Headmaster’s Blog 05 September 2019

A very warm welcome back. I do hope you enjoyed the summer break and return refreshed and ready to work hard as the new academic year begins. Yesterday we welcomed the largest number of students to BMS in the school’s history and I am delighted that we have been entrusted with the education of so many girls and boys; it is truly a privilege.  I would like to extend a particularly warm welcome to our new students who are embarking on their first week here.  Although this may seem slightly daunting at first, I can assure you that you will quickly settle in and make new friends. We are all here to help.

I could not have been more pleased with this year’s set of A Level results which surpassed my expectations. An impressive 18% of the grades received were A*, the highest for five years, 50% were A*-A and 94% were graded A*-C. It is all the more impressive given that top grades nationally went down, syllabi changed and unconditional offers this year increased.  Congratulations to everyone involved in this success but most importantly to our students whose hard work certainly paid off.

We celebrated again a week later as students enjoyed success at GCSE across a broad range of subjects with 98% of grades awarded between 9 to 4 or A* to C. An exceptional 43% of grades awarded were 9, 8 or A*, the highest number in the school’s history.  Furthermore, 18% of the grades hit the top mark of 9 and the average grade achieved was a 7(A).  Notably, all these young people achieve academically as well as participating fully in sport, drama, music and other co-curricular activities. Their success is very well deserved indeed.

And so we once again resume our usual busy pace and I look forward to seeing parents and the wider BMS community at sporting, arts and other events during what will be, I am sure, a productive and exciting term ahead.

Alex Tate
Headmaster