King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys donated over 9,000 items of food to Reverend Roger Collins from the Trussell Trust Foodbank. This donation was made possible by the hard work of Ms Elaine Brown and her form and the wider generosity of the HGS Community.
Please see the certificate below:
The Ski Trip, which was to France this year, took place between 8th and 15th December. 33 students, including one Sixth-Former, were accompanied by 4 staff. The original plan to leave at 4.30pm was changed due to the forecast of heavy snow in Birmingham and so we left earlier than expected. This turned out to be a good thing as we arrived early giving us time to unpack at leisure and enjoy the beautiful scenery that Les Deux Alpes provided. During the coach journey we mainly chatted and entertained ourselves by playing cards, listening to music and watching videos. Along the way we stopped at a few service stations to give the drivers a break and us the opportunity to buy something to eat.
Our base for the week was Chalet d’Aka, which some felt was a little basic but staying there enabled us to ski at one of the top 5 resorts in France for a reasonable price. During the week the weather gradually improved as there was less snow and rain falling during the day; visibility levels weren’t brilliant at the start of the week but we had a couple a great weather days later on.
In order to prepare us for our first day of skiing we walked down to the ski hire shop and sorted out our skis, boots, poles and helmets. The first day of skiing proved a challenge as we had to carry our skis to the lift rather than getting the bus. There were three instructors, Matteau, Yves and Yvelin. We were taught various techniques that can be used whilst skiing such as the snowplough, used to control speed and help you turn at the same time. Another technique was the side slip; this can be used to help you descend steeper slopes at a controlled speed with your skis parallel to each other.
There are always crashes and falls and, on this trip, there were a fair few! Even the most experienced skiers crash and, in my group, this mainly happened when we went over bumps at high speeds. As we approached one bump, we were going fast after descending a steep slope. Our instructor led us over the ramp; most landed in control but Kylan fell, bringing me and then Elias down too. Amar came to help us up but then fell over one of Elias’s skis, forcing Amar into very deep snow and hence claiming a fourth victim. Jagjeet also gained a reputation for crashes, claiming Dillon and Elias as innocent victims during two of them!
Usually, we headed back to the hotel for a hot lunch but, on a couple of days, we dined at a mountain restaurant which provided ginormous servings of food. It was certainly filling and ideal to re-fuel your body’s energy supply for the afternoon’s skiing.
The après ski activities were extremely entertaining; we had a quiz night, a bowling night and a pizza night. For the quiz we were split into teams of about five and when the scores came in the results were very close. The winners by one point were a team called ‘Megamind Approved’, consisting of Param, Dhiren, Shivam, Jarnail and Amar. For bowling there were five lanes and there was one winner from each lane. The winners were Amar, Abdul, Nico, Josh and Kylan. Bowling was fun to watch, especially with Jarnail doing trick shots and getting a ‘no-look’ spare! Before our pizza night at a local pizzeria, we had time to explore the town and spend a few euros in the souvenir shops and crêperies.
On our last day of skiing we were on a tight schedule as we had a full day’s skiing and then had to return our equipment, shower and change, finish our packing and eat our evening meal before departure. One group were a little late as there had been some technical difficulties on a chair lift (an electrical fault) and they were stuck on it for over half an hour in blizzard conditions! When we’d all arrived at our hotel, our instructors presented us with booklets according to the skiing level we’d reached.
Finally, we left Chalet d’Aka and, although it was nice to be heading home, it was also sad that we wouldn’t be skiing the next day. We loaded the coach and set off, quickly realising that we left Mr Griffiths behind and running after the coach! We slept for a lot of the way back but enjoyed a full breakfast on the ferry before arriving back at school at just after 2pm.
The trip was extremely enjoyable, physically demanding and educational, particularly for the first time skiers. Although certain things didn’t always run as expected or anticipated, we had a laugh and even managed to improve our French. Let’s hope that future ski trips are just as entertaining and rewarding!
Rohan Nath, Year 10
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
