Focus on Education

It is not uncommon for students to want to listen to music while they try to revise but this comes at a significant cost. A recent study found that students who revised in quiet environments performed sixty per cent better in an exam than their peers who revised while listening to music that had lyrics. Listening to music without lyrics was less detrimental but the optimal environment was to revise in silence. Students would be well advised to take scheduled short music breaks between working rather than trying to revise and listen at the same time. Please click here to read an article in the Guardian about this, and click here to access the original study.

Year 7 Football Aston Cup Final

Going into the game we had recently won the Aston league, with the chance to go undefeated so our confidence was up.  The game started pretty evenly with both sides having a chance until we broke the deadlock with Adam Ahmed scoring first.  Shortly after that first goal there was a second from Gavin Shergill putting us in a comfortable position at 2-0 up.  The next goal once again came from Gavin Shergill more or less claiming the game.  It was coming up to half time when Corey Wainwright was fouled leaving us with an opportunity to go into the half 4-0 up. This free kick was then scored by Zane Baker (35 yard screamer) taking us into the half 4-0 up. At this point the game was basically ours, but nevertheless we still wanted more goals and that’s what came.  Nigel Agboola scoring a goal to make the scoreline 5-0.  It was coming to near the end of the match now with the cup in sight and then with one minute left, the game was surely won when Ateeb Ilyas finished the game off with a headed goal.  As a result of winning this game we now progress to the Champions Cup Final where we play the winner of the Erdington cup [John Wilmot] and we hopefully will put our name on another trophy! 

 

Zane Baker 7G

 

Shape of the Day

From September 2018 there will be a very minor change to the shape of the School Day. Mid-morning break will be extended by 10 minutes to make it a 30 minute break. The end of the School Day will finish 10 minutes later at 3:05. All other timings, including the start of the day, lessons and lunch break and so on will remain exactly the same. This is to enable us to provide a flexible, broad and balanced curriculum based on a two-week timetable.

Instrumental Progress Evening

50 boys, mostly from years 7 and 8, participated in the annual Instrumental Progress Evening on Thursday 15th March . The concert is designed to showcase the students who are beginners or in their first few years of study. The boys performed to an audience of over 100. We heard solos from Simeon Tinley (piano),  Hasnain Jafar (recorder), Keir Msuya (clarinet) and Max Rueff (trumpet), and the Year 7 Guitar Ensemble, Junior Guitar Ensemble and Year 7 Keyboard Ensemble provided a range of pieces from classical to popular.

 

 

 

Focus on Education

We have become accustomed to international comparisons of the academic performance of students and school systems, but last week saw the publication of a new perspective on education: the global parents’ survey. The survey by the Varkey Foundation examined the responses of twenty-seven thousand, five hundred parents across the world on matters relating to their children’s education. The BBC summarised the findings in this article, emphasising that UK parents strongly valued the quality of their children’s teachers and that they are likely to spend less time supporting children with homework when compared to parents in other countries. Please click here to read the full report.

UKMT Maths Circle Review

We visited Aston University for an educational event that would broaden our mathematical perception and allow us to explore different avenues within mathematics. This event was split up into 2 days of focus and here is the summary…

Thursday:

This first day was great with us messing around with shapes and defining algebra as an essential translating language in mathematics. We started off the day by attempting a mathematical crossword (or number) puzzle which integrated all types of numbers from perfect to triangular and factors to multiples. We then moved on with the first of 4 people who were to try and explain to us their love of maths. We began with a series of complex problems that could be solved easily with clever implementation of algebra. We were taught how we needed to use algebra as a “mathematical language” and translate the problem through its means.

Followed by a short break we explored how problem solving becomes much easier when the same problem can be explored in different ways. We were given 4 different problems like dyck paths and mountain making which had the same solutions. On inspection we saw how those seemingly different problems were the same! We then moved onto the second part of the day focused on geometry. We explored unique shapes like the Reuleaux Triangle and how these shapes are able to maintain the same width all around with the exception of a non-fixed centre. This was followed by the last on how shapes are related almost in a family tree eg. a rectangle can be a square, but a square cannot be a rectangle. By exploring several different properties of quadrilaterals, we were able to seek out these connections which may usually be overlooked in school curriculum. The course of the first day really unlocked some of the ideas around mathematical interpretations and set us up for a whole new day to follow!

 

 

Friday:

Another day waiting to be explored. This day was going to include a lot more puzzling uses of mathematics. As a starter, we were given a code cracking task, where each letter represented another. Our first thought was to spot out repeated letters or groups of letters, which corresponded to other common letters. Through this, we were able to figure out the code representative for ‘THE’, which allowed us to complete much more of the code. Five minutes, and a load of trial and error later, we managed to crack the code. Our next task was to come up with the largest possible number that could be written on paper in 2 minutes. The lecturer acknowledged a variety of methods we could have used, ranking them, with the most efficient using iterations.

After the fifteen-minute break, we moved onto the midpoint theorem. Using the information obtained from the previous day, we proved a list of geometric statements, through the means of logic and angle rules. The next activity was probably the most exciting, where we explored how Tetris pieces, Candy Crush and hydrocarbon molecules were all linked. This was because of the finite ways of connecting a certain number of items. The final task was calculating the amount of ways to travel from one grid square to another, being limited to moving just right and down. To wrap the day up, we filled in feedback sheets and gave a round of applause to everyone.

Overall our perspective on this subject has widened, exploring the multiple ways maths is used in day-to-day life as well as more theoretical ideas.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Maths department and especially Miss Drage for arranging this great trip and ultimately a wonderful learning experience.

Thank you!

By: Jasbinderbir Singh & Yusuf Sakhawat

 

Year 7 Football News

Congratulations to the Year 7 Football Team who came from behind to beat Perry Beeches City Academy 5-3 in a thrilling Semi-Final match of the Aston Cup. The boys will go on to play St John Wall in the final next week! We wish them the very best of luck.

GCSE ‘Science Live’

On 27th February, a group of Year 10 students went to Symphony Hall and heard a serious of lectures about different science topics. There was also a lecture given by a Senior Examiner who told us the correct way to answer questions and what the command words mean in a question.

The first lecture was given by Dr. Kate Lancaster. She is a physicist who works with laser driven fusion. Her lecture was about how nuclear fusion works, and how it could solve the energy crisis. Fusion is the process which powers stars. On earth, by fusing two types of hydrogen called tritium and deuterium, we get the products of helium, neutrons and a lot of energy. However, for them to fuse, they need to be heated to 100 million kelvin. This temperature causes the fuel to turn into plasma, a 4th state of matter. The problem with this is that this process of fusion needs to be done without touching it. There are two ways to effect this: Magnetic Confinement Fusion, where the plasma ‘levitates’ in a donut shaped chamber called a Tokamak. There is also Inertial Confinement Fusion, which uses high power lasers to compress the hydrogen into a high-density pellet. Some advantages of fusion are no emissions, fuel is abundant and there are no long lived radioactive waste.

The second lecture was given by Professor Steve Jones. He is a Professor of Genetics at University College London. He talked about the human characteristics and whether they are effected by the environment or whether we are born with them. He explained that in the past, we used to be killed by external agents i.e. filthy air, starvation, etc. We are now commonly killed by internal agents like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. They are all heritable (passed down from genes) which are made up of DNA. There is enough DNA in one single human to stretch to the moon and back 8,000 times. He gave the example of obesity, a threat to humans in the modern world. Fat people may reduce weight by going on a diet, an environmental effect to get a normal body weight. But people may be born with too much of a hormone called leptin, leading them not to ever be fat, a genetic effect. He talked about the concept of ‘Nature vs. Nurture’, a concept relating to this example.

The third lecture was given by Professor Lord Robert Winston. He is a biologist and studies reproductive and developmental biology, and pioneered IVF treatment. He talked about the reproductive system and how fertility occurs. He showed the path of an egg and how it travels through the fallopian tubes and the defences it uses to ward off external threats, including sperm cells. He also talked about the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which is when you examine an embryo and remove any disorders it may have. He is now studying trans genetic technology, which uses equipment to alter the genome of a species and make it better.

The fourth lecture was by an examiner and he told us how the GCSEs of 2018 have changed and what the examiner is looking for when they mark your paper. He explained there is slightly less emphasis on recall and more on application, more work on practical work and longer papers with more marks as there is now no coursework. It was also explained on how to revise with some techniques. You should discipline yourself by making a timetable and not to procrastinate. Be ready to adapt. Use past papers constantly. Get enough sleep and rest. The day before the exam, we should check what equipment is needed, relax and not revise all night.

The fifth lecture was given by Professor Lucie Green. She is a solar researcher and studies the sun at University College London. Her lecture was about the sun and the atmosphere around the sun.

The sixth and last lecture was by Professor Andrea Sella, a synthetic chemist from UCL. In his lecture, he showed that ice floats in water, and is the only substance to do so. The density of ice is actually lower than liquid ice (water). He explained that the reason we put ice in drinks is not to cool it down, but to actually maintain a constant temperature while you drink. The ice absorbs the energy from the drink and does not let it warm up to room temperature. He then talked about the melting point of water, and that it changes depending on pressure. On the surface of the earth, where the pressure is 1 atmosphere, the melting point would be 0oC. But as you increase altitude, the pressure would decrease, changing the melting point. This can be seen by the graph below.

 

Andrea finally explained how ice on earth found at the poles and mountains should be contained. This is because it keeps the temperature of the earth constant, and if the ice was to melt, the earth would not only have higher sea levels, but will warm up quicker.

 

Syed Ali, Year 10

Young Writers Competition

Handsworth Grammar School have been entering the Young Writers Mini Saga competition for a number of years now. This year’s theme, “Stranger Sagas”, included 47 entries ranging from speculative fiction to romanticism.

The competition organisers were impressed by the entries from Handsworth Grammar School, commenting on the way in which the writing showed ‘perception, imagination and creativity’ written with ‘strong expression, originality and use of language’. The English Department is delighted that 43 out of 47 entries received have been published in an anthology produced by the organisers- again, surpassing our previous record!

We would like to congratulate and recognise the achievement of the following year 7 students:

Athrav Bhagwala, Noah Mohmand, Dylan Guiney – Bailey, Jeevan Bhogal, Mustakhim Jahan, Salahuddin Shazad, Hamaad Zaman, Adyan Ali, Raihaan Akram, Feteh Singh Sandhu, Zain Choudrey, Muhammed Awais Muhammed, Darius Ehssan, Aakash Subaraniam, Muhammad Quraishi, Andrew Pullukattu, Kashan Malik, Preet Chauhan, Solomon Violapo, Abbas Amin, Mustafa Nawaz, Logan Page, Saijullah Mohammed Khan, Ariz Khan, Ateeb Ilyas, Pratham Patel, Faizaan Mir, Shayne Barba, Abdur Rafeh, Mirza Tufail, Muhammad Fajyan Khan, Aurel Axinte, Abdullah Zeeshan, Timothy Lowman, Yousaf Burhawi, Amar Aalakh, Hishek Williams, Bryan Nzamurambaho, Sufyaan Ahmed, Sukhraj Singh, Harvee Manak, Ismail Akram and Shayaan Rizwan.

A huge well done to all students – keep writing!

English Department

Birmingham Winter School Games

Both the Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 Badminton Teams were chosen to represent the district at the Birmingham Winter School Games on Wednesday 28th February. This tournament saw the strongest badminton teams in the whole of Birmingham competing against one another. Both teams finished an impressive third place! The boys played some fantastic badminton which resulted in some excellent individual and team performances. They are all eager to get back into training in order to take first position next season.