Dear Parents/Guardians
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
It has been another packed half term of academic activity. The summary below is designed to give you a
brief snap shot of the many and varied opportunities open to boys since the start of November. In
particular, I highlight the latest edition of MDLII, a boy-edited and driven publication. It is always good to
see so many boys contribute articles, and a pleasure to see the diversity of topic they chose to comment
on. Click here to view a copy: perfect reading for a winter’s evening!
Wishing you all a relaxing and peaceful Christmas break.
Alastair Tighe
Deputy Head (Academic)
•
Art and Science combined brilliantly in the recent Biology Department Specimen Drawing
Competition and Biological Photo Competition. The top prize in the Specimen Drawing Competition
was scooped by Ben Sporton (Fourth Form) for his excellent illustration of the skeleton of a
dog’s leg. The runners up were Fourth Formers Flik Feng, Huw Turner and Ryan Apps. In the
Biological Photo Competition, Tom Chambers (Fourth Form) picked up the top prize with his
wonderful turtle photo.
•
Bryan Ng attended an awards ceremony to collect his prestigious Roentgenium prize at the
Wellcome Collection. Bryan was one of just 60 students to be awarded the prize - over 9000 lower
sixth chemistry students entered this year's challenge nationally.
•
Boys achieved 19 gold, 30 silver and 45 bronze awards in this year's UKMT Senior Maths
Challenge. Over 82,000 pupils from across the UK returned scripts for the Senior Maths Challenge
with the top 10% receiving a gold certificate, the next 20% silver and the next 30% bronze.
Approximately 4,600 of the top students are invited to sit one of the follow-on competitions, the
BMO1 (British Mathematical Olympiad round 1) or the Senior Kangaroo. Ray Ren and Peter
Whalley (Upper Sixth) represented the school in the BMO1, whilst 11 other top scorers sat the
Senior Kangaroo. Hoffer Tsang (Fifth Form), Tonny Lou WanTong (Lower Sixth), Ray
Ren and Christopher Junge (both Upper Sixth) achieved Best in Year awards for their
respective year groups. Ray Ren and Christopher Junge were also awarded Best in School certificates.
•
The annual Talalay Prize for Science presentations took place in December. Sixth Formers Simon
Beal, Josh Carmichael, Adam Dorgham, Wilfred Hamilton, Chris Junge and Max
Williamson gave presentations on a wide range of topics including Superconductors, Stealth
Aircraft, Embryonic morphology, Quantum Mechanics, Prion Diseases, and HIV. The joint winners
were Josh Carmichael and Max Williamson.
Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, Bedford MK40 2TU
Tel: +44 (0)1234 362200 Fax: +44 (0)1234 362283
Email: [email protected] www.bedfordschool.org.uk
VAT No. 322464676
Bedford School is part of The Harpur Trust: a company limited by guarantee
Registered in England: Company No. 3475202
Registered Office: Pilgrim Centre, Brickhill Drive, Bedford, MK41 7PZ
Registered Charity No. 1066861
•
Upper Sixth Economics students Ben Anstis, Harry Glenn, Oreayo Israel-Bolarinwa, and Shiv
Jhala represented the School in the regional finals of the Bank of England Target 2.0 Economics
Competition. They finished a credible 3rd place with their presentation on how best to utilise
quantitative easing and monetary policy to achieve sustainable economic growth in the UK economy.
•
Thirty-one Art pupils from different year groups exhibited a selection of their drawing and
photographs at the end of November following their half term inspirational visit to Venice. The art
tour happily coincided with the renowned International Biennale so along with visits to the
Accademia, Guggenheim and Correr Museums, and a number of churches, boys experienced a
superb range of art from across the centuries.
•
Ten Sixth Formers attended the Holocaust Survivor Conference at Watford Grammar School
for Girls as part of a Citizenship/RS trip. The boys were privileged to hear the story of Mr Harry
Olmer, an 87 year old Polish man who had been just 12 when the Holocaust began. He spoke
movingly about his experiences in work camps and concentration camps and took questions from
the boys.
•
James Hirst (Lower Sixth) led a discussion on the differences between ancient and modern
representations of Classical figures from Achilles to Helen of Troy for the Classical Society. Joe
Conlon (Lower Sixth) gave a separate talk considering the portrayal of mythological figures in
both ancient and modern contexts, and Ted Hicks (Lower Sixth) gave a lecture on Roman
Coinage. Term ended with the traditional Christmas Quiz against BMS.
•
John Holroyd (Upper Sixth) gave a lecture on his set design for the school play Journey’s End, as
part of his Extended Project Qualification submission.
•
James Smith (Upper Sixth) and Zahan Bharucha (Lower Sixth) successfully navigated the
first round of the ESU Mace debate competition arguing that non-violent crimes should receive noncustodial sentences.
•
The Politics Society attended an audience with Mr Sandy Martin, Leader of the Labour Group on
Suffolk County Council and MEP candidate for the Eastern region. Mr Martin spoke of his
involvement in politics at both a local and European level and outlined his views on the future of the
European Union and the main challenges facing member states. He commented on the superb quality
of questions asked from the Bedford School delegation, most notably Calvin Fang (Lower Sixth),
Harry Beard (5th) and Aleksandr Veshchugin (Lower Sixth).
•
Tony Tao (Fourth Form), James Hooper (Fourth Form), Sebastian Sogan (Remove
Form) and Arjun Anath (Fifth Form) competed in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Top of the
Bench competition at Kimbolton School. They were tested on their chemical knowledge,
experimental skills and team work during the competition and finished a creditable 5th.
•
Josiah Cooke (Lower Sixth) has entered an essay into the Young Geographer of the Year
competition entitled 'Why does Antarctica matter?'
•
AS Level Geographers had a day in and around Bedford to explore Urban and River
environments.
•
Our Oxbridge applicants attended a mock interview evening with teachers from different local
schools at Kimberley College, and were also grilled by subject-relevant experts (including OBs,
parents and Governors) in a further in-house mock interview evening.
•
Artist Maxine Copeland exhibited her work in the Bell Room foyer at the start of November.
With a background in archaeology and art history and with a particular specialism in architectural
history, Maxine Copeland is also a printmaker. Analysis of structure and pattern in both archaeology
and architecture are elements she depicts in her work.
•
William Feaver delivered a Gilbert Lloyd Art Lecture on Frank Auerbach. Every Monday evening
for the past 12 years William Feaver has sat for Frank Auerbach and, coinciding with Auerbach’s
exhibition at Tate Britain, he discussed what it is like to sit and watch, over so many years, the way
he works. William Feaver, who was for many years the art critic for The Observer, is also a painter
and has been the curator of exhibitions ranging from George Cruikshank to the Tate retrospectives
of Michael Andrews and Lucian Freud (subject of his most recent book).
•
Our Fifth Form Drama students took to the stage to present their Examination Performances.
Boys performed their own devised pieces using a physical theatre style of acting. The entertaining
evening showcased eight different groups and will contribute to their overall GCSE Drama grade.
•
Pupils and staff from the Geography department visited the Royal Geography Society (RGS),
London, to attend a climate change lecture/debate on whether or not the UK was "Ready for
Impact". A panel of four speakers voiced their opinions on why CO2 emissions weren't lowering by
much, despite adaptions in communities and considered different ways of producing energy safely
with as little damage to the environment as possible.
•
IB1 Mathematicians enjoyed a unique and inspirational study day entitled 'Maths in Action' at
University College London. The speakers included the famous author Simon Singh, a senior figure at
Hewlett Packard and lecturers from both Imperial and Nottingham universities. Through five
interactive and engaging sessions they discussed maths in the context of medicine, politics, heavy
metal music, computer hacking and The Simpsons.
•
OB Niall Creed (70-79) treated boys to a fascinating lecture exploring ‘Bedford School in World
War II’, as part of the Upper Sixth Lecture Programme.
•
A number of Fourth Form boys made the short trip to the Higgins Museum in Bedford to view
their magnificent exhibition of nine Turner watercolours, including the famous The Great Falls of the
Reichenbach, painted in 1804. The boys created their own drawings from the exhibited masterpieces
in order to gain a greater understanding of Turner’s innovative works.
•
Boys in all year groups contributed to An Evening of Creative Arts by presenting music, art and
drama pieces which had been developed in class on the theme ‘A Sense of Place’.
•
The Mitre Club have hosted lectures on ‘How Burning Books Changed Islam in Britain’ and have
been introduced to the game of Bridge.
•
The Archer Martin Society have held a meeting in the School Observatory and Planetarium.
•
The German Society have met to play Pictionary in German with pupils from BGS and watched a
German Comedy series.
•
The internal heats for the national ARTiculation art appreciation and discussion competition have
taken place.
•
The English Society have met to discuss the summer reading books The Alchemist and Birds Without
Wings and Mr Grimshaw gave a lecture on James Bond novel openings.
•
Stuart Devonshire gave a talk about life as an Architect to interested boys.
•
BAFTA-award winning special effects designer Mike Tucker gave a talk about his work on the
Doctor Who production team.
•
The English Department have launched the Fowles and Archie Wellbelove Essay prizes which
are open to all year groups, and The Poetry By Heart competition open to all boys in the Remove
Form and above. The Creative Writing Society have continued to meet regularly to provide boys
with an opportunity to hone their creative skills.
•
The Current Affairs Society have met to discuss recent developments in Chinese International
Relations and their domestic policies, including President Xi’s recent visit to Britain, and in a separate
meeting to consider the ongoing conflict in Syria.
•
The Adrian Boult Music Society held a lecture given by Ross Cole OB (a Cambridge lecturer)
on the links between song lyrics and music and James Meads delivered a talk on Key developments
in Music Technology
•
The Pythagoreans Maths Club heard a lecture by Miss Owens in the subject, ‘Elementary, my
dear Euclid’, and held a Christmas Quiz at the end of term.
•
The Geography Society hosted a lecture given by Professor Mathias Disney from UCL about the
use of satellite imagery in the detection of deforestation in the Amazon. Alex Kemp OB also spoke
about studying Geography at KCL.
•
Six boys who took horse riding as their games option this term attended a lecture at the Royal
Veterinary College. Entitled ‘The Horse; the Ultimate Athlete’, the talk considered horse
physiology and boys gained a deep insight to the mechanisms behind the incredible feats of strength
and endurance of which the animals they ride every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon are capable.
•
Remove Form Drama pupils presented extracts from the stage adaption of Golding’s the Lord of
the Flies as part of their exam preparation.
•
Some Remove Form English students were taught a lesson by Adrian Deakes from the Victoria
and Albert Museum. The boys are now working on acting out some scenes from Shakespeare’s Much
Ado About Nothing and will perform scenes in May in the V&A’s hall of Renaissance statuary.
•
The Robotics Club are busy designing their new robot for the 2016 National Student Robotics
competition. Boys from different year groups are working together in design, manufacture, strategy
and programming.
•
Drama students have had numerous opportunities to attend live Theatre performances, including
an external performance of Rebecca by the Kneehigh Theatre Company, and internal performances
in the Quarry Theatre of Journey’s End (a School production), Disco Pigs and It’s a Wonderful Life.
•
The Careers Department have hosted a Direct Route Careers Event to explore possible
alternatives to university education. The evening gave information on apprenticeships, internships
and graduate level entry positions with talks from AIM Apprenticeships, Grant Thornton UK LLB
and the BBC. Potential Medics in the Fifth Form and above also attended a special event outlining
the best ways to prepare to apply to read Medicine.
•
The Chemistry Society ‘Initiator’ have met fortnightly to carry out experiments including making
their own Fireworks, to consider E numbers and enjoy Christmas cookies!