On Friday 7th December, I and another nine Year 9 students went on a trip to Cherry Orchard Primary School to deliver a Physics session about light and its different colours. Mr Jones was kind enough to drop us off and Mrs Saleem and Mr Alishah helped out with the practical experiments. As soon as we walked in, we remembered our old primary school days – the playground and the classrooms and hardly any homework! We taught two Year 6 classes, both of whom were very intelligent. The children were split into 3 groups and we showed them the practical which they were amazed by. I was nervous at the beginning but everyone chipped in and explained to the students what we were there to do. I soon found myself relaxing in to the role of a teacher for the students. If you were wondering what the practical was, it was a light practical where we mixed colour filters and they predicted what colour would come out. For example, blue and red mixed together makes purple. Whenever a new colour came out, they gasped and were very intrigued. The children were so excited, especially when we took out the convex and concave lenses. The concave and convex lenses diverged or converged the light that came out of the lamp and the Year 6s had to guess which was which. At the end of the trip, I was feeling quite worn out and I couldn’t wait for Mr Jones to arrive in the minibus. Although I was tired, the trip was marvellous and everyone enjoyed it. I would like to say a thank you to Mr Jones, Mrs Saleem and Mr Alishah for helping out.

Rohan Mahmood, 9 Henry

Amaan Jahangir is holding an Art Exhibition next week between the 15th an 21st December between 12pm and 5pm.

The theme for this years House Photography Competition is Winter. We encourage all pupils and Staff to enter into the competition and win points for their House. All photo entries must be submitted via email including your name and form to photography@handsworth.bham.sch.uk by Friday 15th February 2019.

UCAS published its annual review of university admissions last week and found that the number of unconditional offers made by universities rose again last year to eighty-seven thousand five hundred. This means that the equivalent of thirty-four per cent of applicants received an unconditional offer in the 2017-2018 cycle. The government is concerned about the growth of unconditional offers and the potential impact these have on students taking A Levels. This latest report provides evidence that students with unconditional offers are more likely to underperform at A Level relative to their predicted grades. Students who hold unconditional offers would be wise to think about their long-term future; while a low set of grades may allow them to reach a university in a given year, a mixed academic profile may put them at a disadvantage in the competitive job market beyond it. Please click here to read more about this report on the BBC website.