School Prospectus

bromsgrove Welcome to bromsgrove school In the business world, a prospectus is is the first critical deposit. Parents who usually issued by a company seeking understand that our contract with you to raise funds. But as one of Britain’s does not end as your child graduates; most reputable and enduring schools, that is simply the time when the it is human rather than financial capital dividends begin. which interests us. With magnificent buildings both ancient and modern, Deriving from Latin, the word set in more than 100 glorious acres prospectus means literally something and inhabited by a community of which gives a view or prospect. world-class teachers with a proud Here then, is what the prospect of a reputation for academic excellence, Bromsgrove education holds. Your son our foundations today could not be or daughter, no matter their age, stage more certain, nor our future more or aspiration, can excel. Moreover, they assured. It’s not equity but enquiring can be happy, motivated and safe as minds that we’re after. they get there. The immediate pay- outs will be evident. They will leave this Neither do we offer these pages to fine school with nationally-recognised you to sell some superficial package academic distinctions, sporting of promises. There are enough slick triumphs and cultural accolades. But corporates masquerading as schools they will also take with them deeper in education’s overly-commercialised and more enduring returns. In their marketplace; we have no wish to join years at Bromsgrove, our pupils learn their clamour. Your child’s learning is to balance humility with confidence, not some consumable product which ambition with compassion. They are lasts only as long as they wear a respectful, yet unafraid to be curious. school uniform; it is an investment. At Tolerant of others, yet possessed of Bromsgrove, we don’t see our parents their own vision. Future-ready, that is as consumers. You are investors our promise. and that is what this prospectus describes – the lasting value of a If that sounds like an attractive Bromsgrove education. We attract prospect and you would like to know parents who recognise the value of how we have been achieving this for investing in every aspect of their child’s over five hundred years, I invite you to future: academic, moral, physical read on. and creative. Parents who share our belief that learning is a lifelong PETER CLAGUE endowment; selecting the right school Headmaster ethos & atmosphere Nobody has a monopoly on truth. We are inspired, not overwhelmed, by And yet, values drive us. Our Mission a history both noble and strange. An Statement makes this explicit. We seek ancient chantry School of the middle to foster people who will, proactively, ages, Bromsgrove existed for perhaps make this world a better place. 100 years before its Foundation proper This is no school for the arrogant, the in 1553. It was then refounded in snobbish or the idle. We employ over 1693 when it moved to its present site. four hundred support and academic Thomas Cookes, the man responsible staff, and pupils learn to value for this new start, also founded everybody equally, from part time Worcester College in Oxford University, shift workers to senior academics. and thus a historic link began. During A common vision is key. We never the Second World War, the entire think of Bromsgrove as an institution: School (still relatively small then) it is a community. And it’s a had to up sticks and move to Wales community intent on building the while the British government used the roads and bridges of the future, not School’s facilities. But in recent years, the walls. Bromsgrove has re-established, indeed reinvented itself, tripling in size and investing many millions of pounds in its facilities. Yet amidst all this change, we ensure there is time to reflect and to calmly assess, as individuals, where we are. Two or three ten minute Chapel services per week, remain fundamental in that process. There are three constituencies to Bromsgrove School: The Pre- Preparatory School (over 200 pupils aged 2-7), the Preparatory School (500 pupils aged 7-13) and the Senior School (900 pupils aged 13-18). The Sixth Form is unusually large with over 400 pupils. Bromsgrove School Thailand opened its doors in 2005, demonstrating that while the School may have physical boundaries, its aspirations to promote first rate education are limitless. development Frankly, a great teacher should be able to inspire young people in a pig-sty. Mercifully, it’s not a point we have to prove at Bromsgrove. Tens of millions of pounds have been invested in the last fifteen years, and if no one iconic building screams “Bromsgrove”, it’s only because there are so many that might. From the 17th century school house to the many 21st century structures, the working and living environments are magnificent. The Senior School sits in 100 acres of leafy grounds with the Preparatory School adjacent, while the Pre-Preparatory School is housed in a beautiful Victorian mansion overlooking the countryside. In essence, visiting Bromsgrove School is like visiting a small town in which the planners, century after century, generally got things right. The second decade of the 21st century is witnessing new developments on an unparalleled scale: a massive sports arena; state of the art boarding and day accommodation; a hospitality suite; a fitness centre; and two further dance studios. We move forward. Always. The School continues to innovate and lead in terms of the physical environment. academic excellence We are unashamedly academic. Our results place us in the top ten At the time of writing, the government’s (sometimes top five) of co-educational value added A level tables ranked day/boarding schools in the UK. Bromsgrove first out of all state and The majority of the 200 pupils who independent schools in this part of the leave the Upper Sixth every year go country (Birmingham, Worcestershire to Russell Group universities in the and all surrounding counties). Aiming UK. Popular choices are LSE, UCL and high is sine qua non at Bromsgrove. Imperial universities. Some choose overseas universities (from the USA to But we are not the sausage machine the Far East) and others will pursue that parents of a certain age will recall Art, Music and Drama at specialist from a Pink Floyd video. You don’t institutions. Oxford and Cambridge have to be Einstein or Picasso to come candidates are specially prepared via here. Instead, our exceptional results a programme of extension lessons and flow from a community that nurtures interviews, often one to one. and encourages, with the expectation that pupils will achieve their best. Our own academic facilities have been This message is communicated improved beyond measure in the last regularly and unambiguously, whether decade. Eighteen new and refurbished pupils are taking IB or A level, GCSEs Science laboratories recently joined a or internal Prep School examinations. magnificent new Humanities block, Art Academic success is celebrated and and Design Building, and Library. we want young people to enjoy hard All older academic buildings have won achievement. been given a 21st century makeover so that every pupil learns in a superbly resourced environment. sixth form The Sixth Form is large and dynamic. Our bespoke University and Careers Many pupils from all over the world Department deals with every pupil join the School at this point, and individually and gives as much the resultant atmosphere is one of time as necessary in helping pupils Bromsgrove’s great joys. Lifelong make the right choice after School. friends are made. It’s a special place This intensely personal approach to to be. university selection is a huge strength of the School, and it needs to be. It’s not merely that one can The young people of today will leave choose between the International their university for a world that is Baccalaureate or A level: it’s more economically, politically and socially to do with leadership opportunities, unrecognisable from the one their and the chance to dive into the parents knew. coming waves of adulthood while lifeguards still watch from the shore. At Bromsgrove, Sixth Formers will be challenged intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. They will learn that life is not the stroll in the park some advertising agencies would have them believe, and they will be asked to contemplate loss and failure as well as triumph and joy. If a great education is to be truly transformative rather than merely informative, it must face the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. creativity We believe that if Music, Art and The Art and Design facilities in the Drama are central to the life of a Senior School are among the country’s School, the human condition is finest. The recent refurbishment and better understood by the pupils. extension of both the historic Routh This seemingly portentous statement Hall and Cobham Theatre will allow informs our approach to the creative the Performing Arts to flourish still arts. We have no in-house style. further at Bromsgrove to the benefit of The creative arts at Bromsgrove allow our pupils and the wider community. pupils to breathe, and although all With more flexible space, a Concert great art demands discipline, we Hall and Theatre each with over seek to develop rather than cramp three hundred seats, better teaching the individual muse. facilities and studios, and the latest ‘theatre tech’, we hope to create more opportunities to inspire our pupils to express themselves as performers, technicians, artists, designers, writers and composers. Yet all this counts for nothing unless the passion and fizz of young people is manifest in the concerts, productions and displays.

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