The first X1 football team played against a HGS Old boys’ team on July 10^th to officially open the new “Ben Smolden Pavillion” and our new 3G pitch. Ben, a former pupil of the school and now a school governor, was there to open our superb facilities, and he and the spectators were treated to a keenly fought contest between a young and energetic school team playing against a more experienced and wiser Old Boys’ team.

In fact, it was experience which won the day, as the Old Boys’ secured a narrow 3-2 victory in a game which was played in a great spirit. The school team was then treated to some real Handsworth hospitality back at the HGS club hose, were they were able to see the second half of the France v Belgium world Cup semi – final.

Many thanks to Ben and to the Old Boys’ club for making the evening so enjoyable for the school players. Hopefully a number of the students will go on to become regular players for the club.

Eight of our finest sportsmen attended the opening day of Wimbledon 2018, along with Head of PE Mr Griffiths and Deputy Headteacher Mr Conway on Monday 2^nd July.

Wimbledon was certainly at its finest as the sun shone brightly and our pupils were able to see some of the world’s finest tennis players in close up, as well as experiencing the very unique atmosphere of Wimbledon.

Our group had seats on court 2 where, among other things, they saw a classic game between the French players Gael Mofils and Richard Gasquet. Our pupils also had the chance to take part in the Wimbledon “Play zone” where they were able to play some short tennis, and receive coaching.

This was a fantastic day out and as ever our pupils were a real credit to the school.

King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys enjoyed a wonderful set of LAMDA Examination results this summer. The students attained 7 Distinctions, 9 Merits and 2 Passes in their Acting and Public Speaking examinations. A special mention must go to Dylan Guiney-Bailey in Year 7 who scored 100 out of a possible 100 marks in his Grade 3 Acting examination and thus secured a Distinction overall!

Adam Hamzah Ahmed Grade 3 Public Speaking   MERIT

Adyan Ali Grade 3 Public Speaking  MERIT

Mustafa Jama  Grade 3 Public Speaking   PASS

Yahya Kiani Grade 4 Acting  MERIT

Troy Mukherjee Grade 5 Acting (Duo)  MERIT

Harry Blissitt  Grade 5 Acting (Duo) MERIT

Sachin La Grade 4 Acting  MERIT

Ryan Lewis  Grade 6 Acting (Duo) DISTINCTION

Talbir Singh Grade 6 Acting (Duo)  DISTINCTION

HridikPandey Grade 3 Acting  DISTINCTION

Parth Patel  Grade 4 Acting PASS

Arjun Sabherwa Grade 4 Acting  MERIT

Milan Sandhir Grade 5 Acting  MERIT

Dylan Sharma Grade 3 Public Speaking  MERIT

Edward Fox  Grade 3 Public Speaking  DISTINCTION

Neil Chakrabarti Grade 4 Public Speaking  DISTINCTION

Louis Stevens  Grade 3 Acting  DISTINCTION

Dylan Guiney-Bailey  Grade 3 Acting – 100/100 – DISTINCTION

Congratulations to all our students.

Ms Lewis

I was recently given the opportunity to take part in an interactive virtual reality session, where I, and some of my other classmates were able to use a Virtual Reality headset and controllers to participate in a competitive reaction game. We were also able to play Fifa 18 and Rocket League on Xbox one consoles.

The team of IT Specialists from OMG Gaming separated us into two groups, purple and yellow, for a bit of a friendly competition. The instructors kept a tally of the points we scored whilst playing a game of Fifa or Rocket League. Points were also earned from the VR game we played. At the end of the session, the instructors counted up the points for both teams and came to the conclusion that the Purple team had won.

When we were playing the games the atmosphere in the room was tense, however we thoroughly enjoyed the fully immersive, mind-blowing multiplayer VR experience. It was as if we were in a world of our own. It was lots of fun as many of us had never played on this system before and enjoyed the experience with friends in teams. We learnt that the gaming world has its own ‘language’ that they use and we used the cutting edge HTC-VIVE VR Systems. For most of us the VR experience was something new and exciting. The team also introduced the latest console games for us to play on Xbox One. It was both a competitive and co-operative experience. We had a great time and I would love to have more opportunities like this again.

Being a part of this session has motivated me to carry on working to my best ability at all times in the next academic year and achieving the most achievement points so that I can enjoy more exciting and fun activities like this VR experience.

Husnain Mahmood 7Nelson

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