The Whinchat 2019-2020

BEDFORD P R E PA R ATO RY SCHOOL W H I N C H AT M A G A Z I N E A U T U M N 2 0 2 0

B E D F O R D P R E PA R ATO RY S C H O O L

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CONTENTS

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Table of contents

INTRODUCTION 2 3

Headmaster’s introduction Head Boy’s Speech

S TA F F 6 7

Salvete - welcome Valete - goodbye

ACADEMIC 8 12 14 17 18 20 22 25

English Library Mathematics Science Geography MFL History RE

67 83

T H E A RT S 26 28 29 32 35

Music DT Art Drama Speech & Drama

29

ENRICHMENT 36

Enrichment

HOUSES 38 40 42 44 46

Eagle House Bunyan Harpur Howard Whitbread

CHARITIES 48 49 50 51

Charities Prep School Christmas Lunch Prep guild BSA

TRIPS/OUTINGS

S P O RT

52 53 54 56 57 58 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 69

72 74 76 77 78 80 81 82 83 84

Ski trip December Jersey Sports tour South Africa Cricket Tour Y4 St Albans Trip Spain trip Days Out at Ickwell Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Talks & Shows Remote Learning

Rugby Hockey Cross Country Badminton Cricket Rowing and Table tennis Rowing and Swimming Equestrian Fencing and Football Y8 Leavers

Produced by Clockwise from left: Prep School production of ‘Romans’; artwork by Tom Walker; Y3 footballers mid-teamtalk

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Osborne Creative osborne-creative.co.uk lee@osborne-creative.co.uk

LTD

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INTRODUCTION

W H I N C H AT

Headmaster’s introduction WELCOME TO THE W H I N C H AT 2 0 1 9 - 2 0 2 0 Welcome to the Whinchat magazine which records highlights of a most unusual year. It has no doubt been a challenging year; who would have thought only a few short months ago that Coronavirus would affect our lives so much

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s I said on (remote) Speech Day, it feels like we now inhabit a completely different world. However, as we often find in times of adversity, human spirit, and indeed Bedford School spirit, has shone through, and there have been many uplifting moments worldwide, and much to be exceedingly proud of in the Prep School.

Academic, sporting, dramatic and musical exploits have been witnessed aplenty, as you will see from the outstanding Head Boy’s speech which is recorded later in this magazine.

I could not be more high in my praise of the community and the way we, collectively, have pulled together in crisis. Boys have been awesome, adapting with maturity, determination and grit to a new way of learning. Teachers have been imaginative and dedicated, and learned just as much as their charges. To teach is to learn twice, they say. This has certainly been true with regard to technology! And parents have led the way and

shown us the real meaning of our fifth, underlying and most important value, kindness, with innumerable supportive emails and comments .

Thank you, from me, to all in our community who make the school such a superb place to be, not least in times of crisis: to our parents for raising such wonderful boys and being so supportive of what we are doing; to the Prep Guild, wonderfully led by the outgoing Rosie Biffa and the incoming Emily Hudson; to all of our boys, and to our prefects in particular, especially Deputy Head boys Harry Clifton and Tanay Rai, and Head Boy Will Hayward; they and the prefects (and indeed all of Year 8) have been outstanding all year. Thank you to all of our wonderful teachers too. To borrow quotations from my Speech at Speech Day: “A teacher affects eternity; he (or she) can never tell where his (or her) influence stops.” Henry B Adams. And from David Haselkorn: “ Teaching is the essential profession, the one that makes all professions possible.”

Thank you to our superb Governors too, who really are a very talented bunch who give up their time for the benefit of the school. They have led and supported us with skill, resilience, bravery, and determination to do the right thing, always, but specifically during the pandemic crisis.

Speech Day 2020 As alluded to earlier, we had our first (and hopefully last!) ever remote speech day, which, although not as we would want it, did allow us the opportunity of celebrating all the deserved winners of this year’s prizes, as well as the achievements of all of our boys throughout the year, with some wonderful messages from special guests.

Our Head Boy, Will Hayward, gave a remarkable speech, so good that I would like to replicate it in these pages (see below) We also enjoyed an uplifting message from Northampton Saints and England full-back, George Furbank, as well as congratulations from man of the moment Sir Captain Tom Moore. Captain Tom provided the nation with courage and inspiration during the height of the Covid-19 crisis. He also provided the Prep School with inspiration to do our own Challenge 100. Boys were challenged to do 100 “somethings” during the first half of the summer term in lockdown, and they showed creativity, determination and resilience in abundance in the completion of their chosen challenges.

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what inspired him, he pointed to a battered little cup that he received for his first professional win in 1955. Beside the cup, a plaque on the wall reads: ‘If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don’t. If you like to win but think you can’t, it’s almost certain you won’t. If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost. For out in the world we find success begins with a fellow’s will. It’s all in the state of mind. If you think you’re outclassed, you are. You’ve got to think high to rise, you’ve got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger woman or man, but sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.” Palmer read that poem each day of his life as an inspiration. It worked for him and it may work for you.

Proceedings were concluded with the Prep School prayer, read by one of our Deputy Head boys, Tanay Rai, and a reading of Success by Ralph Waldo Emerson by our other Deputy Head boy, Harry Clifton.

WORDS BY

Ian Silk, Headmaster

Will Hayward

HEAD BOY’S SPEECH 2020 Head Boy

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eadmaster, Governors, Distinguished Guests, Staff, Parents and Boys of Bedford Prep School, it is a huge honour to stand here before you this morning to deliver the Head Boys Speech.

It is customary on these occasions for the Head Boy to review the achievements and congratulate those who have shone academically, excelled on the playing fields, stood out in drama and

the performing arts and other aspects of school life – and this, I promise I will do.

However, as we approach the end of what has been a ‘virtual term’, and for many of us the end of our time in Prep School, it would be remiss not to acknowledge that the 2019 -2020 academic year has been anything, but a ‘normal one’.

No-one could ever have anticipated the impact the coronavirus would have on every aspect

of our lives. This has been a very challenging time for everyone as we have all had to adapt to a new way of life whilst the coronavirus outbreak continues.

And yet, despite these uncertain times, we have been blessed with wise leadership and constant reassurance from our headmasters, we have continued to receive outstanding educational and pastoral support from our dedicated teachers, and all the

boys have adapted to and embraced the entirely new concept of remote learning, Whilst we have all missed seeing each other, ‘the Dunkirk spirit’ has remained high amongst us with the constant encouragement, support and occasional banter between us!

When our school was founded through the generosity of Sir William Harper in 1552, it was a time characterised by great religious turmoil, political unrest and economic uncertainty.

Since that time and over the last four and a half centuries, Bedford School has witnessed and survived almost every trial and tribulation known to man. It has seen countless wars, devastating

Deputy Head Boy

Tanay Rai

Music was provided by Kieran Hamel-Henn on trumpet playing A Time for Peace by Peter Graham, and by Brooklyn Fu on violin playing Gavotte en Rondeau by JS Bach. Both boys played beautifully, and I have no doubt that they will both continue to shine in the next stage of their education.

Following George Furbank’s advice to the Year 8 boys as they move on to the Upper School, I passed on legendary golfer Arnold Palmer’s advice.

Arnold Palmer, the first really great golfer, was honoured this year with a US postal stamp. Not that money is everything, but he is so successful, he is still earning $40 million dollars a year after his death. He, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus were the honorary starters of the Masters Golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia one year. Nicklaus is the greatest player of all time; Player is the hardest working, the man who made the most of his talent and who, when holing a difficult chip shot replied to the spectator who said, ‘Gosh, that was lucky,’ with the words that epitomized his career: ‘The harder I practise, the luckier I get.’ Palmer is the most charismatic and inspirational, but a man who never flaunted his enormous success. When asked about

Harry Clfton

Headmaster’s introduction

Deputy Head Boy

recessions and natural disasters, and now the coronavirus, and yet, I stand before you in 2020, part of a school that has never been stronger or more united.

And so on this special day, I am sure we will be forgiven for putting our ‘troubles’ in this current surreal world to one side just for a few minutes, to reflect, to enjoy and to celebrate the stunning and amazing achievements of our school and it’s pupils over the last year.

We have seen some outstanding achievements across every aspect of Prep School life. So, let’s turn the clock back and remind ourselves and celebrate some of the highlights of Bedford Prep School over the last year.

Sport is a major part of school life.

Over the course of the autumn term, we saw over 200 rugby games being played, with an extremely high winning ratio.

Notably the U13A team won over 80% of their games and the U12A team went unbeaten all season.

The U13A rugby 7’s team qualified for the regional finals at Franklin Gardens (which is yet to be played) and especially well done to Arthur Proctor for his excellent captaincy.

The U13A cross country team came fourth at the IAPS National finals, and we should especially congratulate the talented running duo of Edward and James Dagg.

In Badminton, Krishnan Nair and Alex Lamb narrowly

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INTRODUCTION

W H I N C H AT

Head Boy’s Speech 2020 missed out on regaining their National title. In the U11 competition, Jack Down and Leo Matthew received a well-deserved bronze medal.

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he hockey season brought another year of proud success to the school. The season saw the U11A and U13A hockey teams qualifying for the National IAPS finals with the U13’s reaching the quarter finals, narrowly missing out on the title. The U13 season would not have been the same without captain Oscar Jewers’ quick skills and comprehensive research of every opposition.

The hugely talented Eric Breslin has continued to perform at an outstanding standard in gymnastics and we may be witnessing our very own Max Whitlock!

All of these achievements have shown the true sporting talent and strength in abundance in the Prep School, with many boys performing at county and sometimes even national level.

However, none of this would be possible without the dedication, patience and support of our excellent sports staff, who organize fixtures the length and breadth of the country. Thank you to all of them.

Music this year has also been sensational. The concerts and musical performances have been a stunning spectacle of individual and ensemble talent.

Especially well done to our saxophonist Hugo Hodgson and trumpeter Kieran Kamel Helm who are performing at such an exceptionally high standard.

(Brooklyn Fu plays for the Upper School Orchestra) The House music competition was, as always, another wonderful highlight.

Our House music Captains Max Quince, Sebastian Tatham, Alfie Gandeshea and Brooklyn Fu performed with great flair as conductors leading their houses in the fiercely contested competition.

Whitbread won the unison and Howard the part song. Thank you to all the music

staff for all your support, especially during the lockdown. nd of course, we all fondly remember the outstanding production of Mr Groom’s ‘At home but not on holiday’ song which many boys participated in and which has helped keep everyone’s spirits up especially with the fabulous memory of Mr Silk’s bouncing head to the chorus! It is such a great loss to us that Mr Groom is leaving us at the end of the year, and we wish him well in the

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future.

Moving onto Drama, we were superbly entertained in the highly competitive house drama competition, won by Howard showing a group of children stuck on a playground.

The Wind in the Willows play was literally about to stage in our very own Toad Hall when lockdown struck, and the theatre had to close. Instead it was magically transformed into a film version brought together by Mr Hooley, Mrs Loader

It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead NELSON MANDELA

and the Quarry Theatre crew and edited by Mr Lewis.

Despite the inevitable disappointment for the actors, the boys’ spirits could not be dampened, and they went on to to enjoy a hugely fulfilling experience, being cast in a real film and learning what it is like to be on a movie set. Hollywood surely awaits some of them!

We cannot wait to see the final edited cut.

The Bedfordshire Festival was another highlight of the year, seeing more than 125 boys perform which led to an impressive tally of trophies and placings for the school. Every boy who performed, proudly represented the school, and huge praise should go to Charlie Eggleton and Aryan Sohanpal for being invited

to perform in the Gala Evening which brings together the very best of the performances over the festival.

A hearty thanks must go to the Drama department staff and, in particular, Mrs Bell, who we sadly have to say goodbye to. She has been a much-loved Head of department and we will really miss her, but wish her luck.

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n to trips, and whilst some were sadly cancelled, many boys were lucky enough to take some memorable trips within the UK and beyond. In February, 26 of us travelled to South Africa on a cricket tour where we spent 9 days in and around Cape Town, enjoying the cricket, the warm South African

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Head Boy’s Speech 2020 hospitality and wonderful culture.

There have also been trips to Spain, a hugely successful ski trip to Italy, year 5’s enjoyed a sleepover at the Science museum in London, 26 Year 6’s went to Jersey to join up with our friends at the Victoria College for the annual sports trip, and the Year 8’s took a rugby tour to Taunton. A massive thank you to all the teachers who gave up their time and made all these memorable experiences possible.

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n the academic front, we can take great pride too. In the national Manga High maths challenge, the school came fourth overall, accruing a remarkable 294 hours of maths challenges. On an individual level, I was so impressed by my fellow year 8 Abdullah Khalid who was shortlisted with his sister to attend the finals of the Conrad Innovation Challenge in the US, for his work developing an injection to reduce surgical complications and regenerate organs.

I’m still struggling to comprehend what that means but at the age of 12, I know it’s a huge achievement!

In art, this year the House Art Competition exceeded expectation with some stunning pieces of work shared online on the title

Heroes and Icons.

This year really has been exceptional on so many levels.

And of course, it has been a year in which Bedford School has received both national and international fame for the support it has given to the Moore family and its role in the inspirational story of Captain Tom which Mr Silk will speak about.

This inspired us to launch our own ‘100 Challenge’ with many Prep School boys undertaking their own challenges raising even more money for different charities. There were so many creative and inventive ideas with challenges including 100 conversions, 100 somersaults, and even running 100 kilometres. Well done to everyone who took part.

And so, as we Year 8’s are on the cusp of leaving the Prep School, I am sure many, like me, have taken this opportunity to reflect on our own time in the Prep school. I shall never forget my first morning. At the age of seven, starting Year 3, I recall nervously passing through the imposing school gates and entering a vast and daunting new world of never-ending buildings, playing fields and most frightening of all, an overwhelming army of boys of all shapes and sizes, most of whom seemed much

bigger and who all appeared full of confidence that I felt completely bereft of.

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ut, as I stand here today, on the verge of saying goodbye to the Prep School, I can only tell you that in no time at all, Bedford School became my second home. I feel so privileged and grateful to have become part of the School and am indebted to everyone involved in the Prep School.

The Greek philosopher, Plato, once wrote, “The direction in which education starts a man, will determine his future life”. If this is true, then the amazing ‘start’ we have all been given in our prep years here at Bedford School bodes well for an exciting and challenging future for us all.

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he simple fact is that Bedford School is not just a school, it’s a community of people, it’s a ‘family’. I am so

proud to be a part of Bedford School, and I speak on behalf of all the Year 8 boys when I say: seize every opportunity the School has to offer, don’t wait for the right opportunity to arise, seize the day.

And whatever you do, stand tall, be proud, look after, protect, live up to, and deserve the accolade of being a ‘Bedford Prep School’ boy.

Throughout my time at the school, so many people have helped me in so many ways and I shall be forever in their debt.

I would like to take this an opportunity therefore to say a heartfelt thank you to Mr Silk and to each and every teacher who has taught me over the years, for your support, wise counsel and for the encouragement and self-belief you have given me, and for providing imaginative ways of making even the most challenging of lessons interesting and fun.

A particularly big thank you to all the sport staff for all the support you

give the boys, for giving each us the confidence to believe in ourselves and for teaching us the invaluable lessons of teamwork, resilience, and sometimes, how to lose with grace.

Thank you also to all the support staff in the school and, of course, our catering staff for the delicious meals.

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now turn to my fellow Year 8’s.

First, thank you all for your friendship.

Thank you also for all the support and encouragement you have given one another, the kindness you have shown, for leading by example and for embracing and upholding the School’s core values.

I want to thank the Prefects for the support they have given me over the last year and a very much heartfelt thanks to my two outstanding deputies, Tanay and Harry, who have constantly provided me with immense support, wise advice and great comradeship.

I am sure I speak

on behalf of every year 8 when I say that whilst there is great sadness that we are saying goodbye to this incredible Prep School, we must look forward to joining the Upper School with excitement, knowing that we are embarking on this new chapter of our lives together.

And with us, we must take the lessons learnt over the last few months amidst this crisis that acts of kindness to each other, the resilience of the human spirit and being there for each other are the most important lessons in life.

As Nelson Mandela once wrote: ‘What counts in life is not the mere fact we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead’.

So, come on year 8s, as we embark on a new chapter in our lives, let’s together make that difference!

It therefore only remains for me to again thank everyone at the Prep School for all the support, the opportunities, the wonderful memories and experiences you have given us Year 8’s for which we shall never forget. And so, I finish by wishing you all a relaxing, enjoyable and safe summer holiday and I, for one, cannot wait for everyone at Bedford School to be back together again very soon!

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S TA F F

W H I N C H AT

Salvete M R J O N A T H A N L E E Ye a r 4 t u t o r

Mr Lee was appointed last year, starting with us in January 2020 (too late for last year’s Whinchat magazine). For the final two terms of the year, he taught English, Mathematics, Geography and Games to some of our Year 5 and Year 6 boys. For the 2020-2021 academic year, he is teaching a Year 4 class.

He has an Upper Second Class BA (Hons) Primary Teaching degree with QTS from Edge Hill University, with English as a specialism. He attended Rossall School and joined us from his alma mater, where he was Deputy Housemaster of a Senior Boarding House and coached rugby, hockey and cricket. He is also a talented chorister and, whilst at school, played Fives at national level.

M R PAU L D E N N I S

H e a d o f H i s t o r y a n d G a m e s Te a c h e r

Mr Dennis joins us as Head of History and a Year 8 tutor. We had an excellent field of six candidates at interview (including current Deputy Heads and current Heads of History at other schools, and one boarding Housemaster of an Upper School). Mr Dennis has taught at Wellingborough School since 2011. He was Head of History for two years and a Housemaster (a pastoral role which is a cross between a Head of Year and Housemaster here).

He had just been appointed as Head of Year 8 before coming to us. He has a BA (Hons) from Oxford Brookes University in English, and a PGCE from the University of Bedfordshire. He was already well known by a number of staff here because he coached teams from Wellingborough who always give us competitive fixtures. He currently plays rugby himself for Wellingborough RFC and cricket for the Old Leysians in the village cricket leagues. He is an active member of alumni groups at both of his old schools. On the flip side, he was taught by both Mr Studd (History) and Mr Silk (English) whilst a boy at St Faith’s and The Leys School respectively!

MR BEN GIBSON

Te a c h e r o f E n g l i s h , H i s t o r y a n d G a m e s Mr Gibson has moved to the UK with his family from Hong Kong, where he taught English to children from Year 6 to Year 11. He also had the role of Assistant Housemaster of a house of 60 boys. He has taught English for 12 years, most recently at Harrow International School in Hong Kong. His wife has taken up the position of Headmistress of Bedford Girls’ School, and his two sons have joined us in Bedford Prep School. Mr Gibson has an English Literature and Language degree from the Open University. He also coaches rugby, football and has been a part of the school choir and chamber choir in his previous school, as well as overseeing the Prep School newspaper. He is teaching English and History for the first term.

MISS SOPHIE BAMBER

Te a c h e r o f E n g l i s h , H i s t o r y a n d H e a d o f Enrichment

Miss Bamber will start in January 2021. She completed her schooling in Sharnbrook, before taking an English Literature degree at Swansea University, where she gained an Upper Second Class with Hons. She followed this with a PGCE from the University of Southampton. Miss Bamber joined us from Rushmoor School, where she was Key Stage 3 English Lead as well as Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator. Previously she taught at Lincroft and Margaret Beaufort. We already know her from when she accompanied (and coached) an outstanding public speaking team to compete against our Year 8s. She will also be involved in public speaking at the Prep School, and will become our Head of Enrichment.

M R S PAT S Y T U RTO N

Prep School Speech and Drama Co-ordinator Mrs Turton will take over from Mrs Bell as the Prep School Speech and Drama Co-ordinator. She is currently responsible for teaching Speech and Drama at St Andrews’ School and Rushmoor School, where she has an outstanding track record of preparing pupils for LAMDA exams and for the Bedfordshire Festival of Speech and Drama. She is also Artistic Director of her own performance company as well as a teacher of dance. She has a First Class BA (Hons) in Performing Arts, and an MA in Performing Arts: Creative Practice and Leadership.

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S TA F F

Valete FIONA BROWN H i s t o r y Te a c h e r

Fiona has worked at Bedford Prep School for 14 years and throughout her time here has achieved so much. Her time spent in the History department has seen her set up and run the History Art Club, organise History talks as well as oversee the organisation of trips to Kentwell, Sulgrave Manor, Parliament, and many more too. All of these trips not only take time, dedication and commitment but also sheer passion and a desire to make history come alive for the boys at the Prep School. A nurturing teacher and form tutor, many boys felt the benefits of her ability to see the whole child and make them feel cared for. She moves back to her native Ireland to be with her family. We will miss her and wish her well.

ANDREW GROOM Musician in Residence (and creator of amazing musicals!)

Andrew joined the Prep School 5 years ago as Musician in Residence. In this time he has made some brilliant arrangements and compositions for staff and boys alike, as well as writing some memorable musicals for the boys of the Prep School; his musical productions include Bluebeard, Baba Yaga, Double or Nothing, the Space Race medley, and of course 2004unk. Furthermore he has enthused boys with Recorder Karate, Brass Ensemble, Assembly Band as well as House Singing. During lockdown this year he excelled, arranging virtual concerts and backing tracks for starter sessions, amongst other things. He will go back to classroom teaching and leading his own Department at Kimbolton Prep School. We will miss him enormously, and we wish to thank him for all that he has done for music at Bedford School.

VICTORIA BASDEN

Games, Histor y, PGCE student As well as having taught Games at the school for several years, Victoria has completed her teaching qualifications with us in the Prep School this year, teaching History, chiefly, and other subjects. The boys who have been taught by her have benefitted from her enthusiasm, dedication and desire to learn more as a practitioner. She ran Historical Novels Club, taught in several subject areas and has been a valued member of the team. We wish her well as she moves to Cauldwell School in Bedford, where we believe she will continue to make a superb contribution to the children she teaches.

ELEANOR BELL Prep School Speech and Drama Coordinator

Ellie has been a dedicated and committed Speech and Drama Teacher in the Prep School. In this time she completed her teaching qualifications, and loved teaching English as well as Science and Maths. In particular, she made a huge impact in the Speech and Drama Department (which she led this year), successfully guiding boys through their Speech and Drama LAMDA exams as well as the Bedford Festival, at which our boys achieved huge success. Ellie also set up the Prep School’s Debating Team. Always keen to support others, she has directed Bunyan House Drama performances, and was an active member of the Common Room Committee. We wish her all the best as she moves on to teach GCSE English at Ousedale School, in Olney.

THOMAS WA L K E R

A r t Te c h n i c i a n Tom joined the Prep School last year as an Art Technician, sharing his love of Art, and printing in particular, with many in this time.

He has become a valued member of the school, not only in the Art department but he also integrated into other areas of the school, such as running the Chess Club for boys. Inspired by working with our boys, Tom is leaving us to accept a place at the University of Cambridge to study to become a teacher himself. We wish him the very best, and know that he has chosen a career to which he is very well suited!

MRS RADHA BADHAN Head of History and Head of Enrichment

Radha joined the Prep School three years ago as Head of History. In this time she has made a huge impact within the department, and school, and her love and skill of writing about the subject has been successfully passed onto many boys in the Prep School.

She has packed a lot into her time here. She has also been Head of Enrichment, which included organising curriculum collapse days for the whole school, such as the Disability Day which was held earlier this year and enjoyed by all. Furthermore, she has accompanied boys on residential visits such as Bushcraft and the trip to Morzine last year. The boys will miss her passion and we wish her well as she leaves us to develop further business interests.

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AC ADEMIC

W H I N C H AT

English

E N G L I S H R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Dominic Affleck, Head of English

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t has been another brilliant year in the English department, despite the global pandemic. The boys in all year groups have worked hard both at school and at home during remote learning.

They produced some lovely work and the English teachers were very impressed with how they adapted to working remotely.

Before that all happened, the Gothic Evening for Year 8 was a ghoulish experience, Year 6 were involved in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Years 3 and 4 enjoyed their Harry Potter Day and all year groups dressed up for World Book Day. Each tutor group dressed as characters from a particular book and we attempted to guess the book in a special assembly. Our visiting authors proved to be as stimulating as ever, as well as our Patron of Reading regular, Steve Skidmore, who entertained the boys with a variety of activities.

Reading continues to be as popular as ever and the Accelerated Reading scheme produced ninety millionaires. As a whole, the school read over 280 million words, which is a remarkable achievement. A special mention should go to our top reader, Oliver Barbour in Year 5, who read well over seven million words.

HANDWRITING PRIZES

WINNER Y8 Ruben Jacob Y7 Ayaan Tarique Y6 Rocco Sarro Y5 Toby Hudson Y4 Juvan Sivasenthan Y3 Luke Smith

The poetry composition competition had a futuristic theme to it this year and the boys were tasked to write a poem on time travel. These were judged by Benjie Ingram-Moore in Year 11, who commented that it was one of the hardest tasks he has had to do as the standard and creativity by the boys was very good. Some amazing poems were created, and the winners from each year group follow shortly. Alongside the composition, boys were also assessed on their handwriting and some lovely poems illustrated that Bedford boys can use a confident cursive script.

As well as the composition, the recitation competition was keenly contested in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6, with some very confident contestants. Not wishing to be thwarted by being at home, this competition was run remotely and, despite the odd technical glitch, worked remarkably well. Mr Silk judged the final and gave detailed feedback to each boy about his performance. It was an extremely difficult event to judge and after careful consideration Oscar McCartie was the winner in Year 3, Cayo Sinclair in Year 4, Oliver Barbour in Year 5 and Oliver Quince in Year 6.

Congratulations to them all.

P O E T RY P R I Z E S

Y8 Y7 Y6 Y5 Y4 Y3

W I N N E R R U N N E R U P Tom Barnes Zach Hone Benjamin Roberts Isaac Adeyemi-Aberet George Simmonds Aryan Sohanpal Ben Zanna Rory Stewart-Jones Joshua Worboys Max Wereszczynski Charlie Tillison Eben Clarke

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English Year 3 ACHILLES A baby boy born to Thetis the sea goddess; Called Achilles and destined to be a brave warrior but to die young; He was dangled over a fire by his ankles to burn out his mortal side; In the forests he and his best friend Patroclus were trained by Chiron the centaur; Led his Myrmidon soldiers into the Trojan War; Looked for revenge after Patroclus’s death; Even killing Prince Hector brought him no peace; Stabbed in the heel by Paris’s poisoned arrow.

by Eben Clarke

Year 3 T H E M I N OTA U R Mythical, man-eating, bull-headed, monstrous beast.

In the labyrinth he silently sits, bloodthirsty, fierce, savage and waiting.

Noble Theseus sails to Crete to slaughter the ferocious giant.

Only a ball of string and a sword gifted

by Princess Ariadne to help him.

Theseus slays the creature in a brutal, bloody battle.

Athens has a new hero! The Minotaur has been vanquished!

Unhappy, mournful and despairing, poor King Minos without his protector.

Result for the Athenians! They are saved!

by Charlie Tillison

Year 3 COVID-19

Covid-19 On every news station Ruining lives across the nation Over the world it spreads NHS staff can’t rest their heads And now we are in isolation Vaccination is needed for the population Important not to spread your germs Remember these are important terms Using this time to stop the virus run Stay home, stay safe, and we will have won.

By Maximilian Wereszczynski

A SELECTION OF

AWA R D WINNING POEMS Year 4 THE BIG BANG

Year 5 THE TIME MACHINE The time machine can take you to any time in history, Hope to see some dinosaurs?

Enter 200 million years BC! Today, I’m traveling a little less far, I carefully type 24th of April 1988 and press go, Moments later after a fizz, a bang and a pop, Excitedly I landed on Wembley Way.

There was nothing…….. Then something was to form. There was a Mingling amongst the joyous Hatter fans, HUGE explosion! Bright and colourful Anxiously waiting for the kickoff to arrive, the Universe was born!

Cheering already underway, with excitement I Energy, light and tiny particles in a start to sway. bubble thousands of times smaller Hurry up players, let’s start scoring! than a pinhead.

It’s nearly over, then suddenly Billions of years ago, 13.8 it has been said. the last minute goal, In a fraction of a second the Universe Now, is it too early to believe that this final we grew at a fantastic rate. will win?

Galaxies and stars were formed when Eventually, it’s full time and my dreams have atoms became mates. As new stars come true, we scored 3 and Arsenal scored 2! were born Black holes, comets, asteroids and

By Ben Zanna planets came along And our solar system also joined the throng.

Year ????

Nowadays all seems a strange kind of T H E T I ME MACHINE normal, but we should be aware, that the Universe is still Dear grown up Rory, I am nine, Growing, growing, growing and We are in lockdown, I’ll come and meet you: expanding everywhere!

I’ve got the time!

By Joshua Worboys

Year 6 T H E F U T U R E It’s like the journey of life We all evolve With very tough moments We all have to solve Everything is changing People look very different We are all ageing It’s quite sufficient As we all get old There is much we have to tell As we teach the younger Not to dwell!

My time machine is a Bugatti Veyron, It’s fast and red, It’s powered on Sticky Rib Pot Noodles and has a super king size bed.

I will fly to your beach house and cruise on your solid gold yacht, Meet your wife who plays Fortnite, and splash all the cash that you’ve got!

You’ve played rugby for England and won over 1000 caps, You have your own hair, and have a six pack!

Dear young Rory, I am now 49, I would come and see you but I don’t have the time.

When it becomes our last days We notice how everything has changed But for the youth of today This is just one phase

My time machine is a rusty brown Toyota Yaris, It’s full of empty crisp packets and the kids are embarrassed!

So my time has come For I must say goodbye Have I done enough for some Technology has flown by

Don’t come to my house, it’s always a mess, You won’t meet my wife, we never have guests.

As for the rugby, I haven’t played it for years.

I’ve now got a beer belly and cauliflower ears!

By George Simmonds

By Rory Stewart-Jones

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English Year 7 TIME MACHINE

AWA R D WINNING POEMS ( C O N T. . )

Year 6 TIME MACHINE Here I am stuck in an isolation An extremely unideal vacation All of the fast-food shops are closed, I’m even trying to hand wash all my clothes To save me from this eternal boredom If someone stopped COVID I would definitely reward them So here I am in my house just been blessed I enter the garage as there’s nothing left

I open the door and grimace as there is a light I try to look away as it is quite bright As I march onward I fall over Spinning a dial as white as the cliffs of Dover Then the scenes before my eyes swirl I rattle around the room trying not to hurl As I finally regain my balance I find myself before a palace

These red pillars are quite familiar In the distance, I see a shimmering gold figure Hung above my head I see flags as yellow as the bright sun I glance down to my side and see the year 1371 Of course! This is the early beginning of the Ming Dynasty They are now the ruler of the new Chinese society I am in their city, The Forbidden City Where the meeting of the important, aristocrats and speakers of society As I walk towards the emperor of the time I think that to interfere with history would be a crime So I walk back to the large door through which I came Hoping that what I did would

keep history the same As I walk through the door I just sigh Then I see a room of men dressed smart and a few had a tie Dashboards glare and mouses and keyboards clack I’m not at home, I’m in a mission control shack All the people were focused on a small, miniature screen I knew what event this was and I tried to squeeze my head in between There was a thud from the speaker and, from the machine, there was a hiss A man stepped out of the shuttle onto the moon and its sky was a black abyss The dust on the moon looked like golden glitter The men on the moon were strong, proud ritters

Then out of nowhere a hand yanks me out of the room He looks at me and he is wearing a blue and black costume He points to the sky but the clouds and sun do not appear We are in the future and I fear That this time I will not know what will happen There may be frosted yetis or even a slimy, green Kraken We do not know what the future holds We can only stick our chins up and be brave and bold.

Aryan Sohanpal

I wish I could travel To when life was so sweet When I was with you My heart was complete Your infectious laugh Your beautiful face Your comforting hug That nobody can replace When you left, there was a hole inside of me I had no hope and I had no family Now, I am all alone How quickly time has flown The grey sky softly cries Blue crystals falling from its eyes The flowers begin to mourn Their heart is completely torn The memories of you Always brought a smile I wish you could be here Just for a while When I look up to the sky I see your sweet face Our amazing memories I will always embrace I will always treasure When she bid adieu Her final words, “ I love you ’’

by Isaac Adeyemi-Abere

THE TIME MACHINE BACK TO THE EUPHORIA OF 1966 A HAIKU POEM The stadium fills A flurry of excitement The world cup final!

Cheering fans shout loud Applause as players run out It feels electric!

Red and white flags fly England v. West Germany Wembley erupts!

Tackles, whistle blows Balls hit the back of the net My pulse is racing!

Eyes glued to the field Nervous anticipation Geoff Hurst hat-trick score!

England win 4-2!

Crowds go wild jumping for joy World Cup has been won!

Trophy lifted high National Anthem rings out The team did us proud!

By Zach Hone

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English THE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

MOONLIGHT DANCE REHEARSALS

It was crazy. A mass of people, all gathered together in London for this one cause; it made me smile to see how George Floyd’s death could bring together so many people of different ethnicities, all protesting against racial inequality. I was holding a small banner:

“Move this way, Daniel,” I said. “No, not like that, like this, to the right.” I pointed my right hand up diagonally whilst simultaneously bouncing on my right foot to the right, and doing the same thing with my left hand, to show him what I meant. He followed suit, but quickly slipped and fell on his bottom, screaming out loud in pain.

The moonlight dance rehearsal was not going well. The moonlight dance is a cultural and traditional dance, where a group of dancers dance together around a bonfire under the full moon. This dance is usually performed on the eve of the traditional wedding of any Igbo couple. The couple getting married were my uncle and aunt. My uncle had put me in charge of the dance; it was a great honour and I had to get it right.

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time The famous James Baldwin quote. Reporters and journalists were dotted among the crowd. I had heard stories about the removal and vandalism of various statues and was amazed that there were more white people than black people in the crowd. I marched forward waving my banner high in the sky. A journalist spotted me and shoved a microphone into my face.

“Hello sir, my name is David Hubrey. I’d like to ask you some questions. Are you fine with that?” he inquired.

“That’s fine. Let rip.” I wasn’t nervous; why should I be? I believed in this; it didn’t matter that I was only thirteen years old.

“So, what do you think this cause is, personally?”

What do you think this cause is…

“My entire life, I have heard stories of, and seen things like, the George Floyd incident, but have never had the motivation or a reason to act before. But now I see this movement as the start of a change, a break from years of oppression, abuse and hatred. This affects people from all over the world, no matter the colour of their skin. We are here to make a stand against racism.”

The journalist hurriedly scribbled down all I said with a pen which he seemed to produce out of thin air.

“Okay…” he said, finishing off. “So, what do you think of the officer who placed his knee on George Floyd’s neck, and what it led to?”

“I will say that George Floyd wasn’t an innocent man.

He had been to jail before and the police met him because he had bought something with a counterfeit bill. I don’t think highly of the officer who sparked protests all over the United States. The officer was completely in the wrong for doing that, but at the end of the day there were a few pluses that came out of the entire incident; that’s what has spurred people to follow and pursue the Black Lives Matter movement. People have flocked far and wide to show their support to this movement, ignoring the Covid-19 pandemic, showing that even white people care deeply about it. At the end of the day, the officer deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, regardless of who George Floyd was.”

The journalist looked shocked. “Uh, I didn’t expect you to have that much to say. Thank you for your words today. They will hopefully be in tomorrow’s newspaper.”

He walked off to pursue his story. I carried on marching for a better future.

By Tobi Akinola (13 years old)

The setting of our moonlight dance where we rehearsed was outside the grassless front garden of my family compound. We waited earnestly for the full moon to appear before the rehearsals could start. The full moon signifies joy, excitement, happiness and light, hence why the Igbos have chosen the coming out of the moonlight as a significant time for married couples to do their first dance together. It means starting their lives together in joy, excitement and happiness; it means they would be bathed in light.

“Nneka!” I screamed, “bring out all the wooden chairs, the moon is out...”

Nneka let out a whistle-like sound to signal other participants in the dance to come out. “What arrangement do you want for the chairs?” she retorted.

“A semi-circle,” I responded, whilst gathering all the traditional musical instruments to be used for the dance, such as ichaka, iron gong, bamboo drum, long wooden whistle and short iron gong.

During rehearsals there were always people who would want to watch and enjoy us doing our dance practice. They noticed as soon as the moon came out, and before long the arena was full of eager spectators waiting for the rehearsals to start.

“The absolute first thing we must do is run onto the stage energetically,” I said with a loud voice. “We have to be organised while running onto the stage.” I then proceeded to show them what to do by running energetically and smiling. “This is what we must do when we run onto the platform tomorrow. Everyone stand still now, form a circle and hold your neighbour to the right and to the left, and move in and out in an octopus-like manner.”

Finally, we finished our moonlight dance practice and were all so proud of ourselves. Quickly, I ran into my uncle’s house and told him that we were ready for the big day tomorrow; I told him we had perfected the dance. He smiled at me and I smiled back at him, happy to have fulfilled my part in his wedding; I knew the dance was going to be a huge success.

By Hilary Esomugha

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Library

H A R RY P OT T E R BOOK NIGHT 2020 and boys’ very own dragon egg designs. The best egg design won its creator, James Holt, an illustrated copy of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.

In a special session after school, our young wizards had a great time making fire-breathing dragons and marble mazes to represent two of the Triwizard Tasks. It was bit too early in the year to be diving in the school pond to represent the other one!

As usual, the day came to a close with some magical readings from ‘Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire’, so the boys could wind down a bit before heading home.

ALL WORDS BY

Amy Lumley-Wood, Prep School Librarian

O

ur Year 3 and Year 4 boys again threw themselves into J K Rowling’s wonderful wizarding world to celebrate Harry Potter Book Night, with the theme for this year being The Triwizard Tournament

Lessons were magic themed, with Potter Potion problems and ‘spell’-ing on the timetable, and Quidditch matches replacing afternoon games, complete with quaffles, bludgers and even a speedy human snitch zooming all over the pitch.

Our wonderful catering staff provided a feast for our young wizards at lunchtime, and they were soon full of chocolate frogs, shortbread snitches and butterbeer.

There were lots of opportunities for the boys to let their creative side shine. The library was soon full of origami monster bookmarks, quill pens, wizard word searches

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Library WO R L D B O O K DAY

P

rep School boys brought their favourite books to life on Thursday 5th March for World Book Day. Brilliant ideas were transformed into fabulous costumes making it seem as though the characters had just wandered out from the pages of their books and joined our classes for a day of everything reading-related.

The day was a wonderful celebration of books and reading, with each tutor group competing together to win the costume prize. This year, the honours went to

3H (The Hundred and One Dalmatians

by Dodie Smith) 6KL (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by Roald Dahl) and 8F (The Mr Men and Little Miss books

by Roger Hargreaves).

We were lucky enough to have a really

entertaining author, Peter J Murray, visit us and tell us all about his latest book, ‘Poppy Warrior’, which is an action-packed, thrilling story on a WW1 theme. Peter usually writes scary stories for children and his latest book includes plenty of ghostly encounters. He spent time explaining what inspired him to write about these characters and also read some extracts, always leaving the boys with a cliff-hanger, so they were even more keen to get their hands on a copy of his book and read on further!

The boys tried their hand at a competition

to match the teacher to a photo of their bookshelf, and also enjoyed guessing the writer of the book quotes worn on teachers’ t-shirts.

The boys tried their hand at a competition to match the teacher to a photo of their bookshelf, and also enjoyed guessing the writer of the book quotes worn on teachers’ t-shirts.

Our fun loving staff do not like to miss out and joined in dressing up as their favourite characters too.

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Mathematics

M AT H E M AT I C S R E P O RT W O R D S B Y Mrs Kathryn Lee, Head of Maths

2019 – 2020 M AT H S WHILST REMOTE LEARNING

A

s a department, we really enjoyed

working with all year groups whilst remote.

In Years 5 and 6, we continued teaching with mostly live lessons, enjoying the use of “virtual table groups” in Microsoft Teams.

The boys took part in Group Problem Solving Challenges, Investigations, Card Sorts and even Escape Room Challenges! They all had access to CenturyTech, MyMaths and DoodleMaths for tasks set by their teachers. Some boys really

took this to the next level – especially with DoodleMaths.

Boys who achieved over a 100-days streak whilst remote learning really impressed us.

Harry Brown Tony Zhao The UKMT that boys in Years 7 and 8 take part in was postponed this year. We therefore created our own Maths Challenge for the Prep School. Boys rose to the challenge and demonstrated a high level of problem solving skills. Congratulations especially go to the following boys who achieved Gold, Silver and Bronze Certificates.

During the final half term, Year 8 were delivered a completely new Scheme of Work.

They recapped and extended their work on percentages then moved onto applying this knowledge to financial Maths. The boys learnt about credit, debit, APR, payslips, tax, loans, savings, comparing different products and deciding which were the best deals.

Some boys also went onto Cracking Codes, looking at the work done at Bletchley Park and understanding different ciphers – the Caesar Shift Code, the Pigpen Cipher and Transposition Cipher and using Frequency Analysis.

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K E Y D AT E S n 11-16th November 2019 Bedford Prep School immersed themselves in the inaugural Maths Week England. n Years 3 and 4 took part in a Times Tables Rock Stars Challenge n Years 5 and 6 were awarded extra prizes for their “Doodling” n Year 6 entered the Primary Maths Challenge. n Years 7 and 8 entered the Mangahigh Ninja Challenge.

It was excellent to see all boys in the Prep School involve themselves in the challenges.

YEARS 7 & 8 MANGAHIGH NINJA CHALLENGE

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wo things really struck me during the week of the challenge. Boys took on the challenge on top of all their usual school and home commitments, including Prep.

Once we hit the Top Ten, they just kept going for pride (so they said).

The prize was the same from 3rd to 10th place (a £100 Amazon voucher for the school). Even at 5pm on Saturday afternoon, they were still fighting to get a higher placing on the leader board.

I’m very proud of them all!

M AT H S W E E K ENGLAND

O

ur Years 7 and 8 boys were conspicuously absent from the playground that week – not because of the cold, wet weather but because they had been going mad over Maths! So mad for Maths that they came fourth in the country (and so very nearly third) in the small schools’ category.

The week marked the first official Maths Week England and, to celebrate all things mathematical, schools were invited to take part in the Mangahigh Maths Challenge.

This was a challenge that our boys in Years 7 and Y8 accepted with their usual enthusiasm. The individual challenges, which got progressively harder, covered everything from algebra to times tables to shapes.

It was wonderful to see upwards of 60

Special congratulations to the following boys, who recorded the highest number of medal points.

boys at break and lunchtime coming in to grab an iPad and compete not only for the top individual spots in the school but also collectively to place Bedford Prep among the top schools in the country. But the boys did not stop there: they also completed challenges at home to increase their scores. Some even asked if they could come into school early and stay late on the final Saturday to earn as many points as possible in the time remaining.

We are delighted to say that all their hard work paid off, as they came fourth overall with 6,102 points, accruing a remarkable 294 hours of challenge time. In the final day alone, they added over 1,000 points to the school’s score!

We have to admire all the boys’ determination and passion, and we loved the buzz that the challenge created around Maths. Go Bedford Prep!

Y E A R 6 P R I M A RY M AT H S CHALLENGE

T

he PMC is designed to make pupils think outside the box. The questions asked are not necessarily subjects that have been covered in the curriculum.

All Year 6 Boys took part in the Primary Maths Challenge during Maths Week England.

Certificates were awarded to all boys for participating.

Special congratulations go to the boys listed overleaf:

S TA F F

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Mathematics

G O L D AWA R D Prejeev Suhitharan Sam Bulleyment Joshua Lincoln Rocco Sarro S I LV E R AWA R D

Rhys Brook, Jack Sivills, Lewis Woodhouse, Thomas Noble, Jack Down, Leo Mathew, Aryan Sohanpal, Noah Southwell, Samuel Millar, Sammy Rawlings

B RO N Z E AWA R D

Sam Yeomans, Stirling Smallwood, Alfred Williams, Otis Taylor, George Knight, Henry Pask, Isaac Raddan, Ashwin Curtis, Charlie Miller, Anshul Poothi, George Simmonds, Oliver Harris, Tony Zhao, Ben Conroy-Hood, Tristian Julius Congratulations to Prejeev for being invited through to a further Bonus Round!

He completed this round at the beginning of March and was awarded a Bronze Award.

Fantastic work, Prejeev!

YEARS 5 AND 6 NRICH ROADSHOW

B

oys in Years 5 and 6 took part in an Nrich Roadshow during the Autumn Term. It was great to see boys thinking outside the box and problem solving.

The boys rose to the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed the day.

I really enjoyed working with my friends to solve problems.

This is what the boys had to say:

That was such fun! When can we do it again?

I especially enjoyed the Tea Cup and Saucer challenge; once we got it we realised how logical it was!

B E D F O R D P R E P S C H O O L M AT H S C H A L L E N G E Congratulations to the following medal winners for the recent Bedford Prep School Maths Challenge. It is fantastic to be able to celebrate such talented Mathematicians.

GOLD WINNERS George Kelly Akshat Buddineni Muhammad Alom Rehaan Choudhary Pui Lam Ng Michael Moretto Alex Lamb Izaan Aris Syed Raed Rizwan William Bulleyment Arthur Polhill Sam McMurran

Christopher Bonnington Sammy Inman Abuturab Turrabi Trofim Molchanov Ethan Summers Felix Beckmann Jack Guest Eric Joseph Breslin Robert Dennis Clement Rahwangi Gough Steven Wang

S I LV E R WINNERS Oliver Simmonds Jacob Yau Alfie Gittins William Gallagher Olly Wright Edward Dagg Kieran HamelHenn Vinay Ram Oli Smith Charlie Eggleton Zach Hone James Dagg

Brooklyn Fu William Beattie Edward Walker Tanay Rai Dominic Ray Joseph Lee BRONZE WINNERS Oscar Jewers Edgar Maddocks Harry Clifton Ben Ulvert Rocco ValentinoTucker

Shayen Patel Henry Pascall Abhinav Iarala Ben Rioch Kong Will Turner Sahvan Jutla Ben Pickering James Robertson Jonathan Hall Fraser Morgan Sebastien Tatham Danny Chapman Fred Dickson David Wiltshire Eeshan Agrawal Nate Sharpe

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Science

SCIENCE R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Mike Mallalieu, Head of Science

Autumn Term 2019-20

N AT I O N A L S PAC E C E N T R E : For the first time, the Year 7 boys had a trip to National Space Centre on 22nd November 2019.

The Planetarium was really interesting, and the cool film showed me how hard it is to be an astronaut. R Cassell

My favourite part was exploring all the galleries on the bottom floor because there were some many different fun things that you could explore and there were also some space-related games you could play. D Chapman The best exhibit was the rocket tower because you see all the rockets that failed and all the rockets that worked. O Payne The movie was great because it really helped me learn and take in the wonderful and mindblowing facts about space and astronauts and the consequences of mistakes. J Nash I liked the rocket tower because we could find out information about the space race and how it was very close. A Redfern

O B S E RVATO RY A N D P L A N E TA R I U M :

In December, Year 7 boys had the opportunity to visit the School’s observatory and planetarium, as part of their topic on Earth and Space. The boys were treated to some spectacular sights, including a fly-over from the I.S.S. (International Space Station) manned by three* people, as well as seeing Saturn and its rings, low in the sky, using the large telescope in the observatory.

Mr Guise (Head of Astronomy at Bedford School), Mrs Guise and Mr Stone enriched the sessions with their huge amount of knowledge and their experience at finding the various objects in the sky. There were several highlights, such as getting some wonderful photos of the moon and seeing Venus, Vega (a very bright bluish white star), Albireo (a double star), the Seven Sisters, the Double Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy (the closest galaxy to the Milky Way), which looked

like a faint white smudge. The boys loved the fact that the photons of light entering their eyes had travelled from Andromeda for 2.5 million years, meaning we see it as it looked 2.5 million years ago!

These are the distances of all of the objects from Earth:

I.S.S. 350km Moon 400,635km Venus 213.3 million km Saturn 1616.5 million km Vega 26 l.y.

Albireo 430 l.y.

Seven Sisters 440 l.y.

Double Cluster 7600 l.y.

Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million l.y.

(Note a light year is in fact a distance – the distance that light would travel in a year). * On May 30th, two more astronauts entered the I.S.S. having travelled on the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

ANIMAL CARE CLUB:

50 regular attendees per week worked towards the prized Zoology badge. Those that were awarded this badge of merit proceeded to help the less experienced with knowledge, handling and cleaning tips to gain their badge.

The menagerie is growing both naturally and with the help of additional Bedford School Trust funding.

The gerbils gave birth twice throughout the term which was exciting for the boys. We now have four tanks and 13 gerbils.

We also have a new Crested Gecko, a new Leopard Gecko and two new Bearded Dragons, all with different diets, environmental needs and personalities.

A recently purchased two year old Ball Python with a suggested name of Snakey McSnakeface has settled in well and our boys have been learning how best to feed and handle her.

Our corn snake Steve is still the favourite of both boys and visitors as she is so placid and easy to handle.

Our tanks of freshwater fish and marine fish are both looking great and the stick insects are still looking like sticks.

We continue to look for new creatures that inspire biological interest.

Spring Term 2019-20

SCIENCE MUSEUM SLEEPOVER:

It was a dream come true for 54 of our Year 5 boys when they enjoyed the unique experience of exploring London’s Science Museum after hours on Saturday 8th

February.

Medicine was the theme for this year’s brilliant Astronight sleepover in the museum’s newly opened exhibit, Medicine: The Welcome Galleries. During the fun-filled evening, the boys listened to a fascinating lecture given by a transplant surgeon in which he outlined the current procedures involving robots and 3D printing. Afterwards, the surgeon complimented the boys on their questions, which he likened to those of first-year medical students!

The boys also had a great time creating some fake wounds on each other using the very realistic make-up used in films. They also used their skills to bandage Mr Affleck and each other! Please do not be alarmed by the photos – no children or teachers were harmed during the trip!

On Sunday morning, after a fun session in the Wonderlab gallery and a trip to the museum gift shop, the boys ventured outside into Storm Ciara to board the bus back to Bedford, which, fortunately, proved uneventful!

ANIMAL CARE CLUB:

The animal care club purchased a new tank for the Royal Python. The corn snake moved into her old tank and this allowed us to purchase a very young and small snake. This small snake has been used to introduce handling to new or younger boys. It proved to be a successful method to reduce phobia and fear of being bitten.

We purchased two family cages for our gerbils. Behaviour observation will improve as family groups can be extended with more births etc.

Summer Term 2019-20

What a strange term! All teaching took place remotely but was successful. While at home, the boys were able to be carry out suitable practical work with them uploading their results etc. into documents prepared beforehand. Boys were encouraged to see that they can do valid scientific investigations without having to be in a Science lab!

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Geography YEAR 5 GEOGRAPHY Oliver Barbour Where in the World? is the topic, That started the curriculum in motion, Learning poles, tropics, hemispheres, Learning continents and oceans.

The British Isles was our next theme, Countries, capitals, flags and seas.

The compass rose, we learned all those, All three hundred and sixty degrees.

The next half term was all about Urban and rural migration.

We learned in full, factors that push and pull People all around the nation.

Settlements are nucleated, Linear or dispersed.

Hamlets, villages, towns and cities, And their definitions were well rehearsed.

It was map skills in the Spring term, Symbols, contours, grids and scale, Could we find the stolen diamond Before the secret spy’s voice was unveiled?

Environmental issues we worked on,

Throughout the Summer term, Formation of gas and coal was our learning goal, Energy is released as they burn.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, Was the motto of the last few weeks, Counting food’s miles to the British Isles Reducing carbon footprint techniques.

Threats to our environment, The Earth’s plastic pollution, Posters to keep the sea plastic-free, The young people’s revolution!

Y5 The Diamond Spy Game by Jacob Adedeji The spy stood still, concentrating on the noise coming from the walkie-talkie he had just found under a dusty book. He fiddled furiously with the volume button until he could hear the instructions clearly.

“Hello, is anybody there?”

“Yes, yes. Are you by any chance a secret spy?” “ Maybe, why do you ask?” “ I ask because we need help, urgently.

Someone took the world’s biggest diamond and we can’t find it. You sound like the person to help us.”

GEOGRAPHY R E P O RT

WORDS BY

Miss Emma Goodman Head of Geography

Y5 The Diamond Spy Game by Ethan Wrightson With our partners and a castle map, we had to use our knowledge of map skills to find the diamond that the evil Mr Affleck had stolen.

The spy in the castle (Mr Loader) had to use all his “Mission Impossible” skills, as well as our instructions, to retrieve the diamond without being captured by the many guards. The game was a really fun adventure and an excellent way to practise our map and communication skills.

Y6 Geography Poem by Freddie Bowis I loved this year in Geography I found it really fun We managed to fit everything in And got all of the topics done.

My favourite topic was countries We learned about the areas And smashed through capital cities Whilst practising them on Seterra.

My second favourite has to be dinosaurs And fossils of ancient time And we discussed how the dinosaurs died And discovered the dinosaurs’ crime.

My next favourite is definitely rocks Where we learnt how they all transfer At the end of this interesting topic

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Geography We knew all the rocks there were.

I also loved the rivers And all the floods they make Though it looked very scary Because almost everything they break.

Y6 River and Flooding Topic

by Ralph Franklin (Pictured right) “During the summer term, we studied the unit Rivers and Flooding. We were set a task to create a news report on a major flood in recorded history. First, we had to choose a flood and research it. I selected the 2011 South-East Asia Flood. We wrote our own scripts and then recorded it and I added some finishing touches to the final piece. The project was fun, challenging and exciting!”

Y6 Fossils and Dinosaur Topic “I enjoyed the dinosaur talk because it was very fun but also fascinating and interesting.

I learned a lot of new things. For example, when a T-REX baby reaches two years old, their arms stop growing!”

Reuben Maddocks “The dinosaur talk was really fun and I enjoyed digging for fossils in the sand. It was funny when they brought in the big dinosaur.”

Sam Millar “As a young boy I was fascinated with dinosaurs and real-life fossils. I find the dinosaur era and the reasons for their extinction captivating. The talk we had at school was very interesting and full of amazing information.”

George Simmonds “We learned all about the different dinosaurs and their habitats. We also learnt about their bones and muscles, their diets, and if they were a herbivore, omnivore or carnivore. It was a really interesting and enjoyable talk. I can’t wait to see more like it in the future.”

Lewis Woodhouse “It was very interesting because we learned about how to dig up fossils, how dinosaurs used to live and survive, and how rocks were made” Sam Yeomans “This year we had a fossil talk that was really cool. We learned a lot about dinosaurs, including their height, weight, diet and habitats. We also learned how to dig up fossils from sand.”

Ramaraju Gadiraju

YEAR 7 GEOGRAPHY Joseph Lee The Crust, the land of life.

The Mantle, the sea of lava The Outer Core, shell protecting the land of fire The Inner Core, the land of fire The world, the planet we live on.

The Pangea held the world together.

The Continental Drift broke us apart Alfred Wegner, the man who found out about it all.

Destructive goes deeper Constructive goes apart Collision has its ups and downs Conservatives slide by.

Volcanoes spewing lava Tornadoes and hurricanes fighting against the world.

Earthquakes wrecking homes Measured by the Richter and Mercalli.

Year 7 Plate Tectonics by John Robert “I enjoyed learning about natural disasters and I especially enjoyed learning about how buildings can be designed and built to be earthquake-proof. We also learned how people lived and worked in volcanic areas and discussed the pros and cons of living there.”

YEAR 8 GEOGRAPHY Coasts

The sea is like nature’s army, It clatters into the sides of hills mercilessly, Hydraulic power is a word that suits it perfectly.

The sea is truly Poseidon’s weapon, Eroding land in a futile way, It breaks the cliffs in a humiliating way,

Isolating these stumps of rock.

Below the blue and clear top, Is a motorway of rocks and pebbles.

The pebbles leapfrog from stone to stone In a bid to reach the shore.

The heavy rocks make a large thud As they roll across the sea bed.

A battle is raging as the rocks crash into each other.

Small pockets of rocks rub against the shore, Breaking up nature’s last line of defence.

Fred Dickson The Beach like a haven, For the waves that come its way, They praise the beach, With a classic dance Using a Zig-Zagging Movement, This is the dance of the ocean, Longshore Drift, More and more dancers join, Following the Zig-Zag Movement, These dancers go by the name, Sand and Shingles, As more and more gather, The movement starts to slow, The waves wave goodbye, As it is time to go, As the waves leave the shore.

Tanay Rai

Rain Gauge Limerick Every Sunday morning at eight, I get up early, can’t sleep in late, To do the rain gauge, And write down on the page, The weekly recordings to date.

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Modern Foreign Languages VOX POPS MON POÈME DE COULEUR Lundi, c’est gris comme un nuage d’orage Mardi, c’est vert comme l’herbe Mercredi, c’est blanc comme une poignée de poudre de titane Jeudi, c’est noir comme une police noire sur l’ordinateur Vendredi, c’est doré comme une médaille qui brille comme une étoile Samedi, c’est multicolore comme un arc en ciel Dimanche, c’est rose comme l’amour Ben Conroy-Hood 6JL

Mon poème de couleur

M F L R E P O RT WORDS BY

Madame Kelly Faulkner, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

I

have now been Head of MFL in the Prep School for exactly twenty years, and it is the first time I have written this summary without having set foot in school for the entirety of the Summer Term. We are of course living in strange, unprecedented times but the lockdown does not mean that language learning has stopped; far from it.

Business as usual has been the motto of the MFL department, and we are delighted that

the boys have continued to make progress in, and enjoy, their language lessons remotely.

What better way to stay connected than through the medium of language?

The advantages of learning a language are vast and reasons for doing so differ from person to person, but it is widely accepted that languages are hugely beneficial for all ages and backgrounds, from providing opportunities to travel and meet new people

to a healthier brain, improving recovery and protecting against diseases such as Dementia. Of course, learning a new language also fosters tolerance, acceptance and the curiosity to explore a new culture, something which resonates with the current backdrop of global unity against racism.

Many people have used the luxury of the additional time at home afforded to them to take up a new skill or hobby, and for many, this has included learning a new language. Apps like Duolingo and Memrise can facilitate this, but I would also encourage the boys to teach their parents what they have been learning in French, German, Latin or Spanish this year!

You will see on these pages a flavour of what the boys have experienced and produced this year, both in the classroom and remotely. We are very proud of them.

I’d like to close with a quote (Mr Silk will approve!) from Charlemagne, often called “The Father of Europe”: “To have another language is to possess a second soul.”

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By Eric Breslin

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I’d like to close with a quote (Mr Silk will approve!) from Charlemagne, often called The Father of Europe: To have another language is to possess a second soul YO

!Hola¡ Me llamo Oliver. Tengo doce años y mi cumpleaños es el veintidós de febrero.

Soy un cuarto maltés y tres cuartos inglés. Vivo en Sherington en Inglaterra.

Tengo una hermana menor y se llama Emily. Tiene siete años y ella es bastante tonta pero no es tímida.

No tengo hermanastros. Soy divertido y un poco tranquilo pero no soy tonto. Tengo dos cobayos y se llaman Georgie y Jonah. Son muy divertidos pero un poco tontos. Jonah es mayor. Mi pasión es el rugby y el hockey. También, mi héroe es Nelson Mandela.

El es listo, generoso y sincero. Adiós

By Oli Smith

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History

H I S TO RY R E P O RT

WORDS BY

Mrs Radha Badhan, Head of History

Year 5

M E D I E VA L HOME-COOKING

My experiences in History this year and what I have enjoyed. learned a lot about the Battle of Hastings and Stamford Bridge.

I found the single Danish man blocking the bridge in the Battle of Stamford Bridge interesting because I wondered if he was real. What were his motives? Or was he ordered? Also, I found the English man in the barrel to stab the Dane blocking the bridge interesting because I think that was a good idea. By doing this, the English managed to cross the bridge and attack the Danes and win the battle – it was a good

I

strategy. Learning how to do an essay was good because it is a skill that I will need in the future.

I liked making fact files using timelines because it can show a sequence of events and clarifies the facts in the right order for a better understanding of what happened. For instance, the William the Conqueror fact file helped me to understand, step by step, how he managed to beat Harold Godwinson.

I also found interesting the complication in the feud of who should be King of England in 1066 because each of the four

candidates had their own good points and their own bad points.

This makes you think twice about each candidate and who was the best one.

I also enjoyed making a castle for a competition. It was very nice to build a castle brick by brick

like people did in Medieval times.

Castles were used to protect the Barons’ territories from invaders and to provide safe places to live.

It brought me some fun to get rid of the boredom during lockdown.

I also liked the feudal system; I found it interesting how each rank provides the higher ranks with its skills and pays the lower ranks in money. I think it made me realise that, even nowadays, we still have social classes. Some people are richer, some are poorer, and some are just in the middle.

The Bayeux Tapestry was good because it was the only thing that could tell people the story of the Battle of Hastings from the Norman perspective. They didn’t have phones, videos or YouTube, so tapestries were the only way they could tell stories and they can tell us the stories from that time.

History is good because many things happened a long time ago.

In my studies, I had to improve my research skills a lot to have a better understanding of what happed.

For my medieval dish, I made a cheese and ham sandwich. It is two slices of bread, one slice of cheese and one slice of ham. I spread some butter on the bread then added the filling and put it for five minutes on the sandwich toaster.

Now I am learning how to cook medieval bread and I think I will like it as well!

GABRIEL BORELLI

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History REVIEW OF A ‘TOSTEE’

Year 7

R A P B AT T L E ON OLIVER CROMWELL

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made a king’s tostee from medieval times. It was quite easy to make and quite nice to eat (though I wasn’t allowed much because it had alcohol in it!). It looked a bit like jam on toast but tasted nothing like it. At first, I thought it would be horrible because of the colour and the way it looked, but it wasn’t.

I think I would have liked it better if there wasn’t ginger on the top because I don’t really like ginger yet. It left a funny taste in my mouth all through break (though it wasn’t a bad taste).

Cromwell was a villain, ‘cause he made a poor decision, His selfish actions, Led to dissatisfaction, He made so many laws And caused many wars.

Alighting a church was totally wrong But it made him feel really strong, His warts were as ugly as can be, This made everybody flee.

Throwing MPs out of parliament, Caused a massive argument.

And this is why Cromwell was a villain, ‘cause he made a poor decision!

BY ISAAC V I N C E N T- E M E R Y

BY ISAAC & EESHAN & BEN

Year 6

M

y favourite thing from this term in History was making the pottage soup. We got to learn about what people had for dinner and how to make it too. I liked being a peasant for lunch and I wouldn’t have minded being a peasant if we could eat this.

I liked learning about medieval times because, when I was little, I liked knights and the bloody battles. I liked building my castle as this was creative and fun. I can still remember some of the names of the bits.

I was surprised by the number of civil wars in this country and how much people fell out with each other. I didn’t think this happened in history as much as it did. I was also surprised by the number of French people involved in our country’s history.

B Y N AT H A N I E L F L E T C H E R

O L I V E R C R O M W E L L’ S H E A D - ( W A R T S ’ N ’A L L ) Looking at the detail of why Oliver Cromwell’s head is so contentious and one of Britain’s most hidden secrets.

BY JAMIE MALING

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History Year 7

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had been much anticipating history this year and I was not let down.

I especially wanted to know more about the English Civil War, which I now feel confident I know. I also really enjoyed learning about the Gunpowder Plot and was extremely interested that there were theories about it being a set up; I enjoyed discussing them. I also enjoyed learning about Parliament’s struggle for power over the Stuart monarchs. As we moved into remote learning, I was interested to see how the lessons would work. I was impressed with how organised they were; I knew what to get ready and what we were doing for each lesson. Finally, one of the big highlights of this year was doing a lot more group discussions and debates. This has meant I have had to learn more in order to back up my points. I hope next year will be even better.

BY JOHN LOGAN

Year 7

C O R O N AV I R U S D I A RY E N T R I E S R E CO R D H I STO RY

TIME CAPSULES

Year 8

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BY ERIC BRESLIN

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istory has been more exciting and interesting this year than any other.

We have looked at some topics that I and probably most of the others in my class have really enjoyed working on. We first looked at the Industrial Revolution and studied a few famous inventors from that time. We learned about Britain becoming the first industrial nation, and how George Stephenson’s invention of the first inter-city railway line had a large impact on the industries.

We then moved onto Jack the Ripper, which was a topic that I particularly enjoyed, because it was very interesting to hear people talk about their thoughts and opinions about the identity of the culprit. We also studied the victims and analysed the letters that Jack sent to the police. We then began working on a new

topic: the Atlantic Slave Trade and the Middle Passage. We had a very interesting talk from an author who had studied his family history and black life during that period of time, and we looked at the conditions of the boats that the slaves travelled in. We also studied Equiano, who had been an enslaved African and a merchant.

He became widely known because of his autobiography, which depicted the horrors of slavery.

Our final topic was black rights, and we have studied Rosa Parks and the effects of the abolition of slavery. The story of Rosa Parks was yet another interesting aspect of History this year, as well as studying the bus boycotts and the black voting rights. Overall, it has been a very enjoyable year, and it has greatly developed my curiosity towards learning.

B Y O L LY W R I G H T

n Year 8, boys study a range of topics, from the “Industrial Revolution,” to “The British Empire,” to “Jack the Ripper,” and ending with “Slave Trade.” It has been an exciting year. The Industrial Revolution was a fascinating topic and led to some great essays written by the boys. This was one of my favourite essays as I never ran out of things to write!

The British Empire was certainly a tough topic as we learnt all about the full extent of the British Empire. We learnt all about Jack the Ripper and had a go at trying to find out who he really was. As you can imagine, this caused a lot of good argument as we battled it out to find this monstrous killer.

The last topic we studied was Slavery. This was definitely one of my favourites. We learnt all about the Middle Passage and the Trade Triangle. This gave us an opportunity to listen to a lecture by Paul Crooks. Paul was really interesting to talk to as he talked about how he spent four years trying to track down his ancestors and how some of them were involved in the Slave Trade. He gave us an idea of what the boat used for the Middle Passage would have looked like. This really hit some boys hard as we learnt how terrible conditions were for these slaves. Many of us went away and tried to trace our family back. Overall, it has been a great year for History and I am thoroughly going to miss BPS History when moving onto the Upper School. I would like to take this chance to thank the History teachers for all the hard work they put into the curriculum and all the lectures they plan for us. Thank you!

B Y TA N AY R A I

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Religious Studies

R . E . R E P O RT 2 0 2 0 WORDS BY

Miss Louise Williams (Head of Religious Education)

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uring the Summer term, a number of boys in Years 7 and 8 chose to enter the first ever Bedford Prep School Philosophy and Ethics competition. Drawing on their recent studies on ‘ethical dilemmas’, they were asked to explore the well-known ‘Lifeboat dilemma’, and were faced with the challenging responsibility of deciding who should live and who should die in the lifeboat! The RE department was delighted with the hard work and creativity that boys put into their entries, some of which are featured here.

PRIZE WINNERS Very well done to the following boys who were awarded RE Commendations for their superb entries: Hugo Hodgson, Tom White, Tobi Akinola, Will Hayward, Isaac Adeyemi-Abere and Sam McMurran And a huge well done to the prize winners (who are all awarded a book on Philosophy and a gift token) for their excellent pieces of work: Runners up: Dominic Ray, Fred Dickson and Isaac Battersby Joint third prize: Tanay Rai, and Tommy Hughes Second prize: Ruben Jacob First prize: (for his genius ‘Philosophical Fix’ comic book) - Eric Breslin

LIVE U P D AT E :

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ship has just struck an iceberg and 9 survivors are crowded into a lifeboat intended to hold 5. As a storm threatens, it becomes obvious that the lifeboat will have to be lightened to 5 people if anyone is to survive.

On the boat are: a pregnant woman, a lifeguard, an elderly war hero with medical knowledge, an international cricketer, a doctor with the cure for Covid-19, the captain of the ship, a Bedford School student, a philosophy teacher, and a violent criminal who is ex-military.

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Music

M U S I C R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mrs Joanne Gedye, Prep School Head of Music

I

t has definitely been a year to remember! Even though we have faced a multitude of challenges and ventured into, for many of us, very unfamiliar territory, Music has continued to thrive and I feel immensely proud to be part of such a vibrant and innovative department.

Both staff and boys have

acquitted themselves with enthusiasm and fortitude, moving from what has always been a very hands-on musical learning experience in the Prep School to the world of virtual music making with relative ease.

Their imaginative and ‘give it a go’ attitude to all aspects

of music making has been both exciting and exhilarating.

Looking back over the year, we started, as always in the Autumn Term with our three Informal Concerts and our Years 3 and 4 Starter Presentations. This year our Autumn Concert was held in the Great Hall due to the sheer number of performers that were to be involved in our final number. This was a Bond spectacular with over 170 boys on stage performing at once. That is certainly an all-out

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record for the Prep School! All in all, 195 boys were involved in this concert and it was an outstanding display of how Music has grown over the last couple of years.

House Singing dominated the first half of the Spring Term, with Whitbread ultimately winning the Unison Song and Howard the Part Song. Next, the Years 3 and 4 Choir thrilled audiences with their performance of the musical comedy, ‘Sing it and Say it’, a musical romp through Ancient Rome. The boys were amazing (hilarious at times!).

Certainly, this bodes well for the future of musical productions and the health of choral singing in the next couple of years. Our Composition Competition concluded the term, only just managing to get squeezed in two days before lockdown!

If I have learnt anything from this year, it is how important Music is to Bedford School and how resilient our boys and staff are. When I started planning our musical year in September, I could never have

imagined that our final Summer Concert would be a virtual spectacular of epic proportion, that we would be holding weekly virtual Lockdown Concerts on Sunday evenings, or that I would be teaching my classes how to make instruments out of household objects, or to rap, from home. Devastatingly, it was not possible for us to stage the latest Mr Groom musical extravaganza, 2004unk – A Space Odyssey.

However, not to be deterred, Mr Groom set about on the enormous task of transforming

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I could never have imagined our final Summer Concert would be a virtual spectacular of epic proportion

this epic saga into a ‘radio play’, having the boys record their singing and reading the dialogue.

Sadly, we say farewell to Mr Groom as he leaves us to take up the role of Head of Prep Music at Kimbolton. Thank you for all your amazing music making over the last five years.

We are really going to miss you and wish you all the very best as you continue with your musical journey.

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Design Technology

D T R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mrs. Michelle Aldridge, Head of Design Technology

W

e started the year off really well with a variety of design and practical projects.

n Y E A R 3 - a moneybox, including use of a pillar drill safely. n Y E A R 4 - a Viking Shield, to link in with their topic of Saxons and Vikings, including use of a hand drill and wood stain, plus a Robot clock. n Y E A R 5 – a mobile phone amplifier. n Y E A R 6 - an Art Deco clock followed by a gaming device stand. n Y E A R 7 - a coat hook made from mild steel, a toothbrush holder made by prototype modelling from card, and a car mould using a vacuum former. n Y E A R 8 - introduction to 3D CAD modelling using SolidWorks software.

With use of the workshops being cut short towards the end of the year owing to Coronavirus, it became quite a challenge to keep DT as a practical subject going.

However, with some creative thinking and careful planning, we managed to put together an array of fun-filled and educational packed graphic projects that included some practical elements.

Cardboard trainers and headphones, graphic doodles, food packaging and product designs were all worked on.

Jon Burgermen, Zoe Laughlin, James May, SKWAK and Olaf Falafel were all sources of inspiration during remote learning in the Summer term.

Years 3 and 4 started the term by learning about the history

of McDonalds and designing fast food packages in the style of the illustrator SKWAK. They then went on to learn about the illustrator Olaf Falafel who recently visited the school promoting his books.

Years 5 and 6 completed a 10 week programme on the graphic designer Jon Burgermen; his fantastic doodles have inspired many of our boys to draw and grow confidence in their design work.

Year 7 boys firstly learned how to design their very own graphic novels, encompassing design of a front cover, setting the layout of the various pages and experimenting with different drawing styles. In the second half of term, they followed the BBC series of Zoe Laughlin and designed and made cardboard prototypes of their very own trainers, headphones and toothbrushes.

During remote learning, Year 8 engaged in a variety of activities, including a design project and some STEM tasks.

Well done to the boys for all their effort in DT throughout the year- they were fantastic!

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Art

A RT R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Phil Studd , Head of Art

I

t would be easy, perhaps even understandable, to focus on the limitations of an Art education delivered remotely and what could have been. Yet, if the closure of our school has taught me anything, it is surely the immense value of Art in a young person’s education. I know, from discussions with boys

and classes on Microsoft Teams, of their relief to work away from screens and monitors, and to enjoy the time and opportunities to communicate what they observe, imagine or feel. During our time of learning remotely, boys at Bedford Prep School have created ferocious creatures, explored Adinkra patterns, made use of vanishing points to design and construct their dream homes, interpreted everyday household objects as cubists, created their own graffiti tags, and extended their knowledge of iconic artworks through history. Above all, this unusual and challenging period has opened my eyes to the enthusiastic, resourceful and productive nature of our boys, from Year 3 all the way through to Year 8. At this time, words do not adequately express the sense of pride I have C O N T I N U E D O N PAG E 3 0

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*For individual artist credits turn to page 87

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Art for you, as pupils, as well as the amazing teachers in this department.

Before the school’s closure towards the end of March, we were already witnessing an exciting array of artwork across the Prep School. The youngest cohort in Year 3 had worked in clay to fashion some striking pods; Year 4 boys delivered some outstanding watercolour landscapes; the Wells building corridors are still awash with Year 5’s colourful, architectural delights inspired by Hundertwasser; Coronavirus was responsible for the cancellation of sport, including the Tokyo Olympics, yet the WA1 and WA2 art

rooms display expressive figure armatures of Olympians in action, manipulated by Y6; at the time of writing, our EMH displays the most outstanding set of card relief panels of African masks to be produced at Bedford Prep School by Year 7; as for Year 8, the standards this year group have set will be their legacy. Take a look at the self-portrait drawings in the EMH foyer if you need convincing.

Art is in a good place at Bedford Prep School. It continues to thrive because it is an integral part of a boy’s education here. What is more, boys love it!

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Art

All artwork by W i l l Tu r n e r, Ye a r 8

ART SCHOLARSHIP INSIGHT INTO AN ART SCHOLAR

W

hen I was first put forward for the Art Scholarship program, I was overjoyed. I couldn’t wait to get going and further improve my artistic skills and techniques. Being part of this process made me feel quite special as I was given many extra opportunities to develop as an artist.

For example, I took part in various workshops and trips, notably visiting the Henry Moore Foundation and Studios, as well as taking part in an all-day graphics workshop focusing on the unique genre of cubism. During these sessions, I enjoyed discovering and exploring new methods of producing art - reduction printmaking and soap sculpting were just two examples. But, above all, the whole scholarship experience really boosted my confidence artistically; for the first time, I was being recognised for the work I did and being pushed to my artistic limit. All this really spurred me on to bring my art to the next level.

All artwork by E r i c B r e s l i n , Ye a r 8

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Drama

D R A M A R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Jonathan Hooley, Head of Prep School Drama

W H I N C H AT

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Drama

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Overview

he end of the academic year saw the transition to the Upper School of one of the most talented group of Prep School actors in recent memory. Over the course of the past six years, the current Year 8 boys have honed their skills on a diverse range of productions, from What the Ladybird Heard and Emil & The Detectives, to Oliver Twist and The Wind in the Willows; in between, they were the first cohort to perform in the now annual House Drama competition. Testament to the year group’s growing confidence and ability in performance is the number of boys who applied for the Drama Scholarship. Over twenty applicants took to the stage in January, giving the Upper School Drama department an indication of the wealth of talent they will be able to draw from in the years to come.

This group of Year 8 actors have been outstanding ambassadors for school drama and the perfect role models for the younger performers in the School. They are openminded, creative, humble and hard working; we will follow their acting careers in earnest as they move on up through the School.

Speaking Shakespeare Competition

In January, nine Year 8 boys entered a national competition, established by the English Speaking Union: Speaking Shakespeare. The competition aims to introduce Key Stage 3 pupils to Shakespeare’s work, through speaking the language. Each boy had the chance to choose a monologue from any one of Shakespeare’s plays, and learn it off by heart, ready for performance. As part of the process, the Drama department invited Old Boy and RSC practitioner, Ollie Lynes, to lead a series of verse-speaking workshops, before judging the internal round of the competition: three winners had to be chosen to go through to the East of England regional

So we didn’t

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n the four days before the School closed, the cast and crew spent every available moment turning the play into a film, under the expert guidance of Mark Lewis. Closeups, wide shots, group shots, pick-ups; the boys had a crash-course in filmmaking and loved every minute being on set. In the words of Gabriel Borelli (Year 5), “This was a totally new experience for me. It turned from something scary into one of the most pleasant and funny experiences in my school life.”

A new style of acting was required. Ben Cutts (Year 7) said, “It was a big change at first.

Everything we had been rehearsing had to be tweaked slightly to fit a film style and we had to learn how to bring the characters to life for the screen. It was different from acting on the stage, but I loved it.” The final cut will be ready for the new academic year, available to all via YouTube and DVD; boys and staff will enjoy a screening at school sometime in September, and we all greatly anticipate the boys’ work.

Mr Jonathan Hooley, Head of Prep School Drama

heats. Ollie taught the boys about the iambic rhythm of Shakespeare’s lines, how to unlock the imagery in the text and how to convey emotion through the use of voice and breath control. An audience of staff and parents was invited to listen to each of the nine monologues, before Ollie gave detailed and insightful feedback on each performance.

Unfortunately, the national lockdown prevented the three winners from progressing further in the competition, but the success of the event means that it will become a regular feature in the calendar.

The three winners chosen by Ollie Lynes were: Charlie Eggleton for his monologue by Rumour, from Henry IV, Part II; Will Hayward for his monologue by Edmund, from King Lear; and Arthur Proctor for his monologue

by Mark Anthony, from Julius Caesar. Each boy who took part was outstanding, the audience had their own personal favourites, and our congratulations go to all nine boys involved, for their highly mature, sophisticated performances.

The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Graham’s classic children’s tale about the adventures of four animal friends along a riverbank somewhere in England was to be the main production of the year. Since December, the cast of seventy, featuring boys from Years 5 to 8, had been hard at work rehearsing the play, before the national lockdown halted proceedings a week before the production was due to open at the end of the Spring Term.

The set was lavish; it is not an exaggeration to say it was the most intricate and eye-catching

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Drama CONT FROM PAGE 33

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House Drama

he annual House Drama competition had an alternative focus this year: each house was invited to create an original piece of theatre based on the same set of strict criteria. The theme was ‘Stuck’ - a starting point entirely open to interpretation - and each house had to create a short play based on the theme, featuring a pair of slippers, a rucksack, the line “if you open it, it should be in there,” and the sound effect of breaking glass. Bunyan’s take on this was, ‘Stuck on the Motorway,’ Harpur went for ‘Stuck on the Tube’, Howard opted for ‘Stuck on the playground’ and Whitbread created a scene around a school janitor, stuck to a newly waxed floor. I am not sure if they ended up with a specific title!

Some pieces interpreted the concept literally, some went for a more abstract approach, all presented dynamic, funny and focused ensemble performances that delighted the audience and gave RSC practitioner, and judge for the night, Emma Manton, a difficult job in choosing a winner. It was the closest call since the competition began, but in the end, Howard won the overall prize for their performance (featuring an unforgettable cameo from Mr Studd), and Oscar Barker was the worthy winner of the Best Actor Award for his depiction of a matronly Headmistress! Oscar’s ability to walk in heels was a feat in itself!

Congratulations to all ninety boys, onstage and off, for a highly enjoyable, unforgettable night in the theatre!

set in Prep Drama history! This version of the much-loved story was to be set in a dusty attic, a group of evacuee boys would discover forgotten treasures under the eaves of the house one rainy afternoon, using them to bring the story of Mole, Rat, Toad, Badger and the Weasles to life through imaginative play; an old pram becomes Toad’s motorcar, broken picture frames become the doorway to Rat’s cosy riverbank abode, ladders and wicker baskets become the walls and furniture in Badger’s secret sett. Mrs Aldridge spent the term hand-crafting each animal mask, a sort of bucolic, English-version of an African head mask. Mrs Loader and Miles Leven had spent months curating the props and costume. Every detail was accounted for. The performances by the boys, each one of them, from the smallest rabbit and hedgehog, right through to gregarious Toad and the rabid Weasels, was nuanced and highly engaging; there was simply too much to give up on.

it is not an exaggeration to say it was the most intricate and eye-catching set in Prep Drama history!

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Speech & Drama

S P E E C H & D R A M A R E P O RT WORDS BY

the process of picking classes and choosing

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year the boys work exceptionally hard to memorise their pieces (two in some cases) and never fail to impress with their ability to balance their academic studies and their extracurricular commitments. Our haul from the Bedfordshire Festival was another example of how the Prep School really flourishes in a competitive environment.

There were 80 top three places in total. Particular mention should go to a Year 8 group who were entered for a Dramatic Scene class. While being brilliant actors, they are also quite nifty sportsmen, and had qualified for a national hockey tournament taking place on the same day. It was going to be a close call as to whether they would arrive on time, travelling from Weybridge to Bedford, made no easier by the misbehaviour of the M1, but

By Mrs Ellie Bell, Head of Speech and Drama pieces. Then the real work began! Every nother year, another group of outstanding performers and speakers.

Although our Speech and Drama programme was interrupted this year by the pandemic, that is not to say it wasn’t an excellent year up until that point. On the tail of some brilliant LAMDA results from 2019, with some boys achieving 98% for Acting which is very rare, we began the curriculum in our usual way. We developed skills such as projection, articulation and expression, then moved on to characterisation and improvisation, which the boys all enjoyed immensely. As soon as the Bedfordshire Festival syllabus was released we began

they arrived in the nick of time, with one boy exiting his parents’ car and walking onto stage without stopping to catch his breath - not the ideal performance preparation! This group came second, but according to the adjudicator this was only because she couldn’t give two first places.

The younger members of our School have also started strongly, with Cayo Sinclair reaching second place in the Write and Read Your Own Poem class, which had him competing with Year 6 children.

This was an incredible achievement and it was fantastic to see boys branching out with their Creative Writing skills.

From monologues to prepared reading, presentations to duologues, the boys had a superb week and made us all - staff and parents alike - extremely proud. The future certainly looks bright for Speech and Drama at Bedford Prep. I leave my role this year with such fond memories and wish you all good luck for next year.

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ENRICHMENT

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Enrichment

ENRICHMENT R E P O RT WORDS BY

Miss Jessica Hone, Enrichment Co-ordinator Y3 & Y4

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM D A Y May 2019

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utdoor Classroom Day is a wonderful chance to celebrate and inspire outdoor learning and play.

In May 2019, the boys in Years 3 and 4 joined thousands of other children from across the globe and took all of their lessons outside for the day. Outdoor learning not only improves health, connects us with nature and helps teach us life skills, but it also reinvents the dynamic of play, resilience, teamwork and creativity. The boys and staff alike experienced exciting activities such as pond dipping, mini beast hunts, scavenger trails, shape building with stick-lets, team games and an amazing garden drama performance of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream!

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ENRICHMENT

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Enrichment CURRICULUM C O L L A P S E DAY Words by Isaac Devenish - Year 5 The thing that I most liked about the Curriculum Collapse Day was getting to see and play with the Canin Helpers assistance dogs. It taught me that dogs are very interesting and important to help people, which I had not really ever thought of before.

I also liked learning about sign language and how to spell my name and simple sentences. It really is amazing how people learn without hearing or talking at all. It was such a great day and gave a real insight into the way people with various disabilities live.

Words by Zach Whelan – Year 7 On Curriculum Collapse Day I found it interesting how deaf people enjoy music and how they communicate. It was quite funny when we all had to try and spell our names in sign language and see everyone mess up on at least one word. Playing netball whilst sitting down was definitely challenging but with some practice I’m sure anyone could get good at it. My favourite part of the day was definitely the assembly where they had assistance dogs. We learnt how they helped people and how they are trained from a young age. Another thing we did was blind football. We had a partner and one was blind folded and the other one told them what to do. The partner could not steer the person; they could only tell them where the ball was and if they should run, walk, stand still or tackle. Overall, the day was really fun.

Words by Millan Verwoert – Year 8 This year’s Curriculum Collapse Day

was all to do with disability. A personal highlight of the day for me was the wheelchair rugby and basketball. Not only was it really fun and a great experience, it also literally put me in someone else’s shoes and really gave me an appreciation of how hard using a wheelchair can be. The day also involved a talk on sign language; this was completely new to me but the speaker did an amazing job and I walked out knowing how to spell my own name, say thank you, ask if someone needs help and much more.

Another excellent part of the day was the assistance dog talk. The speakers brought in their incredible dogs and they showed off their skills. Once again, not only was this talk incredible and really fun to watch, it also demonstrated the type of things disabled people struggle with and how much these dogs can help. Overall, the day was an incredible experience and gave me a lot to think about.

Words by Arthur Proctor – Year 8 Curriculum Collapse Day was not only good because we had a whole day off normal school but also because I learnt to really appreciate and be thankful for how lucky I am.

We started off by learning the basics of sign language. It was thoroughly interesting to learn almost a new language in many ways but also to appreciate how difficult communication can be when you can’t speak. I came away from that activity knowing that I would be

able to make vague communication with a deaf person, but probably not enough to provide us with a conversation. I’d say that I took away resilience from the sign language activity. However, my resilience is vastly overshadowed by the resilience of those who have to sign to their family members every day, and have no choice but to do so.

My favourite activity of the day was wheelchair rugby. It was great fun, playing the sport I love most of all, but in a very different fashion. The people who led the activity were extremely positive and made sure that everyone enjoyed the sport, aggressively or not!! Wheelchair rugby, in my opinion, is hugely beneficial for a person’s wellbeing and social development. It is a contact sport that allows you to play with a wide range of people, from many different backgrounds.

I say this like I know what I’m talking about, which I can assure you I don’t, but nonetheless, we felt that, even after just a few minutes of wheelchair rugby, we were all in a better place both mentally and physically.

The main thing I took away from the day was a comment that one of the coaches made after the session. He said, “Make sure you cherish your legs, and be thankful for how lucky you are to have them. You can now get out of your chairs, but we can’t.” This comment made me think deeply and with great sadness of how lucky I am, and all the people I know, to be able to walk completely normally with two legs.

Overall, I thought the day was a huge success and one that should continue through the Prep School for years to come. Thank you to Mrs Badhan and Miss Hone for organising the day, as I’m sure it was not a straightforward task!

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W H I N C H AT

HOUSES

Houses

E A G L E H O U S E R E P O RT

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WORDS BY

Mr Simon Lincoln, Eagle Housemaster

s we close on another hugely enjoyable year at Eagle House, I look back with very mixed emotions on what could have been had we been able to finish the year together under the Eagle House roof. As the Lincolns complete our ninth year as the Houseparents of Eagle House, this has without doubt been the strangest of those nine years given that the house was empty for all of the Summer Term.

I have missed the groans at wake up (or when they are told it is bedtime), the laughter from the dorms and corridors, the screams of joy and anguish from the games room, and the joyful chatter from our amazing house staff who have also been missed.

Looking back to the start of the year in

September, we welcomed five new boys to the house. All settled in very well, quickly learning the skills required to successfully enjoy all elements of boarding life. The ‘old’ boys were all fantastic at helping them settle and the prefects, led by Dale, our amazing Head of House, ensured that all boys were happy and built friendships quickly. The house was also always busy with a steady stream of flexi boarders who enjoyed joining the house for prep, tea, evening activities and then downtime in the games room before bed.

Our superb Year 8 boys who are moving on will be missed. All of them have been excellent role models and I am grateful for the positive impact they have had on

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the House. We wish Dale Sirivisal, Oliver Greenhalgh, Trosha Molchanov, Pui Lam Ng, Chris Bonnington and River Chen good luck as they move up to their new boarding houses in the Upper School, and to Steven Wang we say goodbye and best wishes as he starts adventures at his new school.

We also say goodbye to Mr Guest who has visited us every Thursday evening for the last five years to care for and entertain the boys.

The boys have really enjoyed and benefited from the time he has given and I am equally grateful for the hours dedicated to enriching the boys in their evenings.

Whilst we were not able to take our usual big house trip this year, we still managed to enjoy many weekend activities together that gave the boys diverse experiences and allowed them to develop their confidence in new areas. These excursions and activities

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included kayaking down the Great River Ouse, the inflatable water park, indoor surfing, the cinema, high rope climbing, the indoor trampoline park, indoor go karting and tenpin bowling. We also had trips to watch

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MK Lightning play ice hockey and to the Aladdin pantomime, plus numerous trips to the School’s own Quarry Theatre to watch various school productions.

All these adventures would not be possible without the amazing Eagle staff who have accompanied the boys. I thank Mrs Travis and Mr Brett, plus our matrons Mrs Relton and Mrs Kyle for joining us on these trips to make them happen.

Watching Mrs Travis and Mrs Relton meander down the River Ouse on a sunny Sunday was very entertaining!

Finally, I very much look forward to September when the House will hopefully be back to normal business. The 11 new boys due to join us will need the support of our returning boarders who I look forward to seeing back in the house, all a little older and wiser!

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HOUSES

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Houses

B U N YA N H O U S E R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Matt Allen, Bunyan Housemaster

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s John Lennon said in one of his songs, “Nobody told me there’d be days like these. Nobody told me there’d be days like these. Strange days indeed. Strange days indeed” I feel that these lyrics sum this year up and I could probably finish my report right there!

We might have finished the year with strange days but we did manage to enjoy

almost two terms of jam-packed activities with plenty to cheer about and to remember.

So….where do I start?!

It seems like a lifetime ago that I welcomed everybody to our first Bunyan assembly of the school year. We had lots of familiar faces but we also had lots of new faces - including Mrs Basden who joined our wonderful team of teachers. How is it that, during the handful

of weeks we have off over summer, so many boys grow up so much?! Clearly, the opposite happened to the teachers - they seemed to have got younger over the holiday!

Without a chance to really settle in, we were already embarking on our first activities and boys were getting ‘stuck’ into their roles in House Drama. With the competition theme being ‘Stuck’, the dreaded experience of a motorway traffic jam was enacted. With dawdling workers, irate travellers and some very suspect rugby songs (I’m sure that rugby players don’t act like that!), Mrs Bell put on a fantastic show, ably supported by Charlie, our dynamic Drama Captain and his Deputy, Tanay. Well done to all involved!

Without further ado, the sports results started rolling in. Particular congratulations go to all of the boys involved in the Autumn Term victories - Year 6 rugby and Year 5, Year

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HOUSES

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Houses

Fortunately, we finished top of the pile, with our House Captain triumphantly raising the Term Cup! 6 AND Year 7 Table tennis (clearly Bunyan boys rule the tables in the playground!). With lots of other great performances, things were unbelievably close between the Houses as we waited for the Merit competition results to be added at Final Assembly. Things couldn’t have been closer with only twenty points separating first and third places. Fortunately, we finished top of the pile, with our House Captain triumphantly raising the Term Cup! The Spring Term saw more sports competitions and notable successes in Year 4 Hockey, Year 4-6 Badminton and Year 5 Squash, and with lots more sporting events to come, it all stopped!

Fortunately, we’d already managed to enjoy one of the highlights of the school year House Singing. The boys were fantastic this year! Months of preparation, line learning and cajoling and encouragement from the amazing Mr Rooke, culminated in a rousing rendition of a Beatles medley that had been expertly arranged by Mr Groom. Thank you so much to Mr Rooke for all of the time and effort that he put into preparing the boys and well done Brooklyn for a masterful conducting performance! And then, the Part Song boys performed John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Having

rehearsed twice a week for what seemed like forever, they were finely tuned and ready to go. They got the pre-show nerves out of the way with a very underwhelming dress rehearsal in front of the rest of the boys in the House and they smashed it, fully deserving their first place - well done boys!

Lockdown meant that Mr Mallalieu, Mr Phillips and various other members of staff had to become really creative in maintaining the inter-House competition. Suddenly, sports competitions became online challenges.

Captain Tom inspired 100 Challenges were being devised, funny photos were being taken and the Summer Term’s big event - Sports day - became House Sports Challenge Week as boys pitted themselves against each other at various sporting activities. Well done everyone who put all their efforts into registering a score for the House!

After this somewhat anticlimactic end to the year, I’m left with a few thank yous and goodbyes. As ever, thank you to my House Officers for all the work you put into various assemblies and competitions. Big thank yous also to Mrs Badhan, Mrs Basden, Mrs Bell, Miss Bowis, Mr Guest, Mr Lee, Mrs Leeson and Mr Maitland for their support of the House, and their insightful and informative assemblies, and for generally being there to help with everything Bunyan! Goodbye to the Year 8s - particularly Brooklyn, Steven and Will, who move on to new schools; don’t forget us, and remember you’ll always be Bunyanites!

And finally, I have an unprecedented three members of staff to wave off. Thank you so much to Mrs Badhan, Mrs Basden and Mrs Bell for everything that you’ve done for Bunyan.

Mrs Badhan’s assemblies have always been heartfelt and meticulously planned, Mrs Bell’s energy and enthusiasm has driven some

amazing House Drama performances (how is your successor going to fill your shoes?!) and Mrs Basden has been hugely supportive of Bunyan in the short time that she’s been with us.

So, with no further ado, I’ll wish you farewell and start planning next year’s assault on the House competition!

Let’s go Bunyan, let’s go!

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HOUSES

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Houses

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hen we started in September, little did we in Harpur realise, along with the boys in the other Houses, what a momentous year this would prove to be. But more on that later….

We were keen to ‘dive in’ to House competitions as soon as possible in the Autumn Term. House Drama gave us an opportunity to flex our theatrical muscles, and I was, as always, truly impressed by the ensemble ethos the cast instilled very early on in the rehearsal period. The younger members of the cast were nurtured superbly by the older boys, especially the Year 8 members, and the whole cast was led with calm assurance by Drama Captain, Millan Verwoert. Mrs Loader, once again, wove her artistic magic and we are all deeply in her debt for her tireless energy and enthusiasm to help prepare the boys for their performance, set on the London Underground, which earned them a creditable second place in the competition.

On the sporting front, our first term produced notable highlights with victories in the Year 4 and Year 8 rugby and second place in the Year 6 and Year 8 table tennis tournaments. We also gained second place in the Book Reading competition and we rounded the term off very nicely indeed by winning the Merit Cup. As is tradition, the focus in the first half of the Spring Term was House Singing. In a similar vein to House Drama, the boys displayed a wide range of the Future Skills

HARPUR HOUSE R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Andrew Whitbread, Harpur Housemaster we hold dear during the rehearsal period, including resilience, self-discipline and focus.

This was particularly true for those boys involved in the Part Song rehearsals over many weeks. I always love the way performances evolve over time as the boys’ relationship with the songs grows and develops. This is only possible with expert help and support from key people and we are, once again, extremely grateful to Mrs Gedye for her passion and drive. The House was led superbly

by our Music Captain, Max Quince, and he received particular praise from the adjudicator for the way he conducted the boys in our Unison medley of Lewis Capaldi songs. Our Part Singers sang their hearts out to perform ‘Caravan of Love’ to the best standard they had ever reached and they achieved a creditable second place in that competition.

The Spring Term also saw our very talented Year 4-6 Badminton team come

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joint first and, on Shrove Tuesday, our Year 3-6 Pancake Race team proved they were ‘flipping marvellous’ as they romped home ahead of the rest. And then the Lockdown bit…….. This truncated our competitions at the end of term as we acclimatised ourselves to remote learning.

What struck me time and again during the period of remote learning was the outstanding sense of community our boys retained despite the difficulties created

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by the most extraordinary circumstances we faced. Harpur boys threw themselves into all aspects of school life, especially the 100 Challenges inspired by the exploits of Captain Tom Moore. There was an amazing variety of challenges undertaken, with many boys going out of their way to support and help the wider community. Opportunities to take part in House Art, produce funny photos and enter sporting challenges were also eagerly tackled, and merits continued to flood in. To see the Harpur flag raised on a number of occasions in the Summer Term was a fitting reward for all the efforts from our superb boys! It is very difficult to single out anyone, but I was so proud to see the only two boys in the School to achieve Diamond Awards for Conduct merits were both from Harpur: Arthur Mullaney and Samarth Serish. The Poetry Recitation competition also continued remotely, and our traditionally strong performance was maintained by victories from Oscar

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McCartie in Year 3, Cayo Sinclair in Year 4 and Oliver Quince in Year 6. For obvious reasons, this will be a year we will never forget. Despite the difficulties and disruptions faced, I am confident there is a wonderful selection of memories that the boys of Harpur House will cherish. I have been hugely impressed by the team of Harpur Officers and Prefects and I thank them for all their integrity, hard work and caring attitude throughout the year. Once again, the Harpur tutors have been a constant source of encouragement and support; what a ‘dream team’ they are!

It is often noted that extreme situations, and how we react to them, ultimately define who we are. Everyone at Bedford School, and all members of Harpur House, should be very proud of how we not only coped but in fact flourished during Lockdown. The ‘Mighty Reds’ came up trumps yet again! Well done.

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Houses

2

019-20 started like any other School year. A busy first term culminated with Howard as House Drama winners for the second year in a row! 23 Howard boys were involved in this year’s performance. The theme was ‘stuck’ and the boys created a superb and hilarious illusion of being physically stuck to each other and the playground. It was so nice to see the sheer volume of boys contributing; it was an amazing experience for them all, as well as being a brilliant evening. Stand out performances came from Will Hayward, Will Beattie and indeed our very own Mr Studd!

Well done Howard; House Drama certainly made for a very exciting start to the House Cup race.

This was swiftly followed by the House Swimming relays. It was not to be our day on the scoreboard, after a few disqualifications, but nevertheless it was still a thoroughly enjoyable event. We came so close to winning in Year 7 and 8, and there were some super performances from George Knight, Luke Smith, Isaac Ferguson, Mike Halahan, Oliver Simmonds and Edward Dagg, to mention just a few. Thank you to all the boys for competing.

Sometimes there truly is a lot of pleasure gained in the taking part!

Spring term saw the House Singing competition. There was a superb standard from all the Houses; it was a very close-call event as always and big thanks go to Sebastian

H OWA R D H O U S E R E P O RT WORDS BY

Miss Penny Oakley, Howard Housemaster

Tatham, our conductor. Howard Part song won their section, singing their true blue Howard hearts out to a simply stunning version of ‘True colours.’

And after that... well... life somewhat changed! School, as we know it, ceased for a while in many respects. The boys stayed at home, ‘but not on holiday.’ In true Bedford School style, it was very much business as usual as far as possible. To satiate the boys’ competitive spirits, they took on ‘100 challenges’ aplenty in honour of Captain Tom and House competitions continued in earnest.

Poetry Recitation and Writing, Handwriting and Reading took the limelight in the Summer term, and House sporting challenges continued too. Assemblies were pre-recorded and the boys still gave their all right up to final bell (or final ‘Teams’ session!) of the year.

It was amazing to see the School community’s quiet resolve to carry on regardless in the face of challenge and change – these are values we hold very dear.

And so, as this rather peculiar and rather special year draws to a close, I take a moment to reflect on our school values: endeavour, responsibility, integrity, curiosity and

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kindness.

The boys have unquestionably demonstrated each of these values in spades as they have maintained commitment and high standards in their academic work throughout the year.

They have tried new things and proved to be flexible, adaptable and determined. They have faced multiple challenges and worked very much together even though they have been apart. It has been an incredibly unique time, with many lessons for us all to learn. The boys’ unflappable responses have made me very proud to be part of such a very special community.

‘The obstacles that are in your way aren’t meant to stop you. They’re designed to point the way to a new route, new possibilities, new doorways.’

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Thanks as ever to my fabulous staff and to my officers this year: Harry Clifton, Will Hayward, Will Beattie, Edward Dagg, James Dagg, Oliver Simmonds, Rehaan Choudhary, David Wiltshire and Sebastien Tatham.

School, as we know it, ceased for a while in many respects.

The boys stayed at home, ‘but not on holiday’

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It has been a pleasure to watch the boys grow and develop this year, in ways they hadn’t imagined, and I look forward, very much, to seeing HOWARD and indeed the whole school all together again, as soon as is safely possible.

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Houses

WHITBREAD H O U S E R E P O RT WORDS BY

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Mrs Michelle Aldridge, Whitbread Housemaster

e had a great start to the year in terms of the first House competition being House Drama.

The professional effort and performance put on by our Whitbread boys was truly fantastic! When Mr Roberts came to me and said, “I have got just the best idea ever and I hope we can pull it off,” my first thoughts were, “What trouble are we going to get into with the Headmaster?” Then when he told me he wanted to put on a Freddie Mercury performance placed within the school theme I thought that it would be fabulous if we could do it, but It would be an enormous ask of the boys’ talents in order for it all to work. Well, the boys truly enjoyed their funny acts to

perform and every week I came home from rehearsals with a smile and in fits of laughter.

One of my best moments was hiding Oscar Barker from the audience between scenes and sneaking him down the stairs quickly. We rushed past the bar and into the first door we came to; we had entered the wrong door and ended up in the men’s toilets, thinking it was the door to backstage! At this point, we had to compose ourselves as we were in fits of laughter and Oscar was about to go on stage dressed as a female teacher in very high heels. Mrs Silk put hours of work into the boy’s choreography. Mr Roberts, such a very talented man with clever ideas, pushed the boys to their limits. The day of the final

event arrived and we were last on. We were all so excited that this performance was going to steal the show and get everyone laughing and dancing. Even the Headmaster got up and rocked out with his blow-up guitar! It was our very own school of rock! Chaps, I know we did not win, but I also know that you really worked your socks off. Everything worked on the day and you really lifted the whole audience’s mood, leaving them and myself with a fantastic memory of an amazing performance. You do not need the House drama cup to confirm that you are brilliant; you were, and you are, and, in my eyes, you were the true stars of the night. It was a performance never to be forgotten and a great start to the year ahead.

Then it was onto the variety of sports that we got to play in that first term. We had a successful House swimming gala, with some great performances form all year groups, and a good range of results in the House rugby, badminton and squash competitions too.

Well done to the boys who took part in these events. It was a real shame that the rest of the

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sporting events that normally take place each year got cut short.

I am afraid we did not do to well in the House Pancake race. It was a very windy day and our pancake was flying all over the place; there was not much left of it at the finish but the boys that took part had great fun as proven by smiley faces!

House Singing is such a wonderful event.

Hours and hours of hard work go into getting the boys in tune, then ensuring that they are all in line and suitably dressed, looking pristine in their school uniform. Mrs Travis always helps us out here and, as a Housemaster, I would be lost without her.

All the boys were beaming with pride for their Whitbread ties. They sang beautifully, and with great expressions on their faces. Both Alfie Gandesha, our Music Captain, and I sat on the edge of our seats in anticipation for the adjudicator to announce the winners. It was a tough call as all the Houses sang really well this year. Finally, the winners were announced, and we did it! We won the Unison cup! I was so proud of you all. I have to also congratulate our Part Song participants. Unfortunately we did not win this category but I can say with my hand on my heart that you put so much effort and time into your rehearsals and you were amazing on the day. A Housemaster cannot ask for more when you have a group of boys that give up their break times for their house. Thank you!

After this event our year of House competitions was cut short… However, we have had remote House assemblies on an array of themes, from the history of dance, to Star Wars Day, to laughter, to charity work, to Mental health, to movies through the years. I am not going to lie, it’s hard work creating an assembly at the best of times. But recording yourself in a video was even harder, what with it taking several attempts to get the wording right, or the internet crashing half way through the recording, or my children having an argument downstairs over the remote control for the TV. Anyway, we got there in the end and I hope that you enjoyed them all.

It’s amazing what topics you research to talk about, and you learn new things every day.

Preparing the assemblies also helped me in several remote quizzes, so they really do have lots of benefits for everyone!

We had two remote House events that we participated in, and I may I say that we did rather well. With over 60 Whitbread boys completing the “100 challenge” in honour of Captain Tom, I was pleased to see so many of you rising to the challenge. Lots of you did more than one as well! From making 100 cups of coffee, to baking 100 cakes, to planting 100

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sunflower seeds, to raising £100 by having your head shaved, to running/cycling 100k, the variety was brilliant.

We also had the Poetry Recitation and Writing, Handwriting and Reading competitions, and some House sporting challenges continued as well, along with the House funny photo. Well done to all the boys who took part in these events to make them successful. It’s been a challenging time for all of us, but you have proved that no matter what gets in our way, we can still carry on and succeed with high expectations. Let’s take this time hool values of endeavour, responsibility, integrity, curiosity and kindness. Whitbread boys have demonstrated each and every one of these values in all kinds of different ways. You have succeeded thanks to holding yourselves to high personal standards in all that you do. You have shown true commitment to your education and to your House. You have tried new things and taken on new challenges outside your comfort zones. You have worked well as a team and as a House. You have acted like true Whitbread boys and I am so proud of you all!

I would like to thank my wonderful team of House officers and House Captain, Fred Dickson, for all your efforts in making the house run smoothly and efficiently this year.

Thank you also to all the staff members too for all the help and support.

Good luck and farewell to our Year 8 boys.

Remember to still support Whitbread House as you pass the younger boys around the school and cheer them on if you see an event taking place. This means a lot and, remember, you will be a Whitbread boy forever.

We say a fond farewell also to a lifelong member of Whitbread House, Miss Brown, who will be sadly missed. I am sure she will not miss me putting her on the spot to show the boys how to do the Irish dance though!

Good luck in your future plans.

The words have dried up now. I am speechless; it is unbelievable that not only

did we win for House Cup for the Summer term, we also won the overall House Cup for the whole year as well. Thank you, boys.

What an excellent House we are! As always, it has been wonderful watching you all grow as members of Whitbread house.

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W H I N C H AT

Charity

CHARITIES 2018-19

T

he following monies were raised in 2018-19 and distributed in the Autumn Term 2019-20.

WHITBREAD Charity: JDRF (Danni Manton) Amount: £3,028.14 HARPUR Charity: Willen Hospice (Dawn Clark and Amy Finch) Amount: £2,630.91 B U N YA N Charity: The Mind Map (Liz Fordham) Amount: £2,636.37

H OWA R D Charity: Tibbs Dementia Foundation (Margaret Duggan) Amount: £3,208.14

Then the remaining monies were allocated by the Headmaster as follows: n £1000 - Mad about Harry n £100 - DEC African Cyclone n £43 - Books2Africa n £500 - Harry Shaw’s Giant Pledge n £1192.80 - Riverbank Ward (Bedford Hospital Charity & Friends)

We also supported ‘Christmas in a Box’ via tutor group hampers that were taken to Bedford Food Bank at All Nations Church.

Total raised

£7,308.96* (* significantly reduced by Covid-19, but enhanced by a generous donation from the Prep Guild). Each House’s charity got a fifth – i.e. £1,461.79 (the final fifth is still being decided).

HOUSE CHARITIES FOR 2019-20 Bunyan – Great Ormond Street Hospital Harpur – Animals in Need (Northampton) Howard – Bedford Hospitals Charity – Riverbank Ward Whitbread – Bedford Hospitals Charity – Primrose Unit

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Festivities

PREP SCHOOL CHRISTMAS LUNCH 2019

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G U I L D S & A S S O C I AT I O N S

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Prep Guild

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ow, what a different year we have all had!

This is my third and final year as Chair for the Prep Guild and I really didn’t think, like anyone else I would imagine, that it would have turned out quite as it has.

In September, we started the year with our lovely Macmillan coffee event, which we ran jointly with the Upper School Parent Guild. Stalls included fresh flower arrangements, jewellery, scented wax, skincare and clothing. Parents, families and staff came to browse and treat themselves, whilst socialising with a cuppa and a wide range of delicious cakes, generously donated form the school catering team and parents. An amazing £863 was raised for Macmillan.

In October we had our annual AGM and warmly welcomed new members onto the committee who got straight to work with the ever-popular Quiz Night that followed later that day!

The EMH was full with over 100 quizzers trying their hardest to beat the teachers and each other. The teachers’ winning streak was finally brought to a halt by the top team, “Les Quizerables”. It was a well deserved victory! An amazing hog roast was consumed, followed by a selection of tempting puddings and all was washed down with various wines and beer! A buzzing atmosphere started the year off with a bang.

The buying of gifts for the boys’ Christmas Sales followed, then the even bigger task of wrapping over two thousand individual gifts, ready for the boys to come and shop for their families, friends and pets! Over three days, with Christmas jumpers and festive music playing, every boy from the Prep School had the opportunity to come to our Christmas shop to buy gifts, ready to take home, wrapped and labelled to put under the tree for Christmas.

With no time to rest, the lovely Christmas Carol Services were upon us. All parents were invited to the School Chapel for services

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Mrs Rosie Biffa, Chairperson

and then onto the Erskine May Hall for mulled wine and mince pies for the adults and juice and biscuits for the boys and siblings. As ever, it was a fantastic way to end the term and get us all ready for the final build-up to Christmas.

In the New Year, no one had any idea of what was on the horizon.

Plans and dates were underway and in the diaries for our Summer Term events, the Year 8 Fun Day, Sports Day and New Parents’ Evenings, until it all came to a very sudden halt and literally everything was cancelled due to Covid-19.

The cancellation of the Year 8 Fun Day was a really sore one for the Guild as the Year 8s missed out on the opportunity to raise money for the four house charities. We usually provide giant inflatables and refreshments to help raise funds at the event, so it was unanimously decided to donate £2000 to be split equally between the four charities. It was very important they didn’t miss out, especially at a time where they may have been struggling.

Thank you so much to all parents, boys and staff for your ongoing support of the Prep Guild. Although, we haven’t been able to actually attend events and spend any time together over the past five months, the sense of community at Bedford Prep School has been, now more than ever, something to really admire.

The Prep Guild really looks forward to seeing you all again in September and hopefully being able to get back to some sort of normality, whatever that may be!

On a personal note, I have thoroughly enjoyed being Chair of the Prep Guild and have been very lucky to work with such a wonderful committee.

Bye for now!

The EMH was full with over 100 quizzers trying their hardest to beat the teachers and each other.

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51

BSA (Bedford School Association)

B S A R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Hugh Maltby, Director of the Bedford School Association

T

he Bedford School Association (BSA) is made up of several groups from across the wider School community; the Prep School Parents’ Guild, the Upper School Parents’ Guild, the Past Parents Association, the Old Bedfordians Club and the Bedford School Foundation. All parts of the Association have had a busy year. One of the highlight’s was helping sort the 160,000 birthday cards for Captain Tom’s birthday, while for fitness fans we held the inaugural BSA bike ride. Eagle Connect (www.eagleconnect. uk), our digital business and social networking platform open to

all parents, OBs and past parents, was launched in December and now has over 1,250 members, sharing connections and business opportunities. Our annual Upper School careers fair attracted a broad range of guest speakers from many different business sectors, giving pupils the opportunity to ask questions and learn about different careers.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those connected to the BSA for their on-going support and the way everyone is made to feel part of our School community.

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TRIPS/OUTINGS

W H I N C H AT

School trips

Years 6, 7 and 8

WORDS BY

Mr Stephen Guest

SKI TRIP DECEMBER

T

he ski trip was a great success, with 51 boys and 6 staff enjoying the early season snow in Northern Italy. The boys all made great progress with their skiing, especially the beginners, who always amaze with their speed of progression. The standard at the top end was equally impressive, with the boys coping with tricky conditions as the overall standard of Bedford Prep School skiing seems to get better and better. The behaviour and manner of all the boys was excellent and a special well done goes to a small group who were unwell after a long term and as a consequence had their skiing restricted during the week.

W

e all met on Burnaby Road at 03:30am on 14th December 2019.

I was so excited and ready for the trip and that little bit of training before really made the experience much easier for me. When we got to the airport, we had to go to check-in which took a little while because there were a lot of us. Then we went through security which was quick and easy and in my group no one got scanned! Then we all had 15 minutes to do what we wanted. After that, it was finally time to board our flight. When we landed at Turin it was really cold and icy so we had to be careful walking around. After the bus arrived, we had a three hour bus journey to the town of Sestriere, where we were going to be based for the trip. When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the staff of the Biancaneve Hotel. We then had a bit of time to unpack and get into some more comfortable

but warm clothes. After that, we walked to the ski hire shop where we had boots, helmet and skis fitted. The next day we got up at 7am and got changed ready for the day. Then it was time for breakfast, which was a buffet. It tasted delicious! We walked to the slopes, got our skis on and met up with our group leaders.

We had five instructors in different groups. I was in the beginner group where there were less people. It was an easier group to be in and because it was our first time on the slopes in the Alps we started by going down the blues.

As the week went on, we started going down reds and even one or two blacks! Every day of the week we booked a lovely little restaurant just at the bottom of the slopes for lunch. It was always so warm and cosy and the food was delicious! On the last day of the ski trip, my group had a treat which was for us to go to a small cafe at the bottom of the slopes for

hot chocolate and a biscuit! That evening we had to get ready to leave and pack up. We all went to bed slightly earlier as we had a flight to catch early in the morning. The next day we were up and ready and went for our last breakfast of the trip. Then we went to Lyon airport in France to come home. When we got to the airport in Lyon we had to board straight away as we were running a bit late. The funny thing was Jo Gardner’s dad was flying us home! We all got on the plane and went home. Overall, this was my favourite school trip ever. Thanks to all the teachers involved, with an extra big thank you to Mr McGregor for planning this whole trip!

WORDS BY

By Luca Henchoz (Year 7)

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TRIPS/OUTINGS

School trips

F

or the fortieth time in history, Year 6 boys from Bedford embarked on a short weekend tour to the lovely island of Jersey to play sports against Victoria College Prep School.

A flight was taken from Gatwick at midday on Friday 6th March and was the first time a couple of the boys had been in an aeroplane.

The first sport played was hockey with a festival involving five teams (three from Bedford) where every team played every other team. Great enthusiasm, decent skills and much enjoyment were on show as all 22 Bedford players got fully involved in the matches.

On Saturday 7th March, the rugby matches were, unfortunately, cancelled due to waterlogged pitches so a training session on the beach at St Ouens Bay was hastily organised with Mr Allen advising the boys on some of the finer skills of the game. Needless to say, those that joined in had a fine time learning some lessons to take forward and add to their own skill bank. The afternoon and evening were spent on adventurous activities, eating and bowling The final morning, Sunday 8th March, saw two matches of football played at Heathfield with the A team losing a tightly fought match (albeit 0-4!) and the B team, sadly, struggling in their game but enjoying themselves all the same. A massive downpour brought an early end to the matches but the boys all had fun!

It was another successful visit to Jersey that kept alive the friendship between the two schools alive!

JERSEY 2019 WORDS BY

Shawn Phillips (Director of Sport)

54

TRIPS/OUTINGS

School trips

O

n Thursday 13th February, 26 boys and four staff excitedly boarded their plane for South Africa and flew away for a sun-kissed cricket tour. In the nine action-packed days that followed, the teams experienced some unforgettable cricket in stunning locations, making new friends and memories to last a lifetime along the way.

After an overnight flight to Cape Town, the boys were ready to stretch their legs and start to warm up for the cricket matches that lay ahead, and a superb training session at the Western Province Cricket Club was just the ticket.

The following day, the boys started the tour in style with two wins from two at Kirstenhof Primary School, whose cricket ground nestles between the Silvermine mountains to the south, the Constantiaberg to the west, and Table Mountain to the north. Congratulations to Danny Chapman for 100* and Krishnan Nair for 58*, making a fine partnership in the B Team. For their second fixture, the boys headed to Sunningdale Cricket Club for four T20 matches, of which the boys won three. They then headed to Paarl to meet their host families for the next two days. Fixture three against Paarl Boys Primary School presented the boys with two tough games, and while they did not win either game, both proved to be great learning experiences.

It was then on to Durbanville for their fourth fixture, two T20 matches at Curro Durbanville Primary, before meeting their second set of host families. Like the first set, the families were amiable and welcoming and made the boys feel right at home. Through their stays with the families, the boys gained a real taste of South African culture, as well as making a wealth of new friends.

The last fixture of the tour, on the penultimate day, at Sweet Valley Primary saw the boys finish the trip as they started with two wins from two.

In between fixtures, the boys also found time to get up close with crocodiles, ostriches and monkeys, check out rhinos, cheetahs and lions on a thrilling game drive, hit the beach and the pool, sightsee at Table Mountain (sadly the bottom rather than the top despite three attempts) and, of course, watch Cape Cobras play cricket at Newlands.

Lots of delicious burgers, steaks and fish were enjoyed at some of the fine restaurants on offer.

It was a tired but happy group of boys who returned to Bedford, full of enthusiasm for the cricket season ahead. Congratulations to all the boys on being such fine tourists and really mking the most of their time in South Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA TO U R 2 0 2 0 WORDS BY

Mr Simon Lincoln, Head of Cricket

W H I N C H AT

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TRIPS/OUTINGS

55

School trips

the teams experienced some unforgettable cricket in stunning locations, making new friends and memories to last a lifetime

Â

SA TOUR HONOURS n U13 Batsman of the Tour - James Dagg n U12 Batsman of the Tour - Danny Chapman n U13 Bowler of the Tour - Oliver Briggs n U12 Bowler of the Tour - Mustafa Haroon n U13 Fielder of the Tour - Zach Hone n U12 Fielder of the Tour - Dylan French n Top Tourist - Tanay Rai

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TRIPS/OUTINGS

W H I N C H AT

School trips

Y4 ST ALBANS TRIP

O

n 11th November (Armistice Day) 2019, Year 4 headed down to St. Alban’s. In Ancient Roman times, St. Alban’s was called Verulamium and was the third biggest city in the country. The boys spent the day doing fun and varied activities run by the St. Alban’s Cathedral Education Centre. The activities really helped to bring their Romans topic to life.

It was fun we saw real Roman armour, sandals and a helmet.

H E N RY GANDESHA I liked it when we acted out the Alban and the Romans story because it helped me to understand what different types of people who were alive at the time like slaves, magistrates, soldiers and shopkeepers did.

MAX BLAKE

It was very special to have the Remembrance day two minutes silence in the cathedral because the big space and tall walls helped me to think about the people who had died in wars.

GEORGE KO T S I D I S

In the mosaics session I loved being able to use lots of different and interesting colours.

C H R I S G E N T RY When we were making mosaics I learned that the pieces are called tesserae.

C AYO S I N C L A I R

I thought it was amazing when we went into the crypt where one of St. Alban’s bones is kept.

The thing I liked most was learning more about the Roman army.

SEB POINTER

J O S H WO R B OYS

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School trips

S PA I N 2020

WORDS BY

By Mrs Kelly Faulkner, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

I

n February half term, 25 excited Year 8 boys had a fabulous trip to beautiful Barcelona, for four fun-packed days designed to give the boys the opportunity to practise their Spanish and gain a cultural appreciation of the country. After a smooth check in to our hotel on the Costa Brava, we made the most of escaping Storm Dennis and heading to the sunshine with a walk around the local area and a trip to the beach.

On the first morning, the boys received a shopping list (in Spanish of course!) with items they needed to make a paella. Once the race around the shops was done, we relaxed with an obligatory stop for churros con chocolate.

Later that day, we had a round of mini-golf before returning to the hotel for a cooking lesson. The boys were in charge of making

a traditional paella for their dinner, under the guidance of the hotel chefs. The result was highly impressive, and I think some of our boys would give Gordon Ramsay a run for his money (they certainly had better vocabulary!) . To round off the day, we headed to a local bowling alley where the boys were determined to beat the teachers. Needless to say, they succeeded! Clement’s hat-trick of strikes was a particular highlight, especially as he was the only one in the team to reject the barriers!

Another superb activity was spending the morning at a local Spanish school. This enabled both sets of pupils to practise Spanish and English and discover the differences and similarities in our respective education systems. With our new friends, we headed into the town of San Feliu to take part in an observational treasure hunt and were given an official welcome at the Town Hall by the mayor! Later that day we continued our strengthening of English-Spanish relations by playing a Spanish football team in a fixture.

Even though a win was not on the cards, our boys really enjoyed the experience.

Our sightseeing day in Barcelona included a visit to Camp Nou, the impressive Sagrada Familia and shopping on Las Ramblas. Alas, all good things come to an end and once all of the Barcelona football shirts had been bought it was time to head back home.

Thanks to the fabulous group of Year 8 boys, and Mrs Gordon and Mr Roberts for coming along too.

58 58

TRIPS/OUTINGS

School trips

D AY S O U T AT I C K W E L L WORDS BY

Mrs Rebecca Russell, Forest School Leader

W H I N C H AT

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School trips

M

ore than 400 Prep School boys visited our beautiful Nature reserve at Ickwell over a five week period at the start of the Autumn term. The aims were to build and strengthen friendships in the outdoors and to experience a range of team building activities with tutors.

Younger age groups enjoyed minibeast investigations, den building, toasting marshmallows, making Roman forts, outdoor art, team games and learning to use flint and steels to light fires. Older year groups loved our new Archery tag games (thanks to the parents guild for purchasing the equipment), using walkie talkies for NATO phonetic alphabet challenges, designing egg catapults, developing knife skills, campfire cooking (popcorn, toasties etc) and making survival shelters. Who doesn’t love a s’more?!

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HEAD OF YEAR REPORTS

W H I N C H AT

Year 3

Y E A R 3 R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mrs Nicki Carrington, Head of Year 3

W

hat an incredible group of boys this Year 3 bunch proved to be.

They were resilient, patient and computer whizzes in equal measures. This has been a year that we will never forget and one which has shown our boys to be positive and chaps who never give up whatever life throws at them!

The Autumn Term gave us a real taste of the inquisitive nature of the boys and love of adventure with our Ickwell Trip setting the flavour for the rest of the year. Their den building and mini beast hunting showed that they loved the great outdoors, working together and the opportunity to take on a challenge, the latter of which is definitely a skill needed for their future and one that carried on throughout the year.

The Spring Term was definitely a jam packed one. Year 3 threw themselves into every opportunity, from dressing up for World Book Day as dalmatians, superheroes and crayons

to showing their love for the planet by taking on the role of our first ever Eco Monitors.

Year 3 also enjoyed becoming more aware about others during our Curriculum Collapse Day about Disability Awareness and showed off their teamwork skills again with STEM activities at the Girls’ School. Our Topic work of Extreme Earth really sparked the boys’ imagination and resulted in amazing Mini Project Preps, from erupting volcanoes to amazing videos and crazy creations, and desert scenes to leaflets on how to survive natural disasters. Year 3 definitely showed curiosity and endeavour.

This all came to a very abrupt halt when we were told that the final week would be spent learning at home.

Schooling at home did not stop the boys’ endeavours or hunger for adventures and learning, however. The Summer started like a crazy dream but the boys took it in their stride and showed us that they

could make the best of any strange situation.

They took to Remote Learning as if they had been doing it forever. Despite Wifi issues and computer glitches, the Year 3 boys proved that they wanted to learn and keep busy. This included a wide range of ‘100 Challenges’, nature walks, bike rides, vegetable growing, litter picking, catching, bouncing, baking and building in Enrichment time. The boys worked hard and played hard too. At remote school, Mini Project Preps continued to be creative and elaborate, whilst they delved deeper into the main curriculum with microbe missions, plant adventures and poetry performances. They did not fail to impress us. Thankfully, we then had the wonderful news that we could come back to school. Again, Year 3 took the weird return in their stride and continued to impress us with Greek stamnos designs and mask making, whilst remembering to wash hands and keep their distance. It did feel like one of the Greek Myths we had been studying as we brought the term to an end.

What a life lesson we have had this year!

This wonderful group of boys will leave a lasting memory in our hearts and minds.

They have shown us that whatever life throws at you, it is just part of the adventure and you need to embrace and go with it.

Life may be a climb like the hill in Pilgrim’s Progress but the view is definitely worth it!

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Year 4

W

hat a year 2019-2020 was for Year 4, as indeed it was for the whole world! Eight new boys joined the boys moving up from our own Year 3 to make a vibrant bunch of 45. Ms Valentino, Miss Oakley, Mrs Medd and I as tutors very much enjoyed the company of this engaging group of boys.

The boys all moved forward on their journeys as learners. In Maths, they became more adept at flexible problem-solving; in English, they threw themselves once again into the Accelerated Reader programme and as a result built up their confidence at writing creatively at length themselves; in Topic, they enjoyed discovering about Romans, Anglo Saxons and Vikings, Mountains, Rivers and Coasts; in Science, they furthered their knowledge of plants, animals (especially humans), light, sound and electricity. This learning was all brought to life with the help of some special trips and events, including an outing to St Alban’s Cathedral for some immersive Roman activities and a great presentation from Cameron Dale’s father about his and his wife’s expedition to Everest Base Camp. We also enjoyed a Science and team building trip to the school’s nature reserve at Ickwell Bury. In sport, the year group played some great rugby in the Autumn term, benefitted from access for the first time to the Philpott’s astro for hockey in the Spring term, and played in several enjoyable fixtures

and tournaments with other schools prior to Easter. In Music and Drama, Year 4 were well represented in the Years 3 and 4 choir that put on a great Roman themed musical production in March and every Year 4 boy participated actively in woodwind or brass Starter Classes.

And then Coronavirus struck! Sadly, this meant some regular highlights of Year 4 such as the Grafham Water residential trip and the Whipsnade Zoo trip in the Summer term were not possible, and no cricket matches were played. But education very much continued, albeit remotely for nearly three months. The Year 4 boys did themselves, their teachers, their families and their school proud with their positive attitude, their perseverance, their resilience, their team spirit and their technological prowess. The quality of work

done at home was superb. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to reconvene at school for the final fortnight of the Summer term. Things were socially distanced, but it was simply wonderful to be back together and enjoying each other’s company, the way it’s meant to be.

We wish the 2019-20 cohort of Year 4 boys all the very best of luck as they move onto the new and different challenges of Year 5, and we hope that they enjoy being allowed to wear trousers!

YEAR 4 R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Daniel Maitland, Head of Year 4

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W H I N C H AT

Year 5

Year 5 R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Dominic Affleck, Head of Year 5

Y

ear 5 have had a very successful year despite the pandemic and perhaps have grown as year group because of it! We are all very proud with the way they have adapted to the unique nature of remote learning and have really developed as independent learners.

The transition from Year 4 and the addition of many new boys was very exciting. The new boys settled in quickly thanks to the friendliness of the year group and the four new classes soon got used to their new environments in the Inky building. Early in the Autumn Term, a superb day out at Ickwell did mean that the tutors (Mr Roberts, Mrs Rossington, Mrs Mr McGregor,

Miss Brown & I) got a real opportunity to bond with their tutees, and of course for the boys themselves to form new friendships and perhaps rekindle older ones. Under the guidance of Mrs Russell the boys enjoyed a range of activities from fire-lighting to team building games. The school is so lucky to have such a resource at its disposal.

The boys soon settled to life in Year 5 and we were struck by how quickly they acclimatised. Independence is our buzzword and we really encouraged the boys to pack their own bags, use their lockers and remember where they were meant to be at any given time. With the added bonus of long trousers and blazers, we were delighted to see how quickly they merged to life in senior part of the Prep School.The Autumn Term flashed by. Rugby fixtures across the breadth of the country, music concerts and the usual wide range of extra-curricular activities. The boys were understandably tired by Christmas, but a wonderful pantomime trip at the Milton Keynes theatre was a fitting way to end the term, with much laughter at the terrible jokes!

The Spring Term ensued, playing hockey and football and gearing up for their first set of school assessments. For many, this was the first time having to do this, so they were a little nervous. Thankfully doing these tests in their own form rooms does help to alleviate the stress just a little.

The Summer Term was indeed a strange one and somewhat unpredictable. Gone was the sound of willow on leather, summer concerts, athletics, swimming and summer exams.

Instead, remote learning on our computers and a completely different way of life at school altogether. Despite this, Year 5 have developed as a unit and for the final two weeks I was able to be with the majority of the boys as they returned to school. It was lovely to see them, and I was impressed with the way that they took to the social distancing limitations of life after lockdown! We have enjoyed this fine crop of Year 5 boys and are confident that they will go onto great things. We wish them every success as they move to Year 6 and I hope they show the same zest for life for Mr Loader as they have done for me.

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Year 6

I

Year 6 R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Ed Loader, Head of Year 6

t has not been a year that the boys will forget in a hurry! A huge well done goes to all of Year 6, not only for your kindness and the positive attitude to work that you displayed in the first two terms, but also for the amazingly calm and responsible way in which you returned to school when the lockdown was eased. As the first year back, the boys can be very proud of how they handled themselves in school, from following the basic procedures of social distancing and staying in our bubbles, to creatively inventing new games and activities at break time to keep themselves entertained. For everything that occurred over the Summer term - well done Year 6! The message that is sent out at the start of Y6 ear is a straightforward one; be kind and get involved in as much as you can. Our boys did this with great aplomb this year. Walking around the tutor groups in the morning, you came across a wealth of wonderful scenes demonstrating the range of talents on show, from George Simmonds and Ashwin Curtis (amongst others) entertaining the 6M group with beautiful guitar playing, to the boys of 6JL preparing riddles to test and challenge their peers on a day to day basis. On World Book Day, our boys wowed again. 6C came to school in an array of tortoise outfits to represent Esio Trot. 6K arrived as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory characters. Lord of the Rings took over 6JL’s classroom, with an Ent even making an appearance! 6M chose to dress up as characters from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (it’s too easy to make a comment here, so I won’t!). It’s great to see the range of creativity in the year group.

Early in the year, we embarked on a trip to Ickwell for some team building and forest schooling. The boys engaged in the day magnificently, throwing themselves into everything on offer: firefighting, den-building, team games and archery tag. There are certainly one or two Robin Hoods in the making! A highlight for me was watching the boys complete the team game of walking in a line of four with their feet attached to one another. This is far harder than it sounds, and when the competitive element of racing is added in, cue hilarity.

Finally, all that is left for me to say is a huge thank you. Firstly, to the tutors, Madame Chaillou-Kindred, Mr Milton, Mrs Leeson and Mrs Lee, thank you for your unwavering kindness and support of the boys. I know that the boys will look back on their time with you very fondly. To the boys, thank you for making this year so fun, even when it could have been anything but. Well done for showing resilience in exceptionally difficult times, and for involving yourselves in as much as you could. I wish you the best of luck for all your endeavours in Year 7.

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HEAD OF YEAR REPORTS

W H I N C H AT

Year 7

Year 7 R E P O R T WORDS BY

Mr Matt Allen, Head of Year 7

“W

elcome to the last Year 7/8 assembly of an extraordinary year. My goodness, it seems like a lifetime ago that I was first standing in front of you, in a year group assembly, back in September!”

This was my opening line to my virtual Year 7/8 assembly on the penultimate day of the Summer Term, recorded - at home - by me, and watched - at home - by the boys.

Extraordinary really is all I can say to describe the year. I’ve looked back through my previous Year 7 Whinchat reports and realised that I started every one by saying that the previous year had flown by! For once, I feel that this would not be an appropriate opening gambit!

Looking back on the year, there are many highlights to celebrate. With the customary influx of new boys, from all parts of the world, into Year 7, the Autumn Term saw the usual period of bedding in. With the positive attitude of the new boys and the supportive nature of the ‘old heads’, this process was almost seamless. New class groups, with new and old faces, meant that friendship groups evolved and grew. This evolution was almost immediate, with the very impressive batch of new boys bringing new levels of challenge and drive to the year group, and tutor groups settled into new ways of doing things very quickly.

The highlight of the Autumn Term was the team-building day at Ickwell. Whilst it wasn’t particularly warm, and we were continually watching dark clouds tease and threaten us, we managed to stay dry! The boys enjoyed various activities, from archery tag to camp

fire building and leadership challenges, and it was great to see the tutor group bonds being further nurtured and developed. Huge thanks need to go to Mrs Russell, who planned and delivered the day and its activities, Mr Roberts (Mrs Russell’s right hand man) for his energy, and the tutors for guiding the boys around the activities. As the term came to a close, we enjoyed a brief foray to the Girls’ School for their annual Christmas Disco. Suffice to say there were some interesting dance/jumping moves on display! It’s just a shame that we weren’t able to return the favour and invite the girls over to our place for the return fixture in the summer - you’ll have to wait until next year boys!

Special mention needs to go to the Under 12 rugby teams. A 100% win rate for the A Team and 42 out of 52 matches won across the A-D squads was a real feat and one that deserves to be applauded. Fingers crossed that they get to show their ability as Under 13s too!

As the Spring Term unfolded, boys dealt with the growing concerns over coronavirus with a real sense of maturity. Little did we know that things would change so drastically through the term and it was such a shame that we were unable to wish each other a proper farewell at the end of the term.

The boys approached the Summer Term with an impressive attitude. Lockdown took away so many opportunities but the boys displayed real resilience and endeavour in dealing with ‘the new normal’ and working hard at home.

Whilst face to face contact was impossible

for the majority of the term, the strength of the year group’s character shone through and it was a pleasure to see how supportive the boys were of each other and their tutors.

Registration periods became a hive of activity. I lost count of how many Registration quizzes I witnessed (7P were definitely the quiz champions!), how many times boys had something to show their classmates and how many pets joined registrations! The Bedford School spirit was on show in abundance and the boys, and their tutors, are to be congratulated for being so positive.

It was lovely to be able to spend a morning, with the boys, in School before the end of term. They didn’t allow torrential rain to, dare I say, dampen their spirits, and the pleasure the boys got from seeing each other and experiencing just a glimpse of what school life should be was lovely to witness.

Congratulations to all of the boys whose outstanding efforts throughout the year resulted in them receiving academic prizes at Speech Day. Their endeavours were fantastic and all of the boys richly deserved their prizes. That, however, doesn’t mean that other boys don’t deserve praise too. As I also said in my last assembly, there are only a finite number of prizes available and all of them were hotly contested, with numerous boys staking very good claims for the prize. The efforts of every boy in the year group haven’t gone unnoticed and, for this, they should all be applauded.

My final task is to say a few thank yous. To the boys themselves - thank you for being a thoroughly enjoyable year group. Well done for all of your efforts and very good luck next year as you take on the mantle of being ‘Top Dogs’!

And finally, to the wonderful band of Year 7 tutors that I’m blessed with - Miss Goodman, Mrs Gordon, Mrs Travis, Mr Heaney and Mr Phillips and Mrs Gedye. As ever, your support of your tutees has been tremendous. Your gentle, yet firm, encouragement, your support and your sensitivity has ensured that every boy left Year 7 having made huge progress, academically and pastorally…..and I hadn’t developed too many more grey hairs as you coaxed and cajoled the boys, and dealt with any issues quickly, carefully and with a smile on your faces, meaning that I was able to enjoy a very positive, and predominantly stress free, year!

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Year 8

W

hat a year it has been for this wonderful group of young men; their resilience and optimism has been tested like no other Year 8 group before them but they have still come out strong and smiling. They are a lovely year group, known, above all else, for their determination, kindness and respect, and have been magnificently led by Head Boy, Will Hayward, Deputy Head Boys, Tanay Rai and Harry Clifton and a team of excellent prefects.

There have been academic, sporting, artistic, musical and dramatic successes across the board for this talented group of boys who have certainly left their mark on the Prep School.

Being at the top of the school has meant many more opportunities for roles of responsibility, especially within the four Day Houses.

The Autumn term saw some great events such as House Drama (congratulations to Howard!) and House Rugby where our House Officers were put to work for the first time.

The Spring term was a busy one for Year 8 with Mid-year Assessments, House Singing, House Hockey, Slavery workshops, a fantastic trip abroad to Barcelona and the cricket tour to South Africa, as well as the day to day clubs and extracurricular activities. 8H were the first worthy winners of the ‘Form of the Term’ title, as they scored most highly from their teachers regarding their whole class Attitude to Learning. Consequently, they enjoyed a lunchtime in Eagle House Games Room with some pizza, a film and some fun, as well as bragging rights of course!

The end of the Spring Term brought about uncertainty and many unknowns and was cut short by a week due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Little did we know that this was to be the final week of ‘normal’ school these boys would have. Despite this, school continued online and this was a true test of the boys’ independence and self-discipline; most rose to the challenge without batting an eyelid, some took a while to adjust, but, eventually,

every boy managed to adapt to this change.

We were so proud of their attitude and it was a pleasure hearing them each day online, although the whole school community missed the physical and social side of BPS. This meant that the Summer Term was slightly different than expected too: no Summer Assessments and unfortunately not quite the Post-Exam Programme the boys were hoping for. That said, the Year 8 boys still managed to enjoy a whole range of careers talks and interviews from various industry professionals, an online First-Aid course, a Remote Bushcraft Day, Remote Come Dine With Me events, and some valuable transition talks. The Come Dine events were a particular highlight, not only the evenings themselves but also watching the collaboration, teamwork and planning between the boys in the early stages. Their determination to host a wonderful evening for their families shone through and were a huge success (all houses still standing and all fingers still attached!). 8F kicked off with the ‘Holiday in Europe’ theme, ably producing food from Spain, France, Italy, Greece and the UK. 8IB then celebrated diversity and equality with their worldly menu.

8H were next with their delicious Mexican Fiesta, followed by 8RB with their menu from around the world. 8A concluded the Come Dines with their Italian soirée. Overall, each class delivered an amazing event and should be very proud of their work!

During their English and Enrichment sessions, boys worked on their Independent Research Projects where they had to create a presentation and answer a ‘big question’ on a topic of their choosing which they presented informally to their peers and teachers. There

were some insightful and highly thoughtprovoking ideas here. The project winners, as voted for by their peers and teachers in the Remote Final were as follows.: For best and most passionate delivery: Finn Adams with his discussion about Patriotism in the face of disaster.

For the most interesting and engaging topic: Zach Hone, who was arguing for stronger gun laws in the US. Alfie Allen came Highly Commended overall for his well-researched and passionate project on whether killing a service dog should be classed as murder; this was a topic that sparked much debate.

The overall winner, for his intelligent and convincing response to his question “Should we all be vegan?”, was Edward Walker for his articulate and confident performance tied in with a well-researched and detailed topic.

Huge congratulations to these boys but also to the whole year group who all produced some highly impressive arguments.

The year concluded with Remote Speech Day and Prize Giving where a huge amount of our boys were recognised for their talents both in and out the classroom. A special mention must go to Millan Verwoert who was awarded the Arthur Tisdall’s Award which is given to the boy who best embodies the school values, especially that of kindness.

Best of luck to Brooklyn Fu, Steven Wang and William Brunsden-Parsons who have left the school for new challenges elsewhere. Massive congratulations to each boy who has now completed his Prep School journey and is moving on to the Upper School or beyond.

Thank you for being such a fabulous bunch.

Stay in touch; we will miss you!

Year 8 R E P O R T WORDS BY

By Mrs Sarah Loader, Head of Year 8

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TA L K S & S H O W S

W H I N C H AT

Events

C A P TA I N S I R TO M M O O R E

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edford School helped to make a little piece of history last year, in addition to making national and international headlines, when it transformed its Great Hall into a temporary sorting office and rallied its community for national hero, Captain Tom Moore.

Since raising a staggering £30million for NHS Charities Together, Captain Tom has been flooded with tens of thousands of 100th birthday cards from all around the world, all of which descended upon the small village post office in Marston Mortaine where he lives with his family.

Captain Tom’s grandson, Benjie IngramMoore, who played a key role in promoting his Grandfather’s feat, turned to his school for help when he learned that the post office was being swamped with cards.

Hugh Maltby, Director of Bedford School Association who was approached by Benjie said, “Benjie has been such an inspiration in his Grandfather’s campaign that we wanted to offer a way of giving back.

When the family told us about all the cards being received at their local post office, I didn’t hesitate to offer school’s support to

WORDS BY

Jo Lock, Marketing Department help open and display the cards.”

And so, after conversations between Captain Moore’s family and the school, Captain Tom’s Sorting Office (aka our Great Hall) was declared open. However, little did we know how colossal this task would be and within just 24-hours of receiving the first batch of cards, we had national TV channels fighting over access to our Great Hall!

It was wonderful to see the strength and widespread reach of the Bedford community.

Over 100 volunteers from across the school community came forward to help, including staff, boys, Old Bedfordians, current and former parents and many of their family members. A strict shift rota (to ensure that social distancing rules were adhered to) was put in place with card opening continuing over the weekend.

By strange coincidence, the Post Office Head of Corporate Responsibility, Mark Cazaly also an Old Bedfordian, led the massive operation at the Post Office – the scale of which they have not seen for over thirty years. Even the local policeman, Inspector Nick Masters, who offered us additional security advice is an Old Bedfordian!

Chris Jones, the master in charge of the school’s nature reserve, his wife and

members of his local village are busy sorting through and collecting all of the stamps to donate to both national and local charities – quite a task on its own.

James Hodgson, Head Master, said at the time, “We are so very proud to see how far Benjie has come with this – the story of his Grandfather, Captain Tom Moore, has captured the nation and is a real affirmation of people’s kindness. We are honoured to offer our Great Hall at Bedford School with our team of volunteers to act as both a makeshift sorting office and a place to display the incredible number of 100th birthday cards.”

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TA L K S & S H O W S

Talks & Shows

ROCKS AND DINOSAURS

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t’s not every day that you find a dinosaur at school, but on Wednesday 16 October our Y6 boys did just that.

Using their archaeological skills, the budding palaeontologists uncovered and identified fossils from some of the most iconic dinosaurs of the past, including Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus and Triceratops. They discovered how these prehistoric creatures lived, where they came from, what they ate and much, much more.

At the end of their fascinating session, the boys not only came face to face with a newlyhatched baby dinosaur but also a life-sized T-Rex called Sophie! The animatronic young Tyrannosaurus Rex popped into the Erskine May Hall to meet the boys, who were advised

to “show no fear as she can smell it!”

However, our intrepid explorers thought she was more of a pussy cat than a scary lizard despite her realistic roar!

ROMANS

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n March, just before lockdown, Y3 and Y4 boys had the chance to present their highlyentertaining mini-musical on the Romans, directed superbly by Mrs Gedye. The performance was short and sweet, and immensely fun! Well done to everyone involved.

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W H I N C H AT

Talks & Shows

FA L L I N G I N TO A BOOK

TA L K S & S H O W S

Year 8

WORDS BY

Mr Ian Silk, Headmaster

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ur Y8 boys experienced a unique and immersive theatre experience when they headed to our Quarry Theatre on Thursday 19 September to take part in The Day I Fell into a Book.

Using immersive sound, intricate lighting and projection, The Day I Fell Into A Book took the boys on a journey into a lost world of classic tales. Bit by bit, the fiction became a reality as the stories seeped into the room, and the boys’ wonderfully vivid imaginations took over.

“We love the magic of reading and the creative vitality of our boys’ minds. To see the two come together in such an interactive and unique experience was tremendous, and I am sure will be talked about and well-remembered.”

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Remote learning

WORDS BY

Mr Ian Silk, Headmaster

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ike all schools in the Summer Term, Bedford Prep School had to adapt to a totally new way of teaching and learning.

At the start of lockdown, boys, staff and parents had to adapt very quickly to remote teaching using Teams, Google classroom and Firefly for the last few weeks of term.

In the Summer Term teachers had to start teaching from home to boys who were also at home. After half-term, a hybrid system meant that teachers continued to teach from home, whilst Y6 initially, followed by Y3, Y4 and Y5 were taught in school; Y7 and Y8 boys accessed lessons from home for the entire term except for a highly valued, and quite emotional day of activities for

R E M OT E LEARNING

each. For boys in Y3-6, teachers taught from home, whilst the boys were in school with a supervising teacher supporting. Boys accessed lessons using their devices and interactive whiteboards, although enjoyed “real life” PE and Games lessons. Parents were brilliant at supporting from home, and we are very grateful to them for all they did to support our efforts.

On the following pages, we have few snapshots of some of the ways we coped with the restrictions in place: boys learning from home, having lessons outside, in new venues, spaced apart, and in learning “bubbles”. You can see how lunch operated, and how boys showed impressive levels of creativity whilst

at home, and accessed online lectures. It was tough and new, but our academics missed barely a beat. Having said that, it has been superb to have everyone back at school.

Theseus and the Minotaur | Arjun Dey 3W Storyboard

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W H I N C H AT

Remote learning

Y

ears 3 and 4 learned how to design food packaging in the style of SKWAK, an illustrator hailing from Northern France.

His unique graphic universe, Maniac World, is populated by creatures with a “larger-than-life” look, revisiting children’s fairy tales and common myths.

WORDS BY

Shaun Thomas

2020 |

Adapting to

Angelo Rampello 3H

THE NEW NORMAL Eben Clarke 3H

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Remote learning

Boys accessed lessons using their devices and interactive whiteboards, although enjoyed “real life� PE

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he boys in Years 5 and 6 learned how to draw in the style of Jon Burgerman. He is a British illustrator, author and graphic designer who was born in the UK in 1979 but now lives and works in NYC. He has created work for Pepsi, Nike, Puma, Nintendo, MTV, Miss Sixty, Sony and Sky, among many other companies.

Toby Hudson 5B

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W H I N C H AT

Rugby

RUGBY R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr James Hinkins, Director of Rugby

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ith over 200 fixtures played, the Autumn term was been a busy and productive one. Almost every boy in the school experienced a competitive fixture for the school and developed in skill, understanding and character as a result.

The focus on all teams continues to be on process, development and enjoyment. All players relished the opportunities given to them and played some very exciting rugby. The future of the Rugby Club is very bright.

The Under 13 teams were a group hungry to learn and seize every opportunity available to them. They not only grew as players but also as people as they took complete responsibility for their development and established leadership skills that were advanced for their years. Most pleasing about their performances was how they

adapted their game on the field of play to exploit weaknesses in opposition and take opportunities. For the U13 As, their performance in the first game of season really set the standard as they displayed determination in challenging circumstances to beat Caldicott. They then held a physical and much fancied St Faith’s team to a draw with a similar attitude and approach. The second half

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of the term saw them go from strength to strength as their game continued to develop under the supportive and knowledgeable eye of Mr Allen.

The Under 12s, without doubt, have a huge amount of potential. They can boast an incredible strength in depth and they never cease to amaze with their performances. They have a genuine desire to get better and better and show

RUGBY 7S really difficult season which was hampered by cancelled tournaments and unavailability of numerous players saw only two U13 tournaments being contested. A difficult day at St. John’s, with freezing rain and very strong competition resulted in five losses but the boys made great progress and, whilst they were physically outmuscled, they bought into the 7s ethos and played some lovely rugby. They were able to take this experience into the Northampton Saints’ Redrow 7s Bedfordshire competition, against some slightly less physical sides, to gain four wins, including against a very strong Sharnbrook team, to finish runners up and qualify for the Northampton Saints Finals Day - a truly commendable performance!

By Mr Matt Allen

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Rugby some real class in terms of skill and decision making on a match day. Results were largely in their favour, particularly the A team, but they were always respectful of every opponent faced. What was very impressive for this group is their ‘never say die’ attitude as they had the self-belief to turn around situations in a controlled and measured fashion.

The Under 11s followed in a similar fashion and it was necessary to teach advanced skills and tactics to stretch their development. There was a definite sense of fun and engagement with this group and they certainly have a bright future in the game. Mr Guest said, ‘These boys are so fun to coach and I love watching them play on a match day. They never cease to amaze me with the style of rugby they play.’

The Under 10s have made incredible progress this season. Some simple areas of the game in terms of skill and tactical awareness has been focussed on, which has allowed boys to play a faster and more inclusive game that exploits space and seizes opportunity in attack and defence. Their hard work was evident in their final game of the season where boys moved the ball quickly into spaces against a physical club team. They also took opportunities to turn the ball over with a connected and committed defence.

The Under 9 and Under 8 teams had a lot of fun this year. Excellent games sessions led to boys developing a good knowledge of the game and understanding the values of playing as a team in defence and attack. The Under 9s relished the challenge of full contact and put together some committed performances against other like-minded schools. They played triangulars and festivals, so experienced competitive sport for the school and benefitted from the values these foster.

RUGBY COLOURS WERE AWARDED TO: Alfie Allen Eric Breslin Sam Cutler Edward Dagg James Dagg Robert Dennis William Gallagher Alfie Gittins Will Hayward Matthew Jones

Michael Moretto Arthur Proctor Oliver Simmonds Oliver Smith Millan Verwoert Edward Walker

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Hockey

WORDS BY

Oscar Jewers, First VII Hockey captain

H O C K E Y R E P O RT

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layed 48, Won 38, Drew 5, Lost 5 made for quite an exciting season for the 1st VII hockey team and their coach, Mr McGregor. The term started out with a 14 team tournament at Repton in Derbyshire.

After a promising group stage, coming out with 4 wins and 2 draws, the team finished second in the group, securing a third place play-off match against a strong Framlingham side. But after a flawless 12 minutes, Bedford came out on top, winning 3-0 and ultimately finishing third in the tournament.

Over the next few weeks, the team played approximately another 15 matches, winning all of them except for a 3-3 draw against Felsted. They also progressed through the second round of the ISHC national cup. The third round was then upon them. It was a cold Tuesday with floodlights on when they faced Ipswich School. After around five minutes, Ipswich broke the deadlock, but we fought

back well and went into halftime 2-2. From there on, Bedford ran away with the game, going on to win 7-2.

Shortly after the half term break, the team came up against the brick wall that is St. Faith’s. This game was played in quarters. The first two quarters were tough but the score was 1-1. After the thirrd quarter Bedford were 3-1 down. Going into the final period, Bedford needed a positive mindset and managed to claw back one goal, but ultimately lost the game 3-2. Moving on to the big leagues of IAPS, we hosted a national qualifier. It was an early start for the team, but it was worth it as we went into the afternoon of the tournament topping the group, having won all five games with an incredible goal difference scoring, 11 and conceding just one. All we had to do was win our quarter-final game as six out of the eight quarter finalists went through to the Nationals. After a nerve racking 12 minutes of

hockey, Bedford won the game 1-0, thereby qualifying for Nationals for the third year running. Swiftly moving on to the semis, Bedford were faced with the challenge of Repton who had won the tournament that we had entered earlier in the term. After another impressive 12 minutes of hockey, Bedford walked away unscathed, winning 1-0. The final was against who else but St. Faith’s. The game was all square after 12 minutes of normal time and 5 more of golden goal. It went to flicks, which we lost 3-2.

On 5th March, we set off on our first road trip of the season. After a good night out at the Ritz, the team was ready to go for the IAPS National Finals. This is the title the we have been after for three years. A very impressive group stage, winning four and drawing one, saw us top the group. A special mention here goes to the three defenders and goalie, Arthur, for not letting anything past them, conceding

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absolutely no goals. With a goal difference of +11, we were confident going up against a scary team of boys from Taunton. It was a dominant performance from Bedford in the National quarter-finals, but after 12 minutes it wasn’t enough as a goal against the run of pay saw us lose 1-0.

One of the final things to shout about from the term was our ISHC National quarter-final match against St. George’s. The night was cold and the rain was hard, but after 40 minutes of game time 2-2 was the score. With no golden goal in play and Mr McGregor making us do dozens of flicks in training, what was to stop us from winning this time, except a huge goalie and the fact I missed my flick?!

Fortunately, the Dagg twins pulled it together and we won 2-Again, a special mention goes to Arthur for making some unimaginable saves. So we were through to the ISHC Finals Day, but that has unfortunately been postponed for the time being owing to Covid-19.

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The final event of this hockey year was the East Regional Finals. If the team could place in the top two in the East, we would be off to another nationals. A good start to the group, winning three from three, meant we moved onto the fourth and final group game against our old rivals St. Faith’s in good spirits. After a dominant performance in the first half, we then proceeded to give them the game and kill our chances of achieving a qualification spot in the finals.

Finally, I want to say a massive thank you on behalf of all the boys who played hockey this term to all the staff involved.

Particular thanks go to Mr Gilbert for being our umpire and to Mr Mee and Mr McGregor for giving us all these wonderful opportunities over the course of these last three years.

Top of the country in the National rankings is how it ended, but we only really had a second place IAPS medal to show for it. However, I say a big well done to the first

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way from the 1st team, Prep School hockey, across the board, has enjoyed an incredibly successful year, with 24 individual teams representing the school from Year 3 up to Year 8. In the junior teams more fixtures than ever before were possible thanks to us hosting a number of Year 3&4 A-D fixtures for the first time, allowing every boy in these year groups to play more competitive hockey. It was pleasing to see the volume of boys who also attended Saturday morning hockey club since moving the event to Gordon Fields this year.

In Year 5, a further 4 teams represented the school with great success, and the C & D teams regularly thrilled the crowds with more than 5 goals apiece in many of their fixtures. Excellent performances earned a healthy number of boys promotions to higher teams and also a pleasing amount of boys wishing to take up hockey over the course of the term. The A & B teams also played some excellent hockey over the course of the term with structure and pattern evident by the end of the season which saw both sides beat U11 teams in their latter fixtures.

In the U11s there was a similar story of plenty of goals and exciting hockey being played by all the teams. Again the C & D teams played with great purpose and a testament to the boys commitment and hard work was that there were a number of boys who rose through the teams to gain A & B selection by the end of the season. The B team showed excellent structure and patterns in their play, allowing them to get the better of many of the opposition teams faced, with many boys regularly mixing into the A squad. The A squad enjoyed a fabulous season that was cut cruelly short before their IAPS National Finals event having won their Regional event convincingly.

In the senior years 8 teams represented

team this year and good luck to the Tear 7s who will become Year 8s next year.

the school weekly where again an excellent standard of hockey was produced by the boys. The 7th & 8th squads scored goals for fun, matched by the 5th and 6th teams. All this is a real testament to style of play that all boys have been encouraged to adopt and practise.

The aim has been to attack and pass the ball quickly to give them a chance to score. The was an excellent blend of wise Year 8s and Year 7s experiencing senior hockey for the first time and taking well to the increased power and pace of the game. The 3rd and 4th teams played some industrious hockey over the course of the season which secured them some hardfought wins against some opposition made up entirely of Year 8 boys. Many of the boys in these teams represented the school in the U12 regional event which saw them narrowly miss out on progressing through the event and gives an excellent indication of the hockey success they hope to achieve next year.

Finally, the 2nd team made huge progress as the season developed.

Having found things tough going at the start of the season they began to play a level of hockey after half term that other 2nd teams weren’t able to match, with many of the boys pushing hard for selection into the first team, and others, from Year 7, staking an excellent claim to a 1st team spot next year. Despite the season being cut short a huge amount of credit should go to every boy who has played hockey this season for their attitude and commitment to the sport, be it from training seasons, to after school clubs or Saturday activities. The number of boys playing school hockey has never been higher and, pleasingly, there are more boys playing for local clubs than ever before with 20 boys also gaining selection to county hockey teams this year. Thank you to all the coaches for all their hard work, dedication and time given up to keep pushing the sport on at Bedford.

WORDS BY

Mr Ed McGregor, Head of Hockey

The number of boys playing school hockey has never been higher

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W H I N C H AT

Cross Country

they each had to run a leg of between 1200m and 1500m, depending on age. Although these teams were depleted due to other sports fixtures on the day, the boys all ran very well and returned with a lot of medals. The Under 9 team finished in second place in their first ever race! The Under 11 teams finished in second and third place, and the Under 13 teams (mainly comprising boys under 12) finished in third and fourth places.

Unfortunately, the Independent Prep School Cross-Country Championships at Malvern School were cancelled due to adverse weather (which is somewhat strange for a crosscountry fixture!).

C RO S S C O U N T RY R E P O RT WORDS BY

By Mr Rob Heaney, Head of Cross-Country

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his was another successful, albeit short, cross-country season. The highlight was the fact that Bedford Prep School retained its Overall District Championship title. The Under 13s ran fantastically well at this event, having all eight runners in the top 22 places (there were around 120 in the race). The Under 12s also ran extremely well, with all eight runners in the top 26 places (around 140 in the race). The Under 11s had a depleted team, but still ran well to finish in fourth place. The individual highlights at this event were Edward Dagg 2nd, James Dagg 3rd, Arthur Proctor 4th and Eric Breslin 10th in the Under 13s, Sam

Deardon 2nd, Ben Coomber 5th and Joseph Lee 7th in the Under 12s, and Isaac Raddan 4th in the Under 11s. We also took five teams over to Rowney Warren Woods to take part in a cross-country relay event. Each team was made up of three boys and

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Badminton

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n Saturday 11th January, the top six players of the Badminton Squad set off very early on the long drive to Eastbourne College to take part in the IAPS National Finals. The Under 11s pair of Leo Mathew and Jack Down finished second in their group, having won three matches and lost one. This qualified them for a quarter-final match against St Martin’s School, which they won 21-2. By the afternoon, the pair were really getting used to playing together and were producing some excellent doubles badminton.

The semi-final was a very close encounter, with Leo and Jack losing by just two points, 19-21, to the eventual winners of the whole competition, York House. In their third place play-off match against Great Walstead, Leo and Jack won 21-7 to gain a fantastic third place medal.

In the Under 13s competition, we had two pairs representing BPS. Firstly, Sammy Inman and Dylan French were playing in this competition for the fourth time together.

Secondly, there were the Under 13 champions from last year, Alex Lamb and Krishnan Nair.

Dylan and Sammy qualified fourth in their group, having won four games and lost two.

Alex and Krishnan won their group with six wins out of six. This, unfortunately, set up a head to head quarter-final between the two Bedford pairs, which was won by Alex and Krishnan, setting up a semi-final against St Faiths. This game was tighter than expected; Alex and Krishnan eventually won 21-15, but they were certainly pushed all the way. The final was a three set thriller against last year’s Under 11s champions from St Martin’s School.

Unfortunately, having won the first set 2119, Alex and Krishnan were out-played in a very high-skilled match, going down 15-21 and 19-21 to finish second in the competition.

Congratulations to all the boys on a superb effort and for being such great representatives of the school.

Over 20 boys from Years 6 to 8 represented the badminton team in this year’s District and County rounds. Played over a series of four Thursdays, the boys played various teams at Lincroft School and enjoyed the opportunity to participate in competitive fixtures after all their training in PE lessons and Badminton Club. The A team qualified for the County finals at the Bunyan Centre, which they won comfortably, beating Stopsley 5-0, Icknield 5-0, Biddenham 5-0 and Linslade 5-0. This meant that they

B A D M I N TO N R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Simon Lincoln, Head of PE

The final was a three-set thriller against last year’s U11 Champions

needed to play Lincroft Under 14s (winners of the county Under 14s competition) for a chance to compete in the regional finals. BPS won this game and therefore qualified, but unfortunately the competition went on to be cancelled due to COVID-19. As all the boys are young enough, they will get the chance next year to compete as a team again and get their opportunity to qualify for the National Finals.

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Cricket

CRICKET R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Gary Steer, Director of Cricket

W WH H II N C H A T

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Cricket

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ue to the pandemic, the cricket programme was hit quite hard as no matches were played at all during the summer term. However, we were lucky enough to squeeze in a full winter programme from September through to Easter. All boys were able to attend the open net sessions in the sports hall whereby batting, bowling and fielding skills were worked on throughout the winter. In addition to the winter nets, a large number of boys were also invited to attend master classes which were headed up by former professional cricketers. As per below:

Batting Masterclasses nJAMES KETTLEBOROUGH (Northants, Glamorgan, Derbyshire) Fast BowlingMasterclasses n L L O Y D T E N N A N T (Leics. Essex) Spin Bowling Masterclasses n P E T E R W I L L E Y (Northants, Leicestershire and England) Wicket Keeping Masterclasses n ADAM ROSSINGTON (Northamptonshire) The batting sessions with James Kettleborough (pictured below) focussed mainly on technique against fast and spin bowling, whilst the fast bowling sessions delivered by Lloyd Tennant were aimed at trying to develop safe, strong bowling actions as well as swinging the ball. Peter Willey challenged our spin bowlers to spin the ball as much as possible and also bowling a consistent line and length. The final area of the master class programme was wicket keeping and current Northamptonshire wicket keeper and captain, Adam Rossington, worked really hard with our boys on standing up, standing back and catching technique.

Following a winter of hard practice indoors, it was a shame that the boys did not get the opportunity to play any school matches in 2020, however lets hope that we have a summer programme in 2021.

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Rowing

W H I N C H AT

TableTennis

ROW I N G R E P O RT WORDS BY

Ms Imogen Bowis, DT, English and Rowing Teacher

TA B L E T E N N I S

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his has been a strong year for Bedford Table Tennis, with Years 6, 7 and 8 playing excellently. The Year 6s did very well, playing four and winning two, with Jack Sivills coming second in the county trials. The Year 7s played very good table tennis against some very strong teams, including Lincroft and Bedford Modern School. They put up a great fight against them but couldn’t quite bring home the victories. Finally, the Year 8s faced the strongest competition but still managed to win two and draw one of their five matches. In the county trials, the Year 8s placed very well against some of the best players in Bedfordshire. Very well done to Abhinav Iarala and Trystan Wright who both got to the quarter-finals, and to Elliot Rossington who reached the semi-finals and placed third overall. Well done to all the boys who took part in Table Tennis this year. By Elliot Rossington (Year 8)

Under 11 Report

The Under 11’s A and B squads took part in the county Table Tennis competition and in the first round, which was played over two evenings, both teams played outstanding Table Tennis to comfortably finish in first and second places out of the eight teams participating.

Both teams won all of their matches against

the other schools, which meant the game between Bedford A and Bedford B decided who finished in first position. You would have thought the A team would win this contest but a superb display by the B team saw them win the match 7 games to 1!

Well done to the B team. As both the A and B teams were comfortably in first

and second places, both qualified for the county finals and, without doubt, the standard was much higher than in the first round. As a result of the commanding win by the B team over the A team in the previous round, the squads were swapped around for the county final. Whilst both teams again played very well on the night, a very talented

school from Luton deservedly came first.

Our A team finished in third place and were awarded bronze medals and the B team finished just behind in fourth place. Well done to all of the boys who took part.

U11 Squad

Jack Sivills (Capt) Alfred Williams Ben Maddaford Thomas Noble

Nirmay Patel Lewis Noble Harry Lousada Ramaraju Gadiraju

Under 13 Report

The Under 13s A and B squads took part in the county Table Tennis competition and, in the first round, both teams played very well throughout the evening. The A squad played against all of the other schools’ A teams in the tournament, whilst the B teams played in a friendly competition. The A team won the majority of their games and qualified for the next round, whilst the B team played against some very good teams, winning one match, drawing one match and losing one match.

At the second round

of the tournament, as you would expect, the standard jumped considerably as the boys had to play against the likes of Lincroft and BMS, who are both always strong teams. Despite spirited performances from Elliot Rossington, George Kelly, Krishnan Nair and Abhinav Iarala, the A squad just missed out on qualifying for the county finals as they finished in third place.

Well done to all of the boys who took part.

U13 Squad

Elliot Rossington (Cap) George Kelly Krishnan Nair Abhinav Iarala Sahvan Jutla Trystan Wright Oliver Briggs Edgar Maddocks

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Rowing

‘W

e’re all in the same boat!’ That’s what they keep telling us - if only we were!

This has been the strangest year for Prep School rowing, as with so many things at the moment. During lockdown, I have spent many daily exercise sessions running, cycling and walking past the closed black doors of the School’s Boat House, gazing with a pang of sadness at the empty river with only a few ducks and swans to ripple the water. It will be remembered as ‘the year that rowing stopped’, and we will look back on it and wonder how that could be possible. Rowing is generally an all-year-round sport with very little downtime, which is why rowers are so fit and healthy. However, despite the lack of water time, we know that a large part of success in rowing comes from core strength and aerobic fitness and that was able to continue. The boys in the Prep School worked hard on this during the first half of the Spring term and we know they will have been building on their strength and endurance by persevering with online workouts, running and cycling etc. They will return with even more determination, when the chance to do some real rowing is available to them again. The future’s still bright for our youngest rowers.

Back in September we were out on the river every week, enjoying some fine weather and honing those boatcraft skills. There were the inevitable dips in the river out of the single sculls as boys grew in confidence and forgot, for a second, the all-important rule, called regularly from the bank: ‘Don’t let go of your blades!’ They do say you have to fall in once before you can call yourself a ‘real rower’, however some boys seem to take this a little too literally! The beginners enjoyed the safety of the restricted crew boats where they were able

to learn about technique and timing without the fear of falling in.

The January and February weather wasn’t kind to us, with the usual strong winds and high water that seem to afflict this time of year. Consequently, we worked at school on the Ergos, running and core stability. It is great to see boys improving on their run times and moving up to new colour-coded running groups. They have enjoyed Mr Mulkerrins’ ever-inventive Ergo drills, using box tops, weights and broom handles and competing in ‘Promotion Demotion’ Ergo competitions.

We may have missed the racing and House Rowing competitions this year but all the boys have made so much progress and many have already started to develop a lifelong love of rowing. There are definitely some stars for the future amongst them and I hope they will all continue to pursue the sport as they move up the school. I am confident that the future of Bedford School Rowing is in safe hands.

My thanks as always go to Mr Mulkerrins (our resident Olympian), Mr Tebb and Mrs Maltby for their inspiration and dedication which enables us to make rowing happen for our Prep School boys.

‘We’re all in the same boat!’

That’s what they keep telling us if only we were!

T

he term saw five swimming events, starting with a match away at Kimbolton. The opposition had a mixed team with their best boys and girls swimming against us. There were some excellent and closely fought races, with Kimbolton winning overall.

The second match for the Under 10,11,12 and 13 teams was against St Faith’s, who, once again, had boys and girls in their team. This was, again, a hard fixture for our boys but improvements were made, with the Under 11 and Under 12 teams winning their age groups.

Match three saw some Year 3 boys swim against Pilgrims’ swim squad in a friendly event which had a mixture of full length and full width events.

The fourth event was at Warwick School in their highly competitive 50s challenge. Only the Under 12s swam, showing resilience to swim some excellent races. Top results saw the Medley and freestyle relay teams come second, as did Max Mullooly in the 100m Individual Medley.

This year’s IAPS heats were held at Stamford School. 12 Bedford boys trialled to see if they could progress to the finals in June (subsequently these finals were cancelled). Some committed swimming saw the boys record some excellent times which were sent to a central point where they then worked out who finished in what place.

We still await those results. No further events happened this year owing to coronavirus .

SWIMMING WORDS BY

Swimming

Mr Shawn Phillips, Director of Sport

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SPORT

Equestrian B E D F O R D S C H O O L AT NSEA SHOW JUMPING COMPETITION

O

n Sunday 15th September, Felix Thwaite (Y8) and Benjamin Cutts (Y7) competed in the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) show jumping competition held at Bury Farm Equestrian Centre near Leighton Buzzard.

Felix, riding Cream Cracker, and Benjamin, on Boolagh Mississippi, represented Bedford School, competing at 50cm, 60cm and 70cm between them.

Despite it being a challenging and technical course with a vast ďŹ eld of entrants in each class, the boys took it all in their stride, rode good lines in to each jump and ew around the course in style.

Both boys and ponies were immaculately attired and turned out and were a credit to the school.

We look forward to following their progress throughout the year.

EQUESTRIAN WORDS BY

Mrs Rachel Osborne, Maths teacher

W H I N C H AT

O C TO B E R 2 0 2 0

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Fencing

Football

WORDS BY

Mr Michael Mallalieu

F E N C I N G R E P O RT

T

he Bedford Prep School Fencing Club has had another successful (if somewhat foreshortened!) year.

Due to the re-roofing of the Sports Hall, most of the training sessions in the first term took place in the Old Theatre.

During the year, about 15 boys sampled the sport and there were about 10 regular attendees.

On Sunday 2nd February, Bedford School hosted a Fencing tournament which gave our boys an opportunity to compete against fencers of a similar ability from clubs and schools from around the county. Wearing electric jackets and foils (the sword!), it meant that if a successful hit was made, an alarm would sound, assisting the referee.

There were some impressive performances from Bedford boys, with Selim Sheikh and Harry Brown in the top half, Aryan Sohanpal placing sixth and the overall winner (out of 22 competitors) being Rocco Sarro.

Any boy is welcome to attend Fencing sessions. Beginners will be taught the basics but before long will have the opportunity to have practice fights against other boys.

F O OT B A L L R E P O RT WORDS BY

Mr Tom Brett

T

he Under 13 football teams had an enjoyable season, with mixed results against strong opposition. The season highlights for the A and B teams were their victories over Wellingborough. The Under 13C team managed to get a 3-3 draw against King’s Ely which was a fantastic effort. The boys were lucky enough to get to train often at Bedford Athletic Rugby Club on a brilliant 4G pitch. Well done to all the boys for their commitment and efforts during training and fixtures.

The Under 11 squad enjoyed their training and played several fixtures, with the B team being involved in two lower team festivals as well.

There were also matches played at Under 8, Under 9 and Under 10 levels. These were mainly played as mixed ability teams with just one against The Beacon where teams were streamed.

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LEAVERS

W H I N C H AT

Bedford Preparatory School

Abdullah Khalid

Abhinav Iarala

Akshat Buddineni

Alan Bastin Titus

Alex Hammond

Alex Lamb

Alexander Davis

Alexander Deane

Alfie Allen

Alfie Gandesha

Alfie Gittins

Anthony Worthington

Arthur Polhill

Arthur Proctor

Brooklyn Fu

Charlie Eggleton

Charlie Wallis

Christopher Bonnington

Clement Rahwangi Gough

Dale Sirivisal

David Wiltshire

Dominic Ray

Edgar Maddocks

Edward Dagg

Edward Foley

Edward Walker

Elliot Rossington

Eric Breslin

Esam Janahi

Ethan Summers

O C TO B E R 2 0 2 0

LEAVERS

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Leavers 2019-20

Felix Thwaite

Finlay McIntyre

Finn Adams

Frankie Marlor

Fred Dickson

Gabriel Almeida

George Kelly

Hamish Whiteman

Harmun Basra

Harry Clifton

Henry Pascall

Hilary Esomugha

Hugo Hodgson

Hugo Willson

Jack Guest

Jake Biffa

James Dagg

James Robertson

Jamie Lawrence

Kieran Hamel-Henn

Kong Leepiboonsawats

Krish Peenikal

Krishnan Nair

Matthew Jones

Max Quince

Michael Moretto.

Michael Robertson

Millan Verwoert

Muhammad Alom

Nate Sharpe

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AC ADEMIC

W H I N C H AT

Bedford Preparatory School

Nathan Tharakan

Oliver Briggs

Oliver Greenhalgh

Oliver Phillips

Oliver Simmonds

Oliver Smith

Olly Wright

Oscar Barker

Oscar Jewers

Oscar Jooste

Pui Lam Ng

Ra’ed Rizwan

Rehaan Choudhary

River Chen

Robert Dennis

Robert Groves

Robert Wells

Ruben Jacob

Rufus Thwaite

Sahvan Jutla

Sam Cutler

Samuel Mullaney

Sebastien Tatham

Shayen Patel

Steven Wang

Tanay Rai

Toby Akinola

Tom Barnes

Trosha Molchanov

Trystan Wright

O C TO B E R 2 0 2 0

LEAVERS

Notes

Leavers 2019-20

Vinay Ram

Will Brunsden Parsons

Will Hayward

Will Turner

ARTIST CREDITS

William Beattie

William Bulleyment

Pa 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

ge 29 To m W a l k e r ‘ To p Te c h n i c i a n ’ Lewis Pettengell 5M I s a a c We s t 5 M Ben Zanna 5M Jack Down 6JL George Knight 6JL Lewis Noble-6JL Lewis Noble-6JL Ben Zanna 5M Ashwin Curtis 6M Henry Gillham 7P Ben Cutts 7T Harry Howlett 6M Jacob Adedeji 5DR To m m y H u g h e s 7 A G Joseph Lee 7EG Zach Whelan 7AG Fraser Morgan 7EG Joe Basquille 7H Mike Halahan 7H Luka Ilic 7H

22 Luka Ilic 7H 23 Selim Sheikh 7T Will Gallagher

William Rogers

Page 30 Ye a r 4 01 George Kotsidis 4M 02 Haris McLynn 4M 03 Oliver Featherstone 4M 0 4 A l e x a n d e r Wo o d h o u s e 4 V Ye a r 5 01 Ben Zanna 5M 02 Dylan Uppal 5M 03 Berkley Barnicoat 5M 04 Isaac Johnson 5M

Zach Hone

Ye a r 6 01 Stirling Smallwood 6JL 02 Lewis Noble 6JL 03 George Simmonds 6M 04 Lewis Noble 6JL 0 5 A l e x Tu r n e r 6 J L 06 Freddie Bowis 6JL Ye a r 7 01 Charlie Spencer 7AG 02 John Ding 7AG 03 Misha Savitski 7AG 04 Sean Natsa 7AG 05 Jonathan Hall 7EG 06 Luka Ilic 7H 0 7 To b y W e s s o n 7 H 08 Aiden Reed 7P 09 Ariyan Flora 7P 10 Aadhi Arun 7P 11 Henry Gillham 7P 1 2 O l i ve r Ve r l e 7 P 1 3 A b u t u r a b Tu r r a b i 7 T 14 Felix Beckmann 7T 15 Selim Sheikh 7T 16 Harry Gray 7T Ye a r 8 01 Alan Bastin-Titus 8A 02 Clement-Rahwangi-Gough 8A 03 Finlay McIntyre 8A 04 Harmun Basra 8A 05 Rober t Groves 8A 0 6 S e b a s t i e n Ta t h a m 8 A 07 Vinay Ram 8A 08 Will Rogers 8A 09 Alfie Gittins 8A 10 David Wiltshire 8F 11 Edward Dagg 8F 12 Harry Clifton 8F 13 Michael Moretto 8F 14 Oliver Simmonds 8F 15 Oscar Jewers 8F 16 Will Bulleyment 8F 17 River Chen 8IB 18 Hamish Whiteman 8RB

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W H I N C H AT

Milestones

Above: Drone image depicting the gargantuan amount of cards received for Captain Sir Tom Moore to mark his 100th Birthday - on display in The Great Hall

BEDFORD P R E PA R ATO RY SCHOOL D E PA R Y S AV E N U E B E D F O R D, M K 4 0 2 T U UNITED KINGDOM T +44 (0)1234 362274 F +44 (0)1234 362285 E PREPINFO@BEDFORDSCHOOL.ORG.UK