Headmaster’s Blog 28 November 2019
It is always such a pleasure to hear about the many sporting achievements of BMS students. Here are just a few from the past few weeks.
Netball player Rosie Fordham in Year 10 has recently been selected for the Saracens Mavericks U15 Long Squad for the 2019-20 season. This comes after being chosen for their Futures Academy for a second year in a row and passing her IO and C awards, qualifying her to umpire at local and junior league level. As part of the squad, Rosie will play against some of the top U15 netball players from across the country and be eligible for selection for the School Games in September 2020.
Other BMS students who are part of the Saracens Mavericks Futures Academy include Year 11 student Juliana Orlenok and Jess Bradley in Year 13. Year 10 student Amy Wells is part of Wasps Netball Academy, a franchise competing at the same level in the Netball Superleague.
In table tennis, Year 8 student Ben Dunkley is one just 31 players from across the country to be named as part of the England Hopes squad for the 2019-20 season by Table Tennis England. Selection to this squad is the first step of the England Performance Pathway which aims to support young athletes with the capability to reach at least the top 20 in Europe by the time they are 18. This recognition came after a successful season which saw his U13 national ranking improve from 61 to 12, making him the most successful Bedford player in his age category for some time.
Ben formed part of the winning BMS U13 Table Tennis team which, along with the U16 team, were named County Champions at the recent Bedfordshire County Schools Team Finals. Both teams won all their games and the U16 team won every match 8-0. Well done boys.
Meanwhile Year 9 student, Lottie Taylor, has recently been accepted into the National Fast Bowling Academy for the 2019-20 season. This comes after a successful summer playing cricket for BMS, her club and county.
Year 7 gymnast, Grace Wilkins, recently competed in the Eastern Counties Gymnastics Level 6 Regional Finals in Ipswich and from a pool of 18 competitors, came first in her floor and third in her beam routines.
It was also a privilege to host the England Rugby Women’s team training session here at BMS ahead of their match against Italy at Bedford Blues on Saturday, which they won convincingly 60-3. It was tremendous to see a couple of our students walk out with the team, too; an experience I am sure they will remember for a very long time.
Alex Tate
Headmaster