Head Boy’s Speech
5
High Expectations & High Standards
In his speech at Prizegiving, James Lee reflected on some of the highlights of the year and dwelt on his time as a Prep School pupil. I expect every head boy starts his speech with the words, “it’s been a good year”, but this year it really has. There’s been a wide range of academic, sporting, musical and dramatic achievements, and many, plays, quizzes and concerts. On the sports field there have been a lot of teams with excellent records that deserve to be congratulated, but special mention must go to the Under-11 A rugby team who won all 14 of their matches, and 12 of those were away fixtures. On the hockey astro the Under-11 team are the Bedfordshire champions, and in the pool at the national IAPS swimming competition boys gained many medals and personal bests, with the highlight being Oliver Maltby who won gold in the under-12 25 metre butterfly. The cross-country runners survived another year of tough races, in a very cold and muddy season, with the star performance by Jonathan Janes who won the Year 7 Bedford and District Championships. Three boys travelled to the French Alps to represent the school in the British Inter Schools Ski Challenge and with such a small team did extremely well to finish joint 5th overall. On the theme of winter sports Whitbread won the house snowman building competition with a superb design that I would love to describe, but sadly we don’t have time! It’s been another great year for music and drama across the Prep School. Just a few of the highlights include: the Junior Choir’s performance of ‘Yanomamo’, a musical about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, the Senior Choir performed alongside professional musicians in Handel’s ‘Samson’, the Chapel Choir have sung at Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, and the school play this year was a comedy version of ‘Treasure Island’, an extremely funny production with a brilliant
performance from the whole cast. Once again, this year’s house singing competition was fiercely fought with Bunyan deservedly coming out on top, winning the unison song and coming second behind Howard in the part song. The School has taken part in many charitable activities this year with
As the Year 8’s say goodbye to the Prep School it’s worth thinking about what has made the past six years such a great experience: the teachers (of course!), the house competitions, the clubs and sports teams. But much more important is that as boys pass through the Prep School they set high standards for the younger boys to live up to and the great thing is they always do. That’s what I like about our school - the spirit. So, did we reach the expectations left for us by previous boys, and did we set a high standard for those following us?
fantastic support for the Crazy Tie Day, Red Nose Day, Mufti Days, Sports Shirts for Swaziland, Operation Christmas Child, Charity Week and the notorious Evening of Entertainment. We’ve been able to make significant contributions to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the Jeanette Crizzle Trust and, our special charity, the Swaziland Schools Projects. Through our fundraising efforts, coordinated by the boys on the Charity Committee, we have raised a total of £4500 for the Swaziland Schools Projects and we hope that this sum will be a huge step forward for their work, in particular for the sports field project. I joined the prep school six years ago in Mr Whitbread’s class. Imagine this group of little seven-year olds in grey shorts: Tom Hall, Ollie Lyons, Sam Assim, Alex Dorgham … and me. We’ve come a long way since then. Each year we’ve seen younger boys arrive and the older ones depart, and now it’s our turn to move on. Back to Index
There are many things for the Year 8’s to be proud of. The 1st XV rugby team travelled to Northern Ireland and won the Portora Royal rugby tournament, in typically wet Irish conditions. Ollie Lyons played for, and was vice-captain of, the English Prep Schools Barbarians. The rugby Under 13 B and C teams won all but one of their games. The 1st VII rugby team won the Denstone tournament and were runners-up at the National School Sevens at Rosslyn Park, just beaten in the final after two hard days of competition. The 1st XI hockey team are the Bedfordshire champions. The 1st XI cricket team lost only one game in the regular season and reached the semifinal of the National Schools twenty20 competition. The 2nd XI and 4th XI cricket teams were unbeaten this season and, in total, the Year 7 and 8 cricket teams played 44 matches and lost only 3. The quiz team, made up of the greatest intellects of Year 8, won the final of the Wellingborough quiz league (sadly I was too busy to take part!). Six boys have been awarded music scholarships, and will anyone ever beat Arvindh Sekeranh’s impressive 40 commendations? Without doubt, this year’s Year 8’s have lived up to the high expectations, we take great pride in our School, we’ve set high standards for others to aim at, and we’ve done it all in true Bedford spirit. Turn Page