Envision – Awards Evening 2016
The Community-Apprentice Programme, run by Envision, is an extra-curricular activity that involves Sixth Form students from Birmingham, Bristol and London. Twenty eight year twelve students from HGS participated in the programme this year, which aims to develop projects within school and in the local community. For more information about Envision, please visit their website at www.envision.org.uk.
Following months of hard work, planning and implementation, both teams (Mentality and Concept) from HGS made it into the Awards Evening to find out which of the qualifying schools had won the competition and which teams would win one of several awards up for grabs.
All 21 teams from our 10 schools on Community-Apprentice were nominated for a range of skills awards, reflecting the six core competencies developed throughout the competition. The categories were highly competitive and judges had a tough time choosing a winner in each.
Team Concept from HGS was nominated for the Problem-solving and Resilience Award but unfortunately did not win. However, Team Mentality was nominated for and won the Empathy Award 2016. The HGS students were described by the judges as being, “…passionate about dementia care and mental health, they showed great empathy throughout their project, linking with a local care home.”
Team Mentality Digital story: https://youtu.be/LSzDl5KmARA D
Team Concept Digital story: https://youtu.be/bVTRGHxiwmk
We would like to take this opportunity to thank ALL the mentors from Interserve and Envision who gave up so much of their time in service of our students – the level of support the students received helped to propel them towards yet another successful year with Interserve and Envision.
Finally, our congratulations go to team ‘Eco-Freakos’ from Swanshurst School for winning The Community Apprentice Award 2016 – a well-deserved win!
Mr Ahmed
Year 8 CSI Day
On Wednesday 6th July, we had an Enrichment Day. Year 8’s activity was a CSI investigation of a murder, the murder of Mr. Kafai. We had to work in groups of three or four to figure out who killed him and how it happened.
Firstly we investigated what pen was found at the murder scene. We put a spot from each coloured pen on the chromatography paper and dipped it in water to show all the colours in the pen. At the end we found out the match was a brown pen which was used by Mr Bansal.
We then used microscopes to detect differences in objects that we usually can’t see with the naked eye. These play a vital role in forensic examinations. We tested the different hairs to determine who the suspect for the murder was. When we tested the materials of clothing and we found out that the suspect had worn denim.
To find out the poison that was put in the coffee we used a universal indicator and matched the pH with the pieces of evidence. We found out the poison was methanol. We also tested the flame colour of the pieces of evidence. We found out that the white powder was paint residue.
We tested each of the suspects’ and the victim’s stomach contents to see if there were any similarities. We tested for starch, glucose, fat and sugar. The victim’s stomach had contained glucose and protein, and one suspect also had contained glucose and protein. The suspect for this test was again Mr Bansal.
For the next test we compared the suspects’ fingerprints with the victim’s fingerprints from the cards they had used to play poker. The fingerprint was also a match with Mr Bansal and we thought that there was enough proof to accuse Mr Bansal of the crime.
After that we had to come up with a story that would match up with the actual events leading to the murder. We had a very exciting day and the winner was to be awarded a prize.
Paramjot Johal
Wales Trip, 8-10 July 2016
Friday
On Friday we went to school as normal but all 11 of us couldn’t wait for the day to finish so we could finally head to Wales. At 4pm, we loaded our luggage onto the minibus and took a seat ahead of our 4 hour journey. Once aboard the minibus, we chatted and played card games to pass the time. After about two hours, at a place called Llangollen, Mr Jones, Mr Mohsin and Miss Hurley decided to stop at a co-operative shop to buy food for the trip. We had another stop a little later at Betws-y-Coed where we had a kickabout. When we finally arrived at Idwal Cottage Youth Hostel, we unloaded our luggage, had our evening meal and spent the rest of the evening playing pool.
Saturday
After a good night’s sleep, we woke up, had a shower, got dressed and went downstairs to fit in some more pool. We played for around 20 minutes before eating breakfast which consisted of toast, cereal, hash browns, juice and hot chocolate. After breakfast, we cleared up and played even more pool.
At around 10am we all got into the minibus again, this time on our way to the ancient Caernarfon Castle! Unfortunately, there were a VAST amount of steps; as an approximate guess, I’d say at least 1000! To make things even more challenging, the steps were slippery and narrow and we had to be very careful. My friends and I played hide and seek around the castle and it was exhausting to say the least. However, we had a great time there and we even managed to reach the very highest point of the castle!
After looking around the castle, we were all given time to go and eat and explore the town. We went to Subway and then walked around taking a deeper look at the lifestyle of Welsh people. The castle had been exciting and more excitement was to come.
One of the main aims of the trip was to visit Dinorwic Power Station which is hidden within a huge mountain! We travelled into the mountain by bus and stopped off at various places where our guide explained about the turbines and generators. The station is mainly used to provide extra electricity at times of peak demand and can reach full power after less than 12 seconds.
Another thing we did on Saturday, because of the poor weather, was to visit Llechwedd Slate Caverns. We went through many different caverns and discovered about the job of mining slate. We learnt that it wasn’t ideal and that lives and people’s health were affected by mining slate, however it was a relatively well-paid job hence many decided to do it for a living. At the very end, we met a man who was carving slate and we were lucky enough to take a look at some marvellous slate sculptures that he had made!
Sunday
On Sunday, we were planning to walk in the hills of Snowdonia but, due to the awful weather, we headed to the coastal town of Llandudno, where the sun was shining. There was an absolutely amazing view and the sight of the shimmering sea was awesome. Hussain, Daniel and I walked the length of the Victorian pier, buying some souvenirs and enjoying some amusements on the way. After meeting up back at the minibus we headed home but had time to stop at Betws-y-Coed again for a final kickabout. We were all tired after that so all of us fell asleep on the minibus and, before we knew it, we were back at school!
My thoughts overall
I have been on residentials before, but the Wales trip was one of the best. It was the excitement and thrills that made the trip what is was and it was very good value for money; I loved the fact that we were always out and about at different places and, when we weren’t outdoors, which was not often, we were all gathered around the pool table. Overall, it was a fabulous trip and I had an amazing time!
Ibrahim Zaman 7G
North Yorkshire Residential
15 year 10 pupils recently spent three days in North Yorkshire staying at Ampleforth College, the famous Boarding school.
Accompanied by Mr Organ and Mr Conway the boys visited the historic town of Knaresborough en route and then visited the famous Fountains Abbey a world heritage site which is one of the best preserved Medieval monasteries n the country.
Ampleforth College was our base and this exclusive establishment provided the pupils with an experience of staying at a boarding school for a few days. The boys met one of the Benedictine monks who live there and were able to ask questions about their monastic life.
The boys also had a memorable day in historic York where they were able to sample the very best of the city’s history and culture, including the world famous York Minster. They also went on a York Ghost tour, where they heard from a story teller about some of York’s greatest ghost stories.
The trip concluded with a visit to the town of Pickering, where we boarded the famous North Yorkshire Steam Railway and travelled to Whitby. The boys then saw where Gothic literature was born and the famous Victorian author Bram Stoker wrote his novel Dracula.
Congratulations to all of the boys for their exemplary behaviour and manners throughout the trip. They were a real credit to their families and to Handsworth Grammar School.
Mr Conway
Sports Day Results 2016
Here are the results for Sports Day 2016:
Envision 2016-2017
Handsworth Grammar School is proud to be a partner with Envision as part of the community apprentice programme for 2016-2017.
