British Gymnastics Selection
Hamzah Baig in 7 Nelson is a talented gymnast and is a member of the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Elite Performance Squad. The squad has just been re-selected for 2014 and Hamzah has been selected for the national squad. Congratulations Hamzah and good luck for the New Year.
Geography Awareness Week & GIS Conference
On Thursday 21st November, a group of our A2 Geographers (who will be studying Geography at university) accompanied Mr Bird to King Edward VI Five Ways School to attend the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Conference as part of Geography Awareness Week. We learnt about a variety of dynamic software which allows Geographers in all walks of life to decide where and when their resources are best deployed. We heard from a civil engineering from Atkins who was involved with the design and construction of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, a geospatial intelligence analyst from West Midlands Police and a healthcare professional. We also heard from a speaker from Tyneside University which offers a ‘Geomatics’ course, specialising in GIS.
In summary, GIS is a bit like google earth with steroids, allowing all sorts of digital layers to be added onto maps – including imported data – which allows in depth, ‘real-time’ analysis of situations. For example, we used GIS to predict criminals’ thought patterns; to respond to a simulated outbreak of disease in the local area and we learnt about ‘crowdsourcing’: the practice of obtaining needed data or ideas by soliciting contributions from large groups of people.
Students relished the chance to talk informally to the professionals about their work and have some hands-on experience of the software. This really is the technology of the future, and one which students and staff alike found inspiring.
HGS celebrates continued improvement in academic achievement and attainment
The Department for Education has just published the annual RAISEonline Report for 2013 which gives Handsworth Grammar School much cause for celebration.
Some headline figures include:
This is our highest ever best 8 GCSE’s score and is well above national scores – average points score of 407 (national score is 338).
This is our highest ever Value added score of 1020.
HGS is now in the top 18% of schools nationally (up from 26% in 2012).
We will not rest on our laurels though and continue to strive for improvement but this is a great testament to the hard work of our Staff and Students.
University of Birmingham Lecture
On the 25th of November we visited University of Birmingham for an evening lecture presented by Professor Robin May. His lecture was entitled “Pathogens and Disease” which gave us an insight into how our adaptive and innate immune system work to protect us. We learned how only 13% of our bacteria gets passed on when we shake hands and only 17% is shared between our left and right hand. He explained to us how impressive certain parasites are at adapting themselves in order to survive; toxoplasma is the biggest mind manipulating pathogen that lives inside rats. The parasite needs to get from the rat into a cat and it does this by manipulating the rats’ brain so that the rat hangs around the cats faeces. This increases the chances of the rat being eaten by a cat. Professor Robin May led a passionate lecture and involved all the students by throwing questions to the floor. We enjoyed the experience and this gave us an understanding of how university lectures are.
Tirhas Fetwi (13B) & Mariyam Mustafa (13N)
Bangor University Music Department and HGS
On Friday 15th November we attended a Music Day at Solihull Sixth Form College, but led by the University of Bangor Music Department. The four workshops were delivered by various academics from the University and gave greater insight into the music we are currently studying at both AS and A2-level. Jack Harris bravely performed the “Moonlight Sonata” in front of all those in attendance and was warmly praised by Dr. Andrew Woolley who was leading the session and who is responsible for performance at the University. We hope to that this will become an annual event for the Music Department of HGS.
