Congratulations to Ex-HGS student Peter Oldham who was awarded a MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to Scouting in the West Midlands. Peter is the County Vice president for Tame Valley Birmingham Scouts.
Congratulations to Ex-HGS student Alpesh Chauhan on being awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts in the New Year’s Honours List. Alpesh is currently Birmingham’s Opera’s Music Director. To read more on this, please click the following link:
https://www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/midlands-business-leaders-recognised-new-22615264
Dear All at Handsworth Grammar School,
We would like to say a huge Thank You to your staff and students, for your Christmas donation of 656.6kg of food to the B30 Foodbank and as a token of our gratitude, I am attaching a Certificate of Appreciation which I am hoping you will be able to print out and display where those who contributed can see it.
We hope that you have had a successful term, and have all managed to stay fit and healthy. As you can imagine, this year has been a huge challenge for us, as many local families have found themselves in crisis for a huge variety of reasons, including many whose lives have been affected by the fallout from the Covid pandemic.
These past two weeks have been our busiest of the whole year and in that fortnight alone we have given out 7110kg of food to 460 people, (helping 204 families), so you can see just how grateful we are for all donations. It is solely down to the kindness and generosity of donors such as yourselves, that we are able to help bring a little relief by providing enough food to make 3 meals a day per person, for three days. So, on behalf of all the B30 Foodbank volunteers and more importantly, all our clients, we say once again a resounding, heartfelt Thank you!
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy and restful festive season , so that you are ready to start the new term full of energy and enthusiasm.
Kind regards
(On behalf of the B30 Foodbank Volunteer Team)
The Trussell Trust collected our Foodbank donations this morning. Many thanks to Ms Brown and her Form for coordinating our 2021 Foodbank Campaign. Thank you to everyone who donated – your contributions will have a positive impact on many families in Birmingham this Christmas.
Sport has always been my biggest interest. I have been playing sport from a very young age, starting football at the age of three and cricket at the age of six, I even attempted judo, badminton and basketball to name a few. My family are huge cricket fans and they themselves have represented at local, regional and county level. I was always keen to follow in their footsteps with my love for the sport as well. Hence, I grew up watching cricket whether it was on TV or at Edgbaston cricket ground going to watch India and England international matches.
I began playing at Old Hill Cricket Club, five years ago in the under 10’s team, quickly progressing to play for under 12s, 13’s and currently playing for under 14s. My cricketing ability has enabled me to play for other clubs too such as Dartmouth Cricket Club and recently playing adult cricket with Wolverhampton Asian Sports, which is a great experience and most importantly, I am managing to hold my own against adult players.
Three years ago, Old Hill put me forward for trials at Worcestershire County Cricket Club. After a morning of challenging tasks and activities, my hard work finally paid off and Worcestershire County Cricket Club selected me for their Youth Academy. This was a fantastic achievement for me and made me and my family extremely proud as well as giving my friends a lot of inspiration.
Juggling two sports as well as my education has always been challenging. However, I know these sports are good for me both physically and mentally keeping me fit and as well as being enjoyable, I learn so many other different aspects such as team building, leading and increasing my confidence.
Captaining teams has really helped me to work together better and also become more assured in my leadership. Now I listen to other people’s opinions and try to understand their point of view which benefits the team as a whole.
All was good, until the pandemic started, and my normal routine became even more difficult: My daily timetable was work, train, eat, sleep and repeat. Balancing my time between school and cricket was hard, my county was adamant that the pandemic was not going to hinder our training and practice and even though we couldn’t meet face to face they provided regular exercises and activities to complete at home, to continue our learning. This included obstacle courses, batting, fielding and bowling exercises in addition to online learning. This was a different experience for me but fun at the same time as I enjoyed training and playing the game I love, although I was eager to get back on the field and play with my team again.
During this time, I began studying for my 11+ which was also difficult as I was home schooling and training. Fortunately, I managed to undertake all the tasks and when the news was finally announced about the place at King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School, I was ecstatic. However, I knew this also meant it would get even harder juggling my education and sport, but when you are trying to accomplish a goal, there are no obstacles or hurdles!
Gaining a place in Worcester’s Youth Academy does mean I have to continue to retrial every year to ensure I maintain my place and I pleased to say for the last 2 years I have been doing this successfully. I am looking forward to Christmas before my busy weekly training schedule begins on Sunday mornings from January-April to get ready for the upcoming cricket season in the summer.
Many say that the tasks I do at a young age are outstanding and they are amazed at of what I have accomplished. At times, even though I feel drained, I think about all my achievements and listen to my coaches, which keeps me motivated, makes me work even harder and achieve significant things.
I hope the future brings me more successes in cricket and other sports as well as successful academic achievements too.
Milan Patel (7W)
As part of the Enrichment Day activities on Tuesday 7th December 2021, Year 8s participated in a ‘CSI Day’. Some reflections of 8G:
“CSI Day was a great day; we had to solve the mystery of who killed Mr Kafai…”
“We carried out a series of experiments involving chromatography, fingerprint analysis, pH tests (on poisons), flame tests, blood spatter and microscopy…”
“It was very entertaining but also educating…”
“Helping others to get their footprints was the best part of the day…”
Anoop’s (8A) theory about what happened is:
“I think that Mr Jones, Mr Mohsin, Mr Alishah and Mr Kafai were playing blackjack but Mr Mohsin and Mr Alishah left early; therefore there was a fingerprint belonging to Mr Mohsin and a footprint belonging to Mr Alishah at the crime scene. Mr Jones and Mr Kafai played late into the night, and as they were getting hungry and thirsty Mr Jones got them some food and a drink each. However, as Mr Jones was losing and there was a lot at stake (there was money on the table) he poisoned the food and drink – this is clear from our flame and pH tests. There is evidence that they both had the same thing to eat as when we tested their stomach contents, we found starch and glucose in both. In the drink, there was methanol, and the white powder was lithium carbonate. I think they were doing dares after each round. To show Mr Jones was really the main suspect, we tested fibres from the suspects and matched them with the crime scene sample; Mr Jones’s clothing was similar. Finally, there was a low velocity blood splatter, and Mr Jones has a gun in his laboratory which he uses in an A level Physics lesson. He did not fire the gun, as the blood splatter would be a high velocity one; therefore I believe Mr Jones hit Mr Kafai with the gun and the placed it in his hand. He did this in case the poison didn’t work and also to make it look like he committed suicide. There is further proof Mr Jones faked Mr Kafai’s suicide as there was a suicide note left under the table. All of this evidence suggests it was Mr Jones and he tried to make it look like suicide”.
8H’s theory is:
“This is an apple.
Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana.
They might scream “Banana, banana, banana” over and over and over again.
They might put BANANA all in capital letters.
You might even start to believe that this is a banana.
But it’s not.
This is an apple.” TV commercial.
But you never know. Or do you?
Those of you who have read George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 might recall how the totalitarian government controlled its citizens by using “doublethink”, a type of brainwashing that got people to believe things that were contradictory and untrue by relentlessly bombarding them with misinformation.
There is no question that George Orwell invented “fake news” long before Donald Trump did. And that was years before social media was even dreamt of. Back then, during Orwell’s lifetime, the fear was that people would come to believe lies told to them through official news media channels. Today, of course, the internet is awash with a million other places where a reader can be tricked or converted, even radicalized.
The web has also become an incubator for conspiracy theories. And not just the age-old crackpot ones.
• The Moon landing was faked
• 9/11 was actually done by the CIA
• 5G towers cause coronavirus
• The world is run by a powerful group of shape-shifting lizards called the Illuminati
At least they are laughable enough to considered unlikely by most normal people. Perhaps more worryingly though, the echo chambers of the internet can spawn and spread smaller, but equally untrue, myths and misunderstandings. Not so much about grand evil plots. More like urban legends. Stories that sound like they could be true, but actually are not. There are countless sites designed to draw people in with seemingly credible “news”, but which then take them down a rabbit hole to increasingly unhinged notions and theories.
Facebook groups dedicated to sharing those stories that “the authorities don’t want you to know.” Whatsapp and Twitter and Tik Tok posts, all seductive in their proposition that you are hearing or seeing the “actual story” through them, without having to believe more reputable media who rather inconveniently have to be able to prove the things they say. Or worse still, without having to do any proper research yourself.
Case in point. Last year, a man won a large amount of money from a lottery in South Africa. It was a nationwide lottery, just like you see in most countries in the world. Go to a local store, chose six numbers, pay for your ticket, then wait for the live draw on TV next week. So far, so ordinary.
Except that when the numbers were read out, this man won with the numbers: five, six, seven, eight, nine, and – you guessed it – ten. In that order. To which the whole of South Africa said, “You what?”
In fact, thanks to the speed and the reach of the internet, the whole world was soon saying “You what?”. “That’s not possible – it was a set up” they screamed in the blogs. “Conspiracy – the draw was rigged.” the Facebook forums cried. “Impossible – what are the odds?” trended on Twitter. Well, good question.
Thankfully, none of you are foolish enough to fall for the notion that it was a fraud or a conspiracy, because you all paid attention in Maths classes at HGS. Therefore, you know that, in fact, the odds on that sequence of numbers are no different than any other six numbers being drawn in any other order.
“What are the odds?” asked those outraged keyboard warriors. Well, the chance of any particular number being drawn is one in 40, so the chance of any six specific numbers being drawn is one in 40 to the power of six. Or a little over one in 3.8 million.
Sounds a lot, but in fact it is exactly the same chance as any other set of six numbers coming up. No set is more probable or improbable than any other. The apparent significance of 5,6,7,8,9,10 lies in our perception of those numbers, not in the numbers themselves.
Yet thousands of people were happy to ignore their own common sense and chose to swallow a bit of doublethink instead. “I saw it on the web, so it must be true.”
Even if you are not particularly mathematically minded (like me), surely the fact that the numbers were so obvious would have made you a little suspicious about the rigged lottery theory. Which cunning mastermind criminal would have drawn attention to themselves like that? Stopping for a moment to consider the likelihood of that, to perhaps even remember a bit of what you learned in probability classes, would have saved embarrassment.
Here in the UK, the Royal Society is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. Founded in 1660 by King Charles II to promote science and its benefits. It also educates and engages the public in scientific knowledge. The Royal Society’s Latin motto is ‘Nullius in verba’. Meaning, ‘take nobody’s word for it’. Put another way, rely on evidence to make decisions. Preferably evidence that you have uncovered.
I am not anti the internet, of course I am not. It is arguably the greatest research tool that human beings have ever created. But it is not the only research tool, and it is most certainly NOT filled exclusively with facts and truth. Before he died in 1973, Pablo Picasso was once offered what was then a miraculous invention, a new-fangled device called a computer. But he rejected the offer, saying “Computers are useless – all they can give me is answers.” He meant, I think, that you should learn to question properly before you passively accept what is presented to you as the ‘only’ answer.
What every member of staff at HGS is trying to teach you while you are here, is to think for yourselves. Of course, your opinions and beliefs will be influenced by what you read online. But be judicious. ‘Nullius in verba’. Take no one person’s word for it. Especially if they tell you again and again and again, with All CAPS and lots of exclamation marks. Allow your intelligence, your intuition and your common sense, to assess what you are being told, before you accept it.
The next time the internet tells you something is a banana, don’t assume it so just because it is online. Instead, use your excellent HGS education and do a little taste test of your own.
Food for thought.
Stay well and safe.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Best wishes,
Dr Bird
The Year 9 Basketball team had a baptism of fire in a full scale practice match played against our year 10 team on Thursday December 9th.
This was their first ever school match, and the boys learnt some tough lessons from their older and more experienced opponents, in a game which was played in tremendous spirit by both teams.
The year 10 team won by 46 – 12 but our year 9 team showed great spirit and enthusiasm.
Well done to all of the boys who played.
The photo shows both teams together at the end of the game, with the year 10 team in pink bibs.
Mr Conway
Many congratulations to the ninety-eight pupils across all key stages in the Computing and Multimedia department who have now qualified for the next round of the Oxford University Computing Challenge. They have been invited by Professor Peter Millican of Hertford College Oxford to produce a programmed solution to computational thinking problems. Students achieved a top 10% score to earn their place in the next round, starting on February 7th 2022. All are now studying additional modules on programming and algorithmic thinking. Honourable mentions go to Jack Ward, Daniel Soffe, Annam Anis and Ashkon Larmour who achieved best across the school scores in each category.
