Computer Science at Warwick University
On the 7th December, 10 students from Year 12 and Year 13 attended multiple lectures about “Computer Science in Action” at Warwick University. The inspirational day of Computer Science demonstrated cutting edge fields from Artificial Intelligence, software development and algorithms to smart cities. The day also featured a special session with hints and tips for examination success. Five renowned speakers from universities, industries and the media revealed computer science at its very best and we all had a whole lot of fun along the way.
We arrived at Warwick at 9.45am and were given the opportunity to peruse the differing architecture as well as the buzzing campus life with many students rushing to attend their next lecture. We then entered Warwick Arts centre and took our front row seats within Butterworth Lecture Hall.
Dr Matthew Leeke from the University of Warwick gave us a fascinating insight into Smart Cities of the future and explained how one of his students had created an algorithm and app to help people become more energy cost efficient by tracking and predicting future global positioning co-ordinates. Dr Emma Byrne then talked about recently voiced fears that Artificial Intelligence could be about to make a great and dangerous leap forward and why this is already more advanced than most people realise!
Lunch at the university allowed us to take in more campus life and clearly represented how dynamic student life is at Warwick. We then had an inspirational lecture from Graham Cluley who helped develop Dr Solomon’s antivirus toolkit and he explained an astonishing fact that over 400,000 pieces of malware are created on a daily basis.
We were then given the most important open problem to solve in Computer Science by Leslie Goldberg from the University of Oxford, P versus NP algorithm, which carries a £1m prize currently. Our final thought provoking presentation was from Dr Conor McBride of Strathclyde University who persuaded us that functional programming is the future of Computer Science and why we must be involved. Altogether, we had a motivational experience and would like to thank Warwick University for inviting us as well as Mr. Hawkins who helped put the trip together.
Inder Panesar, 12MMI.
Aston University Visit
Birmingham is the second largest student city in the UK and is currently home to a total of 65,000 higher education students who attend one of the city’s five different universities (Aston, Birmingham, Birmingham City, Newman and University College Birmingham). On Monday 12th December, all Year 12 students embarked upon a visit to Aston University in an attempt to gain a further insight into studying at University. Aston University’s campus is located only a 5-10-minute walk away from the City Centre, which was perfect for the prompt 09:30 start.
This bespoke and exclusive programme only for Handsworth Grammar School students included a talk on entry to University whilst also covering the whole application process. Sarah Fullwood, Student Recruitment Officer, went into much more detail covering the personal statement aspect of the UCAS application and advised on how we could successfully ‘sell ourselves’ and maximise our application. Following on from this presentation, we were introduced to student ambassadors who gave us a tour around the campus and answered any questions or queries we had. Along with this, we were also delivered a presentation regarding personal finance at University and were told about the costs of going to a University. The trip proved to be both insightful and informative.
Even though the school doesn’t pressurise students into going to University, this visit was an important part of our School’s University application process, due to virtually all Sixth Form students choosing to go on to University after Handsworth Grammar School.
Mohammed Zoheb Mobeen and Muhammad Nazakat
Year 8 Basketball Success
The Year 8 Basketball team beat Stockland Green School 43-14 recently with Adrian Nyamongo scoring 26 points. Congratulations to the whole team!
Old Boy Honoured
HGS Old Boy Sir David Cox is the first ever recipient of the International Prize in Statistics
Sir David Cox, former President of the Royal Statistics Society and Honorary Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford is the first recipient of the International Prize in Statistics. Like the acclaimed Fields Medal, Abel Prize, Turing Award and Nobel Prizes, the International Prize in Statistics is considered the highest honour in its field. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee comprised of world-renowned academicians and researchers and the award, worth $75k, will be officially presented at the World Statistics Congress.
This inaugural prize recognises Sir David Cox’s 1972 paper in which he developed the proportional hazards model that today bears his name. The Cox Model has been applied in many fields of science and engineering, from disease risk assessment, treatment evaluation and showing the mortality effects of particulate air pollution to product liability.
PISA 2015 Study
Last Autumn we took part in the Programme for International Student Assessment Study 2015 (PISA). Please see the attached set of graphs which show Handsworth Grammar School’s performance and position in relation to both OECD countries and all countries. It is very positive data indeed and again demonstrates the progress made by HGS over the last 4 years as well as being strong testament to the hard work and dedication of staff and students alike.
Summary of PISA 2015 Academic Results
Y11, 12 & 13 Booster Classes
Please click on the links below to view the information for this years booster class programme:
Year 11 Booster Classes 2017 Letter
Year 12 Booster Classes 2017 Letter
Year 13 Booster Classes 2017 Letter
