Old faces and very much new gathered to take part in the final event of the winter at Handsworth Grammar, to send off the year in a very musical style. Our penultimate day flourished into a magnificent gathering of young, talented musicians, whose music could warm even the coldest of hearts. (And no, it’s not just the under-floor heating; music also emanates a certain aura that warms the soul)

Music was truly the main focus of night.  A staple of our concerts; the guitar ensembles played as majestically as ever, under the ever watchful eye of Mr Knight. Dare I say that our classical guitarists have been the best they’ve been for the last few years?

The keyboard ensembles, had such uplifting spirit with Mr Czepiel’s choice of pieces, featuring I’m a believer (a theme from Shrek) for the junior ensemble and ‘Don’t stop me Now’ for the senior ensemble. Truly this was a concert to end of a fantastic first term we all had.

We cannot forget the orchestra – with Mr Ward at helm, once again conducting – who played with spirit, embracing their inner Englishmen and playing Pomp and Circumstance marches, a well-known theme by Edward Elgar. The orchestra was not the only thing for Mr Ward to conduct however; the debut of this year’s Choir, filled with the first appearance of many Year 7’s. Mr Ward was certainly rapturous following their performance of Happy, having embraced Christmas with ‘Away in a Manger’ moments before.

The raw talent of our musicians radiated with our ‘stand-alone’ acts.  The likes of two Renaissance pieces from the guitars, a trio by Dowland played by the Frater twins and Mr Knight, and a Spanish piece played by Brandon Masih. Our piano solos took for a far more 20^th century approach, Camara Talbert playing a piece by Norton and Khanh Pham with a vicious piece by W. Carroll. We also had an array of woodwind pieces played, with the Tabla being represented by a solo and trio. The debut of the harp in the concert, played by Lydia Liburd, only just shows how much talent we have to show during our concerts.

Our concert may be great, but it is nothing without the teachers that make it happen. Thank you to Mr Ward, head of Music, for putting together the program and being there throughout rehearsals, ensuring with the It technicians that only the best sound is produced. Thanks to Ms Vaughan, who was as equally helpful in preparing the concert and without her help, much of the work would not be possible. It is also right to thank our Music teachers; Mr Knight; Mr Czepiel; Ms Strudwick; Mrs Buxton and Mr Matharu: without their countless hours of work, we wouldn’t have a concert to put on. I must thank each performer, whose talents have entertained many, even if Jingle bells continues the long line of finales where they just end up laughing out of exhaustion.

Last but not least, thanks to Mr Conway for being our compere once again, along with every staff member who had helped over the course of the day, making our preparations far better to cope with.

Brandon Masih 10 Henry

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Our congratulations go to Abdi Ige who has secured the offer of a place at Merton College, Oxford to read History and Politics and also to Manraj Dhanda who has secured a place at Queens’ College, Cambridge to read Engineering. This is a wonderful achievement in what is an ever increasingly competitive arena.

Research from last year and this has confirmed that additional study and wider reading make a real and material difference to GCSE and A Level results. Another widely-held belief has also been confirmed recently, that eating well makes a difference to academic performance too. This study specifically examined the impact of breakfast on educational outcomes. By tracking some five thousand pupils the University of Cambridge found that the chance of achieving above average test scores were twice as high for those who ate breakfast, compared with those who did not. They also found that an extra hour a day of TV, internet use or computer games links to poorer grades at GCSE. This extra hour a day of screen time saw a fall in results equivalent to two grades overall over the course of a GCSE programme of study.

Today the charity Action for Children has published findings and advice surrounding the issue of screen time for children. Two interesting points their report makes are: “parents struggle to get children off devices such as phones, laptops, tablets and TVs” and “quality time needs to be an interaction which is not about sitting in front of a screen”.

They offer some advice:

• Planning family activities that do not include technology
• Creating a weekly schedule based on the idea of one hour of technology use equalling one hour on other activities
• Recreating favourite childhood games/activities
• Parents turning off their devices at the same time as children having screen-free time

The report states that “technology is an often necessary part of the lives of children and parents alike, but it is important to maintain a balance with other activities and quality family time….strong relationships with parents build resilience in children”.

The above information is important as we move towards the external Examination season – please do support your child as they prepare for their GCSE, AS and or A Level examinations.