Review of the Year
The review of the academic year is presented annually at the Senior Awards evening. The 2010/2011 Awards evening took place on 15 September 2011 and Mrs Matthews, Headmistress was particularly impressed with pupils determination and hard work. Below is excerpt from Mrs Matthews’s presentation:
Public Examinations
Once again girls taking public examinations have achieved outstanding results:
- With a 100% pass rate at A Level yet again, 49 % of all grades awarded were either at Grade A or A* and over three quarters of all grades awarded were at either A* A or B
- Over one third of our pupils attained all A‘s or A*s in their A levels with Jennifer Wall achieving A* in every subject taken.
- At GCSE this year, almost half the grades awarded were at A* and just under three quarters of the year group achieved 8 or more A’s and A*s with Yasmin Aslam and Divya Rana achieving an A* grade in every subject taken at GCSE.
Congratulations to every girl who took public examinations this year – your successes were hard-earned and thoroughly deserved.
As always, however, academic achievement is not the only area in which Bradford Girls excel and throughout last year their capacity for hard work, the demonstration of their talents and their enthusiasm for new ventures continued to make their own unique impression.
Engineering
Once again pupils of all ages made their mark at this year’s Engineering Inspirations Event at the Yorkshire Air Museum in York, winning prizes in categories such as ‘Energy Use in School’ where a group of Upper 4 pupils: Ayesha Bahadur, Niamh Darren, Mariya Khan, Georgina Smith and Sarah Chadwick claimed an ‘Out of School’ award and in the ‘Use of Water in School’ category a second group of Upper 4 pupils: Tanya Brahma, Nawal Khalid, Hadia Kishver, Rajni Khullar, Brittany Skeels and Violet Tinnion claimed their own ‘Out of School’ award. In addition to these successes Emily Addison and Amelia Smith were declared Regional Winners in ‘The Solar Boat Challenge’, Upper 4 pupils achieved the Silver Crest Award in the Go4Set Environmental Competition, a group of Lower 5 girls successfully represented school at the Keighley Rotary Club Technology Challenge and yet another group of Upper 4 pupils reached the Regional Final of the Toyota Challenge with their solar powered car.
Debating and Public Speaking
Debating and Public Speaking continue to flourish both in school and at external events and competitions. Particular acknowledgement goes to the Sixth Form Debating Captain, Elizabeth Davies, and her Vice-Captain, Charlotte Feather for their leadership and their ability to work effectively in a team. Elizabeth and Charlotte gave superb performances at both Manchester and Durham Universities, whilst Alexandra Wild and Jasmine Sharp were equally impressive in the Oxford Union Competition, where Jasmine, then just 13, was the youngest speaker to reach such a high ranking in this most demanding of tournaments.
Upper Fourth speakers, Mariam Hussain, Hadia Kishver and Violet Tinnion represented the school with honour in the National Junior Debating Championship. Mariam's gift for expression also extended to the written word, when she deservedly won a national competition for young writers with her essay entitled ‘Have Faith’
This year saw the inauguration of Bradford Girls' own public speaking competition for preparatory and primary school pupils across the region with some fifty girls and boys competing for our newly instated L.J. Warrington, City of Bradford Trophy. Members of the Debating Society must share the praise for the success of this new venture and as this year's competition has already attracted more entries, we look forward to another hugely enjoyable occasion.
Whether girls represent the school, travel to support teams or attend the Debating Society every week their contribution is very much appreciated and in acknowledgement of this increasingly popular and flourishing activity, it has been decided that in addition to the prestigious Public Speaking Prize, both a Junior and a Senior Debating Trophy will henceforth be awarded on an annual basis.
Speaking Verse and Prose
This year we were finally forced to let Mr Wilson retire after a long and very successful association coaching girls of all ages and abilities in preparation for their LAMDA examinations. It was a fitting farewell performance then, by so many of his students that ‘the best ever’ results were achieved across the board: Harriet Middlebrough achieved the Grade 8 Gold Medal with Distinction in Speaking Verse and Prose, whilst Elizabeth Davies, Tehreem Kainat, Iymaan Matib, Romessa Rasib, Isabel Saunders, Emma Sokoll, and Alexandra Wild all achieved Grade 8 Gold Medal with Merit in the same category. In the Acting category Bismah Ali, Sophie Brook and Radhika Kumbhani were all awarded Grade 8 Gold Medals with Merit. In addition to these outstanding results a significant number of younger pupils achieved an array of awards at their own level laying firm foundations for future accomplishment in this arena.
Drama
The school production of ‘Daisy Pulls it Off’ proved to be a hugely popular choice with budding actresses of all ages. Imaginatively staged: the casting, the attention to detail and the standard of acting all combined to deliver an evening’s entertainment packed with high drama laced with humour, and excellent characterisation.
World Challenge
The World Challenge Team, supported by Mrs Rimmer and Miss Jackson, remain very busy with their preparations for the expedition to Malawi in July 2012. Their itinerary has already been agreed and includes: acclimatisation trekking in Zomba, a 6 day climb of Mount Mulange and a teaching and facilities improvement project at two schools. One of the wonderful consequences of the 2010 World Challenge expedition to Malawi was the close relationship established between Bradford Girls Senior School and Kaphirintiwa Secondary School and Lady Royd with Chitala Primary School. Mrs Rimmer continues to be the driving force behind this strong affiliation and I am delighted to announce she has recently secured funding for a ‘Global School Partnerships Reciprocal Visit’ between staff in these schools. Therefore during October half term Mrs Rimmer and Miss Frith will fly out to Malawi on the first of these visits and next March, Bradford Girls and Lady Royd will be delighted to act as hosts for the 2 members of staff from Malawi making their return visit. In addition to these exciting developments Bradford Girls is currently applying for Foundation status in the International Schools Award scheme, through the British Schools Council. This is a very prestigious accolade and reflects the international themes underlying much of the school curriculum both academic and extra-curricular.
Excursions and Visits
Once again this year a wide variety of visits and activities crowded the school calendar with girls of all ages offered a wide range of opportunities and visits: Leeds University for a lecture by Professor John Guy the leading authority on Tudor England Manchester University to the Philosophy of Religion Conference led by Dr Peter Vardy Leeds University Spanish Department where Anisha Shah, won a 2 week Spanish Language course - in Spain - which she is sharing with Alex Whitley and both will attend this October half term. Rhian Cherry’s attendance at a Food Science Summer School at Nottingham University. The Business Studies and French students visit to Paris for the ‘Your Future in Europe’ conference, The Classics and Geography departments joint visit to the Bay of Naples visiting Mount Vesuvius and exploring the streets of Pompeii and Herculaneum as well as underground Naples and the island of Capri The Spanish Department visit for GCSE and A level students to Andalucia to attend lectures at a purpose built language school. GCSE Greek pupils visited Cambridge University to watch a production of Agamemnon in original Greek. The Lower School French visit to Normandy, The Annual Battlefields Trip,
The visiting theatre group ‘Hexis’ who performed their production of ‘The Interview, The story of the Holocaust’ on Remembrance Day. Geography field trips to Malham, Outward Bounds in the Lake District and The U6 visit to Chester Zoo! Poetry Live, and Maths Challenges, Accountancy Masterclasses at Price Waterhouse Coopers, The ski trip to the Spanish Pyrenees, and the success of so many pupils in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at all levels. These are just some of the activities contributing to the vibrant extra-curricular life of the school, ensuring all girls have access to a rich educational experience which allows them to explore their individual strengths and interests and prepares them for the world beyond school.
Dance
The annual Dance Show once again attracted a huge amount of interest and excitement, energy and enthusiasm and once again, audiences were dazzled by extraordinary performances from girls of all ages with varied levels of experience and expertise. Entitled: PAST PRESENT FUTURE an array of news items both current and historical were used to inform dance routines of the highest quality. Set pieces included: Titanic on her Maiden Voyage, The Roaring Twenties, The Jarrow March, Evacuees and the modern London Underground. In keeping with the commitment made last year ‘old’ dance club members were once again invited to join a special dance rehearsal to prepare a unique piece for the final evening’s performance and this was received with great warmth and enthusiasm and is clearly set to become one of the highlights for future dance shows.
Sporting Achievements
As usual, we celebrated success in a wide variety of sporting disciplines reflecting the capacity of girls of all ages to compete at the highest levels and to the highest of standards. Team successseems to be the predominant feature this year and highlights include:
- U19, U16, U15, U14 and U13 Badminton teams who all won their respective Bradford Schools Leagues
- In Hockey the U15’s won their Bradford Schools League with the U19’s and U14’s runners up in their categories. The U19’s also won the Bradford Schools Hockey Tournament with the U14’s and U15’s runners up in their categories for this competition.
- Particular congratulations go to Emily Middlebrough who was selected to play for the West Yorkshire U15 team and to Caitlin Everson who remains a member of the U18 North of England Squad.
- In Table Tennis the U19’s team of: Charlotte Feather, Caitlin Gaston, Mehnoor Kalique and Michelle Firkin reached the Regional Round of the National Schools Table Tennis Competition.
- In Netball the U19’s, U15’s U14’s, U12’s were all runners up in the finals of the Bradford Schools Netball Competitions and from these teams: 12 players have been recruited into the Bradford Schools Talent Identification Programme Monica Duggal, Natasha Hussain, Radhika Khumbani and Anokhi Shah have all been recruited to the West Yorkshire Netball Academy and Lucy Hemsley has been invited to join the Regional Excel Academy for Netball
Charity
Sixth Form Charity Week…..Children in Need…… and our partner schools in Malawi all provided opportunities for girls to make donations, to generate sponsorship or to raise funds forcauses that resonated with them. Perhaps one of our more unusual community projects this year was the ‘crane making’ plan initiated by Isabel Saunders and Natalie and Georgina Jovanovic with Mrs Stead and Mrs Macdonald in support in full support. Bradford Girls has a longstanding relationship with the Tokiwagi Gakuen school in Sendai to the North of Japan and after the powerful earthquake in March - when thankfully no one from the school was harmed - staff and girls here entered into a flurry of crane making. In Japan the crane is a symbol of support and represents a prayer for peace and the target was set to make one thousand to fashion into a single garland which was then sent out to Sendai in the summer term much to the deep appreciation of everyone at Tokiwagi School.
The decision to hold the Old Girls’ Annual Lunch on the same day as the Science Fair and Open Morning last year proved to be very popular and this joint occasion is now fixed in future calendars. Members of the Old Girls Union particularly enjoyed the opportunity to meet current pupils and staff, and had great fun comparing the modern curriculum with its attendant opportunities and access to a university education, with memories of their own school days and the very different constraints and influences existing at that time.
Last year was also the year of the race to take up places at university before tuition fees treble, the much wider use of the A* grade at A level, by a greater number of universities to make degree course offers and the lingering, weakened state of the employment market. Therefore, here at Bradford Girls it has become even more crucial that we continue to pursue our vision of success for each and every girl and that our vision continues to emphasise: excellent academic qualifications for university admission and the demands of future employers, independence, self-assurance, loyalty, integrity and compassion