Friends of Handsworth Grammar School Annual Dinner
Friday 5th July saw over 60 members of the ‘Friends’ sit down to a delicious dinner served in Big School. The evening incorporated tours of the campus, displays of old photographs and memorabilia as well as speeches by the Chair of the Friends Anne McGoldrick and Headmaster Simon Bird. A good time was had by all and old friends were reacquainted.
Photos taken on the evening can be downloaded here.
Our archive of photos taken over the years can be downloaded here.
Year 10 Work Experience
Last week saw Year 10 on their Work Experience week placements. We have received feedback from a whole host of companies and organisations which has been praising our Students for their attitude to work, punctuality and willingness to learn. We have also received requests for some more Students like this next year as well as thanks for sending such model Students. Our Students have been to large Dental Practices, Pharmacy’s. MK Accounting, KPMG and PC World amongst others.
Biology Field Studies
The year 12 Biology visit to Cannon Hill Park was an eventful day in which we carried out several activities to assess the diversity of certain areas in the park. To begin with, we walked to woodland where we sampled the different plant species along a 30 metre strip. We also measured other factors such as humidity and light intensity which affect the number of plants throughout our sample. Upon finishing our sampling in the woodland we moved onto a section of the River Rae which flows through the park. There we collected samples from the water at different spots and identified the animals we found as indicators of pollution. The species present suggested the water was fairly clean. We also measured rates of water flow, oxygen concentration and other elements that would have an impact on the number of animals in the water. It was very interesting to see the different types of plants and animals and was a welcome change from the classroom. The weather was very hot indeed and we all had a valuable experience that will benefit our A2 studies.
Rohan Langi
Footnote from Mr Arnold: Over 70 Year 12 students took part in the Biology A Level Field Study visits during the week, over four days. A special thank you to Mr Ahmed, Miss Hurley, Dr Wallach and Miss Pell for their hard work during the week. We were, indeed, blessed with the weather.
Year 12 Geographical Skills Residential
At the end of the spring term the sixth form Geography students went on a residential trip to bright and sunny Slapton Ley, Devon! Fortunately it only rained for 1 day of the 4 we were there. We went to do coursework for our A-Level exams, both AS students and A2 students.
After an exhausting 4 hour ride on the minibus to the South of England, which was extremely fun, we were glad to unpack our belongings, but before long we were asked to walk to a nearby shingle beach where we did a bit of geology and studied some rocks. After taking a long trek back to our resort we were left to relax for the rest of the evening, or so we thought! After a little break we headed back to the classroom and analysed all of the data we had gathered.
Over the course of the next 3 days we went to the Harbourne River to try and investigate river characteristics such as depth, width, and volume to see how the river changes downstream. We practised the River Dance to keep warm and learnt our key terms (see photo). We also looked at the impacts of flooding and the solutions that have been implemented to try to reduce flooding in the future. Contrary to what you may think, walking in the river proved rather fun, though it’s a shame no one fell in! We also visited parts of Plymouth that recently underwent regeneration. AS students conducted surveys relating to the environment and visual quality of life apparent in the surrounding area to determine the differences between areas. An area that had received extensive regeneration, called Gun Wharf, was an amazing sight and enabled its residents to protect their houses much more easily than normal areas.
So all in all geography is not just staring at a bunch of rocks and colouring things in (although we did do quite a lot of that!) we had fun even with all the rain and a certain sixth formers (loud) singing!
Year 10 Geography Fieldwork
During the summer term, 3 groups from the year 10 geography classes went to Carding Mill Valley for our data collection for use in our controlled assessment. It was a cloudy day and a bit dull, but surprisingly it wasn’t too cold. We left school approximately at 9:00 and it took us about 1 and a half hours to get to Carding Mill Valley. On arrival, we changed into our wellington boots, gathered our equipment which consisted of ranging poles, clinometers, corks and a stopwatch and headed up the valley towards the source of the river, taking in the views of Light Spout waterfall on the way.
We ate our lunch on the Long Mynd plateau and had a wonderful view of the hills, which had lots of sheep. The sheep came towards us, probably from the smell of our lunch but they ran off because we scared them!
After lunch, we started our data collection with help from our teachers. We did our data collection at 4 sites and we measured velocity, width and depth of river and load size. To measure the velocity, we measured out 10 meters using our measuring tape along the river. We dropped the cork and timed how long it will take to reach the end of the 10 meter tape. To measure the width and depth, we got a tape measure and measured across the river. To measure the depth, we put a meter stick vertical to the ground and measured it along at each 10 cm interval of the measuring tape along the river. To measure the load, we got one person from each group to pick out 3 random rocks and measure the longest length and the shortest length of the three rocks. From our results we learnt that the further you are away from the source of the river, the velocity, width and depth increases and the size of the load decreases.
After we collected our data, we went back to the mini bus and packed the equipment away and changed our boots back to our trainers. We left at about 3:30 pm and arrived back to school at 5 pm. It was a long and hard day, with a lot of walking and getting wet, but it was really fun!
Adil Mahmood 10 Alfred.
Year 8 Geography Fieldwork
Year 8 Geography Fieldwork to Dovedale by Hootan Parsanpour and Shujah Mehmood 8H
On a hot summers day in July, Year 8 were lucky enough to enjoy the glorious sunshine at Dovedale in the Peak District National Park. Dovedale is a National Park which is looked after by the National Trust to preserve the area’s natural beauty. We walked for 3 miles along the valley visiting different sites along the way.
The day started off at Milldale where we used a variety of geographical skills to measure the characteristics of the river such as the width, depth and load. We also looked at the characteristics of a river meander and the landforms that are formed.
As we moved along we reached Ravens Tor where the path became rocky and slightly hilly. We noticed on the opposite side of the river bend a rock face which had been weathered. The limestone with its many joints and bedding planes had been weathered to form a scree slope.
Our favourite part of the trip was visiting the Doveholes, where there was a large cave created by chemical weathering. The cave was dark and provided shade in the heat of the day. Moving on down the valley we reached Ilam Rock, where we again studied the rock, practised our field sketching skills and completed our river measurements for Site 2. After lunch we saw a rock face of a lion’s head and then passed Reynards’ cave.
Further down the valley we reached Lovers’ Leap. Legend has it that a woman showed her love by jumping over the steep cliff. Here we looked at some fossils in the rock before finally reaching the Stepping Stones. Here, we completed our final river measurements.
Finally, after a tiring and hot journey, we made our way back to the coach, but first had ice cream and drinks to cool us down. Overall the trip was very interesting and enjoyable.
History Club
Some lucky Year 7’s and 8’s were chosen to attend the new History Club which takes place on Wednesdays after school for an hour in room 5 with Miss Hartill. In History club we discuss and learn about Ancient History, particularly Ancient Rome. We enjoy learning about how people in Ancient Rome lived. We have investigated Ancient religions; how Romans were entertained; their cuisine and the social hierarchy. History Club is so enjoyable because it is not taught in the normal way, it is very interesting and Miss Hartill is an expert so we find it informative and fun! We have had the chance to watch parts of ‘Gladiator’ and decide whether it is accurate, as well as learning that there were many different types of gladiators. Our favourite part of History Club was the cookies (yum!) and making life size gladiators in groups and designing the weaponry and armour. We are looking forward to this club continuing next year.
Written by Shuja Mehmood and Mohsin Sadiq, 8 Henry
