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Winter Concert 2022

On Thursday 1st December the music department commenced the school’s festive celebrations with the Winter Concert at St. Mary’s Church, Handsworth. Our first concert there was back in 2019. We returned last year to film students for our Winter Concert recording rather than hold an in-person event, so it had been 3 years since we had last held a concert there with an audience.

It was wonderful to see a packed church with over 90 students performing. The concert started with the Lower School choir under the direction of Mrs. Ward, who joined us in September 2022. The other ensembles performing that night were the Senior Keyboard Ensemble, String Quartet, String Ensemble, School Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, Lower School Woodwind Ensemble and Junior Guitar Ensemble. The programme was peppered with a range of solos and duets from students in all years. We enjoyed solo performances from Angus Huang (Classical Guitar), Jinjie Lin (Classical Guitar), Asher Jordan (Piano), Maximus Rueff (Trumpet), Manav Talwar (Violin), Hardev Manku (Piano), Raahil Junaid (Piano), Arjun Sond (Classical Guitar) and Daniel Earle (Euphonium). The pianists had the privilege of performing on an 8-foot Steinway Concert Grand Piano which, when new, cost over £150,000!

The success of this event is only possible because of the support of the students, parents, music staff and other school staff. To these people ‘thank you!’.

 

Click here to view more photos in the gallery.

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Focus on Education December 2022

Exam season is upon us, although whether it will be a winter of discontent or an eternal summer of a grateful heart is yet to be known. One thing’s for sure, it envelops us all, with mums, dads and teachers feeling like they are the ones sitting the papers. As the African proverb goes: “Rain does not fall on one roof alone.”

Seasons are an apt metaphor for School life. HGS is an elemental place; its weather leaving no uncertainty as to where we stand in the calendar. Summer gives us a hug and waves goodbye at the start of the academic year. Hands over to autumn, whose gravity settles a studious tone about the grounds. We hunker down in winter, yet thrall as snow settles silent on our ancient School, reminding us of our heritage. Then spring blossoms once more, bringing birds, bees and adolescent hormones back onto the campus.

As we adapt our lives to suit the season, so too do our lives have their own seasons. Each is simultaneously a destination and a journey to another place. We long for summer to arrive, though it is but a prelude to autumn. So too with our school days. Transitional, no doubt. But also a legitimate season in their own right. To rush through them, impatient for ‘real’ life to begin is to ignore the fact that without the passage of one, the other cannot follow. Just as we recall the summer sun in the depths of winter, so too will nostalgia demand that we look back to our years at School with yearning. Ironically, it is often not children but parents who are guilty of rushing them through childhood.

School is a season to be enjoyed, not endured. Likewise, examinations are part of a cycle that will repeat throughout life. Learn, apply, reflect. Repeat. Examinations are just a prelude to the feedback that all work entails. They may be April showers, but they bring May flowers. Or August results to be more literal.

Let’s teach our children to embrace the moment, not wish it away. As the philosopher George Santayana said: “To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and others.

Best wishes,

Dr Bird

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Wellbeing Advice

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Sports Roundup

The Sixth Form Football Team secured a 2-0 victory over local rivals King Edward VI Aston last night. It was a hard fought, good spirited match.

The Year 9 and Year 10 Basketball Team won their match 42-17 against local rivals in the league.

The Year 7 & 8 Indoor Cricket Team secured a solid victory against Broadway School last night.

The Year 7 Football Team won the Aston Schools Cup 5-a-side Tournament. A last piece of silverware for Mr Gallagher before he leaves HGS.

Congratulations to all our teams and coaches.

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Trussell Trust Foodbank 2022

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.

Milk (UHT or powdered) Rice pudding (tinned)
Sugar (500g) Tea Bags/instant coffee
Fruit juice (carton) Instant mash potato
Soup Rice/pasta
Pasta sauces Tinned meat/fish
Sponge pudding (tinned) Tinned fruit
Tomatoes (tinned) Jam
Cereals Biscuits or snack bars

We will be collecting items as above from Wednesday 30th November until Wednesday 14th December.

Please bring your donations to your Form Tutor or to Ms Brown in Room 3.  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.

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Lord Mayor’s Mega Quiz 2022

The Sixth Form quiz teams took part in the Lord Mayor’s Mega Quiz at the University of Birmingham on Thursday 24th November.

The Year 12 came a credible 16th out of 35 teams and the Year 13 team came 6th and won the prize for best team mascot!

The difference between 1st place and our 6th place was only 10 points.

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Texas Trip

The school trip to Houston, Texas was a culmination of 18 months of work: long hours, countless phone calls and emails, many a stressful afternoon; however, it all paid off! It was totally worth it as the students got so much out of the cultural experience, with many having made memories for life! Comments from the students such as “This has been the best week of my life” and “Can we come back next year?” topped off this amazing exchange, with it also ending up being the best trip we, as staff, have ever planned and been on.

The idea for the trip was first established back in 2021, with Mr Thaper ambitiously looking into setting up a school exchange. Luckily, Mr Sanders had some family connections with the humanities department in Dulles High School in Sugarland, Houston, Texas. So, we began creating a partnership between the two schools either side of the Atlantic. It was quickly realised that this experience could really benefit both schools and their students as well as greatly expand the cultural capital of all students involved. Our aims in planning this trip were to expand the students’ knowledge and thoughts on American culture further than their TV screens, to provide interactive and in-person experiences, and to widen the students’ horizons to broader topics such as geopolitics, cultural perception and patriotism.

The partnership developed steadily with the setup of group video calls between a group of our Year 10 and Year 11 students and a group of Freshmen from Dulles High School. With students of a similar age from two different societies and education systems, it would allow comparisons across multiple levels on what life is like in our respective countries and schools. We had a variety of discussion points including US vs UK food, sports, US vs UK political systems and education. At times, they would split up into groups to have more personal conversations, discussing favourite hobbies, films and plans for the weekend. It was quickly established that our societies, while they are supposedly very similar, they are in fact different in many more ways than we would consider.

We exchanged classic national gifts with the Dulles High School students over Christmas 2021. We sent over a huge box full of items from Cadbury’s chocolate to a picture of the Queen, Bourbon biscuits to Bird’s Custard. They also sent over a box full of items from Twinkies to Texas keyrings and bumper stickers, Jolly Ranchers to US and Texan flags.

We continued with our group video calls with the American students until the prospect of a school exchange became very real. After a lot of planning and lengthy meetings, the dates and activities were set for October 2022. The next few months composed of finalising 24 students to go and applying for travel documents and before we knew it, October was upon us! All the necessary paperwork was sorted, the students were kitted out in HGS merchandise and Mr Thaper, Mr Sanders and Miss Morgan were ready to go – all we had to do was board the plane at London Heathrow.

The trip itself saw the students:

  • Go to Brazoria County Fair, a Texan county fair with a rodeo, fairground rides and countless food and drink stands
  • Attend Dulles High School, being paired up with American students and attending classes and lunch with them
  • Do bowling, laser tag, arcades and go on a ropes obstacles course at Main Event Entertainment
  • Go shopping in a huge shopping mall as well as in Walmart and Target
  • Explore the NASA Johnson Space Centre, seeing everything from Moon rock to real astronauts training, the famous Saturn V rocket to a replica of the International Space Station
  • Attend Texan landmarks such as Buc-ees, Whataburger and Arby’s
  • Explore downtown Houston as well as museums such as the Houston Museum of Natural Science (interactive exhibits and fascinating fossils) and the Lone Star Flight Museum (hangars full of planes, flight simulators and a guided tour)
  • Go to a Varsity volleyball game and an American Football game
  • Travelling in style on a classic American yellow school bus.

Finally, we would like to take the time to thank all those that helped make this trip so successful.

Mrs McMahon – for being the organiser and speaker for us on the American side of the Atlantic and for going above and beyond to make this trip a stand out, we could not have done it without her!
Principal Stewart – for allowing this school exchange to take place and put the students at such ease!
Major Hawn – for being our yellow American school bus driver for the week, allowing us access to a real US military base and for putting up with the constant noise from all of our excitement!
Dr Bird – for allowing this exchange to take place, for overseeing the planning and organisation processes and for helping with all the finances and paperwork!

Alongside this, we would like to say a final thank you to all the other staff at Dulles High School for being so welcoming and accommodating of both the students and us – our students loved every second of this trip and have made lifelong memories because of you!

Mr Thaper, Mr Sanders and Miss Morgan

 

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

Ben Yarnell – 10 Galahad
Daniel Soffee – 10 Nelson
Lucas Southall – 11 William

 

 

Click here to view more photos in the gallery.

 

 

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Texas Trip – Lucas Southall

Day 1:

4am! Not often is it a time of excitement for me, or anyone for that matter. However, this was different, this was the beginning of an adventure of which the build-up was extravagant. The long-anticipated trip was upon us, and as the coach turned the corner onto the deserted Soho Road, the long haul of a journey had begun!

It was a two and a half hour journey to London Heathrow airport, but due to the adrenaline (or tiredness), it lasted the blink of an eye! We arrived at Heathrow at 6:30am, and I get myself the first cup of tea of the day from Café Nero. We eventually all completed the passport control and security stage, giving us some time to grab a spot of breakfast. I barely had time to tuck into my bacon sandwich before we were called to board the plane – one of the most sustainable and eco-friendly planes in the world I might add. We took off and eventually, hour after hour, movie after movie, WE HAD LANDED! As we got off the plane and turned the corner to passport control, my jaw dropped; it was like Disneyland, the queue was lengthy to say the least. After lots of queueing and picking up our baggage, we walked out into the American air and wow! I was melting; and practically begging to have an air-conditioned coach to the hotel. Thankfully, my wish was granted and I nearly dozed off. At last, we arrived at the hotel to be greeted by the principal of Dulles High School, Mr Stewart, and the organiser of the trip from the US side, Mrs McMahon.

After lugging our bags to our rooms, we were given a set time in order for us to eat our first meal on American soil. We were slightly delayed due to Basel and Ibrahim being late down to reception… thanks guys! Little did we know that this would become a common theme over the course of the trip. We eventually started walking to a restaurant, which would give me memories for life, Arby’s. The milkshakes, the burger, the chips! Everything was huge, it was a mountain of food, despite being a ‘small portion’. I still managed to devour my meal, and guzzled down my gigantic and rather sweet chocolate milkshake. We then walked back to the hotel, I was shattered and the meal did not help; we finally head to bed.

Day 2:

The first full day started with breakfast at a surprisingly reasonable time considering the events planned. This was followed by a coach picking us up shortly after to take us to the Brazoria County Fair. It was evident there were some tired bodies on the coach, with people quickly falling asleep despite ‘supposedly’ having a good night’s sleep! We eventually reached the fair.

As we entered, the live animal section was rammed, but it turns out the majority of the people were the owners of the different animals. We then arrived in the main part of the fair, where we explored the stalls and games. The first thing my friends and I did was get a drink, very wise! There were the options of homemade lemonade or a variety of different sodas. I chose a Coke Zero sugar as it had more liquid in the cup, and due to the weather (35-degree heat), I believe that was the correct decision. After an hour of exploring, it was time for the rodeo show! As we took our seats, we got to embrace the hilarity of watching children no more than 6 or 7 years old try and hold on for dear life to sheep, who were running around the barn like absolute nutcases! The next part of the show consisted of some of the bravest of people attempting to stay on horses, who were absolutely determined to launch these poor people off the saddle. To my surprise, about 85% of the riders managed to stay sitting on the horse, so hats off to them. After the rodeo show, we were starving! I had the struggle of choosing whether to get the safe option of a pizza, or the highly recommended DEEP FRIED OREOS! I took the risk of testing whether my stomach could take this type of food, and thankfully it could. Finally, the one story that makes us laugh to this day is where an innocent little boy, who was holding a pig on the lead went to greet his mother, and the look of horror was unforgettable!

Day 3:

6am… it was time for school. I felt a sense of pride when putting on my freshly ironed uniform, mainly because I had done the ironing the night before and not put a hole in any of my uniform to my great delight. We eventually raced down the corridor to the lift as Gagandeep had decided to iron his uniform again! I managed to somehow finish my boiling hot porridge and finally, it was time. The world famous American yellow school bus had pulled up outside reception! As we stepped aboard, numerous phones were out taking pictures of the inside of one of these worshipped vehicles.

About twenty minutes later, we arrived at Dulles High School. We were once again greeted the principal, Mr Stewart, and Mrs McMahon, and headed to the library to be given a map of the school and meet our assigned partners for the duration of our two and half day stay at school. I was partnered with the lovely Natalie, who was a pleasure to hang around with. Despite the difficulty I had in the lessons (especially art), I had a great time meeting and greeting some of the fellow students, of which they were all lovely people. The highlight of the day however was… lunchtime… OH MY GOODNESS! You know when a famous celebrity like Tom Holland enters a public building? That was an exact feeling when I entered the cafeteria. “Can you be in my BeReal?”, “Can I get your Snap?” and “Can we take a selfie?” were some of the many questions that circulated around me whilst in the queue for my food. Eventually, after the staggering welcome, I sat at a table with very kind and welcoming people by the names of: Issa, Caitlyn, Noor, Sammy, Sam, Samuel, Ty and many more! Also, this was when the famous ‘Pass It to Kevin’ TikTok was filmed – #TikTok Famous! Finally, school was out and it was time for Main Event Entertainment.

I had a blast, especially during laser tag (pun intended)! We had a great time watching Josh rage at the claw machine, and many other games. We ended the night bowling, and let’s just say for the record that we know who goes bowling with their friends often, as Gagandeep was the winner by quite some distance. Also, it was when we met two other good friends, Heather and Victoria.

Day 4:

6am, we meet again. I have absolutely no idea how but Gagandeep and I ended up in the same scenario as the day before and ended up bolting down to breakfast. We then took the school bus back to the high school and spent the first period in deep conversation with the Varsity and Junior Varsity football teams about the difference between football in the UK and ‘soccer’ in the USA. Learning about how difficult it truly is to play for any sports club, let alone a football club, in the USA really made me feel privileged that the opportunity in the UK is plentiful for everyone. We then greeted our partners once again and followed our partners to their respective lessons. Lunchtime quickly came around and I sat with the same people again and had great conversations, including Sammy used to live in Reading only a few years ago! After military and flower arranging classes, we went to see to a matinee performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

After the play, we had a quick changeover from the hotel to the First Colony Mall, where it was just a brilliant experience to see the difference in shops between the United States and the UK. My personal favourite thing about the American stores are the huge variety of trainers, which are not sold in the UK. So, I bought myself a pair of grey Jordan 23s, which are now my go-to pair of trainers on the weekend. We also took a last-minute visit to Target, and the expression on the cashiers’ faces as they watched twenty seven British people race through the automatic doors was a sight of people who had seen enough and wanted to go home! The current trend was a drink called Prime, which was where 90% of us sprinted around until we found the correct aisle. I got a bottle of water and an emergency Toblerone, in case of a sudden late night starve, which is a common thing for myself back in the UK. Eventually, we set off back to the hotel and went to bed.

Day 5:

A lie-in? I did not know these existed?! It was a far more relaxed day in terms of sleeping in a bit. It was a longer bus journey to the NASA Johnson Space Center but so worth it! This was by far my favourite day out of all the incredible ones we spent in Texas – a very big statement I know!

We first experienced the virtual reality system, which was a very good experience. After an hour of exploring, it was time for the tram tour of the other buildings. Unfortunately, my poor legs were freezing as the wind was plentiful and there was too much shade… for once. However, the first stop was seeing a rocket that had been broken up into four different parts so we were able to see inside of the rocket, which was fascinating. The main thing that caught my eye were the few individuals, who were controlling robots whilst sat at a computer, these robots were rotating around in circles and also moving forward and back. This made it obvious of the technological advancements NASA are making and how our future is rapidly changing. The second and final stop was a rocket that had actually been up to space and had been split into half with the functionalities of the separate parts labelled with the tour guide providing a further in-depth analysis of the parts.

After visiting NASA, we went to Buc-ees. I tried multiple different flavours of, the highly recommended by the American students, ‘ices’, with the Dr Pepper flavour being my favourite. I also used this time to tick off the three billion sweets to bring back to the UK list, which had been handed to me by my sister! After lugging the weight of enough candy to fill up a whole Walmart store, we were given some chill time, so as a collective, we decided to make use of the facilities at our lovely hotel and try out the pool. The pool was great fun but credit has to go to Miss Morgan, who was the hostess of many water games such as: volleyball (with one of Ibrahim’s crocs), Marco Polo, and my personal favourite, Bull Dog. We then left to go to a delicious pizza restaurant, in which I shared an 18-inch pizza with multiple people – incredible!

Day 6:

For the final time, 6am… with the only difference being that Gagandeep and I were not late for breakfast. For the final time, we headed to Dulles High School, but more importantly, it was MATCH DAY! We had a nice and early kick-off on a crisp morning against the Junior Varsity team. The game was a battle and the Handsworth Grammar School spirit was in full force, with Basel heading in the opening goal 10 minutes from time. However, the mood dampened as the Junior Varsity team equalised with the very last kick of the match. We then faced the Varsity Team and unfortunately, we were no match for them as they secured a 4-0 win. Massive shout out goes to Mr Thaper, Mr Sanders and Miss Morgan for doing for a stand-in role for my Dad and screaming at the top of their lungs from the side-lines! We then went back into the changing rooms only to be intruded by the Varsity Team, who came in blasting out music, to which we joined them!

We eventually trotted off to lesson before our last lunch time, in which we were generously given American snacks such as Takis and Reese’s Pieces to try; they were delicious. After lunch, we hopped back onto the school bus and headed to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It contained exhibits on Ancient Egypt, the Jurassic period and a newly made section of our future world. However, the most interesting part for me was watching a massive wrecking ball knock over a tiny Jenga piece (which I waited 20 minutes for that to happen)! We then took a tram down further into Houston, where we were surrounded by skyscrapers and many parks. We stopped at a local park in which the teachers thought it would be a good idea to attempt to climb on the play area, only to fall through the net on the way up… There was a food and drink stall, which just so happened to sell an absolutely scrumptious chocolate ice cream, and a lovely homemade lemonade, which was so nice I ended up buying another. I had a very relaxing time down at the park and had many conversations with many other people, which was a nice experience. We eventually caught the tram back to the school bus; when on our way home, I was given some sweets, which I was unfortunately not a fan of by Victoria, but nonetheless was still appreciative of her generosity.

Day 7:

Our final full day started off with a bang at the Lone Star Flight Museum. We got to sit in the cockpit of an actual plane, which had been flown and also having a turn of flying one ourselves on the flight simulators. Mr Sanders described my trusty flight partner, Jack, and I as “the world’s worst pilots”; we discovered later that we had a faulty pedal! The most interesting part of the day, however, was being able to actually drive around a US air military base! We then travelled to arguably America’s most popular store, Walmart. This gave me a chance to purchase the remaining sweets of my list to satisfy my sister as clearly a choice of fifteen different sweets from Buc-ees was not enough. I then ate my lunch at, the highly recommended (from my friend, Sam), Whataburger. Sam was so right to recommend it as it is now my new favourite American fast food diner!

To Mr Thaper’s disappointment as he wanted to top up his tan, we had requests from people (hint: their names have been mentioned before) to attend the Dulles High School volleyball matches for the Junior Varsity and the Freshman age groups. After the volleyball matches, it was time for a live American Football college match, in where the atmosphere was incredible and was treated as an actual NFL match! The half-time show was the highlight for me, with a variety of incredible acts on show – it made me wish the UK could take a leaf out of the American Football’s book. As time went by, it was time to go home and unfortunately meant saying our final goodbyes to our wonderful bus driver, Major Hawn, and the lovely Mrs McMahon.

We then begrudgingly went upstairs to begin the dreaded packing of suitcases. After a while, it was time to eat, this time at McDonalds. As we walked back to the hotel, I took in the surroundings one last time and also took in the sensational week I had experienced, reminding myself how grateful I was for this opportunity given by my school and why life is so precious – to enjoy the good moments while they last!

Days 8+9:

These days mainly involved sleeping. It was a long journey home but was well worth it in the end to see my family again, and then play a football match for my own team an hour after arriving home. On two actual hours of sleep in the last twenty four (cheers Dad), I finally fell asleep!

I would like to in fact take this time to thank the teachers that organised the trip, on both sides of the Atlantic. They made this trip an UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE, they really contributed to myself having the best week of my life so thank you! Mr Thaper, Mr Sanders and Miss Morgan – for your brilliant banter and music taste! Mrs McMahon – for helping with the trip as I loved every second. A huge thanks must also go to the bus driver, Major Hawn, as without him, our experience would have been limited. A big thanks also goes to the principal, Mr Stewart, for allowing us the opportunity to visit Dulles High School and a massive thank you to all the students of the school for being so friendly and enhancing our experience and I hope to keep in touch with y’all! I hope the future years of HGS can provide another experience like this in the future, and if that is the case… I hope there is spare room in Mr Thaper’s suitcase for me!

Lucas Southall – 11 William

 

Click here to view more photos in the gallery.

 

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Texas Trip – Daniel Soffe

 

Day 1: 

I woke up at 2:30am and made my way to school, getting there at 4am, ready for the long day ahead. The coach took two hours to get to Heathrow, where we would get the plane. Most of us slept on the coach there but some of us spoke and had great fun on the way down. We then went through security before having a bit of time around the airport. Six hours after getting to school, we had finally got onto the plane. We spent ten hours on the plane, where I tried the games on the back of the seats and watched a lot of movies. About eight hours in, Ben and I went to the back of the plane to stretch our legs after hours of motionless sitting. Once landed, and after we made it through the borders and customs guards – who were very grumpy men, we found our bags and got on the coach to the hotel.

We were greeted there with goodie bags, our IDs for school and a big banner. We took photos and we went to our rooms, which were probably the nicest hotel rooms I have stayed in. We changed our clothes and unpacked all of our bags, before coming back downstairs to go out and get something to eat. We went to Arby’s, where the portion sizes were enough to kill an elephant. I then made a phone call home to my mum, she answered but had told me that I completely forgot the time difference and it was 2am over there! Mr Sanders, Mr Thaper and Miss Morgan then took us to Target, where we grabbed all the necessities for the week – energy drinks and sweets. We finally got to bed.

Day 2: 

We woke up at 9am, ready for the long day that was ahead of us. We were going to the Brazoria County Fair! We ate breakfast and got another coach, which was only about an hour to the fair. We had great fun and managed to see amazing things including cowboy hat making, a farm (with llamas and zebras!) and saw some strange food like fried alligator on a stick! We then went to the best part of the fair – the Rodeo! We saw one of the strangest things to us – sheep-back riding, where toddlers tried to go the furthest distance on the back of a sheep! We then watched some of the craziest ‘sports’ ever, such as people wrestling bulls to the ground, people lassoing bulls, people riding the back of an angry horse as well as some other ‘interesting’ activities. It was brutal but amazing to watch. We then went back into the fair to buy some rubbish and enjoy some rides. After a couple hours at the fair, we then headed back to the hotel, we changed and then went out for tacos!

Day 3: 

At 6am, my alarm clock went off for school, which is much better than my usual time! We got changed into our uniforms and ate breakfast, and then at 6.30am, we were met with an American school bus. Nobody had ever seen one before so everybody was very excited to get on. We met Major Hawn, who was our bus driver for the remainder of the week, who drove us fifteen minutes to the school. Once there, we were met by Mrs McMahon and Mr Stewart before stepping into the high school. We then were taken into the library, where Mr Stewart told us about the history and background of the school; we then got to realise how different the American schools actually are from our school. The American teachers were a lot less strict on phones and students talking in lesson. However, my partner – Diego – was in all AP classes, where everybody is much more sensible and ready to learn.

Everybody in the school was obsessed with our accents and were not scared at all to come up and ask us to say silly phrases! All of the students told me about how terrible their lunches are but I did not believe them, I got the nuggets and I had only had half of one before giving up… they were right! We then had 2 more lessons; after a tiring school day, we took the bus back to our hotel, where we quickly refreshed and then left to go to Main Event Entertainment. We did laser tag first, I cannot remember what place I came but I am sure it was top 5. We then went into the arcades and played pool against one another – that is not a good topic for me – and also did bowling. We then finished up at Main Event Entertainment and went back to the hotel after a similarly long day.

Day 4: 

It was back to school again! Classes were really good and for our last lesson, we attended a flower arranging class. We made Halloween-themed flowerpots, which were fun to do, even though mine did not look very good in the end – my spider had a melted head and deformed eyes. Next, we had not finished school yet though and went to see a play performed by the students at the school. We took the school bus back to the hotel for yet another tight turn around for us to leave again to this time go to the mall!

When we arrived, we split up into groups and then we went to Chick-Fil-A, which had the most amazing food – we need it in the UK. We then went around some of the shops, where I bought myself some clothes as I underestimated how much I would need – like every holiday I go on… We spent the rest of our time there going around the technology shops and shoe shops. We were then rounded back up and made the walk back to the hotel, and ended off yet another amazing day.

Day 5:  

We woke up at 8:45am for one of the best days on the trip, the NASA Johnson Space Centre! We went downstairs and had breakfast, where we waited for Major Hawn to come and take us to the Space Centre, before we drove to the high school, where we picked up the American students. We then made the 45-minute journey to NASA. As we drove in, we went past a number of rockets and replicas. We went through the gates and split up to explore the different models and replicas the museum had. We got loads of photos with different rockets and the insides of them; we also went inside a shuttle on a plane, where we got lots of stunning photos. Then, we saw replicas of the Apollo mission control console, samples of real Moon rock and other rockets. We returned to the main building for a tram tour of the NASA buildings, including a stop at a training site for the astronauts. We saw a replica of the International Space Station and as we moved along, we saw the engineers working on different things and it felt like it was very important work we were seeing.

We then re-boarded our tram and took it to the Apollo building. This is where we once again had another photo with the group, before exploring it. We went inside this massive building that housed a real rocket – the Saturn V rocket! A full-sized rocket that should have been launched before funding ran out for the project. It was crazy! We then learnt that this was only one of a few in the world, which really made it special. We all then re-boarded our tram for the final time to take us back to the Space Center. When we arrived, I went straight to the gift shop where I spent a crazy $97 on a variety of things!

Then, we left on our school bus and headed to Buc-ees! Buc-ees was a favourite among the American students, they sold everything from clothes to drinks, hot food to sweets. I had bought a huge refillable cup, which only cost 79 cents, which was crazy! We went back to the hotel and went in the pool. After this, we went to a fancy Italian restaurant, where we shared two pizzas between about seven of us! Finally, we popped to Target (arriving two minutes before it closed) to stock up on even more drinks and sweets.

Day 6: 

By Thursday, it dawned on me that we would only be there a couple more days. We boarded the school bus for a very different day at school. We had a football game, where we played very well and even attempted to sing the national anthem, we beat the Americans 2-0 and 4-0. After the football players got changed and sang in the changing rooms, a couple of us stayed after to help Mr Thaper, Mr Sanders and Miss Morgan teach a lesson to the American students. The lesson was taught like a normal British lesson and students were told to stay off their phones, stop eating and stop drinking, which seemed ridiculous to the American students. We then talked them through the UK, especially the monarchy – which they only knew a tiny bit about! It was then time to leave the school for the last time, as this was our last day.

Around lunch, we left to go downtown and to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Major Hawn dropped us first off at the museum, where we again split up and learnt a lot about dinosaurs, machinery, Egypt, and animals. All of the exhibits were interesting to read about! After we left the museum, we made our way to the tram station to head into Houston’s city centre. When we got off, we made the walk through the city to the Discovery Centre, where there was a park, some swings and where we got some ice cream. Afterwards, we made the walk back to the tram stop and caught the bus back to the hotel. We headed back out to get some tacos and nachos which ended the 6th day!

Day 7: 

We woke up at around 9am to go to the Lone Star Flight Museum. We again hopped onto the bus and picked up our American students before making our way to the museum. When we arrived, we were split into three groups to do some activities! We firstly did some checking on a plane, with my partner and I learning what is needed for flying a plane. We later did a flight on a simulator and it was very cool, and I obviously did not crash once…. Afterwards, we had a tour of the different aircraft the Lone Star Flight Museum had before heading to a different hangar to perform some aerodynamic games. We then got on the bus again and were taken to the US military base right next to the museum. Thanks to our driver for the week, Major Hawn, who had served in the US military, we were granted access and got a tour of a live US military base. We then explored the shop at the military base, which had the best clothing I have ever seen – for example, a grenade holder and an American flag bucket hat.

After collecting my amazing clothes, we went to an area with a square of shops in including a Walmart, it was huge! I got some gifts and a kilogram of Twizzlers! We watched Dulles High School vs another local school play volleyball, before we continued to an American Football game! We watched the Bush and Clements High Schools play each other, they had marching bands, military members and cheerleaders at the game! It is a very confusing sport but I got the idea towards the end. During half time, hundreds of cheerleaders, dancers and band members performed on the field while the players got ready for another amazing half. After the game, we said a final goodbye to our American friends, Major Hawn and Mrs McMahon after thanking them for an amazing week. We went to McDonalds and had some crazy sized portions before going back to the hotel to pack our stuff!

Day 8: 

This was the day we left, we woke up early and I packed up the last of my things. Then, we drove to the airport, where me and Ben went to a Chick-Fil-A, which had no grilled chicken!?! We then got in the plane and sat in our seats, Arvind and Saif sat next to me, where they fell asleep on each other in a heap. I tried to sleep but I could not until the last ten minutes of the flight, where I just fell asleep at the last second while holding a cup of water and spilled it all over myself, leaving the seat like someone had had an accident. We got off the plane in London Heathrow, where my dad picked me up and I said goodbye to the rest of the group. I then proceeded to spend the rest of my half term sleeping for about fourteen hours a day trying to recover from the jet lag.

Conclusion:

I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone, I had one of the best weeks of my life and have made memories I will never forget!

Daniel Soffee – 10 Nelson

 

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Texas Trip – Ben Yarnall

Day 1:

I woke up excitedly at 2:45am and made my way to school, getting there at a lovely and early 4am and ready for the long day ahead. We got on the coach, which would take us 2 hours on the first part of our journey to London Heathrow. I waved bye to my parents and off we went; just after leaving school, we were given some green jumpers, which we were to wear for the journey to the USA. I fell asleep on the way to the airport and woke up 20 minutes away from it. After arriving, we made our way to the check-in area and checked in for our flight. We then went through security before having a bit of time in duty free before our gate was called and we boarded our flight to the USA. After many movies, games, food and drinks, and I mean many, we arrived in the US after what felt like decades. We finally disembarked the metal tube we were locked in for 10 hours and there we were, in the USA!

After we all made it through the grilling of the USA border protection officers, we were in the country and all sleep deprived, but because of the time difference we still had most of the day ahead of us (even though it was 10pm back in the UK). We collected our bags and set off in a coach to our hotel, where we were greeted by Mr Stewart and Mrs McMahon. They greeted us with goodie bags, our IDs for school and a big banner. We took the first of many group photos and went to our rooms to unpack, had a shower and we got changed out the clothes we had been in for 18 hours at that point. We were then summoned back downstairs to go out and get something to eat, we went to Arby’s. I was not very hungry, so I thought I would get a small curly fries; however, this turned out to be just as big as the large portion back in the UK. After this, Mr Thaper and Mr Sanders had something else for us to do, go to Target! We went around Target and got some supplies for the week ahead (Prime included) and after over 25 hours awake, we finally went back to the hotel and went to sleep, for a well-deserved rest.

Day 2:

We woke up at 9am for again what was another long day ahead of us. We were going to the Brazoria County Fair! We had some breakfast and boarded the coach, which would take us on the 50-minute ride to the fair. We got there slightly early, but still managed to see some amazing things like pig weighing, cowboy hat making, and all the classic things at a county fair. It was very hot, over 35 degrees, in contrast to the 12 degrees at home. After a small time to explore, we went to the rodeo! As we arrived there, we were just in time to see the sheep-back riding, where 3, 4 or 5 year olds rode on the back of sheep around the ring to see who could stay on the for the longest! It was fantastic, and very funny! Then it was time to see the main rodeo, after our first of many doses of classic Texas patriotism, with them honouring their troops, the rodeo and the country, before holding a 2-minute silence and the national anthem being sung… by someone who could not sing. We then watched as men on horses got thrown around the ring on the back of horses, them lassoing a bull’s horns and tying its feet, then racing to lasso and RKO the bull; it was brutal, but very entertaining! Once that had finished, we went back into the main fair to make some purchases and go on some rides. After 6 hours at the fair, we then set off back to the hotel, changing and having some time to chill, before venturing out to Torchy’s Tacos for a classic Mexican taco to end a lovely day!

Day 3:

At 5:30am my alarm went off for a day at school! Got myself into school uniform, albeit tired, and made my way down to breakfast. Then at 6:30am, we were greeted by a great sight – a classic American school bus! We were all excited to get on as it was something you see in all the American films. We met Major Hawn, who was our bus driver for the remainder of the week, who drove us 15 minutes to the school, where we once again met Mrs McMahon and Mr Stewart. Before stepping into the American high school, we were greeted by our 2nd dose of Texas patriotism with the huge Texan and American flags hanging from the ceiling. We then were taken into the library for the introduction by Mr Stewart, where we learnt about the history and background of the school. Then, it was the fun part with putting names to the faces we had seen on the video calls for the past year. I was partnered with AJ, who I would be following for the next 3 days, and we then got to know the dynamic in American schools and how it is world’s apart from the dynamic of a British school. It was so eye-opening to see how the pupils behaved such as being on their phones while the teacher is talking or no-one stopping talking in class. It was really surprising; this being said, the people there were lovely, very welcoming and loved my accent!

After meeting teachers and participating in lessons, it was time for lunch! I had been warned about it by the students, I went for a burger and chips, which I would give a 5/10 – tasted very fake. We then continued with 2 more lessons. After a tiring and long school day, we took the bus back to our hotel, where we had 10 minutes to get undressed, change, quick wash and get back downstairs ready with money, to go to Main Event Entertainment. We arrived at Main Event Entertainment, which is similar to Star City. We did laser tag first, where unfortunately Mr Thaper had a little issue with his glow in the dark sun cream, but we move past that! I came 9th, which I think was quite good. We then went into the arcades and did the ropes course, which was amazing. We then had a sharing pizza between two of us, which was the size that would feed a small family back at home, which was really shocking. After this, we left and went back to the hotel after another long day.

Day 4:

Day 4 started the same way as Day 3, more following AJ (my partner) and participating in a full day of lessons, lunch was nachos, which I would give a solid 7/10 – not too bad for American food. Then during our last lesson, we all attended an FFA (Future Farmers of America) class, which was flower arranging! Yes… people can actually take that as a class option in the USA. We made Halloween-themed flowerpots, which were fun to do, even though mine did not look very good in the end. After this, we attended a live performance and matinee performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This was great as even though it was performed in old English, it was still a very fun watch and I was very glad we got to see it.

After our day at school, we took the yellow school bus back to the hotel for yet another tight 10-minute turn around, this time to leave and go to the mall! When we arrived, we split up into smaller groups to go and explore. We first went to the classic Chick-Fil-A, which was the best food I had on the trip and tasted even better after experiencing high-school food. Then, we went around some of the shops they had there and I managed to get myself a new top and some gifts for my family. We spent the rest of our time going around the technology shops and looking at how cheap some of the things were. Finally, we all met back up and made the walk back to the hotel, rounding off yet another great day!

Day 5:

On Day 5, we finally got a bit of a lie in and after 2 intense days at school, I think it was very well deserved. We got up 8:45am for my favourite day of the entire trip – the NASA Johnson Space Centre! We went downstairs and had breakfast, where we waited for Major Hawn to come and take us to the Space Centre. We got on the bus and drove to the high school, to pick up the American students we had been following to accompany us at the Space Centre. We then made the 45-minute journey to NASA and again, it was a very warm day. When we arrived, I was surprised by how big the complex was. As we drove in, we went past a number of rockets and replicas. We went through the gates and split up to explore the different exhibitions the museum had to offer.

We learnt about different space programmes such as the Apollo programme to the Moon and the International Space Station. We then walked through the NASA hall of fame, which was an exhibition about astronauts that had done something to stand out in human spaceflight. We walked through a memorial that commemorated those who lost their lives doing their jobs at NASA, which was very eye opening. We also saw replicas of the Apollo mission control console, a sample of a real Moon rock, more rocket parts and pieces and then, best of all, a real full-sized space shuttle! This space shuttle was on top of a real plane that was used to carry it from the shuttle’s landing site to the launch site, ready for its next mission. As we stepped onboard, we saw many artefacts and exhibitions commemorating the space shuttle programme and how it had changed the future of space flight. After this, we returned to the main building for a tram tour of the private NASA buildings. Along with a tour guide, we were taken around the NASA grounds to our first stop, the astronaut training complex, which is where real astronauts train for their missions to space. We saw a mockup of the International Space Station and as we moved along, we saw the engineers working on different things and it felt very official! Following this, we re-boarded our tram and took it to our second stop, the Apollo building. This is where we once again had a photo in front of the on-brand British flag, and then explored. We went inside this huge building that housed a real rocket! A full-sized Apollo rocket called Saturn V, that should have been launched before funding ran out for the project. It was massive! We then learnt that this was only 1 of 3 in the world, which really made it special. We all then went back to the main buildings, and I went straight to the gift shop, where I spent an embarrassing $70 on a variety of things. It was then unfortunately time to leave. So, we re-boarded our school bus and made our way to a Texan favourite, Buc-ees!

Buc-ees is a huge petrol station that sells everything, from drinks, to clothes to fresh cakes, you name it, Buc-ees sells it. While we were there, I bought myself a huge teddy bear, a T-shirt, some cookie dough balls and a huge 1.5 litre cup of Dr Pepper! We then made our way back to the hotel, where we all decided to head to the pool for a swim and played a few water games – a very enjoyable way to end the afternoon. Afterwards, we headed back to the room to have a quick shower and get changed before making our way out to an Italian restaurant, which was lovely but very expensive. After this, we headed to Target (arriving 2 minutes before it closed) to stock up on supplies before heading back to the hotel to wrap up another amazing day.

Day 6:

On Thursday, we were back at school! I woke up struggling to believe that it was Thursday already, but soon got over it and made my way downstairs for some breakfast. We then boarded the school bus for a very different day at school as we had a football game!  I was not playing but it was still very fun to watch, from singing the national anthem (which was a test in itself) to cheering on the team. We played two, thirty minute halves, which we lost unfortunately but it was still very fun, and I also think the referee was quite biased towards his team. After the football players got changed, most of us went back to lessons for the remainder of our half day, but myself and three others decided to stay and join Mr Sanders, Mr Thaper and Miss Morgan with their lessons to the American students and give them a real taste of the life of a British school student. They were so shocked to find out that you cannot have phones out, you cannot sleep, you cannot eat, drink etc. in our classes. We then talked them through the UK as a country, which they learnt a lot from. It was then time to leave the school for the last time, as this was our last day. A lot to take away from the school and I would encourage anyone who gets the chance to experience a school abroad to go and do it!

At midday, we left to go downtown and to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Major Hawn dropped us first off at the museum, where we again split up and learnt a lot about paleontology, Ancient Egypt, animals and machinery – all of the exhibits were so interesting to read about and were very interactive too. After we left the museum, we made our way to the tram station to head deep into downtown Houston. When we got off, we made the walk through the city to the Discovery Centre, where there was a park, some swings and where we got some ice cream. Afterwards, we made the return walk to the tram stop and caught the bus back to the hotel. We had a bit of downtime before heading back out to get some tacos and nachos to round off another amazing day.

Day 7:

It was the last full day! We woke up at around 9am to go to the Lone Star Flight Museum. We boarded the bus and picked up our American friends, before making our way on the one hour journey to the museum. When we arrived, we were split into 3 groups to do a variety of activities! We firstly did some basics of flight trainings, where my partner and I learnt about navigation and what is needed to navigate; we also learnt what is the optimum speed for a plane to fly at and what angle is the safest. We then moved on to learning how to perform an exterior check of an aircraft, checking to make sure no bolts are missing, no parts are blocked and that everything is free and correct. We also stepped inside the flight deck of a plane and checked that out before moving on to my favourite part, the flight simulator! We performed a forty five minute flight around the Houston area and towards the coast on a simulator and it was very immersive. Afterwards, we had a tour of the different aircraft the museum had before heading to a different room to perform some aerodynamic games, all of which were very educational and taught you a lot about physics. Then, our time at the Lone Star Flight Museum was over (or so we thought) as we boarded the bus again and were taken to a US military base. Our driver for the week, Major Hawn, was in the US military and therefore had access to the base, providing the teachers could get approved. They all did and so, we had an explore of what a live US military base had to offer in case the USA was attacked. We then explored the shop at the military base, which had everything on offer – the classics of food and drink all the way to cases to keep your grenades in…

After getting some shopping, we went to a small retail park to pick up some final gifts from Walmart and explore. Walmart is huge! I got myself some gifts for my family and before we knew it, our time was up and we headed back to the school to see a volleyball game. We watched Dulles High School vs another local school, before we continued to a classic American Football game! We watched two high school teams play and the atmosphere was amazing. After some US Army troops performed a ritual, the national anthem was sung, and the cheerleaders started, the band started to play and then the game started. It was very hard to follow but I kind of got my head around it in the end. During half time, when in the UK, people would be bored doing nothing, instead they had a full choreographed half time performance, which consisted of hundreds of people performing on the pitch, all while the teams took a break (this was only a high school game). After the game, we said a final goodbye to our American friends, Major Hawn and Mrs McMahon after thanking them for a lovely week. We then went back to the hotel before heading back out on our final night to get a McDonalds before going back to the hotel to pack and sleep.

Day 8:

Time to go home! We woke up nice and early to finish packing, sorted out some final things, weighed our bags and left the room after checking everything we had. It was quite a sad day to be leaving after such a fantastic trip. We had some breakfast; the teachers checked the rooms and we set off on the one hour journey back to the airport. We checked-in, cleared US security and had some time to relax after the airport. We once again boarded the plane to take us back to London Heathrow and departed right on time. We then had a nine hour flight home to enjoy. Drinks, food and a flying related nose bleed later, I was ready to sleep to try and get myself accustomed to the British time zone….

Day 9:

As we crossed midnight, I was trying to fall asleep. I tried everything: music, no music, blanket, no blanket, everything. It was not happening, until we were ten minutes away from Heathrow when I finally fell asleep, just to be woken up with us being at the gate. Sods law. We then had to get a bus from the plane to customs before re-entering the UK. We got our bags and boarded our bus back to Birmingham. After being awake for twenty four hours, apart from ten minutes, I was ready to sleep… if it was not for the teachers playing music and singing on the bus speakers for the two hour journey back home. None of us slept. Before we knew it (after only feeling like it had been two minutes since I left Birmingham), I had arrived back home. Tired, dirty and sleep deprived, but still loving life.

Conclusion:

While it might not seem a lot on paper, this trip was one to remember for a number of reasons. The people, the teachers, the students in America and my friends were all great to be around for the week! We had a laugh while enjoying every moment, despite the long travel days and the long bus trips. Every single day of the trip was 100% worth it and I loved every minute of being there.

So, a big thank you to the teachers in the UK and the USA who organized the trip (Mr Thaper, Mr Sanders and Mrs McMahon). My final takeaways from this trip are that it makes me want to travel so much more, and learn how different parts of the world operate and how their culture differs from ours. It was an amazing trip, and despite it taking me four days to catch up on sleep, would I do it all again? Absolutely 100%!

Ben Yarnell – 10 Galahad

 

 

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