The Year 9 Football team battled through to the semi finals of the Aston Cup with a 3-2 win against Hamstead Hall. Having had two goals disallowed we had to keep positive and in extra time Sundeep Dhillon scored the winner. Goal scorers: Sundeep Dhillon 2, Gurkirat Jagpal 1.
Year 7 have collectively raised £1,218.90 this year by taking part in the Annual Sponsored Walk around Handsworth Park. Through their Year Councils they have chosen the following charities to support:
Water Aid
Macmillan Cancer Support
MIND
the money will be equally divided.
NOW Education kindly supported us again and Mrs Sunita Randhawa attended assembly to present the prizes to the students who raised the most amount of money for charity.
Parth Patel 7 Nelson £197
Alex Cummings 7 Henry £83
Abdul Kazmi 7 Nelson £63.60
Ubaid Khan 7 Henry £50
Rohan Mahmood 7 Henry £50
Mohammed – Saihaan Ali 7 Alfred £50.
This is a fantastic achievement by the whole year group – well done.
Handsworth Grammar School has a new addition to its range of extra-curricular activities – Chinese Club. Mrs Fiess, who runs the club, had been learning Mandarin Chinese privately for several months, when an opportunity became available to attend an intensive summer language course for UK language teachers on a scholarship to be trained to teach Mandarin to beginners. Mrs Fiess spent two and a half weeks in Shanghai in August and came back with improved language skills and a lot of ideas. Chinese Club has now been running every Monday since 10th October and is a great success. It is regularly attended by a range of students from year 7 to year 13 as well as staff who are learning Mandarin Chinese as well as experiencing aspects of Chinese culture such as music, history, art and food. 太好了!
In the last week of September, 18 year 10 and year 11 students set off to the Black Forest, an area of outstanding natural beauty in the south west of Germany, together with Mrs Fiess and Mr Bedi. After a tiring but smooth overnight coach journey, the group finally arrived in their accommodation – a youth hostel 1234m high in the mountains! On the itinerary were shopping in the beautiful university city of Freiburg, a cable car ride up Schauinsland mountain, a visit to an open air museum and, finally, a day in Europe’s second biggest theme park “Europapark”. Even the weather was mostly nice and sunny and it was a very enjoyable trip for all participants.
‘Science Live’ for A-Level Physics was a great opportunity, particularly for those wishing to carry on with studies in Physics beyond A-Level. The event gave us an in-depth insight into the subject directly from Physicists involved in conducting research.
The lectures covered a wide range of Physics topics including ‘Do We Live in a Deterministic Universe?’ by Professor Jim Al-Khalili, who questioned the existence of free will using quantum indeterminacy. In Dr. Helen Czerski’s talk ‘From Bubbles to Oceans: The Big Wide World of Fluid Dynamics’, she discussed the structure of bubble plumes caused by breaking waves and their influence on the atmosphere. The show also included sessions from experienced examiner Lynn Pharaoh who provided some useful tips and advice on how to revise successfully for our A-Level examinations.
Attending the event uncovered the true breadth of Physics and its many applications in the World, and I feel very privileged to have been able to participate.
Sara Ahmed
Before reading this, many of you may not know what the Ladder to Law programme is. In a nutshell, it could be described as a social mobility programme launched in 2010 with the purpose of providing an insight into law for school students. Initially, only operating in London, Hogan Lovells and Rare have decided to expand their programme to schools in Birmingham, Cambridgeshire and Leicester. Hogan Lovells International LLP is an acknowledged law firm which has received recognition such as the 7th best law firm in the UK and 14th best in the world. Luckily for me, Handsworth Grammar School has partnered with Hogan Lovells to allow students like me to further career prospects.
In total, 22 students had been selected to benefit from mentoring, workshops run on behalf of Rare Recruitment, educational trips, insight days and work experience placements at Hogan Lovells. The course usually runs from the start of Year 9 to the first year at university, providing holistic support during this period of participants’ development; however, further vacation schemes and training contract applications will occur in the latter stages of the student’s degree. In Year 9 and 10 the Ladder to Law team will visit schools to deliver an interactive workshop continued in Year 11 during which a select number of students will have the opportunity to visit Hogan Lovells London office to get information on the Ladder to Law application process. If interested, students would complete an online application form which includes any achieved GCSE grades and any relevant work experience or positions of responsibility. As part of the programme I will also take part in development activities, corporate case studies, receive interview practice and get both advice and support for my CV and university applications.
An overview of my day
Whilst students and teachers across the school were sleeping in their comfortable, warm beds I was awake before the crack of dawn to arrive at London on time. At 04:00, ecstatic for the day ahead, I leapt out of bed and got dressed in a new smart suit trying to look my best and as professional as I could. I left my house at 05:30 to get a taxi to Birmingham New Street Station and then a train to London Euston. Having arrived early I was greeted by the receptionist who told me to take the lift to the 11th floor in which I was then welcomed kindly by a Legal PA who offered me use of their cloakroom and free Wi-Fi. Whilst waiting I was fascinated by the décor and interior design of the building along with the spectacular view of London. Absolutely amazed, I knew that this was exactly where I wanted to be and that I would grasp every future opportunity with both hands.
The jam-packed day began at 10:00. We were registered, welcomed and attended a presentation by two partners. I met the 21 other participants through the help of an ice-breaker conducted by employees of Rare who also went into much more detail about the Ladder to Law programme. This was shortly followed by an introduction to Law at University from a Cambridge University Professor who also works at Hogan Lovells.
As part of the programme, we must create presentations relating to a topic of law which we will present in July of 2017. These presentations will be presented in groups we were assigned to and led by mentors who are associates at the firm. After an overwhelming morning, we were then provided with lunch shortly followed by a professionalism workshop run by Rare. The professionalism workshop was amazing due to it teaching us key skills needed to be proficient, for example how to correctly write emails. My favourite part of the day occurred next, this is when we visited London’s Royal Courts of Justice. Once we had passed through the airport-style security that all visitors to court must complete, we were met by an experienced magistrate for a tour of the court building followed by a presentation and discussion in one of the courtrooms. In fact, the courtroom we were in was directly opposite the one which had recently seen the Brexit case. This was a special and unique opportunity allowing me to gain a very personal and in depth understanding of the work of magistrates and an insight into how people are dealt with by the courts and what kind of penalties and sentences can be given out. After our discussion, we split into two groups in which we acted as barristers and solicitors debating and presenting cases to one another. The saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ is certainly correct as the day had and it was time to return to Birmingham after our trip to the Royal Courts of Justice.
Mohammed Zoheb Mobeen
Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust Foodbanks provide a minimum of three days emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK and specifically in Birmingham.
Over 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.
Foodbanks feed some 1,084,604 people nationwide. Of those helped, approximately 400,000 are children.
At HGS we can do something to help, If every student in the school brings in just one item we will be able to donate more than a 1,000 items to the Trussell Trust’s FoodBank in Birmingham.
Tins and packets are the best items to donate. Please see the list below for ideas about what to donate.
Milk (UHT or powdered)
Sugar (500g)
Fruit juice (carton)
Soup
Pasta sauces
Sponge pudding (tinned)
Tomatoes (tinned)
Cereals
Rice pudding (tinned)
Tea Bags/instant coffee
Instant mash potato
Rice/pasta
Tinned meat/fish
Tinned fruit
Jam
Biscuits or snack bars
Please bring your donations to your Form Tutor or to Ms Brown in Room 3.
The Under 16 A and B teams were both runners up in the Birmingham Table Tennis Championships which were held at Holte School on the 22nd November 2016. This shows how strong our teams are becoming as a result of their practice and support from our table tennis coach. They played against Holte, Broadway, Nishkam, Wheelers and Hamstead Hall schools. They lost the championship as a result of one team winning on more game than them! Both teams put in an excellent performance. Squads: Under 16 A Solomon Khan, Brijesh Karthigesu, Usman Razak and Salmane Nasri. Under 16 B: Vyom Patel, Hanzblyth Camanzo, Hassan Raziq and Camara Talburt
Friday November 18th saw the first ever staging of the PTA Autumn Arts Festival. The evening was a huge success with a packed audience in Big School who really got into the swing of it all.
After the PTA welcomed everyone a video message was played from Adil Ray who sadly could not attend on the night himself. Adil launched the evening and officially opened the event with some customary humour as well as serious points about the importance of the House Competition and enjoying taking a full role in all the opportunities available at HGS. Apache Indian having performed then introduced the House Competition and talked about his AIM Academy. The evening then progressed with performance by Alfred, Galahad, Henry, Nelson and William Houses. There were also performances from the Drama Club and LAMDA students as well as Nachda Sansar and the Bhangra Dancing team. Food and drinks were on sale all evening and there was a fantastic raffle. Godfrey Leung from Alfred was judged to be the winner of the House Competition and was awarded a special prize along with some extra House Points to sit alongside the House Points all the students were awarded for taking part. Apache Indian and the AIM Academy then brought the evening to a close in fitting style.
A huge thank you to everyone who made the event possible and for making it such a fantastic celebration of the arts at HGS.
Handsworth Grammar School held its annual Remembrance Assembly in Big School on Friday 11th November 2016. We were delighted to welcome a number of Governors and Old Boys to School to mark the occasion and share in this significant and important annual event. Father Bob Stephen led the act of Remembrance and Mr James McAvan delivered a very thought provoking address which drew upon his recent experience serving in conflict zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Senior Prefect team of Josef Feiven, Felicia Akanbi, Tukeer Hussain, Anisa Farooq and Seth Griffiths all took an active part in the Assembly by reading poems and reflections whilst Josef also laid a wreath at the stained glass window with Mr James McAvan the President of the Bridge Trust Society. Josef Feiven also played the Last Post and Reveille to great effect which helped make this 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 rest of school observed the occasion in their Form assemblies.
