Berlin Trip 21-24 October 2016
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
11N table-tennis tournament
After the inaugural tournament last year, 11 Nelson were keen to compete again to show how much they had improved. 24 students thus entered (plus Mr Jones and Mr McCarron who were both dumped out unceremoniously in Round 1 – hard-working teachers do not have much time to practise, I guess!) Ibrahim beat Josh in a close third place play-off and Shoaib dominated in the final to see off Elias 21-12.
Mr Jones
Liverpool Trip
On Tuesday 27th September, 18 A Level History students travelled up to Liverpool to visit the International Slavery Museum to explore and understand the wider context of historical and contemporary slavery across the world. To do this we looked at four different exhibitions.
The first of these was an exhibition on life in West Africa and allowed us to explore the story and culture of Africa and its people, who are central to the story of the transatlantic slave trade. The next exhibition we looked at was the Enslavement and the Middle Passage gallery. It was here that some of the brutality and trauma inflicted upon enslaved Africans was revealed along with the oppression they faced throughout their lives on the plantations they lived and worked on. The exhibition on Modern Slavery in India was perhaps the most shocking for us because to think that slavery still happens in a world, which we consider very liberal, is extremely repugnant. The final exhibition we explored was the Legacy gallery, which showed us the continuing fight for freedom and equality, as well as the contemporary impact of transatlantic slavery, racism and discrimination.
After lunch we participated in an artefact handling session, in which we looked at their importance in understanding the issues of the slave trade and the underlying story they can tell.
Overall it was a worthwhile day that gave us a much deeper understanding of our three thematic units; The Gilded Age, The New Deal and Malcom X and the Black Power Movement that we are studying this year.
Josef Feiven
Football Update
Our Year 7 and Year 8 Football teams have enjoyed a very successful start to the League and Cup season. Year 7 beat Aston Manor 9 – 3 in their first League game. They beat Perry Beeches 2 12 – 0 in the first round of the Aston Cup. Ty Barnett and Arjun Toor are our top scores so far with 11 goals to Ty and 7 to Arjun! Year 8 beat King Edward’s Aston 5 – 4 in the Aston Cup recently.
Congratulations to both teams and managers/coaches.
DofE Expedition
Congratulations to the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award groups who completed their expedition this weekend walking through the Lickey Hills and Clent Hills. Everyone made it back safely and passed the expedition section of the DofE Award. They all worked incredibly hard carrying 2 days’ worth of provisions, clothes, tents and cooking equipment in large and heavy rucksacks, using map and compass to navigate and arrive at checkpoints on time. The organising team were impressed with everyone’s determination from coping with the downpours of rain to eating the meals that the students cooked!
Well done to:
Ruhan Ahmed, Harjot Dosanjh, Usmon Razaq, Hassan Raziq, Uzayr Usmani.
Ibrahim Choudhury, Ibrahim Gulzar, Suhaib Hamad, Ibrahim Kabir, Ismaeel Mir, Rajveer Poonian.
Bilal Akram, Amaan Dad, Hamid Kazi, Nasim Miah.
HGS Awarded National Music Mark
Handsworth Grammar School has been awarded the Music Mark which is a national subject association for Music education.
HGS has been recognised in the following areas:
- Evidence of a willingness to engage in a development conversation related to improving Music provision.
- Recognition of the value of Music education as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
- A strategy for Music in place, which provides for all children.
Music Mark will now aim to support HGS to:
- Advocate for the role of Music in and beyond the curriculum.
- Support HGS in the delivery of high-quality Music teaching.
- Connect HGS with the wider Music education sector.
- Provide access to resources and research.
Envision Update
Building on the success of the ‘Envision Community-Apprentice Programme’ that our students enjoyed over the past three years, we are pleased to continue working with Envision to offer our students the opportunity to give something back to the community through project-based activities.
This is an exclusive programme involving Sixth Form students from select schools in Birmingham, London and Bristol only. The students work together with local volunteers, schools, businesses and charities to provide a practical learning experience. This will enable the students to develop the necessary life-long skills needed to succeed both at work and private life. In return, the students invest their time in developing projects guided by their assigned business mentors, which give back to the community. For more information about Envision, please visit their website at www.envision.org.uk
As part of the programme, Envision have linked each school with a local business to provide mentoring opportunities by their trained professionals in order to help students develop key employability skills. We are pleased to announce that, for the fourth year running, our school has been partnered with Interserve, a multi-billion pound corporation and one of the world’ foremost support services and construction companies. On conclusion of the programme, the Interserve mentors will write a ‘Competency Reference’ letter for each student in order to showcase the skills they developed during the course of the programme. Students can then take this document with them to future job or university interviews. To learn more about their work, please visit their website at www.interserve.com
As part of the programme, students will attend a number of workshops and competitions at various locations across Birmingham city. Details about these events will be forthcoming from Envision in the near future, which I will communicate to you in order to seek the necessary consent for your child to participate in all planned activities.
Mr F Ahmed
Sixth Form Enrichment Day
Year 12 and 13 students were treated to a wide range of speakers and experiences during the first Enrichment day of this academic year. They responded superbly to the guest presenters who were working with them throughout the day.
Year 12 students had a presentation from Revolution Hive, a company founded by ex HGS student Keshav Bhatt, where they were challenged in their views about girls and women in society. Another ex-student Tom Stroud, currently studying Civil Engineering at university and working for Morgan Sindall the engineering company, talked about his work on the Crossrail project in London.
Zoe Boon from the global accountancy firm EY, spoke to the students about EY’s school leavers programme and David Pearson from Liberty Industries talked about opportunities within the manufacturing sector. Mrs Chandan and Mr Dhillow worked with Year 12 students on “Marriage and Relationships”. This was an excellent part of the programme and was very well received by the students.
Alison Clarke from the University of Dundee spoke to the students about studying in Scotland and then the students were set off to investigate the history of Birmingham, on a local treasure hunt.
Year 13 students heard from Deb Amory from Student Finance England, about the student loans process. Dr Liese Perrin from the University of Warwick spoke about her career and the need to build up appropriate experiences to assist in your career decision-making. Beth Crossfield and ex HGS student, and last year’s Deputy Head Girl, Jardel Robinson-Hylton, spoke about City Year West Midlands, a gap year programme which is based in local primary and secondary schools.
David Moyle from the University of Aberystwyth spoke about studying in Wales and there was significant work carried out by students under the direction of Mr Duck and Mr Woodcock on this year’s university application process.
Year 13 students spent the afternoon on practical activities ranging from cooking on a budget, car maintenance, jewellery making, Rock climbing, and Yoga.
It was a very successful and positive day for all involved.
Mr Conway
