Headteacher’s Newsletter
BISHOP VESEY’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Half Term Summer 2011 Message from the Head A very short, somewhat fragmented, half-term has nonetheless been marked by the usual array of wonderful opportunities to learn in a wide range of contexts and in particular has been marked by one of the most memorable U6 leavers’ days when we said congratulations, thanks and farewell to a quite remarkable group of young people, who have left the school a better place through their kind and generous efforts. The exam season is now upon them and others who settle down for a testing few weeks before the summer repose. We look forward to the fruits of their labours in August.
David Iddon Headteacher
Staff News
Student Leadership in Action
On 6 May we said thanks and farewell to Matt Phillips who left after 4 years of distinguished service, notably as Head of Biology and then as Assistant Headteacher i/c Language College. We wish him well in his new rôle in education at HMP Stocken, as Head of Offender Learning and Skills. ICT Technician, Omar Chaudry leaves this half-term after 6 years with our thanks for all he has offered BGVS and with our sincere good wishes for his new post as Senior ICT Network Technician at Ward End Primary School. Marion Binard our French Assistant for the past two years, who has given generously of her time to the languages department, moves on with our best wishes for the continuation of her career.
Money doubled for Charity Congratulations to Jay Lal U6 Charity Officer and all who have participated in our recordbreaking efforts for charity this year. Jay set the school an ambitious target of £15k. Our total now stands at over £16k for a variety of most worthy causes, double the amount raised in previous years. Well done to all involved!
England’s rising star is guest speaker at Rugby Dinner 160 BVGS Students, Parents, Staff, Governors, Old Veseyans and Friends of Vesey Rugby attended the Annual BVGS Rugby Dinner held at Ramada Hotel on 13 May. At each age group Bath RFC and England centre, Matt Banahan, presented the trophy for ‘Player of the Year’ and ‘Most Improved player’, following short speeches by team coaches. 1st XV captain and U12B coach, Jack Robson, pictured left, who has been offered a place at Bath RFC Academy, collected the prestigious ‘Roden Trophy’ for outstanding sports leadership. In his speech, Matt told us about his journey to international status and shared his philosophy for success through sport, before offering a Q&A session. Sincere thanks to Matt for joining us and to organisers Zak Feaunati and Chris Howell for providing such a splendid celebration of Vesey Rugby.
Artsfest 30 June 2011 More and more students are speaking in assemblies and are taking on leadership rôles, with a view to organising events and contributing to the life of the school. Do please support the forthcoming Artsfest, which this year includes a catwalk and dance routines. There are only 100 places available for what promises to be another sell-out event, with the prospect of raising a significant amount for charity. Tickets £18, including a hot buffet meal from Peninsular Restaurant, now on sale from Sue Foster in the BVGS Enrichment Office: s.foster@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk or Tel: 0121250-5412
History in the re-making……..BVGS U13 Soccer Team: the first to compete since 1926 Kerry Osbourne, Clerk to the Governors and BVGS historian, on behalf of sponsors Eddowes, Perry and Osbourne, wishes captain Joe Hartigan all the best as our team sets off for the HD Sportsworld Tournament at Shrewsbury School last month from where they returned with the trophy for the most improved team during the competition.
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L-R work by Hamza Khaleel 11R, Tom Reershemius 9R, Duncan Poulton U6 The Annual Art Exhibition is to be held on the evening of Wednesday 22 June in the Randon Design Centre, celebrating the work of our A2, AS and GCSE students, as well as a selection of work by Year 7, 8 & 9 students, giving a view across the years and of how our budding artists develop.
History Trip to Prague
Yr 10 Global Enterprise Day
GCSE Urdu Celebration Evening
20 May 2011 Students attended a variety of workshops exploring the use of language in international business and were given an insight into importance of developing cultural awareness to be successful in today’s global market place and/or political arenas.
40 Year 9 and 10 students, accompanied by Hannah Lockyer, Ruth Hearn, Dave Goodwin & Dave Phillips took in the history and culture of this medieval capital with a tour of Charles Bridge, the Old Jewish Town and the famous astronomical clock. Students also visited Terezinstadt Concentration and Holding Camp as well as the Koneprusy Caves. Next Easter the History department are off to New York on a joint trip with Geography!
May 2011 marked the end of another successful year of GCSE Urdu evening classes at Bishop Vesey’s. Fourteen students from schools across Birmingham have been studying for their GCSE in Urdu as part of our successful community evening class programme. Parents and students joined teachers, Fouzia Syed and Aiesha Syed, for a celebration to mark the end of the course. Fraser Henderson of Eliot's/Haywood Products Ltd guides students through a challenging group task .
BVGS Cooking Club Sam Harper & Hannah Lockyer, as part of the commitment to ‘healthy schools status’, have set up The BVGS Cooking Club. The after-school club offers Yr 7 & 8 students a 6 week course in cookery in which they learn to create healthy breakfasts, delicious low fat muffins, lunches, healthy desserts and evening meals.
Success for Top Pianist Well done to Kartik Ramachandran L6 who has passed his ABRSM Grade 8 piano practical exam.
Year 7 Student Leadership for Charity By tackling household chores, competing in a football competition, taking part in a penalty shoot out and participating in various ’guessing’ competitions 7 Longmoor have raised over £100 for Cancer Research UK. Ryan Kainth, Adam Chaudhry, Diren Gill and Sheeyam Islam in particular have demonstrated excellent leadership qualities by organising events.
British Maths Olympiad 2011 Sgt. Stafford & Sgt. Stevenson of the Army Intelligence Corps talked about their role in international affairs and delivered ‘ab initio’ lessons in Arabic.
Congratulations to Callum Riley of 10R, who, following the Intermediate Maths Challenge taken a few months ago, has achieved a distinction in the next round of the British Maths Olympiad. Well done, indeed!
U6 Leavers’ Day 19 May 2011 brings out that sense of Vesey togetherness A final formal assembly and a morning of fancy dress marked the end of school days for this good-humoured year group of champions, recordbreakers and all-round memorable Veseyans, who leave a legacy of school improvements and leave with what will be life-long Vesey friendships.
May 2011 Visitor to BVGS Library
David Blanch from the Federation of Children’s Book Groups came into school to talk to students in Yr 7 about the Red House Children’s Book Award. Students had to read all three of the books on this year’s shortlist and then voted for their favourite. BVGS is to be a ‘testing school’ for the 2012 award. Our students will have the opportunity to help to determine the Red House Children’s Book shortlist for 2012 by reading and reviewing a regular delivery of books that will include most of the UK children’s fiction published for older readers in 2011. www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk
Students take lead in Computer Course A FREE Computer Course for over 60s commences on Monday 19 September, led by Sixth Formers as part of the Enrichment Programme. Please telephone the special BVGS dedicated mobile number 07527 688338 to book a place on this most helpful course.
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10th Anniversary for French Exchange
Organisers celebrate 10 years of highly successful exchange programmes with our partner school in Dreux. Originally started by Elisabeth Maddy in 2001 and supported by Jane Broughton, who is our current exchange lead teacher, the programme now incorporates a partnership with King Edward VI Handsworth girls’ school to respond to co-educational needs. Sincere thanks to host families for the warmth of welcome offered to our French guests, which will no doubt be returned from 18-25 June when BVGS and King Edward VI students visit Dreux. Our French guests enjoyed trips to Stratford, B’ham, Warwick, Oxford and Drayton Manor Park. Bonne continuation!
GCSE Japanese Lunchtime Class
National Chess Selection Congratulations to Leo Tsoi 9R who has been selected to represent England in the 2011 British Isles Cup Tournament v Ireland, Scotland and Wales in Dublin 19-23 July.
Trophies galore for Senior Cross-Country Team
L-R Arandeep Gill, Idrees Sarwar, Japanese Tutor Mitsue Arai, Steven Mapp and Michael Bate
Team Vesey in Walkathon
On Sunday 8 May Team Vesey joined 10,000+ walkers from across the city to take part in the 26.2 mile BRMB Walkathon, raising in excess of £2k for Birmingham Children's A brilliant season for the Senior Cross-Country team who were the winners of the Hospital. Team Vesey will be in action again on 5 June in the Pairs Race, the Queen Mary's GS relay with the fastest individual time, the Greater Great Midlands Fun Run, raising money for students at Birmingham League Relay and were the Most Improved Team at the national King our partner school in Gambia, the Cardiomyopathy AssociaHenry's Relay. The team was led by their Captain Kieran Smith U6 who gained tion and also BVGS Sports Appeal. Do support us either by many individual victories and was ably supported by Ronan Davis U6 who was the cheering us on the day and/or sponsoring a member of Team fifth best individual runner in the league. Sincere thanks to Team Manager, Deputy Vesey. Further details available from Dominic Robson, Head, Bill Potter for helping the squad achieve such remarkable success. Deputy Head, on d.robson@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk
Citizenship Lesson in Big School: ‘Guns and Knives Take Lives’ PC Rob Pedley led a thoughtprovoking session on this very serious issue for Yrs 9-10 on 12 May, supported by Marcia Shakespeare, mother of Letisha, who was tragically caught in gunfire in Birmingham as a innocent victim in Jan 2003. Students were sensitised to the appalling consequences of those who choose to carry such weapons in our midst and asked to reflect on how to safeguard themselves and others.
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BVGS Annual Sports Day
3 May 2011
Students pictured running, throwing and jumping their way to victory in track and field
U6 Simply Red! Capt. Jack Robson (above left) led Red House to another great triumph, dominating the interhouse event by 32 points overall. Sincere thanks to PE/Games teacher Kevin Doughty for organising the Sports Day 2011.
Kieran Smith U6 demonstrates how to jump 1m88 and set a new school record!
4 New records were set on an afternoon of great sporting excellence: Kieran Smith Senior High Jump 1m. 88cm (previous record R. Sussens 1. 85 in 1992). James Brown U15 Long Jump 5m. 87cm (previous record C. J. Bailey 5.74m 1992) James Brown U15 Triple Jump 11.80m (previous record M. Lambe 11.35m 1999). David James U14 800m- 2m 16.8s (previous record J.M. France 2m 17.09s 1992)
Cricket
1st XI have made a good start winning 3 out of 4 games. Jack Robson has scored two consecutive 50s, the highlight being a match winning 80no v Queen Mary’s GS., Walsall. Will Slattery scored 76no v Solihull College to ensure progress through Round 1 of the U19 cup. Yr 9 remain unbeaten including an impressive win over W’ton Grammar School. Yr 8 emphatically beat KES B’ham by 6 wickets, after overcoming Fairfax by 62 runs, Niall Keating 87no, John Clarke impressing with bat and ball 29no and 4:2, 5:2. A narrow defeat by Wolverhampton GS followed but was countered by a resounding victory over Queen Mary’s GS . Yr 7 have made a great start P3 W2 L1, with much talent and enthusiasm Charlie Fellows and Dan Curwen securing victory v Queen Mary’s GS with a partnership of 35.
Class apart on level terms! Andrew Smith 11B in sponsored OfficeTeam kit and right, the pavilion’s new clubhouse enclosure with Vesey logo.
Blue House Netball Team
Home of Vesey cricket
Sat 7 May - final score: 3-3 in the 1st XI v Old Boys hockey match. It is proposed to make the match an annual fixture with more publicity for this entertaining and rewarding event.
BVGS Tennis 1st Team
B’ham FE Rugby 7’s Well done to our ‘emerging’ senior players in the BVGS development squad, pictured left, who won four from four matches against university and college opposition.
Dan Venables 8B on his way to 3rd place on Rutland water and now selected for the GBR Team to L-R: Jack Lee, John Keighley, James compete in the Irish Nationals in July Burland and Andrew Smith
Published for BVGS by Sharon Weblin, Headteacher’s PA sw@bishopveseys.bham.sch.uk. Printed by Jayne Joyce , BVGS Reprographics.