Junior School Prize-giving ceremony in the Christopher Fry Hall in which we recognise some of the fantastic work completed this year by our youngest students.

The awards, in the form of a book chosen by each recipient, cover a variety of topics from year group prizes for achievement and progress to citizenship. There are also six named trophies awarded for topics including sport and drama.

The Guest of Honour this year was OBM Tom Harbour who joined the Junior School in 1996. Tom was a very strong mathematician and chess player and in his final year at BMS returned to the Junior School as a Senior Monitor. After reading Natural Science at Cambridge, he trained through Teach First to teach Physics in a tough school before moving to Germany.  Whilst teaching he completed a Masters in Education looking at how parents and schools can best work together to support their children. In February 2015 he founded Maths With Parents where he is currently the CEO.

Tom spoke fondly of his time at BMS and gave a motivational address to the prize-winners which included the importance of being altruistic and explained how, from the group of five friends that he grew up with at school, four of them now do jobs which didn’t even exist at the time.

Head of the Junior School, Mrs Rex, said: “It was wonderful to welcome Tom back to BMS; he is a superb role model for our current students and I am very grateful to him for giving up his time to join us.

“Everyone who received a prize this evening should be very proud of themselves and they richly deserve this acknowledgement of their efforts. However, every student in the Junior School should be equally proud of what they have personally achieved in the past year and we applaud every single one of them.”

won their heat convincingly but in a in a nail-biting final they won with less than a second in it. It was all the more impressive as these Year 10 boys have been sweep rowing all year, but as Peterborough is a sculling-only event, they had to go back to using two oars each instead of one.

Rowing Coach, Joel Grant-Jones, commented: “I’m really proud of this crew who I’ve had the pleasure of coaching this year. They have worked so hard all season and thoroughly deserved to take home gold in a tough all-Bedford final. This was a fantastic achievement and a tremendous end to the season before their summer break.”

There were some other notable individual and team performances at the event. Angelina Sibal raced a single scull for the first time at a major regatta and Jessica Watson raced no less than six times, three in a single, achieving a bronze medal. Imogen Sanctuary and Amelia Baker also claimed a well-deserved third place.  Some other BMS crews also reached their finals but narrowly missed out on medals.

Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) following auditions in September and October.
More than 700 young musicians applied for a coveted place in the orchestra, all playing at post-Grade 8 standard. The panel were impressed with Tarek’s playing and ensemble skills and felt that he had the ability to make a significant contribution to the Orchestra which comprises 164 of the best young players from the UK aged 14-19. Tarek secured one of only 18 places in the cello section which is an extraordinary accomplishment.
Tarek will now take part in residential rehearsal courses followed by concerts playing under some of the world’s finest conductors in some of the most prestigious venues in the UK. The orchestral training and preparation offered by NYO is second to none.

All NYO musicians also take a leadership role within the NYO Inspire programme at the heart of which is the power of peer inspiration and learning. They share their musical skills with other teenage musicians and help them to develop orchestral playing.
Tarek was inspired to audition after seeing NYO perform Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story earlier in the year. As well as being a member of the BMS orchestra, choirs and ensembles Tarek has also played with the Chineke! Junior Orchestra, a youth orchestra formed of black and minority ethnic (BaME) musicians, Aldeburgh Young Musicians and Britten Sinfonia Academy.
Director of Music at BMS, John Mower, said: “This will be a life-changing musical experience for Tarek requiring a great deal of commitment and a lot of his time, but we are sure it as a challenge he will relish. We are delighted for him and very proud of all he has achieved.”

annual service of Remembrance on Friday 09 November 2018.

Each student will ‘adopt’ one of the 1,100 Old Bedford Modernians (OBM) who served during the war. They will be issued a card on a commemorative lanyard detailing the identity of one of these men which will include their name, who they served with, dates of birth and death and a link to a personal profile on the Imperial War Museum’s (IWM) Lives of the First World War Digital Memorial which will give more information about their OBM’s life.

More than 1,100 OBMs and former staff, who attended BMS somewhere between 1875 and 1918, contributed to the war effort and some 80% of them served and survived. Once the war finished they returned to their families, took up civilian employment and helped shape the environment we know today. The youngest OBM to serve was just 14 (having volunteered under age) and the oldest was 59.

They served in every branch and at every level of the Armed Forces and the international nature of the School’s community at that time was reflected in the service of its OBMs in the armies of countries across the British Empire.

Three Palmer Brothers; Hubert Leslie, Sidney James and Wilfred Osborne attended BMS during the early 1900s and are representative of the 1,100 OBMs who served. Their father owned a shop selling general wares on Mill Street in Bedford.  On the onset of war all three brothers joined the Army; two with the Lancashire Fusiliers and one with the Manchester Regiment.  Miraculously all three survived.

Combined Cadet Force Contingent Commander, Alex Smith, has devoted many hours of his own time during the past 18 months to develop the BMS section of the IWM Digital Memorial. Following a request for help it then became a community initiative with surviving family members coming forward to provide information on the individual men.

He said: “This project will leave a lasting legacy for current and future generations to remember and reflect on the huge contribution that these men made, not only during the time of war, but in the years following.  While in the past we have rightly focused on those who paid the ultimate sacrifice; for BMS that totalled 201, the centenary of the end of the war is the right time to reflect on those who returned and continued with their lives and contributed so much to our times. It has been humbling to discover more about them.”

We end our programme of commemorative events on Friday 16 November 2018 with a special evening in which a cast of students from Years 9 and 10 perform a dramatic re-telling of tales from the depths of the trenches to the heart of the home front.

Following his success, Ben will go on to perform in the national Grand Final in late October.

In the first stage of the competition Ben submitted a video of himself playing drums unaccompanied. From the video submissions, 64 promising drummers were selected to perform live at eight Regional Finals across the UK, for which Ben successfully qualified.

Upon reaching the final for the Birmingham region, Ben was sent two accompanying tracks with no drums included to which he had to add drums. The eight regional finalists then performed to an audience comprising family, friends and the general public. The judges marked each drummer on a variety of factors including groove, timing, technique, versatility and expression.

For the Grand Final, which will be held at the Yamaha Headquarters in Milton Keynes, Ben will receive mentoring from some of the country’s leading drummers and have the chance to perform with a professional band, in front of an eminent judging panel who will decide on an overall winner.

Ben, who has been playing drums for nearly eight years, said: “I’m feeling good for the Grand Final, a bit nervous but I am looking forward to getting the chance to work with professional drummers throughout the day.”

for Independent Schools Football Association (ISFA) U16 team as well as for the Arsenal Player Development Programme U16.

Alice started playing football with her older brother in their garden before joining the BMS girls’ football club in Year 9. Whilst at a BMS football tournament, Nigel Mitchell, the manager of Bedford Ladies and Girls Football Club U14s, spotted Alice and invited her to join the team.

More recently, Alice has been selected for the ISFA U16 team. The ISFA develop and promote football in the independent education sector and hold competitions to give students the opportunity to play at the highest level possible.

Over summer, Alice successfully tried out for the Arsenal Player Development Programme U16 and she is now coached by former professional goalkeeper Rich Lee, who mentors her and offers specialist goalkeeping coaching. In October she will be coached by Miguel Miranda, another former professional goalkeeper, on a four day training camp at Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

Alice said: “Being a professional football player is my dream job. I’m very excited to have been offered a place on the ISFA U16 team and to be training with the Arsenal Player Development Program, I’m really looking forward to everything in the future.”

Rebecca Woodgate, Head of Girls’ Sport, added: “It was very exciting to hear that Alice has been selected for the ISFA U16 National Football Squad. It goes to show that hard work, dedication and passion really do pay off. I would like to wish Alice every success with ISFA and Arsenal and look forward to hearing more about the exciting journey she is embarking on.”

grades means that in some subjects there are now a wider range of grades with 9s reserved for the top achievers. An outstanding 15% of the awards with numeric grades at BMS hit the top mark of 9 against a national average of some 4%.

Amalgamating both the legacy and new grading systems, an impressive 97% of grades awarded to BMS students this year were 9 – 4 or A* – C including 36% at 9, 8 or A*, the new equivalent to all A*s in the previous grading system. Furthermore an outstanding 25 candidates achieved straight A* – A grades (or equivalents).

Sophie Clare was the top performing student in the year group achieving a clean-sweep of four A*s and six 9s. She will go on to study French, German, Chemistry and History in the Sixth Form. She said: “I am so happy with my results. I love BMS, it is such a great community where I can work hard and get involved in so many co-curricular activities.”

Top performing male student, David Burkett, achieved an outstanding four A*s, five 9s and one 8. He is also staying at BMS for Sixth Form to study Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science and Physics. Equally impressive were Jodie Tyler, Sreya Chenilath and Lisa George who also secured five A*s, four 9s and one 8 each.

Headmaster Alex Tate commented: “In a period of significant change to both syllabus and grading I am delighted with this set of results. Our students have done themselves proud and it is satisfying to see all their hard work pay off particularly when they juggle academic commitments with so many other school activities. I look forward to seeing so many of them return in September to begin their A Level studies.”

Summary of GCSE Grades 2018

9: 15% (only applicable to subjects with the new grading)

9/8 (A*): 36%

9/8/7 (A*/A): 62%

9/8/7/6 (A*/B): 82%

STRONG PASS: 9/8/7/6/5: 94%

STANDARD PASS: 9/8/7/6/5/4 (A*/A/B/C): 97%

Please note that this is an amalgamation of subjects on the old grading system (11 subjects) and the new grading (13 subjects).

grades or better. Whilst the proportion of students gaining C grades or above has fallen nationally, an impressive 51% of grades achieved were A* – A, up 6% from last year.  A* grades have increased to a fantastic 17%, against a national average of just 8% and more than 80% were  A* – B.

Eryk Sokolowski received the highest grades in the School with four A*s in Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths securing him a highly sought after place at the University of Cambridge to study Engineering. He said: “I joined BMS in Year 10 and it is the best school I have ever been to with teachers who work hard to get you where you need to be and are always there to support you.”

Top performing female student Lydia Clewlow obtained three A*s in Chemistry, Physics and Maths. She said: “I am so excited to start the Chemical Engineering course at the University of Birmingham as it’s what I have always wanted to do. I’ve had a fantastic time in the Sixth Form at BMS; there are so many extracurricular opportunities here and I loved being involved backstage in the theatre and playing in the orchestra. All the teachers have been really supportive and I am really happy with my results.”

Not all students have chosen the university path, for example Amy Leaning has already begun an apprenticeship at award-winning Soaring Falcon Accountancy. Amy has been at BMS since Year 3 and achieved a fantastic A*AA in DT, Business and Economics.

Headmaster Alex Tate said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to watch this year group grow and develop during the past 12 months and they should be very proud indeed of what they have achieved.

“It is a tremendous set of results and some of these young men and women have surpassed all expectations on the grades that they have received. However the Class of 2018 has contributed so much more to the life of the school in numerous different ways and for that I would like to extend my thanks. I wish them every success and look forward to hearing from them in the future.”

on 18 June. For some of our young students this was the first time they have seen professional rugby players in action.

Throughout June and into the summer, we will be welcoming the players from Bedford Blues every Monday afternoon as they use our pitches for their pre-season training sessions.

BMS and Bedford Blues already have strong links as Lee Dickson, the former England scrum-half who now plays for Bedford Blues, works with the BMS sports department to deliver rugby training sessions to select Senior School students. He said: “The School has fantastic facilities for us to use and they have everything we need to have a great eight weeks of pre-season training. It is also a great opportunity for our players to interact with BMS students. We can hopefully inspire BMS students to get out there and take up rugby and develop a love of the game that we play. We look forward to seeing the staff and students of BMS at Goldington Road this season for some great rugby.”

Brett Richmond, Head of Rugby at BMS, added: “To be able to host the Blues in this way is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our excellent facilities, whilst at the same time allowing our students to watch and be inspired by the players. We already encourage many of our students to attend Blues matches, but by having them train at BMS it will develop stronger ties and links which we hope will inspire the next generation of BMS rugby players.”

special guests.

Following an investment of more than £9m the new Science Centre includes 17 laboratories; three in each subject for specialist use and eight multipurpose laboratories together with adjacent preparation space. A separate floor is devoted to each discipline: Biology, Chemistry and Physics and a central learning atrium provides a flexible teaching and display area.

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock inspired students from across the school during the day and said: “It has been wonderful to visit Bedford Modern School today; there is a real sense of community here.

“I have spoken with several students who have asked me so many impressive questions and I can see that this level of interest is as a result of the fantastic encouragement from their teachers.

“I am looking forward to returning to see everybody back in action!”

Headmaster Michael Hall said: “The Science Centre is by far the most significant capital investment in the School’s history and seeing teachers and students using this exceptional teaching and learning environment this afternoon is wonderful.

“Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology are already popular subjects at BMS and currently more than a third of our sixth formers study three sciences including Maths. Many of these students will go on to study a science-related course at university. This is in no small part due to the efforts of the excellent teaching staff who inspire students of all ages every day and in this incredible new facility will continue to inspire countless young scientists for many years to come.”

A Level results once again. Of particular note are those students who studied Product Design (Design and Technology) all of whom received A*-A grades highlighting the School’s continuing success in this area.

Vincent Rustill received the highest grades in the School with four A*s in Maths, Further Maths, History and Economics. He said: “This really is such a surreal feeling and it still hasn’t really sunk in. When you’ve waited so long to hear you just feel so relieved. I’m so excited to now go on and study Economics at the University Cambridge.

Top performing female student and Head Girl Rose Cocks has secured a highly sought after place to study Hispanic Studies and Linguistics at the University of Warwick after obtaining three A*s in Maths, Spanish and Latin.

Rose said: “I am completely shocked but also relieved. I have been studying at BMS since Year 3; this moment has been a long time coming!”

As with previous years we are celebrating some incredible individual success by students who may have encountered difficulties during their time at school but who have been encouraged and supported by staff here at BMS to achieve their full potential. One such student is Tom Lay who, against the odds, has gained a place to study Business Management at his first choice university, University of Manchester. He explained: “I got 2 As and a B; I can’t believe it! I have had a few ups and downs during my time at BMS but the teachers here got me through, it’s all down to them.”

Bedford Modern School Headmaster, Michael Hall, said: “I am so delighted that this wonderful group of students has received such impressive results. With nearly a third of them receiving straight A*-A grades they should be extremely proud of their achievements. I am confident that the ethos and atmosphere here at BMS has prepared them well for life after school and I wish them every success in the future.”

grades. BMS students achieved an impressive 98% of grades at A*-C with 35% of those at A*.
BMS continues to provide the highest quality education with an exceptional two thirds of all grades awarded at A*-A. More than a quarter of the 138 students who sat their exams achieved straight A*-A grades.
The top performing male students Tom Allen and Zain Khan achieved 11 A*s plus an A in Additional Maths. On receiving his results Zain said:” I’m really happy that I put so much effort in. I was actually quite worried about my English and Physics results because I didn’t think they had gone that well but I ended up getting A*s in both!
“I’m now looking forward to studying Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology in the Sixth Form at BMS.”
Top performing female student Katy Smith achieved 9 A*s and two A grades. Equally as impressive Emily Waterfield, Lamisha Ahmed and Eliza Ball all secured 9 A*s and one A.
Headmaster, Michael Hall, said: “Once again our students have done themselves proud and I could not be more delighted that all their hard work has paid off. 35% of grades at A*; a 6% increase on last year, is impressive indeed but to have 66% of grades at A*or A is exceptional. Notably, these young people achieve outstanding grades as well as participating fully in sport, drama, music and other co-curricular activities. Congratulations to them all.”
100% of students received A* – C grades in Maths and English.

achieving A* – A and a fantastic 96% obtaining A*- C. Nearly one third of all the students who sat their A Levels this year obtained three A grades or better.
Sam Butler received the highest grades in the School with four A*s in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry.
He will now go on to study Mathematics at the University of Cambridge along with four other BMS students who have successfully secured places at either Oxford or Cambridge.
Sam said: “I had some idea of how well I had done this morning when I learned that I had been accepted at my chosen university. I’m incredibly happy and would not have been able to have achieved these grades were it not for the support I received at BMS.”

Top performing female student Kiana Mostaghimi has secured a highly sought after place to study Medicine at the University of Southampton after obtaining A*s in Biology, French and Maths and an A in Chemistry. She also achieved an A* in her Extended Project Qualification.

As well as her academic achievements Kiana has made an outstanding contribution to the life of the school, working tirelessly on charity projects and being a positive role model for younger students.

Bedford Modern School Headmaster, Michael Hall, said: “Our students have once again done themselves proud. Despite concerns about grade variability nationally, our students continue to achieve consistently year on year with an impressive 52% of all grades at A* or A and 96% at A*-C.

“I am always delighted that those who go on to university often choose vocationally specific subjects securing them every best chance of success in the future. To have 11 students secure highly competitive places to study medicine, dentistry or veterinary science is tremendous.”

National Session.
Matthew Grant, Year 12, writes: “Accompanied by Mr Baker and Dr Boa, the team consisted of nine students; Zoe Connew, Millie Cook, Warren D’Souza, Daniel Filippov, Rohan Katargamwala, George Keech, Thomas King, Vincent Rustill and myself. BMS won the regional round at Newnham College in March and we are only the second team from the school that has ever reached the EYP UK National Session.

“Before departing all of us made detailed notes on our allocated topics. Vincent very patiently compiled these notes into a booklet, which was more than 105 pages and sixty-thousand words long! This preparation gave each of us a very broad knowledge although we did get some quizzical looks as we carried nine giant booklets around with us.

“Upon arrival into Liverpool, the team split into committees, with our team collaborating with students who had come from all corners of the UK and even with astonishingly eloquent international students. In these committees we constructed resolutions about genuine and pressing current affairs that we had researched thoroughly, mine, for example, looked at ways of mitigating the effects of the European migrant crisis.

“After a long day of resolution writing on Friday, all committees had created very detailed resolutions which were now ready to be debated. Saturday and Sunday saw all of the resolutions debated in the General Assembly and delegates had to make speeches and answer questions in defence of their own committee’s resolution. After the individual clauses were scrutinised, the resolutions were passed or failed by a system of voting. BMS played a key part in these debates and every single member of the team made persuasive speeches.

“Throughout the four day event there were many fun and engaging activities including the opening dinner, where each school brought a selection of food from their designated country. BMS represented Italy and so contributed more than one hundred small Italian cakes, a box of breadsticks and charcuterie to the meal. A highlight of the session had to be the Euro Concert, a talent show for the most talented delegates amongst us, where Warren D’Souza dusted off an old street dance routine accompanied by the questionable talent of background dancers George, Millie and Rohan, it was undeniably the act of the night.

“There was only space for one school to go through to the International Session in Laax, Switzerland and unfortunately BMS just fell short to the City of London School for Girls who were strong throughout. Nevertheless, I think it is fair to say that BMS really engaged with the very essence of the competition, it was tremendously successful for our school and all who went have gained valuable life experience from it.

“Thanks must go to Mr Baker and Dr Boa for making this trip possible and all the organisers at EYP UK for organising such a well organised competition.”

Speedway in Corby, Northamptonshire.

The Formula 24 race is for students aged 11 to 16. All teams have the same motor and one pair of 12 volt batteries per race. During the race at least three team members must drive the car, and up to six further members can act as pit crew. Drivers may only drive for one car and for one team and each driver must drive for a minimum of 15 minutes.

The team consisted of students from several year groups. Year 10 students; Hannah Phillips, Tom Allen, Alex Brand, Jamie Canning, Christopher Gell, Milen Patel and Year 9 students; Joe Davis, Archie Denne and Harry Schlote competed in the races and worked in the pit lanes, servicing the vehicles. A group of students from Year 7; Ben Cox, Michael Chamberlain, Amina Eldin and Ellen Fletcher accompanied the main team to get a taste for the Formula 24 race and prepare them for entering next year.

Both the BMS cars performed well with The Pink Panther completing a distance of 33 miles, further than it has managed before, and the second car finishing its first ever race. The students worked well together as a team and used their organisational skills to overcome hurdles in changing drivers and working in the pits against the clock.

Paul Kennington, Head of Design and Technology, commented: “Race days rarely go as planned, and this was no exception, but in the end the cars and the team performed well. It was particularly pleasing to see the whole team working so well together, and the way in which some of the new members got involved.”