Last week at Bradfield College’s Commemoration service, Tom Beardmore-Gray, paid tribute to Dr Chris Stevens, who leaves the independent co-educational boarding school this summer after 10 years as Headmaster.
Here are some excerpts from his address, celebrating Dr Stevens’s achievements.
“Under the umbrella of his strategy known as Education for Life, Chris has devoted his personal attention to the improvement of every aspect of a Bradfield pupil’s experience of the College. As a result of his personal determination for every pupil to reach their full academic potential, academic results have improved significantly with 2024 results the highest achieved outside of Covid years.”
“Chris has been just as focused on the pupil experience outside the classroom. During his tenure Bradfield’s sporting reputation has reached unprecedented heights. Spurred on by high profile successes, including several ISFA Cup Football trophies, Bradfield has consistently punched above its weight across a huge range of sporting endeavours. It has been particularly pleasing to see how girls’ sport at Bradfield has thrived in recent years.”
“The quality of music and drama provision has also been transformed under Chris’s leadership and the College’s pupil numbers have grown during each of the last 10 years.”
“His greatest achievement on the Bradfield estate is without doubt the St Andrew’s Study Centre. Chris arrived at Bradfield with the determination and vision to take this project from a pipe dream to what we see today. It was a very complex project, but in my view Bradfield’s best estates project in living memory.”
The Warden also looked back to Dr Stevens’s leadership of the College during the Covid pandemic. “These were particularly difficult days for education leaders. Chris led from the front, providing reassurance and a sense of purpose in equal measure. I have heard many times about how impressive his communications to all stakeholders were at this time.”
During the last 10 years the College has become part of the Bradfield Group, which is turning into a diversified charitable education group. The merger with St Andrew’s Prep in 2021 has been a great success and the way in which the two schools came together and now work in a collaborative manner for the greater benefit of all stakeholders is a model for the sector. The College has also expanded its horizons into the world of Education Technology with Campus XR.
The Warden concluded by saying, “So, by any metric you choose to use this has been an extraordinary decade for Bradfield and Chris leaves Bradfield in a much stronger position than he found it. I have no hesitation in saying on behalf of Council that Chris will rank amongst Bradfield’s finest Heads and that history will look very kindly on his era.”
