On March 17th 2016, twenty-one Year 12 students who participate in Envision went to meet their mentors from Interserve at their, currently under construction, £100 million Headquarters near Birmingham International Airport. The aim of the session was for individual students to engage in one-to-one discussions with their mentors about their learning journey while working on their team project. In particular, they focused on the challenges they faced both individually and as part of the team. More importantly, the discussions centred on the skills they used to resolve their issues. The mentors used this opportunity to record the students’ experiences and produced a personalised ‘Competency Reference’ for each student, which they can take with them to future potential employers.

The students were housed in connected mobile rooms at the construction site. The aim of this was to give the students a real-life insight into what real-world construction projects look like at ‘site zero’ and what their project planning and meeting rooms on site look like. Interserve staff were very keen on allowing the students to immerse themselves in the experience and develop their skills further.

The success of this evening was, in no small part, down to the efforts of the staff from Envision, Interserve and HGS who collaborated and created an invaluable experience for all the students involved.

Mr Ahmed

Please note that the school will be moving over to Schoolcomms/School Gateway for lunch money payments from Monday 6^th June. To facilitate this, our current system for lunch money payments; ParentPay; will be disconnected on Thursday 26^th May. Please ensure that your son/daughter has enough money in their account to last them the rest of the week. Please note that all money that has been transferred via ParentPay will also be available on Schoolcomms.

From Monday 6^th June you will be able to manage your child’s account using the School Gateway App to view the account balance and make payments when necessary. Over the next few months, we will also begin to take payments for trips and other activities through the School Gateway app.

The School Gateway and App will greatly improve our School/Home communications providing you with current and up-to-date information regarding your child. The system is updated twice daily and provides you access to your child’s school record including reports, behaviour and achievement points, timetables and so on.

Over the next year, we will be taking an eco-friendlier approach with School/Home communication, so letters and reports will be sent to you electronically via Schoolcomms and e-mail rather than via your child or through the post. This will also ensure that communication gets to you directly and promptly.

If you have not signed up to the School Gateway yet, you can do so by using the following instructions:

The free app for your phone can be downloaded by following these instructions:

The set-up process is simple and will take no more than a couple of minutes:

1. Search for “School Gateway” in the Apple App Store/Google Play or on your phone go to www.schoolgateway.com/apple (Apple) or www.schoolgateway.com/android (Android).
2. Install the app and if you are asked then say yes to “Allow Push Notifications”.
3. When you launch School Gateway for the first time, please select ‘New User’ and enter the email address and mobile telephone number you have registered with the School.
4. The system will send you a PIN code to your phone; please enter this PIN code and the app will be activated for you. As soon as you have got the system set up, all of the text messages we send you will appear in the app; you will receive notifications/alerts as normal.

Also, you can sign up through the website by doing the following:

1. Go to www.schoolgateway.com
2. When you visit the School Gateway website for the first time, please select ‘New User’ and enter your email address and mobile telephone number you have registered with the School.
3. The system will send you a PIN code to your phone; please enter this PIN code and your account will be activated for you.

If you are unable to register your account, please confirm your email address and mobile number with us by emailing schoolcomms@handsworth.bham.sch.uk with your child’s name and form,  and your name, email address and mobile telephone number.

Congratulations to 2 previous students, Jordan Foley and Mohammed Shafqat who were presented with their DofE Gold Awards on Monday 16th May at Buckingham Palace. The certificates were presented by Nick Hewer and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh was there to meet them and offer his congratulations too.

On Parents Evening for Year 7, our parents were invited to come and hear about our comments on our studies and behaviour. It was from 4:30 to 6:30, in Big School and also other parts of the school. Lots of students arrived at the school, to have their parents evening with their subject teacher. I was hoping to have achieved the highest I can in my studies and behaviour.

At Parents Evening, each appointment was 5 minutes. The system worked well, and everyone managed to have the appointments, and discuss the improvements that are needed in order to get a good grade. Also, the teachers advised other resources that will be helpful and help us achieve our target, like Kerboodle and MyMaths.

Overall, I enjoyed the Parents Evening session, because I had good comments about my behaviour and education, and also, my subject teachers gave me help, for improving my work, to get a good result in my end of year exam and help me achieve my target level and mark.

My parents were happy with my comments and my achievements for each subject. I and my parents would like to thank my subject teachers we met, for helping me in my lessons and thanks for trying your hardest to make me improve my work.

Gowshikan Gajadevan

7 Alfred

Congratulations to our two outstanding Young Musicians of the Year 2016. They have both been awarded trophies for their successful performances in the annual competition. Joe Feiven was named ‘Young Musician of the Year 2016′ and Godfrey Leung was named ‘Most Promising Young Musician of the Year 2016′.