Small Heath School - Summer edition

Issue No. 7

Summer 2013

NEWSLETTER

Design and editing O MacNamee Printing: Karra Design

Small Heath School and Sixth Form Centre

Welcoming Our New Deputy Headteacher, Mr Ludlow

Small Heath School - Outstanding Once Again Our fourth consecutive ‘Outstanding’ judgement from Ofsted, June 2013 “Small Heath School is a very good school where its pupils thrive in an exceptionally harmonious atmosphere in which everyone is valued and included.” - 2002 “Small Heath School and Sixth Form Centre is an outstanding provider that serves its pupils well. It manages to combine high quality care with rigorous monitoring and it is a full community resource that the pupils are proud to attend.” - 2006 “Small Heath School is an outstanding school. Students and staff find it a vibrant and exciting place in which to work and learn, and all are very proud of their school. Progress is exceptionally good because of the consistency of high quality teaching and innovative approaches to the curriculum.” - 2010 “The school provides an exceptionally high quality of education for its students. They make outstanding academic progress…..

Teachers have very high expectations for what students can achieve and develop excellent working relationships……. Students are very proud of their school and their behaviour is exemplary… .. The Sixth Form is outstanding and students make excellent progress.” - 2013 Few schools across the country have achieved so much over such a sustained period of time and I am both proud and delighted to be associated with Small Heath School. Our latest report is testament to the tremendous effort put into the school by pupils, colleagues, Governors and our families. It reflects the strength of relationships within our school family and it is proof of the high quality learning experiences we deliver to our children every single day.

P. Slough Headteacher

With those words from our Headteacher in mind, when you are looking through this edition of the magazine, you will be able to witness for yourself the many outstanding activities our pupils and staff get involved in throughout the academic year here at Small Heath School. We join an elite few in being awarded Ofsted’s highest ranking for a fourth time and, when I consider past issues of this newsletter, any regular reader will be able to see for themselves the extra mile that all members of the Small Heath School ‘family’ are willing to travel to offer our pupils the best every day. O MacNamee 1

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Small Heath and can’t believe how quickly the time has gone! There are so many great things about the school (not least its proximity to the home of a great football team!) and many things that make it a unique place to work; the high quality of learning that you can see taking place as you walk around the corridors, the friendly, welcoming atmosphere around both sites, the family ethos, the high importance of values, profiling, sixth-formers interacting with younger pupils, the quality of the environment, the fantastic school meals and not forgetting the hand bells at the end of break! It is so easy to forget that the school is situated in one of the most deprived areas of the UK with a tough and challenging environment lying just beyond the school gates.

It can be difficult starting somewhere new and getting used to new faces, new systems and new ways of working. This has been made much easier through the brilliant induction programme and it was great to spend an evening each week during the autumn term in the company of such a positive bunch of fellow ‘Newbies.’ A major strength of the school is the quality of the pupils who attend. They can be a source of great frustration at times (as all children can be – even my own!) but are more often a great source of inspiration, amusement and support.

Before joining Small Heath School I took time to read the most recent Ofsted report which of course paints a glowing picture. The reality, I have to say, is even better! The opportunities for pupils both within and beyond the curriculum are enormous and the focus is always firmly on doing what is best for the individual pupil, not what will make the school look good. I have worked in several other schools locally and have, at Small Heath, been reunited with some people I worked with when I was team leader for MFL at Moseley School, several moons ago! I can categorically say that the staff at Small Heath are the most welcoming, understanding, motivated and supportive staff that I have ever worked with. I enjoy coming to school every day and love sharing in the successes of staff and pupils.

The school is incredibly lucky to such an excellent governing body who support us in many ways. They are in incredibly knowledgeable group of people who give up their time voluntarily to make the school a better place and I have enjoyed attending the meetings and listening to their ideas and suggestions. They also ask very insightful and frankly difficult questions at times, particularly when interviewing for new Deputy Headteachers!

Mr Ludlow

As a keen sportsman (well…a keen watcher of sport these days!) and a competitive type of person, Small Heath School is an excellent place to work. There is a good sense of competition and an insistence on high standards – on the field and off. Every week there seems to be a team competing (and usually winning!) in an important league match or cup final and the variety of sports and extra-curricular activities on offer is amazing!

The same can be said for music and I love listening to the gentle plucking of strings outside Sue Davies’ office or the compositions from Year 9 Music lessons playing in the social area.

I have made an excellent move in coming to Small Heath and it is great to be a part of its continued success.

J Ludlow - Deputy Head Teacher

2

Girls’ P.E. Round-Up of the Year Well done this year to all our teams who have done us proud.

Girls’ Summer Camp A group of Y7/8/9’s set off for a weekend in the great outdoors in Bromsgrove. Despite the rain and wind the girls took to the water at Bartley Reservoir to try kayaking and conquered their fears rock climbing and abseiling. Their tents weathered the blustery weather and all enjoyed snuggling into their sleeping bags to stay warm. On the final day the girls had a stroll around the Lickey Hills then ventured back to Small Heath, tired yet still smiling after a fun filled weekend.

Ballet A group of Y7 and Y9 took part in a twelve week dance course run by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Over the twelve weeks they choreographed a dance based on the story of Aladdin. They then performed alongside three other schools at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

A special mention to the Year 9 Super 6 Athletic Squad won our Cluster Competition and will be representing our cluster in the Regional Finals, and to our Y9 Football Team who are in the final of the Collegiate competition.

R Gardner

(This page) Girls’ Camp 2013 (facing page) Ballet Dance Group Year 9 Rounders’ Team Year 9 Football 3

4

Charity Sky Dive Small Heath Skyvers: On the 15th July 2012 Nyla Mustafa organised a Skydive to help raise money for our sister school Jannat-ul-Firdous in Bararkot, Pakistan. Mr Belhouche, Mr N.Turner, Miss S. Istvanikova, Miss Louisa Cain (PGCE Student) and Mr G. Ubhie took part in the sky jump and helped raise money for this event.

The Jannat-ul-Firdous Charity Trust is a welfare, non-political and non-profitable registered organization started in 2004 with the opening of an Orphanage in Lahore . Having around 700 students in 5 schools and 30 children in orphanages.

Parents and teachers at Small Heath have been asked to support this worthy cause, as it will make a huge difference to the lives of many children who suffered in the earthquake in 2006. All monies raised will go directly to our school in Pakistan.

We raised over £2000 for our school in Pakistan which will help ensure the educational provision for many pupils as well as secure educational resources such as exercise books; things we take for granted in Britain.

The Skyvers

Year 7 Spelling Bee Mr Belhouche has signed up all Year 7 students to take part in The Spelling Bee Competition for the second consecutive year. Last year, our students reached the semi-finals and we are hoping that this year we will win the national level of the competition and win the finals!

The MFL Team launched the Flying Bee competition in the first term of the new academic year with 7B, who learnt 50 words in French and Spanish, which are related to the topics they are studying. The name of the winners will be sent to Aston University and receive a certificate. Other classes will join the competition by the 15th February 2013. This competition is organised at different stages with the first stage starting at class level, then school level, regional and national level.

Hope Hospital Visit The level 3 Health and Social Care group and some of the level 2, who are interested in a career in the Health sector, were lucky enough to go to the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield for a medical ‘simulation’ session.

We began by having a brief talk by a nurse at the hospital about a range of issues such as blood pressure, pulse rate, airway obstruction and breathing issues. We were then taken into a room that was ‘mocked up’ to be like a hospital ward. The really exciting part of this was ‘Sim Man’ (not a super hero!!). This is a simulation dummy that is used by the doctors and nurses at the hospital as part of their training. He is computer operated and can be programmed to have any type of imaginable disease or illness!! Even various types of rashes can appear on his skin.

We all had a go at taking his pulse and listening to his heartbeat and breathing patterns through a stethoscope.

Mr Marshall had a go as well – we thought he looked very professional! We returned to the room where we had our initial talk and had to break into groups of three and discuss which role we would take in the role play sessions.

We were all very nervous as we did not want to do anything wrong.

We went back into the ‘ward’ group by group where we had to decide what could be wrong with the patient. He was programmed differently for each group and was attached to an actual monitor like the ones they use in hospital wards.

As each group went in, the rest of us could watch on a television screen and then discuss the group’s performance afterwards. It was quite scary and we were all nervous but it was a very enjoyable experience as most of us want to work in the medical profession.

This was a very rare opportunity as this facility is only open to students one day a month. It was very enjoyable and we would like to thank Mrs Horne and Mr Marshall for arranging this for us.

The level 2 and 3 Year 12 Health and Social Care group

Mr Marshall and pupils at the Good Hope Hospital

I hope to let you all know how well our Year 7 pupils have done in the next edition of this magazine.

I Belouche 5

6

The Hearing Impaired Resource Base Hearing Impaired Resource Base, or HIRB for short, now has three students at Small Heath School; Mujahid Y9, Shamraiz and Ataur Y7. Our partner base at Bordesley Green Girls’ School (two schools, one Resource Base) has six students; two students in years 7,8 & 9 respectively.

Where possible we like to get everyone together and so far the boys from Small Heath School have visited BGGS, but the girls have yet to visit Small Heath. Mujahid, Shamraiz and Ataur will be inviting them over to our base at Small Heath before the end of the school year in July. This means they must organise the hospitality, the food, activities and be the perfect hosts!

As a group we have been to the cinema to see a signed and subtitled showing of the latest Madagascar film and on Wednesday 19th December to see ‘The Wind in the Willows’, with a sign language interpreter, at the Crescent Theatre.

We would like to thank all students and staff for making us all feel welcome in our new resource base, even though we’ve been here just over two years, it is only recently we are spending a lot more time and as more students join us in the future we will become a full time feature of the school. cinema visit

Ms James, Ms Cleaton, Mr Moore and Mr Parker

The Resource Base students from Small Heath and Bordesley Green Girls’ School had a whole day exploring three important issues: ICT and Media Safety, Emotional Well-Being and, lastly, Deaf Identity, delivered by Deafax.

Deafax is an educational charity that provides courses for teachers and Deaf students across a range of subjects to make sure that Deaf students get the kind of information in a Deaf-friendly way. What does that mean? It means that the person delivering, in this case Rubbena Akhtar, is Deaf and understands the difficulties associated with understanding some of the language and terms involved in these areas.

Rubbena has worked with us before and travels from London. She knows some of our students and can explain some of the situations where Deaf people might be more at risk than others, particularly when using social networking sites. Some were surprised to find they could not believe everything people might tell them!

The Etherington Brothers Having a strong literacy provision across the curriculum that allows our school to include innovative trips and visits throughout the year, we were able to get Robin (writer) and Lorenzo (artist) Etherington to come in and run two very energetic, humorous and educational workshops that focussed on the theme of Heroes and Villains and helped our Year 7 pupils better understand the processes they use to create and develop both characters and narrative structure. They should know as their previous work has seen them work on comics including Star Wars, Wallace and Gromit and Transformers, to name a few.

But, they are most at home with their own weird and wonderful creations as published in The Phoenix weekly comic book as well as in their two current graphic novels, Monkey Nuts and Baggage. It is these two latter titles from which they drew their inspiration today and with a well paced, audience-patricipating show they had all of our Year 7 enthralled, as well as our guests from a St. Alphege Junior School in Solihull.

Leaving behind a huge impression, as well as free copies of a workbook on character and story design and development, my teaching colleagues will be certainly make use of these resources in lessons, as well as the pupils thinking of creating their own characters and story ideas.

As well as visiting, pupils were able to buy copies of their graphic novels and have them personalised with both a sketch from Lorenzo and a signature from Robin. We only ordered 30 and sold out in 20 minutes. But, true professionals that they were, they will make sure the extra 20+ pupils and teachers get personalised copies too.

A fun morning, and different from their normal English lessons.

O MacNamee

As young people and developing adults there can be many changes, physical and emotional. Rubbena and students discussed what these changes might be and how they could be dealt with. There were no magic answers but lots of suggestions about how to support each other through the difficult times.

The day ended with a guide through how Deaf people might identify themselves, through only using Sign Language or speaking and signing or just speech, depending on their level of deafness, whether they are from a Deaf family or are the only deaf person in their family. In the end it is a matter of personal choice and could change through the course of a lifetime.

Everyone enjoyed the day and thought it was worthwhile and a valuable opportunity to get together to share thoughts and experiences. It could have gone on longer, but Rubbena had a 4.00 train to catch back home, which she managed with only minutes to spare.

Mr Parker

7

8

Curriculum Enriching Days CEE Day - From The View of the Pupil

Three times a year, Small Heath School suspends the timetable for one day and delivers an array of fun, enriching and educational activities across the whole school, engaging Year 7 right through to A Level students too. On these days, the school is abuzz with excited and engaged pupils that thrive on the different opportunities offered to each and everyone of them.

It’s not all about school trips, you know.

Here is a collection of some of the photographs taken over the year during these curriculum enriching days highlighting the group work and problem solving and literacy many of these activities include.

On the facing page we have one Year 9 pupil’s account of one of the days.

O MacNamee

This year’s CEE day took us all by surprise, different wasn’t what we had in mind, yet we all had a good time. We took part in six workshops all inspiring our lives in a special way.

The creative writing workshop helped many of my peers with their English. More children have become more aware of the fact that you can have fun whilst writing.

The guest author, Bali Rai, was really entertaining even though Bali is an adult he still writes books about what is happening with young people today. He talked about where he got his research from and we all found out it was familiar places like buses and shops.

The manga drawing workshop was a load of fun. Artist Laura Howell also works for the Beano comic and she drew pictures like Dennis the Menace.

Kurley the rapper surprised me the most because I did not expect him to have great rapping skills. He taught me and my peers that you can make a rap about anything. He also taught us a great song about our teachers and Kurley was a great teacher himself.

The speaking and listening workshop taught most of my friends that they didn’t always have great listening skills but after that lesson they really stared to listen to each other as well as themselves.

“The creative workshop helped me with my English as I am new to the English language and I really enjoyed it!’’

“I really love Bali Rai’s books it was good to have him come to our school and talk to us about stuff only us kids would only understand” “I adored this activity and it inspired me to want to draw more’’ Zalikha Stewart Year 9

From the top:Creative Writing, pupils practicing their M.C. skills with Kurley and Bali Rai, the children’s author

9

10

GCSE and A Level Art and Textiles Exhibition 2013

Another wonderful and creative set of art and textiles pieces were produced by our GCSE and A Level students this academic year thanks to the hard work of the Art Team and the students one and all. The exhibition was opened on June 27th 2013 by the artist Lucy MacLauchlan, who you may know from the monochrome magpies adorning the (old) Central Library. See both while you can.

11

Lucy McLauchlan

12

Enterprising Students Competition Success

Reading Week: March 4th – 8th 2013

Our Year 8 book club went to Saltley School to take part in a full day of activities with an author and a poet on World Book Day. Meanwhile our Year 7 Book Club and the whole of film club went to the Odeon for some retro game fun and watched ‘Wreck-it-Ralph’.

It has not been an easy ride right from the start as they are all A Level students. Time has been the biggest constraint which they have managed to overcome by meeting up regularly after school and even during school holidays. Their business hit the first milestone when they started trading in Bournville, selling candles designed for Christmas which were a huge success. The cupcake candles are so realistic that some of their customers mistook them for edible cakes.

The Sales Director, Arif Ahmed, describes the new chocolate range candles as, “Chocolate .... without the calories, chocolate .... without the guilty conscience, chocolate .... made in heaven”.

In upper and lower school we had lunchtime quizzes, a ‘find the author’ trail, favourite poetry displays and an extremely scary urban myth storytelling session with Mr. Ubhie in a pitch-black drama studio!

Roll on the next Reading Week in July!

They have all learned a variety of skills as Managing Director, Mohammad Kamran, explains. “Through the Young Enterprise programme I have gained leadership skills which I wouldn’t be able to gain if I had not taken this opportunity”.

Outdoor Pursuits 2013

The Assistant Managing Director, Iram Ahmed says, “We all are very grateful that Small Heath School has given us such an opportunity to experience the real business world and start up our very own partnership; this is an opportunity that all Business Studies students dream of!”

This spring we managed to tie in World Book Day with our regular Small Heath School Reading Week, for a wonderful week of book related activities. We were visited by the authors Joss Stirling, who left our Year 11 girls completely awe struck, and David Massey who has been nominated for mulitple awards for his first novel, Torn.

Authors’ visit the school

For the last 6 years sixth form students at Small Heath School have been given the opportunity to experience adventure and challenge through outward bound. In 2013 seven students braved the cold weather to experience a range of challenges including canoeing, climbing, gorge walking and mountain walking. The course aims were as follows:

Anisah Kausar, the Design Director says, “Making a profit depends mainly on a successful idea, which is what Cinda Lillies has.”

LEARNING OUTCOMES - Enjoy and experience adventure.

- Increase self confidence and self awareness - Set personal Goal - Communicate and work with others - Take responsibility - Develop problem solving skills and experience benefits of effective teamwork - Develop respect and responsibility for self and others and the natural environment

March has been freezing but an incredible month for them as they have won three awards in the three events which they attended:

The course provided some memorable experiences and reflection by the students:

Mr Farmer and the Outward Bounders 13

Seven ambitious Business Studies students from Small Heath School came together to form Cinda Lillies, a partnership manufacturing and selling their very own unique brand of candles using recycled materials.

“The course has made me very motivated to succeed.” - Tahmoor “The only thing lower than sea level were Khizer’s glasses.” - Mr Farmer

Ms Wainwright and Cinda Lillies

Afsana Chowdhury, the Production Director, strongly believes in the company’s mission statement - “Meeting customers’ needs through sustainable innovation”.

Sutton Coldfield Trade Fair - Best Trade Stand; Solihull Touchwood Trade Fair - Most Innovative Product; Deutsche Bank Young Enterprise competition - Best Overall Company in Birmingham.

They are indebted to their Link Teacher, Mrs Wainwright, for encouraging them when things are not going as planned, and for nagging them when things are yet to be done.

Finally, a huge thank you is due for their Business Adviser, Michael Stones from Delcam, who has given them so much invaluable advice and support over the last few months!

R Riley 14

6th Form Model United Nations Conference Ten hard working and politically minded year 12 pupils were selected to represent Small Heath School at the annual 6th Form Model United Nations conference at JCC. We were given two countries to represent, Libya and Italy, and both teams had to research various difficult topics from the point of view of the country they were representing. To ensure that their resolutions would make it to the final General Assembly on the Sunday, our students had to debate, negotiate and set aside their personal views for the greater good. All who were there to observe were impressed by how all the students dealt with a range of difficult topics, from The Question of Increased Female Representation Within Governments, to The Question of the Effective Implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with intelligence, maturity and compassion.

Five out of the ten resolutions worked on by our students made it to the final General Assembly on the Sunday, where we were also treated to a wonderful closing speech from Martin Bell.

But, this wasn’t the only debate Small Heath Students have been involved in this academic year. Here, in the words of our students, Ibrahim Rashid and Amara Banno, was the other competition we entered:

The English Speaking Union Debating Competition The debaters, and Martin Bell

It was the first time our school had entered this competition so the blood was racing and the expectations were high. With the deputy head watching including other senior staff the tension in the air was at its limit. Everyone was nervous including those who weren't even taking part yet after the performance our team mates gave we felt proud and joyful. After watching Aitisam deliver his amazing speech with him walking with confidence, pacing from one side of the year 11 social area to the other, Tasnim opening up the debate with her amazing conversation skills and Halena with her strenuous questioning, it was time to announce the winner.

Several awards went by including best speaker, best questioner, best chairperson and not one was given to Small Heath. Our minds were spiralling and the thought of not getting at least one award crushed any hope and disappointment washed over us. With the thought of winning against all the other schools against all odds, it was finally time for the award that every school was eagerly waiting for; ‘Now it’s quite rare to announce the winner being the host of this ESU competition...’ the Small Heath Debating Society was filled with joy and mostly shock as they heard these words being uttered from one of the ESU judges.

15

This meant we were the winners of Birmingham, beating King Edward Boys, Edgbaston School for Girls, and were in the final of the English Speaking Union of 2013 which was held at the Council House on 16th March. We were both amazed yet mostly proud of our team mates.

The ESU Final was pretty tense and interesting at times. Small Heath School were up against some stiff competition. Aitisam, Tasnim and Halena arrived with Mrs Ghani while the rest of us - Ibrahim, Amara, Nadia, Ismail, Amel and Dr Khan- arrived later on to see the competition begin. We began speaking to the others and were asking how confident they were, Aitisam just smiled contently and said; ‘Not to worry,’ then again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Aitisam nervous; he’s normally as cool as a cucumber!

I thoroughly enjoyed Aitisam’s speech about how books are becoming a thing of the past, he stood there on stage with one hand in his pocket, and the other was dictating as he spoke, and all this with a smile on his face. All of us watching loved his speech and how he answered the questions from the audience and the audience definitely agreed from there audible laughter and smiling faces.

Although our school didn't win overall we went away with a special award dedicated to Aitisam. Despite that we were all happy and proud that we had gotten this far and the achievements we gained as a team and for our school. Everything we gained wasn't just for ourselves but for each other and the school. it didn't just show us but also other schools that we are capable of much more than they assume and we are more than the area that surrounds us.

Ibrahim Rashid & Amara Banno

Thank You Other than the experience we gained, it was a bonus that we were able to spend some quality time with the superb Dr Khan. He told us many stories and interesting facts. His knowledge expands far more than the human mind can exceed and his presence made the whole time more memorable.

We were all laughing and making jokes and the time there was definitely unforgettable.

Of course it also goes without saying the humongous thank you we send to our amazing teacher Mrs. Ghani. Without her we wouldn't have been able to gain all these new experiences and achievements. Her support and trust in all of us has led us to become the best, and from when we were in Year 8 and to now she has always been there for us and has made us amazing debaters. With the knowledge she has given us it has allowed us to gain confidence and has helped us in all our subjects, this shows she hasn't just made us better debaters but better students. We thank her for everything. - Small Heath Debating Society

16

Work Related Learning and Physical Education All children are given opportunity at key stage 4 to develop their leadership skills through GCSE PE or following the Level 1 Award in Sports Leadership. Over 100 children in the current year 11 cohort have gained the nationally recognised award in sports leadership and the PE team continue to provide opportunities in specific sports such as hockey, golf and tennis. On Saturday 2nd February 2013 twelve children enrolled on the newly launched Junior Football Leaders Award endorsed by the Football Association as the first recognised step on their coaching pathways model. The course consists of the following modules:     

Assisting football activity sessions Introduction to refereeing Helping with a team Different football events (Knock out / league) 4 hour work experience log book

All twelve candidates passed the initial 4 modules and are now in the process of completing their 4 hour work experience log book during PE lessons, after school club, working with local football clubs or schemes at Small Heath Leisure Centre (Strikes Football Education Programme).

Pupils on the FA Junior Football Leaders Award

Future Chefs 2013 “I saw the Future Chef competition as an opportunity to learn something new and show off all the cooking skills I’ve acquired at school. I am naturally competitive so I enjoyed the thrill and the adrenaline shots that the smell of burning meat gave me; (looks around). I loved the stressful atmosphere… “ - Adham Morsi

Small Heath school recycling project with AVFC Small Heath School students’ including Eco representatives and key stage 3 division 1 science students attended the Aston Villa grounds to discuss our collaborative project, to develop and manage sustainable recycling initiatives at AVFC. Students were put into groups of 6 and completed activities in relation to recycling initiatives. Students first had to think about what they would expect to find, from their students were then given access to look at the different floors and look at the recycling initiatives already taking Small Heath school recycling project with AVFCplace.

Ravinder Masih leading the project from Aston Villa gave us a tour. Students collected the different recycled materials and compiled a tally. Through analysis they were then asked to design a practical recycling initiative.

Several creative suggestions were designed. Plenty of photographic evidence was also taken to help support the Eco Schools silver award application.

Mrs S Rohman (Eco School Coordinator) Mr C Wood (Science Teacher) Mr R Riley (Work Related Coordinator)

Another successful set of entries into this very popular competition (see previous issues of this very magazine). Well done to all entrants and their wonderful food.

Small Heath Students at the Villa grounds 17

18

The Nurture Group: Sheldon Park Visit

Public Speaking - The Winning Team 2013 “Debating brings on countless opportunities and possibilities” You may have heard this quite a lot over the past two years around school, and let’s be honest, a lot of you probably thought it was just talk and there couldn’t possibly be anything commendable that debating could bring on. Well get ready to eat your words because this is where we prove you wrong.

It’s always nice to go on school trips and earlier this year our Nurture Group were able to visit Sheldon Park and have a really great time on the swings and petting the farm animals too.

Around December of last year Mrs Ghani entered us for ESU’s Public Speaking Competition, not only were we taking part in it, but we were also the host school. We firstly allocated roles and chose Aitisam to be the speaker, Halena to be the questioner and myself to be the chair person. The topic we chose was We have a moral duty to intervene in oppressed countries. We were then told that the schools we’d be competing against were; Edgbaston High School for Girls, Lordswood Girls School, King Edwards and King Edwards 5 ways. My thoughts when I heard this? “We’re doomed.” When the day came, I’d like to say I was completely confident and that the competition, with their posh accents from their posh schools, didn’t pose as a threat to me at all. But that would be a lie. Truth be told, I was slightly terrified that I’d go up there, forget what to say and start mumbling and smiling in desperate hope that the audience would understand me. But it didn’t go too bad. I began warming to the audience and eventually most of my nerves had gone. As the chair person, it was my job to lead the presentation, so I had to be on the ball the whole time and listen to everything being said as I was to give a summary of the whole thing at the end. This was quite challenging, but I did manage to get through it without falling on the floor in a fit of nerves. That in itself is a success in my book.

After the judges consulted, the time of the results had come. We were so sure that we weren’t going to win, in fact, one the way up, one of our debaters suggested going home then to avoid any humiliation. So when they said, the host school had won, it took us a while to get our bearings and realise that was us. We were ecstatic with the result! We now proudly hold the title of the winners of the Birmingham heat of the Public Speaking Competition 2013.Taking it off of King Edwards school who’d held it for the last two years, was just a bonus.

Then came the regional heats. The competition got a lot tougher as the standards were much higher and we had the likes of the lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress to impress. But as a team, I think we showed we were just as good as everyone else. Aitisam especially shone, he delivered the topic in an articulate, passionate and humorous way, the crowd loved him by the end of it.

Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we’re all extremely proud of Aitisam for winning the judge’s special award for the best up and coming public speaker.

I would be lying if I said not winning didn’t bother me at the time, but the experience was really good, the boost it has given to my confidence is huge and I think from this, we can all learn to never underestimate or degrade our capabilities because we have no idea where they may take us. In our case it was the regional finals of the Public Speaking Competition.

Tasnim Akhter Small Heath Debating Society

19

20

Comenius Project - European Exchanges

Geography Field Trip Early on a dark and blustery Thursday morning, 35 Year 10 pupils trudged to school in wellies and warm coats, some even wearing woolly hats, not good for mid April! They boarded a coach and soon they alighted in a remote and mysterious part of the world known as the Forest of Dean.

The group collected an assortment of strange looking equipment including stripy 6ft poles, what looked like a boat propeller on a stick and a set of minature corks. They looked confused but went over to the river and checked their wellies were indeed waterproof.

Satisfied that they were not going to get cold and wet feet they soon got stuck into collecting a whole raft of river data, which they will use to create an investigation (which is 1/4 of their final GCSE Geography grade).

I had previously told the group that no true Geography trip goes without rain and we were not disappointed, in fact we may have experienced most weather types you could name in our day at Blackpool Brook.

All pupils returned to the coach, happy in the knowledge they had collected a wide variety of accurate data on the river, and there were only a few who had to pour their own mini rivers out of their wellies before getting comfortable for the journey back to Small Heath!

E Rogers Pupils on the Geography field trip

Our school has established new partnerships with schools from Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Turkey. The ‘MUSIC Project’ which focuses on music as a means to enhance the learning experiences of our students, improving their attitudes towards different cultures of Europe. The project will enrich our students’ visions with a wealth of art, song and dance performances.

Comenius visit to Regensburg- Germany, 14th- 19th April 2013 Mr Belhouche and Miss Debbie Mahon accompanied 6 year girls to attend alongside 50 students and teachers from our partner schools in Italy, Turkey, Czech Republic and Slovenia in a music & culture exchange visit to Bishof Manfred Müller in Regensburg in Germany. The girls were hosted by German families and embraced the life style of German students from having breakfast to attending their lessons and even celebrating their birthdays. Our girls worked tirelessly and closely with 2 classes and taught them The Beatles ‘Twist & Shout’ song and a fusion of modern and Asian dance routine. Our girls impressed both teachers and students from partner schools with their mental discipline and leadership skills. They performed the song and dance in front of a 600 people audience and local press. Many thanks go to our German partners for their generosity and outstanding organisation of the event. Our made us proud and were excellent ambassadors for multiculturalism, harmony and tolerance.

(Top) Our pupils playing and performing abroad (Below) Work experience in France

Work Experience in France A group of students including G&T students travelled to France to stay with families and attend work placements near Coutances in Normandy. Students worked in local primary schools as language assistants, others worked at local supermarkets and hotel and restuarants and they all gained invaluable specialised skills and life experience which will definitely enhance their career prospects. This year, we have celebrated 23 years of successful partnership with 'Maison Familiale' in Saint Sauveur Lendelin. We were joined by students from Golden Hillock, Calthorpe Special School and StarBank Primary School.

I Belouche

21

22

On June 27th 2013 the Design and Technology Team put on a fun-filled day of activities around the subjects of Design and Technology, Food Technology and Textiles.

Here are some of the photographs from that day.

23

24