This year HGS secured 24 certificates in the recent Senior Maths Challenge – a great achievement. Jovan Sandhu and Safran Hossain secured Gold certificates and have each won a place on the Senior Kangaroo Challenge. 4 Silver certificates and 18 Bronze certificates were also awarded to HGS students. Congratulations!
The Secretary of State for Education The Rt Hon Justine Greening MP visited HGS where she met with the Senior Leadership Team, the Senior Prefect Team and had a tour of the campus. She called in on a Maths, Physics, RS and MFL lesson where she chatted with students and staff. It was a whirlwind visit but an extremely positive and open one where we had the chance to discuss key issues such as funding, admissions, pupil premium, closing the gap and the expansion of existing Grammar Schools. We all very much enjoyed meeting her and her team and it was great to be able to demonstrate that HGS is in and of its community as well as very much a force for social mobility and certainly not a bastion of the white middle class!
Justine Greening tweeted: “Thanks @HandsworthGS for the warm welcome and for great discussions with students and the senior leadership team”.
Dan Brown from the Secretary of States office wrote to Mr Bird: “The Secretary of State very much enjoyed the visit and speaking with you, your staff and students and for the tour of the school. For her first visit to a Grammar School whilst in post it will certainly be one to remember.”
Another superb win for our Year 7 Football Team. The Year 7 Football Team won the ‘Futsal tournament’ held at the Futsal Arena on Thursday 17th November. They played 6 games winning 5 and drawing 1. In total they scored 14 goals and conceded 1. Robert Callaghan made some great saves to keep the goals conceded to a minimum. Goal scorers: Rahim Ali 6, Robben Brickliffe 4, Zakir Islam 3 and Callum Mughal 1.
Yr 7 beat Holte 9-1 in the second round of the Aston Schools cup. After a tight first half which ended with us leading 2-1 we started the second half with a quick goal from the centre kick which was scored by Ty Barnett shooting from behind the half way line! After that goal we really started to get into a rhythm and the goals started coming. Goals scored- Arjun Toor 4, Ty Barnett 3, Rahim Ali 1 and Zakir Islam 1. This takes our tally from 4 games to 33 goals scored and 7 conceded.
Mr Griffiths
It is with great pleasure that we can announce that our Catering Manager Mrs Colette Law, has been shortlisted for the category of the Peter Blakemore Award at a national catering award ceremony that is due to take place in the East Midlands Conference Centre on the 1st December 2016.
The Peter Blakemore Award recognises the commitment given by an individual to their workplace and someone who is recognised as an important asset to the business.
We recognise her wonderful achievement in getting through to the final three in this prestigious category and wish her all the best for the big night.
The Lord Mayors Mega Quiz 2016 took place on Thursday 3rd November in the Great Hall, University of Birmingham.
This year, the event was hosted by BBC Midlands Today’s very own Sarah Falkland who was acting as quiz master.
HGS entered both a year 12 team and a year 13 team and there were 10 rounds of tough quiz questions, designed to challenge the very brightest students in the city.
Forty teams took part which was a record number, and our year 13 team finished a very creditable 16th.
Yr 7 are the ‘Aston, Erdington and Saltley Schools 5 a side Champions’ after beating John Wilmott in the final 2-0. Getting to the final involved five games, HGS scored 9 goals and conceded 3. Arjun Toor, Rahim Ali and Mohit Maphray all scored. Robert Callaghan made some great saves and even saved a penalty in the Semi finals! The winners were awarded a trophy and each squad member received a medal. Squad: Arjun Toor 7A (C), Rahim Ali 7A, Robert Callaghan 7N, Mohit Naphray 7N, Zakir Islam 7G, Robben Brickliffe 7W, Callum Mughal 7W and Saqib Nazakat 7N.
Our Winter Concert will be held on Thursday 15th December, 2016 6:00 pm at Ladywood ARC, St. John’s and St Peter’s Church, Darnley Road, B16 8TF.
Tickets are available from the Finance Office and cost £4 per adult and £2 per child.
All welcome!
At about 10am local time we landed at Berlin Tegel Airport. After collecting our suitcases, we boarded a coach which then took us to our base for the next four days, the Acama Hotel. We left our luggage in the hotel and made our way to Potsdamer Platz where we bought food and shopped for a while. After this, we went on a walking tour to see some of the main attractions in Berlin. We had a tour guide called Sonya providing information on the way. Sights included the first ever traffic lights (erected in 1924), The Brandenburg Gate and The Memorial to the Murdered Jews. We then made our way to the River Spree for a cruise through the city which lasted about an hour. After the cruise, we walked backed to the hotel via Checkpoint Charlie. My first day in Berlin was amazing but tiring as we did a lot of walking and we had had to meet at Birmingham Airport at 4.30 in the morning!
On the second day, we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Deutsches Historisches Museum and the DDR museum. The German History Museum was really cool and they sold a lot of amazing souvenirs. After visiting this museum we went to Alexanderplatz where we ate our packed lunches and shopped if we wanted to. The DDR Museum recreated what life was like living in the Cold War German Democratic Republic and displays included cars, music and household rooms. Most popular was a driving game in an old Trabant car in which the steering wheel and pedals actually worked. Overall, however, the second day was more educational than fun. Although there was a lot of walking again, we also used the U-bahn underground train.
On the third day, we began with a short walk to the Deutsches Technikmuseum. This was really interesting as it exhibits a large collection of historical technical artefacts including a lot of planes, trains, cars and bikes. There were also many interactive exhibits in the Spectrum Science Centre which is part of the Museum. We then went to the Topographie des Terrors Exhibition and Documentation Centre which had been the site of the Nazi SS and Gestapo Headquarters and now a long section of the Berlin Wall remains there. Following this, we headed to the Story of Berlin Museum which was really interesting as it included a tour of an underground nuclear bunker. Close by on Kurfurstendamm are the remains of the bombed Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church. From there, we walked to a restaurant called Route 66 which was an American-styled Diner. The food we ordered was delicious! After eating, we made our way to Strike Lanes Lounge Bowling near Alexanderplatz. I played okay finishing in 3rd place in both games.
The fourth and final day was great for people who adore sports. This is because we went to the Olympic Stadium in Germany. There were a lot of good souvenirs but I didn’t get any as they were quite pricey. After this, we made our way to Alexanderplatz again where we had free time to eat and do some final souvenir shopping. The coach then met us to take us back to the airport for our flight home.
Overall, our trip to Berlin was exceptional. I cannot wait to go on another trip like this in Year 9. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to everyone I know. On behalf of the 39 students (in Years 8 and 9) that went, I would like to thank the teachers (Miss Hartill, Mr Jones, Mrs Minhas and Mr Campbell) who made this journey possible.
Mahdi Chowdhury, Year 8
