Clifton College News: Upper

Clifton trumps the weather!

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:01 GMT

A first at Clifton takes place this afternoon when the Clifton 1st XI Cricket T20 v QEH match takes place in its' all-weather facility at Beggar Bush.

The Dome, as it is affectionately known, usually hosts netball and tennis throughout the year, but in this unusually wet weather, it is an ideal opportunity to keep some of the fixtures active.

The game starts at 4pm and parents are welcome to watch. For directions please see our Maps and Directions.

Genesis Global School

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Clifton College prides itself in offering pupils amazing opportunities to develop international links through educational, cultural and sporting visits abroad. The benefits of these excursions far outreach the planned objectives and lead to establishing the foundations for global citizens of the future.

This ethos extends to the staff too and collaboration between Clifton College and Genesis Global School in Dehli, India, has recently been established. Visits have previously been made by Dr Wendy Bowring (Head of Butcombe) and Mr Mark Moore (Head of College), who paved the way for closer links to be created between the two schools, with a return visit from Genesis last summer.

This Easter, Mrs Julie Molesworth (Deputy Head Academic - Pre), Mrs Fiona Hallworth (Director for External Relations) and Mrs Rachel Griffiths (Butcombe), spent three days at Genesis Global School working closely with their Senior Management and teaching staff. For our part it was sharing our expertise and experience in a number of areas that this newly established school wished to develop. Valuable professional dialogue ensued throughout the visit and our hosts kept us busy!

The penultimate day of the trip, however, could not fail to be the highlight - a visit to the Taj Mahal! This impressive piece of architecture and art lives up to all the expectations and made the journey even more worthwhile.

We are grateful to our hosts, particularly Mr Pramod Sharma (Principal) and Mrs Neeti Bhalla Saini (Head Junior School), for their meticulous planning and attention, well beyond our needs.

Mrs Julie Molesworth
Deputy Head Academic

Cliftonian BBC Young Musicians

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Clifton College is extremely proud that two pupils, cellist Rosie Stoner (L6th, HH) and violinist Julia Hwang (Yr11, HH), have reached the latter stages of the prestigious 2012 BBC Young Musician Competition. This world-famous biennial event has launched the careers of many well-known musicians at a young age such as Stephen Hough, Jennifer Pike and David Pyatt. Having both already passed through several extremely tough preliminary rounds, which included many instrumentalists from specialist music schools, Rosie reached the Strings Category Auditions round, with Julia progressing to join the four other string players now judged the best in the country for their age, in the televised Strings Category Final.

Julia will appear on BBC Four on Friday 27th April at 7.30pm, alongside two violinists and two cellists to compete for one of the final five places, with a programme of works by Lutoslawski, Suk and a virtuoso arrangement by Castelnuovo-Tedesco. A large group of supporters and her accompanist from Clifton make their way to newly-completed Dora Stoutzker Hall at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to see her compete.

Congratulations go to all the pupils from Clifton who took part in this year’s competition.

The programme can be viewed also in iPlayer, with more details on the BBC Four website.

Summer Serenade

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Given by Clifton College soloists with the Bristol Ensemble on Sunday 29th April, 2012.

All are welcome to this Annual Concert for the Guild of Friends of the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. Tickets are priced at £15 each for adults and £10 each for Over 60s and Under 16s. Tickets will be available on the door.

6.30pm Drinks and Reception, with the College Chaplain, The Rev Kim Taplin giving a tour of the Chapel before the Concert, for those who may be interested to learn more of its features.

7.30pm-9.30pm Concert

Further information.

100% academic awards to celebrate girls at Clifton

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The Clifton College Development Trust are delighted to announce the launch of seven new academic awards offering gifted girls up to 100 per cent funding of their fees, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of educating girls at the school.

The awards are for the start of the academic year in September 2012 with four academic awards available for girls joining the sixth form in the Upper School and three for girls at 11+ for the Preparatory School.

The new awards are being introduced in a year of already outstanding academic achievement, with sixteen pupils winning offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

A new purpose-built day house for girls, designed to match the surrounding Georgian architecture, will also be opened this autumn as part of the anniversary.

The awards are funded through the Clifton College Development Trust, which involves the support of several Old Cliftonians who have gone on to develop successful careers themselves. The level of funding provided will be means-tested and to apply for an award, prospective candidates will need to sit an exam, the first of which is set for late March.

Philip Hallworth, Director of Admissions at Clifton College, commented: “Girls already make up over third of our current pupils and we are very grateful to the Trust for funding these new awards which will provide life-changing opportunities for seven talented girls to be educated at the school.

“The pastoral care offered at Clifton for both boarders and day pupils is second-to-none and by getting to know each girl really well, we help them to find their own niche, develop their talents and begin to hone their dreams.”

Trust member and Old Cliftonian Jonathan Glassberg, who has had a career in financial markets since leaving the school said: “My days at Clifton left me better equipped in every way to deal with what followed, and the friends I made have remained friends to this day. The school always encouraged us to give something back, and now I hope these awards can help to do that."

Trustee John Pocock, who has a son and daughter at the school explains: “Clifton has given my own children a unique and broad education which I want to see extended to others through more bursaries like these.”

There are already over 100 children at Clifton College with bursaries, twenty of which cover 100% of their fees.

Over recent years there has been strong investment at Clifton, which now offers world-class sporting facilities, a theatre, science school, music school, dance studios and an art and design and technology centre.

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 24th April.

To find out more about the awards please contact Admissions at Clifton College on 0117 315 7000 or e-mail admissions@clifton-college.avon.sch.uk.

Red Dinner raises money for The Prince's Trust

Mon, 2 Apr 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Clifton College recently played host to the first Prince’s Trust Gala Dinner held in the South West, where the charity event raised over £64,000 to help young people into work.

The classic Victorian architecture glowed ruby red when the Prince’s Trust illuminated the School buildings to welcome their invited guests for the evening. Over 200 people mingled in the magnificent Percival Library for champagne and canapés before moving into the Great Hall, which had been lavishly decorated in the red and white theme of the evening. Sanjeev Bhaskar OBE, actor, comedian and Trust ambassador, hosted the sumptuous evening with Jeremy Pickles, Development Director at Clifton, conducting the live and the silent auctions using innovative iPad technology.

The Upper School Chamber Choir sang beautifully to get the evening underway and a wonderful time was had by all. So much so in fact, that proceeds exceeded all expectations, much to the delight of Rick Libbey, south west regional director for The Prince’s Trust who endorsed the strong link between Clifton and the charity. He commented “The money raised from our Red Dinner will make a huge difference to the lives of many young people in the South West. We are incredibly grateful for the support of everyone who helped make the evening a success.”

World-renowned soul singer Ruby Turner rounded off a perfect occasion with a rousing set and there were calls for the evening to become an annual event.

Photo gallery

Video of the night

Lent Term 2012

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Dear Parents

Term began with the best news possible as no fewer than 16 pupils received offers of places at Oxford (9) and Cambridge (6). That is many more than most schools. Interestingly, of those 16, eight have been at Clifton since Butcombe and a further four joined the school in the Pre. Since then a number of pupils have received good offers from other prestigious universities too, such as UCL, Imperial, KCL, LSE and Durham. We are confident that our pupils leave Clifton well prepared for university and for the world of work, having both the necessary academic qualifications and the equally important people skills to enable them to succeed. The school is certainly developing a stronger academic focus but the pupils still find the time to excel in so many areas.

Pride of place must go to the Under 14 girls’ hockey team (pictured) who became National Champions at the National Finals in Cannock on 28th February. They won with some style. Virtually the same squad competed in the national netball finals a few weeks later. Not to be outdone the Boys first XI hockey team, following a quite brilliant performance in the Regional finals, won through to the National finals at the end of April. It has therefore been a superb term for hockey at Clifton.

In football there were no unbeaten teams to mark Mr. Rodgers’ last season in charge but there were some memorable victories. The 1st XI was quite brilliant in defeating Marlborough (4-0) in the snow on the 3G artificial pitch at BB. In fact this was one of only a handful of matches played all over the Bristol area that weekend. The Senior Colts A took a notable scalp by beating King’s Worcester (4-3) and for the first time in many years we managed to get some fixtures for the U16B team. The Yearlings teams improved throughout the term and had good victories against Monmouth 3-2 and 4-3. Congratulations must be expressed to both Joe Brooks and Chris Andrews for their selection in the Mercian Independent Schools’ South team that took on their Midlands counterparts at Ludlow recently.

This year’s House Play Festival was as exciting and as vibrant as ever. The week leading up to half term saw full houses in the Redgrave Theatre, and a number of pupils saw all eleven plays. It is unlike any other week in the school year and it is hugely enjoyed by all. So much work goes into putting on each play and the whole enterprise is pupil led providing them with invaluable experiences in teamwork and organization as well as direct experience of theatre. The standard is extraordinarily high. This year’s outstanding plays were The Others (Oakeley’s House, who won the award for the overall Best Production), Flight of the Conchords (East Town), and Jerusalem (North Town). In Senior Debating, Oakeley’s defeated South Town, their team comprising Pippa Robinson, Imogen Comerford, and Fran Buist. They were debating that “This House believes evil is a product of free will”.

Elsewhere in the Arts, there were three times as many LAMDA candidates this Lent term as in March 2011. These qualifications enhance UCAS applications and are highly regarded. A member from Rambert Dance Company’s Education team came to take the workshop and provided our students with a contemporary technique class. This was a valuable experience for all who participated and provided all with an opportunity to extend their dance vocabulary for those taking GCSE and A level Dance. For the fourth time in six years one of our pupils won the Bristol Schools’ Art competition. Makissa Smeeton, (Worcester House) was placed first out of over 370 entries.

In music Julia Hwang reached the String Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2012, accompanied brilliantly by Mr. James Drinkwater. The string final will be broadcast on the BBC on either 27th or 28th April. Rosie Stoner reached the semi-final stages of the same competition.

At the Chamber Music Charity Concert, held at St Mary’s, Stoke Bishop, numerous chamber groups played to a large and very appreciative audience. There were Advanced Performance Platforms by Bobby Longman on clarinet and by the Chamber Choir and weekly Tuesday lunchtime recitals by Christopher Pidgeon, Marienella Philips, Fran Buist, Anna Feather and Kosi Carter, Rose Stevens, Andy Park, Chelsea Lee and Harry Scrase. Jerry Crozier-Cole organised two very successful guitar events: the Band Night in January held in the Redgrave Theatre and the Acoustic guitar night held in the more intimate setting of the JCR. The Spring Concert, held in Big School in March, was the best in recent times, with a diverse array of well-drilled and highly skilled performers. Real highlights included the 6th form cello ensemble and the jazz workshop. Choral Congers featuring the whole school brought the term to a rousing climax.

Dr Joseph Bilal was the preacher at the first service of the Lent term. As a national of the world’s newest country – South Sudan – he gave a fascinating insight into his upbringing in that country. The other visiting preachers were the Revd. Paul Langham (vicar of Christ Church Clifton and a Clifton parent), and the Revd. Alex Aldous (Senior Chaplain of Oakham School). On 8th March the Chamber Choir was magnificent during a quiet, reflective service of Music and Readings for Lent in the Chapel, and a week later the annual ‘Lean Lent Lunch’ of soup, bread and cheese was well-supported by pupils and staff. A significant donation was given to the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). The Independent Schools’ Confirmation Service will take place on Sunday 24th June in Bristol Cathedral. Confirmation classes will commence at the beginning of the summer term. If your daughter or son is interested, please ask her/him to contact the Chaplain immediately on returning to School.

The Pens (Cross Country) races took place last week on a very difficult hilly course in the grounds of Ashton Court. The individual winners were: Senior Pens; Harith Shalash and Tor Kenny; Middle Pens: Magnus Gordon and Rosie Fawcett; Short Pens: Lucas Regazzo and Christiana Kimitri.

Next term begins on Tuesday 24th April at 8pm for boarders and Wednesday 25th for Day pupils. Zoe Ward will be Head of school; Harry Morgan and Tom Oliver will be her deputies.

With best wishes

Mr M J Moore, MA

Congratulations to Tor

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Congratulations to Tor Kenny seen running here at the English National Schools Cross Country last Saturday.

Tor was the first runner home for Avon and finished a creditable 28th out of 307.

West of England U18 Boys' Hockey Finals

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Clifton travelled to the regional finals with an entire squad of 11 players; a combination of half term and rugby sevens meaning that the team would have no bench cover throughout the day. Wins in the group against Prior Park (2-1), South Dartmoor College (2 -1) and Cheltenham College (1-0) meant that Clifton qualified for the semi-final against Canford.

An undisciplined Canford performance and an opportunistic goal from Julian Mogg saw Clifton win 1-0 and qualify for their first regional hockey final. The final matched Clifton against a very strong King’s Taunton side. Incredibly with five minutes of the match to play Seb Perry scored what turned out to be the crucial winning goal.

Against all the odds, Clifton had played some exceptional hockey, and after 3 hours of tournament hockey qualified for the National Hockey Finals. To have achieved this with 11 players was truly remarkable and those involved fully deserve huge congratulations on achieving something that Clifton boys’ have never done.

The boys will now go on to represent Clifton at the National Schools U18 hockey finals on 25th and 26th April.

Clifton U14 National Hockey Champions 2012

Fri, 2 Mar 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The U14 squad made history at Cannock Hockey Club on 29th February 2012 becoming the first team from Clifton College to win a national hockey title. Clifton have reached the finals in a variety of year groups on numerous occasions over the past eight years but never before been able to quite cross the finishing line as champions.

The day started well with Clifton taking an early two goal lead against Cranleigh with excellent strikes from Ellie Holley. Cranleigh replied with a great individual goal from their captain. But Clifton's captain Izzy Watson, restored Clifton's two goal advantage before half time. Cranleigh scored again with 8 minutes remaining. There were several close calls and Cranleigh hit the woodwork twice in the final two minutes. But a victory in the first game was crucial.

Second game was a very physical affair against Hymers from Hull. Hymers scored after 11 mins against the run of play but in a 30 minute match the first goal is vital. Clifton pounded the Hyme's goal in the second half with short corner after short corner but Hymers held firm. The final whistle went just after Clifton was awarded a short corner; their last chance to equalize. The corner was pushed right and a hit at goal from Zoe Cullum was deflected in from captain Izzy Watson. A football style celebration occurred in the D!

The final group game was against Trent College. Clifton had to win to go through to the final. Trent caught Clifton cold and scored in the first two minutes. From that point Trent were defending. A short corner strike in the 18th minute from Ellie Holley evened the game. In the last seven minutes of the match Clifton had seven short corners. It was from the seventh corner that the ball was stopped on the line by a defenders foot. A penalty stroke was given. Ellie stepped up and although partially saved by the keeper the ball crossed the line. Even then Clifton had to defend two short corners after the final whistle.

By the standards of the first three matches the final v Wakefield HC was a calm affair. Clifton scored after 3 minutes with Ellie Holley scoring a short corner. Izzy Watson added a second with a well worked goal and from then on the match was Clifton’s. Rarely did the ball move into Clifton's half as the Clifton midfield marshalled the game.

It was a fine display from a highly talented team. There is no point in mentioning specific team players as no girl deserves a special mention. All the squad have contributed to a marvellous unbeaten season and national title.

Rachel Overton, Morganne Webb, Sophie Currie, India Greenbury, Zoe Cullum, Mia Mok-Hartly, Christiana Kimitri, Alicia Jackson, Ellie Holley, Izzy Watson (Captain), Jodie Smith, Ella Browne, Evie Spicer, Tiana Fletcher, Melissa Dunn, Chloe Wedlake.