Dear reader,

 

At Commemoration I was delighted to quote a senior inspector who described Bradfield as ‘an astounding school’ during last year’s ISI Inspection. This edition of The Bradfieldian testifies to the diverse and remarkable achievements of Bradfieldians past and present amongst features on recent developments and news stories from the last six months.

Within these pages we share prize-winning work from pupil authors, poets and filmmakers. There is also a focus on the work of the Horizons team whose careers and higher education events are forward looking but often draw inspiration, like our pupils, from the Old Bradfieldian community and the parents who generously support it. Three interviews in this edition characterise the breadth of pathways pupils take beyond Bradfield including a British Airways pilot, a video games designer and the Managing Director of a sustainable energy company.

Partnerships continue to take centre-stage within our Music Department. Articles here detail our growing collaboration with local music hub, Berkshire Maestros and explain how our Steinway School status provides pupils with the power to improve and inspire in equal measure. The Bradfield Club in Peckham is one of the College’s longest-running partnerships and recently featured in a book on Victorian-age Public School Missions. Written by the College Archivist, an extract from his chapter detailing the early days of The Bradfield Mission Club reminds us of the College’s tradition of service. The mission of the Club today, to help young people develop into healthy adults who are constructive forces for good within their communities, mirrors the College’s vision of preparing young people to flourish personally and professionally and make a positive contribution to society.

Dominating the end of the summer and an appropriately large section of this Bradfieldian, Oedipus the King proved an acclaimed and innovative Greek Play. Over 2000 people watched the cast forge a new tradition with four hybrid English/Classical Greek performances in Berkshire and two more in Greece. The latter saw the cast awarded the ‘Medal of Thucydides’ by the Mayor for their outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Alimos. This truly was an example of Bradfieldians astounding others and themselves, a ‘tradition’ as well-established as the Greek Play itself.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Christopher Stevens, Headmaster