Bromsgrovian n e w s r e v i e w
REGI
A word from the Headmaster
There are an awful lot of people in the
photograph above. There is, of course,
Justin Clegg, winner of the School’s most
coveted trophy, the Cookes Prize. He’s the
tall one. I look up to him in more ways than
one. Then there’s the Deputy Head Boy.
Also present are an inspirational member
of the victorious 1st XV, one of the School
choristers and a debater from the European
Youth Parliament national finals. They are
also all the tall one.
In Justin’s last report I wrote “His humility,
empathy, clear moral compass and
impeccable personal standards have
brought him the esteem of all who know
BROMSGROVE SCHOOL
S U M M ER
him. From the drum kit to the Chapel
Choir, the lineout to the Library, from
hosting dignitaries to a quiet word of
encouragement in a Lower Fourth’s study,
he is the consummate Bromsgrovian.”
Justin will be embarrassed that I singled
him out like this. But I do so because he
is a powerful reassurance to the parents of
every young person at Bromsgrove. The
affirmation that their child is receiving
exactly the same education, the same
opportunities, the same encouragement to
be all they can be. That they too can flourish
in many fields. That being an ‘all-rounder’ is
not just some flowery advertising slogan.
2 0 1 5 I s s u e 2
The many faces of Justin Clegg are not the
only ones in the photograph though. His
parents are also there. They look justifiably
proud that he seized every opportunity put
before him during his time at the School.
I trust that they reserved a little pride for
themselves though, for presenting him with
those choices in the first place. At this time
of the year, that is a pride to be shared by
every family who has invested in their child’s
education.
Peter Clague
Headmaster
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Commemoration
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Leavers’ Ball
The Leavers’ Ball – attended by 300 Sixth Formers and 60 members of staff – rounded off Commemoration Day perfectly. It
was a dry summer’s evening and pupils and staff relaxed and reflected on their School memories.
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Prep
Prizegiving
Year 8 Prizegiving was enjoyed by
pupils, their parents and staff alike.

Prep School was delighted to

welcome back Upper Sixth pupil,
Kate Duffy as guest speaker. Kate
is a Prep Survivor and was Deputy
Head girl in the Senior School.
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Pre-Prep Prizegiving
Year 2 Pupils and their parents celebrated their final day with a Chapel service and Prizegiving ceremony held in the
Senior School grounds.

Seaside Day
Pre-Prep pupils rounded off a very busy
year by enjoying a day by the sea in the
grounds of the SChool. Much fun was
had by all.
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Commemoration
Concert
The annual Commemoration Concert was
a memorable occasion and witnessed
a dazzling array of music interspersed
with Shakespearean scenes. The range
and quality of words and music was
a revelation, and very much a tribute
to a wonderful group of Upper Sixth
musicians and actors who depart this
year. Niall Hegarty, Ben Featherstone,
Clement Harris and Nyree Williams
thrilled with some delightful scenes from
Shakespeare. Our outstanding Chamber
Choir performed beautifully, the orchestra
was in fine form and there were solo
and group performances aplenty. The
Concert closed appropriately with the
Senior Orchestra performing Richard
Knight’s arrangement of Schubert’s
Characteristic March and his vast jaunty
and whimsical Bromsgrovian Overture.
This concert was a feast of words and
music, the delightful collaboration
between pupils and staff a delight to
behold.

Lear Inc ‘Lear Inc.’ marks Bromsgrove School’s

debut production at the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe. First performed in the
Drama Studio in September 2014
‘Lear Inc.’ plunges Shakespeare’s
tragedy King Lear into the digital age
charting the downfall of proud media
industry giant, Regina Lear. Directed
and adapted by teachers Tracey
James and Lucy McKee, choreography
was explored and devised through
workshops with pupils to create this
bold re-imagining of King Lear. The
cast and staff would love any support
at the Festival and if you would like
to join the audience, the production
is being performed at the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe from 17th - 22nd
August 2015, at theSpace @ Venue
45, at 2.10pm. You can purchase
tickets in advance via the following
links: https://tickets.edfringe.com/
whats-on/lear-inc
www.lear-inc.com
Follow their journey to the Fringe via
social media, on Twitter (@LEAR_Inc)
and Facebook (www.facebook.com/
LEARInc)
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Deputy Headmaster

Many heartfelt goodbyes were said

to Mr Bowen as he leaves the School
after 34 years of dedicated service.

Philip and his wife Jane will be

moving to Droitwich and Mr Bowen
already has many ideas for his
retirement, we can be assured that
he will continue to delve into his
historical interests and we are sure
that he has more than one more
book to publish. We all wish both
Philip and Jane and long, happy and
healthy retirement together.
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I Get Distracted
The end of year Art and Fashion Show was a huge success with a full house for both evenings. The Art and DT work on
display was much admired by the audience as they waited for the Fashion Show to start. Pupils proudly modelled their
work as they sashayed down the runway.
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IB and BTEC results

Bromsgrove School’s International
Baccalaureate results have hit a record
high, with a third of pupils scoring 40
points or more. The average score of
38.5 places the School amongst the
very top IB schools in the country.
Teresa Heidland achieved a fantastic
result in gaining the maximum score
of 45 points, Teresa will study Medi-
cine after taking a year out to work as
a volunteer in a hospital. Pupils also
gaining high marks include two local
Bromsgrove girls, Ellie Saker with 44
points, who goes on to read Physics at
Oxford, and Eleanor Ball with 41 points
who has been awarded the Interna-
tional Leader of Tomorrow Award for
UBC, Vancouver., Canada. Eleanor will
take up a place to read French and
Chinese.

Meanwhile, Bromsgrove students who

studied for a BTEC Sports qualification
achieved 39 Distinction* grades (equal
to an A* at A level) and 3 Distinction
grades (equal to an A grade at A level)
between them.
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Sports Honours
Well done in Hockey to those selected for the Junior Regional Performance Centre: U15 Esme Gibson, Lydia Wright and Tom
Maidment; U16 Claudia Moberley, Ellie Childs, Harry Thompson, Sam Colebrook and Will Randall; U17 Megan Longden,
Megan Walker and Gabriel Thornton; U18 Hannah Taylor, Annabel Brown, Ben Bridgman, and James Taylor.

Congratulations to Ella Gardner who joins Elyssa Jones in being selected for the West Midlands’ Netball Squad.

IAPS Golf
Bromsgrove finished as third best placed
school, behind Loretto and Millfield at the
IAPS Golf Finals. Well done to Matt Bull, 5th
in his age group, Joe Colebrook 10th, and
Max Campbell, 16th.

Athletics
Two boys participated in the National
IAPS Athletics held at The Alexander
Stadium in Birmingham. Sam Roberts
was crowned national champion in the
long jump with a leap of 5.02 metres.
Sam also competed in the 70 metre
hurdles, in a tremendous final he
finished in second place just 500th of a
second behind the winner. Meanwhile
our defending national champion Nicolas
Jakobsen, was also in action in the
Year 8 boys shot and discus. Nicholas
improved his own shot put school record
by over half a metre to 12.72 metres,
winning him the silver medal. He then
went on to contest the discus and threw
three consecutive throws, all over 31
metres and one 32 metres earning him
another silver medal.

Congratulations to the U13 Girls’

Athletics team who came 5th overall in
the ESAA National Track and Field Cup
Final at Bedford.
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Lecture Week
The annual Lecture Week allows the
Lower Sixth to have the opportunity,
through various lectures, workshops
and trips to explore beyond their basic
academic curriculum – the super
curricula.

On offer were over fifteen different visits

including Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’, a tour
of the RSC at Stratford, The Design
Museum London, Bath University, the
Tolkien Trail and over fifty different
lectures ranging from Stem Cells, The
Economics of Catastrophe, The Banking
Crisis, India, China, Pakistan, US
Presidents, Science Fiction, Chick Flicks
and Action Heroes, Alternative Fuel and
workshops including art portrait, English
creative writing and anatomy of dance,
The lecutres and workshops were
delivered by our own teaching staff and
guest speakers.

This year’s programme was very busy

and succesful and offered all pupils,
whatever thier interests, something to
think about.

Piano Recital
The standard of performance at the Junior
Piano Recital, where pupils from Years
3, 4 and 5 volunteered to perform their
piano pieces to an audience of friends and
family, was impressive. Pieces ranged
from the flamboyant and jazzy Moody
Prawn Blues played by Year 5 pupil
Jemima Vaughan Hawkins, to the stylish
Calypso Joe played by Ffion Wright of Year
3. This was a wonderful demonstration
of the budding musical talent within
the younger years at Prep School -
congratulations to all of the children who
performed so beautifully and with such
confidence.
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Prep Pupils Meet MP

The Prep School Heads of School and Heads of Boarding visited the Houses of Parliament where they were given a tour
of the Palace of Westminster and then met with Bromsgrove MP, the Right Honourable Sajid Javid. The pupils asked him
many questions and discussed what is like to be an MP and a Cabinet Minister. The pupils were then delighted to be given
VIP tickets to the viewing gallery where they were able to watch Parliament in action, they heard the Prime Minister make a
statement about G7 and then answer questions from the House.

Little Red Riding

Hood
Year 2 performed their end of year
production of Roald Dahl’s Little Red
Riding Hood. The whole cast were
fantastic; singing enthusiastically,
playing musical instruments and
delivering their lines from Roald Dahl’s
Revolting Rhyme clearly and with
confidence.

Special mentions go to the three lead

parts whose acting was outstanding;
Katherine Dwenger as The Wolf, Maria
Christodoulou as Little Red Riding
Hood, and Owen Hill as Grandma.
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L4 Camp
L4 Camp ran smoothly and proved very enjoyable and rewarding for the many pupils and staff involved. Once again
Symonds Yat - straddling the River Wye and the borders of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire - was the perfect location for a
wide range of activities. Raft-building was as usual a highlight of the programme. Pupils also enthused about their major D
of E practice expedition, canoeing, kayaking, high ropes, caving, and of course, camaraderie with their peers, the Lower Sixth
helpers and the staff.

Year 4 Bushcraft
Year 4 had an amazing three days camping in the forest where they learned how to set up camp fires, cook over their open
fires, worked in tribes to build wonderful dens, had a go at orienteering, hiked through the forest and even rescued some
aeroplane “crash victims” from the smouldering wreckage and applied their newly acquired first aid skills.
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Chesterton Cup Win

The Cricket 1st XI were crowned Chesterton Cup Champions for the third consecutive year at Worcester’s New Road County
Ground in May. The finals took a T20 finals day format, our team faced the Royal Grammer School who they defeated by
70 runs in the first semi-final with an explosive 38 from Chase Edwards setting the tone. The batting was followed up by a
faultless fielding and bowling display; Alex Wilkinson taking 3 wickets for 9 runs off his 4 overs and James Kinder 2 wickets
for 12 runs off his 4 overs. The team then faced Monmouth School in the final. A fine partnership between Jack Bewick and
James Taylor meant the team rescued a bad start to post a competitive 125 from 20 overs. An outstanding bowling display
followed which restricted a strong Monmouth batting line up to 118 and gave our team the match by 7 runs

Special mentions go to bowlers James Kinder and Neylan Chauhan and to Jack Harding for outstanding fielding – hism
impressive sliding stops on the boundary edge saved at least the 7 runs winning margin.

Prep Summer
Concert
The Prep School Senior Summer
Concert was a magnificent evening,
celebrating the musical talents of so
many pupils. The concert opened with
the Choir’s wonderful singing. The many
ensembles that followed show-cased the
wide variety of instruments that pupils
are learning to play.Congratulations to
Miss Hyland and all the music teachers
who worked so hard to prepare the
pupils and ensure the concert went so
well.
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Bromsgrovians
Twenty Year Reunion
Leavers from 1995 gathered to celebrate 20 years of leaving School at Commemoration. All those in the photo were in
Wendron Gordon House.

Gauntlet Award
Winners
This year’s winners of the Gauntlet
award were delighted to receive their
cheques from Alumni Committee
Chairman, Hans Rostrup, when
they met up in the OB tent at
Commemoration. Well done to winners
Joe Phillips and Marie Kriegler.

Not present is Teresa Gubern Gonzalez

who also won the award.

All photos featured on the Bromsgrovian pages, including individual’s names and years, can be found on the Bromsgrovian Facebook site.
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Bromsgrovians
Visitors
Philip Langford and Philip Hobson,
both of Elmshurst 1947-1952 visited
the School just before the end of the
Summer term. They were born on the
same day, joined School and were in
Elmshurst at the same time and later
went into the Law profession together.
They have remained lifelong friends.
During their visit to Bromsgrove, Mr
Langford and Mr Hobson enjoyed
a tour of the School with a current
Elmshurst pupil and also met with the
Deputy Headmaster, Mr Bowen. They
later attended the History of the School
presentation that evening, where they
reminisced about their school days.

Ben Hoffman and Charlie Clemmow both visited recently. Ben came to talk to
students about his career as a cameraman and wildlife documentary maker.
Charlie has a successful career as an actress, having appeared in the BBC series
Doctors.

Phil Mennie (E 99–05) visited with his

wife and daughter to look round the
School.

All photos featured on the Bromsgrovian pages, including individual’s names and years, can be found on the Bromsgrovian Facebook site.
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Bromsgrovians
Emma Hobday (Hz 06-08)
Emma’s theatre company performed at the Artrix in Bromsgrove earlier in the
summer, as part of a short tour around UK theatres. Emma runs the theatre
company and directs the show about the evacuation of Dunkirk. The part of
Lester Duvall is played by Nick Baldock (the brother of Head of English Kate
Linehan, nee Baldock), who himself also worked at the School in 2007-2008.
Nick used to direct Emma while she was at School so she is now enjoying the
reversal of roles!

Stewart Towe CBE

We’re delighted to hear that
Chairman of Governors and Old
Bromsgrovian, Stewart Towe CBE
(L 70-75) won the Ambassador of the
Year Award at TheBusinessDesk.com
West Midlands Business Masters
Awards. The decision was made
unanimously by the awards’ judging
panel. The award is presented to an
individual who has, beyond the call
of duty, ‘batted’ for this region and
in so doing helped to increase its
attractiveness as a place from which
to do business.

Matt Mullan
Congratulations to Matt Mullan (S 97-05)
who was named in the BT Dream Team at
the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards. Matt
currently plays for the Premiership side
London Wasps.

All photos featured on the Bromsgrovian pages, including individual’s names and years, can be found on the Bromsgrovian Facebook site.