Year 7 raise funds for Lepra
Year 7 raised over £300 for Lepra recently which is a great achievement – well done. Lepra work on a global scale fighting disease, poverty and prejudice.
New Sixth Form Centre – work begins!
Exciting times are ahead for HGS as work has started on our brand new £1 million Sixth Form Centre and as a result you will notice that the Woodbine Pub is no more and the ground is being checked and cleared in readiness for the build phase of the project to commence. Work has also started on the new Substation by the back gate as this is an integral part of the new Sixth Form project. There will be some minor disruption during the next year as the project continues to take shape so please bear with us at the busy times but we are excited about the prospect of having an excellent new facility operational for our Sixth Form this time next year. The final product will mean that Handsworth Grammar School will offer its students one of the best Sixth Form facilities in the city. Do visit the gallery to see up to date photographs as the work continues.
Headmaster’s Letter to Parents September 2013
Please visit the Letters to Parents section in Publications to read the Headmaster’s September letter. A copy has also been given to your son/daughter to bring home.
HGS enjoys another year of GCSE Examination Success
Handsworth Grammar School continues to enjoy examination success at GCSE level displaying another year of improved examination results. The number of A* and A grades rose to 43% with the number of A* to C grade passes rising to 94%. Twenty Students secured 10 or more A*A grades, seven Students secured 12 or more A*A grades and two Students – Vikram Patel and Donte Nembhard attained no less than 13 A*A grades. This is a wonderful achievement.
Netcraft AQA A Level Computing Award
Our congratulations go to Faisal Qureshi who has won an award sponsored by Netcraft for his A Level Computing exam performance. Faisal attained an A* grade for his Computing exam in conjunction with another A* and A in his other subjects. Netcraft is providing prizes nationally to the top 50 performing Computing candidates in this year’s A Level Computing exam. Netcraft is an internet services company which provides internet data analysis, defences against fraud and phishing and web application security testing who has teamed up with AQA to sponsor the prizes this year. Well done Faisal!
A Level Results 2013: Another year of Improvement and Success
Handsworth Grammar School continues to enjoy examination success with another year of improved A Level examination results with a pass rate of 99% overall. 10% of Students attained all A* and A grade passes which is a fantastic achievement. A notable achievement was the performance of Sucbinder Johal who secured 3 A*grades to take up his place to read Chemical Engineering at St Johns College, Cambridge. 53% of results were at A* to B grade which is a continuous rise of 13% over the last 2 years. The average A Level points score per entry was 225. At AS Level the pass rate increased to 86% overall and this was a continuous rise of 11% over the last 2 years.
Year 8 Super Capacitor Car Challenge
Year 8 enjoyed a day off normal timetable to take part in an unique learning experience both in and outside the classroom. The focus was to learn about the issues surrounding electric cars and the technology that makes sustainability possible. The Students made a buggy using a super capacitor which once charged does not need a battery. These were made and then raced – to varying degrees of success. We were grateful for the support of Renault who provided inspiration in the form of an all-electric car – the Twizy. This was an exciting experience for the Students (and Staff!) and generated a genuine enthusiasm to learn more about the issues and challenges that we will have to face in the not too distant future.
Friends of Handsworth Grammar School Annual Dinner
Friday 5th July saw over 60 members of the ‘Friends’ sit down to a delicious dinner served in Big School. The evening incorporated tours of the campus, displays of old photographs and memorabilia as well as speeches by the Chair of the Friends Anne McGoldrick and Headmaster Simon Bird. A good time was had by all and old friends were reacquainted.
Photos taken on the evening can be downloaded here.
Our archive of photos taken over the years can be downloaded here.
Year 10 Work Experience
Last week saw Year 10 on their Work Experience week placements. We have received feedback from a whole host of companies and organisations which has been praising our Students for their attitude to work, punctuality and willingness to learn. We have also received requests for some more Students like this next year as well as thanks for sending such model Students. Our Students have been to large Dental Practices, Pharmacy’s. MK Accounting, KPMG and PC World amongst others.
Biology Field Studies
The year 12 Biology visit to Cannon Hill Park was an eventful day in which we carried out several activities to assess the diversity of certain areas in the park. To begin with, we walked to woodland where we sampled the different plant species along a 30 metre strip. We also measured other factors such as humidity and light intensity which affect the number of plants throughout our sample. Upon finishing our sampling in the woodland we moved onto a section of the River Rae which flows through the park. There we collected samples from the water at different spots and identified the animals we found as indicators of pollution. The species present suggested the water was fairly clean. We also measured rates of water flow, oxygen concentration and other elements that would have an impact on the number of animals in the water. It was very interesting to see the different types of plants and animals and was a welcome change from the classroom. The weather was very hot indeed and we all had a valuable experience that will benefit our A2 studies.
Rohan Langi
Footnote from Mr Arnold: Over 70 Year 12 students took part in the Biology A Level Field Study visits during the week, over four days. A special thank you to Mr Ahmed, Miss Hurley, Dr Wallach and Miss Pell for their hard work during the week. We were, indeed, blessed with the weather.
