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Ambition Institute Appointment

Congratulations to Mr Conway who has been selected as a Visiting Fellow (Facilitator) for the NPQ programmes being delivered through the Arthur Terry Teaching School Hub, North Birmingham.

Visiting Fellows on the NPQ programmes

Visiting Fellows are integral to the implementation of the National Professional Qualification (NPQ) programmes to support participants to contextualise and make sense of the curriculum. Visiting Fellows will work directly with participants by facilitating conferences and clinics.
The following is a list of the requirements needed in order to become a Visiting Fellow at the Ambition Institute:

Be Qualified to teach in the UK (hold QTS)
Have experience of teacher education at school and/or MAT level
Holds, or has held, a relevant leadership role in a school
Has a track record of excellent teaching/leadership and delivering exceptional outcomes in a similar context of the schools they are supporting (e.g. pupils with low prior attainment or schools with above national average levels of pupil premium)
Has strong understanding of best practice in teaching and learning
Has a good understanding of, and commitment to, the relevant NPQ framework
Holds a commitment to engage in our quality assurance process and a drive to keep getting better.

We congratulate Mr Conway on his appointment and it builds on his extensive Mentoring portfolio, which has seen him work with aspiring teachers and leaders from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University and Newman University over the last decade.

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Senior Prefect Team 2021/2022

We are delighted to announce the appointments below. It was a very strong field with 75 applications in total. Our congratulations and best wishes to the Senior Prefect Team for 2021/22.

 

Head Prefect

Harikesh Murugan 12SCH

 

Deputy Prefects

Rohit Gill 12AKU

Joshua Stewart 12EHA

Juwairiya Walimia 12SCH

Cameron Nahl 12IBE

 

Chair of School Council

Nyrun Hargun 12DGR

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Curriculum Article Publication

Mr Dubay (Head of English) has recently had an article published in an educational journal – Curriculum Wide Newsletter. It focusses upon the effective delivery of the curriculum and the barriers that can exist which in turn prevent the best outcomes for students.

Please click on the link for more details.

https://www.curriculumwide.co.uk/issue/Jun_2021.html

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Focus on Education June 2021 No. 2

We have recently finished our assessment series for Years 11 and 13, and our students can now breathe a huge sigh of relief as we begin the grading process. They have prepared well and we have been impressed by their dedication and focus as they have sought to give the best account of themselves at the culmination of their courses. We have set Year 11 a series of Summer Tasks in readiness for their chosen A Level courses, which is an important aspect of their A Level preparation work. These are mandatory tasks and will prepare them well for A Level life as well as enabling them to effectively cope with Year 12 work and assessments. We have also provided them with some broader guidance on Sixth Form life such as Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Syed’s Bounce. Please encourage Year 11 to regularly check their Teams channel for support, resources and guidance. Please also encourage your son in Year 10 and Year 12 to check their Teams channel regularly as information and resources are being posted for them to help them catch up in readiness for their delayed Summer Exams, which will be held in September.

The good news from the Pearson’s 2021 Global Learner Survey is that young people may recover faster from the pandemic than previously thought. The survey polled more than 6,000 people globally, including a UK sample. It found that 80% of British university students had found new ways to be more resilient and self-sufficient, and that 57% felt they had grown as people. Parents of school-age children reported a similar trend, with 85% saying they were impressed by their child’s self-sufficiency and adaptability.

Although other surveys have unsurprisingly reflected loneliness and mental health concerns due to the disruption to education and long periods spent at home, the majority of students apparently feel they have become stronger and more empathetic. Parents have also noted their children’s resilience during months away from school and friends.

Some 68% of parents and students said they felt that the pandemic had caused people to be more caring and understanding. 83% of parents said that their children are more aware of the hardships other people face, and 64% expect that they will become more interested in social issues as a result.

It was often said earlier in the pandemic that the world should never be the same again and that we should learn lessons, emerging as more considerate human beings, making time to support our neighbours and to rebuild communities.

It has been a steep learning curve for all of us, and we shall benefit from some of the lessons learnt during the pandemic in order to mould our school development and values over the years ahead.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and each other.

Best wishes,

Dr Bird

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Tropical Fish Club – Week 8

Nitrogen cycle article written by Mubarak & Kiran 8N – 19/05/2021

This week in the Tropical Fish Club, we learned about how we care for fish tanks at home. We learned that keeping healthy fish means that we must first, keep healthy bacteria! We learnt about the nitrogen cycle and that we need a good understanding of this in-order to develop the tank the way that we want.

The Nitrogen Cycle is probably the most important thing for a tank to keep going. This cycle, maintains a healthy state in a tank; the cycle works like this:

When a fish gets rid of it’s waste it sinks to the bottom and starts to decay, like anything which has nutrition (this also includes uneaten food). This makes Ammonia which is really dangerous to fish and is lethal to them. Amongst other issues, ammonia can harm the gills of fish which will disrupt their method of taking in oxygen!

So our filter in the tank needs to be given the chance to develop a bacteria which can convert the ammonia into nitrites (NO2−). These nitrites are also deadly for fish though. When there is enough nitrite around in the tank, other bacteria will develop in our filter which will convert nitrites into nitrates (NO3-). Fish are able to cope with nitrates in the water, unlike ammonia and nitrites.
These nitrates are also very good for the plants, the plants will use these nitrates as a source of nitrogen for their growth (acting as a fertilizer). Having said this, too much nitrate can kill fish, which is why we must carry out regular water changes. This will reduce concentrations of nitrates weekly, so we will never reach toxic levels.

This means that bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrites, and nitrites to nitrates are very important to establish in our filters before adding any fish. We can do this by regularly adding fish food to fish tanks (without fish in) to begin to build up these bacteria within the running filter. Alternatively, we can add products into our tanks which contain these bacteria, such as the ones, kindly donated to us by API! They very kindly gave us some of these quick-start bottles which speed this process up! They also gave us some test kits which allows us to monitor the water chemistry in our aquarium. We would like to thank API for sending us so much equipment which will help us with our projects!

This has given us a lesson in patience, water chemistry and responsible pet care. This is going to be helpful in the future, especially for beginners like some of us in the club!

Mubarak DeSilva & Kiran Patel 8 Nelson

 

 

Week 9 & 10

Week 8

Week 7

Week 6

Week 5

Week 4

Easter

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

Introduction

 

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Tropical Fish Club – Week 7

12/05/2021

This week we managed to finally add some fish! The pupils had selected otocinclus catfish as one of their algae eating options in the tank and I had managed to pick up 8 of these for our tank. They were added to the tank on Tuesday and the acclimation process began straight away. The bag of fish was floated in the tank water to allow the temperatures of the water to match, and finally they were released into their new home. The light was kept off during this process to reduce stress levels.

Despite being quite small, they got to work straight away and we noticed that their belly’s were full. We also noticed that they are very elusive and like to stay at the back of the tank, hiding amongst the plants.

Pupils were also excited to be part of a virtual meeting with CO2 art this week! CO2 Art had kindly provided us with the equipment to inject carbon dioxide into our tank to boost plant growth (see week 4 article).

We caught up with John Mitchell and JP and updated them on how the project was going. They shared their fishkeeping experiences and gave plenty of useful advice. As well as asking questions regarding the hobby, pupils were keen to find out about operating a business, especially one which involves a hobby/passion.

JP and John were very thorough with their responses and gave pupils as much insight as they could in the time given. We value the shared experience and insight into fishkeeping/entrepreneurship. I think this is one of the truly great links tropical fish club has allowed us to build – one with passionate businesses and we look forward to learning more from their insights!

Mr Bansal

 

Week 9 & 10

Week 8

Week 7

Week 6

Week 5

Week 4

Easter

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

Introduction

 

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Year 10 Biology ‘Big Quiz’

The Biology ‘Big quiz 2021’, organised by the University of Birmingham, was held on Tuesday 18th May. This was the first year that we participated in the quiz. It would have been nice to have the opportunity to visit the University of Birmingham for the quiz; however, it was interesting taking part in the quiz using Zoom and Kahoot! Each round focused on a different area of the Biology curriculum, from ‘Biological molecules’ to ‘Micro-organisms’. There was also a keynote lecture about limnology (which is the study of inland water) and a specialist round about ‘Biology in the News’. This was a really interesting round as it allowed us to reflect on the pandemic. The quiz was yet another way to extend and challenge our brightest Year 10 Biologists. It challenged us to work together against 36 other teams from a range of schools. The HGS participants were:

Yousuf Burhani, Manav Talwar, Mohammed Yasin, Thevayan Navaratnam, Abdulrehman Shaker, Dylan Guiney-Bailey, Divyansh Salgotra, Luqman Ramzan, Ateeb Ilyas, Aqib Hussain and Balkaran Khalon.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and insightful experience. Personally, my favourite part of the event was an interview with a university student. I thought it was great that we were able to listen to a first-hand account of what it is like to study at university, and it gave us a ‘heads-up’ on what to expect. Overall, I enjoyed the challenge and we are grateful to the University of Birmingham for providing us with this opportunity.

Yousuf Burhani

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Year 9 Physics ‘Big Quiz’

This is an event we have entered on a number of occasions in the past, with a varying degree of success and having attained first place on two previous occasions.  In normal times, the quiz is held in Birmingham University’s Great Hall but, this year, it was hosted on Zoom (on Friday 21st May 2021), with students submitting their answers using Kahoot!, on which points are awarded not only for correct answers but for speed of response too.

Haisem Zeino writes: ‘There were 6 rounds, each on a different topic. These were ‘Electricity and Waves’, ‘Mechanics’, ‘Who am I?’, ‘What am I?’, ‘Temperature and Matter’ and ‘Medical Physics’. The ‘Medical Physics’ and ‘Who am I?’ rounds were worth double points. The quiz was split into two halves, with a break in between.  Before the second half started, however, Professor Mark Dennis, Head of Theoretical Physics at Birmingham University, gave an interesting lecture on Polarised light, during which we all learnt something new. 45 teams participated, all aiming for 1st place. The 12 HGS participants (in four teams of three) were:

Shoaib Mahmood, David Fadairo, Kai Dawkins, Rafae Ajaz, Haisem Zeino, Basel Ziyara, Shrey Kapoor, Jerin George, Erefti Abraham, Hardit Matharu, Eshaan Prabhakar and Haasin Ali.            

Well done to everyone. This was very exciting (and tense) for all of us!’ 

Teams from King’s School, Worcester, took an early lead in the quiz (and ultimately came first and second) but the podium places changed many times, including during the last round.  All four of our teams performed very well and we were particularly pleased that the team comprising Rafae, Haisem and Basel beat teams from King Edward’s Camp Hill and King Edward’s Aston to come third, having answered only two and three less answers correctly than second and first placed teams respectively.

Mr Jones

 

 

 

 

 

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British Physics Olympiad Junior Physics Challenge

All of our Year 10 students sat the two papers that make up this demanding online competition on Monday 17th May 2021.

Particular congratulations go to our Gold Certificate winners: Amar Aulakh (1st), Arshjeet Nagi (2nd), Aurel Axinte (3rd), Aqib Hussain, Yousuf Burhani, Balkaran Kahlon and Mustafa Jama.  In addition, 52 students achieved a Silver Award and 75 students a Bronze Award.  134 students (out of 150) thus attained one of the top three awards with, unfortunately, 7 of the remaining 16 students having technical issues which prevented them from accessing some of the questions.

Mr Jones

 

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Focus on Education June 2021 No. 1

I have always had mixed feelings about the term ‘human resources’. On the one hand, it recognises the importance of humans in an organisation, yet on the other, it aligns those humans with other more tangible and non-sentient resources at that organisation’s disposal.

There is no doubt in my mind that our staff are our most precious resource. As for any organisation, they are also by far our most expensive resource, and we aim at HGS to attract, develop and retain the best teachers for our students. The success and happiness of our community resides in the quality of relationships between its members, as well as in their commitment to common goals. The best teachers are not only inspiring pedagogues, but they also know and care for their charges as individuals – and this respect is then reciprocated.

There was no hesitation on the part of staff in March of last year when they were asked to run a virtual school, reinventing how they taught, delivered assemblies and co-curricular programmes and offered pastoral support. Some may found this more challenging than others, but our priority was to do our best for our students, whether at home or in school. We know that our parents too have had to adapt the way in which they work, and human resources support has rarely been more important!

Our teachers have been very focussed on assessing Years 11 and 13 as we gave them the opportunity to perform at their highest level before we move on immediately now after half-term to determine their GCSE and A level grades. This is no mean task; we have basically this year been given the work that examination boards normally do and, as you would expect, are determined to do the best job of it in our students’ best interests.

Those who are not teachers in schools are sometimes described as ‘non-teaching staff’ – which defines them by what they do not do! We call ours ‘support staff’ and they know that their role, often behind the scenes, is to lend their support to the common aim of giving our students the best possible start in life. They are every bit as important as anyone else on the team.

It remains a challenging time for many of us as we emerge from the pandemic. We are rewarded in schools by the enthusiasm of our students and by the knowledge that we are doing something meaningful and purposeful as we guide and support our young people through their own challenges – some of which have undoubtedly been accentuated by lockdown. My job as head is to get the best from my staff but also to do my best for them. A valued and happy staff results in happy children who learn to be both human and resourceful.

Stay well and safe.

Be kind to yourself and each other.

Dr Bird