Remembrance Assembly 2017
King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys held its annual Remembrance Assembly in Big School on Friday 10th November 2017. We were delighted to welcome a number of Governors, Charity Trustees and Old Boys to school to mark the occasion and share in this significant and important annual event. The Reverend Dr Bob Stephen who is Chair of the Governing Body and Rector of Handsworth led the act of Remembrance as well as delivering a very timely and thought provoking address which highlighted the necessity to work towards peace in all we do. He highlighted that important facets of life such as showing respect and tolerance of each other, being kind and compassionate and celebrating our differences are all highly significant steps on the road to peace.
The Senior Prefect team of Suraj Sanhi, Maryam Shafiq, Shoaib Farooque, Anastasia Martin and Arran Bola all took an active part in the Assembly by reading poems and reflections whilst Suraj laid a wreath at the stained glass window with Mr Simon Farrell who is the Senior Vice President of the Bridge Trust Society. It was a very special event and a fitting tribute to the Old Boys whose names are listed on the memorial plaques in Big School. Big School was full as both Year 7 and Year 13 students attended the assembly whilst the remainder of school observed the occasion in their Form assemblies.
Haec Olim Meminisse Iuvabit
Prizegiving 2017 – Eton meets Handsworth
Our annual Prizegiving was a very special occasion as it was our first as a member of the King Edward VI Foundation and King Edward VI Academy Trust. We welcomed The Reverend Steve Gray, The Conduct of Eton College as our Principal Guest. He spoke about the opportunities a School like ours affords its students and encouraged them to get involved in all that we have on offer such as the house system, sport, drama, debating and music. He was delighted to note the progress made at KEVI HGS over the past year. He highlighted the need for perseverance, careful planning and support from family and school so that if and when a setback occurs it can be effectively overcome. It was a lovely event and it was fantastic to see so many families together as we celebrated the success of our School community.
Student Council Conference
On Thursday 19th October, King Edward VI Aston School hosted the first ever Student Council Conference event. Here, all nine King Edward Schools were invited to give presentations explaining the importance of their respective school councils, how their councils run and what they have achieved in the past few years.
The event started at 9:30am and ran till 3:00pm. Six representatives from our school: myself, Suraj Sanhi, Maryam Shafiq, David Akinfemiwa, Talbir Singh and Jack Griffiths attended the event representing our school to give a presentation. The purpose of the presentation was to highlight the impact of our school council’s hard work, hoping to inspire other schools to take onboard our actions and implement them into their own schools. Every presentation given by each school was unique, each school implementing different changes around their schools; ideas that would later on be discussed in an Action Plan activity later on in the day.
Just before the lunch break, myself, Maryam and Jack went up to present. Our presentation lasted approximately 15 minutes with a short Q&A session afterwards where other students were able to ask questions to gain a better understanding of the structure and efficiency of our council. Our presentation focused on our school council’s input to the Astroturf pitch on Baker St, Show My Homework, water fountains, new lockers and so on. King Edward VI Aston were fortunate enough to have the event sponsored by Subway, Domino’s and Morrison’s, allowing their lunch services to be catered for by Subway and Domino’s. The lunchtime break lasted an hour, allowing individuals to mingle and socialize with other schools.
Throughout the day, three discussions took place splitting everyone up so they were with students from other schools. A number of questions proposed by the main speaker enabled each individual in their groups to discuss possible answers to the proposed question e.g. “If your school had an unlimited amount of money, what would you buy?”
Finally, to end the day was the “Action Plan” activity where each school made a plan of what possible ideas could be proposed, taking onboard what other schools had said earlier in the day in their presentations.
Overall, the day was a success; socializing with others, watching presentations and taking into account other propositions from other schools. The vision of the event is for it to become an annual tradition, with different schools hosting each year, therefore formalizing an interaction between every council within the Schools of King Edward VI and incentivizing further achievement. An event like this is to motivate councils to push for greater changes so they have something impactful to report in the future.
Arran Bola
13BGE
