Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Inspiration and Excellence
Summer 2015
Growing Vesey, Growing Minds
As we come to an end of another action-packed academic year, I’d like to record my thanks publicly to all our hard-working teachers and students and our supportive families. Without the teamwork that is the hallmark of the Vesey community, we would not have had the outstanding year we have had. Not only, have we been judged outstanding in all categories by OFSTED, but also we have striven to provide an education which inspires all our students. At the same time, we have undertaken our ‘Growing Vesey, Growing Minds’ campaign, which seems well on the way to realising £1.1 million in fund-raising and have secured a breath-taking £2 million grant from central government. The photos above give a flavour of our celebration on Friday 3 July to officially close the ‘Growing Vesey, Growing Minds’ campaign- the sun shone and the paella tasted great. Below you can see the arrival of our temporary accommodation housing Computing, DT and Geography next year. Thank you to all our hard-working Campaign Board, chaired by Peter Dines OV, our volunteers and all our donors for helping us meet our fund-raising target thus enabling us to get on with, as Luke O’Brien Y8 cleverly put it, ‘Growing Vesey, Growing Minds’. Wishing you all a great summer.
Headteacher
One of the most amazing benefits of our fund-raising Campaign this year has been the way our School has re-connected with our alumni, the Old Veseyan community. On the 28 April, we welcomed Paul Rimmer OV (below left), a leading civil servant with a key role in national security. Upper Sixth historians were briefed prior to the seminar with some reading from Peter Hennessy’s ‘Distilling the Frenzy’, which gives detail on the role of Paul Rimmer and Sir Peter Ricketts OV. Discussions with students touched on the formulation of security policy from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, from Blair to Cameron, but also encouraged students to consider an exciting career in the civil service fast stream. In June, our Lower Sixth economists had the pleasure of meeting the recently retired Finance Director of the London School of Economics, Andrew Farrell OV (below right) , who while at BVGS was inspired to read Economics at Cambridge by a young Mel Harvey, who staff and parents may remember. A few weeks later, Lord Keith Bradley OV (below centre), a former Labour MP and Minister in the Blair government, visited us. He enjoyed reminiscing about Vesey cricket, was delighted to see the pitches in such great shape (thank you Bob!) and found his name displayed twice – once on the Perry Shield for Athletics which hangs in Big School corridor and one for student leadership, the Bedggood Prize in Old Big School. Best of all, Lord Bradley spoke with great humanity and enthusiasm about his life in politics and what has inspired him in a life of public service. The quality of questions in this L6 seminar was highly impressive: very thoughtful and probing. We hope to welcome more returning alumni to BVGS next academic year!
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