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Bedford Modern School

Bedford Modern School should not be confused with Bedford School.

Bedford Modern School is a selective co-educational independent school in the Harpur area of Bedford, England.

BMS has its origins in the Bedford Charity, born from the endowments left by Sir William Harpur in the sixteenth century. Originally it was known as 'the Writing School', teaching copper plate handwriting in what is now the old Town Hall in St. Paul's Square, Bedford. In 1834 it moved to prestigious mock Tudor Gothic premises, designed by Edward Blore in Harpur Square, the frontage of which is now part of the Harpur (shopping) Centre. The site became increasingly cramped, and in 1974 BMS moved again to its purpose-built premises on Manton Lane.

The School has had four names - the Writing School, the English School, the Commercial School and finally Bedford Modern School, the last change being made in 1873 to reflect the School's modern curriculum, providing an education for the professions. Until the Second World War BMS provided education not only for the locality but also for many colonial and military personnel seeking good education for their young families. Since then BMS has grown considerably, becoming an independent school in 1976 and a coeducational day school in 2003, continuing to provide an education which is modern, rigorous and relevant.

Uniform

Junior Girls Years 3 - 5: Black embroidered blazer, white blouse, checked skirt or summer dress, optional red jumper.
Junior Boys Years 3 - 5: Black blazer, white shirt, junior tie, grey shorts, long grey socks with school colours, optional grey jumper.
Junior Girls Year 6: Black embroidered blazer, white blouse, checked skirt or black trousers or summer dress, optional red jumper Junior Boys Year 6: Black blazer, white shirt, junior tie, black trousers, optional black jumper. Senior Boys Years 7 - 11: Black trousers, white shirt, house tie, black blazer, optional black jumper.
Senior Girls Years 7 - 11: Checked skirt, white blouse, optional red jumper, black embroidered blazer.
Sixth Formers: Any type of office-wear.

The Leadership Team

The school is run by the Headmaster, The Second Master, The Deputy Academic and the Deputy Pastoral. Within the students, there is a Head Girl, Head Boy , Deputy Head Girl and Deputy Head Boy, with 6 Senior Monitors, one for each year group, (Junior School, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). The 10 Senior Monitors have a red trim fitted to their blazer or jacket along with a Monitors tie to differentiate them from the rest of the sixth form.

The School Houses

Following a tradition of over a hundred years the Senior School Houses of BMS were; North, South, East, West, County and United Boarders. This last was comprised of the combined boarding houses: Culver, Shakespeare, and School House. The day boy houses often, though not always, reflected the parts of the town or county from which the boys hailed and were mentioned in the school song.

The current house system has been running for under 15 years. The houses and their house colours are:

Bell - Purple
Tilden - Green
Farrar - Light Blue
Oatley - Dark Blue
Rose - Gold
Mobbs - White

Each house has its own tie which consists of stripes of the three school colours and their own house colour. Inter-house sports cover all major and minor sports run by the school, at both junior and senior level, and range from rugby and hockey (major sports) to shooting and fencing (minor sports). There are also non-sporting events such as quizzes and music and drama competitions.

Each house is led by a Head of House (a member of staff), and a House Captain, two Monitorial Deputies and a Co-opted Deputy (Upper Sixth Formers).

The Junior School house system operates on similar principles, with 4 houses: Taylor, Kaye, Poole and Liddle.

2012 Olympics

Bedford Modern School has been selected as an official training site for the London 2012 Olympics. The school is expected to attract Table Tennis teams training for the event.

Notable Old Bedford Modernians

Francis Penrose (1817–1903), Surveyor of St Paul's Cathedral, 1852–, architect, archaeologist and astronomer
James Howard (1821–1889), agriculturalist and member of parliament
Sir William Augustus Tilden (1842–1926), Chemist & Dean, Royal College of Science, London (1905–1909)
John Holland Rose (1855–1942), Vere Harmsworth Professor of Naval History, University of Cambridge, 1919–1933
Sir George Herbert Farrar (1859-1915), South African mining magnate, politician and soldier
W. H. D. Rouse (1863–1950), schoolmaster and classicist
E. D. Morel (1873–1924), journalist and activist
Edgar Mobbs (1882–1917), rugby union player
Gillie Potter (1887–1975), comedian and broadcaster
Sir Charles Oatley (1904–1996), Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Cambridge, 1960–1971, and developer of the first scanning electron microscope
Peter Grimes (1905–1988), Director, London Museum, 1945–1956, and Director, Institute of Archaeology and Professor of Archaeology, University of London, 1956–1973
Sir Bill Johnson (1906–1988), General Manager, Eastern Region, British Railways, 1958–1962, and London Midland Region, British Railways, 1962–1967, and Chairman, British Railways Board, 1968–1971
Derick Emmison (1907–1995), County Archivist of Essex, 1938–1969
Christopher Fry (1907–2005), playwright
Sir Arthur Mooring (1908–1969), British Resident in Zanzibar, 1959–1963
Bob Gale (born 1933), Middlesex cricketer
Sir Keith Speed (born 1934), politician
Russell Ash (born 1946), author of Top 10 of Everything, etc
Professor Sir Peter Knight , professor of Quantum Optics and Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College.
Patrick Hall (born 1951), current MP for Bedford
John Sessions (born 1953), comedian and broadcaster
Lionel Weston (born 1954), England Rugby Union scrum half
Andy Gilchrist (born 1960), former head of the FBU (Fire Brigades Union)
Toby Litt (born 1968), novelist and short story writer
Tim Foster (born 1970), Olympic Gold Medallist rower
Christian Coulson (born 1978), actor
Monty Panesar (born 1982), England cricketer