HGS Debating Society had its first competitive outing of the season on the 6th of December in the ESU Schools’ Mace Debating Competition. We hosted the opening round of this prestigious, national competition, here at HGS and welcomed teams from The Bablake School, Coventry, King Edward VI, Birmingham and MPW College, Birmingham. HGS and Bablake debated the motion that this house would ban all public service employees from wearing religious symbols, while King Edward’s and MPW locked horns on the issue of whether development aid should be tied to the enforcement of population control measures.We would like to thank Anil Sunder and Ayesha Ali for their help in chairing and timing the debates.

The Schools’ Mace is the oldest national debating competition in the UK and has been running since 1957, encouraging the discussion of controversial topics and current affairs. Former winners of this competition have gone on to become MPs, well-known journalists, senior lawyers, prominent scientists and captains of industry. Competitors develop their knowledge of key, contemporary issues while enhancing their speech writing, public speaking and analytical skills. These skills were very much in evidence in both debates and, at the conclusion of these very competitive debates, the adjudicator congratulated all involved on the mature and thoughtful manner in which they had argued their cases. In the event, only two teams could go forward to the next round and they were the teams from HGS and Bablake. The school was represented by Vikram Patel from Year 11 and Gabriel Dobrashien Yates from Year 10.  It is a testament to the skill, passion and commitment of both speakers that they succeeded in this first round of a national competition against older and generally more experienced teams and we wish them well in the next stage of the competition.

If you would like to get involved in debating, whether at a recreational or competitive level, then come along to the Debating Society which meets at 3pm, in the music room, every Tuesday. We welcome everyone and you don’t have to speak in every debate. Speakers are currently needed for the Oxford and possibly the Manchester University debating competitions and will be chosen on merit by their peers.

On Friday 16 November, Form 7N enjoyed a visit to ‘Thinktank’ at Millennium Point organised by their Science teacher Mr Bansal.  They participated in two workshops, the first of which was titled ‘Forensic Investigators’.  In this, the students found out about the types of evidence found at a scene of crime, and how forensic scientists gather, analyse and use evidence to help investigate crime.  They also produced a record of, and analysed, their own fingerprints.  In the second workshop, entitled ‘In Your Element’, students, through laboratory based demonstrations, experiments and challenges, discovered how the differing structure and properties of elements and compounds can affect how materials behave and react with one another.  

A number of A level Physics students enjoyed the Institute of Physics/West Midlands’ Physics Teachers’ Centre ‘Christmas’ Lecture entitled ‘Molecular Gastronomy: The Science of Taste and Flavour’, The lecture was held on the evening of Tuesday 27 November at Birmingham University and was given by Bristol University’s Professor Peter Barham.  Professor Barham, who has written a book on the subject and worked with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, addressed the questions ‘What gives food its flavour?’ and ‘What makes some foods taste really good while others can be mediocre or even disgusting?’  There are more Tuesday evening lectures scheduled for the New Year, details of which are displayed in the Science Department and available from Mr Jones.

All Year 9 students, during their Science lessons on Tuesday 27 November or Friday 7 December, enjoyed a talk entitled ‘Physics hot and cold’ given by friend of the School and frequent visitor Mrs Lynne Long, from Birmingham University’s Physics Department.  Mrs Long’s talk covered a range of phenomena between extremes of temperature including superconductivity, and involved many demonstrations, some using liquid nitrogen.

A number of Year 7 students will have the opportunity to become members of Science Club, which is scheduled to start after the Christmas break.  Mr Mohsin will be organising the activities, which will take place after school on Mondays.

Year 10 students should now be revising hard for their Unit 1 GCSE Science examinations which will be taking place on 9 January (Biology), 14 January (Chemistry) and 17 January (Physics).  A number of Year 11 students will also be re-sitting during these sessions, and also the Unit 2 ones.

Mr P Jones