“Remember, remember, The fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and plot.
I know no reason Why Gunpowder and Treason
Should ever be forgot.”

No one could collect assorted screws and nails like my father. We’d be working together on a DIY project and my father would be carefully organising and safely keeping screws and nails so that we could reuse them. I’d say, don’t worry Dad, I’ve got a thousand new nails and screws, just take one of those. But he’d say, no son. You keep those for what you need. My father always tried to reuse materials because he hated waste; he hated to think that time was wasted or that he had wasted an opportunity.

I do not think anyone knows who wrote the poem Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot which you may well have heard recited last month, just as you may well have heard or seen fireworks. Hindu families celebrated Diwali, and the festival of lights often includes fireworks but, for some, the weekend nearest to November 5th was an opportunity to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night. The gunpowder plot was a plan by a small group of young Roman Catholic extremists to blow up the House of Lords, together with King James I and the entire Protestant government during the opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605. Roman Catholics at that time were persecuted for their faith, and hoped that the Gunpowder Plot would trigger a change in regime to allow them the freedom to practise their religion. The plot was thwarted, Guy Fawkes was captured and the others in the group fled – including Robert Catesby who returned to Coughton Court, the stately home not too far away in Worcestershire.

But why is it that so many of us remember the poem, Gunpowder Treason and Plot; why is it so familiar to us when we hear it spoken on the radio or on TV at that time of year? Some things seem to stick in our minds without effort whilst others are so hard to commit to memory.

As we know, GCSEs and A levels test our knowledge and understanding in the subjects we have chosen. The approach will vary from subject to subject but every Year 11 and Year 13 student will be studying for assessments that will, when they come, test, whether we can recall and apply what we have learnt through the course, regardless of whether we will continue to use that knowledge in whatever we choose to do next. Also, we will each be finding ways of studying, including committing facts to memory, that work most effectively for us.

I hope that through our education here at HGS, we learn how we learn best, as well as learning which subjects best play to our strengths. Some of us hear material time and again and it sticks in our memory – rather like the gunpowder treason and plot poem; we might devise mnemonics of the kind Roman Men Invented Very Unusual Xray Guns or TV MANS RED PRAM (hopefully those two examples might mean something in a science and languages context). We might find that colourful diagrams of very condensed summaries are helpful and most of us find that drafting essay plans or tackling past questions test whether we can apply our knowledge. The more time that we put into our work, the more we grapple with challenging topics, learn from mistakes and particularly engage with feedback, the better we will grasp the material and develop a secure, lasting understanding. But, occasionally, however hard we try and having tried all the various approaches, it doesn’t seem to stick. What should we do then?

I hope the answer is that we keep going, but seek help and advice – particularly given that we have teachers who have seen student after student succeed. We might well seek those teachers out at the end of a lesson, or at lunchtime or go along to a support session. Hearing pearls of wisdom from a member of staff might sometimes make everything clear or it might well be that they suggest that we try working in a slightly different way – a way that works a bit better for us.

So, as we move towards the end of term and this year, having had our first set of Progress grades, all of us will have an idea, I hope, of where our strengths and weaknesses lie. Many of us are performing really well, others will simply need to work harder and more carefully…but there will be some who are doing their absolute best and the results are not yet coming. If that is you, keep going; don’t give up and do be prepared to try a different approach. Use all the resources at your disposal including the help of your teachers who do of course want you to fulfil your potential and remember that we don’t all work in the same way – but we do need to find the way that works for us.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and others.

Best wishes,

Dr Bird

We are launching our collection for the Trussell Trust Foodbank slightly earlier this year due to the extremely high demand across Birmingham (and indeed across the country) for donations of food due to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on families and their communities. Please give as generously as you can.

Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust Foodbanks provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK and specifically in Birmingham.

Over 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.

Foodbanks feed some 1,200,000 people nationwide. Of those helped, approximately 500,000 are children.

At HGS we can do something to help, if every student in the school brings in just one item we will be able to donate more than a 1,000 items to the Trussell Trust’s FoodBank in Birmingham.

Tins and packets are the best items to donate. Please see the list below for ideas about what to donate.

We will be collecting items as above from Friday 1st December until Thursday 21st December.

Please bring your donations to your Form Tutor or to Dr Bird’s Office.  Please give as generously as you can.

We can make a real difference and be a force for good by working together to help other people who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Thank you.

Make a difference!

DONATE

Our Texas exchange trip began with group video calls between our class and theirs, discussing anything from hobbies to food, politics to education; before we finally got the fantastic opportunity to visit them in Houston, Texas.

We visited so many different places – some of my favourites being the police station (where we got to get in a police car, a tour of the buildings and meet the officers), the rodeo (where they had actual cowboys and carnival rides), Johnson Space Center (where NASA is based and real space rockets), the Gulf of Mexico (where we went on the pier and amusements as well as go on the beach) and the Lone Star Flight Museum (they had flight simulators, planes and even a tour of a military base).

In the school, we attended class with our Texan partners and were treated like celebrities! They kept asking for our autographs, for photos with them and even to get us say phrases in our accents. Alongside this, we played them at soccer, watched their performers in a play and attended their American Football games.

Overall, it was an unforgettable experience and truly one of the best weeks of my life – a big thanks to all the teachers who helped plan it, either side of the Atlantic!

Mr Sanders, Mr Thaper & Miss Macilwraith

You can read more about the Texas Trip from the following student articles:

Suhaib Ahmed (10A)

Jovan Singh Mann (10H)

Raza Khan (11G)

Cameron Lai (11A)

Click here to view more photos in the gallery.

Day 1:

I woke up at 2:45am and made my way to school to be collected by the coach, ready for the long day ahead. Most of us were talking the whole journey about how amazing the trip was going to be! We checked in at the airport, went through security and had some time to spare, so most of us went to get food and snacks for the plane. The journey was 10 hours long, most of us were watching films or sleeping; we had access to unlimited snacks and drinks during the flight, which was great. Finally, we landed, went through the border and customs guards and were on the coach to the hotel.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we were greeted by Mrs McMahon and Principal Stewart. We were given goodie bags, cookies and our ID cards to enter the school. After that, we unpacked our bags and settled into our huge rooms (2 people per room). We went out for food and some shopping; we bought all the necessities for the week – drinks and sweets, before finally going to bed.

Day 2:

Waking up at around 8:30am, we ate breakfast, and got on the coach to go to the Brazoria County Fair. The fair was definitely one of the best moments of the trip! We went on a few rides and all ate deep fried Oreos – they were delicious. After initially exploring the fair, we all went to the main show, the rodeo. During the rodeo, which they call a ‘sport’, there were little children (5 years old) trying to stay on a sheep the longest. It was brutal! Also, there were adults wrestling bulls and trying to stay on top of a bucking horse the longest, with those staying on the horse for the longest winning prizes.

After the rodeo, we went back into the fair, where we competed on whoever could stay the longest on the mechanical bull the longest would get a prize. Barun ended up winning, by staying on for at least 45 seconds! Eventually, we left the fair and went out to eat at Lupe Tortilla, a Mexican restaurant, where we go to make our own tacos.

Day 3:

For our third day, it was an early start as we had to be at John Foster Dulles High School for 7:30am. We had breakfast and met Major Hawn, our bus driver for the week. We then travelled in style on our private yellow school bus! When we had arrived at school, we were taken to the school’s library to meet our partners, who we would go with to lessons. After meeting them, we went straight to their lessons and I was shocked. Most of the students were not paying attention to the lesson, and were on their phones! When walking around school, we were treated like celebrities as students would ask to take photos and even ask for autographs. It was a very different atmosphere to a British school and felt like the film, High School Musical. Also, their school days are structured differently to ours – they have 7 periods with 1 lunch, which was 30 minutes long.

During lunch, we were warned that the food was not great; however, the chicken nuggets were actually not that bad. Throughout, we were all called over to many lunch tables and asked many questions and took many pictures as many of the student had never seen or spoken to a British kid before. We carried on with our lessons and finished school at 2.45pm. Afterwards, we rushed back to the hotel, got changed and went straight to Main Event Entertainment. At Main Event we had played pool, had a big game of laser tag, and went on the high ropes obstacles course. For the evening meal, we went to eat at a classic American diner; it had good food and was fairly cheap.

Day 4:

It was back to school again, we participated in the same lessons as the previous day. However, we got to spend time with our friends in the sports hall. After the school day, we had a football match against the American students. Despite the final scores, we truly enjoyed the experience of playing with an audience rooting for us!

After the match, we went back to the hotel to shower and change before walking to the First Colony Mall. The mall was huge but not as big as the Houston Galleria Mall, which we would visit later on in the trip. While there, we went to the Cheesecake Factory – the food there was amazing with most of us eating cheesecake for dinner, it was very filling.

Day 5:

Day 5 saw us not wake up as early as the previous 2 days as we were going to the NASA Johnson Space Centre. Firstly, we travelled to the high school to pick up the American students, and then on to the centre. We explored the complex and read about the history of NASA before going on a tour of all the work behind the scenes of employees there.

After that, we went to what felt like the largest gas (petrol) station in the world, Buc-ees. It was like a whole supermarket inside a gas (petrol) station. At Buc-ees, we had lunch as well as bought snacks and souvenirs to take back to the UK. We then left to go back to the hotel and have a pool party for Fabian’s birthday. We had cake and played games in the pool, led by Mr Sanders. Fabian and Josh won the games! For dinner, we went to Pacific Coast Tacos, which was both a sports bar and restaurant. The tacos were very spicy but tasty and there were many baseball fans watching the game with their friends, so we joined in too.

Day 6:

This was our last day at John Foster Dulles High School, so we had to say goodbye to all of our friends in the morning. We were only at school for half the day, so we had to make the most of it. Firstly, we all had a lesson with Major Hawn about the US military services, he showed us the shooting range that the students and staff can use. After this, the drama students showed us their routine of “30 step”, which was very confusing as they all have to be in sync and they have to memorise all of the actions. We had the privilege of watching a rehearsal of a theatre play performed by the students too.

After the last day of school, we made our way to one of the largest malls in the Northern Hemisphere, the Houston Galleria Mall. We all bought souvenirs and gifts to take home including shoes, clothes and basketball jerseys. We ate at either Raising Canes or Chick-Fil-A, which was again very tasty. Food in the USA is much better than food in the UK! Once we finished exploring the mall, we had the opportunity to go to the Houston Police Department. We got to see inside the cop car, the daily roll call and even got the chance to wear a police vest – it was amazing!

After this, we went back to the hotel to get changed to go to the American Football Game. I was very impressed as it was like a professional game, with cheerleaders, a half-time show, and even sponsors, JUST for a high school game. It was a fantastic experience with a great atmosphere created by us. Although I did not understand the rules of American football, it was great to watch people being wrestled to the ground. We grabbed McDonalds on the way back to the hotel as it was very late and we were all very tired.

Day 7: 

By Friday, it had dawned on me that this would be the final day in Texas with a full day of activities. We boarded the yellow school bus for the final time to go to the Lone Star Flight Museum. We saw some of the planes and fighter planes as well as played on a flight simulator, which was great. After the museum, we had the opportunity, thanks to Major Hawn, to go to a US Air Force Base. It was amazing as we watched many fighter jets landing and taking off.

Finally, we had travelled to the coast and Galveston Pier, where we had the afternoon/evening to explore the pier and to go on the amusement rides. Galveston was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Day 8/9: 

This was the day we left, we woke up, packed our suitcases and went down to breakfast. Then, we drove to the airport, boarded the plane, and off we went back to the UK!

Conclusion:

This was the best trip I have ever been on in my life! Massive thank you to Mr Sanders, Mr Thaper and Miss Macilwraith for organising the trip and making it enjoyable for all of us.

Jovan Singh Mann (10H)

Click here to view more photos in the gallery.

On the first full day, we went to the Brazoria County Fair. We saw many extraordinary things – corndogs, fried Oreos, adrenaline rushing rides and all the other classic things – and of course, the rodeo. After multiple doses of classic Texas patriotism being shown, followed by a two-minute silence and the national anthem, we watched as men are thrown in the ring while riding on the horses’ backs and lassoing the bull and tying its horns and feet; it was ferocious, but very exciting and thrilling.

Another great day was when we went to one of the biggest malls in the Northern Hemisphere, the Houston Galleria Mall. Alongside this, we went to the Houston Police station and we were given a tour by the Chief and shown all aspects of an American police station. We even had a chance to be put in handcuffs!

On the day before the journey back home, we went to Galveston beach. A chance to see what an American sandy beach was like and seeing the Gulf of Mexico for the first time! After taking some group photos, we went to the famous Pleasure Pier and went on the amusement rides there. One rollercoaster went up to 52 miles per hour, which was exhilarating and one of my favourite parts of the trip, being an adrenaline junky!

Cameron Lai (11A)

Click here to view more photos in the gallery.