BGS VIEW Winter 2013

View The Bristol Grammar School Newsletter Winter 2013 Issue 25

Baa Baa Bethlehem the Infant Nativity

Shakespeare Schools Festival

100 years of science at BGS

Doing our bit for charity

Literary Events • Poetry at BGS • Sixth‑Form Careers • BGS Abroad

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View Winter '13 Issue 25

From the Headmaster The words which I think best sum up the character of this past term are ‘endeavour’ and ‘creativity’.

T

he Autumn term is always a challenging one, as the nights and the weather close in and add to the inevitable tiredness generated for students and staff by a particularly long and busy schedule of activity. This is particularly true for students in the Upper Sixth and Year 11 as the clock ticks towards the Summer Exams.

The positive, steady, hard work – the ‘endeavour’ – demonstrated by students and staff alike in the face of all this is great to see, and I thank them all for their enthusiasm and dedication.

But to say that there has been a lot of hard graft is not to ignore the rich vein of creative and artistic work which has run

through this term as well.

House Singing, for example, has been a great coming together of enthusiasm and talent and our two productions for the Shakespeare Schools Festival were simply captivating. The great success of dance, poetry and literary events are reported elsewhere in this magazine along with our very special dramatic productions for Christmas, which are in fervent rehearsal as I write.

To cap it all, our students’ empathy for the needs of others has been inspirational and the significant funds raised both for the Wallace & Gromit Children's Hospital Appeal and for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan are testament to their

compassion. What a powerful example for us all to remember as we approach the festive season!

May I take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very happy Christmas.

Roderick MacKinnon

News On Armistice Day the School, joined by OBs and other members of our community, came together in the Great Hall to remember all those who have given their lives for our peace and freedom. There was an impeccably observed twominute silence as we reflected on the sacrifices others had made and remembered those who had fallen.

Remembrance Service

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News

Shining

A top

10Hit Having developed a new car, Gigazord, for the second half of the Greenpower race season, there was a lot of pressure to qualify for the national final. With over 400 entrants and only 75 being invited to attend the final, this was an ambitious target. After two qualifying events, both on tired batteries, the results were announced. For the fifth year running the team had succeeded: Gigazord was 42nd in the field and started on the fifth row at the Goodwood track. A consistent run with careful management of power and the car in atrocious conditions saw the

Photo courtesy of Matt Barker

(A) Stars

team move steadily up the leader board and finish the four-hour race in tenth place against university teams and an American Institute for Technology.

The Sixth-form team, competing in a separate formula, also achieved great things this year. They finished in thirteenth place at the final against visiting overseas teams, engineering establishments, the MIRA Vehicle safety team, Jaguar Land Rover and many other highly competitive schools, colleges and clubs.

Well done BGS Greenpower for a great year’s racing!

Dinner out

and dancing with the Friends of BGS The Friends of BGS have welcomed parents, new and old, to this school year with a series of Pot Luck Suppers for Years 7, 9, Sixth Form, and Year 11 — with Years 8 and 10 to follow in March.

These are a chance to meet new people, catch up with old friends, exchange words of wisdom, and share more than a few laughs. Each supper has featured an eclectic and unpredictable buffet, provided by the participants, which has never failed to be delicious. And each has been a great success, judging by the fact that there is always at least one table still talking when the Friends have finished cleaning up.

The next date is Saturday 8 February for Line Dancing in the Great Hall, with music and callers from Blazing Saddles, supper, some side shows and a cash bar. Tickets will be available through the School website.

Exam results at ‘A’ level and GCSE at BGS this summer were cause for celebration.

At ‘A’ level 42 students achieved a total of three or more A or A* grades, with girls and boys performing equally well: 29 per cent of both male and female students achieved three As or better.

13 students secured places at Oxford or Cambridge, and Head of School, James Graham, who achieved 4 A*s, has taken up a place to read Liberal Arts at Harvard.

At GCSE our students equalled the impressive benchmark set in 2012 with A* or A grades being awarded to three quarters of all GCSEs taken. Every one of the 123 students who took GCSEs this year achieved the recognised ‘pass rate’ of at least five grades A*–C including English and Maths but 16 individual high‑fliers achieved straight A* grades across at least nine subjects.

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News

Charity

fundraising teams (offering five nights’ luxury accommodation in Morocco and a Mulberry handbag as prizes!) helped raise more than £1,000 for the cause.

And sometimes there is unexpected reward for all this charitable activity; after choosing the Diamond Jubilee Trust as their House Charity last year, Head of House Ms Diamond and her deputy Mr Watkins were invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace over half-term where they had the privilege of meeting the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh!

begins at home…

…but at BGS it stretches around the world. From local causes to those in need overseas, and from group efforts to individuals doing their bit, BGS and its students have been involved in a wide range of charitable endeavours.

This term the Senior School has been raising funds for Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal. So far the total stands at almost £3,000 thanks to events such as Wrong Trousers day and our very own Gromit trail, with proceeds from the Christmas Market still to come. Students also got involved in raising money to help fund a youth worker at The Park Centre in Knowle West, with BGS adding over £350 to the total.

Beyond Bristol, almost three minibuses full of clothes, blankets and food were donated; much needed supplies for those in the Philippines whose lives were devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. The collection, organised by Common Room Secretary Ivy Fackayan, who is from the Philippines, also raised more than £550 in cash donations.

Alongside the whole School efforts, individual students have also been hard at work. Jack and Tom Powell spent time in Uganda over the summer, helping to construct a girls' school bathroom

which is designed to allow the girls full access to education (many of them have been missing 25% of their school time because they have no access to sanitary facilities). They got involved in everything: digging the foundations with pickaxes and shovels, fetching hundreds of bricks, learning how to apply mortar, and levelling the ground.

The aims of this project chime with those of Education for All Morocco which the School has been involved with since the charity’s inception in 2007. A raffle organised by the Morocco

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The Telegraph Bath Festival of Children’s Literature

fabulous years!

20 October 2013 marked the 40th birthday of the Library and Sixth Form Centre development at BGS. To mark the anniversary, Library staff ran a competition for students to design a poster with the theme BGS Library at 40: what does the Library mean to you?

Congratulations to winner Jenny who received Amazon vouchers for her efforts.

Through the Literary Events Coordinator, Lucy Shepherd, the library has become the heart of our Literary Events programme. The links created by this have generated some fantastic experiences and opportunities for our students.

This year a group of Year 11 students was able to attend the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature where they not only stewarded and reviewed events, but also met authors, publishers and other significant people from the UK children’s publishing world. You can read about their experience opposite:

On Friday 27 September, at The Telegraph Bath Festival of Children’s Literature, we started out full of nerves and excitement, not sure what to expect.

We were, however, greeted warmly and shown to our seats to hear David Almond, Cressida Cowell, Julia Green and Gill Trueman give fascinating insights about children’s literature and young adult fiction. It was really exciting to see favourite authors talking about their wellloved books and their views and opinions were passionately discussed among the panel and audience.

Next we convened at Waterstones for the opening-night party, and found ourselves mingling with people like Moira Young, Cressida Cowell and Marie-Louise Jensen. The atmosphere was buzzing as people were introduced and got chatting.

It was an entertaining and inspiring evening, and it was truly amazing to be talking to the people behind our favourite books.

On the Saturday I read David Levithan’s new book, Every Day, and on the Sunday I met him: an incredible opportunity! He read out the first chapter, about a boy named ‘A’ who wakes up in a different body every day, in the middle of someone else’s life. The Q&A session revealed that David doesn’t usually plan stories – he loves to be surprised – and that Every Day was originally called just A, and was changed because ‘a’ and ‘the’ are automatically ignored on databases,

making the book invisible to computers!

BGS had sponsored the Mitchell Symons event: his new book Happily Never After is a collection of cautionary verses for modern children, inspired by Belloc. It was aimed at younger readers, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the brilliant delivery by Mitch and his wife Penny, who read the female parts.

There was a fairly small audience, but Mitch took this in his stride, and it was a hugely enjoyable event.

Michelle Paver’s talk was among my favourite events of the whole weekend. It was brilliant to hear about her research: she doesn’t like using the internet, preferring to experience things for herself. She also talked about her creative process and advised aspiring writers to carry a notebook wherever they go; they might think they’ll remember an idea, but they won’t. She also advised anyone, upon finishing some writing, to put the manuscript in a drawer and forget about it for a few months, before returning to judge it with fresh eyes.

Thank you to all the wonderful people we met, it was an amazing weekend, packed with interesting people and books waiting to be read. It was a pleasure to be involved, and we loved every minute of it.

Year 11 Literary Events Team – Katie Olivia Elisabeth Rose and Rhiannon

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News The Allen Lane Prize 2013

y r t oP e Please

Students, staff and OBs have all been making their mark in the poetry world recently.

Year 8 student Taraneh Peryie was chosen to be one of 85 commended Foyle Young Poets of the Year for her poem Iran’s Unnamed Forest. This is an impressive achievement as she was selected by judges from almost 7,500 entrants.

Taraneh was invited to a prize-giving ceremony on 3 October, National Poetry Day, at the South Bank in London to celebrate her success.

Another BGS student, Izzie Clarke, now in Year 9, was long-listed in the John Betjeman Poetry Prize. The competition, open to all 10–13 year‑olds, attracted over 2,000 entries on this year’s theme of place and Izzie’s poem, An Unknown Valley of Paradise, made it into the final fifty, an impressive achievement.

Encouraging and inspiring our student poets are two members of the English Department. Head of English David Briggs’s second collection of poetry, Rain Rider (Salt, 2013), was published this autumn. His first collection, The Method

Men, published in 2010 was shortlisted for the London Festival of Poetry Prize.

David Briggs and fellow BGS English teacher Andrew Jamison are also both included in The Echoing Gallery (Redcliffe Press, 2013), an anthology of poems in response to Bristol artworks around the city. Andrew Jamison, whose first book Happy Hour was published by Gallery Press last year, has also been published in the Irish Times and is currently Poet in Residence at the Bristol Poetry Institute at Bristol University.

Beyond the School, two OBs have also recently seen their work published and praised. The 2013 Michael Murphy Memorial Prize has been awarded to Oli Hazzard (OB, 2005) for his collection Between Two Windows (Carcanet, 2012) while Rowan Evans (OB, 2009) published returnsongs, a collection of his poetry edited by John Kinsella, poet, editor and Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Moving into its tenth year, the Allen Lane Prize, a short story writing competition for pupils in Years 9–11, continues to produce some excellent writing.

Entries are shortlisted by members of the English department and then sent to Tony Lacey, Publishing Director at Penguin Books, for final adjudication. In both its name and the process by which it is adjudicated, therefore, this competition preserves a link between the School and the publishing house founded by one of its former pupils.

This year, the prompt was ‘Zed Alley’, a claustrophobically narrow and lugubrious alleyway in the centre of Bristol. The challenge was made even more difficult by the 750-word limit. While many pupils responded with straightforward tales of muggings and nefarious street life, a goodly number took a more inventive approach: time travel, the fear of death, marble collecting and alphabeticallydelineated parallel universes featured among the more imaginative responses.

Prizes were presented, and the winning story read out, during a special assembly on Thursday 21 November.

This year’s runners-up, Tej and Elisabeth (both Year 11), received book tokens to the value of £25, as well as praise from Tony Lacey for their witty approaches and their creation of genuinely satisfying endings to their stories.

The winner of the 2013 Prize, a free choice of £125 worth of Penguin books, was Lydia also in Year 11. Tony Lacey commented that Lydia’s story “is terrifically understated – it doesn’t go for big effects but still manages to create a believable universe. It allows the reader to use his imagination to fill in the gaps”.

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News Graduation of Airbus Industrial Cadets During the Spring and Summer terms, two teams of girls participated in a new STEM programme, sponsored by Airbus, called Industrial Cadets. With support from Airbus engineers, the teams looked at the way the School uses energy and proposed various actions to reduce this.

At the end of June there was a Celebration and Assessment Day at Airbus where the teams were required to submit a written report, produce a poster display and give a 5-minute presentation to the assessors on their work. Both teams gave a marvellous performance with one of them, the Energy Engineers, being judged Best Project out of all the teams participating.

Participating in the Industrial Cadets programme has been a fabulous experience for the girls involved, giving them challenges which reach beyond their academic studies at school. They have developed the skills necessary to work independently and also collaborate as part of a team. They also rose to the challenge of giving their presentation with enthusiasm. Their new confidence in their own abilities will have a lasting influence on their future development, not least because a significant number of the girls said they are now more likely to consider a career in engineering.

100 years of science at BGS,

now with added STEM growth This has been a very busy and exciting term for BGS STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). We have seen the start of the STEM Cafés which are bringing a stream of interesting talks on all subjects. So far we have heard talks on Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science. Next term there will be the chance to learn about where galaxies grow and to understand more about the behaviour of our urban fox population.

The cafés have been very well supported by students and parents and over 125 pupils have already benefited. I am grateful to a large number of Sixth-form pupils who have helped prepare flyers for the various events and have assisted in running the STEM cafés. If you have not yet come along keep an eye on the weekly newsletter for details.

STEM competitions have also been a welcome new addition to BGS life. A STEM cake competition in the first half of term saw Mathew (Y7) and Satyanshu (Y8) as winners, but all the cakes were splendid and were much enjoyed with a cup of tea at the first STEM café.

In the run-up to Christmas, students were invited to gaze into Dr Rosser’s Cabinet of Curios in the Library. The display case contained scientific specimens (some pickled!) and apparatus

used at BGS over the last 100 years.

Winners of the competition to identify these items will be announced in the next issue of View. We are grateful to the Friends of BGS for providing funds to support both the STEM cafés and the STEM competitions.

The annual Renishaw Competition, now in its third year, is just coming to a climax and 34 articles written on a huge range of subjects are being judged. In the next issue of View you will learn who the prize winners are.

Trips to the Bristol Robotics Lab and the National Composites Centre have helped students see the large range of applications that science and engineering can offer and BGS has its first team of students participating in the Engineering Education Scheme (EES). This links four students with a local engineering company to work on a real engineering problem. BGS is linked with GKN, who assemble the aircraft wings for Airbus at Filton. Jess Pip Alex and Maddie are designing composite materials that might in the future be used on an aircraft’s engine cowling. The project lasts until May and there will be more news on this project as it progresses.

Dr Rosser

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Infants & Juniors Mr Huckle writes …

A distinctive feature of the Infant and Junior Schools is the wide variety of opportunities the children enjoy on a daily basis. Amongst this diversity, however, certain themes emerge. This term, William Shakespeare has provided a connection between four different aspects of what we do.

Geography, Art and DT has all focused on his life and work. The Year 2 teachers have even employed a Shakespeare puppet to help them in their lessons!

The children respond very generously to all the Charities we support, with the charity committee devising exciting ways to raise money. The children especially enjoy dressing up and this term our Mufti Day for Children in Need was Shakespeare themed, with the children looking resplendent as characters such as Julius Caesar, the witches from Macbeth or the identical twins from A Comedy of Errors.

A particular highlight of this term and indeed of recent years at the School came with our children’s first experience of participating in the Shakespeare Schools Festival. Thirty children from Years 4, 5 and 6 performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Tobacco Factory

The weather was kind to us once again and new joiners and their families were able to enjoy a fun-filled introduction to our school at the Family Picnic at Failand. It was great to see links with staff and friendships between both children and parents starting to develop.

Welcome to the family

and astonished the audience with their mature appreciation of the text, their evident enjoyment of the comedy and the clarity and confidence of their diction. Memorable!

Peter Huckle Headmaster, BGS Infants & Juniors Photo courtesy of The Post

We are constantly looking to improve all aspects of our provision for the children.

Over the summer holidays, various developments took place including the creation of a new Junior School classroom.

The Junior children were particularly excited to find that an extensive timeline had been added to the Junior play areas.

Stretching from the Paddock to the “netted”, it features over 100 key historical events including both the birth and death of our greatest poet and playwright.

Shakespeare has recently featured in our schemes of work. In Year 5 History, for example, the children learn all about his Globe Theatre as well as all about life for common people in Shakespearean times. In Year 3 drama, the children love trading Shakespearean insults! This term Shakespeare has been the theme for Topic work in Year 2. Work in History,

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Infants & Juniors

Doing our bit Helping our children learn to think of others is an important part of their education and we are delighted that the children, led by Mrs Rookes and the Charity Committee have taken this message very much to heart.

European Day of Languages Children in the Junior School celebrated the European Day of languages on Thursday 26 September. There was a European themed quiz, a special European lunch and, in the afternoon, Sixth Form language students came over to teach some languages and run some fun activities. To help them get into the spirit of the day the children were invited to come in Mufti – on a European theme of course!

Last year BGS Infants and Juniors raised an incredible £1548.40 for each of the three charities we supported, Children’s Hospice South West, PAT Dogs and New Hope Rural Community Trust. All of them were overwhelmed by the magnificent sum of money we raised. Well done to everyone for all their efforts last year.

This year’s charities, chosen by a whole‑school vote, are

A There was more dress-up fun in November for Children in Need, this time on a Shakespearean theme, as well as a very popular cake sale helping to raise funds for this worthy cause.

Shine Together, RSPB and Water Aid. Fundraising got under way with an historically themed Mufti Day in October which saw Mr Huckle, as Julius Caesar, address an assembly which included Henry V, Brunel, Cleopatra, Charles Darwin, Hiawatha, Salvador Dali, Robin Hood, Napoleon Bonaparte, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Harold Carter and Mary Quant amongst others.

is for apple day!

Reception enjoyed an amazing apple day this term, reading the book Apple and then heading into the garden to pick some juicy apples for apple cake and apple printing.

The children collected lots of apples from the garden and sorted the good from the bad. They made a delicious apple cake, created repeating patterns through apple printing, threaded cardboard apples and planted apple seeds. To continue the 'A' theme, the children listened to The Avocado Baby and felt, smelt and tasted avocado – it received mixed reviews!

&B

is for baking

To learn all about baking Reception enjoyed a trip to the bakery on Cotham Hill, where their reward for walking there and back was a yummy gingerbread man each. Back at School they watched a film about making bread and created their own bakery in the role‑play area. They also made their own delicious bread and everyone got to take some home to try.

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Infants & Juniors

All aboard!

Year 2 enjoyed a fabulous trip to the SS Great Britain, exploring Brunel’s famous ship.

As a special birthday treat for Anna in 2W the children were allowed to sit at the dining table and pretend to feast! There was also a special rendition of Happy Birthday on the piano, amongst lots of other songs that the children enjoyed dancing and singing to on deck.

The children had both a tour and a workshop. In the workshop they played with Victorian toys and loved the shadow puppet theatre. They also wrote with quills and packed for some passengers going on a voyage on the SS Great Britain.

A Shakespearean adventure Year 2 were busy learning about William Shakespeare this term.

The children created a timeline, putting his life events in order.

They also created some fantastic Shakespeare Pop Art and designed their own Venetian masks for a masquerade ball, inspired by the story of Romeo and Juliet. In English they learnt the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and were lucky enough to see the fabulous Junior School performance being prepared for the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

Year 2 has been enjoying its trips to Failand for Forest School this term.

From making their own forest perfume, ‘Eau de Failand’, to building campfires and nests for giant (fictional) Eagleoto birds and making spooky twig skeletons, even relentless rain couldn’t dampen their enthusiasm.

Not to be outdone Year 1 made animal homes as part of their Home topic, charmed the worms from the ground (some methods were more successful

than others!), foraged for mushrooms and exercised their artistic side with some woodland photography.

Forest fun Margherita Time

All ears The Reception children were all ears as they headed out around the School to see what they could hear. They were quiet as mice as they explored the School, although the other children were very excited to see them.

As part of their healthy eating topic, Year 3 went to Pizza Express to make their own margherita pizzas. They discovered that stretching the dough wasn’t as easy as it looked and lots of them had to start again, including Miss Ballin and Ms Cole. Fortunately, once the toppings were on, it took only four minutes to cook so they didn’t have to wait too long for their delicious pizzas.

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PGL Marchants Hill Many Year 4 children enjoyed their first experience of a residential trip this term with a trip to Marchants Hill. With so many exciting activities to try, any homesickness was soon forgotten as they threw themselves enthusiastically into everything on offer.

PGL Liddington Great food, lovely staff and amazing activities combined to make the Year 5 trip to PGL Liddington one to remember. Canoeing and Aeroball were both very popular, but so was the chance to spend a night away with friends.

Infants’ Disco Roald Dahl Day Year 1 had lots of fun celebrating Roald Dahl day and the children looked fabulous in yellow! They made their own Mr Twit beards, complete with pasta, shredded wheat and worms! The children also thought hard about inventing their own sweet which would impress Willy Wonka himself. Finally the afternoon ended with a golden ticket hunt around the garden.

A real highlight of the end of the first half term was the Infants’ Disco in the Mackay Theatre. Both the Reception disco and the Year 1 and 2 discos were wonderfully well supported and many parents enjoyed seeing their children having a fantastic time with DJ Bags O’Fun. Our thanks go to the JISPA team who organised and supervised the event and made it possible the Infants to enjoy such a very special evening.

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Infa Nati nt vity SEE PAGE 22

Infants & Juniors

Mendip

Outdoor Pursuits

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Thirty children from Years 4, 5 and 6 performed in the Shakespeare Schools Festival at the Tobacco Factory in November. Their performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was astonishing for its quality and maturity and was acknowledged as a highlight

Year 6 discovered how to work as a team, the importance of planning ahead and the best knots with which to fasten a raft together on their two days at Mendip Outdoor Pursuits.

They also found out just how muddy it is possible to get on an assault course, but that only added to the fun!

of the Festival. Our thanks go to Miss Plaisted whose vision, creativity and inspiration enabled the children to be part of something very special and to the many families, there to support the children, who were rewarded with a memorable and quite magical experience.

Harvest Assembly

It was a pleasure to welcome so many parents and grandparents to our special Harvest Assembly in the Great Hall in October.

The children filled the hall with their wonderful singing which was enthusiastic, poignant and celebratory in turn. Children representing each of the classes from Years 1–6 gave a reading and the procession of the Reception children, so proud to be joining us for their first major school occasion, was a particularly special feature. On behalf of the Salvation Army, thank you to all families who contributed to our Harvest collection for the homeless in Bristol.

A step back in time Year 1 had a wonderful trip to St Fagans museum, despite the miserable weather! The museum is full of various old houses, shops and businesses and gave the children a real feel of what life was like in the past. They explored a row of miners’ cottages, each from a different time period and were able to identify the differences as the houses got newer. They also enjoyed the delights of Victorian washday and were entertained to discover that Victorians often made soap out of sheep’s poo because bars of real soap were too expensive.

The day was rounded off with a trip to school, Victorian style.

Sitting up nice and straight, the children listened carefully to their teacher, who told them all about school in the past. He explained all the punishments the children received for slouching, writing with their left hand and speaking Welsh.

They were all very pleased to hear that the cane is no longer allowed!

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Sixth Form

Gold Star for Alex

Bristol Post

Congratulations to Sixth-former Alex Rhodes who has been named the young environmental Bristol Post/First Gold Star winner.

The awards honour the ordinary people of Bristol who have achieved great things.

Alex was nominated for the award by Savita Custead at Bristol Natural History Consortium and awarded it for his longrunning environmental work.

Alex has been helping out with the British Ornithological Trust's birdringing programme at the Chew Valley Reserve station since he was 14. He

Happy Christmas!

The Sixth Form got into the festive spirit early this year with a Christmas dinner in the Great Hall at the end of November.

Featuring a Christmas singalong and some very fetching knitwear, it was a lovely way to start the celebrations.

has also devoted his summer holidays to environmental work, including a month at a research centre in Peru with his older brother and fellow environmentalist Marcus.

On hearing about his Gold Star award, Alex said: "It is nice. I have received awards for wildlife photography but this is new and a really nice surprise. I am really grateful."

Penguin Work Experience With the help of Lucy Shepherd, Literary Events Coordinator at BGS, I was lucky enough to secure two weeks of work experience at Penguin during November.

I had an interest in the publishing world but really no idea what to expect from my time there. On arrival I was immediately given a manuscript to feedback on. I learned how to write a reader’s report for an editor, which includes a synopsis of no more than a paragraph (challenging when reading a 500 page manuscript!), some positives and negatives about the characters and narrative, and ideas about the intended audience. Over the two weeks I read a number of manuscripts of varying quality and at various stages on their journey to publication (or not!).

The biggest project I took part in involved the sequel to an already published novel. The manuscript required large chunks to be removed or seriously reduced as well as a number of changes to individual words and phrases. Underneath it all, however, was a fantastically compelling story. Although that was a little frustrating, I saw how rewarding it could be once the books arrived from the printers at the end of the editorial process. All week boxes and boxes of proof copies were appearing in the office and these were then sent off to readers, newspapers and experts in the area for comment. As a perk of the job we could take home a couple of these books once they were finished with!

It wasn’t the only perk though – I was offered the chance to return at a later date if I was interested and so I am currently arranging a return trip for next year! My time there was incredibly insightful and publishing is now definitely a route I am keen to follow.

Annie Gainsborough, OB 2011

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Sixth Form

Planning ahead

There was a world of advice, information and inspiration available to the Lower Sixth on 22 November when forty OBs returned to BGS to share their experience across a wide range of careers.

To start the morning, a panel of OBs, chaired by Governor and OB Romesh Vaitilingam, talked about the career journeys that had led them to where they are today. This was followed by career-specific breakout groups: areas included Science and Engineering; Investment Banking and Economics; Media, Journalism and PR; Medicine; Law; and Business start-ups and selfemployment. Students were able to

A very engaging talk which left me inspired and there was much talk of wanting to join GCHQ afterwards!”

It gave me insight into the variety of different aspects involved in British Intelligence.”

attend two groups before enjoying the chance to network over refreshments in the Great Hall. The morning ended with a general discussion on working life and related issues: life-long learning, work-life balance, working overseas and more.

We are incredibly grateful to all the OBs who returned to BGS to give their time and expertise. This was an invaluable opportunity for our students as they plan the next stage of their lives.

Sixth Form lecture These were the thoughts of just some of the Upper Sixth about the exciting lecture they were given by Old Bristolian John Bassett on his experiences working for British Intelligence at GCHQ. During the time he spent working there he had a variety of different roles both in the office and overseas, including working in countries such as Iraq and the USA. We learnt about the many skills needed for the job such as teamwork and quick-thinking and he said that although the job was unpredictable and challenging at times, this was outweighed by the enormous sense of reward and achievement that he gained. He also talked about his experiences of applying to GCHQ and the rigorous selection process. Everyone found him incredibly interesting and it opened up our minds to the many jobs involved in the Civil Service.

Amy Bishop

e g n e Chall

Three Peaks

Inspired by the Gromits dotted around Bristol and the prospect of a taking on a true challenge for a worthy cause, Sixth Form students Conor Smethurst and Carew Rowley took on the National Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal this summer.

The challenge consists of climbing the three tallest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales; Ben Nevis (1,344m) in Scotland, Scafell Pike (978m) in England, Snowdon (1,085m) in Wales. This involves a total of 26 miles’ walking and some 3,000m of ascent in a combined time of less than 24 hours.

With plenty of school sport and regular walks and expeditions under their belts, not too much training was required but lots of careful planning. However, they couldn’t control the weather and on the chosen weekend of 17 and 18 August it was terrible. The temperature at the top of Ben Nevis was near freezing and the visibility was less than ten metres.

On Scafell Pike the boys had to call out the Mountain Rescue team because someone had fallen off the path.

The reward for all this cold, wet effort was not only a great feeling when finishing at the bottom of Snowdon but also the satisfaction of having raised almost £1,000 for a very worthy cause.

Summing up Carew said: “It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone seeking a challenge, but …it would be a lot easier with better weather!”

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Literary Events

Alan Gibbons

Mitch Symons at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival On 29 September BGS sponsored the Mitch Symons event at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival. Before the event, members of the Year 6 Book Committee were lucky enough to interview him and find out more about his book, Happily Never After. They learnt he was inspired to write it after reading Hilaire Belloc’s

Children from Years 5, 6 and 7 from BGS and visitors from St Joseph’s Primary School enjoyed a fascinating talk from author Alan Gibbons in October.

Alan has been writing children’s books for 23 years and was the winner of the Blue Peter award in 2000; his fellow-nominees included Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Morpurgo and JK Rowling.

Success was not immediate, however.

His book Pig was rejected by publishers 25 times! But Shadow of the Minotaur was so popular that he received £60,000, so he and his family went to Florida for a two-week holiday.

Alan shared his inspiration for writing (comic books and a trip to the library as a child where he discovered a book about The Beatles). He also explained that visiting 180 schools a year and giving talks abroad in places such as in New York, the Czech Republic, Canada, China and

Switzerland, helped give him plenty of new ideas.

A love of language and books was in evidence throughout the talk, not least in the story Alan shared of meeting his future wife in a bookshop: they reached for the same title at the same time, and touched with their little fingers … they got married a few years later.

Cautionary Verses as a child. His favourite character in the book was Alfie, who arrives at a new school to bully the bully, Callum.

At the public event, Mitch and his wife read some of the verses. One was about a girl who uses her ’phone too much and gets knocked down by a car. At the end of the talk, Mitch unexpectedly called the Year 6s to join him in reading out the final poem in the book, Coda!, an experience they will treasure along with their autographed copies of the book.

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Literary Events Before Liz Pichon, author and illustrator of the Tom Gates books, spoke to Years 5 and 6, she was interviewed over lunch by the Junior School Book Committee.

Matt Dickinson

An afternoon with

Liz Pichon Questions asked included “Which of your books is your favourite?”, “Would you like to see any of your books made into a film?” and “Do you like bananas?” (the fruit features heavily in several of Liz’s books!)

With these pressing concerns resolved Liz introduced her new book Extra Special Treats (not) to Years 5 and 6. There was also a lesson in how to doodle like Tom Gates and

the chance for the children to design their own Tom Gates cover. They even managed to fit in a book signing, for which there was a very long queue as everybody likes Tom Gates.

Our Year 7 students were treated to an enthralling talk by Matt Dickinson, a film-maker and author.

He has worked extensively for National Geographic Television, the Discovery Channel and the BBC and has filmed on the summit of Mount Everest.

Matt came to talk about his book, Mortal Chaos, a thrill-aminute page turner based on the ‘butterfly effect’. This term describes how small changes to seemingly unrelated things can affect large, complex systems.

Mortal Chaos links together many apparently unconnected events and people in a series of short, readable chapters.

However, we witnessed much more than an author talking about a book. Matt is impressively well-travelled and has a large collection of pictures illustrating this. Taken in fantastic locations including K2, on the Yukon River in Alaska and in the Moroccan desert, each picture had an enthralling story behind it. We saw an image of the simple but poignant memorial to fallen climbers on K2 and watched a moving clip of a climber finally reaching the summit of Everest after he had tried and failed on two previous expeditions.

The presentation had three distinct themes. The first was the importance of reading and how it opens up your horizons and enables you to dream. The second was about developing the determination and skills to enable you to follow those dreams. The final one was the importance of teamwork and supporting others. There were also many interesting snippets of information, ranging from the scientific (your blood thickens to cope with the lack of oxygen as you climb up a mountain) to the sociological (you can encounter thieves and squatters even on the slopes of Mount Everest!). Even though Matt’s talk was quite different to what I was expecting, it was very enjoyable. It was great for him to share his experience and knowledge with our Year 7 students who displayed good geographical knowledge and asked lots of intelligent questions!

Lucille Osafo, Librarian

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We choose … a visit from

Children’s Laureate

t t a r r a Nick Sh

Malorie Blackman Author Malorie Blackman does not shy away from tackling important social issues in her novels. From the popular Noughts and Crosses series to her latest novel, Noble Conflict, she has dealt with racism, social justice and government secrets.

Blackman has not always been a success.

In fact she received 82 rejection letters from various publishing houses before her first novel, Hacker, was picked up.

In a conversational and lively manner she explained how she became more determined after her rejections and described the elation she felt after receiving her first offer of publication, demonstrated to the audience by screaming and dancing! Self-belief was a theme of the talk; she encouraged aspiring writers to believe in their abilities and to dare to be different.

Blackman discussed the origins of several of her books, allowing the audience an interesting insight into the inspiration for the ever popular Noughts and Crosses series. She readily discussed her own experiences with racism and how it is still a problem that is faced today. She also explained that she wanted to play around with people’s assumptions of the

characters, referring to characters not as black and white but classing them as Crosses and Noughts respectively. Her recent novel, Noble Conflict, explores the importance of truth, whether the public should know state secrets and if war is ever justified. The protagonist, Casper, is faced with this dilemma after discovering that the government of his non-violent country is torturing prisoners.

During the event Blackman encouraged young writers. She did not shy away from the hardships. As well as her rejections she spoke of her fear of unemployment and how writing can be a long and lonely process. She did, however, offer advice.

Don't give up, join a writing workshop and be yourself. Blackman’s joy in what she does could be felt throughout the event and, if the long queue for signatures after the event was anything to go by, the audience felt the same way.

Our Reception classes were lucky enough to enjoy a visit from children’s author and illustrator Nick Sharratt this term and to see him bring some of his books to life in front of their very eyes.

Using a giant drawing pad, he showed how his characters grow from a few lines on a page to a complete drawing, letting the children add their own ideas as he read from several of his books, You Choose, Shark in the Dark, Pants and Socks.

Laura Frude

The children then got creative and transformed their own picture of a sock into something totally different. Their ideas included a sock scarecrow, a sock swan and a sock monster. Their finished artwork was as amazing as the whole visit!

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Exploration

Turkey

Biology Fieldtrip to

July 2013 saw the inaugural Marine Biology trip to Turkey’s beautiful Lycian and Turquoise Coast.

Thirty AS Biology students and four Biology teachers, along with two expedition leaders, spent eight days studying in spectacular scenery and cerulean waters. The trip included swimming with, and mapping nesting sites of, endangered loggerhead turtles, learning about native and invasive aquatic species and conducting numerous censuses using a variety of different techniques. The days started early and most were spent snorkelling and learning about the native flora and fauna, with the two full days out on boats particular highlights. The swimming was interspersed with theory sessions on a variety of topics including ecology, marine biology and sustainable development.

Evenings would involve either further group study activities or trips to some of the amazing cultural and geological wonders in the locality including the eternal flames of Chimera and the ruins of Olympos. The final two days were spent in the town of Kas sampling local cuisine and learning more about ancient and modern Turkish culture.

The trip was a wonderful experience for all concerned and our biologists are already looking forward to swimming with turtles once more in July 2014.

From Russia, with love This summer saw the twenty-fourth BGS exchange with our link school Gimnasia 192 in St Petersburg and Russia and St Petersburg have seen many changes since Mrs Swain organised the first trip back in 1989. Since then around 420 BGS students have made the trip and experienced life with a Russian family, gaining first-hand knowledge of the country’s culture and language.

This year, twelve students, accompanied

by Mrs Swain and Mr Hawkins, travelled to St Petersburg. They had already hosted their Russian counterparts at Easter but this didn’t entirely remove the apprehension felt at spending ten days living with another family in a foreign land. However, these fears were soon dispelled by the warmth of their welcome.

Alongside individual visits and trips organised by their host families, which included visits to waterparks, dacha, and the ballet, the group had an outing nearly every day. They enjoyed a boat trip along the city’s rivers and canals; saw two of its three cathedrals and the Peter Paul Fortress, as well as visiting Tsarist Palaces and the Hermitage. At the beautiful “Fountain Palace”, Peterhof, the group enjoyed wandering around the gardens where they got absolutely soaked in the joke fountains installed by Peter the Great! They were also struck by the breathtaking difference between everyday Russia and the grandeur of the palace and park.

Despite the contrasts of the city and the differences in family-life between Russia and the UK, like the many BGS students who had gone before them, the group found their trip to be an enjoyable and very rewarding adventure.

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Exploration History was brought to life for Year 9 in October with a trip to the Black Country Living Museum. They stepped back in time to explore the Black Country’s industrial heritage and experience Victorian school life. There was also time to tuck into some fish and chips and to enjoy the fun of the fair!

Living in the past

German exchange The thought of spending time abroad with an unfamiliar family can be daunting, but at the start of the summer holidays a group of eleven BGS students gathered their courage and headed to our partner school in Mannheim. Here they were reunited with the German students they had met on the Bristol leg of the exchange and, with acquaintances renewed, threw themselves into German living.

It was agreed that spending time in a German school definitely had some advantages – a 1.30pm finish meant that the long, hot afternoons could be spent swimming in lakes or lounging in parks – although the 7.45am start to lessons may have outweighed these.

The weekend was spent exploring the region with their host families and the students enjoyed trips out of town, shopping expeditions and barbecues.

German and English students all had a trip to Heidelberg, an ancient university city located under wooded hills by the Neckar, with a trip on the only solarpowered boat in Europe and a tour of the famous castle.

After a farewell barbecue in one of the city’s parks and links through social media assured, the group headed for home, not only having made friends but also having had their minds opened to different cultures and ways of life.

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Performing Arts

Stage All the World’s a

The Whole School Dance Production took place on 3 and 4 December and saw 85 students take to the stage to perform thirteen original pieces of choreography.

The pieces merged together and were based on the themes and characters explored within renowned Shakespearean plays. From The Tempest to Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth to Twelfth Night, All the World’s a Stage flowed seamlessly from one piece to the next, featuring outstanding performances from students in Year 3 all the way to Upper Sixth. This included solo pieces from Erin (L6) and Charlotte (Year 7). With an audience of over 300, this production was a resounding success and extremely rewarding for all the students, staff and parents involved.

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Blood Brothers This year’s Senior School Play was Blood Brothers by Willy Russell.

It tells the story of twins, separated at birth, who grow up in very different circumstances: one growing up on a council estate and the other living a life of luxury on the other side of the park.

The play was both hilariously funny and deeply moving and featured some mature and nuanced performances from its cast of 26 students. Congratulations to all those who played a part in this wonderful production and our thanks to the teachers and students, both cast and crew, who gave their time to bring it to the stage.

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Performing Arts House Singing

Baa Baa

This year the Infant Nativity was Baa Baa Bethlehem, the tale of four small shepherds who are always ‘bottom of the heap’ until one marvellous, magical night, they are chosen for a very special job that will change their places in the pecking order forever. All the Infants worked really hard to learn their lines and the songs and it paid off with two fabulous performances!

Bethlehem – Infant Nativity

Congratulations to Scott’s House, the winners of this year’s House Singing competition.

Adjudicator Daniel Robson, Clifton College’s Director of Music, judged the Scott’s Glee version of Some Nights by Fun to be the best of six energetic and enthusiastic performances by the Senior School Houses.

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Shakespeare

Schools Festival

Nineteen students from the Senior School were involved in this year’s Shakespeare Schools Festival.

Following workshops and rehearsals at School, they performed Macbeth at the Tobacco Factory Theatre on 13 November. The cast and crew’s hard work and talent were reflected in their excellent performances, and the production was greatly enjoyed by all those who watched it.

St George’s Concert With contributions from ensembles large and small, this term’s concert at St George’s showcased the breadth of musical talent at BGS. From the Wind Orchestra, featuring 32 students from Years 7–U6, to Galileo – the guitar and vocal trio of Emily Cara and Edward – and from traditional folk songs to music from Chicago, there was something for all tastes to enjoy. Well done to everyone who took part in this wonderful evening of music.

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Sport Netball

Cycling

Rugby

The netball season got underway with the U14s, U16s and U19s all competing in the National Schools’ tournaments.

Congratulations to the U14s who made it through to the county round at the end of November. Unfortunately, despite strong performances, their record of one win and one draw from five matches was not enough to reach the regional round in January.

Several players have also been selected for netball academies. Congratulations to Izzie and Imogen (U13 Academy), Izzie Amy Lottie Imogen and Phoebe (Satellite Academy), Ella (County) and Rebecca and Ada’ora (Regional).

Following his success at the Junior National Track Championships, Sixthformer Tom Scammell was invited to enter the Senior National Championships, where he would compete against Olympic Gold Medallists Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes along with Paralympic Gold medallists Jody Cundy and Jon-Allen Butterworth.

From a field of 33 entries, Tom qualified fifteenth out of eighteen for the match sprints and, after some excellent riding, finished tenth overall. He also raced with two members of Performance Cycle Coaching in the Team sprint. Despite an average age of just eighteen, they made it to the bronze medal ride-off, losing out by just one second to become the highest placed non-national team in the competition.

In November, Tom was awarded the South Gloucestershire Young Sportsperson of the Year Award. This is awarded to competitors of both sexes across all sports for ages 17 and under.

Tom won the same award back in 2009 as a 13-year-old sprint runner and is the first person to win it twice over two sports.

Congratulations Tom.

The Senior School teams have enjoyed a mixed season, winning 58% of their games. The First XV has made excellent progress, with victories over KES Bath, Wellington, King’s Worcester and QEH, while the U15s have maintained their reputation as being one of the strongest sides in the region. They have won eleven of their fourteen games, including two of the three matches played on a short tour of Belfast at half-term. They also progressed to the fourth round of the NatWest Cup, with an excellent 35–0 victory over Marlborough College, but lost to Beechen Cliff in the next round.

Athletics

At the English Schools’ Track and Field Championships in Birmingham in July Miranda Sadler (U6) won the silver medal in the Senior Girls’ 1500m in a personal best time of 4:26:72. This performance helped her gain her first national vest, competing for the England U20 team at the Welsh Athletics international competition in Cardiff where she acquitted herself well, coming fifth out of a field of ten.

At younger ages, there is much to look forward to. The U12 teams have demonstrated enormous potential; collectively the A and B teams have played seventeen matches and won sixteen, with just one drawn. In the Junior School, the U11As have recorded notable wins against Clifton High, Clifton College and King Edward’s Bath. The U11B team achieved victory against a previously unbeaten Clifton College and over The Downs and Millfield while the U10A and B teams are both unbeaten.

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Sport Cross country

Girls’ Hockey

BGS hosted the Bristol Schools’ cross country championships on 27 November at Failand. Well done to everyone who represented the School, especially to Henry Harvey Isabel Imogen Rosie and Jessica (all Y7) who all finished in the top ten for their age group.

In the Junior Boys Hugh took first place while Lottie and Georgie finished ninth and tenth respectively in the Junior Girls.

Liv took fourth place in the Intermediate Girls and in the Senior competition James finished fourth for the boys and Miranda first in the Girls.

Well done to the U13 hockey team who won the county tournament without losing a game and conceded only one goal in the group stages. They have now qualified for the regionals in March and, to date, have lost just one match this season, against Millfield.

The First XI have won five of the nine fixtures played to date, with victories already logged against King’s Worcester, Colston’s School, Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Taunton School and William Calrossy, a touring team from Australia.

Congratulations go to Maddie L6) and Nicole (L6), who were selected for the Southwest regional team which competed in the recent Futures Cup, from where Nicole was selected for England U16 trials.

In the Junior School, the U11 girls took part in the county tournament. The team lost to Kingswood, the eventual winners, and The Downs, but beat Badminton 2–0 and drew 0–0 with The Paragon, KES Bath, and Monkton Combe to finish fifth overall.

Climbing Hamish Potokar (L6) took part in his third competition since his selection to the GB team this term, competing in European Youth Cup in Laval, France. He placed eighth in the qualifiers but was then pulled out by the GB coach who was concerned by a slight back injury Hamish sustained in a fall.

This didn’t stop him enjoying watching Britain gain a first ever Gold in International Youth Climbing when Nathan Phillips of Team GB beat the Italian champion in the final. Hamish now ranks World Number 6 for his age group according to the International Federation of Sport Climbing.

Eventing

Holly L6) qualified for the British Eventing U18 National Championships at Weston Park in October as part of the Southwest squad. She also joined the British Eventing U18 programme this season. Despite a new partnership with horse Coco and exams to focus on, she was placed fourteenth in the Top 20 horses and riders at British Eventing Foundation Level, thanks to two second places in the three events competed in.

There was also success lower down the School. Alex (Y6) and her pony Harold finished eighth in the senior InterSchools One Day Event at Stonar School and, in the final Inter-Schools event of the season at Bicton Park in Devon, secured a fifth-place finish. The seniors also did very well at Bicton with Zoe (U6) coming seventh, Anya (Y9) eighth and Emma (Y9) achieving clear rounds in the cross country and show jumping.

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Sport

Cricket

Bristol Post

Atreya Ramanan (Y7) was chosen by the Bristol Post as 'Young Cricketer of the Year' for his bowling performance at a Cup Final in July 2013 of three overs, two maidens, five wickets for one run. He was presented with a Cricket Bat to recognise his achievement. Well done also to Edward FaulknerEllis who has been selected for the Gloucestershire U11 County Cricket squad. Great news.

Football Three girls’ teams travelled to the annual ISFA Southwest 6-a-side tournament this term. The senior team, led by the inspirational Maddie set the tone for the day by going all the way to the final before losing out narrowly to the home side 1–0. Striker Nancy scored eight goals in the eight games played, making her the top scorer in the entire tournament.

The U15s reached the semi-final and were desperately unlucky to lose in a penalty shoot-out. Ellie in defence and Abi in midfield played superbly all day, but this was truly a team effort with all the girls turning in very fine performances.

The U13s finished top of their group, having remained unbeaten in all their games, but were forced to play a final game against the host team and were beaten 1–0. Congratulations to the team on finishing runners-up in their first competition and to Lottie who scored four goals. Congratulations also to Maddie, Nancy, Annabel and Laura who have all been selected to represent the Southwest in the National 6-a-side tournament to be held in the Spring term – a fantastic achievement.

Cricket Tour In July 2013, a youthful BGS First XI went on tour to South Gloucestershire, providing an opportunity for less experienced players to play a high standard of cricket.

The tour started with a game against King’s School Gloucester, and after winning the toss BGS batted first. An early dismissal of Panchal brought Rowland to the crease and he and Scott took advantage of a good batting wicket. Scott (73) and Rowland (55) along with the lower order provided a total BGS were confident they could defend. Strong bowling from Hazelgrove ensured they restricted King’s Gloucester; however the hero was Rowland who took five wickets.

The second game was against Sir Thomas Rich’s and again BGS batted first, this time with a mixed batting order. Panchal got BGS off to a strong start and allowed the rest of the order to dominate.

Scott (50) was supported well by Mirnezami. Again we bowled extremely well and our fielding improved on the first game.

Moss bowled particularly well and BGS won comfortably. The tour will prove valuable experience for the younger lads and these two performances are promising for the future.

International selection Congratulations to Issy who has been invited to be part of the 2014 England Schools U16 Ski (ISF) Team and will be competing at the ISF World Schools’ Championships in Spain in March.

Swimming Congratulations to Alysia (Y7) who competed with great success in the Millfield and Taunton Deane Level 2 open swimming meet in November. Competing in ten events, Alysia won a medal in every one of them, finishing with a haul of eight gold medals, one silver and one bronze!

These results placed her as the best 11-year-old girl in the competition and put her in third place overall. Well done Alysia.

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OBs

s n o i t a l u t a r Cong

Congratulations to the following OB couples who got married during the summer: we would like to wish them the best of luck for the future.

Aaron Praton married Leanne Durbin (1995-2002)

Working in the Old Bristolian Office I am constantly coming across OBs that have married other OBs after leaving School, a testimony to the life-long friendships that are built up during their school days.

Peter Jakobek

David Dewhurst married Clare Bolton (1995-2002) Dan Rumley (1995-2002) married Lara Houtman (1999-2006)

Legacy to Science Thanks to generous legacy gifts this year, in particular the donation from Old Bristolians Mr Phillip and Dr Albert Nethercott, we have seen a programme of upgrades to the science laboratories.

We are delighted that we have been able to support a project that reflects Phillip’s keen interest in Botany. The refurbishment, with its light, bright, practical spaces, has generated a sense of pride among the students, and demonstrates the School’s commitment to investing in the Sciences. We are delighted that so many BGS students choose to continue their scientific studies at a higher level.

OBs leave social footprint

New role for OB Jonathan Lipfriend (OB 2009) has been appointed to the national offices team at Bristol-based surveyors Colliers International, alongside his very wellknown father Stephen Lipfriend, who has been operating as a surveyor in Bristol for decades.

Jonathan is pictured alongside father Stephen (left) and head of the Bristol office Tim Davies (right) outside the new Simply Health HQ in Whiteladies Road – one of the projects the offices team has been closely involved with.

OBs online is now a thriving community providing the perfect way to keep in touch as well as to re-connect with old friends and find out what is going on at the School. Our Facebook group which was set up in September 2011 now has a following of over 1800 OBs – equivalent to 12 years’ worth of leavers!

The Bristol Grammar School LinkedIn Alumni Group has proved to be a useful networking tool both for former pupils and the School alike. At our recent Careers event we were delighted to have over forty OBs speak – many who had been contacted through LinkedIn. The group has also set up a London OBs section which intends to meet regularly, offering the chance for members to keep in touch and providing networking opportunities.

Both of these groups are also open to parents, past and present. www.facebook.com/groups/OldBristolians www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=94381

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Diary dates

Bristol Grammar School University Road Bristol BS8 1SR Senior School 0117 973 6006 Junior School 0117 973 6109 www.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk

January Monday 6 January: INSET day Tuesday 7 January: Term begins Saturday 11 January: Years 7–10 Entrance Examinations Tuesday 14 January: Whole School Open Morning, 9.45am-12.30pm Wednesday 15 January: Sixth Form Interview Evening Saturday 18 January: Year 7 Entrance Examination

Bristol Grammar School and Transworld invite you to an evening with

Rachel Joyce

talking about her new book

February Saturday 8 February: Friends of BGS Evening of Line Dancing, Great Hall 8.00pm Tuesday 11 February: Senior School Concert, Great Hall Thursday 13 February: A Celebration of Singing, Junior School Hall Friday 14 February: Performing Arts Day, Junior School Hall Monday 17–Tuesday 25 February: Half-term Wednesday 26 February: INSET Day

Tuesday 25 March 2014 6.30 for 7.00pm Tickets £7/£5 www.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk/Events Book sales courtesy of Durdham Down Bookshop

March Thursday 13 March: MADD Evening, Great Hall Friends of BGS Year 8 Pot Luck Supper, JCR Monday 17 March: Charter Day Tuesday 25 March: Literary Event with author Rachel Joyce, 6.30 for 7.00pm Thursday 27 March: Friends of BGS, Year 10 Pot Luck Supper, JCR Wednesday 26 March: School Concert, St George’s, Bristol 7.30pm

April Friday 4 April: End of Term

Design: adartdesign.co.uk Printed on 100% recycled stock using vegetable inks

Keep up-to-date

For latest news from BGS and to find out what’s coming up, you can keep in touch via our website www.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk We also have a Bristol Grammar School Facebook page and you can follow us on Twitter @BGSBristol

Bristol Grammar School is a Registered Charity No. 1104425