Bedford Modern School (often called simply BMS,) is a British co-educational independent school in the Harpur area of Bedford, in the county of Bedfordshire, in England.
Bedford Modern comprises a junior school (years 3-6) and a senior school (years 7-13). A wide variety of subjects are taught to GCSE and A-level standard.
Bedford Modern 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. It was originally situated "side by side" with Bedford School and opened with Bedford School in 1566. 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. It was a direct grant grammar school until becoming independent in 1976, and became a coeducational day school in 2003.
Read more about Bedford Modern School: School Houses, 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, Notable Old Bedford Modernians, Notable Masters
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“When, said Mr. Phillips, he communicated to a New Bedford audience, the other day, his purpose of writing his life, and telling his name, and the name of his master, and the place he ran from, the murmur ran round the room, and was anxiously whispered by the sons of the Pilgrims, “He had better not!” and it was echoed under the shadow of the Concord monument, “He had better not!””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Chaucer is fresh and modern still, and no dust settles on his true passages. It lightens along the line, and we are reminded that flowers have bloomed, and birds sung, and hearts beaten in England. Before the earnest gaze of the reader, the rust and moss of time gradually drop off, and the original green life is revealed. He was a homely and domestic man, and did breathe quite as modern men do.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You send a boy to school in order to make friends—the right sort.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)