Leon Hubbard celebrated three A*s, six As, one B and one C in spite of illness which has meant taking time off throughout his seven years at Colston’s Lower and Upper Schools.

“In total I have probably missed a year of school because of intermittent breaks for treatment,” he said. “Actually it’s a double celebration because I have also just past my driving test.”

“I now plan to do Psychology, Human Biology, Chemistry and Maths at AS level.”

Leon’s strongest supporter is Grant Blackwell, a near neighbour at Winterbourne and his closest friend throughout his time at Colston’s. Grant gained one A*, nine As and one C.

A-level students at Colston’s achieved a record 99.5 per cent pass rate, beating the 96 per cent national average and the school’s previous best of 98 per cent in 2003.

They also set new standards in their grades, with 52 per cent of entries gaining grades A or B compared with the national average of 46 per cent. The school’s previous best A-B grade performance was 51 per cent in 2001.

“This is an outstanding performance, and shows consistency of performance at top level across all subjects,” said Headmaster David Crawford.

“Sixty-five Colston’s students were entered in 184 examinations across a broad curriculum, and we continue to add to the range.

“But at the same time these students have demonstrated high achievement in a broad range of sports, performing arts and other non curricular activities.

“Today is the occasion to say very well done to our students and teachers for two years of solid hard work.”

Colston’s School set out on Saturday (17th July) on their most ambitious rugby tour yet, with 52 players, 20 supporters and seven staff heading for Australia.
The party, spanning Years 11-13, includes most of the Daily Mail Cup-winning side and 14 pupils who join the school next term.
“We have nine fixtures in 13 days in Queensland and New South Wales,” said Senior Tutor Martin Tayler.
Martin is tour manager and Deputy Head Alan Martinovic will be head coach.
“We can’t be certain about what we face and it is bound to be tough, especially when we play two New South Wales state sides,” Martin continued.
“We will have squeezed in three training sessions before we leave, and however we get on it will be tremendous experience for all the players and should set us up well for the new season.”

Fixtures are as follows:
21st July – two matches v Downlands College near Brisbane
24th July – two matches - Combined Metropolitan Schools, Brisbane and Pirates RFC, Gold Coast
27th July – Innisfail Schools, Cairns
31st July – two matches v New South Wales U17s and U16s state sides
2nd August – two matches v Easts RFC Colts 1st and 2nd XVs, Sydney

“Two years ago we sent a party to Canada and the United States, and we toured Australia in 1991 and 1997,” Martin Tayler added. “But this is the largest party we have ever sent, and almost certainly the fixture list is the most testing we have ever faced.”

“This is effectively two years early, but in Milo’s case we are confident it’s the right thing to do,” said Colston’s Director of Music Stephen Bryant. “It will also enable him to take his A Level Music early so that he can develop his considerable composing and playing skills during the sixth form.”
Pianist Steven Kings teaches music part-time at Colston’s.“I think Milo has done really well to compose a piece like this,” he said. “It reminds me of a tumultuous river. It’s fast, and needs plenty of concentration. If you lost concentration for a minute you would be all over the place.
“A lot of composers in their twenties would be very proud to have written a piece like this. If he can keep this up I predict he will go a long way.”

Lisa Yip produced a piece of animation on her recent work experience at Fictitious Egg that will be shown on TOTP Saturday morning Pop Skul.

Look out for Victoria Beckham having a cookery lesson – that’s Lisa’s work!

Congratulations to Lisa for a superb piece of work and also for using her week of work experience so wisely.

On Thursday 1st July we went on a Police Awareness Day.

In the morning we were greeted by a dozen Police Officers. They talked to us about the job and the training. They then did a role play to show what happens after someone is arrested.

In the afternoon we did four more role plays in the mock village. First was about a child who had been knocked down, then a burglary, followed by someone being searched and finally getting us to ask questions about a stolen 'phone.

The day was great and it told me a lot about a career in the Police

The New Ulm High School Choir from Minnesota, USA produced an inspirational performance which enthralled their English audience. The first half of the varied programme, which had something for everyone, began with three madrigals and ended with a boisterous rendition of ‘Rockin’ Jerusalem’. However the highlight of this part of the concert was a very moving rendition of ‘Horizons’ by Peter Louis Van Dijk. The song depicts the visit of a sailing ship to an island of innocent natives, who think that their visitors had come in peace and friendship. They soon discover their mistake however when a ritual slaughter of the innocents begins. Different vocal sounds accompanied by hand clapping and finger snapping along with traditional song made this a moving piece which was finely delivered.

The Colston’s School Choir and the Swing Band provided a contrast to the American Choir and were very well received by their American visitors. Matthew Crawford and Louise Milne gave renditions of ‘Moon River’ and ‘Get Happy’, and the swing band really gave it their all in ‘Rock around the Clock’ and ‘Mission Impossible’.

The New Ulm Full Choir finished off with an evocative performance of ‘Loch Lomand’ (although an Irish accent seemed to creep in) and a wonderfully uplifting rendition of ‘I Am Your Child’ as a finale.

Gary Mackie the New Ulm Choir conductor is to be congratulated on training a choir of the highest quality, and the young people themselves shared their obvious enjoyment in a way that infected the whole audience. There could be no higher accolade for the New Ulm High School Choir than a comment from a Colston’s pupil talking to another describing the choir’s performance as ‘simply awesome’.

Now is the time for the Lower Sixth to start thinking about entry into Higher Education. Of course that will not be the best or preferred option for everybody but each year the majority of our students apply for HE courses, either for entry directly after A levels- in this case, September 2005- or for deferred entry after a Gap Year- September 2006.

The L6 have already visited the Bath HE Fair, gathering prospectuses and speaking to representatives of over 100 HE institutions, and also attended a conference we organised for them at Cardiff University. Subsequently all students have had interviews with Mrs Dann, the Head of Careers, and are now busy researching suitable courses (or should be…). We have also compiled a Higher Education handbook which is on the school’s website under “School routine”.

We thought it would help students and parents at this stage if we organised an evening when together you could listen to speakers from local universities explain the HE process. We also have speakers on the thorny issue of the financial implications of HE.

We hope you will be able to attend a meeting on Monday 21st June which those who attended last year found most informative and helpful. As an added inducement there will be wine afterwards…

Nine members of the Upper Sixth, accompanied by Mr Boyce, Miss Tovey and Mrs Dann, went to the Royal National Theatre in May to see the premiere of Alan Bennett’s new play “The History Boys”.
Set in a northern grammar school in the 1980s, the play deals with all sorts of themes, comic and serious, ranging from school league tables to the randomness of history; from the marginalization of women to the shallowness of history on TV; from the present curse of spin doctors in politics to how we all remember our very first pizza.
We all enjoyed the trip immensely- and even spotted Sir Ian McKellen in the audience- and would like to thank Mr Boyce for organizing it and all the staff for putting up with us (especially Louise Milne who sang all the way there and back again…)