Message from the Head

David Iddon

Headteacher

Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Newsletter End of Term Summer 2012

The official Bishop Vesey’s Twitter account is @BVGS1527 Follow us on

Leavers Ball 3 July 2012

The Class of 2012 signed off in style at the Botanical

Gardens in B’ham with a 3 course meal, followed by

a disco. In his farewell speech, Head of Sixth Form

Dave Goodwin reviewed the year group with good

humour and aplomb, marking the passing of a notable

group of highly talented young people, destined for

great things. We thank them and wish them well for

the next stage in their already distinguished careers.

An Evening of Togetherness and Enjoyment

Artsfest 2012 On 28 June, organised exclusively by our Sixth

Formers, this annual event proved once again

to be a memorable moment in the Vesey calen-

dar with first-rate food and entertainment.

Pictured are some of the student entertainers

and pictured right is Jenny Cooper who di-

rected, produced and performed in the drama

elements with returnee and Founder of Arts-

fest in 2010, Hannah Smith (right), who is now

reading ‘Leadership’ at university. £1287 raised

for MS Trust and St John’s Hospice.

Staff News

We say thanks and farewell this term to colleagues

moving on in their careers. Geoff Goode moves to

the new Aston University Academy as Curriculum

Leader after 7 years as Head of D&T, Outreach Co-

ordinator of our Training School, Teacher i/c VLE,

Form Tutor and Goalkeeper of the Staff Football

Team. We offer our congratulations on his new

appointment and our sincere thanks for his wide-

ranging contributions to the life of the school in and

beyond the classroom. Matt Collins moves on to

Lichfield Cathedral School as Assistant Headteacher,

having served BVGS for 6 years, as Head of Year,

Teacher of Geography, Promoter of The Vesey

Foundation and organiser of staff football. James

Rostron moves to the Wellington International

School in Dubai following 5 years at BVGS as Head

of Year and Teacher i/c Law as well as teaching

Business Studies. Ruth Taylor-Briggs Teacher of

Classics has overseen the final year of the teaching

of Latin at both GCSE and A Level. An historic and

moving moment as we say farewell to both Ruth and

the teaching of Latin at BVGS. We acknowledge the

contribution of modern linguist Julien Jacquelin

who has thrown himself into the life of the school

and supported many of our language trips. He moves

on to a permanent post in London. We also say

thanks and farewell to Mary Aldridge who moves

on after one year as our school receptionist. Also

with one year’s service are our GTP trainee teach-

ers Victoria Sobczak, Natalie Timmins and

Chris Wilkes who leave us with qualified teacher

status. We thank all those who move on from our

midst, offering them every good wish for the con-

tinuation of their careers.

What a wonderful end to the aca-

demic year! We can now pause

from our school lives and reflect

over the summer holidays on so

many memorable moments over the

past 12 months. We look forward

to excellent exam results again this

August and offer all our leavers,

both staff and students, every good

wish for the future. We are in-

debted to so many members of the

Vesey Community who have sup-

ported us in so many ways to make

the ‘Vesey Experience’ so remark-

able. All our students are to be

applauded for developing the school

into such a lively and dynamic place

in which we all thrive. Awash with

opportunities, we recognise the

privileged position we have as mem-

bers of this school. It is a great

pleasure to see so many in our

midst who work for the benefit of

others and give generously without

counting the cost.

May you all enjoy a wonderful break

this summer and may the sun finally

get his hat on!

Page 2 July 2012

Cheryl Taylor, Teacher of Chemistry,

was invited to, and attended, the opening

of the new laboratories at Aston Univer-

sity’s Chemical Engineering and Applied

Chemistry Department. The prestigious

event included a lecture by the Nobel

Prize winner in Chemistry , Professor Sir

Harry Kroto, a prize he was awarded in

1996 for his discovery of Buckminster-

fullerene. The Chemistry Department at

BVGS is looking to build on the success

of links with other local universities to

offer students enrichment opportunities.

All the Yr 9 students going on the World Challenge Expedition to the

Atlas Mountains in Morocco went to the Long Mynd in Shropshire for a

training walk. The walk included various terrains in preparation for the

demands of the high Atlas Mountains. Thanks to Martin Lea, James

Rostron and parent Paul Davis for helping on the day. Special thanks

must go to Deputy Head Bill Potter for his Mountain Leader experience

and his many impromptu geography lessons throughout the day!

Year 9 Morocco Expedition July 2012

FREE computer courses for over 60s led by our 6th form students will commence on Monday 17 September at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School.

Places are limited, so please call Head of Enrichment, Cheryl Taylor on our dedicated booking line; 07527688338 to reserve your place.

Our popular student led computer course returns

Year 10 Big Maths Quiz

On Thursday 14 June, 12 year 10 students took part in the inaugural ‘Big Maths Quiz’ at the University of Birmingham. Accompanied by Head of

Maths Viv Green and Tom Williams the 3 teams of 4 students, tackled a number of mathematical challenges, ranging from number puzzles to

some particularly tricky mathematical questions based on the Olympics. There was also a lecture on the mathematics of knotting ties, learning about

the algebra of knotting a tie and the best of the 85 different possible knots. Our students came away with an impressive haul of prizes. Two of the

teams won ‘spot’ prizes for particular individual rounds. Team A came joint third overall and team B came second overall. All of the students thor-

oughly enjoyed the day and were a credit to the school.

Team A: Jack Andrew, Tevraj Aujla, Tom Round, Leo Tsoi, Team B: Robert Huskisson, Matthew McElroy, Sam Simper, Ben Wood-

ford, Team C: David James, Sami Saunders, Umar Siddiqui, Adam Stewart

A Question For You To Try

Move two matches to reduce the number of small squares from five to four so that

all the matches belong to the side of a square.

Year 8 students travelled by train to Birmingham University

to see the Sunshine Lecture. The lecture focussed on the

impact Science has on Olympic Athlete training pro-

grammes. The lecture gave the students the chance to see

the Birmingham University campus and it was, for most,

their first experience of an academic lecture theatre.

Year 8 Sunshine Lecture

Two Year 10 students applied, and

have been offered places, on the pres-

tigious summer residential Chemistry

course at Cambridge University. The

course will be a wonderful experience

as they will meet lecturers and stu-

dents and they will have the opportu-

nity to use the advanced scientific

instruments.

Year 10

Salters’ Institute

Year 8 students who entered the Challenge were awarded with 17 gold certificates, 35 silver certificates and 34 bronze certificates. Congratulations

are to go to Hamza Siddiqui 8B and Mustafa Qureshi 8B who both came equal top of the year with a score of 102.

Junior Maths Challenge results

29 students from Years 7-10

students recently took part in

the ancient and Olympic sport of

archery at Sutton Coldfield

Rugby Club. Budding bowmen

were given expert tuition from

members of Sutton Coldfield

Archery Club under the watch-

ful eye of organiser Julian

Whiting and archery club

member Pam Maskell. Each

day ended with a tournament,

and some excellent progression

and scores were witnessed as

the arrows flew into the targets.

Thanks must go SCAC for their

time and effort. We hope to

expand this opportunity in fu-

ture years.

Page 3

BVGS Newsletter Page 3

Vesey Archers Strike Gold

Junior World Champion Dan wins

The Clive Richards Cup This year Hannah Lockyer and

Sam Harper have offered an

advanced cookery course for all

students who have previously

completed the basic skills course.

Members of Years 7&8 embarked

on more challenging recipes, in-

cluding homemade burgers with

potato wedges and coleslaw. We

also made spinach and mushroom

lasagne with low fat cheese sauce.

The BVGS Cookery Club also

provided cookies for this year's

Artfest and sought to share their

recipes with a wider audience.

Let's Get Cooking

The History Department embraced

Olympic fever this half term. Years

7&8 had a series of lessons on both

the ancient and modern games. Stu-

dents investigated how ancient athletes

prepared for the games, what the

events were like and the prizes that

were won. They worked in groups to

present their vision of the perfect

ancient athlete. Following these les-

sons, students also investigated the

skills and discipline required to be

successful in the 2012 games. They not

only looked at the modern rules and

regulations but also at case studies of

Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Chris Hoy and

Usain Bolt. Hopefully students will be able to impress friends and family with their

knowledge of Olympic history in this unforgettable summer of sport.

Olympic History

House Music Festival 2012

BVGS Music Department is sponsored by Moseley Violins www.moseleyviolins.co.uk and The Patrons and Friends of Vesey Music

Dan Venables is to be

congratulated on being

the first winner of this

prestigious cup which

will be awarded annually

for the ‘Outstanding

Student of the Year’.

Dan as Junior World

Champion and a pros-

pect for future Olympics

beyond London 2012

thoroughly deserves this

magnificent award.

We are grateful to John Clemson, Head of Birmingham Music Service for so kindly joining us as adjudicator at this year’s House Music Festival,

which took place on 5 July in Old Big School. Organised by Director of Music Maryann Dye, the festival featured a wide variety of instrumental and

vocal items within the various sections of the competition. This platform offers invaluable experience to all our musicians, in particular those begin-

ners who have not played ‘in concert’ before. There were many memorable and indeed highly creditable performances. It is most encouraging to see

so many vocal soloists. We look forward to developing more choral ensembles and platforms for voice next term. Winners of this year’s House

Music Festival were: Year 7 Solo Instrumental: Philip Reader 7G (violin), Year 7 Solo Voice: Daniel Jolaosho 7G, Year 7 Ensemble: Amarpal

Johal 7R and Balamrit Sokhal 7R (Dhol). Year 8 Solo Instrumental: Trevon Scott-Geohaghon 8B (Drums), Year 8 Solo Voice: Josh Bos-

man 8B, Year 8 Ensemble: Sunil Salh 8R and Isherpreet Singh 8R (Dhol). Year 9 Instrumental: Nicholas Lee 9G (Violin), Year 9 Solo Voice:

Reiss Hadley-Morris 9G. The Year 9 Ensemble will take place on a separate date. We look forward to many more musical events in the Vesey

calendar during the academic year 2012-13.

Notifications of Absence

The mobile number for parents to text to report that their son/ daughter is absent will change to 441212850561 with effect from September 2012

Page 4 July 2012

The annual Art Exhibition was held on the evening of Wednesday 20 June in the Randon Design Centre where we celebrated the achievements of

our A2, AS and GCSE students. All the students involved have produced such excellent work during the course of the academic year with the sup-

port of Emma Neville, Anne Fitton and Andrea Gregory. For the first time this year, A Level students took responsibility for putting their own

work up and made decisions on how it should be displayed. It was great to see these individuals present on the evening and talking about their work.

A Level and GCSE Art Exhibition-June 2012

Year 7 students, Daniel

Philips and Louis Kill-

Brown organised a ’Would I

Lie to You’ event in Big

School on 3 July. They made

the Powerpoint Presentation,

organised the teams of teach-

ers and got 6th Form stu-

dents involved to help them

with the lights and micro-

phones. Pictured above right

Joseph Perrin (7 Long-

moor) hosted the event,

along with School Captain,

Kumater Iyol. All together

they raised a total of £104

for children with Leukemia.

James Rostron tells his tale

… true or lie?

Page 5 BVGS Newsletter

Since leaving

Vesey in 2006, I

went on to

study Law at

M M U L a w

School, obtain-

ing a 2:1. I

t h o r o u g h l y

enjoyed my

time at univer-

sity (as you

would expect!).

I decided to

stay on in Man-

chester and

undertook my

Legal Practice Course at The College of Law.

This was both demanding and expensive, but

turned out to be worthwhile as I secured a

Training Contract at my current firm, Ward

Hadaway, in September 2010. I then went on

a gap year, flying to Fiji and working my way

back via Australasia, South East Asia and

India. I am now in my second seat of my two

year Training Contract, working in the Com-

mercial Property Team based in the firm's

Leeds office. I thoroughly enjoy this and will

qualify as a lawyer in September 2013. Out-

side of work I still enjoy my skiing and foot-

ball, whilst commuting to Manchester most

weekends to spend time with my girlfriend of

6 years (it's getting serious!).

Philip Murphy Kaylita Chantiluke

After being School

Captain in 2006, I went

on to read Medicine at

St Peter's College, Ox-

ford. I was nominated

as the women's welfare

officer for the Junior

Common Room and set

up a university wide

shadowing scheme

aimed at widening ac-

cess to Oxford, which

now helps 200 children

from schools with a

poor record of sending students to Oxbridge. After

completing my first 3 years of medical degree I

decided to defer the final 3 years to study for a PhD

in child psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry,

King's College London. Currently in my final year, I

have published two articles in peer-reviewed scien-

tific journals, one on brain activation in adolescents

with clinical depression and another on brain activa-

tion in children with ADHD or Autism during sus-

tained attention. My PhD itself is on the effects of a

particular medication called Fluoxetine on brain

activation in children with either ADHD or Autism.

I recently gave an presentation of my preliminary

results at the International Meeting For Autism

Research (IMFAR) in Toronto, Canada. I intend to

work in a Special Education Needs Centre in China

and a Hospital in Israel, before continuing with my

medical degree from September 2013.

Keeping in touch…...Six Years On. Where are they now?

I left BVGS in

2006, having

been Blue

House Captain

and went on

to study Law

with Criminol-

ogy at Keele

University. I

graduated in

2009 with a

2:1 LLB de-

gree and then

decided to

continue my

education. I

studied the Legal Practice Course (LPC) at

the College of Law in Birmingham in order

to become a solicitor. I currently work as

an Investigator with the Legal Ombudsman

which involves investigating cases impartially

in order to resolve complaints about law-

yers. This is a very interesting and exciting

job in which my decision-making skills are

paramount. I am able to make important

decisions and have a great deal of responsi-

bility in making them. I thoroughly enjoy my

current role and I hope to develop further

in the organisation.

Tariq Khan

Would I Lie to You?

Twenty Yr 7s were off timetable on 4 July to investigate the mysterious

death of Sihathor as requested by the Director of Antiquities in Egypt.

Students took the part of archaeologists from the British Museum. They

had to forensically examine the items from the tomb of Sihathor. In the

sealed boxes of artefacts they discovered a mummified bone, several pa-

pyri fragments, stomach contents, a canopic jar and a necklace missing its

jewel. These finds had to be recorded on an identification sheet. They

had to translate tricky hieroglyphics to discover the possible cause of

Sihathor’s death. Stomach contents were also analysed and were found

to discover the highly poisonous Aduki beans. They were provided with a

mini lecture on mummification which covered preparing and embalming

the body. With all of the information at their disposal the groups were

asked to report upon their findings and detail how Sihathor had died.

Students produced some excellent work throughout the day and con-

ducted themselves with enthusiasm and commitment. With sincere

thanks to Sam Harper and Ruth Hearn for organising this special event

which provided a wonderful opportunity for students to test their investi-

gative and problem solving skills.

Riddle of the Mummy’s Curse

BVGS Olympic Champions in B’ham Games!

On 29 June 32 students from BVGS competed across 3 sports in the

inaugural Birmingham Sports Games with the opening ceremony at

Alexander Stadium. Our students competed in table tennis, badminton

and indoor rowing. In table tennis we beat Baverstock and Castle Vale.

In badminton Vesey’s powered through 4-1 in the semis and won 4-1 in

a very close final against Castle Vale with 3 matches going to the ‘next

point wins rule’. Star of the indoor rowing was Archie Bunney 9R

who helped to take the Vesey team to victory over the 2012 metre

course. Overall BVGS came out as Champion School.

On 6 July students attended this event organised by Routes into Lan-

guages. 26,000 students from all over the country entered this competi-

tion. About 100 students competed in the finals and only 4 reached the

grand final in each language. Students had one minute to spell as many

words as possible in the foreign language. Sadly our boys did not make the

grand final, but their tremendous efforts must be applauded. Students

taking part were: Tom Edwards 7PO in French (had come 4th in re-

gional final), Amarpal Johal 7PO and Aran Sandhu 7LO (had come

1st and 2nd in regional final). Let's go one better next year!

Foreign Language Spelling Bee Event

The 2012 cricket season will unfortunately be memorable for the weather rather than the

cricket! More than 50 games were lost to bad weather - certainly unprecedented. Despite

this when our school sides did make it to the pitch there were very good performances at all

age groups. Yr 7 lost their first two games but then hit form and won 4 consecutive games. Yr

8 had a great victory over Solihull School in the County Cup but then came up against a

strong King Henry’s in the next round and ended up short in a run chase. Yr 9 have had a

fantastic season, winning 7 out of 8 fixtures. Their only defeat was against Solihull in the quar-

ter final of the Warwickshire Cup by 3 wickets. Yr 10 started to show some good form when

the weather relented. They are now in the Birmingham Cup semi-final and are hoping to

retain their title which they have held every year at the school. At 1st XI level we had con-

siderable success including an exciting match with Solihull School when we lost by only 7 runs.

Mark Page U6 has been the leading bowler in the side, bowling his leg spinners with excel-

lent control. Hussain Siddiqui 10B, who is already in 1st XI, shows great promise for the

future.

Page 6 July 2012

Jon enjoyed recent success at the EKF National

Karate Championships in Sheffield and is now

the English National Champion. Following this

he was selected for the Wadokai England team

who achieved success by winning the Sakagami

Cup in Portugal on 18 June. This was an excel-

lent result for Jon competing in the senior male

team which meant he was competing

against adults aged 17 and over of any weight

category. He had five bouts and won them all.

One of Vesey’s great sports, passed on

from the legendary Mike Dann to Ian

Maddy, it attracts a select group of

faithful runners every year to its

famous home course in Sutton

Park. The school hosts both the

unique Pairs, and the Sutton Park

race within the Greater Birming-

ham Schools’ League. On most

Wednesdays there is a triangular

league race featuring selective and

independent schools in the West

Midlands. Current captain Sam

Lacey follows a line of well-known

runners including Dave Ellis in 1979,

School Governor Peter Dines in

1992 and Nick Corker 1995, recent

winner of the Great Midlands Fun Run.

Races start each Wednesday at 2.30,

home and away. Watch out for this

year’s exceptional ladies team led by

Megan McBrien in the King Henry’s

national relay at Coventry’s War Memo-

rial Park. Details from Deputy Head-

teacher, Bill Potter, Teacher i/c Cross

Country

Cross Country Continuing success for

Jon Lefevre

BVGS hockey continues to flourish. David Beckett will

join the BVGS hockey coaching team this autumn, thanks

to the kind and generous sponsorship of Richard Baker

OV 1980. David was a member of the Championship

winning Berlin team last year in the national German

hockey league, learning German en passant! We look

forward to drawing on his considerable expertise and

experience over the coming season.

GB International Hockey Player

to Coach at Vesey’s

BVGS U14s batting against the New Dehli touring side 27 June 2012

Veseyans RFC are recruiting players to their new U12 (Year 7) team. Feel free to turn up to pre-season ‘taster’ training

sessions which start on Sunday 5 August 10.00am - 11.30am. Further information is available from Iain Tatlow (07792

400569) or jrveseyans@aol.com Exciting new developments at The Memorial Ground where expansion is now planned to

accommodate the fast growing Junior Section. Many of the BVGS rugby players find additional coaching and weekend

matches available through our link club. Former students are the mainstay of the Senior Squad who were League Champions

last season. A warm welcome awaits you at Veseyans RFC where significant investment has taken place to offer excellent

facilities and hospitality and more improvements are set to take place in this coming year. www.veseyansrfc.co.uk

Midlands Region of the

Amateur Swimming

Association. Congratu-

lations to Steve Wilson

10W, who recently won

gold in the 100m freestyle

at the British Gas Midland

Age Group Champion-

ships at Coventry, making

him the 14yrs Age Group

Champ ion in th i s

event. Well done indeed.

Gold Medal for Champion Steve Cricket Round-up

The 1st XI restricted the visitors from New Delhi to 126 all out, with Mark Page U6 taking 3-20 off 8 overs and Matthew Heller 2-26. Monty

Foley Williamson scored 46, leading to a 5 wicket win. The U14s were also successful, scoring 182, with Dan Curwen top scoring with a quick

fire 39 and Nat Longhorne making 33. The touring team made a good start and looked on course for victory but quick wickets fell - Callum Bick

took 2 and Ahsan Abdullah 3 wickets. Vesey ended up winning by 30 runs for a very successful day and an enjoyable encounter. Mark Page was

nominated as man of the match for the senior game and Dan Curwen for the junior game.

BVGS Newsletter Page 7

BVGS Rowing

Ian

Bo

usf

ield

Ian Bousfield,

BA in Geography

from Lancaster

Uni joined us as

BVGS Rowing

Coach in Sept

2010 and quickly

developed this

exciting outdoor

sport into a major

feature of the

BVGS sports programme. He has

worked separately for the Sutton

Schools Rowing Association developing

participation across the town. We are

delighted that Ian has now gained a

place on the GTP teacher training

scheme to become a Teacher of Geog-

raphy to add to his coaching qualifica-

tions. Ambitious and determined to

take BVGS to the country’s top rowing

venues, Ian is the driving force of Vesey

Rowing and will take over from Brian

Davies as Teacher i/c Rowing from

September 2012. His ambition for next

season is to coach a Vesey crew to

qualification for Henley Regatta 2013.

Bri

an

Davie

s

Brian Davies is the

founder of BVGS

Rowing. Indoor Row-

ing began in 2007 but

demand from stu-

dents to row on

open water led to

visits to Edgbaston

Reservoir to estab-

lish a new afternoon

Games option. With the help of Bir-

mingham Rowing Club, our students

enjoyed outdoor rowing with specialist

coaching. An excellent addition to our

Games programme but a bit of a trek!

Next Brian gained the support of Sut-

ton Coldfield Municipal Charities to

fund the purchase of boats for the

Sutton Schools Rowing Association

which he founded to widen participa-

tion to more schools. The new home

of Sutton Schools Rowing became

Powells Pool. With facilities closer to

home, this sporting option has gained

further popularity and is now flourish-

ing and expanding. Brian is to be ap-

plauded for his inspirational work from

inception to where we are today.

Min

Egan

Muireann Egan

joined the BVGS

Modern Languages

Department in Sep-

tember 2011 and

brought with her

experience of row-

ing at national level.

She began her row-

ing career at the age

of 12 at St Michael’s Rowing Club,

Limerick, Ireland. rowing competitively

in single, double and quadruple sculls

around the country in both regional

and national events . In 2006 at univer-

sity she rowed with the National Uni-

versity of Ireland Galway Boat Club

and subsequently won gold at the Na-

tional Irish Championships in July 2006.

She has rowed competitively in fours

and eights for NUIGBC and competed

annually at the Irish Intervarsity Cham-

pionships. Her 8s crew was invited to

represent the university at the Boston

International Head of the Charles Re-

gatta USA, racing against prestigious

universities such as Harvard, Yale,

Brown and Stanford.

Photos from Stratford Regatta June 2012

In 2010 we entered Birmingham Regatta, our first ever regatta in the name of BVGS and found ourselves challenged by the experience, with no

crews winning any events. This year we have no fewer than 10 event winners at six different regattas. Our J18 coxed 4 won at Evesham Head,

J18 single sculler Tom Breithaupt won at Worcester, J16 coxless pair Oliver Higgins and Steven Mapp won at Northampton Head,

Gloucester Head and Birmingham Regattas, J15 coxed 4s won at Northampton Head, Birmingham and Stratford Regattas, J15 coxless pair Tom

Reershemius and Dylan Thiarya won at Birmingham Regatta and new entrants to the BVGS Rowing Club in Yr 7 Luke Topley and Alex

Green won the coxless pair at Stratford Regatta. During the season 2011-12 BVGS was represented at no fewer than 11 regattas across the

Midlands. An unfamiliar name in rowing circles, Vesey has now become a name to be reckoned with as our crews gain expertise, experience and

above all speed on the water! We are indebted to parents of our young rowers who travel in support of their sons around the regatta circuit

Regatta Round-up 2011-12

The BVGS Rowing Twitter account is: @BVGSrowing Follow BVGS Rowing on

Our new netball and tennis complex will offer a facility for

Coaching in games lessons and after school

Student led lunchtime charity events

Inter-house competitions

Inter-school competitions across the Midlands

OVA v BVGS events

Wider Vesey Community use in the locality

Page 8 July 2012

Thank you in advance for helping to maintain the momentum of our school developments

The Vesey Foundation

Netball and Tennis Appeal

We have launched an Appeal amongst members of the Vesey Community to secure

£50k to provide a new facility for netball and tennis. We are delighted to report that over £18k has now been pledged but we do need the kind and generous assistance of

many more donors to achieve our target figure. Our ambition is to have this facility ready by late autumn 2012, so please help us by giving generously over the coming

weeks. We ask that cheques be made payable to ‘The Vesey Foundation’ and sent marked ‘Confidential’ to David Iddon, Headteacher at BVGS, Lichfield Road, Sutton

Coldfield B74 2NH.

Together we can make this happen!