Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Inspiration and Excellence
Spring 2016
Growing Vesey, Growing Minds
I am delighted to announce that the building of our new fifteen classroom STEM Block is progressing well and is currently on target for a grand opening in September. Meanwhile, our new admissions policy for 2017 has been published. This will offer up to 32 places, in rank order, to students attracting the Pupil Premium, providing they meet our qualifying score.
Judging by the new Year 7 intake, our school continues to grow in standing with a highest ever minimum Birmingham grammar school entrance test score of 220. The last few weeks have also seen our school doing some outstanding outreach work. Our mental health ambassadors have visited local primary schools and delivered ‘wellbeing’ assemblies. Language and Sport leaders continued to inspire young minds. Meanwhile, on 17 March, in British Science week, we held our first STEM outreach afternoon, attended by 31 Year 4 and 5 students. This included sessions of Coding and Robot Football led by Messrs Belcher and Semple and ably supported by Rory Barber, Sam Gill and Gabriel Plume from Year 8. Our visitors loved the opportunity and are keen to make a return visit to Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School. On Tuesday 23 February, we heard the sad news that David Shrubbs had died. David began his teaching career in 1964 as a teacher of Mathematics, serving for 29 years at John Wilmott School, as Head of Maths, Head of Faculty, Head of Year and Head of Lower School. His unbroken 50 year service to education continued here at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School with a remarkable 14 years of service to our students. So many students (and staff) have benefited from David's magical contributions - as an amazing Mathematics teacher or the incredible support he gave to so many extra-curricular activities from running cricket teams to leading residential weeks. He was an inspirational, brilliant, talented, uniquely wonderful and generous man. Since his death, many former students have taken the time to post tributes online. One student contacted from New York, describing Mr Shrubbs as, ‘A passionate teacher in every sense of the word, and a huge loss for Vesey and the community.’ I’ll leave the last word to the man himself. In 2002, David wrote in his Performance Management targets for his ‘A’ level Further Mathematics Group, ‘The next target is to reinforce their appreciation…that they have embarked on the study of a subject which is simultaneously the most aesthetically inspiring…of any other subject available to humanity.’
David Shrubbs
Oxbridge Success Well done to the exceptional eight students offered places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities for 2016:
What could be a more noble calling for any teacher – to love your subject and to be able to communicate that effectively in a passionate and uncompromising manner. Rest in peace Mr Shrubbs. Please note that we will be holding a memorial service here at school on Friday 15 April at 4.00pm to celebrate his incredible life. If you would like to attend, please contact Ms Wendy Brown, our librarian, on w.brown@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk. Despite being tinged with the sadness of the news of the death of David Shrubbs, it has been a joyful and action-packed term. I hope you enjoy reading this glimpse into the ‘Vesey Experience.’ Wishing all our students (and families) a happy and productive Easter
Headteacher
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Cambridge University Tom Breakwell, Theology - Selwyn College; Niall Keating, Engineering - Gonville and Caius; Sneha Lala, English - Murray Edwards; Tamsin Sandiford, French and Italian - Homerton.
Oxford University Jodie Green, Chemistry - St Hugh’s; Lewis Terry, Economics and Management - Pembroke, Brendan Sorohan: Maths Jesus and Connor Walton, French and German -Lincoln. http://www.bvgs.co.uk/ The official Bishop Vesey’s Twitter account is @BVGS1527
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Spring 2016
World Book Day Celebrations At Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, we enjoy celebrating World Book Day. This year was no exception. Assemblies (and lessons) were held for all students presented by Head of English, Ruth Haywood, our librarian, Wendy Brown, and our student library leaders Alex Bailey, Anas Fasih, Jaden Lo -Watson and Yusuf Varsani on the theme of reading for pleasure. Meanwhile, throughout school there were displays revealing our teachers' current reads. In addition, a number of the school community dressed up and helped raise almost £700 for Book Aid. There was a fine array of costumes on display with Mr Clay-Croome starring as Hercule Poirot and a magical appearance by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. All students received a £1 book token. Don’t forget you have until Sunday 27 March to swap your token.
English Superstars The English Department has introduced a new scheme to celebrate excellence in the study of English. Eighteen highly committed young men from Year 7 and 8 enjoyed a free, tasty reward lunch and received a book for their fine efforts in English. The lunch ended with Mr Robson speaking to the boys about one of our most successful Old Veseyans, Sir Peter Ricketts, GCMG, GCVO. Sir Peter went on from Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School to study English at Pembroke College, Oxford University. During his career, he has not only been the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee but also the UK ambassador to France. Where will excellence in English take these boys? Year 7 – Will Meehan, Oliver Smith, Mackenzie Davies, Jun Park, Chirag Guha, Riley Bevan, Moonis Haider, Kamren Purewal, Lucas Cor-
Poetry Live Those Year 11 students attending this year’s Poetry Live here in Birmingham found it very useful preparation for their forthcoming GCSE examination. They heard directly from the poets they are studying (John Agard, Simon Armitage, Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Carol Ann Duffy, Daljit Nagra and Grace Nichols) and were able to ask them questions. Well done to Justin Hurlock, for example, who asked an interesting question to Simon Armitage about the sources of his inspiration. Students also benefited from listening to the Chief Examiner talk about the poetry unseen exam.
den-Bowen and Yuan Sagala. Year 8: Aum Patel, Toby Page, Liam Wragg, Oliver Pratt, Sanan Hasahi, Ravi Sharma, Akshay Gogna and Govind Jandu.
Poetry by Heart Poetry by Heart is a national competition pioneered by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion designed to encourage young people to recite poetry by heart. This year’s regional contestants delivered spinetingling performances at the Birmingham Reptory Theatre. The judges for this special event were writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie, Dr Josie Brady (University of Birmingham) and writer and performer Rochi Rampal. Representing BVGS in this competition was Nyandavoh Foday from the Lower Sixth. She powerfully performed Wilfred Owen’s ‘The Show’ and ‘Epitaph’ by Katharine Phillips
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Spring 2016
Marking the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death The Lower Sixth attended a series of lectures on Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ with prestigious speakers from around the country, including Professor John McCrae (pictured right) from Nottingham University.
Love through the Ages Upper Sixth English students were treated to a fine series of lectures in Birmingham on the theme of ‘Love in literature’ by a number of leading scholars in this field: Dr Carole Weinberg, Professor Gerald Hammond and Dr Daniel Weston. It was an excellent day.
Poetry Competition Winners Every academic year, our students have the opportunity to enter a number of poetry, essay or short story competitions. In this newsletter, we enclose a couple of examples of work by Joe Rogers (Year 7) and Sam Harkin (Year 9) published in the Birmingham-wide publication, 'The Poetry Trials.'
Sam Harkin
New Library Logo Joe Rogers won the recent library logo competition, the prize being a £30 Amazon voucher. His entry was chosen because it was original and not only did it show someone reading but clearly show the 'i' for information linking it to the library. It is being used on everything to do with the library school and world wide. It is a popular choice.
Bali Rai We welcomed back our good friend, the very popular and award-winning author Bali Rai, this February. Bali led creative writing workshops and was generous in giving his time to talk to a wide range of students, including a special lunch for Year 10 students.
Debating This has been quite a busy term for Vesey Debating. The School has participated in four contests: the Regional English Speaking Union Mace, the Cambridge Union Schools Debating Competition at Solihull School, the Youth Speaks Rotary Competition and the Sutton Coldfield Schools Parliamentary Debating Competition. Well done to all representing BVGS: Angalea Verma, Andrew Upton, Georgette McVerry, Sam Breen, Hannah Smith, Joel Stainthorpe, Mithun Padmanabhan, Pierce O'Reilly-Spears, Ishan Mitra, Paavan Sehmar and Matthew McLaughlan. There were a number of highlights. At the Mace competition, BVGS found itself debating the motion from Edgbaston High School against the Nobel Peace prize winning, Malala Yousefszai (pictured). Meanwhile, in the Cambridge Union debating competition, the BVGS team of Angalea and Georgette scored some notable victories over very experienced teams from KES and Warwick. Last but not least, mention must be given to Hannah Smith (left) , who won the Best Speaker award at the Sutton Coldfield parliamentary debate.
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Vesey Music Update
We come to the end of an excellent term for Vesey Music. In January, all our Year 7 attended an enthralling concert at Symphony Hall with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The program was focused on the BBC “Ten Pieces.” Since then, we have also held a couple of Busking Weeks, as well, of course, as our annual Spring Concert on the 17 March. What an excellent concert that was. Above all, it augured well for the future. None of our soloists on the evening was under the age of Year 10. The Head of the Birmingham Music Service, Ciaran O’Donnell, was present and was clearly delighted with the evident strength that the concert demonstrated in all areas. It is a testament to the hard work of students, the support of parents and, above all, the leadership of Maryann Dye, Director of Music, and the amazing external team of 18 peripatetic music teachers. As the Chief Executive of Services for Education, David Perkins, commented on the evening, “It's truly remarkable that a single school can put on such a diverse and high quality programme.” A big thank you to the following students, who have been such brilliant servants of Vesey Music throughout their school careers, and for which the Spring Concert was their last performance on our stage: George Bailey, Lucy Coxon, Gemma Graham, Nikhil Madamsetty, Jonathan Parkin, Natasha Rowland-Lovatt, Adam Smith, Amy Staines and Thomas Young There is more still to come this academic year. On Thursday 14 April, we hold our Senior Soloists Concert. Tickets cost £5 and if you would like to book at ticket, please contact Sue Foster on s.foster@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk. We then hold two Performance Evenings showcasing Vesey Drama and Music on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 June. Last but not least, we also plan to offer a Lads and Dads Singing workshop on the morning of Saturday 9 July. At BVGS, we passionately believe that singing is good for body and soul. That is why it is part of the curriculum entitlement for every Year 7. We are particularly interested in widening this workshop opportunity to families who would not naturally consider themselves to be musical. If you are an active member of a sports club and you would be supportive of publicising this fun opportunity within your organisation or team, please contact our outstanding singing teacher, Richard Jeffries, richmjeffries@googlemail.com. Sam Dye Finally, you may be interested to know that Mrs Dye and her family will be on BBC4 on Friday 29 April. This is because her son, Sam Dye, a very talented trombonist, has qualified for the Young Musician of the Year Brass Final. Sam is also to be found on Radio 2 on Friday 15 April for the Radio 2 Young Brass Player Final. We wish Sam (and the Dye family) the very best with these endeavours
Jekyll and Hyde Theatre Trip Year 10 enjoyed a theatre trip ,organised by Mrs Masterson-Lemin, to see ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ at the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham. Mr Clay-Croome, who attended the play along with the rest of the English team, wrote, “Having taught ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and read it innumerable times, the performance at the Crescent Theatre provided me an unexpected and extraordinary view of Stevenson’s short novel. Certainly, having one actor play the contrasting halves of the title character(s), provided the audience with an insight into a man in grotesque turmoil. The play also took on new twists, reminding us that the past comes back to haunt us and that, once unleashed, evil is hard to contain. Students wishing to equip and familiarise themselves in advance of our lessons in the summer can purchase the Wordsworth Classics edition of ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ for just £1.99 from Amazon.”
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Spring 2016
Vesey Junior Drama
Following on from the success of 'TWO', our senior play from December, we are working hard on two dramatic productions for the summer. Centrestage School of Speech and Drama are supporting KS3 boys with a devised piece marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme and Alan Ayckbourn’s ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations.’Performance dates will be Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 June and will be presented alongside a showcase Year 7 Class Brass, Choir and Creative Writing. Those boys involved in the devised piece will also have the opportunity to perform at a special Lichfield Festival concert, ‘Poppies’ on the morning of Monday 4 July at Lichfield Cathedral. Exciting times for Vesey Drama.
Art Trip
Two of our lower sixth students, Johnny Day and Sophia Thorn, took on a new challenge this year and competed in the British Physics Olympiad, with Sophia receiving a bronze award, congratulations!
In February, the Art Department took Year 10 and 11 students to Walsall Art Gallery. Students completed several pieces to enhance their projects and understanding of contextual art. They were able to experience exhibits by Picasso, Epstein, Lucian Freud, and take part in a talk on an exhibition of Laura Lancaster’s paintings. Students concluded the day by completing a dry- etching workshop with a gallery artist called Rob Conway. The day was an excellent and worthwhile experience for all. A big thank you to Mrs Heer and Mrs Rowlands for organising and leading the trip
Vesey Charity Team This year’s Charity Team, led by Sarah Quinn, Ore Akinwale and Connor Walton, and supported by Mrs Lesley Overton and Dr Adrian Reilly, has had two clear objectives for their fundraising: 1. Raising money for Aspire to Africa to help build a school for girls in Tanzania and 2. Raising money for local community hub ‘Our Place’, Farthing Lane, Sutton Coldfield. ‘Our Place’ provides mentoring and support services for children and families in the local area. Thanks to a number of events such as Artsfest and non-uniform days, we have raised £2,000 for Our Place and £4,000 to build a well to support the school in Tanzania. We have also raised money for well-known charities such as Children in Need, Book Aid and Sport Relief. On Saturday 19 March , the Charity Team undertook a Ground Force style transformation of the community garden at ‘Our Place.’ The results, as I’m sure you will agree, were wonderful. – Thank you for donations from Coppice Garden Centre, Wyevale Garden Centre, Aldridge, - William Wheat and Pacific Nurseries
Mental Health Our outgoing Mental Health Officers, Sneha Lala, Tom Breakwell and Eleni Panayiotou trained 25 Lower Sixth students as Mental Health Ambassadors on Wednesday to continue to improve understanding of issues relating to mental well -being and tackling the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. The training included a personal message from Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former Director of Communications, who is an active ambassador for the mental health charity MIND. This work has been overseen by Ruth Hearn (Deputy Head Teacher) and Kate Steadman (Assistant Head Teacher) who have been invited to speak on this subject at the Annual SSAT Conference in London on 23 June at the Emirates Stadium.
Dr Sharon Bennett Visit
At the end of January, Year 8 were given a special assembly by Dr Sharon Bennett about the Kirambi project, a health charity run by the Medical Missionaries of Mary in Rwanda. This is a project for which our school raised £500 at the Founder’s Day service last October. We learnt that Dr Bennett, a London doctor, supports this charity every summer. She gave us an excellent insight into the many challenges facing medical professionals in this setting. Year 8 (pictured with Mr Robson and Dr Bennett) asked some very probing questions.
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Real Business Challenge On Wednesday 10 February, a team from Year 10 represented Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School in the West Midlands Final of the national Regional Business Challenge competition at Aston Villa Football Club. The boys fought off 65 teams to achieve an impressive runners up position with an intelligent and composed campaign to redice litter. Well done to the team: Christian White, Roan Farley, James Horn, Leo Karski, Ali Lakhanpal, Shoaib Sheraz and Harry West.
National Careers Week There have been plenty of opportunities this term for students to consider their potential careers options. For example, budding architects from Years 9-10 were treated to a tour of our new STEM Block. Thanks to Graham Swindells, School Business Manager, for organising this opportunity. The full list of visitors is here: Charlotte Bell - Recruiter, Zoe Bignall – Apprentice West Midlands, Rebecca Carr – KPMG, Dr Dasgupta – NHS Doctor, Lyndsey Dorrington – University of Nottingham, Dawn Hubbold – Dentist, Anna Lawrence-Pietroni – Writer, David New - Engineer, David Perry OV – Nuclear scientist, Ministry of Defence, Parmjit Singh – Senior Partner, Eversheds, Rachel Titchen - Actuary A big thank you to all our volunteers and Mr Dave Goodwin, who co-ordinated the whole week.
Historic Day for Sutton Coldfield Tuesday 1 March marked the formation of the new interim Parish Council for Sutton Coldfield. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Raymond Hassall, formally presented the Sutton Coldfield Civic Regalia to the chairman of the new Council, during a Civic Reception at Birmingham Council House. Our student leaders and Mr Barker were there to represent the school. Pictured right is John Clarke, School Captain, speaking to dignitaries at the ceremony regarding Vesey student expectations for the new Council.
Chess
Iceland
Chess is going from strength to strength at BVGS under the leadership of Mr Alex Morgan, Mathematics department. The boys have scored some great victories over Camp Hill Boys, Wolverhampton Grammar and Solihull and were only narrowly beaten by KES and KEHS. New for 2016 is Wednesday chess coaching in Mr Robson’s office led by our interna- Over half term, there was an outstanding school trip to Iceland, masterminded by Mr Tom Greenwood, and suptional player from Year 7, ported by Mr Baugh, Mr Godwin and Mr and Mrs Brocklebank. Highlights included the world-famous Blue LaChirag Guha. goon, a geothermal plant, a volcanic crater, Gullfoss waterfall and the awe-inspiring sight of Strokur geyser launching thirty feet into the air.
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Attain Travel is a proud sponsor of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Sports
Vesey Quad make Vesey History
Hockey Success
The Year 9 quad (Oliver Hadley, Matt Berry, Matt Burrows, Omar Takruri and Tom Shephard) did fantastically well in producing the best result in a national competition in school history coming 16th out of a strong field of 51 boats at Eton Dorney, most notably beating schools like Monmouth School, Pangbourne and Shiplake College to name a few. We are exceptionally proud of the boys and is a great reward to the many hours a week the boys devote to their training. A very strong prospect for the future!
Junior Hockey Tour Year 7 and Year 8 boys enjoyed a challenging tour of the South West on their Junior Hockey Tour. Amongst other things, they had some good games against On 29 January 2016 the year 7 hockey team showed us what Dauntsey’s and Millfield School. The spirit of the students was excellent. they are capable of in a 10-0 victory over Queen Mary's Grammar School. No wonder that Mr Doughty (Head of Year7) and Mr Devey (Hockey Coach year 7) look so pleased in the phoAnother team to have considerable success in Hockey this year is the U14A. Ben tograph. The lads look pretty happy too! Ellis the Captain, and Malachi Searchwell-Snape, key goal scorer shared their thoughts. ‘First of all BVGS took part in the U14 County Tournament at KES. They beat King Henry’s 5-0 and defeated Warwick in a tense semi-final to qualify for the Regionals alongside KES, Birmingham’. Ben Ellis attributed Vesey success Well done to Ben Jesson and Oliver Wem who have made to ‘excellent morale and the fact that the team had strong players on the pitch in Vesey History. It is the first time that BVGS has ever had two every position’. In round one of the Regionals at Repton BVGS beat players simultaneously picked at the same time for the England Loughborough 2-0, and then went on to round 2 at Cannock where we defeated Counties U18 team. Good luck to them in the two games comNunnery Wood and Bromsgrove. Malachi comments that the key to our success ing up over Easter: Wednesday 30 March v France U18 Poles was having ‘One of the most determined squads in the competition’. In the end Espoires, Saturday 2 April v Ireland U18 Clubs we went out 2-1 in the semi-finals to Repton.
Hockey Regionals U14A
Jesson and Wem make History
Rosslyn Park Success The U14s sevens squad have had a great season, finishing as runners-up at the Adams GS and Old Swinford Hospital tournaments. They also performed admirably at Rosslyn Park last week, winning their group on Day 1 which included Clifton College and Llandovery College, before performing well against some of the best sides in the country on Day 2. Although results didn’t go the way we wanted, the boys competed well and learnt many valuable lessons. Captain Harrison Casey has been exceptional throughout, whilst Stevie Davie and Seb Smith have also made excellent contributions. Well done also to our U13 7s team who learned a lot from their RP experience and were a delight to work with.
Record breaking Under 15As make Vesey Proud What a season it has been for the Under 15A rugby boys with an absolutely stunning cup run in the Nat West Vase Competition. Along the way, they defeated local rivals Arden, Princethorpe, KE Stratford and Adams. Things got serious then as we went national. We narrowly defeated the highly respected St George’s Harpenden and then spectacularly came back from the brink in the second half against the independent New Hall, Chelmsford with incredible spirit and determination.Then came a heart-breaking Semi Final at the home of Saracens (Allianz Park) against Sir Tommy Rich’s School, Gloucester. We narrowly lost 23-19. Unfortunately, the boys didn’t start quite quickly enough. However, their second half display was impressive. As Captain Louis Hanlan put it, “We had the will to play for each other. We were never going to give up.”It was a quite extraordinary journey for the boys. It all started with the ignominy of being knocked out of the Nat West Schools Cup by local rivals Five Ways. Dan Black continues, “Mr Whiting called a meeting. He said, ‘Where do you want to go? What are your goals?’ The team were unanimous. We wanted to win the Vase. And you know what we almost did it!” A big thank you to all who helped the team along the way: Mr Whiting for his down to earth support and cunning tactics, Mr Davis for his ongoing support and of course all the Barmy Army of parents and Old Veseyans who supported the team. Thank you all
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Spring 2016
Netball Nationals for the Second Year Running What a season, it has been for Vesey Netball. The statistics are for our three teams are as follows:
Week in, week out, the girls have played at an outstanding level. In the County Cup, we entered both the U18A and U18B teams. From that tournament, the top two teams were to qualify for the Regionals. The U18A won the tournament and the U18B almost went through, narrowly pipped to second place. From there the U18A went on to the Regionals at Bromsgrove. They played superbly yet again, beating the independent Wrekin College in the final and thus being crowned Regional Champions for the first time ever. Last week then saw the U18A compete in the Nationals for the second year running. This time the competition was held on the south coast, at Roedean School, Brighton. The girls played valiantly, showing wonderful team spirit and resilience, and finished a very respectable 15 in the country. Well done to the whole team and to the very generous staff coaches and supporters: Zylpha Clarke, Cara Brocklebank, Helen Perera, Naima Field and Aine Parize. A big thank you also to Clive Richards OBE, DL who under-wrote the cost of the kit the girls wore for the Nationals.
Lucy Parize picked for England
Goodbye Jan
Well done to Lucy Parize who was at the England Netball trials on Saturday in Sheffield and has been re-selected into the England U19 Netball squad for the 2016-17 Season.
Cross-Country The Cross Country team came fourth in the league out of eight schools. Georgia Curry was the top female runner for our league this year, and our best male runner was Thomas Parkes who came 10th out of 40 runners this is despite him losing his show in one race and carrying on regardless.
In December, we said goodbye to our much loved lunchtime supervisor, Mrs Janet Crane. Jan has served Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School for over twenty years and has been an absolutely inspirational, kind and generous helper. Here, she is pictured with Year 11 who collected money to buy her a lovely present.
PAC Quiz Night
Vesey Ball Date for your diary! Friday 1 July - Aston Wood Golf Club - 7.30-12pm. Black Tie Please come along and support the Vesey Ball. We have an excellent band booked and lots of exciting features for 2016!
Big congratulations to BVGS PAC Winners 2016: Third time lucky! Thanks to Dave Goodwin, Quiz Master and everyone who attended and supported to make it happen. ÂŁ900 was raised for the school.
See above - two more exciting Vesey events: Annual Sports Dinner and the Inaugural BVGS Golf Day. http://www.bvgs.co.uk/alumni/alumni-community