19th July 2021 — The Bishop’s Stortford College Prep School has raised a total of £22,000 during the academic year of 2020 - 2021 for the St Elizabeth’s Centre in Much Hadham.

In September 2020, the Bishop’s Stortford College Prep School began their fundraising initiatives for the year. Over the following months, and even throughout the remote learning period during lockdown from January to March, pupils led, participated in and hosted various community-focussed events and activities including Kit Kat Sales on Friday afternoons, an Easter holiday Spring Charity Challenge which saw pupils attempt to complete as many community, family and well-being based tasks as possible, a Christmas Fayre, virtual quizzes, raffles and more.

During the latter half of the Autumn Term, the St Elizabeth’s Centre in Much Hadham was selected from a wide range of pupil nominations as the 20-21 Prep School Charity of the Year. St. Elizabeth’s Centre is a specialist school, college and residential centre, supporting over 200 residents suffering with epilepsy and other neurological conditions.

On Tuesday 22nd June, the Prep School held their final Charity Day of the year, which began with the presentation of a cheque of £22,000 to special guest, Kat, from the Fundraising Team at St Elizabeth’s Centre. Followed by insightful assemblies led by the Prep School Prefects on the work of St Elizabeth’s Centre, the Prep School community rounded off their day with a ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’ outside the Memorial Hall complete with afternoon tea.

Jane Towns, Prep School Prefects & Charities Coordinator, commented, “In what has been yet another remarkably challenging year, the Prep School community has proven to go above and beyond in supporting our local charities. Thank you to everyone for their kind and generous donations which will make a huge difference to the St Elizabeth’s Centre, and will go a long way in helping with the refurbishment of their sensory rooms and provision of sensory equipment; vital features of their care programme to enable children and residents to develop essential social and motor skills.”

8th July 2021 — A team of five pupils from Bishop’s Stortford College Prep School made it through to the semi-finals of the 2020/2021 AWS (Amazon Web Services) 'Get | IT competition'.

Since the Autumn Term, the group of Upper Third (Year 8) pupils, alongside three other groups from the College, had been working on developing an app designed to support young people with food allergies by alerting them to foods which may contain ingredients they are allergic to, and sharing alternative recipes.

The project, part of the yearly, national AWS 'Get | IT competition' – which this year saw over 100 schools take part – was launched in 2018 to inspire young people (especially girls) to consider a career in technology.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year the competition was entirely digital.

Following an online bootcamp in which all the pupils were able to participate and work in their teams to further develop their app idea, improve their presentation skills and discover more about the technology required for an app, the teams submitted their final presentations and projects to the competition at the end of March.

Not long after, ‘The Dragons’ team found out they had been selected as one of ten teams to go through to the AWS semi-final.

The College has had a team go through to the semi-final stage of the competition every year since its inception back in 2018, with their Connect Hearo team winning the very first competition.

During this year’s online semi-finals, ‘The Dragons’ team presented their app to three members of the judging panel, who each represented different branches of Amazon Web Services, followed by a Q&A session.

The team received praise from the judges who commented that their idea had potential, and that they were all equally impressed by the team’s quality of presentation and depth of research.

17th June 2021 — Bishop’s Stortford College Upper Sixth students gained invaluable lifelong advice, skills and knowledge from a panel of industry experts during the College’s Life Hacks for University and Beyond week.

From Monday 7th to Friday 11th June, Upper Sixth students attended presentations, lectures and seminars from notable external speakers, many of whom are College alumni, and participated in a variety of teambuilding and skill development activities to prepare them for the personal, social and professional challenges they may encounter in the future.

The week kicked off with an introduction to the numerous opportunities that await the students as members of the Stortfordian Foundation, the College’s alumni network, by current President, Chris Forster (MJH, SuH, 82-90). Throughout the week, students engaged in a range of lectures and seminars from a variety of speakers including further Old Stortfordians and nationally recognised career professionals.

With lectures and seminars ranging from how to run a society at university from a panel of recent Old Stortfordians who are current undergraduates, to how to be an effective communicator, notable speakers included experienced Psychological Therapist, Rachel Ewans, who shared advice on mental health and wellbeing, former Detective Chief Inspector and Inspector of Specialist Operations, Ross McDermott (GH, AH, 89-96), who has dealt with counter-terrorism and hostage negotiations throughout his career and shared his expertise on personal safety and communication skills, Old Stortfordian Paula Humphrey (YH, 92-94), VP and EMEA Head of Candidate Engagement at J.P Morgan, who shared her wealth of knowledge into personal branding, and former BBC Radio presenter and journalist, Eric Dixon, who worked with the students on their presentation and communication skills.

Head of Sixth Form, Katie Banks, commented “The cancellation of A Level exams this Summer provided a golden opportunity to dedicate time to setting the Upper Sixth up for leaving the College and launching out to life at university and work. The Life Hacks week was jam-packed with a range of lectures, seminars and practical sessions to arm students with lifelong knowledge and skills. We had a wonderful range of speakers with current undergraduates highlighting areas they wish they had known about in advance, and experienced professionals running sessions on mental health, security, change management and careers.”

As well as hearing from a range of external speakers, students also took part in various skill-based activities during the week to further develop vital lifelong skills for university and beyond such as cooking, first aid, interview technique, basic car mechanics and how to manage a budget. Upper Sixth student Holly H commented, “It was so helpful just before university to be made aware of so many important things and to be taught life skills.”

6th May 2021 — A new Sixth Form Learning Centre was officially opened on Wednesday 28th April at Bishop’s Stortford College by Pauline Mullender, Governor and Chair of the Education Committee at the College.

The building, which was the former home to several individual staff and department offices, was transformed over the Easter holidays by school interior design and installation specialists, TaskSpace.

The Learning Centre, the first of its kind at the College, provides a unique and dedicated space for Sixth Form students to work collectively or independently, hold team meetings and have 1:1 meetings with staff.

Complete with quiet study areas, a conference room, a well-equipped kitchenette and gallery of notable College alumni, the Sixth Form Learning Centre encompasses an environment which prepares students for life beyond the College.

Head of Sixth Form, Katie Banks, commented: "The Sixth Form Learning Centre is designed to mimic a modern undergraduate study space or work environment.

It provides an opportunity for students to collaborate on assignments or to hunker down in a quiet, calm place to get on with their A Level work and independent study.

"It is already being well used as the Upper Sixth prepare for their assessments."

Students can use the Sixth Form Learning Centre throughout the school day during their study periods, as well as after school.

1st February 2021 — Upper Sixth students at Bishop’s Stortford College are currently in receipt of more than 400 offers from over 90 universities including Oxford and Cambridge.

Of the 115 in the year group applying for a place a university, 80% have 3 or more offers.

Debbie Hearne, Head of the Higher Education and Careers department at the College said, “The team have been working hard with our Upper Sixth since the Spring Term last year, helping them to define their requirements and ambitions and find the right courses. The first offers came in early in the Autumn Term and it’s great to see such a high proportion of our students already with 3 firm offers.”

Katie Banks, Head of Sixth Form at the College commented, “We’re in extraordinary times, the pandemic has changed the way we work and of course, the public examinations process too, but the breadth of courses that have been applied for, at a wide range of excellent universities is testament to the hard work put in by students and teachers. To date, of the 400 offers received, 212 offers have been received from Russell Group universities and 203 are from the top 25 universities as ranked in The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021. We are excited to hear more next month when our with our well- prepared vets, medics and dentists will hear on their places.”

College Head, Kathy Crewe-Read added, “Our focus is very much on the individual and their personal development so whilst I am delighted to report that Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, Bristol, Manchester, Durham and York are amongst the excellent universities our Upper Sixth have received offers from, it also pleases me immensely to see offers come in from the Brunel, St. Andrews, Lincoln, University for the Creative Arts, Queen’s Belfast, Imperial College, Herriott-Watt University and King’s College, too.

“Students have received expert advice in order to pursue their dreams. It is exciting to see offers from courses such as Sport Management, Fashion Design, Motorsport Engineering, Modern Languages, Music, Acting, Real Estate and Planning, Occupational Therapy, Dentistry and Computer Science are amongst the more traditional History, Law, Medicine and Business. This diversity could not be achieved without the dedication of our Higher Education and Careers team and the one-to-one advice, guidance and support they are able to offer.”

The College will be holding a Sixth Form Open Morning on 16th October for anyone wishing to start in 2022. Further details can be found at www.bishopsstortfordcollege.org.

27th November 2020 — Bishop’s Stortford College has not only been named as one of the top 100 schools for cricket in the UK by The Cricketer magazine, but the Prep School has also made it into the top 50 Prep Schools for cricket for the first time. This is the fourth successive year that the College has appeared in the Cricketer’s Top 100.

Inclusion in The Cricketer’s Top 100 and Top 50 guides is a huge achievement for both the College (Senior School) and its Prep School. This year saw a record number of entries from schools, from both the state and independent sectors, despite the ongoing pandemic. All entries were judged against an extensive and increasing set of criteria, with the chosen schools all having a compelling commitment to cricket in the curriculum, excellent facilities, fixtures programmes and coaching.

Simon Hughes, editor of The Cricketer magazine commented, “This year’s Schools Guide is particularly important in showcasing our schools who have kept the game alive through a very challenging summer. Whether it has been remote video sessions, drills in the garden or even Zoom quizzes, schools cricket has emerged resolutely from this pandemic and the appetite to get back out on the playing fields is palpable.”

Dave Hughes, Head of Cricket at the College, said, “To be included in The Cricketer’s Top 100 Schools and Top 50 Prep Schools Guide, in what has been a challenging year, is an enormous achievement and one we are immensely proud of. We are thrilled that The Cricketer has recognised the outstanding facilities and coaching programme we offer.”

As well as appearing in print as a supplement to the December issue of The Cricketer (the world’s No.1 cricket magazine), the Cricketer Schools Guide 2021 will also be available to view online throughout the year from 15th December.