Everyone here at KEVI HGS would like to congratulate Lucas Daniels (8N) for his successful recent signing by Coventry City FC Academy.
We all wish him the best of luck with his journey at Coventry City FC Academy and his football career moving forward.
As our Shakespeare season draws to an end, we have had a fantastic final of all of the year group winners who performed speeches from a range of the Bard’s plays.
The recitals were judged by a “celebrity” panel, made up of Mr Kafai, Mrs Harvey and Ms Cutler.
The scores were Ayaan Badre (10 W), 22
Mikaeil Syed (7N), 25
David Daniel (9A), 26
Shrey Kapoor (12 PSK) 27
Oliver Green (12JHI), 29
Sami Khan (8G), 30
Michael white (11W), 30.
So, our joint “Strictly Talk Shakespeare” winners are Sami Khan and Michael White.
African and Caribbean Society Conference – King Edward’s School, 23rd March, 2024
We started the day with a warm welcome for our hosts and a talk about the gist of the conference. We listened to an opening talk where the hosts talked about their experiences of being part of an Afro-Caribbean heritage themselves. We were asked to describe ourselves in three words: our past selves, present selves, and what we wished our future selves to be like. We were given the opportunity to express ourselves freely to everyone (I for one expressed myself that’s for sure).
Following the introduction, we listened to the first guest speaker; Mr. Wade Lyn. He was an ambitious person; the first black High Sheriff of the West Midlands – an honorary role! Although, before this, I hadn’t the slightest clue that that role existed! He was truly inspirational nonetheless and proved to us that despite our age, or where we come from “opportunity can come at any time.” (Those were his exact words just so you know). After that, we had group discussions between the audience and the hosts. After that, another guest speaker, Dr Pogus Caesar spoke to us about his extraordinary career as a conceptualist artist. He had many awards and many of his works were put in prestigious galleries and museums. He taught us that even from a tough background where people may not believe in your dreams, you can make them work.
Next, we had a networking task, and this was remarkably interesting (to me at least). We were given target subjects we discussed with people we didn’t know before. We talked about topics such as code-switching, micro-aggressions, and culture. This allowed us to engage with others to see their sides of their stories and their differences.
This was followed by a panel discussion with five panelists: Hannah Joseph, Sophia Bréchon-Smith, Stuart Lawrence, Celia Fraser, and Garry Stewart. We were allowed to ask them questions about their experiences, being part of an Afro-Caribbean heritage themselves. All the panelists were truly influential and gave us extensive replies to all our questions. However, the clear favorites of most people asking questions were Celia Fraser and Stuart Lawrence. Celia Fraser taught us that if things don’t necessarily go your way, you can still be successful. Stewart Lawrence also taught us many things, such as being open-minded but not blind-sighted by negative things, listening to others’ ideas as you will learn something new, and bringing out the best of yourself no matter the circumstances. All the other panelists taught everyone different things, and anything could be learned from their thriving life stories and ambitions toward their goals.
To conclude the ACS Conference was candidly an impactful event which helped show the beauty of Afro-Caribbean cultures and how following your dreams and aspirations will take you a long way.
Daniel Alloh, 10N
On Monday 26th February 2024, twenty Year 10 students embarked on a visit to the annual GCSE Science Live, an enriching presentation orchestrated by expert scientists with the intention of inspiring students to fulfil their potential. We arrived at Symphony Hall in the heart of Birmingham at 10 am sharp and were guided into the magnificent hall which housed over 2000 student coming from schools all over the country to hear these extraordinary scientists. After being provided with booklets which contained everything there was to know about the program, the show began with renowned biologist Professor Robert Winston, a man who was a part of the team involved with the invention of IVF in humans. He enlightened us all with his expertise in reproductive physiology and by the end of his performance, we were enriched with knowledge that could only be sourced from the best of the best. It was an amazing thing to hear from a person whose profession revolved around the very thing we study!
Next up was Dr Anna Ploszajski, an award-winning materials scientist and author of the popular Science book ‘Handmade’. Her talk was all about the amount of Science gone into the production of each and every man-made object in order to make it as suited to its function as possible. She told us her story about swimming the English Channel and made sure to explain all the Science behind her preparation to get through this astonishing feat. In addition, she gave us a memorable quote that helped her throughout her impressive journey – “The greatest view comes after the greatest climb”. This taught us specifically that when we try our free hardest, we will achieve the greatest outcome. After we finished listening, we were given a 15-minute break where we could have a walk around and purchase any snacks or drinks.
After the break, we were greeted by Dr Hannah Critchlow, an expert in Science communication and a scientist named one of Cambridge University’s inspirational and successful women in Science. Her knowledge-rich talk told us all about the human brain and delved us deep into the world of neuroscience, the fascinating study of the brain. I had the opportunity to ask her a question and impressively it stumped her! She was highly educated nonetheless and taught us effective ways to increase brain activity.
Following on, we had our long-awaited lunch and enjoyed some hearty meals before returning to the hall where we were met by theoretical physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of many famed Science documentaries and host of a weekly BBC Radio 4 program. He gave us an insight into theoretical physics and introduced us to the possibility of real time travel using the speed of light, a puzzling but enticing topic. It was here our knowledge of anything beyond Earth was boosted and it was a very enjoyable presentation.
Lastly, we were paid a visit by Chief Examiner Stewart Chenery, a man who informed us of all the do’s and don’ts of exams and taught us all about command words in test papers and how to structure exam answers. He also covered how the Sciences are tested and introduced us to some very essential revision techniques. This was really useful as we have all now been taught on how to approach our exams question by Chief Examiner himself! Soon after this, our day of learning came to an end as we all made our ways home feeling dejected that it was over but blessed that we had experienced this absolute gift of a program. It allowed us to explore new areas of Science that were previously unknown to us and gave us the opportunity to truly see the beauty of Science and how it shapes our world
Written by Adnan Wais (10G) and Daniel Alloh (10N)
Well-done to Arijus Ahmadian (9G), who was awarded with a fantastic opportunity to represent Birmingham City Football Club Academy in a Premier League Tournament at St George’s Park. This is the English Football Association’s national football centre, built on a 330-acre site at Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The site boasts no less than 14 elite outdoor pitches, including an exact replica of the Wembley surface, a full-sized Indoor 3G and a futsal arena. The tournament provided Arijus with invaluable experience, playing in a competition against some prestigious Premier League Football Academies and he was also given some expert training advice from the attending Premier League coaches.
We have recently received the following FFT Attendance Awards for 2023/2024 Autumn Term:
As part of the Enrichment Day activities on Thursday 22nd February, Year 9 visited Shrewsbury Prison, no longer a functioning prison but now a tourist attraction. Rajan writes:
Shrewsbury prison was originally opened by Thomas Telford in 1793, and the present prison building was built in 1877. They originally took prisoners of both genders but it became male only in 1922. The prison was home to many executions, many of which used to be carried out in public. The last public execution was John Mapp in 1868 and the last execution was that of George Riley in 1961. The prison was decommissioned in 2013.
Our visit was split into two parts:
Before lunch, we were given a tour of the prison. We were shown around the many wings and cells, where we were shown how the treatment of prisoners evolved over time, and groups of five of us were locked into cells together. My favourite part of the tour was the execution room. We learned about the history of the many hangings that took place in that very room. A fascinating fact I learned was that in order for the perfect hanging, the rope must typically be 3ft long, but the exact length was determined by the weight of the prisoner. Any longer and the head would rip off, and if it was shorter, the condemned would strangle to death.
After lunch we were given a challenge. We had a booklet full of questions and a map. We had to use the map to navigate around the prison and find the answers to these questions. Most teams managed to find the answers to almost every question.
I really enjoyed the trip; it was both fun and interesting and I learned a lot.
Kaiden Hitchins in 9A had an extraordinary weekend recently at the Worcester Swimming Championships.
He set a British record in his age group for the 200m Breaststroke; won 14 (fourteen) gold medals in a variety of events in different strokes and at different distances, as well as winning 2 silver medals.
He was also the all age 200m Individual Medley champion, a feat he repeated at 400m and the 200m Breaststroke, as well as winning a bronze medal in the 1500, Freestyle!
Well done to Kaiden on his remarkable achievements.
As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, our Year 12 and 10 students worked with Kooth to produce this video to promote good mental health as part of their Legacy Project!! We’re really proud of their work!
