Some of you will start a month of fasting for Ramadan on Saturday 2 April 2022 (subject to the sighting of the new moon).  This is, no doubt, a special time for you and your families.  It is great that you are showing such dedication to your faith and keeping hold of a traditional practice that many other faiths also recognise.  Part of the purpose of the month is to bring people and communities together, and we hope that the month brings you much happiness, benefit and increase.  Please do remember, however, that your commitment to school and your education needs also to continue.  To help you with this, a few practical tips/reminders follow:

• The longer day fasts will require you to go without food and drink for many hours. You must be best prepared for this by making sure you take something of good nutritional value in the pre-dawn meal before you close and make the intention to fast.  Cereals, yogurt, dates, wholemeal bread, vegetables, fresh fruit are amongst some of the healthy/slow release carbohydrate foods that will keep you satisfied for longer.
• Following on from this during the school day avoid running or standing around in the sun. Try to find some shade and occupy yourself in low energy activities.
• It is very important that you continue to come to school prepared to learn. Lessons will happen as normal.  Your teachers may make slight adjustments in some of the practical subjects for you but you should come fully prepared to take part with the correct equipment/kit.
• In the same way you must also wear the correct school uniform. Obviously if it is very hot, you may be allowed to take your blazers off, your form tutors will advise you about that.  However, some students during Ramadan feel that they need to wear mosque caps/hats.  We understand that this may be recommended at certain times/places but it is not a religious requirement for you to wear these in and around school.
• The real significance of this month is about self-discipline and working on improving your character. It is not just a case of going without food for long hours.  Working on honesty, truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, respect etc… are some of the positive character traits that become the focus of this month.  This is something that the school whole heartedly supports in its care values, and we hope that in some way we can all benefit from this.
• With the upcoming shorter nights, longer days and late-night prayers many of you will get less sleep than usual but you will still be expected to attend school punctually as normal. Therefore, some readjustment to your routine will be needed to help with this.  Like in some traditional cultures you should try to catch up on some sleep after school in order to re-energise for the rest of the day/fast.  It might take a few days for this to settle but it is a sensible way forward.
• It is also the case that many of you will be taking important internal exams/studies during Ramadan. While we wholeheartedly support your commitment to fasting, we also ask you to uphold the duty of taking your studies seriously – educational success is also something important to the religion of Islam.  During your school days, it is crucial that you develop a positive routine around fasting, prayers, revision and study.  Remember also if you are not feeling well then there is the chance of making up the fasts at a later date.  If you become unwell whilst you are fasting then you should end the fast by taking some water.
• In the event of hot weather, it is obviously important that you remain hydrated but without food or drink. This is a challenge which most of you will have experienced having fasted in previous years.  Small things like washing your hands with cold water, wiping over the face/head with cold water will help keep you cool.  This should be done at break and lunchtimes.
• If you are unwell and unable to attend school then you should follow the normal absence procedures. Ask your parents to phone the front office and inform them on the day about your circumstances preferably before 8:40am.
• Remember also that one of the strengths of HGS is the broad cultures and faith groups represented in both our student and staff populations. This is something quite special for the School.  So, while those of you who fast will need time/space to practice your faith please do remember that the Dining Hall will remain open and most people will continue to eat and drink throughout the day and they too will need time/space to do so!
• We ask students to do their prayers when they get home after school. You will have plenty of time to complete the afternoon prayer when you get home during the month of Ramadan.

We wish you a happy and prosperous Ramadan.  Do take some moments to reflect on the importance of peace and reconciliation for the globe especially in the current hostilities that we are seeing.  The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: “Shall I inform you of something that holds more weight than fasting, praying and giving charity? Making peace between people, for sowing dissension is calamitous.”

If you do have any further questions or comments then you are welcome to speak to Mr Mohammed (room 10).

Opening dialogue from “The Gangs of New York”
No son, never. The blood stays on the blade.
One day you’ll understand.
Some of it I have remembered.
And the rest I took from dreams.
On my challenge, by the ancient laws of combat…
…we are met at this chosen ground…
…to settle for good and all…
…who holds sway, over the Five Points.
Us Natives, born rightwise to this fine land….
…or the foreign hordes defiling it!
Under the ancient laws of combat,
I accept the challenge of the so-called Natives.
You plague our people at every turn
But from this day out, you shall plague us no more!

The above is the opening dialogue from a film called ‘The Gangs of New York.’ You may have seen it, but if you haven’t, it is set, as the name suggests, in New York in the mid-1800’s. The plot concerns a bitter feud between the poor Protestants of the ghettos, who had been born on Long Island, and newly arrived Irish immigrants, who were Catholic.

Yet the fighting wasn’t over their different religions, so much as the fact that the immigrants were taking over the low paid jobs of the locals (which all sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?). If you are going to watch it, I suppose in this day and age, I should issue a warning, as it is an extremely violent and bloody film. The gangs mentioned in the title are bands of young men who come from different neighbourhoods in the slums. Each has its own mottos and colours, rules and traditions, and they take up weapons and brawl in the streets against one another, often to the death.

They fight out of a sense of grievance, both sides believing the other is claiming something that is rightfully theirs. But there are also deeper motives at work. The exercise of loyalty and friendship. A shared sense of identity, of belonging. Plus, a thirst for excitement.

I can sort of understand that because I was in a sort of gang (more a band of brothers really) myself once. I say once, technically it was just for a single afternoon. When I was at school, in the Fourth Form to be precise. There was another school nearby who were our arch rivals. All of whom were filthy rich, stuck up, arrogant, entitled, and pathetic. Or so we believed. In truth, none of us had ever been there, or even met any of its students. But that is how discrimination and intolerance is born, I suppose. Out of ignorance.

Anyway, one day word reached our ears that the boys from this other school had challenged our school to a huge fight. They had supposedly called us all sorts of names, none of which I can repeat here today. Suffice to say, our honour was at stake. Vengeance was called for. And so, our sort of gang was formed. Not ever having been to a street brawl before, none of us really knew quite what was required. The fight was scheduled for after school on a Thursday. So, we set off for the local park, where hostilities were supposed to take place.

I remember feeling a bit scared; the only fights I had been in up to then were with my brothers, and they usually ended when our mother appeared. But I also clearly remember those sensations I referred to earlier.

A sense of righteousness. How dare they belittle my school? And loyalty. I was pumped up, keen to defend my mates, to fight for our collective honour. And, if I am honest, a little bit of adventure. A break from our normal boring afternoons.

So, there we were. A sort of street gang/band of brothers. And like any swelling crowd, we hyped each other up, feeding of the bravado of the mob. We were going to teach our enemy a lesson. Into the park we poured, waving our arms and chanting. Bent on violence without really knowing why. Convinced of our superiority and how just our cause was. Into the park, that was empty. Empty, except for one lone police officer, who was sitting on the bonnet of his car eating a sandwich. “Ah, boys” he smiled. “Heard you might have been coming. What are you up to now?” A bit of panic and confusion amongst us, and then one of my more quick-thinking mates piped up, “We’ve got Cricket practice, Officer.” “Oh. Really?” said the policeman. Caught red handed!

I don’t want to relive the humiliation that followed afterwards. Let’s just say that the trouble we got into at school the next day was only eclipsed by what happened when the policeman delivered us back to our parents.

Years later, I met a guy who had gone to that ‘other’ school in the same year of the great fight that never happened. He too remembered the incident, but in his version, it was my school that had supposedly been the aggressor. My mates who had abused his fellow students. Us who challenged them to fight. It would seem that neither side actually knew anything other than rumour and speculation.

It also turned out that he wasn’t an obnoxious person either. And he kindly admitted that I didn’t seem to be one of the ignorant heathens he had been told went to my school. It is probably a good thing our two sort of gangs never did arrive in the same place that day, as I doubt we would have recognised the enemy when we saw them.

Gangs, tribes, extended families, sports teams and their supporters, political parties, religious groups, ethnicities, armies, whole states, entire nations; there are no end of groups in the world for people to align themselves with. Nothing wrong with that, we are social creatures, made to bond with each other. But each of us is a sovereign individual too. We aren’t always bound by all that a group demands, and we aren’t personally responsible for everything that it does.

Loyalty and allegiance have a part to play in our lives, but so too does independent thought and personal values. I raise that here because I believe it is very important to encourage our students to think for themselves about issues of conflict. To be able to discern when you support the views of a group to which you feel you belong, and when you disagree. To know when to stand in solidarity with “your” people, and when to stand apart.

There is no shortage of strife in the world today, and much of it often seems to be on the verge of erupting into violence. Religious divides, like those portrayed in ‘The Gangs of New York’, still simmer. A few weeks ago, saw the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a dark day in the Troubles in Northern Island. Atrocities are still committed in many other countries today in the name of religion. The US is still counting the cost of the insurrection that saw thousands of people storm the Capitol Building last year. Death, injury and destruction in the name of politics.

And street gangs still exist of course, in New York and in every major city on the planet. You only have to look at the appalling statistics for knife crime in the UK to know that sort of brutality of tribal violence continues even on our doorstep.

Violence doesn’t have to involve death or injury either. Over the pandemic years, we have witnessed disruption and destruction of property from other groups who have banded together over a shared belief. Statues toppled, monuments defaced, motorways brought to a standstill by protestors gluing themselves to the road.

Then of course, there are the biggest gangs of all; entire nations squaring up to each other. Tensions rising between China and Hong Kong. Today, the awful spectre of war in Ukraine and the atrocities that are taking place as a result of the Russian invasion.

Many of you will feel a connection to some of those groups I just named. Fans of particular Sports teams. Protest movements whose aims you support. Political parties. Religions. Your own nationality. My point is that whilst it is perfectly normal to share a belief, or claim an allegiance, with any group, that does not mean you have to own all that is done in its name.

Whether it is naïve schoolboys or entire armies with ballistic missiles, violence never achieves its aims and you don’t have to condone it, even if you support those aims yourself.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and others.

Best wishes,

Dr Bird

Congratulations to the students below who sat their LAMDA exams in December 2021 which have produced some fantastic results.

Congratulations to the Year 7 Football Team on their victory in the Aston Schools Cup Semi-Final (8-1). They will now go on to play in the final on Monday 14^th March, held at Hollyfields Centre Club. We wish them the best of luck.