We have had a very busy but moving and powerful day paying our respects to some HGS Old Boys as well as the Indian War Graves. We have visited Essex Farm dressing station and Cemetery, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Bedford House Cemetary and Ypres Reservoir Cemetery. We toured the Passchendaele Museum and have finished the afternoon by attending a rededication ceremony for a previously unknown soldier, Private G Willcocks. Our student’s conduct has been exemplary, acting with the upmost respect and have done HGS proud.

Mrs Yates

For 12 months our year 11 Business Studies students have been working voraciously in a new and specialised subject and with official social distancing guidelines now over it was a perfect time to visit and apply this knowledge to a major business in action. Luckily, in the land of 1000 trades, there happens to be a major one down the road. The Business Studies department chose to visit IKEA because it is a fantastic institution for students to see what they study in the classroom come alive and gain face to face experience of the world of work. The IKEA business and community departments were fantastic in showcasing to our students how IKEA operates, what it’s like to work there and how employees work and succeed at IKEA. It was a tremendous week of visits that has allowed our students to see what it’s like to work at an institution that values culture and inclusion so highly and where more matters than the margins. However, much to Mr Conway’s chagrin, we regret to report that we returned with no Billy bookcases – but there’s always next year!

Mr Harvey

Business Studies students get sent to the shops

Over the 10^th to the 13^th of October, 109 Business Studies students, including me, were given an incredible opportunity to witness commerce in the real world, allowing us to comprehend how words in a textbook can be the foundation to earning millions if not billions of pounds for companies and an experience of the world of work.

Our school was able to arrange a trip to IKEA (the Swedish multinational conglomerate). As soon as we arrived in the car park, the blue and yellow building (based on the flag of Sweden) immediately stood out. As the pupils and I headed in, we were greeted by an IKEA employee who was a part of their marketing faculty, and she guided us into the room where we would receive talks about IKEA from employees of different departments. There was first an engaging quiz in which students could test their general knowledge of Sweden, leading to some hilarious answers! After the quiz, different videos were presented to depict how such a large company still had such a firm belief in community and togetherness by showing how much they care for their employees (e.g., by providing subsidised meals) and how they ran events in their local area to support residents. Crucially, students were also able to gain an understanding of the strict conditions products in development must meet like price, quality and function to go on sale. Constantly meeting these stringent requirements over the years in all their products allowed them to become such a remunerative organisation. Finally, the pupils and I were given a tour of the store where would visit sections like gaming and lighting. In this tour, we were given the chance to find sustainable products across the store and discuss them in a group to show how they benefitted the environment. Like all good times, the tour also came to an end and to cap off a rewarding and wonderful day out, students were given the opportunity to indulge in the hot dogs and meatballs available which most, thoroughly enjoyed!

With this deep insight into IKEA and how it functions, I believe that I have a firmer grip on the knowledge I have attained in Business Studies as I can see how the concepts come into fruition for real companies. It was great to see how employees entered the business, the routes they had up the organisation and the relentless commitment IKEA had to diversity and inclusion. It was fascinating to hear how IKEA don’t care about who or what you are but the skills and competencies you have and to hear this from employees who had worked their way up from the checkouts to management positions. Overall, it was a fantastic experience and was invaluable to learning more about entry into the world of work and how businesses operate in real life.

Shrey Kapoor 11H

We had an A level art trip to Market Harborough, travelling across the country to see how stained-glass windows are produced. We went to the place where our own stained-glass window is being made, crafted by hand, by a talented glazier named Derek Hunt. We learnt about the different techniques involved in the process including scoring, painting, heating, solidifying the paint (with a kiln), moulding with lead and soldering. The glazier had a special studio with masses of equipment, items such as brushes with hairs of a wide range of animals, home built light tables, kilns, hundreds of sheets of glass, and piles of lead used to join window sections together. Each section is cut out and painted individually. The trip overall was remarkably interesting and intriguing and seeing his home-built studio was extremely inspirational for us as A level Art students.

Joshua Roberts 13 HFI

We as Yr13 A level Art had gone on a trip to Market Harborough, Leicestershire, to observe and learn the processes which go into producing stain glass. We visited the workshop of Glazier, Derek Hunt. Mr Hunt is also the man currently responsible for creating the stained-glass window which will be installed later next year to commemorate the school’s 160^th Anniversary. Mr Hunt gave an extremely detailed overview about the steps and processes which are used to create a variety of different types of stained glass. This included explanations of techniques such as scoring, soldering, and also the importance of the kiln. The studio in which the visit took place housed an array of designs, prototypes, all one-off pieces which were commissioned from a variety of places like chapels and churches. We also had the opportunity to have a sneak peek at our own stain glass window, which he had made tremendous progress on. It was especially fascinating to finally understand the thought processes which go towards creating a final piece. I felt extremely privileged to visit his home-built studio and this was definitely inspirational for all art students that attended.

Gurgian Sohal 13HFI

On the 30^th of September, we had travelled to Leicestershire to go and visit glass artist, Derek Hunt, to view the stained-glass window being made for the 160^th anniversary, and to see his process. It was a very interesting experience because it covered areas of glass making I had never thought of before, for example the tools to cut glass precisely and the coating they used to make it weatherproof.

The whole studio was beautiful with all the different projects all being attended to at once, it really made me want to try it! It was an honour to be in the place where a lot of monumental projects once started and to see how it was made was the cherry on top. We even got to see the beginning of the stained-glass window for our school and as the light shone through the coloured glass it made me anticipate what the finished product will look like.

Cody Casals 13 HFI

On Friday the 30^th of September we went to Leicestershire to visit Derek Hunt’s studio. I went in not really knowing what to expect, it was in fact very interesting. We were briefed with the process on how he designs the windows in the same way artisans did centuries ago. The process of cutting the glass and painting designs on the pieces were the most fascinating as they involved chemical reactions and time-consuming processes, which I would have never expected. Personally, I found that the most engaging part of the process was the painting side as he could create watercolour splashes or different textures on the glass which I would have never expected to be possible or look as polished as they did. We also saw the unfinished window for the schools 160^th anniversary up close, the smaller details incorporated to show the schools development and aspects of modern society that have emerged over time. Overall, the trip was quite eye opening as it had transformed an art form I thought was quite simple into something that is complicated that I would be willing to try one day.

Callum Khan 13 HFI

The Year 7 Football Team started their school campaign on winning form with a 10-0 league victory against local rivals. The boys were excellent ambassadors for the school. Congratulations and the best of luck for the rest of the season.

I have been reflecting on the departure of Year 13 in the light of A Level Exams results day last month, as they move onto University and/or the world of work.

I left School once.

It was 1988 and perhaps the only thing upon which my teachers and I agreed was that it was time for me to go. Their collective lack of enthusiasm for the world depressed me. The staffroom oozed equal parts stale cigarette smoke and jaundiced sarcasm. Many of its inhabitants were already in mourning for the looming ban on corporal punishment (which sadly did not arrive in time to prevent some of my friends becoming acquainted with the cane of our Headmaster, a former Tennis champion who still had the forehand to prove it).

I probably deserved it; I was no angel. However, they mistook my boredom for a lack of ambition. “Simon will succeed in spite of himself” bemoaned one of my teachers on my final report. My English teacher always looked crestfallen when I arrived at the classroom door, upsetting an otherwise pristine and acquiescent row of students all eagerly thumbing their copies of ‘Jane Eyre’. If I was uninspired, it was at least in part because mediocrity and preserving the status quo were the order of the day.

Hence the spring in my step as I made the trek to the Careers Advisor’s office in those final months, proudly handing over my five-page, handwritten application to become an Air Traffic Controller. The counsellor was a tie-dyed refugee from the hippie Sixties, eccentric or enlightened (possibly both) and about as out-of-place in that School as I felt. Studiously, he read all about my enthusiasm for sitting in a darkened room looking at blips on a radar screen for the rest of my life. Then calmly proceeded to tear each page into small pieces. This was 1988, remember. No photocopiers in schools back then. The only copy of my ticket to the future was shredded to confetti before my eyes.

Instead, the bearded one slid a University prospectus about Teaching across the desk. It sat there between us like some cosmic joke. Akin to offering Nelson Mandela a chance to buy a holiday home on Robben Island on the day of his release. I am still not quite sure what happened next. Perhaps I had spent too long in my English class and some of the biddability had rubbed off on me. Or perhaps my teenage addiction to John le Carre spy novels got me thinking I could go undercover as a double-agent and bring down the system from within. Either way, rather than run screaming from the room, I took the prospectus. The next year, I effectively went back to school.

Thirty-four years later, and I have never left.

Nor once regretted that decision. Indeed, the highlight of those decades has been the ten years I have spent at HGS. Never have I known such a deep sense of privilege, nor been delivered daily so many moments that uplift me. The colleagues with whom I work are not just teachers, they are educators in the truest sense of the word. The students, simply inspiring.

As a consequence, I remain convinced that the so-called ‘Imposter Syndrome’ was coined in my honour. I still wake up most mornings expecting this will be the day that the Governors finally twig to the fact that they have handed stewardship of this illustrious institution to me by mistake, whose own schooling was lack lustre at best. How I got here remains a mystery to me; perhaps my teacher was right after all?

What I do know is that every day I have spent at HGS has brought fresh cause for gratitude. Maybe the biggest of my debts is owed to that long-haired, counter-culture counsellor, who once saw something I could not yet see in myself.

Be open-minded and be prepared to take a path less travelled than others might – you never know where it could lead you. At 18 I never thought I would be the Headmaster of Birmingham’s oldest Grammar School and be extremely proud, grateful and happy to be so! Food for thought.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and others.

Best wishes,

Dr Bird