Our Year 8 Cricket squad recently supported the Handsworth Association of Schools Primary Cricket Festival which was held at the Wood Lane playing fields. Eight different Primary Schools took part in the event and our Young Leaders helped run all the different matches which saw Cherry Orchard go through to the Birmingham Finals. Our Young Leaders received much praise from the Primary School staff and the Handsworth Association Managers. Well done!
Handsworth Grammar School will be embarking upon a new and exciting development next academic year, working in partnership with the University of Birmingham to provide placement opportunities for PGDipED(QTS) students at the University.
This means that trainee teachers will work alongside experienced mentors at HGS, receiving support and guidance while learning how to be successful teachers.
The school has long had links with local universities but this link re-establishes a relationship which has been dormant for a number of years. It gives young trainee teachers the opportunity to learn in the exciting atmosphere of a Birmingham Grammar School, and also provides our staff with ideal opportunities to work alongside trainee teachers thus providing professional development for all.
Initially, trainees will be working in four departments – Maths, Science, Geography and Religious Studies, but the intention is that this number will increase over the next few years.
Last year, seventeen of our students left HGS to study at the University of Birmingham, and we have close links with the University in a number of subject areas.
We look forward to this exciting partnership developing in the future and we are very proud of our relationship and links with the University of Birmingham .
The word of the week commencing 1st June 2015 is: Invigorating.
This means making one feel strong, healthy, and full of energy.
“a brisk, invigorating walk”
The display is produced by the student librarians.
This display can be found in our Library.
On Wednesday May 20th the new Sixth Form Centre was officially opened by Lord Digby Jones, the former Director General of the CBI (Confederation of British Business).
The event was very well attended by governors, guests, parents, old boys and supporters of the project, many of whom had actually contributed financially to the building of the Sixth Form Centre. Also present were representatives of some of the numerous contractors who had designed and built such a fabulous facility.
Headmaster Mr Bird introduced the event and spoke about Handsworth Grammar School being a “vehicle for social mobility” and cited the case of one former pupil whose father had been a cooper (a barrel maker) and whose mother was a cleaner. This particular pupil had done extremely well at HGS many years ago, and had actually won a scholarship to Oxford University. He had gone on to have an extremely successful career, despite very humble beginnings.
Lord Jones spoke about his own humble origins, and how he had risen, through education, to win a Naval scholarship, had had a successful career in the Law, and then became a high profile Director of the CBI and consequently a cross bench peer sitting in the Lords.
He also praised all of those who had contributed to the project and, in a very entertaining speech, wished the school well for the future.
Lord Jones was presented with a framed painting as a memento of the occasion. The painting is by former HGS pupil Reuben Colley, now a successful artist with his own gallery in Colmore Row, Birmingham. This presentation was made by our Head Boy, Leopold Johnson, and Mr Tim Ison, the Director of Reuben Colley Fine Art.
There is now a plaque in the Sixth Form Centre, which will be a permanent reminder of this wonderful occasion.
Mr Conway
In April, a group of Y9 History students visited Birmingham University to take part in History Quest. This event aims to give students an introduction to History and Archaeology at university for those studying it at GCSE. We began with a lecture from an Archaeology professor on the relevance of History to the world around us and how important it is to us in our lives today to understand how people in the past have lived, thought and behaved.
We then took part in a workshop that got us thinking about how to analyse a group of objects that had been ‘excavated’ at an archaeological site. We were asked to draw a picture of the people who made up the family who used these things based on the objects that were found. Some things were quite old-fashioned and hard to identify but others were easy to allocate to a person. Sometimes, it was easy to jump to conclusions and so we had to be careful not to assume that a washing up liquid bottle meant that a woman was part of the family!
Our teacher then asked us to consider if we had everything we needed in order to know all about the family. This led onto a discussion about what type of objects survive in the ground over time and which rot away, making it hard to get a complete picture of life in the past. Often, archaeologists have to cross reference what they have found in one site with finds from another location or, like we did, make assumptions about what the objects were probably used for and who might have used them.
After a campus tour, we did well in the quiz at the end of the day, with one of our teams coming second!
Mrs Hartt and Y9.
Congratulations to our two outstanding Young Musicians of the Year 2015. They have both been awarded trophies for their successful performances in the annual competition. Raj Lawrence was named ‘Young Musician of the Year 2015’ and Balkaar Bhopal was named ‘Most Promising Young Musician of the Year 2015’.
You can hear Raj’s performance here :
You can hear Balkaar’s performance here :
We have raised £1, 300 for Envision and the Nepal Earthquake Appeal. Many thanks to all involved.
Ms Wharton (Head of Geography) has been selected as a member of the GB Team for the Sprint Age Group Triathlon which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland in July. We wish her all the very best as she continues to train hard.
15 Year 10 Biologists recently took part in the Biology Challenge 2015 which is run and organised by the Society of Biology. Our students performed very well indeed and were all commended with Caleb Brown being awarded a Silver Certificate and the following receiving Bronze certificates: Nazakat Muhammad, Maki Mohamed, Hussein Hassan, Robert Frater, Yusuf Ibraheem, Islam Mahidul and Jahed Muhammed Saurov. Congratulations!
The word of the week commencing 4th May 2015 is: Patience.
This means the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.
“you can find bargains if you have the patience to sift through the rubbish”
The display is produced by the student librarians.
This display can be found in our Library.
