Our NEW edition of ‘The Bradfordian’ (Issue 358, Autumn 2024) 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
“At Bradford Grammar School we hold true to our values, champion high ethical standards and the virtues of scholarship, strive to remain accessible to the broadest possible cross section of families and make a difference in our locality and also more widely. In so doing, we continue to address our educational, commercial and public benefit priorities and thus enact our vision for BGS. Despite the increasing external pressure on independent schools, I believe we can remain optimistic about our long-term future. The pages that follow attest to the quality and confidence of our School despite the growing ideological and financial challenges we face. More of that later. But first…
There’s a film I like called ‘Clockwise’. I talked about it in an assembly recently. Released in 1986, it’s been around for a while. ‘Clockwise’ is a traditional British comedy – farcical, chaotic, toe curling at times, but ultimately funny, or at least I think so. The main character is Mr Stimpson, a once highly organised and well regarded Headteacher at a high-flying state school, who is invited to speak at a prestigious private school conference. But Mr Stimpson’s pin sharp life falls apart as his journey to the lectern faulters, as he struggles through calamity after catastrophe desperately straining to achieve the conference stage, the perceived pinnacle of his teaching and leadership career. You can feel the suffering as his efforts dissolve into hapless pieces.
I first watched this film as a lad with no desire to become a teacher or Headmaster or anything other than a fighter pilot. I laughed then. I smile knowingly now. There is one quote from the film that catches attention still. In the hollows of failure and defeat, Mr Stimpson turns to the Sixth Form girl he is with – it’s best not to dwell on that in these more enlightened times of child safeguarding – and he says: ”It’s not the despair Laura, I can stand the despair. It’s the hope.” It can be hard work maintaining hope and an optimistic outlook. Giving up is easy. Mr Stimpson simply keeps going in the film ‘Clockwise’. We laugh at him and gently shake our heads. But we respect his grip on hope even when, with a heavy dollop of theatrical pathos, he is carted off in a tattered, mud-spattered suit by the local constabulary at the end of the film.
“Hope is the dream of the waking man,” is a quote attributed to Aristotle. At BGS we actively encourage our young folk to be optimistic about tackling the big
issues of the day – climate change, food and fuel poverty, misogyny and male violence against women, repressive ideologies and extremism, forced cross border migration and so on. Dare our children hope they might make a difference here, facing down some of the thorniest challenges of our times? We respect those who choose to remain optimistic, who never stop imagining what ‘better’ might look like, who keep aspiring and trying. Staying positive and true to our vision for education is the key to BGS longevity and success. It is our mission to educate and foster future generations of women and men who, like their BGS forebears, will make a positive difference in this world. As I said at Speech Day, “the likely imposition of VAT on the fees paid by parents, and removal of Business Rates Relief on the bills paid by the School, represent a double-edged financial sword. Both would have an impact. Such things are on the minds of those who choose to send their children to an independent school and those of us who choose to work at one”. It is foolish to imagine that nothing will change in the VAT environment. There will inevitably be some delicate choices to make. However, we are confident that our strategy to maintain high standards is the right one, and we will continue to look towards the future of BGS with a clear sense of mission and confidence.
My grateful thanks are extended to pupils and parents, Governors, colleagues, Old Bradfordians, benefactors and friends of our School for everything they have contributed to BGS this past year. Our resolve to educate and empower young people so they can make the most of every opportunity, enriching their own lives and those of others, remains undiminished. The pages that follow attest to this spirit and long-term vision for Bradford Grammar School.”
“It is our mission to educate and foster future generations of women and men who, like their BGS forebears, will make a positive difference in this world.”
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