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Head Master's Newsletter

Mr Mark Moore, the Head Master of Clifton College Upper School and Head of College, writes a regular newsletter about developments in the Upper School.

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Michaelmas Term 2011

Dear Parents,

It has been customary to begin this letter with academic superlatives, and I am pleased to report that our external exam results last summer provided the material for me to do so again. We matched 2010’s best-ever GCSE results and our A Level results surpassed 80% graded A*- B for the first time. We applaud of course all the individual efforts of pupils in their success, but the detail of the overall results is very interesting. Our Sixth Form is considerably larger than many other schools, so if we were to compare ourselves on a like-for-like basis with other schools, we would look at the performance of our top 125 leavers; this group achieved a staggering 92% A*-B at A2. This figure is higher than any other Bristol school by some way, and would place Clifton amongst the very top schools academically nationwide.

Academic challenges abound at Clifton, and our Mathematics Department has been particularly successful this term. A team of 5; Gareth Jones, Yoo Je Hoang, Lilith Wozniak, Pius Chong and Aidan Chivers won both the West of England and the subsequent South-West rounds of the UK Year 10/11 Mathematics Team Challenge. An Upper Sixth team of Charlie Lindsay, Tom Gillbe, Donna Hoang, Katie McInally, Alla Myrktchan and Serena Mok also won the Bristol Schools Further Mathematics competition. The depth of talent was evident in the healthy crop of certificates earned in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge – 15 Gold, 19 Silver and 18 Bronze. As I write, all five of our Oxbridge Mathematics applicants are preparing to attend their interviews.

As a further insight to the range of academic challenges available at Clifton, a new Scientific Society has been established by Dr Poland, using her contacts at Bristol and Cambridge to present topics ranging from “Protein folding, misfolding and disease: molecular chaperones to the rescue” to “To infinity and beyond: The LHC Project”.

Our pupils manage to combine academic success with such a varied and challenging array of other pursuits. Music is eminent amongst them, and as well as the outstanding facilities of the music school, Clifton is blessed by pupils of outstanding musical talent. Both Rosie Stoner and Reina Kameyama performed full length evening recitals at our Advanced Performance Platform, and both delivered impressive performances. The regular lunchtime recitals featured the talents of Roscoe Crawley, Felicia Lane, Charles Vaughan, Donna Hoang, Ben Giebus, Pavel Telica, Georgia Argent, Robert Gittings, Jonghak Lee, Luke Farmer and Katendi Heald. Clifton was able to showcase its musical talents further afield, including at the Lord Mayor’s Mansion House Dinner in London. In terms of concerts with mass participation, the Autumn Concert in Big School and the Christmas Concert in Chapel took place in the latter stages of term and were hailed as the best concerts of their kind in recent times. Mass participation was evident in the House Part-Song and Unison Song competitions in October. This year’s performances were excellent across the board, and no-one envied the judge’s job; East Town and School House took the respective prizes. Our choir continues to take centre stage at major musical events, with the Chapel Choir singing Matins at St Olaf’s Church, Poughill, with a large OC contingent in attendance to mark the 70th anniversary of Clifton at Bude. The pupils will also remember for some time the associated beach BBQ and stormy sea swim. Both Chapel and Chamber Choirs were inspirational during the candlelit Advent and Christmas Carol Services; due to popular demand, we ran two carol services this year, and it was most pleasing that the Chapel was virtually full on both occasions.

In October, the speaker at the starred service was the distinguished OC, the Rt Rev’d Richard Llewellin, former Bishop at Lambeth and Chief of Staff to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He shared his reflections on the complex political, social and religious situation in Israel and Palestine. The subsequent Remembrance Sunday was yet again a fitting tribute to the men and women who lost their lives in the service of their country and in the cause of freedom and peace.

Last year’s production of Les Misérables set a most exacting benchmark for the combined talents of Karen Pickles and Dan Robson to meet, but this year’s school production of Evita was similarly stunning. Marienella Philips starred in the title role, her mature manner on stage convincingly representing Eva Peron, while her beautiful voice added great colour to numbers such as ‘You must love me’. She was ably supported by the rich baritone sound and big stage presence of Harry Scrase as Peron, while Alex Bull delivered Che’s lines with real aplomb – humorous, sarcastic and convincing. Anna John’s rendition of ‘Another suitcase in another hall’ was deeply moving and Ed Sims made an entertainingly sleazy tango singer. Some of the most enjoyable parts of the show were with the entire cast on stage for all-singing, all-dancing numbers such as ‘And the money kept rolling in’. The band, led by Julia Hwang on violin, made a great West End style sound and the Lloyd Webber score flowed together smoothly.

In hockey, our girls reached the regional hockey finals at U14, U16 and U18 levels, with our U14 team now ranked in the top five nationally; as regional champions they go on to the national finals next term, and have been unbeaten all term, a record they share with the 15A team; next year’s U16 squad should be all-conquering! The regional competitions are all now held at Beggar Bush, its attractiveness as a venue greatly enhanced by our new water-based astro. On an individual level Lily Owsley has been selected for the England U18 hockey squad. In addition our U14 and U16 netball squads have reached regional finals, and our 1st squad is through to the quarter finals of the National Schools Netball Cup.

Our boys’ 1st XV team has set a remarkably competitive standard of rugby for more junior teams to follow, with the playing statistics showing this as the best season since the 2001 unbeaten XV. They won 10 of their 12 matches, with highlights being four cup victories: The Ryan Bresnahan Trophy v BGS at Clifton Rugby Club 16 – 3, The Governor’s Cup against Marlborough 22–12 (the fourth consecutive victory against Malborough), The Colquhoun Cup v Blundell’s 18–6 and the Richard Craig Cup v Sherborne 17-15 in their final game on the Close. Also savoured was the 20-13 victory away at Cheltenham. The side has been admirably captained by Max Cresswell. What is equally pleasing is the strength in depth shown by an unbeaten Yearlings C XV (played 8 won 8) and very successful Yearlings B XV and JC B XV (both won 9 out of 11 matches). With the Senior Colts winning 8 of their 11 matches, including excellent victories over Cheltenham and Sherborne, the 1st XV can hand on the baton with some confidence.

All the above activities, and a great many besides, depend upon the commitment of a very talented Senior Common Room. Teachers are not immune from the uncertainty of the current economic environment, and the proposed change to teachers’ pensions has caused a good deal of anxiety. We await a fair resolution of this issue, but it is noteworthy that not one member of the SCR at Clifton took part in the action of 30th November, instead sending a school representative, as staff were of the opinion that such action would not be in the best interests of the pupils they teach, despite the continuing apprehension about this issue.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Mr M J Moore, MA
Head of College and Head Master of the Upper School

15 December 2011

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