Sixth Form Football Team
The Sixth Form team before their final game of the season against Arthur Terry which finished 2-2.
Focus on Education May 2023
First They Came
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
You may well have heard or read the poem above which was written by Martin Niemöller. He had been a prominent pastor of an influential parish in Berlin from 1931 and he became famous for opposing Hitler and the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis – eventually.
Initially Niemöller, who was decorated in the First World War as a submarine commander was a supporter of Hitler. However, a turning point came in January 1934, where Niemöller and several bishops had a personal meeting with Hitler. He started to feel nervous about where the regime was going and began to see the Nazi state as a dictatorship, which he opposed. And so Niemöller became more outspoken in his preaching which then came to the attention of the Nazis.
In 1937 he was arrested, taken to prison before he spent time in two concentration camps, the second of which was the infamous Dachau. But for four years prior to his arrest, Niemöller had been silent about Hitler’s attack on Jews and others who opposed the atrocities that were taking place. Following the end of the second world war, Niemöller repeatedly expressed regret at his previous support for the Nazi party, and his failure to speak out against it more broadly and more quickly – a regret he expressed in the above poem.
The obvious question is what would we have done in the 1930s if we had seen our Jewish friends and neighbours taken away, not to return – quite possibly knowing that they had come to the most horrific end. In October 1945, Niemöller headed a group of German church leaders who admitted they had not done enough to oppose the Nazi regime when it really mattered.
But what would we have done? It is great to think that we would have spoken out against what was going on… but would we…would we really? And what do we do when we see wrong going on around us today – perhaps when the wrong is done by those who we would consider to be our friends. Perhaps, when those friends make an unkind comment which we might say that they did not really mean – after all it was just a joke or perhaps banter – as if that makes it ok. What do we do in those circumstances?
So we hear our friend making a derogatory comment about someone’s appearance. It raises a laugh – we know they do not really intend to cause offence or hurt because they are normally better than that. Perhaps the person concerned hasn’t heard it – does that mean it is acceptable?
Or going into lunch or in the Form room, someone makes a comment to play to the crowd which singles someone out for one reason or another. Do we choose not to hear it because it doesn’t affect us, even though we know it is wrong? Or do we say something, then or afterwards, because we know that the comment is unkind and therefore unacceptable? And what about if the comment is about someone’s sexuality or religion or ethnicity. Do we speak out and call out what we know is never right – are we brave enough to do that?
Martin Luther King said that: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends”. Not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. The target of the type of comments I am talking about, will remember those who laughed or smirked, even if they pretend they can shrug it off, and they will remember those who simply kept quiet.
It does take real courage to speak up when we see wrong done – but that is the right thing to do and if we do do that, then we help to shape and maintain the right culture, in what is our community at HGS. It really is ours and it is up to all of us to work to ensure that the culture is the right one. If someone does speak up because something is wrong, they are not being disloyal or a snitch, they are helping to make the community better for all of us.
I hope all of us will be remembered for doing or saying the right thing, at the right time in the right way – as a friend who speaks up, not one who keeps silent – so that the tone across our community is one in which everyone feels included and treated equally, not singled out. Ultimately treated by others as we would like to be treated.
Some disruption lies ahead with Bank Holidays and the Coronation, so it will be even more important to organize ourselves carefully to make the best of our time in school, particularly when preparing for examinations. We will also need to show sensitivity and understanding towards one another, particularly as challenges approach. E M Forster, spoke of the “aristocracy of the sensitive” and I believe most fervently that there are few more valuable attributes to have than sensitivity towards one another and the emotional intelligence to be understanding and supportive as well as doing the right thing.
Stay safe and well.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Best wishes,
Dr Bird
Model United Nations
Geneva, New York, Birmingham…
For one weekend only in late March, the United Nations opened a new headquarters in the heart of the UK’s second city. HGS were lucky enough to send three delegations who gamely represented the interests of France, Kenya, and the United States of America.
Students from 11 schools across the foundation and all areas of Birmingham made key opening speeches full of rousing dialogue and oratorical flourishes. Indeed, Arjun Lyall (10A) quoted Kennedy and embodied great statesmanship.
All the HGS delegates got stuck in to some good, old-fashioned negotiating. Sitting round the table and hammering out the issues of the day. It was great to see our students work with others to find equitable solutions to the world’s problems. HGS students held their own in the face of formidable opposition from the revanchist powers of KE Aston. Aston’s Russian and Iranian delegations worked tirelessly to thwart the progress of our delegations in the different committees, but our students were more than up to the challenge.
The final events of the conference were some amazing and thought-provoking lectures from Professors Mark Webber on the history of the UN and NATO and David Dunn on the precarious re-emergence of nuclear weapons in our international affairs. The 1st KES MUN conference was a great experience for our students, and I am confident it will not be our last.
What the students said?
“The experience was incredible. The event itself was well-planned, interactive and thought provoking. Everyone there was friendly and professional, so there were some very interesting conversations.” Sami Zahid 12DGR
“A wonderful experience overall. It was an amazing opportunity to learn new things, meet new people and most importantly reach a solution to make the world a better place for all. The staff, student and delegates were extremely helpful and friendly – there were no flaws. I am so grateful for this experience and have taken a lot from the past few days. I would love to do it again next year.” Arjun Lyall 10A
Instrumental Progress Evening 2023
Forty students performed to a near full Big School at our annual ‘Instrumental Progress Evening’. The concert is aimed at our students who are in their early years of studying an instrument. The vast majority of the boys were in years 7 and 8 with a couple from years 9 and 10. Our beautiful new Bechstein piano was heard for the first time in a school concert and was beautifully played by Ayaan Pirani, Darren Lounguedy, Matthew Fenwick, Enzo Lee, Stanley Todd, Adam Cunningham and Jerren Okyere-Darko. It was also the first opportunity for parents to see the new stained glass window and the newly cleaned stained glass window, from 1922, in Big School.
We enjoyed solo performances from Rajan Dhupar and Raman Hayr (dhol), Ziona Paulson (flute), Hritik Bansal, Nicholas Bob, Abel Shane and Hardev Manku (violin), Arjun Sond and Kieran Hay (classical guitar), and Tiziano Pasqualini (saxophone). Our year 7 guitar ensemble, junior guitar ensemble, string ensemble and woodwind ensemble delivered a number of items in a range of different styles, including eastern European folk tunes and music by the film composer John Williams. ‘Well done’ to the boys who performed that night and a big thank you to the teachers who work so hard with them. Our next concert will be the Summer Concert in Big School.
National Express West Midlands Strike Update
We will continue to be as understanding and compassionate as we can with regard to punctuality and absence from school as the Bus Strike continues. We will continue to run Hybrid Lessons indefinitely as the strike continues so that those students unable to attend due to the Bus Strike can join lessons remotely and not miss their classes. Please continue to make alternative plans for travel to and from school if your child usually uses the NXWM Bus Network. Please continue to alert school to your child’s absence due to the Bus Strike via Schoolcomms.
We will update you as much as we can if and when we hear of any further developments.
Thank you for your continued support.
Year 8 trip to Thinktank
On Wednesday 8th March 2023, 30 Year 8 students headed to Thinktank.
Thinktank is an education museum dedicated to science and learning. It has different categories of science to explore over its three floors. The staff are friendly and encourage feedback and questions to challenge the mind. These staff presented their information in exciting ways such as in the planetarium which is a dome shaped 4K theatre where we explored how cells worked. We were also given two workshops about the exploration of the universe using electromagnetic waves, and types of energy present within.
The experience was fun, light-hearted and relaxed.
The Museum on the first floor offers a history on mechanics and the industrial revolution. On the second floor there are exhibits about the environment and the body and, on the third floor, the focus is on physics, space and robotics.
To conclude, Thinktank is highly educational, and educates in a fun, relaxed manner that can really help you, whether adult, pupil or child to better understand our world of science.
Thank you to Mr Hussain and Mr Jones for providing us with the opportunity.
Cullan Kavanagh 8N
Lessons from Auschwitz Project (LFA)
On 9th February 2023, we were lucky enough to be chosen for a trip to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps in Poland. This trip was a huge eye-opener into the experiences of Jewish prisoners within these camps during the Second World War. One thing that particularly struck us was the wide range of emotions we felt during this trip as well as what we actually saw.
Though the emotional aspect was particularly high in the camp, there was still a lot to look at on the online courses. We had activities to do on the online learning platform for LFA. The one that I remember best had numerous case studies of Jewish people from different areas of Europe. One was a Jewish football team from Hungary, another a married couple from Czechoslovakia. It was astonishing to see the individuality of these people since Holocaust victims are typically viewed collectively. That message of individuality was pushed greatly throughout the project. Every person had a story, a family, and a home.
Similarly, the individuality was again shown when we got to hear the account of Holocaust survivor Eva Clark. Although Eva was born shortly before the end of the Second World War in Treblinka, another camp, her story was full of emotion as she recounted the hardships faced by her mother and father, the latter of whom did not live to see Eva. Despite this, the part that struck me in particular was when Eva and her mother returned to Czechoslovakia to find their entire family, besides one aunt, was gone. The idea of that loneliness made me feel a great deal of sorrow for Eva’s family, and I have immense respect for her since she remained composed throughout her story, which was both touching and slightly disturbing in places.
There was lots to see in the camps during the trip itself. Auschwitz I was a museum with pictures and artefacts from the Holocaust. There were clothes, suitcases and dishes from Jewish people all piled up behind glass walls. The most upsetting part of the trip was within Auschwitz I: ‘the hair room’. Though it is not actually called this, the room containing locks of Jewish women’s hair that was shaven from their heads before they entered the gas chambers almost brought me to tears. It made the suffering a bit too real. The model of the gas chambers with little people cramped inside was also disturbing. In another building, of which there were 27, there were pictures of victims with names and dates lining the walls. Looking at their faces was incredibly intense, not least because we saw pictures with women’s shaven heads right after the hair room. The book of names was, in my opinion, the most interesting part of Auschwitz I. The book was about 2-3 metres long with massive pages, each with hundreds of names of Holocaust victims. We were each asked to look within the book and choose one name. Mine was Samuel Wasserman. Not only was his name the first I saw, but since my name is Sami it was easy for me to remember. I still remember his name over a month later. That exercise once again delivered the key message of individuality. Walking through the gas chambers in complete silence was another emotional experience, as I could imagine the hundreds of people that once stood where I did for those mere 2 minutes, except I wasn’t screaming for my life.
Though there was no souvenirs of Jewish victims, Auschwitz II – Birkenau showed the conditions in which Jewish people lived. One thing that still haunts me is the room in which prisoners used to go to the toilet. From the centre of the room to the end ran a concrete cuboid with holes in the top of it. These were their toilets. They were given 2 minutes every morning and night in there. It was humiliating and insanitary. The bedrooms were also disgusting, with long bunk beds that would hold 8-9 people a bunk. Many died from cold since there weren’t enough blankets and many would release urine or stool on those below them, worsening the conditions that were already ripe for disease. The food was also minimal in portion size and nutrition, causing more death.
One positive emotion I hold from the experience is gratitude. I did not enjoy myself on that trip, and I’m not sure anyone would say they would. However, I got to represent the school, go to a unique and important place, and learn things that most don’t. I was also given the chance to read a poem aloud in front of everyone. Usually I’d be scared of someone laughing or judging me, but everyone quietly listened and appreciated the words of the poem. This proved to me that the people on this trip were chosen for a reason, and I’m glad to have been amongst them. The final part of the trip where everyone lit a candle and placed it at a memorial further emphasised the message behind this trip: stand together since hatred divides. There were many different backgrounds in the camp that day, yet we were treated as equals. This message of equality, as well as the individuality of Holocaust survivors, were my two key takeaways from LFA. It’s an experience we will always hold dear.
By Sami Zahid 12DGR & Zain Choudhrey 12IBE
Model of a gas chamber in Auschwitz I
Toilets in Auschwitz II
Pictures of female victims in Auschwitz I
Book of names
