Friday 11th July, thirty outstanding Year 7 pupils from Handsworth Grammar School were treated to an exciting rewards trip to Redpoint Climbing Centre in Birmingham. This special outing was a celebration of their exceptional conduct and achievements throughout the academic year.

Upon arrival, pupils enjoyed a relaxed lunch together before diving into a thrilling hour-and-a-half climbing session. With a variety of climbing walls to explore, everyone had the chance to challenge themselves, build confidence, and support one another in reaching new heights—literally!

The weather was perfect, adding to the vibrant atmosphere of the day. It was heartwarming to see pupils come out of their shells, encouraging each other and celebrating every accomplishment. Many expressed a keen interest in returning to Redpoint, either for future rewards trips or even during the summer holidays with family and friends.

This trip wasn’t just about climbing—it was about growth, teamwork, and celebrating the spirit of Handsworth Grammar School. The courage and enthusiasm shown by our Year 7 pupils were truly inspiring.

Thank you, Year 7! You’ve had a fantastic first year, and we couldn’t be prouder. Your hard work and positive attitude have set a brilliant example. We look forward to many more achievements and rewards experiences in the future. Stay motivated—there are plenty more opportunities ahead!

Enjoy your well-deserved summer break!

Mr Bansal

📸 Click here to view more photos in the gallery

HGS Student chosen to represent Team GB at the  Skopje 2025 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF)

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced the 54 athletes selected to represent Team GB at the Skopje 2025 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), and we couldn’t be prouder that Kaiden Hitchins, one of our students in Year 10, has been chosen to compete in the swimming.

The whole Handsworth Grammar School community is wishing him the best of luck for the Games, which run from the 20th – 26th July.  Team GB’s young athletes, all aged between 13 and 18, will compete in 10 of the 15 disciplines on the programme including artistic gymnastics, badminton, basketball 3×3, canoe slalom, judo, mountain bike, road cycling, swimming, table tennis and taekwondo.

This represents a tremendous achievement for Kaiden and is a testament to his dedication to 3.45am starts and training sessions in the depth of winter. We look forward to following Team GB’s progress but will be saving our loudest cheers for Kaiden!  #HGSCARES!

Former West Midlands Mayor and CEO of John Lewis, Sir Andy Street visited HGS on Thursday 3^rd July to speak to our GCSE Business Studies students.

Sir Andy gave an inspiring speech where he talked about his career starting on the shop floor of John Lewis in London and ascending to be the Managing Director of John Lewis. He told the boys that he had actually been rejected by Marks and Spencer before joining John Lewis and he also explained why the values of John Lewis suited him personally.

Sir Andy then took questions from the boys, and he said that he was most impressed by the quality of the questions.

Many thanks to Mr Harvey, Head of social Sciences for inviting Sir Andy to the school.

Mr Conway

Year 10’s inspirational journey through the world of business with Sir Andy Street began when he gave a brief yet very thorough introduction of John Lewis’s values and company structure. This helped us gain a very enriching experience in how an experimental company flourishes and succeeds in a modern business landscape. Not only was it very intriguing, but he also added elements of interactivity into it to keep us engaged throughout his talk. He made the speech very relevant for us by explaining the path he took when he was our age, such as his light-bulb moment with an economics teacher at a King Edwards VI school, and how we could apply it to our lives.

Sir Andy Street surprised us when he mentioned that John Lewis was not in fact his first choice, but rather as a social worker, despite having a Politics and Economics degree at Oxford University. However, he was rejected twice.

After 20 years of pure dedication, skill and passion, his hard work was recognised when he was appointed the Managing Director of John Lewis. However, the turbulent economic climate of 2008 meant that profits were falling, and urgent change was needed to help save the company from going underwater. His brilliant advertising schemes, such as the well-known Christmas ads, and his huge gamble on e-commerce helped boost company profits and employee satisfaction.

His career at John Lewis ended at the end of 2016 with a grand gesture of a 15% bonus for all employees, costing nearly £180 million for the company due to a massive windfall in profits. However, his journey was not complete. He wanted to give back to his community by running as the first Mayor of West Midlands, and his re-election was won by a landslide of 50,000 votes due to his ethos of trust and approachability.

We finally ended our session with some very thoughtful questions from the Year 10s. Through these, we learnt more about Andy Street as a role model, and his friendly approach was displayed as he ended his oration with a group selfie!

Sir Andy Street is always welcome at our school, and we would love to have him back again.

Jaskaran Virdi – Year 10

On July 1st an intrepid team of Year 9 students rolled up their sleeves and donned their chef’s whites to take part in a Guinness World Record Challenge organised by Jamie Oliver to have the largest cookery lesson ever take place.

Along with 15000 other young chefs in the UK, our Handsworth Team cooked home-made pasta and tomato sauce from scratch, following the recipe via the big screen and helped by Ms Hill and Mrs Jameson. The resulting dishes were truly impressive- delicious hand rolled pici pasta (like fat spaghetti) with a sauce of freshly chopped tomatoes, basil, olive oil and parmesan. Buon appetito!

It was fantastic to see the skills and co-operation of our young chefs as they brought their dishes to life. Well done to everyone who took part and to Ms Hill and our amazing DT department for giving our students the opportunity to take part in this challenge.