Two powerful rugby forwards at Colston’s School are making light work of helping a fellow artist Bianca Boulton-Major to speed towards an A level in art a year early.
All three are currently studying art at AS level stage. But whereas Bradley Horman (18), on the left, and James Phillips (17) are in the lower sixth, 16-year-old Bianca is a year below them.
The other difference is more obvious. Second row Bradley is 6ft 5in and 18 stone and No 8 James is 6ft 4in and 17 stone – but Bianca is just 5ft and 6 stone.
Bianca took her GCSE art one year early, gaining an A star grade last summer. Now in Year 11, she is regularly working with the lower sixth, including the rugby giants.
She discovered art from her grandmother who inspired her to paint. Her closest mentor is now Colston’s Head of Art Nick Yaxley.
“Bianca is very bright and imaginative,” said Mr Yaxley. “She loves working on a big scale. This term she’s working on a project studying the city of Bristol through its people and architecture.”
Bianca said: “My brother Luke left Colston’s last summer after doing GCSE and A level art, and he’s now doing an arts course at UWE. I obviously saw what he was doing and wanted to share the experience. I suppose we’re both very expressive.
"If all goes well I hope to do my A level in Year 12, leaving my upper sixth year free to pursue arts studies of my own choice.”

The Trolls were in growling, menacing form at the Colston’s School theatre for the school’s spectacular and highly creative production of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt which played to full houses on November 24, 25 and 26.
This is the tale of a young man with great artistic potential, but constantly at odds with his physical desires.
The Year 11 production took us through his trials and tribulations, ending in a lunatic asylum.
Put together in just six weeks, the performance brought all sorts of surprises – including the Welshness of the Mountain King Anthony Jones who wrapped himself in his national flag for the part.
He was part of a company of more than 80 pupils including 50 performers and 30 crew.
James Milne was the younger Peer Gynt in Acts 1-3, and Peter Jewkes took over the role in Acts 4-5 as the hero grows older.
“By any standards Peer Gynt is a huge undertaking,” said Colston’s Head of Drama Stephen Pritchard, “and we’ve done it in six weeks. The whole GCSE drama year group is involved.
”It’s been hard work with a lot of growling, but fortunately most of that has happened on stage.”

It is most important that parents of pupils already at Colston’s and those who may be considering sending their sons and daughters to the school should have the information they need when making important family decisions about education.That is why we produce and publish a series of advertisements in local and specialist media.

These are in addition to the news coverage which we attract and the routine information which we disseminate to all pupils and parents as a matter of course.You may have noticed that the style and content of our display advertising has been evolving this year to reflect the school’s new corporate identity, and we thought visitors to the website might like to see these advertisements as they appear in the media.

Here are three of our latest:

As in previous years we should be very grateful to receive your donations for the Bazaar for the following stalls:

Bottles
Toiletries
Children’s books, cd’s and videos
Children’s toys and games

Collection bags are being sent home with your child today and Mrs Pullin in the Lower School office is ready to receive any donations you are able to make.

Please make sure everything, especially toys, games and books are in good condition as we are more likely to be able to sell good quality items.

Another letter regarding the cake stall will be sent out in a couple of weeks time.

Please do not forget to return your raffle tickets, many thanks to those of you who already have and please do not forget to look at the Christmas Cards now available.

Janet Stone

In the finest sporting traditions of Colston’s School, conkers has been elevated to championship status – not banned.
All juniors (from 7 to 11) at Colston’s Lower were invited to enter a knock-out event, and a special wooden trophy was constructed by Deputy Head Martin Weavers and science teacher John Wilson-Smith.
There was nothing half-baked about the concept – in fact no baking or soaking was allowed.
Two Year 5 pupils Sam Miller (10) and Sara Procter (9) had to survive six rounds to reach the final.
Both finalists live in Stapleton, and it was discovered that their thoroughbred conkers had the same pedigree. They had fallen from the same tree.
At the official ‘weigh-in’, Sam’s conker tipped the scales at 10.4 grams and Sara’s at 10.3 grams. Both finalists rejected shoelaces for good old-fashioned string.
A year ago Sara had beaten Sam in the first round of the championship at Colston’s. This time Sam gained revenge after what Head of School Caroline Aspden describes as: “… a tense, hard-fought but thoroughly sporting final.
“It really could have gone either way, and in the end Sam’s conker was the last one in the championship to remain intact.”
Mrs Aspden added: “The conkers issue has become one of those seasonal chestnuts, and last year we decided to offer a clear lead. We wanted the children to enjoy the game, and to play it safely under supervision. Otherwise we felt we would just drive conkers underground – so to speak – and we think that’s plain bonkers.”
The competition was organised by two Year 5 pupils Myles Brock and Jon Roper who set up the draw, acted as referees and provided sweets as prizes.

Six gifted musicians at Colston’s School in Bristol are bidding to gain early examination success in order to spend more time developing their skills in the sixth form.
Year 8 pupils Matthew Fowles (12) and Ding Yang (13) have already started their GCSE music, and plan to take their examination two years early at the end of Year 9 – in summer 2006. Matthew plays piano and violin and Ding Yang plays clarinet, piano and bass guitar.
Thirteen-year-old Milo Chen, already in Year 9, will take his GCSE next summer. As well as playing piano and violin, Milo is a composer. Earlier this year his composition for two pianos and timpani won first prize for his age group in a UK competition promoted by the European Piano Teachers’ Association.
Tom Carpenter (14) from Year 10 has started his AS music two years ahead of schedule. The plan is to spread the course over two years, taking the examination one year early in 2006
Two 15-year-olds in Year 11 have started their AS one year early. Jonathan Rawles (piano and organ) and Kimberley Martin (violin, piano and trumpet) will take their AS examinations next summer.
Jonathan’s elder brother Martin, an Old Colstonian who gained an organ scholarship at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, is now organ scholar at Gloucester Cathedral.
The strategy is to enable all six of these pupils to take A level music in their Year 12,” explained Colston’s Director of Music Stephen Bryant. “I am very confident that they have the ability to do very well at that stage, and we can then devise Year 13 studies to suit their individual needs.
“It will depend on whether they want to study music at university and how serious they are about taking up a musical career. It’s a very competitive world, and that’s why we want them to take every advantage of our expanded music facilities while they are here.”

Colston’s Lower School has its own gold medallist after a faultless performance by Kirby Malone in Sunday’s Bristol Gymnastics Championships.

The 10-year-old Year 6 pupil is following in the footsteps of Kayleigh Fletcher (15) who is in Year 10 at Colston’s.

Kayleigh has been ranked as high as sixth nationally, and is already coaching younger gymnasts at The Academy in Portishead.

Kirby won the overall gold medal for the 10-year age group at the Bristol Championships after faultless routines on four pieces of apparatus – the floor routine to music, vault, asymmetric bar and beam.

Head of Lower School Caroline Aspden said: “Staff and pupils know how hard Kirby works at her gymnastics and we are all absolutely delighted for her.

“She is undoubtedly a brilliant performer with a real future in gymnastics, and at the same time manages to convey her enthusiasm to all her friends. Even at 10 she is a wonderful ambassador for her sport.”

Lost 4-0 to Dauntsey's. Players of the match: Lisa Yipp and Stacey-Jo Webster. All the girls put in a lot of effort but the goals were very unfortunate.

On Friday 1st October, small business owner and ex-Cardiff City football player Gareth Davis came to Colston’s to present a lecture on the advantages of running a business and thereby earning vast amounts of money. During the lecture, he discussed a range of topics, from the advantage of marrying a wealthy woman to using motivational techniques to achieve a better lifestyle.

He began by telling us an outline of his life story up to the age of 16. We learnt about his passion for football, and about how he spend every available second practising his favourite pastime. His lifetime goal was to play for Cardiff City FC at Ninian Park. After spending over a decade in pursuit of this dream he threw it all away during his teenage years. Later, after some waffle and a fancy diagram, he revealed all was not lost. He began to participate in Sunday League soccer, and began to move up the football ranks. Fate it seemed was on his side. After some lucky coincidences, he found himself being signed for Cardiff City. He had achieved his dream. However, Fate, it seemed, was about to score a cruel own goal, with Davis injuring his cruciate ligament beyond repair.

With his dream in tatters he now had to find a new way to motivate himself, and had to find new “goals”! After a business venture in the USA went well he started to become more interested in running his own business. He emphasised the point that he only had 3 O-Levels, and that his achievement in business was even more remarkable because of this. He proved a point that if you achieve poor academic results then it is not necessarily “game over”. After seeing a close personal friend make a success of a business, he decided to take the same path. He now owns three businesses himself.

Davis discussed at some length the importance of goals, and having something to aim for in life. He said that setting goals and achieving them makes people aim higher. This point in particular is relevant, because once in the sixth form both short and long term goals must be set in order to make the most of future prospects and careers.

The lecture was informative, interesting and inspiring. He used clear and detailed arguments to emphasise his case. He used his Welshness as a way of creating good humour, but sometimes used his accent as an excuse if he explained something badly! Despite the subject of his lecture being interesting, he gave the impression that if you are a successful businessman and earn vast sums of money then this will buy you unlimited amounts of happiness. This is quite a shallow outlook on life as he implied that only by owning a business could you achieve happiness. He used many references to personal satisfaction, but only with regards to earning a large salary. Despite these slight criticisms, he presented an interesting and relevant talk in this stage of our lives, which will potentially enable everyone to “fly high”. Leon Hubbard

On Friday 24th September semi- pro rock climber and photographer Alistair Lee came to the school to present a lecture based on rock climbing. He introduced the sport and then went on to show three short videos of himself and others doing various climbs around the world.

Alistair opened up with a panoramic view of Castleton Valley in Utah. This led to a movie of his wife, his friend Dave and himself climbing the largest of the sandstone towers, an impressive 120 metres above the rest of the mountain. The daunting experience of climbing a vertical wall of this height supported only by a piece of rope was seemingly taken in his stride. He seemed almost too laid back in a ‘yeah, it was the biggest climb in Utah but I managed it’ attitude that came across as humorous and absorbing to the audience.

After a short series of photos and a brief biography of himself and where he lives (Burnley), he went on to introduce another aspect of the sport: bouldering. This is where you climb boulders no more than 20 feet high with hardly any handholds, and the aim is to get to the top in as little time as possible. He proceeded to show another film of himself trying to tackle the problem of a boulder in Burnley,‘The Worm’ It is graded 7a which is very difficult, he explained. After a whopping 260 attempts at the task he finally managed to crack it, to rapturous applause from the sixth form.

More photos followed in what appeared to be a short intermission before the grand finale. The photos were humorous to a teenage audience as they were of signs from around the world which were funny, bizarre or occasionally unintentionally rude.

His final film was about himself and his friends aiming to climb Mount Potatsi, the highest mountain in Bolivia at 6088 metres above sea level. In the style of ‘Vertical Limit’ or ‘Touching the Void,’ the film portrayed the lives of Lee and his friends as they set out to conquer the snow-capped mountain. The first attempt had to be called off, due to Lee’s wife getting frostbite and not being able to walk. However, perseverance paid off and the next year he managed to climb the mountain without mishap.

The lecture was interesting and awe-inspiring. Alistair’s witty remarks and descriptions of his travels were most compelling to the audience. The clear format and superbly filmed movies vividly showed diverse environments around the world. In his words, ‘Rock climbing is the essence of my life: what is the essence of yours?’ Harry Phillips

Last week the majority of Year 11 completed a series of Aptitude and Interest Tests designed to help them find out more about their natural abilities as an aid to thinking about careers.

Aptitudes tested included Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Spatial Reasoning (two and three-dimensional), Working Quickly and Accurately (a test of clerical skill), Arithmetic Calculation and Spelling. The results are statistically based and show how a young person compares with others of the same age group. The computer analyses the scores and provides an individual review. It emphasises the meaning and relevance of each aptitude score in turn and of its possible significance within appropriate careers fields.

The Interest Test provides a picture of the young person’s stronger occupational and academic interests, related abilities and personal qualities. In addition to identifying careers areas of high existing interest, it can also reveal a range of well-matched careers which may not have been considered previously.

The profile that these results show will provide useful additional information for the individual Careers Interviews which start just before half term.

93 Sixth Formers spent three days ‘in the field’ during Colston’s innovative Lower Sixth induction course.

Seven external assessors (two of whom were Old Colstonians) monitored the progress of the pupils in their teams. Most of the course took place at the dedicated army training camp at Caerwent.

When they arrived the pupils were split into teams and were given their kit and a sum of money. They then had to make their way to two ‘safe houses’ where they had to barter for their food and provisions. Once they had bought what they thought they would need for the next few days they went to a protected area where they were shown how to make shelters. They then had to prepare their food and cook it, following which they settled down for the night in their ‘bashers’

After getting up at 6.00 a.m. the next morning and cooking breakfast each team went round a circuit of seven command tasks which tested each person’s leadership, communication and team working skills.

Following a quick lunch the teams went on an orienteering exercise and then came back to prepare a barbeque for supper. Another night under the stars was followed by an early rise and a trip to an assault course where everyone completed the tasks set them.

Returning to school for lunch the pupils were allowed to go home and wash before coming in for normal lessons the next day. In the evening there was a formal banquet followed by a disco.

The value of this exercise cannot be over-estimated. The transition from Year 11 to the Lower Sixth is a big one, and this course helps underline the need for independent thought and the need to take responsibility for oneself. The ‘bonding’ that takes place is invaluable and helps cement relationships back at school, particularly when there were over 30 new members of the Lower Sixth who were joining an established group.

Tim Scarll and Sid Sinar are to be congratulated on the imaginative way in which they set up and administered this course, and of course grateful thanks go to the external assessors who gave so freely of their time.

Did everyone enjoy the course? No; it is not everybody’s cup of tea, but everyone can look back with pride and satisfaction at what they achieved, or perhaps reflect on what they could have achieved if they had gone about things differently.

David Crawford