to netball, attitude to training and their ability to lead by example
Claudia Dobson has been awarded the role of Captain with Sally
Bertrand as her Vice-Captain.
U15B
The B team have qualified for the West Yorkshire Invite
Tournament next season as a result of winning the Bradford
Schools league. This means that both our A and B team will
compete in the tournament, which is a huge achievement and
a great showcase for netball at BGS, particularly at this age
group. This shows how far they have come not only as individual
players but as a squad, demonstrating versatile players who have
stepped on court, not necessarily in their strongest positions, and
have performed well. A lot of the girls who represent the B team
have been selected to go on the tour to Australia next summer
as a result of their commitment to netball, BGS, and for showing
willingness and desire to improve their netball.
Individually, players have really shone this year, even more so than
last year. Lulu Duncan has improved technically and has become
a reliable and consistent player. Izzy Heaton has shown great
leadership both on and off the court and has lead by example in
fitness sessions. Sana Hafeji has dominated in defence and is
always eager to learn and has improved tremendously having only
joined us last year from Bradford Girls’ Grammar.
The girls got off to a great start to the season beating Cheadle
Hulme 24-12 and their success continued throughout. They won
every game bar one in a friendly against Sedbergh but dominated
the Bradford Schools league, remaining undefeated. Considering
the girls play most of the surrounding schools’ A teams, this is a
fantastic achievement.
U15B Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Sana Hafeji
Always asking questions, listens intently and puts it into practice
and has been asset to the team.
Players’ Player – Izzy Heaton
Extremely enthusiastic, supportive, she has really matured and
become a respected and natural leader of the group.
Player of the Season – Kiran Athwal
Her shooting has become very consistent, she has grown in
confidence and has been an asset to the team.
Izzy Heaton was awarded the role of Captain for tenacity on court
and her organisation off it, her Vice-Captain will be Kiran Athwal for
her support on and off the court and her consistency in matches.
Both thoroughly deserved.
U14A
This team possess some of the hardest working and committed
girls I have ever had the pleasure of coaching. As a result the
team qualified through to the regional round of National Schools
after a hard fought District round where they were well and truly
the underdogs of the competition. They had some outstanding
performances against Wakefield Girls and came within one
goal of GSAL where the game ended 9-8. The girls narrowly
missed out on qualifying for the West Yorkshire Invitational
Tournament as they lost to Parkside in the final of the Bradford
Schools Tournament earlier in the year. However the girls were
keen to learn from this going forward and ensure they make the
necessary improvements for the following year.
It has been great to see some of this year group representing the
district at U15 level and West Yorkshire squads, which are huge
achievements that the school and the rest of the squad can only
benefit from and aim towards; they truly are role models to the rest
of the girls. Izzy Clarke, Catherine Allen and Anna Masterton were
all selected for West Yorkshire and have been selected to train with
the U16 national schools squad next season for school.
The squad has seen some new faces this season and it has been
great to see the girls competing for positions and starting places
during matches.
U14A Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Polly Shaw
… who transitioned to the A team from the B team for her shooting
technique and consistency, and her attitude at training and
towards improving her netball.
Players’ Player – Izzy Clarke
… who has had a determined attitude, is reliable, hard-working,
well respected and has grown in confidence.
Player of the Season – Catherine Allen
This award could not have gone to a more competitive, hardworking, passionate netball player; her desire to win in everything
is admirable.
to netball, attitude to training and natural leadership qualities,
Catherine Allen has been awarded Captain for the U15 netball
squad next season for the 3rd year running with Izzy Clarke as her
Vice-Captain.
Pat Evans Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to
Netball – Catherine Allen
When we thought about students who deserved this award there
were players who work hard, who are committed, who play netball
outside of school and some who have represented the year above
at National Schools. You couldn’t say they weren’t like some of
the other girls who fell into the same category, but there was one
clear person who for me and the rest of the staff stood out from
everybody else, for her strong passion and desire for netball and
the need to win. Her high standards and inability to settle for
anything other than the best, and perfection is something every
Sport
71
single netballer and sports person at this school should look up
to. This person does not always find it easy to play every game
or attend every fixture but goes above and beyond to make sure
she’s there, she never lets the school or her teammates down and
is an asset to the school.
U14B
The B team has had some great performances this season
particularly in the Bradford league where they only lost to
Parkside who were a very strong opposition. A performance
which stood out for me was against Ashville just after Christmas.
The girls were losing going into the last quarter and they fought
hard in the minus temperature conditions to come out with a
20-18 win.
There have been some outstanding improvements from every
single player in this team and it has been a pleasure to see so
many girls in this year group progress, so much so we have
entered a C team into the Bradford league next year to ensure all
the girls are getting plenty of match play and some players have
made the transition into the A team. Polly Shaw has transitioned
into the A team this season offering a high and technically
outstanding shooting action and a well-developed roll into the
back space. In addition to her shooting partner Sophie Holden,
who has also moved up from the B team due to her ability to feed
the circle with ease and precision. Claudia Kenyon has led by
example with her consistent hard work and willingness to improve
and as a result was awarded Players’ Player.
I have every confidence that girls within this group will make that
transition into the A team next season, and they are a very strong
competing squad for the girls who represent school in the A team,
which has created a great training atmosphere as the girls are
constantly competing for positions.
U14B Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Aman Ismail
… for her confidence, ball handling and movement on court.
Players’ Player – Claudia Kenyon
… always encouraging others, is very hard-working and a role
model to the rest of her teammates.
Player of the Season – Anna Marsden
…extremely organised, hardworking, has shown huge progression
technically and with her fitness, leads by example on the court and
has been an asset to the defence and the rest of the team.
to netball, attitude to training and natural leadership qualities Anna
Marsden has been awarded the role of Captain next year with
Claudia Kenyon as her Vice-Captain.
72
U12A
U12B
The U12A team have had a successful season. Over half of the
team also play hockey, which made it difficult at times to field 2
teams, but the girls stepped up and many of them have played
both netball and hockey on the same day. I have been very lucky
this year to have lots of strength and depth AND HEIGHT within
the squad – 3 accurate shooters, 3 circle defence and more
than enough centre court players. This showed at the Bradford
Schools Tournament when most players came off court at some
point, and we still won!! We have had some great performances,
particularly against Wilmslow, who we beat by one and Hymers,
who we beat 8-3. We had some losses in the first part of the
season against schools who we play a return fixture against.
However, the weather has not been on our side so we didn’t get
the chance to play them again and win! There’s always next
season! We have finished the season on a high as the girls have
not only won the Bradford Schools League, but did ‘The Double’
a few weeks ago as they won the Tournament, beating Parkside
in the semi and Ilkley Grammar in the final.
I was very excited to start the season coaching the U12 team.
I knew we had some real talent from Clock House and I saw
within the first week that we had some excellent potential
coming in from outside too! It was difficult to separate the A
team and the B team as the girls were all of a similar ability;
some players who started in the B team are now in the A team
and some players in the B team are knocking on the door of the
A team and I’m sure they will make that jump next season. I’d
like to make it clear that just because you start in the B team
doesn’t mean you will never break into the A team.
I would like to mention a few players who were selected for the
Bradford District U13 squad this year, a year early. These players
are Glesni Jones, Lizzie Lucas, Eve Murphy, Eva Lockett and Eve
Atkinson. Well done to you all.
U12A Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Eve Murphy
Eve has made huge improvements over the course of the season.
She started well, but has to work really hard as she is one of our
smaller players! She always works hard in training and her vision
into the circle is excellent. She showed real determination when
she wasn’t originally selected for the district squad – so much so
that she was later asked to attend a late trial and got in.
The B team have had some real successes over the season,
winning most of their games in the Bradford League, only losing
to our A team actually! They started the season against Cheadle
Hulme and had a bit of a shock! It’s not necessary to mention the
score, but let’s just say they came away feeling like they had a lot
to learn. And learn they did. They are a very determined bunch
of girls – determined to have fun but really focused on improving
and striving to be the best that they can be. This was proven
when we came up against Sedbergh in early October. Traditionally
a difficult fixture, Sedbergh U12B didn’t know what had hit them
and we came away with a 13-1 win! We had some close games
against Wilmslow and Sheffield High, where we only lost 8-9. We’ll
get them next year! We were the victims of poor weather around
Christmas and a few games were cancelled, but they came back
fighting (not literally) in their first Saturday game back against
Ashville. It was freezing at Ashville and the netball was a bit frantic
at times, but they secured a victory 8-4 and never gave up. They
went onto play Hymers, and again emerged victorious although it
was a tighter game. They won 5-4 and fought hard throughout the
game to remain focused.
In some other schools, our B team players would have been
playing in the A team – this says a lot about the size of the squad
and the commitment to training that the girls have shown. There
have been many players who have really stood out and made lots
of progress, which was evident in the recent tournament. Some
players have also played for the A team on a number of occasions,
which allows them to take that experience back to the B team and
encourage others to have the same competitive edge.
U12B Squad Awards
Most Improved Player – Lara Baines
Lara needs to find a bit more confidence in her own ability –she
had not played much netball before she arrived at BGS, and
although it took her a few months to break into the team, once
she did, she has never looked back. She is a valued member of
the team and has made huge progress this year. She is strong
defensively but has also shown that she can shoot on occasion
too, so watch this space for next year!
Players’ Player – Lara Baines
It’s always lovely to get Players’ Player as the other members
of the team have voted for you. This player always has a smile
on her face and is always the one to step up to help whenever
needed. She likes to have fun in lessons but always wants to learn
and improve. Obviously the other players on the team rate and
respect her, as we all do.
Player of the Season – Hannah Crookes
Hannah has been outstanding this season. She has played for the
A team on a number of occasions and I fully expect her to step
up and be part of that squad next year. She takes netball very
seriously and has done an outstanding job as captain of the B
team this year.
Captain
Vice-Captain
Lara Baines
Fumni Ogunde
Players’ Player – Eve Murphy
Eve is obviously well liked and respected by the rest of the girls, is
always focused and ready to learn, but knows how to have fun at
the same time.
Player of the Season – Eva Lockett
Eva has had an outstanding season. She is a real game changer
with her interceptions through the court and her excellent ball
handling skills. I feel that she has not only progressed as a player,
but she has developed as a person. Always willing to give 100%
to everything she does, this player is a real inspiration to many of
the girls in here tonight. She has been a pleasure to work with as
my U12 captain this year.
Captain
Vice-Captain
Glesni Jones
Eve Atkinson
Sport
73
Rugby
After a steady start and for the first time since 2003, the squad
travelled to the St Josephs’ invitational tournament. This offered
BGS the opportunity to test themselves against some of the best
schools in the UK. Gladiatorial performances saw off Hampton
and Denstone College on the first day to ensure our qualification
for the De La Salle Trophy the following day, no mean feat. A
proud yet depleted team returned to BGS after day two having
played 7 gruelling matches in two days and it took a while for
the boys to recover. Stalwart Sam Ogden was a big loss and
the worst hit with a broken foot which kept him out of action for
several months.
1st XV
By D Scarbrough, Head of Senior Rugby
Notable performances for the season came with away wins at
QEGS (one for the OBs), RGS Newcastle and Durham in the
Champions Trophy, in which we finally lost in the last 16, to a last
minute penalty against Oakham away.
1st XV Results
Played
14
Date
Won
9
Drawn
0
Lost 5
Points For
332
Points Against
269
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Durham School*
Crossley Heath School
Stonyhurst College
Home
Away
Away
Away
Away
Won
Lost
Won
Won
Lost
32 – 17
17 – 29
19 - 16
28 – 5
28 – 30
Oakham School*
Nottingham High School
GSAL
Away
Home
Home
Lost
Won
Lost
17-22
61 – 10
10 – 22
Away
Away
Away
Home
Won Won
Won
Won
14 – 10
20 - 10
21 – 19
12 – 6
Home
Away
Won
Lost
34 – 27
19 - 46
September
6th
13th
17th
20th 27th
October
1st
4th
11th
November
8th 15th 22nd
29th Pocklington School
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
December
6th
14th St. Peter’s School York
Kirkham GS
* U18 Champions’ Trophy
The 2014/15 squad saw the 1st XV improve on the successes
of the previous year. Using a New Zealand All Blacks analogy;
When you have worn the BGS 1st XV jersey, it is important to
enhance the legacy so that you leave it in a better place than
when you received it. I can safely say that James Johnson and
his fellow ‘Geese’ have succeeded in this regard.
A valuable summer visit from the Royal Marines to BGS
brought the initial squad together in June 2014 for some
team development and bonding exercises. The pre-season
development tour to South Africa will last in the memory of all
involved on and off the pitch. Notable performances against
Lagunya township and Pniel Villages preceded outstanding
performances against Paarl Boys High and Jeppe High
School. The latter being one of the games of the season with
a memorable length of the field try after a line break by flying
winger George Akester and his one-handed offload! The new preseason touring format set the tone for the rest the year.
74
The ‘muscle’ in the front row of Big Joe, Bash, Chivers and
Downey gave dominance in the set piece. A powerful back row,
led by ‘follow me’ leader James Johnson supplied quality ‘front
foot’ ball for the hardy ‘Bertie Worthington’ to distribute to the
young and exciting backs directed by the solidity and footballing
skills of Greg Cox. The younger lads will in no doubt stand us in
good stead next year.
The team successfully developed the ‘one team, one dream’
culture that had begun the previous season and throughout
numerous twitter #hashtags, the season culminated in a National
Daily Mail Trophy league position of 25th, Six places higher
than in the previous year. Rowan Beckett, one of the team’s
most consistent performers went onto play for Yorkshire and
the Independent Schools Lambs. He has since furthered his
successes by playing for Cambridge Universities’ 60s (2nd XV).
The 2014 1st XV Captain James Johnson summed the season up
with his own sentiments:
‘This season was highly successful both on and off the pitch
and it has been an honour to have captained the first team in
my final year. The season began with a tour of South Africa,
which, despite our experience on Table Mountain I shall always
remember as one of, if not, the best trips of my life. I believe the
squad of 2014/15, both first XV and the seconds, have managed
to pull BGS back to the very top of school boy rugby. This was
epitomised by our excellent performance in the St Joseph’s
festival, by qualifying for the knockout rounds BGS was one
of the top six rugby schools in the country. But despite all the
success BGS rugby is much more than the results, it is difficult to
put into words how much the club means to all those involved, I
have thoroughly enjoyed my time playing for BGS and if I could I
would redo it all exactly the same. Whilst most have moved on to
university it goes without saying that all those in the gaggle have
and always shall bleed maroon. Honk Honk.’
From day one the two year groups who represented the Senior
Squad formed a strong bond of which I’m sure will be difficult to
better. In total 36 players represented the 1st XV throughout the
season and it was fantastic to see how rugby can bring people
together and make life long memories. I look forward to meeting
up in the future with all members of the squad and reminiscing
over what a fantastic season we all enjoyed in 2014. Well done to
all involved!
2nd XV
Hydleman to catch the kick on the full to run in from halfway.
Along with three trys from Captain Robinson and a strong lineout
component from Joe Rowbottom, we earnt a comfortable victory
away from home.
By Dom Bailey and Alex Robinson
After being stopped from scoring in the season before,
Nottingham was not a game we could take lightly. With a
winning streak building, the importance of the game was not
undermined by any complacency or under-performance. A great
kick return from Will Masterton, accompanied by fellow winger
Ben Appleyard, led a quick counter-attack capitalised on by the
forwards – Joe ‘The Leaping Salmon’ Rowbottom touching down
his only try for BGS. 51-0.
2nd XV Results
Played
14
Won
10
Drawn
1
Lost 3
Points For
299
Points Against
175
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Mata Maria
Stonyhurst College
Home
Away
Away
Home
Away
Won
Won
Won
Lost
Won
22 – 5
20 – 17
19 – 12
5 - 15
34 – 10
GSAL
Home
Home
Won
Won
51 – 10
29 – 12
Away
Away
Away
Home
Won Drawn
Won
Won
29 – 0
12 - 12
26 – 14
19 – 3
Home
Away
Lost
Lost
12 – 22
21 - 43
September
6th
13th
20th 22nd
27th
October
4th
11th
November
8th 15th 22nd
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
December
6th
14th St. Peter’s School York
Kirkham GS
The season did not get off to the start we hoped for, captain
Dom Bailey came off injured after 10 minutes. Another
detrimental loss for the team was Charlie Smith’s lunch. Which,
shortly after the ambulance drove off, was all over a corner flag.
Despite Sam Baxter taking over the arm band, and thanks to a
trademark try from No. 8 Alex Robinson and a strong defensive
performance from full back Will Masterton, we got the first W in
the column, as Dr Proctor would say.
A win against Hymers, away from home, followed where Alex
Robinson, ably assisted by a star performance from Will Heard,
put in a performance deserving of the captaincy. This was the
first time that Mr Reed-Purvis, in his association with the 2nd XV,
had won in Hull.
The Crossley Heath game saw Conor Gundry come on as a
substitute, only to receive a red card within seconds. A record yet
to be beaten. Strong running with ball in hand from centre Sam
Baxter earnt the victory.
Next came Stoneyhurst College, a game we were cautious of
due to last year’s heavy defeat. An attempted clearance kick
from Owain Downes, saw quick reactive play from back Dan
Local rivals GSAL would take some beating. Inspiring words from
player-manager Julian Reed-Purvis and Captain Alex Robinson,
helped us realise the magnitude of the game in that no U6
boys playing had ever beaten GSAL. Strong scrummaging from
Shadmann Kader, pinned back Leeds and helped create chances
for a quick back line. A 29-12 victory where mention cannot go
uncredited to our 16th man, our rock, our Dr Proctor.
Weather conditions led to the fixture against Pocklington being
played in the forwards. Missing fan-favourite Alex Robinson,
Dom Bailey stepped up to the gauntlet of captain and No.
8. Playmaker Conor Gundry helped usual 1st team hooker,
James Downey cross the line twice in our second clean sheet
of the season. We were pleased to end the game without any
hyperthermia casualties.
Next to the fair city of Nottingham and Trent College and the
return of our very own Prodigal Goose, Danny Leach, whose
missed place kick put an end to our seven match winning streak.
Missing key players, Baxter and Bailey, to a strengthened 1st
team, we held out for the draw.
QEGS was another rivalry that we did not want to lose. After
consistently impressive performances, 1st team call-ups
for Baxter and Bailey left gaps in the starting line-up. Gaps
competently filled by back Will Heard (one outstanding try-saving
tackle immediately comes to mind) and forward Matthew Bulmer.
A further two scores from the captain meant another well-earnt
victory maintaining the undefeated season. This was the first time
in some years that both 1st and 2nd XVs had won in Wakefield.
Despite coming up against a physically strong RGS Newcastle,
senior players, such as the diminutive Ben Appleyard still
managed to prevent the opposition from scoring a try. 19-3.
Without talisman and captain, Alex Robinson, Dom Bailey was
once again given Bean’s size 5 boots to fill. Leading by example,
playing on despite a dislocated shoulder and taking a yellow card
for teammate Ed Cooper deep into 2nd half, Bailey could not
do enough to stop St. Peter’s. All good things must come to an
end at some point. 22-12 to the visitors. St Peter’s were without
doubt one of the best teams we had encountered and fully
deserved their win.
Before we knew it, the end of a prolific season was upon us.
Missing the players Alex Robinson, Dom Bailey, Sam Baxter
and Owain Downes, Joe Rowbottom stepped up as the fourth
player to wear the arm band. Consequently, literally bleeding
Sport
75
maroon from another scrap caused by Sunday League’s finest,
Daniel ‘Booraj’ Leach. A heart-breaking loss to a very powerful
Kirkham side.
In concluding, thanks must go to Dr Proctor and Mr Reed-Purvis
for teaching us so much more than rugby, on and off the field.
Long live Proc and Reedo’s barmy army.
U16
U15
U14
U16 XV Results
U15 XV Results
U14 XV Results
Played
9
Won
5
Drawn
0
Date
Opposition
Lost 4
Points For
165
Points Against
171
Venue ResultScore
September
1st VII
By AJ Galley, Assistant Director of Sport
The senior sevens squad’s first outing was at Ampleforth, with
only a snowy run out against Woodhouse Grove and Ashville as
preparation. Although the team played some enterprising rugby,
defeats to Kirkham GS and Durham School saw BGS exit at the
quarter final stage.
The following tournament hosted by Durham School at the
Kingston Park saw the team play some fantastic rugby in the
group stages only conceding four tries. This saw the team reach
the semi-final against Sedbergh on the new Newcastle Falcons
4g. In a tight tussle different breakdown interpretations saw
Sedbergh gain a two try advantage we were never able to pull
back.
At the North of England Sevens a slow start due to tiredness
from the Fashion Show saw a tight lose to RGS Newcastle. After
this start the team responded well to progress to the Bowl final
and comprehensively defeat Hymers College to win the trophy.
The Hymers Sevens saw the team play their best rugby on the
wide pitches at Hull Ionians defeating Sedbergh comfortably in
the group to win the group. After a quarter final win on a small
quagmire, the team were outmuscled on the same pitch by a
physical QEGS Wakefield side.
At Rosslyn Park the squad performed well, with Alex Robinson
scoring his 100th school try, to emerge from the group and play
the well-rested Blundells side who performed well to send BGS
into the plate competition. The second day saw the team lose
to the winners Cranleigh in the group before winning their final
match.
6th
13th
27th
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Stonyhurst College
Home
Away
Home
Won
Won
Lost
14 – 7
39 – 14
5 – 26
GSAL
Home
Home
Lost
Won
19 – 27
24 – 0
Lost
Won
Lost
Won
0 – 47
19 - 5
17 – 33
28 – 12
November
8th 15th 22nd 29th Pocklington School
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Home
Away
Away
Home
U16B XV Results
Won
2
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Drawn
0
Lost 3
Points For
79
Points Against
109
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Home
Away
September
Lost
Won
14 – 26
36 – 5
November
8th 15th Pocklington School
Trent College
Home
Away
Lost
Won
12 – 47
17 - 0
Lost
0 - 31
December
6th Drawn
0
Date
Opposition
Lost 4
Points For
390
Points Against
242
Venue ResultScore
St.Peter’s School York
6th
13th
20th
27th
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Stonyhurst College
Away
Away
Home
Home
Won
Won
Won
Won
39 – 5
20 – 12
38 - 17
77 – 0
GSAL
South Craven School*
Away
Away
Home
Won
Lost
Won
45 – 26
0 – 35
68 – 0
Won
Lost
Lost
Won
62 – 0
12 - 24
0 – 67
24 – 16
Lost
5 – 40
October
4th
11th
15th
Home
6th
Pocklington School
Woodhouse Grove School*
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Home
Home
Away
Away
St. Peter’s School York
Away
Won
3
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Drawn
0
Lost 4
Points For
123
Points Against
175
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Away
Away
Won
Won
27 –0
39 – 21
GSAL
Away
Away
Lost
Lost
10 – 22
15 – 22
Won
Lost
20 – 10
7 – 50
September
October
November
Pocklington School
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
Home
Away
December
6th
Points For
150
Points Against
420
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Stonyhurst College
Away
Away
Home
Home
Lost
Lost
Lost
Won
21 – 50
7 – 47
12 - 36
14 – 10
GSAL
Ermysted’s GS
Away
Away
Home
Won
Lost
Drawn
50 – 0
17 – 33
12 – 12
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
12 – 33
0 - 33
0 – 59
0 – 50
Lost
5 – 57
6th
13th
20th
27th
4th
11th
15th
8th
15th 22nd
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Home
Home
Away
Away
6th
Away
U14B XV Results
Played
7
8th
22nd
Lost 9
December
U15B XV Results
4th
11th
Drawn
1
November
* U15 NatWest Schools Cup
6th
13th
Won
2
October
November
8th
13th 22nd
29th Played
12
September
December
Played
5
6th
13th
Won
8
September
October
4th
11th
Played
12
Away
Lost
5 – 50
Played
9
Won
0
Drawn
0
Lost 9
Points For
20
Points Against
446
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Ampleforth College
Hymers College
Away
Away
Lost
Lost
5 – 58
10 – 51
GSAL
Away
Away
Lost
Lost
0 – 45
0 – 24
September
Sat 6th
Sat 13th
October
Sat 4th
Sat 11th
November
Sat 8th
Sat 15th Sat 22nd
Pocklington School
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
Home
Home
Away
Lost
Lost
Lost
5 – 50
0 – 57
0 – 50
Sat 29th R.G.S. Newcastle
Away
Lost
0 – 50
Lost
0 – 61
December
Sat 6th
Away
Overall a young sevens squad performed well and showed real
potential and a great work ethic throughout the season.
Squad
Sam Ogden, Sam Baxter, Greg Cox, Dom Bailey, James Pinder,
Ross Kirtland, Alex Robinson, Will Bowie, James Liu, Adam
Waring, George Cockcroft, Harry Sagar, Will Heard, Owain
Downes, Callum Manchester
76
Sport
77
U13
U13 XV Results
Played
10
Won
4
Drawn
0
Date
Opposition
Lost 6
Points For
187
Points Against
194
Venue ResultScore
September
13th
20th
25th Hymers College
St. Olave’s School York
Away
Home
Home
Won
Won
Lost
37 – 7
32 – 12
17 - 34
October
4th
11th
15th Nottingham High School
GSAL
Ermysted’s GS
Away
Home
Home
Lost
Lost
Won
10 – 34
7 - 41
50 - 0
Lost
Won
Lost
Lost
7 - 12
22 - 0
5 – 15
0 – 39
November
8th 15th 22nd
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Away
Away
Home
Away
U13B XV Results
Played
8
Won
1
Drawn
0
Lost 7
Points For
81
Points Against
226
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Hymers College
Away
Home
Won
Lost
45 – 15
0 - 39
GSAL
Away
Home
Lost
Lost
0 – 24
0 – 36
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
10 – 17
14 – 21
5 – 26
7 – 48
September
13th
25th October
4th
11th
November
8th 15th 22nd
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Away
Away
Home
Away
The first match of the season saw the team head over to Hymers
College. The start of the match saw the Hymers team at great
pace and with real determination while the BGS team looked
disjointed in comparison. The BGS defence held firm in the face
of this onslaught and after turnover ball Harry Webster went in
for the first try. From the restart the team worked their way up
the pitch and sharp handling put Ollie Ogden in for a try at the
corner. Gradually the BGS defence put the Hymers team under
more pressure and turnover ball saw Harry Webster, Henry Miller
and Matthew Corkindale cross for tries, before the powerful
running of Rowan Hirst and Harry Webster finished the scoring
allowing Harley Robertshaw to convert the final score.
The following week against Crossley Heath the match started
at a great pace with both teams throwing the ball around with
great accuracy. With the BGS defensive line demonstrating great
line speed throughout the match and an eagerness to tackle,
turnover ball resulted in great counter attack opportunities for
the BGS backs which saw Harry Webster score three tries in the
second half.
In midweek BGS came up against a strong and well organised
St Olaves team who started the match at great pace and with
78
clever use of their kicking game. The start saw them score two
quick tries, until BGS got into gear and responded with a multiple
phase score for Ollie Ogden, this was followed up by a powerful
try from Rowan Hirst before St Olaves kicking well again scored
just before half time.
Once again the St Olaves kicking game caused problems for
BGS and from two defensive lineouts near the try line St Olaves
increased their lead, before BGS responded again with Henry
Smith running in. A final score for St Olaves saw them add a
gloss to the score to finish 17-34.
The squad travelled to Nottingham for a difficult fixture with a
much changed team. This resulted in a poor start going two tries
down quickly before the side started to respond. A clean break
by Sam Berry with the try line beckoning from a quickly taken
penalty was called back so the referee could talk to a Nottingham
player. Eventually BGS scored later in the half with Rowan Hirst
crossing the whitewash. However, just before half time a quickly
taken penalty by Nottingham while the referee talked to a BGS
player saw them score.
A slow start to the second half saw Nottingham pull away and
ask questions of the BGS side but after Henry Smith was pulled
back after picking up a knock on to break clear, the BGS side
raised their game to cross for another try and lay siege to the
Nottingham 22 for the reminder of the game but were frustrated
in securing another score.
The team entered the GSAL match with a much changed team
with players away on the school Classics trip and a number of
injuries. Having conceded 50 points to GSAL as U12s the team
faced a tough challenge. However, the team with a number of
debutants performed heroically tackling their hearts out and
committing themselves fully to the task at hand. Turning round
at half time only 17-7 down the squad showed their unfamiliarity
with each other as our attacks broke down allowing GSAL to
score a couple of breakaway tries. This was overall an excellent
effort by the whole squad.
accurate kicking. The pressure final told with Pocklington getting
a score to pull clear and hold out for the remaining part of the
match.
Having never scored against QEGS and conceding over 30
points the previous season the squad were nervous before this
match. However, the defence shape and willingness to make
tackles meant this match went to the wire. The QEGS kicking
game was effective throughout the match and after they forced
a defensive lineout which BGS were unable to secure and QEGS
pounced on the bouncing ball to score. The reply from BGS was
consisted of a multiple phase attack started outside the BGS 22,
with Harley Robertshaw finishing the play exploiting a four man
overlap. Turning around after half time QEGS continued to kick
for the corners and eventually they capitalised on the poor BGS
lineout to float a pass to their winger for a score in the corner.
BGS launched into a series of attacks which QEGs defended
well against and forced BGS to knock on or turn the ball over.
Eventually BGS broke clear and a try looked a certainty until the
BGS player unfortunately placed the ball on the 5m line instead
of the try line! QEGS then kicked themselves down the pitch and
after a controversial penalty they crashed over for a final try.
After enduring the delights of Middlesborough due to having to
follow a diversion as the A1 was shut, we finally arrived at RGS
Newcastle and kicked off 10 minutes later. Unsurprisingly we
found ourselves 14-0 down before we had a chance to get into
the match. The response of the team was excellent with a great
work ethic for the rest of the match but RGS exploited their kick
chase very well to win.
Overall the squad worked hard to develop their game and with
27 players representing the A team this shows the strength of the
team ethos.
U12
U12 XV Results
Played
10
Won
4
Drawn
0
Lost 6
Points For
157
Points Against
221
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Hymers College
Away
Home
Lost
Won
5 – 48
29 – 5
Sat 4th St. Olave’s School York
Sat 11th
GSAL
Weds 15th Ermysted’s GS
Away
Home
Home
Lost
Lost
Won
10 - 25
0 - 12
17 – 7
Won
Won
Lost
Lost
24 - 22
36 - 15
14 – 34
17 – 28
Lost
5 - 25
September
Sat 13th
Sat 20th
October
November
Sat 8th Sat 15th Sat 22nd
Sat 29th Pocklington School
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Home
Away
Home
Away
December
Sat 13th Kirkham GS
Away
U12B XV Results
Played
8
Won
2
Drawn
2
Lost 4
Points For
137
Points Against
159
Date
Opposition
Venue ResultScore
Hymers College
Away
Won
51 – 21
GSAL
Away
Home
Lost
Lost
0 - 24
5 - 57
Won
Drawn
Lost
Drawn
52 - 0
12 - 12
0 – 20
10 – 10
Lost
7 - 15
September
Sat 13th
October
Sat 4th Sat 11th
November
Sat 8th Sat 15th Sat 22nd
Sat 29th Pocklington School
Trent College
Q.E.G.S. Wakefield
R.G.S. Newcastle
Home
Away
Home
Away
December
Sat 13th Kirkham GS
Away
Despite the persistent rain the U13 squad played some attractive
rugby against a tough Ermysteds GS side. With the BGS defence
proving difficult to breakthrough and gain ground against, EGS
conceded a lot of turnover ball which BGS exploited to run in a
number of scores. Into the second half the BGS scrum started to
exert a lot of pressure on EGS, which allowed BGS to run in four
further tries in the second half.
The next match was played in atrocious conditions at
Pocklington School which limited the BGS team’s ambition to
throw the ball wide to their pace men. Despite missing a number
of players the team started aggressively in defence which saw
Matthew Corkindale break away to score under the posts for
Harley Robertshaw to convert. Although BGS saw very little of
the ball for the rest of the half the defence held firm until a lucky
bounce of the ball allowed Pocklington to score to pull level just
before half time.
Playing into the elements in the second half resolute play from
the BGS team resulted in a number of breaks only for them to
then infringe and be sent back deep onto their half by some
Sport
79
Swimming
By B Townsend, Swimming Coach
The John Parry relays opened the swimming calendar once
again this year. The event was held at Nottingham High School
to help celebrate the schools centenary. The under 15 boys
and girls and senior boys once again made a good account of
themselves, managing to push for places in the finals.
It was disappointing that we were unable to raise a senior girls’
team all season, despite the best efforts of the swimming captain
Harriet Hoban.
She also broke the British age group record for 13 year olds in
200 IM.
Jonathan Milner
Since the start of 2015 Jonathan has performed at regional,
county and national levels in multiple swimming events including:
Our regular fixtures took place with GSAL, Woodhouse Grove,
Silcoates and Ampleforth with mixed results.
•Yorkshire Swimming Association Championships (January and
February). Jonathan attained eight Yorkshire titles including six
individual and two team gold medals. His individual titles were
in freestyle (50m, 100m and 200m), breaststroke (50m and
100m) and butterfly (50m)
We were too strong for both Silcoates and Ampleforth although
they pushed us hard to earn victory. GSAL and Woodhouse
Grove once again proved too strong but such is the spirit of the
team, they were made to fight for their victories.
•In May Jonathan was asked to represent the Youth Team at
the Youth and Senior North East Region (NER) Championships
in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. He was the youngest team
member. The team swam brilliantly and secured 2nd place.
A new fixture on the calendar was against Audenshaw School.
They were an unknown force but contributed to a high quality
gala. In the end they proved too strong for us and edged victory
in the relays.
•In June, there were two exciting weekends of racing at the Age
Group North East Region Championships. Jonathan won three
individual titles (50m, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual
medley). He also attained two silver medals and three bronze
medals.
In March the senior boys’ team of Frankie Williams, Hamzah
Mushtaq, Cameron Chippindale and Jonny Wright travelled to
Whitgift School in Croydon for the annual invitation gala. Whitgift,
Trinity and GSAL all proved too strong for the boys but there was
little to choose between the other five schools.
The following day they swam at the Queen Elizabeth Pool
competing for the Bath Cup (4x100m Freestyle relay) and Otter
Medley (4x50m Medley Relay ). Although it was probably their
best performance of the season, with 77 schools competing, it
was not enough to get them to a final.
The final fixture of the year was probably the most exciting and
definitely the noisiest event of the year. A team of very excited
Year 7 and 8 girls travelled the short distance to Bradford Girls
Grammar School (BGGS). It was a close event throughout and in
the end we came through as winners by 69 points to 42.
It is worthy of note that three of the Year 7 girls were identified as
non-swimmers in September. They attended lessons on a weekly
basis throughout the year and had the courage to swim in their
first ever swimming competition. The girls are Tabatha Glennon,
Nehal Malik and Daniyah Khan.
Pupil achievements
Ciara Schlosshan
80
category (14 years and under). She also won relay medals with
her club City of Leeds (silver in 4x 200 and bronze in 4x 100).
The highlight of the season was to compete at the summer
British Swimming Championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
Jonathan attained nine national qualifying times and competed in
eight across one week’s intensive racing. He competed against
Britain’s top swimmers and qualified for three event finals. His
highest placing was 6th in the 200m individual medley with a
time of 2:16.59 and a new personal best.
This year Jonathan was also selected for the England Talent
Development Programme.
Rebecca Clynes
Rebecca went to English Nationals; she made the finals but
didn’t medal. British Swimming changed the age criteria for
competitions to age at the end of the year, rather than age on the
day. This meant Rebecca was in an age group competing against
14 year old girls while she was still 12. So on paper it didn’t
look like she had done that well but actually it was a massive
achievement to even qualify.
This year will be easier for her as she will be at the older end of
the age group. She has started the short course season very
well winning two gold medals and silver at the ESSA’s helping to
contribute to the North East Region winning overall. She is now
ranked 9th in Great Britain for 200 Breaststroke.
Table Tennis
By A Crabtree, Mathematics Teacher and i/c Table Tennis
On a really hot July summer’s day in City Park Bradford
Grammar School pupils and parents helped promote table
tennis on National Table Tennis Day. Maddy Silberberg’s
designer bats won an outdoor table for her club Haworth Hawks.
It gave BGS Table Tennis a boost which led to the placement of
outdoor tables on the veranda and a lot more pupil participation.
The school teams had another excellent year with five teams
winning West Yorkshire team events and three teams qualifying
for regional finals (last 16 of the English Schools). Three teams
also won at the West Yorkshire Schools Games in March.
Individually Aliza Khaliq and Emily Mellor were West Yorkshire
Champions at Under 11 and Under 13 girls respectively. Six
pupils are in the top 100 ranked players in their age group.
In the West Yorkshire Schools competition held this year at
Bradford Grammar School BGS entered seven teams, 4 boys’
teams at under 11, 13, 16 and 19 and three girls’ teams under 11,
13 and 16. Five out of the seven teams won their competitions,
with six teams progressing through to the Zone Finals of the
English Schools competition.
The Under 19 boys’ team of Fraser Riley, Miles Loney, Adam
Saeed and Greg Cleland defeated Grange Technology College
8-0 and Brooksbank 5-3 in a close game before drawing 4-4
with Beckfoot who also drew with Brooksbank. So BGS won the
competition.
Under 13 Boys of Josh Poulsen, James Bowmer, Karam Butt,
Pranav Balabhadra and Tom Padgett defeated Horsforth 8-0,
Morley Academy 8-0 and Brooksbank 7-1 to win the title.
The Under 16 Girls team of Hibah Mahmood, Sophie Yung,
Maddy Silberberg and Hannah Chaudry and the Under 13 Girls
team of Aliza Khaliq, Emily Mellor, Melody Seifzadeh and Mahum
Sheraz both defeated Horsforth 6-2 and 8-0 to win the titles.
The Under 11 girls team of Nithila Sampath, Serene, Liu, Lydia
Crabtree and Evie Davies had no opposition in West Yorks.
The Under 16 boys Tom Young, Max Orviss, Ed Phillips and Josh
White competed well defeating Grange Technology College 7-1,
Horsforth 7-1 and Brooksbank 8-0. They battled hard against a
strong GSAL team but lost 6-2.
The Under 11s of Nicholas Miller, Alex Davies, Ben Grimmitt
and Finlay Kelleher defeated Lady Lane 8-0, but lost in a close
game against GSAL 5-3 to finish second, but went onto the Zone
Finals.
Ciara Schlosshan competed in the British
Summer National Championships in
Sheffield at the end of July. She had a very
successful championship.
In the Zone Finals the six BGS teams had much stiffer opposition
competing against county winners from South Yorkshire,
Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire. Bradford
Grammar School hosted the competition on 20 tables using the
Sports Hall, Clock House Hall and the Senior Gym.
She won three gold medals ( 200 IM, 400
IM and 100 fly), one silver (200 free) and
2 bronze (200 fly and 400 free) in her age
Our Boys’ Under 13, Girls’ Under 13 and Under 16 teams
progressed to the regional finals. The Girls’ Under 16s and Under
13s won easily defeating Lady Manners School, Bakewell and
Springwell Community School, Derbyshire 8-0.
The Under 13 boys’ team, strengthened by the inclusion of
Nicholas Miller, defeated William Allitt School 7-1 and Ryecroft
Middle School 8-0, but lost 7-1 to Valley School Worksop. The
team qualified to the regional finals in Blackburn.
The other three teams found competition more difficult. The
Under 11 girls’ team of Nithila Sampath, Serene, Liu, Lydia
Crabtree and Evie Davies, who had no opposition in West
Yorkshire, competed bravely, some pupils playing against other
schools for the first time. They lost all three games against Dale
School Matlock losing 5-3, Oldfield Hall Staffs losing 6-2 and
Bramley Sunnyside South Yorks 6-2. Nithila Sampath won 4 out
of 6 as number 1. Well done too to Serene Liu, Lydia Crabtree
and Evie Davies who was by far the youngest competitor! The
Under 11 boys reached the semi-final defeating Dale School
Matlock 6-2 in their group but losing to Bramley Sunnyside,
South Yorks 7-1. In the semi-final they lost 7-1 to GSAL, but
competed hard losing 3 matches in the fifth set. Well done to
Alex Davies Finlay Kelleher Ben Grimmitt and Adair Doulah.
The Under 19 boys defeated Outwood, Notts 5-3 but lost 6-2
to Beckfoot and 5-3 to eventual winners De Ferrers Academy,
Burton on Trent. Fraser Riley was undefeated winning all six
of his matches. He was ably supported by Miles Loney, Adam
Saeed and Gregor Cleland.
In the regional finals the Boys Under 13s, playing in Blackburn,
competed well defeating Lincroft School 5-3, with Nicholas Miller
winning 2 and Josh Poulsen, Karam Butt and James Bowmer 1
each. A close second match saw BGS defeated 5-3 with Nicholas
again winning two, defeating Telford number 1 and 3 and Josh
Poulsen also winning one. St Mary’s Hull proved too good in the
last match with BGS losing 8-0 and finishing 3rd in the region.
On Sunday in Grantham the two girls’ teams finished second.
The Under 16 Team defeated Kesgrave School Ipswich with a
strong performance from Hannah Chaudry who won both games
with Hibah Mahmood, Sophie Yung and Maddie Silberberg
winning one each. Then St Marys Hull were defeated 8-0 to leave
a decider against West Kirby High School Liverpool. West Kirby
had two highly ranked sisters who both defeated Hibah, but
Hibah gained three sets in defeat. Sophie, Maddie and Hannah
had all won a game to leave the match 4-3 to West Kirby with
a victory enough to secure BGS a place in the national final.
Hannah took a comfortable two set lead, but a dogged defensive
display from the West Kirby number 4 brought a 3-2 victory to
knock BGS out at the last hurdle. In the Under 13s BGS also
reached the final match within grasp of the finals having defeated
Copleston School 6-2 with Aliza Khaliq and Emily Mellor winning
two each and Mahum Sheraz and Isla Milwain one each.
However South Hunsley School had a very highly ranked number
1 player who defeated both Aliza and Emily and three consistent
players leaving BGS second place in a 6-2 victory.
Locally Bradford Grammar dominated the school partnership
competition winning both Year 8 and Year 10 competitions locally
and then in Bradford. The four teams went to the West Yorkshire
Schools games in March to compete against winning teams from
all five partnerships across West Yorkshire. BGS had a great day
Sport
81
winning the Year 8 boys and girls competitions and the Year 10 girls competition with 100% records. The Year 10 boys’ team came 4th.
BGS once again hosted the West Yorkshire Individual and had two individual winners. Aliza Khaliq won an all Bradford Grammar final
in the Under 11 girls’ competition defeating Nithila Sampath in a close five set match having been two sets down. Emily Mellor won the
Under 13 girls defeating Aliza Khaliq 3-1 in the final. Nicholas Miller lost in the final of the under 11 boys 3-1 against Oliver Bryant from
Eldwick. Aliza and Emily competed in the ESTTA National finals in Birmingham both performing well in their groups. Emily won one out
of four and Aliza two out of four.
Aliza, Emily, Nicholas, Fraser Riley, Joshua Poulsen and Hibah Mahmood are all ranked in the top 100 nationally in their age groups
and participate in clubs locally as well as regional training sessions.
Girls Tennis
By M Harling, Girls Tennis Coordinator
The number of girls playing tennis for BGS again increased this
year. Due to a shorter term the number of fixtures set reduced.
Every lunch time during the summer term there was a tennis
practice that consisted of a mixture of skill and structured game
development.
The season included: friendly fixtures, Road to Wimbledon
competition, Aegon Team Tennis competitions, invitational
tournaments and HMC tournaments which were held at BGS.
The season started with the U12s and U13s playing against
Hymers School. This was the first chance to see the ability of
our U12s in a competitive situation; it ended up being a very
close fixture with BGS winning narrowly six sets to five. Their win
was assisted by one particular player whose competitiveness
becomes infectious on court and around. That person is Natalie
Griffiths who led the U12s as captain this season commendably.
This was an enjoyable away fixture for every age group.
The Aegon Schools Team Tennis competition saw the Year
8s and 10s ‘A’ squads get through to the northern knockout
stage; both squads played against very talented players. Year 8
played against Manchester High school on a lovely sunny day
on an astro-turf type surface. The girls played well but tactically
Manchester High were more astute. Izzy Hamer one of the squad
dug deep and played tremendously well against an opponent
with a powerful forehand. Melody Seifzadeh had to face serves
that had pace and depth which she attempted to return,
commendably she didn’t give up. After the singles Manchester
had won the fixture but the girls showed the Bradford Grammar
spirit of not giving up so they played the doubles matches. This
was a similar case for the Year 10s who played against Kirkham
School. The girls played with determination giving Kirkham
competitive and enjoyable matches. In the doubles matches
Amy Peacock and Hannah Chaudry gave their opponents a
determined game showing their ability to place the ball with
skilful shots. Both squads learnt a lot from their fixtures especially
in regards to the commitment you need to give to tennis if you
are going to improve your skills and tactical play.
Waterpolo
By B Townsend, Swimming Coach
The annual Old Bradfordians swimming and water polo fixture was once again a very entertaining event.
A very strong school team fancied their chances against what they perceived to be ‘Old’ Bradfordians. The scores were level at the
end of the individual races and so, once again, the team races were the deciding factor. Wanting to finish on a high for the season, the
boys were pipped at the post by ‘old men’ who found the reserves to gain victory.
The water polo match was the closest for a long number of years. It was always men against boys, but the speed and skills of
the school team surprised and pleased the Bradfordians. After admitting it was the toughest game they have encountered the
Bradfordians were relieved at the final whistle to have got away with an eight all draw.
The tournaments held at BGS were well attended by other
independent schools from around Yorkshire. A high level of tennis
was played at each one with the girls having very mixed results.
The junior tennis tour to the Midlands was very successful
despite the weather. Both U14 and U15 won against Cokethorpe
who were a new fixture and contact.
Eton Independent Schools Championships seems to inspire
the girls to improve or progress further in their tennis ability. A
round robin format was introduced this year which enabled the
players to play more tennis. Our girls did themselves proud by
conducting themselves in a sporting and competitive manner
on court. The U13s especially played well on the last day of the
championships in the heat of the sun and on very sandy astroturf.
Freya Bellamy and Melody Seifzadeh managed to defeat the
favourites but just lost out in getting into the semi-finals.
The senior tennis tour to Croatia and Italy was a great success,
seeing girls outnumbering the boys for the first time. In Croatia
the players trained on a clay surface that you don’t play much
in the UK. Doubles were the main structure of fixtures and
mixed doubles were very successful. The matches in Italy saw
the tourists gaining more confidence in their play. They played
against a range of abilities including the No.1 U16 boy in Croatia.
Overall, a brilliant tour which enabled the tourists to gain more
confidence in their skills and reignite their love for tennis.
Girls’ Tennis Results
Age Group
Played
Won
Drawn
For
Against
Difference
U12
6
3
0
3
12
30
-18
U13
7
2
0
5
17
29
-12
U14
7
4
0
3
43
34
9
U15
9
5
0
4
52
43
9
U18
1
0
0
1
0
9
-9
Overall30 14
82
Lost
0 16 124 226
Sport
83
Bradford Grammar School
Keighley Road, Bradford,
West Yorkshire BD9 4JP
Main switchboard: 01274 542492
www.bradfordgrammar.com
bradfordgrammarschool
@BradfordGrammar
bradfordgrammar

issue 349 | 2015 - Bradford Grammar School

Transcription

Similar documents

Summer 2015 - Bradford Grammar School

17magazine`s

Land Before Time Make A Match Rules

side event

Saturday 13th December 2014 6:00 PM Onwards

pf: green club - Prior`s Field School

Publisher: DMD 2500 Target Rating: Teen Developer: Mytosis Jones

Georgy-Porgy

Hold On Scooby-Doo!

Layout FNL.indd

boyzone - Bradford Grammar School

BGS BGS