the pupils who achieve excellent results at Bishop’s Stortford College; their Catering team has just won a sixth successive Gold CAP Award for maintaining the exacting requirements of the Continuous Advancement Programme (CAP).

The CAP Awards are only presented to organisations who meet the highest standards in housekeeping in the catering and hospitality industry. The College underwent an unannounced assessment of the Catering Department on 28th June which lasted from 9.00am until after the boarders’ supper service in the evening.  Catering Manager, Gary Law and his team were delighted to score 94.3% having shown continued enhancement of the food offering in terms of choice, healthy options and overall meal experience together with a determination to beat their last assessment score. Feedback from pupils was also very positive across the age ranges (from 4 – 18).

Since embarking on the CAP programme in 2012 the College Catering Department has continued to deliver increasingly high standards year on year. Gary and his team will now strive to achieve the new Platinum Award which is only available to establishments who have achieved a minimum of 5 consecutive Gold CAP Awards.

The College will be holding an Open Morning on Saturday 23rd September from 9.00am, which will include an opportunity to visit the catering facilities, for anyone interested in gaining a comprehensive introduction to life at Bishop’s Stortford College.

Photo: Bishop’s Stortford College Catering Team

at A*/C.

Bishop’s Stortford College is celebrating for a second week running with a stunning set of GCSE results, 70% of which were at A*/A  and 99.4% at A*/C.  In the new Maths GCSE, 94% of pupils gained at least 5 or higher and 8% achieved the top grade 9 (well above the national average of 3.5%).

Nearly one third of the 114 strong year group gained the magic ‘Ten Club Tie’ for pupils achieving A*/A in ten or more subjects. In both Drama and Music, all pupils gained A*/A and in both English Language IGCSE and Religious Studies GCSE, 89% of all grades were either A*/A, results which the College Headmaster, Jeremy Gladwin called, “Simply outstanding”.

Seven pupils gained 10 A* grades: Wendy Cowen, Luke Eddershaw, Shreeya Khetani, Nena Nurbhai, Grace Reed and Ella Stephens.

The Headmaster went on to say he was, “Utterly delighted with this superb set of results.  GCSE has got harder, with greater content and more challenging exam papers.  It is increasingly difficult to access the top grades, but our pupils have demonstrated that, with hard work and focus, together with the assistance of a really dedicated teaching staff, it is possible to surpass expectations and still achieve top qualifications at 16+.”

The College looks forward to welcoming around 35 new students to join this talented year group in the Sixth Form in September.

The College will be holding a Sixth Form Open Morning for those wishing to commence their A Level studies in 2018 on Saturday 14th October at 10:15am.

First Class Honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University in which she gained the highest mark for final honours English in her year.

Claire, who was Head Girl at the College, was also one of the top performers in her year when her A Level results were announced in 2014. Claire gained an A* and 2 As, as well as an A* for her EPQ (Extended Project Qualification).

Claire’s achievement is sure to inspire pupils still at the College ahead of their A Level results next Thursday 17th August. Headmaster, Jeremy Gladwin commented, “Claire was a fantastic College pupil, who threw herself into the busy life of the College and co-led the pupil body as a first rate Head Girl. She showed enormous potential, which was nurtured by our English Department. Her teachers laid the firm foundations for future success, which has been realised in spectacular fashion with this accolade from Oxford. All at the College salute her achievement.”

The College, which is currently asking “Do you want your child to reach their true potential?” in their advertising campaign will be holding an Open Morning on Saturday 23rd September from 9.30am – 1.00pm. There is no need to book, everyone is welcome: there will be opportunities to meet staff, pupils and parents as well as have a guided tour of the campus and soak up the unique atmosphere of the College community. Further information is available at www.bishopsstortfordcollege.org.

on record.

In spite of the warnings about the potentially negative impact on results of the new A Level courses, 2017 has been a vintage year for Bishop’s Stortford College, with pupils achieving a 100% pass rate and one of the best set of results on record.

Almost a quarter of all results were A*.  37% of pupils achieved at least 3 or more grades A/A* and, in the now firmly established Extended Project Qualifications (EPQ), 81% of results were at A/A*.  The EPQ is studied by many pupils alongside either 3 or 4 A Level subjects.

College Headmaster, Jeremy Gladwin was “absolutely delighted with the performance or our students, who have once again demonstrated the superb value-added that the College provides.  This is the result of excellent preparation and a wonderful work ethic amongst the student body – all the more impressive given the busy extra-curricular life the school offers.  I am indebted to my staff, who have, once again, provided the highest quality of teaching, as well as going the extra mile in providing one-to-one support for individual students.”

Head Boy, Sam Hopkinson who achieved 3 A* (along with 8 other pupils) commented, “I am delighted, it was a really nice surprise – I surpassed my expectations.”

William Watson who was the College’s top performer with 4 A* said he was “Relieved, happy and glad it’s all over.” He will be going to Durham to study Physics in the autumn.

William’s twin sister Katherine will be paddling a different course as she heads to Nottingham with A*AA. Katherine is the youngest of 6 young women to gain a full-time Lottery funded place on the Girls for Gold programme, where she will be training in Sprint Canoe with a view to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Ruman Basra commented “I put in so much work, but at the end of the day it was worth it. I’m really looking forward to studying Medicine.” Ruman will be taking up her place at King’s College London.

give an inspirational talk to Senior School pupils.

On 28th June, Bishop’s Stortford College welcomed ex GB hockey captain and Olympic gold medallist Kate Richardson-Walsh, for an afternoon of high intensity training with Sports Scholars and an inspirational talk to Senior School pupils.

Kate, who represented Great Britain and England 375 times during her career and competed in 4 Olympic Games, winning bronze in London and gold in Rio, spoke to pupils about her journey to Rio. She focussed on 3 central themes which she believes helped her to achieve her gold medal ambitions: vision, challenge and strength.  In her passionate delivery she shared how important these theme are, not just in hockey but in any area of life, encouraging pupils to aim high and not to let disappointments prevent them from reaching their goals.  She also answered varied and inquisitive questions from the audience of pupils and teachers.

Head of Girls’ Hockey Nick Prowse commented, “It was an inspiring experience for all involved and the pupils were full of admiration for Kate and the sacrifices she made to reach gold.”  One Fourth Form pupil commented, “Kate’s speech was inspiring, not just to hockey players but everyone who has an interest in in succeeding in what they want to pursue. She made everyone feel like they could achieve anything.”

Kate also led a training session for the top hockey players in Years 7 to 10 which focussed on ball carrying skills and decision making under pressure. The pupils enjoyed this intensive training, with one of the scholars commenting, “The session was truly inspiring – she not only helped us out of our shells, but really explored improvisation and communication with our teammates. It was amazing to be coached by such a high level international player.”

age group competitions.

Bishop’s Stortford College hosted a District Rounders Tournament on Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th June. The annual tournament includes teams from fourteen schools across Bishop’s Stortford and surrounding areas who compete across six age groups. This year, the College, who entered 8 teams, triumphed in an impressive four out of six age group competitions.

The two youngest teams to enter the competition were the U12A and B teams; both won 1st place in their groups. The U12As having qualified comfortably for the finals, faced Ralph Sadleir School in a closely contested final ending on 7 – 4½ to the College team. The U12Bs following a strong, confidence boosting first match, then played equally well in their second to secure the title.

The U13s demonstrated excellent teamwork throughout their matches, as well as some promising fielding techniques. The U13As came 1st in their group and the U13Bs finished 2nd.

In the U14 group, the College A and B teams secured 1st and 3rd places respectively. The U14B team won their first match by an impressive 12½ rounders and continued to play with confidence and skill in a further three games with some confident fielding and good catches. However, the U14A team played well against Leventhorpe in their semi-final, and were able to use tight fielding, strong batting and good communication to triumph over Saffron Walden County High School in the final.

The U15A team showed strong form in their group matches and recorded a comfortable 5 – ½ win in their semi-final against Brentwood School. In their final they also met Saffron Walden County High School in a very close match but were narrowly beaten 3 – 3½.

The two day tournament was a tremendous display of skill and teamwork by all participants – congratulations to all those who took part.

equality and diversity issues.

Bishop’s Stortford College Sixth Formers recently attended the Stonewall Young Campaigners Award ceremony, hosted by the Lloyds Banking Group at The Lloyds Building in London.  The students, representing the Rainbow Project, were presented with a School Award by Stonewall in recognition of their work to reduce homophobia, biphobia and transphobia over the last year.

The Rainbow Project is a student-led initiative at the College, designed to ensure that prejudice and discrimination are never tolerated in the College community and to raise awareness of national and international issues surrounding equality and diversity.  The Project representatives were overjoyed to be presented with their award by renowned actor Sir Ian McKellen.

Sixth Former Didi described how inspiring he found the interviews with the panel of guests at the event.  “Their stories not only left us in awe, but enlightened us particularly on the personal issues that are involved in coming out.  The sharing of their journeys made us reflect on how we can keep improving the Rainbow Project, so that we can support each other and continue to promote inclusion, diversity and acceptance within the College community.”

After receiving their award, the students encouraged their College peers to get involved with the Rainbow Project, saying that it has “provided us with experiences that will stay with us for life, and we hope that the club will continue to go from strength to strength.”

Senior School and Prep School cricketers.

Charlotte Edwards, former England Ladies Captain and Bishop’s Stortford player recently shared with cricketers at the College some first class skills.  Charlotte, who spent all afternoon at the College, worked with the Senior School 1st XI, the U11 girls and with pupils from Upper Shell (Year 4).

Boys and girls from Year 4, who took part in an after-school cricket club, enjoyed meeting Charlotte and learning from her expert coaching and advice.  The session covered batting techniques in the nets, running between wickets and speed of fielding.

The U11 girls’ team also enjoyed a fun and informative session with Charlotte just ahead of their first fixtures of the season where the focus was on overarm bowling techniques.  The girls finished the session with a fun, non-stop Kwik Cricket game and left full of enthusiasm and looking forward to their upcoming fixture against Felsted.

Charlotte gave the 1st XI an energetic fielding session: a very positive experience for all involved.  Sports Coach Mr Hughes said, “The fielding session was expertly run with a high level of competition and great enthusiasm from Charlotte and all the boys.  I am sure it will make a tangible difference to the way they play in their forthcoming matches.  We can only hope she will be back again soon for another inspirational session.”

thrilled to run a Personal Best and qualify for the National Finals again.

Following the East Area Athletics Championships head on 13th June in Cambridge and at the IAPS championships on the 9th in Bedford, Harry M (Year 7) has qualified for the National Finals with a new Personal Best.

A total of 32 pupils represented Bishop’s Stortford College in the events; eleven from the Upper Shell (Year 4), and 21 pupils from Form Two (Year 6), Lower Shell (Year 7) and Upper Third (Year 8).  For many of them, this was their first time at an athletics meet.

There were a number of outstanding performances from College athletes across the two championships. Elijah (Year 4) won his 600m heat with a time of 1 minute 58 seconds, placing 4th overall. Zoe, also Year 4, qualified for the 100m final, in which she finished 6th. The boys’ relay team in this age group came 2nd in their heat which saw them through to the final, where they ran an exciting race and finished in 4th place. In Bedford, Eloise showed off her speed on the track, qualifying for the 100m and 200m finals as well as running in the 4 x 100m relay team event.

Harry M (Year 7), who won the National Finals last year, was thrilled to qualify for the National Finals again which will take place on 4th July. Harry came 2nd in his event, running 800m in an impressive 2 minutes and 19.6 seconds, a new Personal Best. The College wishes Harry the best of luck as he tries to retain his title at the National Finals.

coaching the College’s goalkeepers.

Bishop’s Stortford College were delighted to welcome the current World Number One goalkeeper in women’s hockey, Maddie Hinch, to the school last Wednesday. Maddie, Team GB’s goalkeeper when they won gold in the Olympics in Rio last year, gave an inspirational talk to Prep School pupils during their morning assembly, followed by coaching sessions with both Prep and Senior School goalkeepers.

Maddie’s talk to the Prep School focussed on her journey to the Olympics; how she became a goalkeeper and went on to play international hockey before winning Gold at the Rio Olympiad. She spoke about the sacrifices she has made through her career, as well as the setbacks she has suffered and the resilience and determination she has had to find. Maddie went on to answer questions from the audience. Prep School pupil Lottie who was inspired by the talk said, “I admire her because she is very outgoing… What I could take from it is I will never give up. I’ll try and find a sport that fits the way I learn and I’m definitely trying out hockey goalkeeping next term!”

Following her talk, Maddie spent time coaching some of the College’s Prep and Senior School goalkeepers, putting them through their paces and working on accurate clearances as well as rebounding. First Team Goalkeeper, Lizzy Tupman, was fortunate to have one on one coaching.

This is the third time that College pupils have benefitted from Maddie’s coaching skills, although this was her first time as an Olympic champion. Nick Prowse, Head of Girls’ Hockey, commented, “It was a truly memorable morning for all involved.”

The College would like to express their thanks to Maddie and wishes her well in her bid to retain Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020.

XI continued their unbeaten start to the season, triumphing over Chigwell School by 59 runs.  Captain and Essex cricketer, 13 year old William C-S, made a large contribution to this win as he made his very first century, finishing with an unbeaten 109 not out from a total of 154 for 3.  His hundred came from 66 deliveries and included 16 boundaries.  William is already part of the school’s Elite Cricketing Programme.

Head of Prep School Cricket, Mr Sandy Barnard said, “Hitting a century is a very rare achievement in Prep School cricket; we’re all very proud of William and how he is developing as a player.”

Another player of note during the Chigwell block fixture was 12 year old Vibha M. who, as part of the 2nd XI, played in a truly great game of cricket. Although the College ended on the losing side, they could definitely claim the best individual performance; Vibha, in only her second appearance for the Prep School 2nd XI, bowled 4 overs of leg spin, including 1 maiden over, 4 wickets and she only conceded 8 runs. This remarkable spell of bowling included a hat-trick (2 bowled & 1 stumped), an impressive feat at any level of the game, that completely disrupted the Chigwell innings.

The College looks forward to welcoming England and Bishop’s Stortford CC player, Charlotte Edwards on 19th May when she will be sharing her skills and knowledge with Prep School cricketers.

College was deemed to be “excellent”.

Bishop’s Stortford College received the highest descriptor ‘excellent’, the highest descriptor for Independent Schools following its inspection in March 2017 with Inspectors reporting, “The school successfully meets its aim to be a place of learning with a broad and balanced curriculum that enables all pupils to fulfil their potential in everything they undertake.”

The rigorous Educational Quality and Compliance Inspections were conducted by the Independent Schools Inspectorate with 6 Inspectors visiting the Pre-Prep and Prep School and a further 6 visiting the Senior School. The Educational Quality Inspection delivers judgements in two categories – Academic Achievement and Personal Development and the College was deemed to be “excellent” across the board.

Inspectors further noted “Their enthusiasm for learning and their strong work ethic illustrate the high level of success the pupils are achieving in becoming independent, confident and well-prepared for their future lives… Their intellectual curiosity and appetite for knowledge are stimulated by their teachers’ passion for their subject and high expectations of pupils. They are resilient and determined to make the most of their abilities and potential.”

“Pupils have high levels of self-confidence and self-esteem combined with a courteous and friendly demeanour. They are resilient and determined to make the most of their abilities and potential.”

College Headmaster, Jeremy Gladwin commented, “We are thrilled that the College has scored top marks in both aspects of the inspection. We are tremendously proud of the work we do here and the results our pupils achieve. I am extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of our teaching staff, whose passion for their subjects and high expectations of our pupils were commented on enthusiastically by the inspection team.”

young players who represent England.

Bishop’s Stortford College recently hosted, for the 2nd year running, a Rounders Festival featuring England Rounders teams and other invited schools. The Festival is an opportunity for players to test their skills against the young players who represent England in their age group.

Two Under 14 teams and an Under 17 team from the College played the England Under 14 and Under 16 squads. Head of Rounders, Kay Adkins praised the “excellent performance” by all College players.

The first U14 team won their match against the U14 Development squad and drew against the U14 Elite. They also played two matches against the England U16 squads, one of which they lost by only one rounder. The second U14 team showed some very good fielding in their matches against both England Rounders and the U14 team from Sevenoaks school and the College’s U17 team played in four very close games, winning against one of the England U16 teams. Mrs Adkins commented, “their fielding and batting were consistent and the team worked well together, always encouraging one another. Our highlight was getting out the England Elite number one player on her first bat.”

The England Rounders teams presented a Most Valuable Player award to one member of each team; Katie Whitehead from the first U14 team received an award for Outstanding Fielding and Yuki Cheng won Most Valuable Player for the second U14 team. Imogen Poulter, representing the U17s, was recognised as the Most Valuable Player for her performances.

This was a fantastic experience for all involved and one that was thoroughly enjoyed by all the College girls.

as a place on the National Youth Theatre’s Senior Course this summer.

Bishop’s Stortford College Sixth Former Poppy Brooks has secured an unconditional place at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Poppy, who will finish her A levels at the College this Summer, is set to start her BA in Acting at LAMDA in September.

Auditioning for drama schools such as LAMDA is a highly competitive and rigorous process and it is rare for anyone to be accepted onto an undergraduate course immediately following their A levels.  Poppy said of her achievement, “I was aware of how competitive these courses are and that sometimes people audition for three or four years before gaining a place at one, so I went into the audition process with a realistic mindset – that I may get a few recalls, but it will be more than likely I will be trying again next year.” However, after two auditions followed by a final recall, which consisted of a panel audition, interview and group workshop, Poppy was offered her place on the BA course. Poppy continued, “I’m so happy and still can’t really believe it… I am so lucky to have had so much support from the Drama Department, as well as my family and friends.”

Poppy has performed in a number of productions at the College, including ‘Cabaret’, ‘Macbeth’ and most recently ‘The Threepenny Opera’, and is currently studying towards her A level in Drama. Poppy will be following in the footsteps of many notable LAMDA alumni, including actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage and Patricia Hodge.

Only days after receiving her offer from LAMDA, Poppy also received news that she had secured a place on the National Youth Theatre’s Senior Course. On completion of this course, which takes place during the summer, Poppy will become part of the National Youth Theatre Company and can then audition for their future productions.

The College wishes Poppy every success with her continued studies and looks forward to seeing her on the stages of the West End and beyond in the future.

and a new National Record.

Bishop’s Stortford College pupil Elinah Phillip has won two silver medals representing the British Virgin Islands at the Carifta Swimming Championships.  Elinah, who also swam for BVI in the Olympics in Rio last summer, won silver in both the 50m Butterfly and the 50m Freestyle events.

The Carifta Swimming Championships, held in the Bahamas, host swimmers from 26 countries and are the premier age group competition in the Caribbean region. Elinah, one of the College’s elite swimmers, swam in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle events in the 15 to 17 year old girls’ age group.

In the 50m Butterfly event, Elinah not only won a silver medal with a new Personal Best but also gained a new National Record time of 28.13 seconds, finishing just 0.01 seconds behind the winner. Elinah gained another silver medal in the 50m Freestyle with a time of 26.77. These medal-winning times now rank Elinah third and fourth respectively in the GB rankings for her age group. Swimming in the 100m Freestyle, Elinah achieved a season’s best of 59.30 in the heats and went onto swim 59.62 in the final for fifth place.

The College extends their warmest congratulations to Elinah and look forward to seeing the latest medals in her collection on her return to school.