Our NEW edition of ‘The Bradfordian’ (Issue 356, Autumn 2022) is now available to view online. This is BGS’s annual publication that includes a record of the previous school year featuring news from across the Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form including ‘Communities, Societies and Activities, ‘Events and Visiting Speakers’, ‘Trips’, ‘Arts and Performance’ and ‘Sport’.

A message from the Headmaster, Simon Hinchliffe

“The following pages represent a confident expression of the qualities that make BGS such a special place to learn and work. Line up successive Bradfordians on your living room floor, (the magazines, not school or civic notables!) and a bigger picture emerges. Ours is a School of national renown, one with a rich heritage and bright future as we reflect the changing times.

This was one of the themes that I took up at our most recent Senior School Speech Day. Chantry records place us in Bradford before 1548. Our Royal Charter was bestowed in 1662 and we are celebrating its 360th birthday this year. We moved from a cathedral site to Manor Row in 1820 and onwards to Manningham, opening as a school at our current location in 1949. We were the first school in England to adopt the Forster Reform Acts of 1869 and 1870 which brought secular, state control. In 1944 the Butler Education Act was embraced, ushering in the formative Direct Grant era when as many as 40 per cent of the boys attended thanks to public funding, fostering rapid social mobility. Independence came only recently in 1975 when BGS, like others facing sweeping educational reform, elected to protect their autonomy. The transition to full co-education began in 1984.

‘Schools, like states, have to fluctuate between stability and change, as need arises,’ wrote Tony Moxon in his book “Hoc Age, Bradford Grammar School 1818-1996”, first published in 1999. He is right of course. Clearly, our School has evolved over the generations, but we have remained loyal to Bradford and our hinterland, and we continue to seek to be relevant and of value, to make a difference on our doorstep and nationally. Locality is bound up in our personality, it informs who we are and, as I said in my Speech Day address, ‘our deep commitment to excellence and opportunity, giving rise to a rich variety of experiences and achievements, is a recipe for personal fulfilment and happiness. Moreover, we are kind and seek to share our time and talents generously as a good neighbour in our community’ – all of which is wrapped up with a no-nonsense, get on and do it ‘Hoc Age’ attitude.

The articles that follow attest to our values and motto. Stories of hard work, success and love of school life speak loudly about our BGS family. But we don’t get complacent. The accolades and positive judgments of recent times, not only from the Independent Schools Inspectorate, are not laurels upon which to rest. As I write, we are refurbishing our Sixth Form Centre and solar panels will soon appear around our site as BGS goes even greener. Additionally, if all runs to plan, we will soon be in a position to admit Reception and Year 1 children to our Junior School, Clock House, as part of improvements to the campus and curriculum for our youngest children.

Meanwhile, at a whole school level, we keep developing our teaching methods, fine tuning the academic, co-curricular and pastoral offering, raising funds for
Assisted Places to remain inclusive and ensuring commercial resilience to safeguard excellent value for money for all families. In short, risking an oxymoron:
in many essential ways we are the school we’ve always been, a work in progress!

As ever, my sincere thanks are extended to pupils and parents, Old Bradfordians, benefactors and friends of our School, colleagues and Governors for their
commitment to BGS. There has been much to celebrate this past year as we returned to ‘normal’ school life. Long may that continue. Hoc Age.”

View the publication online.

“Stories of hard work, success and love of school life speak loudly about our BGS family.”

Simon Hinchliffe, Headmaster

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