Headteacher’s Newsletter
BISHOP VESEY’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL
End of Term Spring 2011 Message from the Head
Staff News
Ready, Steady, Cook!
Congratulations to Dr Nick Colclough, Head of Physics, on his recent academic publication through the IJSE on knowledge of and attitudes to radioactivity and ionising radiation.
came to Big School on 31 March for a fun lesson in cookery and healthy eating, thanks to Hannah Lockyer and Sam Harper who invited our caterers Chartwells to stage this exciting show with participation from Year 7. Good food, good fun and lots of hands-on learning! Winners: Red Tomatoes!
Charity
Vesey daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze, have greeted us on our campus over the past few weeks and have heralded brighter days to come. It certainly has been action-packed over the past, somewhat longer, half-term. Easter seems to have all but slipped into the Summer Term! Spring brings with it re-growth and regeneration and the message of resurrection to new life. We are delighted this Springtime to report herewith a growth spurt in all we are setting out to achieve, a rising to new challenges, a veritable burgeoning of new ideas and exciting projects to make the school even stronger and better.
Charity contributions have soared again this term, despite the economic downturn, with increased donations from students on non-uniform days.
Sam Harper and her Green Peppers
Yr 11: Vikram Vara and Arandeep Sidhu
Our students continue to benefit from the support of so many who give so generously to provide the opportunities pictured and chronicled in this newsletter.
Hannah Lockyer and her Red Tomatoes
Sincere thanks to all involved. New shoots of more growth and further flourishing to come……...
Yr 9: Anil Parmar and Ikam Nijhar
John Taylor Hospice: £426.00 Norman Laud Association: £270.69 Red Cross Japan: £657.85
David Iddon Headteacher
Red Nose Day 2011: £657.85 Great Ormond Street Hospital : £932.87
AS students welcome personal historical perspective.
Masterchef, Jacob Richards of 7P
Mohammed Rafiq, grandfather of Nosheen Mahmood L6, joined Dominic Robson, Deputy Head, and L6 historians to talk about his experience of emigrating to Britain from Kashmir in the early 1960s. Students enjoyed the chance to research through interview on the topic of immigration, an important feature of the AS History course .
Our host from Chartwells Catering asks Stephen Lyncook 7K if he is on track to complete within the 15 minutes allowed to ‘get the food on the table’.
Headteacher’s Newsletter
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Birmingham University Big Biology Quiz 2011
BVGS Yr 10 competed against over 60 teams from 20 schools in this annual competition in The Great Hall of B’ham Uni on 24 March and were tested with GCSE to A-level standard questions on a variety of topics. The Vesey Team B came third in the bonus playdough modelling round with their labeled model of a virus particle and also took joint third place overall in the competition. Our A Team of Andy Quach, Bradley Perham, Callum Riley & Chris Nowek finished 2nd just 1 pt behind the winners! An exciting and rewarding day.
World Book Day
Junior Science Club
Swimming
Young scientists who meet afterschool are pictured below. The winners of the ‘Tallest Tower Challenge’, according to the criteria set at the start: Sam Davis and Jamie Hale . Congratulations also to Nat Longhorne & Andrew Horkan whose 60cm strong tower met the spirit of the brief, as did Shalen Joshi & Cem Verghese's impressive 142.5cm tower.
Congratulations to Bradley Lynch 10W now in the U16 British Swimming squad, competing this April.
D&T Competition
Demonstrating considerable gifted and talented ability in D&T, Ben Jesson, Michael Saunders, Kieran Jones, Ho-San Cheng & Harry Bailey of Yr 8 teamed up to reach the final of the egg transportation challenge at Plantsbrook School on 4 March.
Staff organise donation of books to School Aid Phil Barker & James Rostron organised the donation of 500 textbooks and reference books from Biology and Business Studies to School Aid. Kevin Wamsley & Alan Sanders conveyed the cargo to The Entertainer store in Sutton to be forwarded to the Charity.
Yr 10 National Intermediate Level Maths Challenge Results 2011 10 Gold awards, 20 Silver awards, 23 Bronze awards. Joe Davies scored 90 taking him through to the next round known as the ‘Pink Kangaroo’. Callum Riley’s top score of 101 allows him to take the prestigious ‘Hamilton Paper’ in the next round, a test available only to the TOP 400 in the country. Well done to both Joe and Callum for securing places in the next round.
Team Vesey 2011
On World Book Day, we invited award winning author Bali Rai to school. Bali spoke to students in Yrs 7-11. Yr 8 students Ash, Shahzaib and Gavandeep interviewed Bali. The interview is now on the BVGS website.
Yr 9 interview U6 on UCAS and careers
The Great Midlands Fun Run on Sunday 5th June: Team Vesey will support the education of two Tanzanian girls, the Cardiomyopathy Association and resurfacing for netball/tennis. www.greatmidlandsfunrun.com
BRMB walkathon 8th May. For further information: www.brmb.co.uk/walkathon.
A new event this year, organised by David Phillips, Head of IAG during which Yr 9 had the opportunity to pick the brains of senior students on important careers and university entrance issues.
Music Department - Composition and Concert
Congratulations to the Year 8 prize winners of the Bali Rai competition.
On 2 March, Stuart Stevens, (right) a lecturer at B’ham Conservatoire and Composer in Residence at Purple Moments, offered a special workshop to 24 students, who were encouraged to think ‘outside the box’ and compose in an unconventional way. Our Spring Concert on 28 March was a wonderful event, standards being maintained, indeed further improved. Our young musicians entertained us through a wide-range of musical genres, demonstrating their hard work this term, their intensity of concentration and their great joy in performance.
‘Family Fortunes’ comes to Vesey’s with The James Family v The Cotterill Family A student-led new charity event which raised £280 replicating the TV show in great detail and entertaining an audience of over 250 students
Organisers and ‘Families’
Mohammad Uzayr U6 Teacher Simon James v Robert Cotterill
And our survey says……..
April 2011 BVGS Trip to The Gambia. March 2011 Four U6 students recently won a week long trip to The Gambia as a result of winning the national 'Responsible Holidays' competition which was entered by 110 schools. The trip involved visits to three different Gambian schools as well as a number of eco-tourism excursions such as nature reserves, visits to mangroves and deep sea fishing. Students have since delivered a number of assemblies outlining the problems of poverty and education in the country as well as its growing reputation for responsible tourism. The trip was led by Matt Collins and Chris Howell also took part in the trip, offering specialist cricket coaching to the local schools.
Sutton Coldfield Schools Parliamentary Debating Competition
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L6 Geography Field Trip
Matt Collins, Sam Harper, Elliot Godwin and Bill Potter led a party of 40 L6 students who spent three days in Snowdonia in March, studying river characteristics and glaciated valleys and enjoying clear skies seen above.
Year 10 Iceland Trip 2011
Tom Davies (left) and Sam Rhodes (right), representing BVGS, in experienced parliamentary com- 30 Yr 10 students visited Iceland during the pany. Andrew Mitchell MP, who launched this inter-school event in 2003, set the tone for a February half term. Students experienced the splendid evening of debate in his opening address. Overall winners this year: Plantsbrook School. Volcanic Black Beach below, visited several waterfalls, volcanic craters and were fortunate New hair style for Charity! Lyon Exchange enough to see a display of the Northern Lights. The trip supported GCSE Geography work in tectonics, rivers and glaciation. Special thanks to party leaders Sam Harper, Matt Collins and Ruth Hearn
Geology Field Trip 2011
Visitors from our partner school Louis Labe in Lyon joined the Vesey Sixth Form on their recent visit in March, as part of the B’ham-Lyon Schools link.
Learning made easy!
Form Tutor Wendy Brown and members of 8W who raised £300 for the Japan Earthquake Appeal, sponsored to wear white hair for the day! Mohammed Sufyain raised £192.78
100% success in English Literature Following re-sit results, 100% of our current U6 Literature students have either a grade A or B at AS. 86% of L6 AS English Lang/Lit students gained a grade A or B in the recent AS modules. Accompanied by Kate Steadman & Jan Townsend, 28 Year 11 students attended a Language Revision Conference on 1 March and 24 U6 and L6 students attended a series of lectures entitled ‘Love in Literature Through The Ages’ on 8 March in preparation for their examinations.
Marshals for 7 Pools 10K Race 23 March: Sander of MADE Training helped Yr 10 & Yr 11 develop new memory and learning techniques for exam revision using a variety of aids, including mentally walking around Big School! www.made-training.com
33 L6 students (right) and Pam Maskell got up extra early on Sunday 27 March to help marshal the 7 Pools Run in Sutton Park. 3 of our students Jamie Billingsley L6, Jeavon Tagger L6 & Peter Moss U6 actually ran the 10k race. All money raised from this event goes to The Norman Laud Association.
Steve Baugh and GTP Trainee Natalie O'Gorman took the joint AS & A2 Geology fieldtrips. They attended three separate days of geological fieldwork on 14 March at Aust in The Severn Estuary, 15 March in the Malverns and on 16 March at Barr Beacon. New practical skills were used to collect valuable coursework data by all 15 students.
Headteacher’s Newsletter
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Hockey - Round-up of the Season 2010-11 The 1st XI completed an outstanding season with a comprehensive 6-2 win over Adams’ G.S. It rounded off a memorable season in which they have only lost one game on a Wednesday afternoon all season and that was a last gasp goal in extra time. One of the most successful hockey sides in the school’s history. The final statistics: P20 W15 D4, L1 with 83 goals scored! Captain Jack Kelly U6 has led the team from the front and ended up joint top goal scorer with Harry White L6 - a superb totals of 21 goals each. The attitude and commitment of the senior hockey group has been faultless. We say farewell this year to U6 members Jack Kelly, Matthew Beasley, Tom Homer, Andrew Coulthard, James Youngman, Nicola Shilliday who have all played regularly in the first team. The Junior sides have also been very successful against some of the top independent schools in the Midlands. Navraj Degun L6 may be the first of many who will receive regional or national honours.
More success for outdoor and indoor rowers
Sportsman’s Lunch Mike Edge OV, national level oarsman and gold medallist at Henley, now at Wallington ARC on the Thames, dropped in for a chat over lunch to inspire our crews and later to observe the Powells Pool outings.
U12A Rugby Team
Rugby: Game over for U6!
Greater Birmingham Champions
U6 1st XV members go out in style! Captain Jack Robson led his team to a resounding 57-3 victory over KE VI Aston on 26 March to end a season packed with memories of many great wins (including Champions at the KE VI Aston 7s) and some narrow defeats in a tough fixture card against the best of the Midlands rugby schools,
having beaten KES B’ham, Fairfax School and KE VI Camp Hill in the final and winners of the Plate at King’s Macclesfield Tournament.
U13A Rugby Team brought home three trophies. Captain John Clarke, (pictured right) with two from three! Greater B’ham Tournament winners and Plate winners at Adams’ GS 7s and at King’s Macclesfield Tournament. A fantastic end to the season!
U18 England Hockey U13A Captain John Clarke
Winger Ryan Brunsden U6 weaves his way for the last time.
The U13B Team ‘back-up’ boys who competed in the 7s tournament at KE VI Five Ways on behalf of the U13A team members who were winning elsewhere!
Navraj Degun L6 proudly models his full England kit ahead of the representative games to come.
1st XV Captain, Jack Robson
Matt Goodall L6 dives in for a try from 5 metres out.
TRY! For Max Hughes L6……..Tom Cooper U6 pops over the conversion.
Published for BVGS by Sharon Weblin, Headteacher’s PA sw@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk. Printed by Jayne Joyce , BVGS Reprographics.