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One of our most popular Bradfield Society events, the biennial Tempus Fugit lunch held for Alumni aged sixty and over has a strong following and the College is always delighted to host this event. This year the event had fresh attraction with the new Head, Jeremy Quartermain, delivering the address. Here is Jeremy’s speech…

 

 

‘It gives me enormous pleasure to extend the warmest of welcomes to you on this wonderful occasion. We are delighted that you are to joining us towards the end of what has been a remarkable year; a year during which we have celebrated the 175th anniversary of the College’s foundation.  The celebrations will formally conclude on Sunday 30th November, St Andrew’s Day. Of course, I am a relative newcomer, but I have been most fortunate to arrive in time to enjoy some of the energy and excitement that have accompanied these celebrations.

It has been a time when Bradfieldians have come together to enjoy each other’s company and return to a place which feels like a ‘home-from-home’ for so many of you.  The Summer Gathering alone brought together more than 350 former staff and pupils. Fiona and I had the good fortune of being able to watch the 175 Gala Evening online and it is quite clear that it was a spectacular celebration of the creative spirit that is hard-wired into the DNA of this most extraordinary of communities. The contributions of several long-standing and much-loved members of staff reflected the strong sense of community for which Bradfield is quite rightly famed.

I think that you should feel enormously proud of your old School on this its 175th Anniversary. Of course, within a rapidly evolving educational landscape, we must look towards the future, but Bradfield is a community that is remarkably adept at blending tradition and heritage with ambition and innovation.

In an uncertain and constantly changing world, we have a collective responsibility to nurture the defining ethos and values of this extraordinarily special place. We should not and must not be constrained by the past but rather see it as a source of inspiration.  We should also celebrate the extraordinary contribution that Bradfieldians have made across so many different areas of human endeavour.

The photographic portraits that adorn the walls of this beautiful dining hall are a source of endless inspiration for so many of us, me included. A few weeks ago, I had the enormous honour of meeting the parents of Oliver Vick. Oliver was killed in the Ethiopian Airways Flight 302 on 10th March 2019. He was flying from Addis Ababa to Mogadishu to resume his duties with the United Nations. Oliver’s life was one of action and adventure, but it was also one of generous and thoughtful service to others. His mother, Cheryl, reflected on the fact that Oliver was driven by a steadfast determination to help make the world a better place. Oliver is remembered by staff as someone who was charming, charismatic, funny and kind. He exercised his responsibilities as Head of House with wisdom and a sense of empathy for those who did not necessarily find school especially easy. In many ways, Oliver’s life serves as a brilliantly compelling example of the values which Bradfield promotes. There is a reason why Bradfieldians tend to be confident, humble and kind. There is a reason why Bradfieldians tend to excel across such diverse areas of human endeavour. It is because we celebrate the uniqueness of the individual alongside the importance of community.

Portraits of long departed heads and chairs of council may constitute an important historical record and help us to mark out different periods in the College’s history. Certainly, they have made an extraordinary strong contribution to the College in so many ways, but the true spirit of what it means to be a Bradfieldian is writ large on the walls around us, and I do admire my predecessor’s vision in terms of planning the Inspiring Bradfieldians project.

The power of place here at Bradfield is incredibly important to us all. It permeates so many aspects of our daily lives. There are certain places that are especially beautiful. In particular I feel that I am already gaining an intimate knowledge of the banks of the River Pang. I enjoy the spectacular vista as we stand outside Chapel greeting pupils in the morning.  The spectacular autumnal colours of the trees across the valley and the ethereal low mists that hang over the dewy grass of the playing fields are utterly magical. The sound of Muntjac deer barking at 4:00 am in the morning in the woods behind Crossways is slightly less welcome (!)

Of course, we only arrived at the beginning of August and yet it feels as if we have been here so much longer. It has been an enormously busy first half of term during which we have had the pleasure of meeting so many pupils, parents and staff. As a family, we have been welcomed with a generosity of spirit that has been absolutely lovely.  We were very happy at Rossall up on the Fylde Coast and yet, as parents, Fiona and I were attracted to Bradfield because we felt that it was a community within which our children, all of whom are very different, would have the potential to thrive. The fact that they have settled so well here and at St Andrew’s, Berkshire, is a source of real joy and, or course, relief. Overwhelmingly, pupils and staff are kind, friendly and keen to embrace the many opportunities that are presented to them. I love the that our pupils are so invested in the College, and they are enormously proud of it as well. This is their school and their community. Representing the school on the sports field is a real honour regardless of whether you are playing for the Headmaster’s First XI or U14 ‘E’ team. Children talk of both experiences with the same level of excitement and enthusiasm.

Our parents are incredibly supportive of the School’s mission and they choose Bradfield because our values resonate with the aspirations that they have for their own children. They do not want their children to grow up with an unhealthy sense of entitlement or to be academically hot housed in an anodyne exams factory.

Parents choose Bradfield because they know that we are committed to inspiring a lifelong love of learning and educating the whole person. They choose us because we are humble, friendly, and welcoming.

They choose us because our staff are so fully committed to ensuring that their children will thrive here. Our teachers are much more than subject experts or committed classroom practitioners for they dive into life in a busy boarding school with an uncompromising enthusiasm that enables them to provide the sort of educational experience that is only possible with an outstanding level of stamina, commitment and enthusiasm.

 

A great strength of Bradfield is, of course, its alumni community. Many of the relationships that are forged here endure a lifetime. Alumni have served the school in so many ways; as governors, benefactors, friends, informal advisers and providers of work experience. The vibrancy of the Bradfield Society, with its many constituent parts, is an incredibly important part of this community.  I was first struck by the loyalty and strength of the Bradfieldian Community when I found myself surrounded by Bradfield supporters in the MK Dons stadium back in the Spring of 2022. However, that is not an evening I would wish to dwell upon as the journey back to the Fylde Coast was especially long on that occasion.  Nobody wants to be the runners-up on such an occasion!

I should mention that we had a full ISI Inspection in early October.  The report will not be published until early December, but it was an entirely affirming experience and I am delighted to report that we were fully compliant and the inspecting team were very complimentary about the College.

This year we celebrated the strongest ever set of academic results with just over half of all grades in the award of an A*/A at A level or a 6/7 within the IB diploma

These results put us comfortably ahead of a good number of local and regional rivals. Over 80% of students progressed to Russell Group and Top 20 universities and a growing number now go on to study overseas.

In term of our priorities moving forward, we intend to ensure that we are intellectually exciting, pastorally nurturing and culturally diverse. We are giving a good deal of thought to the future shape of the College and we look forward to sharing some very exciting new developments over the course of the forthcoming weeks and months.

We will hopefully be in a position to begin work on a state-of-the-art health and wellness centre. This would not be possible without the extraordinary generosity of a benefactor to whom we are immeasurably grateful. We enjoy a very strong reputation for pastoral care but our ambition is to become compelling trailblazers in terms of wellbeing provision within the independent sector. This is a tremendously exciting project and, much like the St Andrew’s Study Centre project, it would simply not be possible without the generous support of the Foundation and those who very kindly give back to the College.

It is no secret that this is a uniquely challenging time for the sector. The imposition of VAT on school fees and the removal of business rates and placed unprecedented pressure on schools such as ours. Family finances are stretched, and the sector has lost over 25,000 children since the beginning of 2024. If Bradfield is to remain a compelling offer and compete successfully within a contracting market, then it is important that we can keep investing in our facilities and infrastructure so that we can continue to offer a truly world class quality of education. We cannot do this from fee income alone. Similarly, if we are to develop our ability to make a Bradfield education available to children from increasingly diverse backgrounds then we are dependent upon an active programme of philanthropy.

Above all else, you can support us by being powerful advocates for all that happens here at Bradfield.

Spread the word to families, friends, work colleagues and acquaintances. Do encourage them to come and visit. Bradfield’s star is in the ascendant, and we face the future with optimism and a resolute determination to ensure that we will continue to thrive for the next a hundred and seventy-five years.

Thank you so much for joining us for what has been a hugely enjoyable gathering.

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