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Winter Concert

Thankfully the heavy snow of the early part of the week had mostly cleared allowing our Winter Concert to proceed. This year 90 boys performed at the event bringing in our largest audience to date of over 160. We also showcased out two new instrumental teachers who join us from Birmingham Music Service; Mr Tim Beilby (violin and viola) and Mrs Emma Miller (brass).

The concert began with the Year 7 Choir performing two contrasting items, at this their first concert. In fact we had a number of year 7 students participating in the concert reflecting the talent in the lower school. For the first time in many years we had a couple of solo items from brass players – Gabriel Dino on the tuba and Dylan Sharma on the tenor horn. At the other end of the scale we heard Karl and Robert Frater playing at their final Winter Concert as both boys are in year 13 and are planning to study at University. They both played a grade 8 classical guitar piece – an exam they had recently sat and passed. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening.

I would like to express my gratitude to all the performers (especially those in year 11 sitting mock exams who participated), the instrumental teachers and all those who helped to make the evening a success.

  

Please click here to view more photos in the gallery.

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Badminton Success

Congratulations to the Key Stage 4 Badminton Team who were victorious in their first league game of the season. The team put in some excellent team and individual performances to beat King Edward Aston 5-1. The team hope to continue this success in their remaining league games in the New Year.

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Focus on Education

Prospective undergraduate students might be surprised to hear that the universities minister offered a £25,000 early Christmas present last week. Universities have been able to offer accelerated two year degrees for some time, but they have been limited in number at least in part because they were not allowed to charge more than the £9,250 fee limit. The new arrangement will allow them to charge close to £2,000 more per year and the students benefit with an overall saving on fees and living expenses and by having the opportunity to enter the job market earlier. While deviating from the traditional three year (or more) model may not be for everyone it seems likely that we will see a wider range of accelerated degrees on offer in the years ahead. Please click here to read more about this on the Guardian website.

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2017 Progress Data

The Department for Education have recently published the performance data for Secondary schools across the UK. This data demonstrates the amount of Progress achieved across all subject and groups within a school. Please click on the link below to view the Progress data for HGS.

2017 Progress Data

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Ex Pupil, Carl Garvie visits KEHGS

Carl Garvie a former pupil of the school who is now a successful barrister visited the school on December 4th to speak to year 12 and year 13 students about his career in the legal profession.

Carl who left the school in 1980 after winning a place at Cambridge, talked about his fascinating career, first as a solicitor, and then as a barrister specialising in commercial law. He talked about the personal qualities needed to be successful in a legal career, and encouraged our students to aim high in their careers.

Many thanks to Carl for giving our students the benefit of his knowledge and experience.

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Focus on Education

The UCL Institute of Education published the results of a study last week that again demonstrated the benefits of reading for pleasure for young people. The longitudinal study using data from eleven thousand, fourteen year olds found that those who read for pleasure most days understood twenty-six per cent more words than those who did not. The results may not surprise, but the impact of such a difference is significant. If a teenager cannot access twenty-six per cent of the words in a piece of text that they are required to read for their academic work it is likely that they won’t be able to understand its full meaning. Meanwhile, those who can understand the text have no such barriers to their academic progress and it is therefore likely that the gap in achievement will widen over time. To read more about this study on the UCL website please click here.

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Gold Award for KEVI HGS

King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys has been awarded the Gold Award by the National Citizen Service (NCS). This award is in recognition of our outstanding performance – congratulations to all involved in this valuable scheme.

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DT Laboratories Official Opening

Thursday 30th November 2017 saw the official opening of the Professor Joe Biddlestone DT Laboratories by Patrick Burns, Chair of the King Edward VI Foundation. It was a wonderful occasion and was enjoyed by all.

Head of DT, Ms Bullock spoke first and highlighted the developments that the DT team have made over the last couple of years such as the introduction of GCSE and A Level Product Design as well as collaboration with King Edward VI Aston School and DATA (Design and Technology Association). Most recently the team won a national competition (The Ripple Effect) sponsored by Misco, HP and Intel which saw them be awarded a HP STEM and Creative Learning Studio worth over £20, 000.

Headmaster, Simon Bird then spoke about the work that had been put into creating the fabulous new facilities and how it had been a fantastic team effort. He thanked the DT department for their energy and creativity, the IT team for their excellent advice and support and the Bursar for driving the project forward. He then thanked the various companies and contractors who had been involved in the project:

Martin Evans Construction

Severn Group

Hobarts

Zioxi

Lee Stimson Painting and Decorating Services

HP

PCM

Dr Bird went on to emphasise that these new facilities are designed and created to enhance our students’ learning experience and to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of both design and technology. This was emphasised by the fact that KEVI HGS is now a Hobarts Centre of Excellence School. The development of our students and staff is at the heart of all we do. He then went on to dedicate the Laboratories to Professor Joe Biddlestone who has been a Governor for some 30 years as well as a Charity Trustee. It is apt that they are named in honour of him as he has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham as well as giving so much to KEVI HGS in wise, erudite and effective leadership. We are truly grateful for all that Professor Biddlestone has done for our school and the evening and presentation was a way of marking our thanks. By way of response Professor Biddlestone thanked everyone for the evening and his presents adding that he had thoroughly enjoyed his time as a Governor and was delighted to have played such a positive part in the developments of the school over the past 5 years or so.

Mr Burns then officially opened the Laboratories and said how delighted he was to see such an investment in teaching and learning, the collaboration across the 3 King Edward VI Grammar Schools in the north of the city and he took the opportunity with his Chair of the KEVI Foundation hat on to welcome KEVI HGS to the Foundation and Academy Trust – even though he is an Aston old boy!

The evening closed with viewings and hands on demonstrations of the facilities and equipment followed by refreshments in the Sixth Form Centre.

  

 

 

 

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Remembrance Assembly 2017

King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys held its annual Remembrance Assembly in Big School on Friday 10th November 2017. We were delighted to welcome a number of Governors, Charity Trustees and Old Boys to school to mark the occasion and share in this significant and important annual event. The Reverend Dr Bob Stephen who is Chair of the Governing Body and Rector of Handsworth led the act of Remembrance as well as delivering 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.

The Senior Prefect team of Suraj Sanhi, Maryam Shafiq, Shoaib Farooque, Anastasia Martin and Arran Bola all took an active part in the Assembly by reading poems and reflections whilst Suraj laid a wreath at the stained glass window with Mr Simon Farrell who is the Senior Vice President of 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. Big School was full as both Year 7 and Year 13 students attended the assembly whilst the remainder of school observed the occasion in their Form assemblies.

Haec Olim Meminisse Iuvabit

 

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Prizegiving 2017 – Eton meets Handsworth

Our annual Prizegiving was a very special occasion as it was our first as a member of the King Edward VI Foundation and King Edward VI Academy Trust. We welcomed The Reverend Steve Gray, The Conduct of Eton College as our Principal Guest. He spoke about the opportunities a School like ours affords its students and encouraged them to get involved in all that we have on offer such as the house system, sport, drama, debating and music. He was delighted to note the progress made at KEVI HGS over the past year. He highlighted the need for perseverance, careful planning and support from family and school so that if and when a setback occurs it can be effectively overcome. It was a lovely event and it was fantastic to see so many families together as we celebrated the success of our School community.