Prizegiving October 2022
Alongside all the staff at HGS, who have worked hard over the last couple of weeks to ensure that our school is ready for a new term, I want to formally welcome you all to Prizegiving 2022. It is great to be back in person.
A special welcome to Sir Mark who will say a few words and present the prizes shortly:
Birmingham born and bred – HGS Old Boy
Honours Board – 1983 Governors’ Leaving Award
Cambridge Maths degree
West Midlands Police as a Bobby on the beat commended for his bravery in 1993
Worked his way up through the ranks to be Chief Constable of Surrey Police
Met Police in charge of Counter Terrorism Policing
Wrote a thriller and walked to Everest Base Camp
Now Commissioner of the Met
“tougher than he looks, gritty, resilient, a great appointment, good news for Londoners and bad news for criminals”
“he does have a weakness. He is a supporter of Aston Villa”
Last year was at times a strange experience with testing and some Covid restrictions still in place, as I worked alongside some quite remarkable colleagues in the thick of it, I kept reminding you (and myself for that matter) of a mantra that I have used a few times in the past but somehow resonates so strongly with the past 2 years.
What I explained was simple: success in life is measured not by how high you fly, but by how well you bounce. It’s about how well you come back from adversity and upset, and how you don’t ever let the fear of failure stand in your way.
HGS and our wider community of the King Edward VI Foundation and you, the students within it, have this last year bounced back with immeasurable boldness and flair. You have collectively proved to be the most adaptable and resilient of people, impressing your teachers at every turn with your constant determination and can-do attitude. I have previously said that we shape our surroundings, and then our surroundings shape us. Clearly, I was in part referring to the buildings in which we study and learn be that Big School or the Sixth Form Centre. We are fortunate to have a wonderful blend of the old and the new on our site. Indeed, this year we will be celebrating our 160th Anniversary and it should not be forgotten that HGS is Birmingham’s oldest Grammar School. But dig deeper, and I’m referring to something far more cerebral than that.
Stones and cement, lime and mortar act as a mould to the understanding of our place in history.
But it’s how we mould ourselves, as people, as individuals, which ultimately moulds our surroundings and, in turn, how we mould each other.
You are all HGS students. What does that mean?
It means that you are expected to work extremely hard. Your teachers and I will never accept mediocrity.
We will never be satisfied with the satisfactory.
It means that we expect you to have a love of learning, to be inquisitive, to be positive.
But most importantly, in addition to hard work and determination to achieve exceptional academic results, it rests on five values.
You will be constantly reminded of these in the months and years ahead. You’ll find them on posters, forming part of your learning and the House System and they will serve as a foundation for how we believe you need to live your life at school, and how you subsequently live your life when you leave.
Community, Aspiration, Respect, Endeavour, Service.
HGS CARES.
If you embrace these values, if you show ambition in everything you do, whether it is in Geography or Football, if you keep resilient and determined whatever challenges life throws at you, if you’re humble and can walk with Princes and Paupers, if you show love and care and kindness in all your dealings, and if you can really support others in their darkest of moments by showing compassion in your words and your actions, you will not just simply be a fine young person, you will be a role model to others – a true Handsworth Grammar student who leads by example.
Leadership must be based upon a sense of service and humility. A leader needs to be a person who does everything they can to look after the needs and wants of others. A leader needs to lead by example in all they do and be human, humble, open. Speak as little as possible of oneself. Pass over the mistakes of others. Be kind and gentle even under provocation. But above all remember humility and service.
In all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten – Justin Welby.
Then you will be a force for good through your actions and deeds, which will stay with you your entire life.
A word about exam results:
A Level and GCSE Exam Results Summer 2022
As a school we have had to endure (and I use the word endure quite deliberately for another year) a disjointed Examinations season which has been (again) full of uncertainty and mixed messages from Ofqual, JCQ and the various Examination boards. We have navigated our way through the maelstrom and we have acted with compassion, fairness and kindness throughout with our student’s best interests at heart.
At A Level nearly 37% of all entries were A*A grades, 65% of all entries were A*A B grades with an overall pass rate of 99.8%. Nearly 30 students attained all A* A grades and 50 students attained all A* A B grades or higher.
At GCSE we enjoyed an overall pass rate of 99.8%. Our Progress 8 score was 0.6 and our Attainment 8 score was 74. 99.3% Good passes in English and Maths.
Both sets of results place us above the mid points that the DfE are using to bridge the gap between 2019 and 2022 as well as being an increase on 2019 data.
Students have gone onto top Universities such as:
University of Birmingham, Aston University, Exeter University, Imperial College London, Kings College London, Manchester University, Leeds University, Queen’s Belfast, London School of Economics, Warwick, Cambridge, University College London, Newcastle University and the University of the Highlands and Islands (Inverness). Some students have been accepted onto prestigious Apprenticeships with companies such as Deloitte and Grant Thornton.
Our students are studying an exciting array of subjects and courses such as Computing, Medicine, Mathematics, Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, Actuarial Science, Law, History, Geography and Economics.
Our teachers and support staff have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and beyond to do their best for the students in their care – whether in school or at home. Not only have they provided a high quality of creative teaching, both online and in person, but they have shown the greatest concern for the well-being of those in their care.
A word about activities outside the classroom:
Charities supported are:
Birmingham Age UK, BID Services, The Trussell Trust, Children in Need, Cancer Research UK, Comic Relief, Parkinsons’, Woodland House Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity, Let’s Feed Brum, Royal British Legion, Movember, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, Guide Dogs for the Blind.
We cracked the Enigma Code using a raspberry PI and secured a Computer Science Digital Enterprise Award and enjoyed success with the Coolest Projects Competition.
We held Digital Concerts (Winter) and in person concerts (Summer) – fantastic!
Music and LAMDA results (all Distinctions and Merits) – fantastic too!
Clubs and Societies have slowly come back – Tropical Fish Club!
Art, D of E Expeditions – Silver and Bronze.
SF Rewards Trips, Cannock Chase, Twycross Zoo, W Lakes, Italy, Texas, Belgium, Cambridge University, UOB, Aston, Bletchley Park, Cannon Hill Park, Wales, London, Soho House, Foundation Politics Trip.
House sport was back as part of the House Cup competition – Cricket, hockey, Athletics, Handball, TT and so on. House events such as Public Speaking, Photography.
Year 8 Champions at the Birmingham School Games.
Commonwealth Games – volunteers and video.
Under 13 Football Aston League and Cup Winners. Under 13 Warwickshire Cricket Cup Champions.
Equality and Diversity Committee.
Biology and Physics Big Quiz – beating local rivals!
British Physics Olympiad Intermediate and Senior Physics Challenge.
Site Update – D1, Wall art, Voussoir repainted (stone arch), Stained Glass Window dedication ceremony – 160th Anniversary. Oldest (original) Grammar School in Birmingham. Facilities investment.
Back in the classroom:
T&L Action Plan, KRC, Evidence based approach, Literacy AP, PD, CPD (collaboration and sharing BP), Reading Plus, Outreach.
Priorities, SDP, DDP, SEF, MERTL, CPD Plan – joined up thinking which puts:
People at heart of what we do at HGS. None of the above possible without hard working and committed people – staff, SLT, Governors, Charity Trustees and AT/Foundation staff – Jodh! Thank you!
I finish with the famous words of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th American President between 1901 to 1909. He promised the people of America fairness through his policy of the Square Deal. He wrote a piece called ‘The Man in the Arena’. It sums up our five values. It sums up the determination of someone who never lets the fear of failure stand in their way. It sums up the importance of bouncing back from adversity. It is about resilience and grit. It sums up what being a HGS student is all about.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Stay well and safe.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Click here to view more photos in the gallery.
