HGS celebrates continued improvement in academic achievement and attainment

The Department for Education has just published the annual RAISEonline Report for 2013 which gives Handsworth Grammar School much cause for celebration.
Some headline figures include:
This is our highest ever best 8 GCSE’s score and is well above national scores – average points score of 407 (national score is 338).
This is our highest ever Value added score of 1020.
HGS is now in the top 18% of schools nationally (up from 26% in 2012).

We will not rest on our laurels though and continue to strive for improvement but this is a great testament to the hard work of our Staff and Students.

University of Birmingham Lecture

On the 25th of November we visited University of Birmingham for an evening lecture presented by Professor Robin May. His lecture was entitled “Pathogens and Disease” which gave us an insight into how our adaptive and innate immune system work to protect us. We learned how only 13% of our bacteria gets passed on when we shake hands and only 17% is shared between our left and right hand. He explained to us how impressive certain parasites are at adapting themselves in order to survive; toxoplasma is the biggest mind manipulating pathogen that lives inside rats. The parasite needs to get from the rat into a cat and it does this by manipulating the rats’ brain so that the rat hangs around the cats faeces. This increases the chances of the rat being eaten by a cat. Professor Robin May led a passionate lecture and involved all the students by throwing questions to the floor. We enjoyed the experience and this gave us an understanding of how university lectures are.

Tirhas Fetwi (13B) & Mariyam Mustafa (13N)

Bangor University Music Department and HGS

On Friday 15th November we attended a Music Day at Solihull Sixth Form College, but led by the University of Bangor Music Department. The four workshops were delivered by various academics from the University and gave greater insight into the music we are currently studying at both AS and A2-level. Jack Harris bravely performed the “Moonlight Sonata” in front of all those in attendance and was warmly praised by Dr. Andrew Woolley who was leading the session and who is responsible for performance at the University. We hope to that this will become an annual event for the Music Department of HGS.

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Aston Villa Stars visit HGS

Darren Byfield (Aston Villa, Jamaica and Player/Coach at Tamworth) and Ruben Hazell (Aston Villa) visited Handsworth Grammar School recently and gave a presentation to Year 10 Assembly. They also visited the Computing and Multi Media department as they will be helping with the IT World Cup Competition. The visit was organised by Mr King to help inspire and motivate our Students and was a great success. In their presentation Darren and Ruben focussed upon the key Learning Habits of resilience, perseverance and developing transferrable skills. They were able to draw upon their own life experiences to illustrate their points. We are very grateful for their time and support.

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Autumn 2013 Guitar Results

Sankavan Sukanthan – Grade 2 Merit
Samuel Lau – Grade 2 Pass
Brandon Masih – Grade 3 Merit
Atul Verma – Grade 3 Merit
Arrandeep Bola – Grade 3 Merit
Pip Turner – Grade 5 Pass
Hamza Chaudary – Grade 7 Merit

English Trip to The Hunger Games

Friday 22nd November saw 55 HGS students – a mixed group comprising Year 8 with Year 12 acting as stewards – attend a special screening of the new Hunger Games film at Birmingham’s Electric Cinema. As Year 8 study Dystopia at some point during the year, this seemed a good opportunity to consolidate their understanding – and enjoy a day out at the cinema.

HGS has a history of organised screenings at the Electric Cinema: manager Sam Bishop says that we are always welcome as the students are so well behaved and courteous to staff and to each other, so it was easy to quickly arrange a private screening for a large group. Competition for places was fierce and some students were, justifiably, disappointed that they did not qualify for a place. Those who did get a place had a really enjoyable time, especially Year 12 who took advantage of the leather sofas and seats and the pretzels and sweeties at the bar. The accompanying staff certainly seized the opportunity for coffee and cake.

Here’s to the final instalment of the trilogy next year….and may the odds be ever in our favour.

Mega Quiz 2013

Sixth Form Students from HGS recently took part in The Lord Mayor’s Mega Quiz, held at the University of Birmingham.

The quiz was hosted by Mark “The Beast” Labett from ITV’s popular quiz show “The Chase”.

Our Students did very well and we entered both a Year 12 and a Year 13 team. This was a terrific experience for our Students and gave them an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Mega Quiz

Birmingham Christmas Shelter

We recently donated some money to Birmingham Christmas Shelter following fundraising events surrounding our recent non-uniform day. Please see the letter below for more details.

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Year 7 & 8 Rugby Festival

The year 7 & 8 Rugby Union team had their first taste of competitive fixtures this past week in a very well attended festival held at Aston Old Edwardians Rugby Football Club. The day started off with students, from a number of schools, being coached by the regional RFU coaches in a number of key areas of the game, for instance, scrums and tackling. The second half of the day students play ten a-side matches against other schools. In what would be for most their first ever match, the Handsworth Grammar team played with passion and perseverance. The first match started off with the opponents scoring two early tries before the Handsworth team even had a chance to settle in. Once the initial nerves were out the way the year 7 & 8 combined team began playing good rugby and it was the forwards who started the momentum shift, winning opposition scrums and being the first to the break down. The hard work of the forwards gave the backs a brilliant platform to launch their attacks and soon scrum half Will Smith made a fantastic premeditated pass out to winger Adan George who sprinted past the defence and scored. Unfortunately, soon after the full time whistle had gone and the year 7 & 8 team lost their opener 2 tries to 1. In their following matches the Handsworth team continued to improve game on game and after a few substitutions and positional changes from Mr Rupal & Mr Nicholls, the team had the makings of a winning formula. All the players who played on the day were a fantastic credit to the school and all were urged by members of the RFU coaching staff and other rugby players to continue playing inside and outside of school. If anyone who would like to play rugby for the school or at a local club or just learn how to play a new sport (no matter what level of experience you have) are urged to speak to Mr Nicholls or Mr Rupal.

Yr7and8Rubgy

Top (from Left to Right): Mr Nicholls, Adan George, Oliver Timothy, Will Smith, Reuel Davis-Watts, Ivan Stanjanovic, Harjanpreet Bhopal, Camara Talbert, Harry Simpson

Bottom (from Left to Right): Hassan Raza, Nadeem Zaman, Kishan Gill, Max Jevons, Prumjot Soor, Sharyar Muhammed, Justin Fletcher

Christmas Lunch

The Christmas lunch will be held on Tuesday 10th December 2013.

 

Roast Turkey
or
Roast Beef
or
Nut Roast or Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Baton Carrots
Brussels Sprouts
Peas

Creamed Potatoes
Roast Potatoes
Stuffing Ball
Sausage wrapped in bacon

Complete Special Offer Christmas Lunch Price of £3.75
Or £4.25 with a pudding

Christmas Pudding and Custard Sauce
Trifle
Gateaux

Please pay and order via the cashless system at any till by Friday 6th December 2013.

Please can free meal ticket users also order at any till Friday 6th December 2013.

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