King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys held its annual Remembrance Assembly in Big School on Friday 6^th November 2020. This year we held our Remembrance Assembly remotely and streamed the service via YouTube. We were not able to welcome our usual Governors, Charity Trustees and Old Boys to mark the occasion and share in this significant and important annual event due to social distancing restrictions. However, the Reverend Dr Bob Stephen who is Chair of the Governing Body and Rector of Handsworth was able to lead the act of Remembrance. The Headmaster delivered a very timely and thought provoking address which highlighted the necessity to work towards peace in all we do. He highlighted that important facets of life such as showing respect and tolerance of each other, being kind and compassionate and celebrating our differences are all highly significant steps on the road to peace. He emphasised the need for the values of peace, freedom and hope in all we do as well as focusing upon the themes of unity and compassion.

The Senior Prefects, Jasbinder Singh and Grace Roberts took an active part in the Assembly by reading poems and reflections and they each laid a wreath at the stained glass window to commemorate the School and the Bridge Trust Society. It was a very special event and a fitting tribute to the Old Boys whose names are listed on the memorial plaques in Big School despite the current restrictions due to the pandemic.

Haec Olim Meminisse Iuvabit

We are launching our collection for the Trussell Trust Foodbank slightly earlier this year due to the extremely high demand across Birmingham (and indeed across the country) for donations of food due to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on families and their communities. Please give as generously as you can.

Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust Foodbanks provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK and specifically in Birmingham.

Over 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.

Foodbanks feed some 1,200,000 people nationwide. Of those helped, approximately 500,000 are children.

At HGS we can do something to help, if every student in the school brings in just one item we will be able to donate more than a 1,000 items to the Trussell Trust’s FoodBank in Birmingham.

Tins and packets are the best items to donate. Please see the list below for ideas about what to donate.

We will be collecting items as above from Monday 30th November 2020 until Wednesday 16th December 2020.

Please bring your donations to your Form Tutor or to Ms Brown in Room 3.  Please give as generously as you can.

We can make a real difference and be a force for good by working together to help other people who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Thank you.

Our Sixth Form Application Forms are now available.

Please click here for more information on how to apply.

Please click here for the external application form.

Please click here for the internal application form.

Please note that you will need to log in using your school supplied email address for the internal application.

It is hard for all of us now to focus on anything other than the ‘here and now’, so intense is our preoccupation with the daily news and how that affects our working and family lives. Whereas in the spring, the weather was beautiful and there was a real sense that together we could make sacrifices to defeat the virus, we now find ourselves filled with uncertainty over where our world is heading. Therefore, it is important for our young people to know that these troubled times will pass and that we have faith in a brighter future.

At school-level, we want to do our best to ensure the safe operation of our community and the happy progress of students, whilst being sensitive to their current anxieties. We want our students to feel happy and safe. Yet we also continue to plan ahead, with our eyes on the end-goal: to provide the best possible preparation in life for our students. Moreover, because life is ever-changing, a good school will forever be considering how it might do things slightly differently or better – hence the importance of our School Development Plan, Department Developments Plans, Covid Recovery Plans, Catch Up Premium Timetables, and our move to Blended Learning and Remote Learning.

We know, however, that happiness is not guaranteed and that none of us can claim to be happy every day of our lives. Life comes with its vicissitudes, and we do our best as teachers and parents to prepare our children for inevitable challenges, whilst also supporting them when things do not go to plan. Above all, we want them to feel fulfilled: content with their lot in life, believing in themselves and knowing that their contribution is both valuable and valued. True fulfilment runs much deeper than happiness.

I am generally a positive person and I have heard it said that ‘relentless optimism’ has been a much-needed quality for headmasters over the last few months! I think we probably all need a dose of that now as we wonder where our world is heading. So, as we look to our children and to the rays of sunshine they bring us even on colder and wetter days, we continue positively and resolutely on, in the hope and confidence that better days lie ahead.