Beechen Cliff School, Bath

As we come to the end of another academic year it is worth reflecting on achievements and also considering those areas which have not been as successful in order that we can learn from them and move forward.

The academic life of the school has been enriched by the introduction of Drama into the Lower School curriculum, a move which has been met with enthusiasm by the boys. The support of Skill Force, an organisation which helps some of our older boys to attain a range of practical qualifications, as well as taking them on camps and other outdoor activities, has been exceptional. The achievements of these boys have been excellent and we very much hope to see their efforts fully rewarded when the GCSE results are published in August. Mathematics have recently achieved notable success, seeing a large number of boys in Year 7 and 8 achieve Gold, Silver, Bronze or certificates in the UK Mathematics Challenge. The individual achievements have been superb; one boy being invited to a residential ‘masterclass’ on the basis of his score. We await the SATs scores for Year 9, GCSE for Year 11 and AS/A2 results for the Sixth Form with interest. The Sixth Form will be “sending forth” six of our students to take up Oxbridge places, nearly one hundred others taking up places at universities across the country.

Sporting achievements have, of course, been significant again. Four of our Rugby XV’s reached the finals of the Somerset Cup, one reaching the semi final stage. Victories by two of our teams in these finals ensured that a previous record was equalled. Our Under 12 football team achieved County success, winning convincingly in their final at Bath City’s ground in April. The support for the football teams at each age group has been significant and it is very pleasing to see that so many have had a chance to represent their school during the year. The cricket teams have had the opportunity to play a significant number of matches during the course of the season, recording some impressive victories, although in others perhaps losing out when victory seemed likely! The matches have all been played in excellent spirit, however, and this is the key theme of the games between Beechen Cliff and all of our opponents. Hockey has developed further strength over the year, significant numbers involved in the ‘School of Excellence’ – a link between the school, university and Bath Buccaneers. Mr Markall’s tennis teams are beginning to develop effectively; victories against traditionally strong teams such as Bristol Grammar, demonstrating the progress being made – in part due to the new tennis courts at the school. Shooting, judo, rowing, badminton, basketball and archery have all been enjoyed at a competitive level within the school this year, ensuring that a further ‘raft’ of sports are able to be developed in the years ahead.

Outward bound activities continue to be a dominant element of school life; The Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition to the Massif Central being a huge success, as was the Ten Tors Challenge, in which the school had two teams entered. Tir-y-Cwm visits continue to inspire the younger boys; all of the Year 7 boys undertaking the group development activities which bring so much opportunity for the boys to work and learn together. Further visits to Llain for the pursuit of Technology activities have given further opportunities for personal development, as has the recently revived Centurion Challenge – brought back at the behest of Pat Colbourne, following his challenge to the pupils at the Presentation Evening last November. It is this area of school life which so many of the pupils remember for years after the end of their school days and we can only hope that we will always have such an inspired and skilled set of staff to undertake such challenges.

Curriculum development activities have also been characteristics of the year. The English Department have encouraged boys to participate in the ‘poetry slam’ competition, competing against other local schools at the Guildhall. Again, we had teams at the Model United Nations at Kingswood, scoring commendations from each of the judges. At Sixth Form level we have seen strong links developed with the Royal High School, much of which revolve around the creation of strong enrichment and extracurricular activities – ranging from equestrian and archery to still life production and theatre studies. Technology have been working on further projects related to the creation of racing cars, small aircraft and robotics. The aim is to develop interests in all areas of technology – hopefully leading to a longer term interest in engineering and associated careers.

OFSTED described many aspects of Beechen Cliff School as “outstanding” following their visit. Pupil conduct, the curriculum and extracurricular opportunities were all considered to be of the highest quality. We know, however, what really matters and it is important that Beechen Cliff continues to stay true to its aspirations. In this, we hope that the school has lived up to expectations and will continue to offer the boys of Bath an education which gives genuine ‘life enhancing opportunities’ – in the school and beyond.

The last year has been one of further progress and success as a result of a lot of hard work for all of us. So, a big thank you to you all – staff, students and pupils, parents and all concerned with the School.

The purpose of the Governing Body is to look to the future to ensure we continue to develop and give ever more to everyone, particularly those who are entrusted to our care for a key period of their lives.

Our first job is to maintain and improve our position on the measures identified by OFSTED, which is increasingly difficult as we reach the upper levels.

However, we believe there is more to “education” at Beechen Cliff. To meet our objective of preparing our students to take their place in society effectively, we believe we need to gain a greater understanding of the needs of young people at 25 years old, not just when they leave the school for the last time. Gaining this understanding is one of the key tasks of the next year as this information will help us to develop both the formal and informal (extra curricula activity) work of the School over the next few years.

We have also been undertaking a review of the site and buildings to support a number of initiatives we have to raise money for site development – a much needed activity I am sure you will agree. We hope that next year will bring one or more of these to fruition.

Perhaps the potentially most significant development over the coming year is the adoption of Trust Status in partnership with Hayesfield School. We believe Trust Status will support the aims of the School in ways that are not open to us at present. We are particularly excited at the prospect of developing long term relationships with organisations outside the School and how Hayesfield and Beechen Cliff can deliver more for both groups of students.

As you can see there is plenty to do. And by the way, there is at least one Parent Governor position becoming vacant next term, if you would like to contribute!!

Wednesday 3 rd and Thursday 4 th September: Staff Training Days – no pupils in school.

Friday 5 th September: Year 7 pupils at 8.35 a.m.
Friday 5 th September: Sixth Form students new to Beechen Cliff at 9 a.m

Monday 8 th September: All pupils and students report to year areas by 8.35 a.m.
Monday 8 th September: School finishes approximately 3.15 p.m. that day only.

Please use the holiday period to ensure that your son is well equipped to return to school. The following
check list may be of some help:

Finally please remember that unless all property is clearly named it is virtually impossible to reunite it with its owner so PLEASE LABEL ALL ITEMS CLEARLY.

We continue to encourage the highest standards in punctuality and attendance and have invested time and money in improving these standards. There is no doubt that there is a very clear correlation between high attendance and punctuality and academic performance.

We ask that you continue to support us and help to improve attendance and punctuality. I thought it might be useful to highlight a couple of points related to these issues.

We are concerned about the amount of valuable educational time that a number of pupils are missing because of lateness. In most cases this lateness is avoidable. From September 2008 we will be targeting punctuality in the following ways.

It is vital that all pupils report to Mrs Appleyard, Attendance Officer, if they arrive in school after their registration has been taken. Failure to do so will result in a Saturday Morning Detention. I hope that we can work together to target this problem and am confident that you will support us in these measures.

We are anxious to reward good attendance and punctuality and at the end of this summer term a number of pupils were treated to a free cinema visit. We hope to offer this or something similar next year.

Please contact me if you would like to receive further clarification of these standards.

During the academic year 2008-2009 we intend to carry out a review of our Rewards Policy and will consult with pupils, parents and staff during this process.

From the start of September 2008 there will be an addition to our range of strategies designed to maintain high standards of behaviour. This is a joint venture with Hayesfield School and will be known as the Conduct Modification Unit (CMU). The Unit will be based at Hayesfield School and we will refer pupils whose behaviour is placing them at risk of exclusion. A range of strategies will have been tried, and parents will be made aware that a referral to the Unit is a strong possibility. Referrals will last a maximum of 12 weeks and then the pupil will be reintegrated if, of course, he has shown the capacity to be in the mainstream classroom.

This strategy compliments the range of behaviour modification strategies already in place, e.g. 10 minute Report after school, subject and Year Detentions, Headmaster’s Detention, Saturday Morning Detention and Exclusion.

On wet weather days, at lunchtime, we show DVD’s to the Lower School boys to keep them occupied and dry! If you have any suitable DVD’s that you could donate to us, we would be most grateful! Please get your son to hand them into their Head of Year.

Friday 4th July. A legend is born. Poetry Slam is an epic saga of war, racism, love, hate and religion. The best poets from the mighty empire of B&NES are all cramped into one small hall, in a battle of rhyme on a scale never before conceived.

10.30 a.m. Guildhall. And so it begins. As the charismatic, sweaty host announced the name of Beechen Cliff, we let out our manly roar. They knew we meant business. The Year 7’s get off to a hearty start, with Adam Laughton and a wonderfully truthful ballad on Germany’s preposterous domination of football, losing only because of the harsh score of Judge Zoe, the judging equivalent of Satan. He pulled in a close second.

Sam Walker’s brilliant performance was somewhat undermined by a brief lapse of pitch control, but he still wound up with a ninety-three from Judge John, that lovely man, and came a respectful third.

The hours flew by and fresh from lunch the Beechen Cliff groups were ready to storm the stage. Our Year 7 group delivered a moving performance on the darker side of human nature, that left us wiping tears from our eyes. A few other poets had a bid for the crown, but they had not yet heard of the most disarming name in the world of poetry – the God Squad. The ‘God Squad’s’ glorious performance triumphed overall despite Sam Light’s doubts as to the integrity of our skill. The competition was obliterated, our rivals were inspired, and our three ninety-fives
offered a beacon of hope to poets everywhere.

Of course none of the performers could have done it without their dedicated fans who cheered from start to finish. All in all, we had a incredible time, and ensured all those present were aware of the expectations and achievements of the school.

Once again thanks go to the staff who helped organise the pupils and give them a chance to shine.

Friday 4 th July was the date of the second annual B&NES Poetry Slam and the young poets from Beechen Cliff School were keen to emulate the successes of last year’s team. There were a large number of local schools represented and we were determined to succeed. And succeed we did, with Adam Laughton being narrowly pipped to the award of best individual in Year 7 and our Year 7 group entry (Ryan Haines, Rory Colman and Adam Davison) and Year 9 individual entry, Sam Walker faring well against some very stiff competition. The real success lay with the extremely popular Year 9 group entry, ‘The God Squad’ (Charlie Ingram, Ben Hatton, Jake Ives, Jack Medigan, Sam Walker, Chris Cook, Joe Shepherd, Joe Pestel), who not only pulled off a superb performance, but won over a difficult crowd and panel of judges to walk away with the overall group performance prize. Well done to all those involved and we look forward to even greater success next year!

This year has seen Beechen Cliff School English Department start what we hope will become a fruitful relationship with Waterstone’s Booksellers. Year 7 have been treated to the company of two acclaimed writers courtesy of the booksellers, both of which were met with great enthusiasm from the pupils who attended. First we had Catherine Forde, a Glaswegian novelist who kept the boys entertained with tales from the Scottish city. More recently, we welcomed the author of the Roman Mysteries series, Caroline Lawrence, to the school. This was an extremely enjoyable event and the novelist managed to keep over 100 boys rapt with tales of how Roman ‘sponge stick’ was used. We hope that these events will continue with such success next year.

In July over one hundred Year 8 boys took part in drama workshops run by exBeechen Cliff Head Boy, Kieran Jones, in preparation for the SATs Shakespeare paper next year. Kieran has his own film company and is auditioning in Bath during the summer. If any boys from Years 10 – 13 are interested please contact Kieran through Ms Baker.

We were lucky to have two performances of each of our SATs Shakespeare plays, ‘Richard III’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’! Bath Spa University PGCE students ran workshops on the two plays to give our Year 9 pupils a really thorough grounding in their set tests.

We are looking forward to the first Media Day at Beechen Cliff on October 22nd . The purpose of this day is for students to attend a series of workshops which will be run by experts from different Media backgrounds. Not only will the day be informative but students will be able to consider future careers and options for higher education.

Students and staff from Beechen Cliff attended a Media Conference at Oldfield last month which was invaluable and we hope to provide a similar experience for all our media students next term.

The KS3 Debating Club has visited other schools this term to debate with pupils throughout B&NES. Tom Willis, Dominic James, Phillip Davies and Freddie Marshall debated the motions ‘This House believes the motor car should be banned’, at Wellsway School. Tom and Dominic were voted best team, but all pupils performed admirably for their first formal debate.

Pupils from Beechen Cliff School also took part in a new competition set up by B&NES. They debated against Hayesfield School and proposed the motion ‘This House believes there should be no restrictions on free speech!’ Hayesfield won the debate but the judges congratulated Tom Willis, Freddie Marshall and Mikey Fidanoglu (Year 8) on their debating skills.

In February 2008 Mrs James and Mr Bowyer (B&NES Literacy Consultant) ran a series of booster classes to assist Year 11 boys’ preparation for their English examinations. They looked at question types, strategies and exemplar material to enable pupils to understand what makes an excellent examination response.

Boys’ feedback: “The classes provided information on how to achieve a good grade in the exams”. “All the classes were helpful as they covered all the parts we needed to know to help with the exams”. “It allowed me to learn in a good working environment”.

We had a positive response from the boys and we intend to run the classes again next year.

Over the summer holiday various works will be taking place on the School site to improve existing facilities and provide new facilities. Highlights include the following:-

Following the installation of the fantastic new 4-lane indoor cricket net facility in March, the School is also intending to refurbish the basketball facilities in the Sports Hall over the summer. The main basketball court currently sits towards one end of the Sports Hall – the plan is to centralise the court to ensure that both ends have adequate run-off backboards, padding and slam-dunk proof rings! They will also be operated electronically. We also intend to renew the six practice boards/hoops. As well as providing top class facilities for curricular sport, the School is working in partnership with Bath Titans Basketball Club to promote junior and adult league teams and recreational activities based at Beechen Cliff. We will also be continuing a programme of redecoration in the Sports Hall to brighten up the walls.

The School has recently been successful in attracting money from B&NES and the very generous Medlock Charitable Trust to refurbish the changing room area. These works are likely to take place in the summer of 2009. We very much hope to attract further substantial capital funding to enable the School to refurbish and extend the Sports Hall on a much larger scale to bring the facilities up to a standard which matches pupils’ high levels of sports participation and achievement.

Many of you will have read the news that our Chef, Tim Fletcher, recently won a competition run by a leading catering magazine; the prize being £60,000 worth of new equipment for the School. This provides the School with a fantastic opportunity to replace ageing equipment and to remodel the kitchen and Dining Hall areas for the benefit of kitchen staff and pupils/staff eating in the Dining Hall. In the Dining Hall we are hoping to improve the ‘flow’ of the dinner queue by redesigning the serving and till areas. We are also intending to increase the seating capacity by relocating the sandwich kiosk. In the longer term, the School recognises that the overall size of the kitchen and Dining Hall needs to be increased, but it is hoped that the proposed changes above will significantly improve the lunch time experience the proof will be in the pudding as they say!

It’s been a while now since I last wrote about the progress of the Climbing Wall.

This is because I have been busy working behind the scenes to get the wall ready and finished for the start of the new term in September. I apologise to those of you who were expecting the wall to be ready before this, but it turned out to be a mammoth task putting the plywood up, and with only two of us doing the job, what was supposed to be a three or four day exercise turned out to be a six week slog!

All of the cladding is now complete, and I will be working over the break to put up the routes for the pupils to climb on. Staff will also need to be trained before they can supervise groups, and this will take place in September. Once this is done, we are up and running. At last!

Many thanks for your patience with this project, but I assure you it will be worth it in the end. Watch this space for news of the official opening!

What a busy year this has been! We have won Under 14 B&NES Rugby, Football and Basketball and managed to get through SATs exams with 100% attendance. We are still awaiting all the results, so watch this space!

I would like to wish all the boys in Year 9 a very good summer holiday and hope that they come back to school refreshed and ready for the challenge of the GCSE years. For those who are leaving us, I wish them every success in their new school or college.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being their Head of Year for the last two years, although we have certainly gone through good and not so good times together! I know that I am going to miss them all! I would like to take this opportunity to thank the incredibly supportive parents with whom I have worked, to help their child achieve at Beechen Cliff.

We are very pleased to welcome back students and teachers from Oslo Handels Gymnasium, Norway in September. Beechen Cliff has a longstanding arrangement with Oslo Handels Gymnasium where thirty 17-year-old
students join us in the Sixth Form for the period September to December.

The Norweigan students will enrol into some of our own Sixth Form courses with comprehensive curriculum of English, Maths, Economics, Business Studies, Science, Languages and Games. They will also be taught essential aspects of their own Norweigan curriculum by their tutor, Mr Oyvind Skarland. The students will be staying with local host families arranged by Mrs Barbara Fox.

We hope the collaboration will be as beneficial and successful for both parties as it has been in the past where the Norweigan students integrate into British life and enrich the standards of our Sixth Form.

On 18th April 2008 the shortlist for the Carnegie Book Award was announced. This prize is awarded annually to an outstanding book for young people published in the previous year.

Since then enthusiastic readers from Years 7, 8 and 10 have been reading the books and meeting in the Library on Thursday afternoons to discuss them. Although the final winner was decided by a panel of judges our pupils were able to submit their reviews to the official Carnegie website. Here they could also read the reviews of other young people from groups around the country, and could decide for themselves which book they thought should win the award this year. A lot of lively debating ensued!!

Just before the official award was announced the group voted for their favourite which was Finding Violet Park.

When the award was announced in London on the 26th June the official winner was Here Lies Arthur.

Since then members of the reading group have been continuing to meet on Thursday lunchtimes to read and discuss their favourite books. They are hoping to join with other local reading groups to start our own local book award where the young people themselves can vote for the title they think should win. Watch this space!!

This year saw Beechen Cliff take a step back into history with the introduction of a Classical Civilisation course. Those students involved leapt at the opportunity to study the literature of Homeric heroes and daunting quests, marvelled at the traditions of Greek sacrifice and oracles and were amazed by the Spartan way of life. The course promises to be bigger and better next year and there are still places available for any sixth formers who would like to broaden their knowledge of the Classical world. Contact Miss Heaney at the English Office for details.

2007/8 has been a good year for cricket at Beechen Cliff. Over 80 fixtures have been played involving over 140 pupils! This is a great achievement and can only be attained through the fantastic support from staff at the school. I would like to thank the following teaching staff for their help during the year.

Mr Quintin, Mr Macdonald, Mr Staunton, Mr Sayers, Mr Hall, Mr Shaw, Mr Sumsion, Mr B. Davies, Mr A. Davies, Mr Ross, Mr Clarke, Mr Morrell and Mr Newbold. The cricket club are also grateful to our chef for the teas and Miss Thorpe for her help with the fixture administration!

As well as the extensive fixture list, Beechen Cliff can now boast four new indoor cricket nets for pupils and clubs to practise their skills. The equipment and appearance of our teams are beginning to match that of our opponents. The school is also heavily involved with the ‘Chance to Shine’ project, linking with Bath CC, to enable all Year 7 pupils the opportunity to receive expert coaching. We hope these facilities and expertise will help to maintain the high levels of skill for many years to come.

A quick glance at the averages will show you that this young team unperformed with the bat; with the exception of Charlie Mackenzie. Charlie’s 131* against Prior Park was one the best batting performances I have seen in school cricket. Joe Addey and Robbie Holton showed glimpses of their capabilities but lacked consistency. Jordan Price bowled tirelessly with good support from Joe Addey and the improving Alex Beard. Jackson Hamilton injected humour, spirit, madness and genuine allround talent and features well in the averages showing his importance to the team. Highlights of the season include a rare opportunity to play against the chairman of the ECB which included the Forty Club, Matthew Wootton’s match winning 48* v Wells Cathedral and wins over two Australian touring teams.

The team are all Lower Sixth and Year 11 and next year I hope the team will begin to mature and fulfil their undoubted potential. Despite a disappointing win/lose ratio, the team have been a real pleasure to work with, showing commitment to training during the busy exam period. The team are looking forward to the Caribbean tour next summer and the season’s strict fine system has got the fundraising well underway! Unfortunately, our batsmen seem to have adopted the laid back Caribbean approach to life whilst at the crease!

Another season over and I am pleased to report that the weather did not intervene until the final game. As a team, the Under 15’s have made progress as have many individuals. It was good to see a number of new faces and also the return of others. I am certain that all will have an important role to play next season for the 1st XI and 2nd XI.

Notable victories were achieved against Millfield and QEH with this last game being decided in the last over. The captaincy role fell upon Matthew Wootton and in his absence Sebastian Burvill and Charlie Guy deputised. The ‘B’ team were ably captained by Jack Hawking and Andrew Strange. The individuals who represented the Under 15 teams can now build upon the progress made and I look forward to working with some of them in the 2nd XI.

A season of highs and lows – something which last year referred primarily to weather systems to the west. This year we have been blessed, if not with sunshine, then at least enough dry days to make it possible for fixtures to go ahead. The ‘A’ team, never having made it past the first round of the Bristol cup, suddenly found their inner ‘Bradmans’ and progressed to the semi final of this prestigious tournament, falling only in the last over of an exciting game against Clifton College. Strong team play saw victories against Millfield, Broadlands and QEH as they progressed to this stage. Strong Captaincy from the newly appointed skipper, Edgeworth, along with a strong batting input from Copeland and Scallan, gave the team an ‘edge’ previously lacking. A little naivety still showed through this season; decent spin leaving our innings in disarray at Colstons, whilst silly runouts forced a close defeat at QEH in the ‘return’ fixture in late June. Next season brings a new team manager and the chance for the boys to flex their batting muscles and develop a touch of ‘shrewdness’ essential for victory against the schools they compete with.

The ‘B’ team marched through another very successful season. Captain Copeland was hoping to see the team progress to three undefeated seasons in succession – but it was not to be. Strong victories at King Edward’s and Monkton Combe were ‘undone’ by some loose bowling at QEH. Despite some exceptional batting by Sheppard and Grappy, our boys were not able to stem the onslaught from the QEH batsmen and victory edged away two overs from the end. A wonderful “last ball” victory at Warminster in May was possibly the highlight of the ‘B’ teams season, although not of Daniel Hendy’s, the team manager, forgetting to pick him up enroute to the match ….. As always, it is a joy to work with the B team. The enthusiasm, team spirit and competitive commitment is evident in every game. Well done, chaps.

Under 14 Man of the Season – Alex Copeland – exceptional ‘B’ team captaincy, solid batting and convincing work in the field. The completely committed player.

A fine season (not including the inclement weather) closes with the very satisfying feeling of accomplishment. All boys in this very talented year group have become even better players and have made super progress; this was the key objective this year. Mr Sayers and I expect great things from this group as they move up the school.

Team selection has been the only headache and we would like to extend our thanks to the boys who showed great maturity and understanding when involved in the rotation policy. This allowed the squad to develop skills, responsibility and leadership far quicker than would normally be the case, and we believe stands them in good stead for the future.

Mr Sayers and I have very much enjoyed watching and coaching the game of this fine group. The way they behave and embrace all things ‘cricket’ is a credit to them all. Victories over all the Bath School sides, and Millfield, were some highlights of the season, but the level of cricket played, particularly against Monkton Combe at the end of the season, as a delight.

The aim of the year was to involve as many boys as possible. Consequently to single out performers would serve little purpose; forty-six boys represented the School this season and we would like to thank them all. Thanks are also extended to the parents who cajoled, supported and helped get the boys there, back, and prepared!

So what of the future? With the talent and depth this squad has, it seems the future is so bright we’ll all need sunglasses! Technique and skill has been developed, and with increased physical development we look forward to posting some BIG scores and bowling and fielding of top quality.

Thanks to all staff who helped for their time and effort (Messrs Sayers and Davies) and I’m looking forward to the winter when we start training and fully exploiting our fantastic new four lane nets.

The Year 7 cricket season began in January where over 40 boys attended winter training with help from Mark Thorburn and Stu Kingwell from Bath Cricket Club. By the time the summer term came around the boys were raring to go and kicked off their season with a cup match against King Edward’s. After a delayed start KES set a target of 112 to win. This was a step too far for the boys in their opening game. However, defeat did not dampen the boys enthusiasm and QEH was the next test for both A’s and B’s. Both teams won the toss and decided to bat first setting challenging targets. However this was to prove not enough as the A’s lost in the final over and the B’s on the final ball. Notable performances from Chester Ellis in the A’s scoring 44 not out. A change in fortune and a good team performance kick started the season with a very strong win over Wells Cathedral. A strong display from the bowlers including Joe Oswin, picking up 3 wickets for 2 runs, saw the homeside knocked over for 45 runs; this total was reached with 4 wickets down
and 8 overs to spare.

With the first win under their belts, the team went to Dauntsey’s feeling confident. Selecting to bowl first Beechen Cliff were set a target of 129 for victory, a strong middle order performance from Chester Ellis (29*) and Mike Jones (27) was not enough in a very close game where Beechen Cliff finished on 126 for 5. A tactical change in manager, for the trip to Millfield, saw a change in result with a very strong run chase after Mike Jones impressed with the ball. The first Saturday fixture of the season saw a trip to Colston’s and the first 30 over game of the season. The Colston’s captain decided to bat and set a target of 130 with Mike Jones, the pick of the bowlers, again taking 3 wickets for 18 runs. Beechen Cliff suffered their heaviest defeat of the season where only two players reached double figures with a total of 77 all out. The last game of the season saw the A’s away to Monkton Combe and the B’s away to Kingswood.
Unfortunately the A’s finished on a low after setting a target of 74 for the homeside. However, the B’s finished with a very impressive win over Kingswood in wet and windy conditions, with notable performances form Andrew Gardener and Liam Burcombe with the ball.

We would like to thank Mark Thorburn, Stu Kingwell and Vicky Burt for their help with winter training, we would also like to thank Mr Hall for standing in as coach and Mr Wilmot and Mr Staunton for their mini bus shuttle service.

2007/08 has been a very successful year for tennis at Beechen Cliff School. There have been regular practices held at school for all age groups for the first time and teams have competed in fixtures against local schools and in Nestle League competitions. Pupils have also represented the school in the Avon Schools Singles and Doubles competitions, and we have run the Road to Wimbledon and intertutor tennis competitions at school. We were also allocated Wimbledon tickets allowing eight Year 10 boys to see some inspiring tennis at the Championships.

It has been fantastic to see our new tennis courts in use so much recently with literally hundreds of boys using the facilities.

The tennis team captains have done an excellent job this year in helping to select teams and organising their teams for the matches. They have taken the responsibility seriously and I have been impressed with how they have conducted themselves. Well done to Robert Gibbs (U12), Will Bannister (U13), Simon Jones (U14), Lawrence Pritchard (U15) and Tom Sanderson (1st /2nd ).

There were some good results in the team matches with over half the matches won overall and the Under 12 team winning all their matches. The team results are shown below:

Lots of members of staff have worked very hard to provide tennis practices for the different year groups and on behalf of the pupils I would like to thank Mr Sumsion, Mr Watts and Mr Davies for helping to run the team practices this year.

Pupils in Years 7 – 10 have competed in inter-tutor tennis competitions at lunchtimes over the last term. The competition has been very popular and highly competitive.

The Under 15’s was won by 10R, the Under 14’s shared between 9C and 9W and the Under 13’s by 8W. The Under 12 competition is still running at the time of writing.

A massive thank you is due to Mr Ross for giving up many of his lunchtimes to coordinate and run the inter tutor tennis competition.

On Tuesday 1 st July eight Year 10 boys had the opportunity to watch some tennis at the Wimbledon Championships.

We were blessed with fantastic weather and enjoyed seats on Court 2 where we saw some world class doubles including watching Britain’s number 1 doubles player, Jamie Murray. The boys also watched Venus and Serena Williams on the big screen on Henman Hill and Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal practising on the Practice Courts at Aorangi Park. We also saw some of the best British junior players in action.

It was a fantastic day out and I hope the experience will inspire the boys to greater tennis enjoyment and success in the coming year.

More than 130 boys have participated in shooting this year; demonstrating that the sport is becoming an established part of the sporting life of Beechen Cliff School.

In September, Head Boy, Matthew Bates, and his team travelled with the Headmaster along the M4 to support a ‘clay pigeon’ taster session as part of the Tir-y-Cwm activities. This proved to be a great success; the school trap working perfectly and the boys finding that they were confident handling both 12 bore (big gun!) and 20 bore (smaller gun…) with some degree of dexterity.

Mendip Shooting Ground has been hosting most of the school shooting over the year and it has proved to be an exceptional venue for acquiring the skills needed to become a proficient shot. A number of the Year 7 and 8 boys have already proved themselves to be ‘naturals’ and the House Competition on July 11 th saw a number of the ‘old hands’ compete for the coveted House Trophy.

The Year 10, guided by inspirational shot, Mr Sumsion, had already shown the way with some inspired performances.

The next stage of shooting should, by now, have seen open competition with Millfield and King Edward’s. Unfortunately at the point we are ready to ‘do battle’ they have already gone home for the summer... Maybe in September!

This year has seen the introduction of a new program for Year 10 pupils. Fifty-two pupils have undertaken
numerous skill developments such as planning a training session, to giving pupils the confidence to deliver the session to children in a sports environment.

Pupils have already taken part in a whole range of programmes; some have worked harder than others and have grasped the opportunity with open arms. These boys I have seen evolve and grow, develop confidence and a level of maturity which was very refreshing from boys still young in years.

This is what they have been up to. The Primary Schools involved were – Bathwick St Mary’s, Moorlands Junior and Infant Schools, Oldfield Junior and Infant Schools, plus other Primary Schools based within B&NES.

Officiating Year 2 football tournament at Beechen Cliff School Sports Hall.
Assisting Tennis Festival at Lansdown Tennis Club for 160 Year 2 children.
Running and coaching tennis to 160 children on Beechen Cliff School’s new tennis courts for Year 3 children from local Primary Schools.
Coaching football to Year 5 and Year 6 children at Bathwick St Mary’s School.
Assisting 40 Year 9 pupils from Beechen Cliff School at Bath University during the KS3 games where children from our school experienced a number of activities from fencing, lacrosse, golf and orienteering. Pupils also had the opportunity to meet Jason Gardner.
Officiating basketball at Bath University for a Primary School Festival.
Assisting Hayesfield Year 10 girls run a mini Olympics Festival for 160 Year 1 children.
Assisting three Primary Schools run and officiate their annual Sports Day.
Umpiring Cricket Festivals at Bath Cricket Club, Kingswood Playing fields and Keynsham Cricket Club for over ten Primary Schools seeing on average ten fixtures running at the same time for each festival, from Year 5, Year 4 and Year 6 (girls).
Running a Basketball Festival for 160 children from Year 5 Primary children at Beechen Cliff School.
Coaching hockey, cricket and rugby at Moorlands Infant School during the Infant School’s Sports Week.
Judo competition at Bath University.

A massive thank you to all boys from Year 10 who took the time to step out of their comfort zone and take an active part in their development as individuals. Hopefully they are a little wiser and will value and appreciate their coaches and teachers view point having had to take this role themselves. A big thank you to all Primary Schools for allowing us into their school and to the staff at Beechen Cliff for allowing pupils time out of lessons to undertake these opportunities.

Boys who took part – Edward Brown, Josh Frayling, Sam Lewis, Ieuan Pitts, Laurance Pritchard, Ben Sessions, Josh White, Fred Armston-Clarke, Seb Burvill, Mack Jones, Harry Lacey, Tom Lewington, John Merle, Ben Padfield, Gabriele Warwick, Nashim Chowdhury, Ryan Mumford, Jordan King, Andrew Maggs, Cameron Ashwin, Josh Williams Trim, Sam Kelly, Jamie Winchcomb, Matthew Wootton, Jack Beech, Jack Hawking, Sam Robbins, Sam Butler, Joe Fear, Matthew Klinpikuln, Lewis Hunt, Ben Egan, Alessandro Lane, Bill Mahar, Reuben Mayled, Ayman Zaid, Alex Jensen, Nathan Larcombe and Harry Godwin.

With the season drawing to a close with just the finale of Beechen Cliff’s Sports Day to follow, it is time to reflect on the season’s successes.

Individual results to note include the performances by the Gardner brothers, Liam and Michael, who both won the High Jump in their respective age groups as they represented B&NES at the Avon Track and Field Championships held at Yate. At this same event, Connor Lynch came 2 nd in the Inter Boys Long Jump.

Following trials at King Edward’s School, Simeon Taylor, Jake Newman, Kieran Norris and Jamie Ford were selected for he B&NES Schools Indoor Athletics Championships.

Finally, in a team competition our Year 8’s out scored King Edward’s and Prior Park to win the B&NES Minor Championships held at the University of Bath.

Well done to all the boys who competed on behalf of the school, and may I take this opportunity to thank Mr Shaw, Mr Macdonald and Mr Pearson for their help throughout the season.

A special thank you needs to also go to Mr Newbold who has been heavily involved in athletics within the school and local competitions over the last nineteen years, but is to leave us at the end of the year to face a new challenge as Head of Department at the Harrow School in Beijing. Good luck!

Rugby training for all senior sides will be held at Beechen Cliff School in the last couple of weeks of the summer holiday to get a head start on the others. These training sessions are for pupils who are in or going into the Sixth Form and the present Year 10 moving into Year 11. These sessions will be used to develop the team style and a chance for all to get involved with new coaches and some guest coaches from Bath RFC.

Tuesday 26th August: 2 – 4 p.m.
Thursday 28th August: 2 – 4 p.m.
Tuesday 2nd September: 2 – 4 p.m. – Trail Match
Thursday 4th September: 2 – 4 p.m.
Saturday 6th September: 1st and 2nd Match against Kingswood

The dentist, will be in school on the 10 th September at 1 p.m. in the school gym.

If you would like your son to be protected with a properly fitted gum shield and have his name and school imprinted onto the product, then you need to contact OPRO direct via www.opro.co.uk.

My thanks to all the staff, pupils and parents who have made
all the fixtures possible this year.

Challengers that entered - 24
Challengers that started - 23
Challengers that walked 100 miles - 12
Total miles walked by Challengers - 1783 miles
Challengers Number of steps - 19,969,600
Total Challengers Walking Time - 567 hours 21 minutes
Centurion radio interviews – 3
Interview time on Radio - 7 minutes 35 seconds
Centurion articles in Bath Chronicle - 3
In Beechen Cliff’s Newsletter - 6
Weight of pasta uncooked 3 kgs – Cooked 18 kgs – Eaten by Challengers 15 kgs - Eaten by max 3 kgs
Weight of rice uncooked 5 kg – Cooked 15 kgs – Eaten by Challengers 13 Kgs – Eaten by max 2 Kgs
Bacon rashers 180 – Eggs 36 – Milk 20 pints – 6 litres of Squash – Sandwiches Eaten 83
Water drunk at check points - 250 litres
First aid kits – 4 - Pain from blisters constant - Blister plasters 73 and counting…
Challengers socks used 53 pairs – now with holes 5 pairs - lost 3 pairs – boot laces replaced 3
Photocopying 354 sheets of A4 – Paid for by Mr Randall (25 A3 colour sheets)
The marshals’ mobile phone minutes 241 – Texts messages 3 – Meetings 4
Days from idea to day of Challenge 37 days – Forms filled in 5
Horse boxes - 1 (0 horses )
Gas Bottles - 1
Mini bus miles - 143
Tents - 6
Bouquets of flowers - 2
bottles of wine – 3
Handshakes - 53
Favours to be returned - 3
Entrance fees £360
Money raised - expected £875 but should be more…
Determination by Challengers immense.
And too many good memories to count.

Thursday 17th July	Year 7/8 – Cricket Festival at Lansdown CC Staff Charity Cricket Match 5 p.m. at Lansdown CC
Monday 21st July	Year 9 – End of Year Disco with Hayesfield 7 – 9 p.m.
Monday 21st July – Wednesday 23rd July	Sixth Form – Llain Activity Centre (returns Wednesday 23rd July at 6 p.m.)
Monday 21st July – Friday 25th July	Library Closed for Essential Maintenance
Wednesday 23rd July	Year 9 – Progress Reports Issued
Friday 25th July	Final Assembly - End-of-Term
*INFORMATION ACCURATE AT TIME OF PRESS*

JUDO
Eleven boys from Beechen Cliff School attended Bath University for a Judo Competition. The boys competed against five other schools from Bath and Frome.

The University hosted a brilliant morning and afternoon through international demonstrations, professional officiating and scoring as well as running a tournament for all pupils to take part in.

At the end of the competition pupils were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.

My thanks to Harry Godwin (Year 10) who assisted during the day giving advice and guidance to our pupils.

Pupils who attend were – Nick Dagger, Elliot Norbury, Tom Payne, Sam Book, Lloyd Hunt, Charlie Ingram (silver), Jack Miles (Gold), Josh Naish, Josh Swaby, George Emery and Jay Whelan (Gold).

Heavy rain and murky conditions were not able to dampen the spirits of our intrepid clay pigeon boys as they set out in the minibuses to attempt to claim the Junior House Clay Pigeon Trophy for their own House. Bannister, Cross, Gardner, Leppard, Roberts and Wragg were all represented and the final outcome depended on two elements; the individual highest score from 25 cartridges – and the average score of the ‘shooters’ from each House.

As we arrived, the rain relented and the sun burst through – a happy omen for good shooting ahead. Many of the boys are now quite experienced shots and the competition proved to be fierce.

In one group the battle between Jake Dugan (L) and Stephen Smith (C) became very fierce; each ‘dropped shot’ being responded to almost immediately. At the end of the competition the two boys were on 21 from 25 – a shoot out was necessary, in case the boys in the two other groups were unable to match the total achieved. A fast, crossing bird proved to be the undoing of Smith and his shot fell behind the fast approaching clay. Dugan took a few deep breaths and responded by powdering the bird (and himself!), leaving him winner of the group. But was it to be enough? As the other groups returned from their stands, it was quite clear that many boys had improved on previous visits. Mr Stewart was kept in charge of the statistical work while the boys (and Mr Montano) stocked up on hot chocolate and twix fingers. A hush descended on the room as the scores were announced.

The afternoon was a great success and next year I am sure there will be even greater competition for places to compete in the Junior competition.

The boys were highly commended for their excellent conduct and spirit by all the instructors – as we would, of course, expect.

SAINSBURY’S ACTIVE KIDS VOUCHERS
Please note that we are still collecting the Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers. Vouchers can be handed into the Main Office, at school, until the 21st July 2008. Many thanks.

The Year 7 Reading Club has only been running since February of this year, but it has already expanded to include around twenty boys.

The basic aim has been to encourage boys to try and read more regularly, writing a short review after completing each book. Mrs Bletso and Mrs Tinkler have been administering the club, meeting the boys each week to ‘change over’ and share opinions of those books read. We hope to continue the club into Year 8, as well as start a new one for the incoming Year 7’s. It can’t ever be forgotten that, whilst boys are often strong in mathematical and science based skills, they often fail to give enough of their attention to reading and writing – both areas which will develop their vocabularies and chances of high attainment in public examinations.

BBC News

SUMMER NEWSLETTER JULY 2008