In a hugely exciting and competitive game on Wednesday at KE Aston, the KS4 team triumphed by 48-47 over our local rivals.

The game was played in a great spirit by both teams and highlighted some excellent attacking play. Amar Rupra made a particular contribution with five successful 3 point shots in the third quarter, which ultimately proved the difference between the teams. However, there were also important scores from Kijani Sullivan and Camara Talburt.

Football

The Year 11 Football team lost in the semi-finals of the recent West Bromwich Albion tournament on sudden death penalties. The team had been winning 1-0 until the last few seconds when the equalizer was scored. They played really well and deserved to be in the Final. Mr Griffiths was very proud of them – well done.

Table Tennis

Both the Under 16 and Under 14 teams beat Holt in their recent Table Tennis fixtures. The Under 16’s won 7-2 and the Under14’s won 6-3.

Badminton

Both the Under 16 and Under 14 teams beat Nishkam in their recent Badminton fixtures. Both teams won 5-1. A special mention goes to Hridik Pandey (7W) who secured two wins for the team against his opposition two years his senior. We wish them well in the remainder of their matches as they pursue the league title.

Congratulations to all involved.

Mark Rowley who is the National Lead for Counter-Terrorism Policing, and the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police visited school on 12^th January, for the first time in over thirty years. Mark was a pupil at the school between 1976 and 1983, before going off to study at the University of Cambridge.

He returned to the West Midlands in 1987 where he began a very successful police career, which has involved uniformed policing and detective work. He rose to become the Chief Constable of the Surrey Force before his present role and is now the country’s second most senior Police officer.

Mark spoke to our year 12 students about his memories of the school and about his career, including some of the very serious cases on which he has worked. He also encouraged them to think carefully about their career choices and hoped that they would all find careers which are as enjoyable and fulfilling as his has been.

Mr Conway

On Monday 18th December, a group of year 9 students visited RAF Cosford in Shropshire, to hear about the history of the Royal Air Force and World War One and Two. We were taken around the site by two kind guides Suzie and Lilly, who gave us interesting facts regarding various aircraft that took flight in the First and Second World Wars, such as the Comet 1xB and the Bristol Sycamore HR14. There were also activities prepared for us, like identifying the artefacts, missiles and trenches, where we had the opportunity to try on clothing from the First and Second World Wars, such as gas masks and clothing the pilots would have worn in the cockpits of their fighter or bomber aircraft. Ultimately, this was a fantastic experience for us all. (Rajan Aulakh, 9G)

At RAF Cosford the first part of the schedule was fun ‘n’ flight where we got to try out lots of scientific activities about aircraft. There was also a war aircraft we could enter and experience what life was really like for the pilots. This part was very interesting.  We also got to look at different uniforms the pilots would wear and extra things like goggles and gloves. Then we headed for a new modern building which contained lots of jets from the Cold War and other equipment related warfare. There were mini films we could watch. It was very factual and we got to learn more on some recent wars and more about the Cold War. During the afternoon, we went into a classroom where we got to learn about World War II. We learnt about the shelters and actually went inside one, which was very dark! We examined what life was like for the people living back then.  The trip itself was very interesting and we have a lot of new information to take into our lessons. (Ajay Mann, 9W)