School News

Second Cover Success for Amrita

Well done to Amrita Robertson (L4W) for being shortlisted in The Guardian’s recent joint competition with publishers Faber to design a new cover for the schools’ edition of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The competition attracted almost 300 stunning entries from some talented teenage artists aged between 13 and 16 and Amrita did extremely well to make the short list of 21 designs. Her particularly fetching pig, with an intricate black-and-scarlet Indonesian pattern embracing conch and flame, was generally admired by the judges. All 21 designson the shortlist are currently on display at the Lord of the Files Cover Competition at Guardian Gallery, King's Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU until 29 February. Amrita’s enjoyed a similar success two years ago in a competition run by The Times to design a cover for The Secret Garden.

Bancroft's Foundation Launch

More than 160 Old Bancroftians, current and former members of staff, parents of current pupils and OBs and members of the Board of launch_web_1 Governors came together to celebrate the launch of the Bancroft’s Foundation at Drapers’ Hall on 6 February.

The School has a long tradition of enabling talented children of all backgrounds to have the opportunity to experience a Bancroft’s education and in the 275 anniversary year, the Bancroft’s Foundation has been established to provide means-tested scholarship support to enable bright pupils to study at Bancroft’s regardless of capacity.

Guests heard from Old Bancroftian Dr Mike Lynch OBE (OB1976-1983), lead Patron of the Foundation and himself a Drapers’ Scholar, who spoke animatedly and humorously about his own experiences at Bancroft’s. He also spoke of his own support for the Foundation and encouraged guests to join him in lending their support for the initiative.

Julien Anani-Isaac (OB 2002-2009), Francis Bancroft Scholar, also spoke of the impact of scholarship support, highlighting the breadth of activities and activities offered by the School.

Three Heads of Bancroft’s from the past and present were at the event with Mary Ireland, Dr Peter Scott and Dr Peter Southern all in attendance.

Guests were treated to performances from Music Scholars and took the opportunity to chat with a number of Francis Bancroft Scholars in attendance.

Thanks to generosity of Old Bancroftians and friends, the Foundation has already received over £1.2 million in gifts and commitments and has been able to welcome the first two Foundation Scholars to the School this academic year, with a further four Scholars beginning their studies in September 2012.

For further information please see Bancroft's Foundation

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Intermediate Maths Challenge

Well done to all those who took part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, gaining an impressive total of 31 Gold, 41 Silver and 30 Bronze certificates. Congratulations to Kavin Vijayakumar, Jasraj Panesar and Francis Clark-Murray who have qualified for the next round, the Intermediate Olympiad.

U19s through to National Netball Finals

On Sunday 29 January, Bancroft’s had three teams (U19, U16, U14) playing in the Regional Finals of the National Schools’ Netball Tournament held at Redbridge Sports Centre. By this stage in the Tournament, there are no easy opponents and every single match counts.

The U14 played well, although they were faced with the usual challenge of height difference between them and their opponents! The girls finished in sixth place in the group; there were lots of Remove players in the team who will still be eligible to play next year.

The U16 team was a depleted squad with several key players missing due to sickness or injury. Despite this, they did very well, winning their first two games before coming across very strong opposition. They finished in fifth place.

regionals_2012_062v2web The U19s, also beset by sickness, won their first three games against St Helen’s (9-7), Benenden (17-15) and Coloma Girls (10-7) before a very close game against Lady Eleanor Holles. Unfortunately, the Bancroft’s girls lost by a single goal (11-12), and were about to shoot for a draw when the final whistle blew. The girls were devastated, but they pulled themselves together to beat King’s 14-5. The final match of the day saw Bancroft’s face their old adversary Barking Abbey. Thanks to a Guildford victory over Lady Eleanor Holles, Bancroft’s knew that progress to the National Finals was possible. At this crucial stage, the Woodford girls needed just one point to qualify as silver medallists. With Barking Abbey's very solid defence and efficient scoring, Bancroft's took the philosophy that they had to keep the ball away from the opposition in order to minimise potential damage! As expected, it was a tough game and, although Bancroft’s lost to Barking Abbey, the 13-8 score gave them the much needed point. regionals_2012_055web

It had been an exhausting day of netball, with every match tight, and demanding that the girls gave 100% to every game. Every member of the Bancroft’s U19 team, which had been reduced to a squad of just 9 fit players, gave their best throughout and their finals place was well deserved.

The National Finals are on 17 March in Basildon, and Bancroft’s join Barking Abbey as the very best schools’ U19 netball teams in London and the South East. We wish the girls well for the Finals.

U16 Hockey Boys to Regional Finals

Many congratulations to the U16 boys who finished second in the Essex Championships held at Redbridge Sports Centre last Wednesday. The boys were unbeaten to finish second in their group. The team enjoyed victories against the Drapers, Academy, King John's and Coopers' Coburn; they drew with Felsted (2-2) and Chigwell (0-0). This means that they have qualified for the Regional Finals to be held at the UEA, Norwich on 9 February. Best of luck for the 9th!