We are delighted to announce the following appointments for next academic year:
Head Boy: Leopold Johnson
Head Girl: Hawwah Ra’ana Ishaq
Deputy Head Boy: Gurdeep Mall
Deputy Head Girl: Rima Legah
Chair of School Council: William Bonner
We wish all Prefects well for next academic year. Congratulations!
Last weekend Jordan Ricketts of 7 William participated in the Under 13 Mixed Relay team for Birchfield Harriers. They came fourth out of eight teams taking part on the day – a great achievement. Jordan also acted as a Kit Carrier and Results Runner over the weekend which enabled him to work with and meet many famous athletes like Tiffany Porter, Martyn Rooney, Adam Gemili, Paula Radcliffe, Darren Campbell and Colin Jackson.
The Religious Studies department would like to thank the Gurdwara served by the Nishkam Sewak Jatha on the Soho Road for their kind hospitality during the visit of our Year 7 students. All of the students visited the Gurdwara over 3 days and listened carefully as a volunteer from the community spoke to them in detail about Sikh faith and the importance of Sewa. The boys had a tour of the place of worship and many were fascinated by the prayer hall in the dome at the top of the building, which gives amazing views over the city.
Eight of our finest musicians went head-to-head on Friday 20th June in our Young Musician of the Year Competition. The judges were Mrs Miles (English teacher), Mrs Vaughan (Music teacher) and Mr Matharu (Birmingham Music Service).
The performers covered a wide range of different styles – from Miles Davies to Chopin’s well-known ‘raindrop prelude’ and Latin-American infused guitar pieces to complex Indian Classical rhythms. In total there were three pianists, two classical guitarists, one violist, one saxophonist and one tabla player. The judges were faced with eight very competent and worthy contenders, but there can only be two winners. After much deliberation the judges decided to crown Hamza Chaudhary Young Musician of the Year 2014 and Sahibpreet Bhamra Most Promising Young Musician 2014.
Congratulations to them both as well as all the other performers – it was a splendid occasion.
We are delighted that the following Year 9 Students; Max Henry, Ibrahim Hussain & Robert Frater (Team Seemakhawk) – have been shortlisted for this year’s National Microsoft Kodu Kup finals for their design and development of the game “Kodu Eruption”. The Dragons Den style finals will be take place on the 17th July at Microsoft HQ in Reading.
Please see the following links for more detail.
President Obama Endorsing Microsoft Kodu
Stuart Ball from Microsoft said:
“Congratulations on making it to the 12 finalists. To give you a sense of the scale of your achievement, 380,000 students have been using Kodu in the UK this year . The quality of the 160 games that were entered was outstanding and your games were voted the best by our judging panel.
But making the game was just the start. You now have the Kodu Kup UK 2014 final to compete in.”
A reminder that the deadline for applications for the 11+ Exam for entry in September 2015 is 4 pm on 11th July 2014. The 11+ test date is 6th September 2014. Please click here for more details or visit the Grammar Schools in Birmingham website at www.birminghamgrammarschools.org
Applications can be done online or a hard copy of the application form and brochure can be collected from our Reception.
Over the past week, all of Year 8 went on a trip to Soho House. This was an educational visit in History to link with our study topic of the Industrial Revolution. The house (which was owned by Matthew Boulton) was a huge white house with crystal like gravel covering the floor.
We were split into two groups, one went into the house and the other group stayed and were educated on how Matthew Boulton changed the world and can be considered as one of the entrepreneurs that played a major part in starting the Industrial Revolution. Our guide had us dressing up as important figures from the time such as Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch. We were taught how Birmingham and the Black Country can be considered the centre of the Industrial Revolution in this country. We toured Soho House and it was filled with many interesting things that were Matthew Boulton’s personal items, such as the original dining table for the famous Lunar Society. The house was decorated and set out exactly as it would have been when the Boulton’s lived there and gave us a real insight to what life would have been like there during the 18th century. We even went down into the cellar which was dark and spooky!
The lesson and tour were excellent and very interesting and helped us to see the importance of our local area when studying the Industrial Revolution.
Balkaar Bhopal and Taran Badhan, 8G
Members of the Year 7, 8 and 9 Cricket teams enjoyed a rewards trip to watch the last ODI series match between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston Cricket ground. The day was a great success and the boys were a real credit to the school. The only downside (depending on your loyalty) was that England lost which meant they lost the overall series 3-2.
Ken Morris received the OBE in the recently published Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Mr Morris is the Headteacher of Hamstead Hall School and received his award for services to education and community cohesion in Birmingham. Congratulations on a wonderful achievement.
Next year’s GCSE PE group helped to officiate at the Handsworth Association of Schools Primary Athletics meeting held recently at Alexandria Stadium. Our students worked in pairs setting up and running the 4 long jump and 4 foam javelin throwing areas for all of the 10 Primary Schools taking part. The day was a great success and our students were complimented by the Primary staff as well as the Event Organiser who asked if we would help with future events.
