Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Inspiration and Excellence
Autumn 2015
Celebrating student success
On the last Friday of November we held our annual Speech Day at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall to celebrate the successes of the Class of 2015 and the progress of the school during the last academic year. We were delighted to welcome Lord Keith Bradley OV on this occasion. There was much to celebrate. Summer 2015 saw 82% of A Level entries being graded A*-B. and a ... …
and a record-breaking year
record % of grades at A*/A : 55%. Once again there were many fantastic individual performances. Congratulations to Tom Reershemius (below far right), whose four A* grades and an A grade have won him a place to read Earth Science at Worcester College, Oxford. In total nine students are off to Oxbridge with top marks including Oliver Ayto, Economics and Management (Worcester College, Oxford), Jerry Cao, Biochemistry (Hertford College, Oxford), Thomas Cotterill, History (Jesus College, Oxford), Grace Stoddart, Physics (St Hugh's College, Oxford), Sofia Chowdry, Veterinary Science (Emmanuel College, Cambridge), Laura Dyer, English (Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge), Eloise Harrison, Geography (Jesus College, Cambridge) and Dylan Thiarya, Medicine (Magdalen College, Cambridge). Well done also to other students with three A* grades or better: Sukhpreet Dhalivaal (Law), David James (Maths, Warwick University), Leo Tsoi (Maths and Philosophy, Warwick University), and Molly Walsh (History, Durham University). The Class of 2015 also excelled in so many other areas from Music to Sport, from Debating to Drama. They were an absolute delight to work with. A new school record was also set at GCSE with just under 70% of student grades being awarded at A*/A. As usual, there were some stunning academic performances with Alexander Burden (11 A*s) following his brother’s, Dominic, excellent achievement of 5 A grades at AS. Also gaining an impressive set of 10 A* grades were Omair Quyyam, Akshay Khanna and Reece Jones. Reece also attained an impressive 100% in French and English GCSE. One notable BVGS performer this year was the Team GB gymnast, Hamish Carter (see P4). Fresh from gold and silver medal success in the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia in July, Hamish bagged an impressive nine A*/A grades. For a more detailed breakdown of academic performance see P6. In November we were delighted to hear further excellent news. The TES published a table stating that BVGS is the ninth most popular school in the country according to DfE 2014-15 admissions data. Then in the Sunday Times Parent Power League Table of top state schools Bishop Vesey’s came in at 49th (a third year in the top 50 nationally) performing very strongly locally, regionally and nationally. There is much to celebrate. Please take the time to get a flavour of our school by reading about an exhilarating first term. Wishing you a very Happy Christmas.
Headteacher
Senior Drama Production of ‘Two’ Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, in conjunction with Centrestage School of Speech and Drama, was proud to present their Senior School Production of ‘TWO’ on Thursday 10 December and Friday 11 December in Big School. Written by Jim Cartwright, 'TWO' invited you to join lovers, mothers and spouses in a Northern pub for a night of eighteen lives from the 1980s. Couples clashed and collided under the dim lights with boozy secrets and buried pasts. Though originally designed for two actors, 'TWO' introduced you to a full cast of characters, each with their own story to tell you for the price of a pint and a good ear. Thank you to the outstanding team at Centrestage: Simon Garrington, Ella McGrail and Rebekah O’Dowd for their wonderful leadership and support. http://www.bvgs.co.uk/ Follow us on
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