bvgs newsletter march 2015
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Bishop Vesey's Grammar School Sutton Coldfield March 2015 school newsletterTRANSCRIPT
Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Inspiration and Excellence
Spring 2015
The official Bishop Vesey’s Twitter account is @BVGS1527 Follow us on
http://www.bvgs.co.uk/
Bringing Smiles to Children with Ebola
Headteacher
On 16 December we welcomed His Excellency Edward Turay, the
Sierra Leonean High Commissioner and his team to BVGS. Thanks to
the heroic actions of two of our Vesey staff, Alex Davis (Head of Year
8) and Julie Wadeson (Physics Technician) the Vesey community had
been inspired and motivated to collect shoeboxes, containing basic items
such as soap, toothpaste, pens and paper, for children devastated by the
Ebola crisis in West Africa. We were overwhelmed by the number of
boxes collected. In an emotional speech in assemblies, His Excellency
said ‘Thank you to Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School for these wonderful
gifts which will bring smiles to Ebola-affected children’. The students
also received an informative talk by a microbiologist, Dr Susan
Manzoor, from Heartlands Hospital about the Ebola virus. There are
so many staff and students who helped make this visit a success. Our
students were superb, in particular Ben Woodford, Eloise Harrison,
Ellen Rhodes, Oliver Hobin, Robert Huskisson, Jessica Ridout
and Sebastian Heley. Without their organisation, enthusiasm, effort
and commitment, the visit would not have gone as well as it did. Also a
big thank you to Lewis Hawker, Nathan Lawrence, Elliott Brown,
Zak Manzoor and Freddie Goodrham.
BBC Midlands Today and ITV Central News covered the story. In
February the boxes were delivered in person to the Sierra Leone High
Commission by Alex Davis and Julie Wadeson.
Growing Vesey, Growing Minds Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School is a special place. We were
delighted to receive external validation for our work this half-term
when we received news, for the second year running, that we have
won a national SSAT Award for Outstanding Student Outcomes and
Progress at GCSE! At the same time I am delighted to announce that
we have now raised £621,000. Best of all we have learned that our
bid to the Government for £2m has been successful. This is an
incredible achievement for the school and an absolute triumph for our
School Business Manager, Graham Swindells who wrote our CIF
bid. We were one of only four grammar schools nationally (and the
only one in the Midlands) to be awarded money for expansion. It was
a very tight bidding round with schools bidding for £1.6 billion and
only 20% of that money being available. If you want to help us com-
plete our fundraising target, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the
Campaign Office here at school.
Happy Easter!
We continue to take a keen
interest in the problems and
challenges of fighting Ebola. For
example Dr Sowsan Atabani
(left), Consultant Virologist at
Public Health England gave an
excellent talk to our Sixth Form
students about the Ebola virus
Electron microscope image of
Ebola virus
An artist’s impression of our new STEM block
Spring 2015 Page 2
Time to Act
On Thursday 26 February we welcomed James Merry (OV) and Claire Huckle for their annual Time to Act workshop opportunity for Year 7 and 8 students. The performances at the end of the day were excellent with James commenting that the participants this year were a particularly ‘talented bunch’. See James and Claire’s website for further details of what they do, www.time2act.uk.com.
Another OV Georgina Jones is coming in to school on Thursday 16 April to deliver an acting workshop for Years 7 and 8 focussing on
encouraging creativity and imagination.
Straight Talking The Round Midnight Theatre
Company, a Birmingham
based creative arts company,
visited school at the end of
February to deliver a play,
'Straight Talking' and an
interactive workshop for Y8
and Y9 students. The topic
w a s ‘ c o m b a t t i n g
homophobia’. Thanks to
Heather Hodkinson,
Learning Mentor, for organis-
ing this event. The actors
were very impressed with
the engagement of our boys.
Community Award Elliott Brown from
Year 8 won the ‘Young
Carer of the Year’ Award
at the Stockland Green
Community Awards
Night in November. He
has also been invited to
the Houses of Parliament
to be a spokesperson for
the YMCA in the West
Midlands and has also
raised money for RE-
LEASE, a charity for
young carers. He is
pictured here receiving
the award from Junaid Gharda who is also a BVGS parent.
Sixth Form Parliamentary Debating Competition On Thursday 12 March BVGS hosted the Sutton Coldfield Parliamentary Debating Competition. It was a pleasure to welcome all the Sutton
schools, our guest panel and our local MP Andrew Mitchell. The evening was a big success. Thanks to all those who made it happen including
Adam Belcher, Jo Davis, Sharon Weblin, Jon Holden, Kevin Wamsley, Paul Boyle, Andy Tomlinson, the Art Department, the
Officer Team, Bridie Curtis and her team, Ben Woodford, Tom Reershemius, Tom Cotterill, Dr Adrian Reilly, Jim Goldstraw,
Graham Swindells, Russell Bowen and last, but not least, a big thank you to the amazing Lesley Overton for leading on hospitality. We
received lovely emails from all the host schools on the quality of the event. By the way our speakers did very well, coming a close second to Arthur
Terry School. Well done Lewis Terry (below centre and right) and Adam Smith (below left) for doing a brilliant job.
March 2015 Page 3
Through the Key-hole of the LRC
Our school library is a friendly and welcoming place to be. Under the leadership of Wendy
Brown and Alison Ward ‘the library is a hive of activity and the displays, including the
students’ book wall encourages creativity and promotes a love of reading’. (Ofsted 2014).
Our reps (pictured above) are an outstanding team of helpers, who show great responsibility
and leadership in assisting the staff with the smooth running of the library.
Dr Who Day
The school held a ‘Dr Who’ day last term when the author Daniel Blythe (who has written Dr Who novels) visited the school. Students dressed
up as their favourite doctor for the day and there was a prize for the best costume. There was also an opportunity to design a ‘sonic screwdriver’.
Daniel gave advice to students on writing and was interviewed by them.
The author Bali Rai visited BVGS in February. He
attended Y7 and 8 assembly and as part of their
English homework the boys were given the task of
competing a poster about Bali Rai to include
reviews of his books. Bali also gave a talk to Year
10 about his new book ‘Web of Darkness’. Bali is
pictured (above) signing books.
Chris Bradford, author of Young Samurai and
Bodyguard was in school at the beginning of
March. He demonstrated the art of being a
'bodyguard' which he trained to do before he
wrote his books. He also demonstrated use of the
Samurai sword - he is a qualified swordsman! The
students really enjoyed meeting Chris and hearing
about his books.
There are always plenty of
activities going on. We held a
Harry Potter Book Night in
February. World Book Day
was celebrated in March and
there will be Dreadlock Alien
Workshops on 13 July. In the
‘Read for My School’ competi-
tion students were encour-
aged to read as many and as
wide a range of books as they
could in the two months of
the competition, with the
option of writing a review of a
selected book from the online
library. Students can also find
many links to e-resources on
the Library VLE page along
with details of ‘books of the
week’.
Spring 2015 Page 4
In November, Angus Carter (9R)
played The Last Post at the Remem-
brance Assembly at Rocklands
Special School in Lichfield. Emily
Bacon from Rocklands reported that
‘assemblies are often fairly noisy
affairs, but the children sat spell-
bound when Angus was playing.
(Afterwards they gave him an
enthusiastic round of applause!)’.
She added that Angus conducted
himself in a pleasant and confident
manner, and his musicianship was
excellent.
Remembrance The 100th anniversary of World War I beginning gave our Remembrance services more poignancy than
ever. Dr Craggs, Chair of Governors is pictured below in Old Big School with Deputy Captain
Maddie Turner and Sebastian Heley, School Captain.
World War I Scrapbook Competition
As part of our Remembrance the History Department launched a World War I
Scrapbook Competition. The closing date is Friday 17 April and we expect to
see some really creative work – using images, text, ideas and original ways to
educate and inform other young people about the First World War. The only rule
given is that students should try and find something from each letter of the Alpha-
bet. They can make their own scrapbook, buy one and fill it or do something really
different. We would like to see as many students enter the competition as possible
– there are prizes to be won.
An Old Veseyan Honoured
On Friday 20 March a special
memorial stone was unveiled
on The Green in Aldridge in
honour of Vesey Victoria
Cross winner, Gus Bonner
OV. Our own Dave Phil-
lips, who has written books
on the involvement of Old
Veseyans in War was in at-
tendance. It was also great to
see one of our cadets Louis
Kill-Brown from 10G
(pictured right) playing in the
marching band on this occa-
sion.
After Christmas 15 students from Year 8 and 9 attended
BMet, accompanied by Mrs Arrandale and Mr Everett
to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War and to
remember the many that died for our freedom. The
workshop was interactive and activities were based upon
the lives of the war time population, including the Christ-
mas truce football match. ‘We all learnt the importance of
remembrance and the significance of such a widespread
conflict. Our day spent as a 1914 citizen was beneficial
both to our learning and our enjoyment.’ Alasdair Bell
9R ‘It was a very educational day and it really opened my
eyes’ Alex Bailey 8R, ‘It was a truly fun yet thought-
provoking day’ Sam Harkin 8B, ‘The talk from a current
soldier was very deep and it just made us think – why did
all of this happen?’ Harvey Quinn 8B‘As a result of my
experience, the sheer tragedy and destruction of World
War One is clear’ Robert Hollinghurst 9R.
Vesey installs two new de-fibrillators
Bishop Vesey’s have received the school’s first two de-
fibrillators having raised an impressive £2500 for
Arrhythmia Alliance through a non-uniform day and Mr
Davis reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro and completing
the Paris Marathon in 2013 following the cardiac arrest he
suffered as a result of an underlying heart condition (Wolff
-Parkinson-White Syndrome) in 2012. The installation of
the de-fibs will mean that the school is prepared to deal
with a sudden cardiac arrest as a result of an undetected
heart arrhythmia and provide the first line of medical
support. Our school requires de-fibs as a result of the
active community life of the school. From the extraordi-
nary breadth of our extra-curricular programme, including
rowing, rugby, hockey, cricket, netball and tennis to the
incredible music concerts, charity events, drama
productions, guest speakers, OV’s and parents who pass
through the school every day, the de-fibs will be on hand
and offer a vital tool in giving someone a 50% chance of
surviving a cardiac arrest. For more information in regards
to the charity and heart arrhythmias and conditions please
visit their website http://www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk/
www/436/0/About/
Page 5 March 2015
What are learning habits?
Building Learning Habits At Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School we believe that learning isn’t just about examination
results. It is about preparation for life. We want to encourage all our students to have
excellent learning habits. Ofsted recognised our work in this area when they wrote ‘lessons
include a strong focus on students building the learning habits they need to find things out
for themselves and to develop curiosity and confidence’. On 24 March we held a BLH
information evening for parents. Thanks to Russell Bowen, Deputy Headteacher and
Steve Baugh, Assistant Headteacher for organising this event. Our parents worked very
hard. They persevered, made links and reflected on their learning. Thank you to all who
attended for their enthusiasm in supporting the exciting work we are doing to build better
learning habits at BVGS.
Learning habits are the routine ways in which we think when we are faced with life’s experiences and challenges.
We acquire habits through use until they become intuitive
We can help pupils to get better at ‘doing it for themselves’
Which learning habits are we focussing particularly on at BVGS?
Unless you experience
symptoms of being
wrong, your brain will
never revise its models.
Before your neurons
can succeed, they must
repeatedly fail. There
are no shortcuts for
this painstaking process.
Jonah Lehrer, The
Decisive Moment
Resourcefulness: making links in Geography
Spring 2015 Page 6
Come to Vesey, see the World
At February half-term Beth Gainford, Head of L6, Min Egan, Head of U6, Andrew
Whittle, Teacher of Physics, Ian Bousfield, Teacher of Geography and Rowing and
Russell Bowen, Deputy Headteacher led our annual ski trip. This year they went to the
Italian ski resort of Bardonecchia, home to the Winter Olympics in 2006. We were de-
lighted with the behaviour of the students, the leadership shown by our Sixth Formers and
the resilience which our students applied to their learning of skiinig. Roll on next year!
We enjoyed welcoming our friends from the
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Gymnasium in
Bayreuth for the 18th year running. There
were 23 student visitors accompanied by trip
leader Dieter Kaleschke and Lisa Öttinge.
A special thank you to our all our host
families especially the Carters, Caseys,
Jarretts, Leyvas and Mrs Penny. It went
fantastically well. We look forward to the
return trip from 20 - 28 June.
Our Sixth Form German Group enjoyed their visit to
Berlin with Herr Götschel and Fraulein Slater.
They are pictured above at the new Reichstag.
Thanks to Laura Diprose and the French Department for organising an excellent
French Exchange to Lyon. Our students enjoyed meeting our hosts at the Lycée
Louise Labé Lyon. Good friendships were fostered and cemented and the sights of
Lyon such as the cathedral (above right) were visited.
Y9 using our new Surface Tablets to plan their
French advertising campaigns for the
Apprentice Project.
French Exchange to Lyon
Vesey Charity Vesey Charity has been very active in recent months
led by our wonderful charity captains Oliver Hobin,
Eloise Harrison and Ellen Rhodes. Comic Relief
was particularly successful this year with a whopping
total of £5,007.50. There were some new additions
this year with a whole week dedicated to fund-raising
with new events such as the table tennis 12 hour
marathon. 8W and their Form Tutor Naima Field
led the way with their own version of the bake-off.
Well done to Alex Bailey, Jaden Lo-Watson and Sam
Harkin who were all stars in completing both the quiz and
La Semaine de la Francophonie
German Exchange Computing in Languages
March 2015 Page 7
Year 9 have been developing photography work in
their Art lessons over the last few weeks. Staff have
organised two trips into Sutton town centre to
consider how architecture can be used as a subject
for creating photomontages. They enjoyed this
experience, and learnt new techniques of 'joining and
layering' images in the style of David Hockney. Stu-
dents are able to extend their artistic learning
through the use of ICT and Photoshop, as shown in
this example by Harry Wem
Academic Excellence in STEM Now that we have been successful with our £2m bid to the Government we are looking forward to building our new STEM block. STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is already a very strong feature of our school. Here you can see some excellent work being pro-
duced in Design and Technology.
Here we have Aidan Hill and Barney Miller of Year 8 with their ambulance and train respectively. We also have some excellent examples of
work from other students.
On the right we
have photographs of
Harry Ayto’s (also
Year 9) Quadcopter
toy he designed on
the DT Depart-
ments new Creo 3D
modelling software.
In November we were delighted to welcome Dr Dan Maskell OV from Bath Uni-
versity. Dan gave an excellent talk on Engineering. Students have been having a lot of fun in Science Club.
Here Nichola Long from 7BL is enjoying exploring
the properties of slime.
Careers Week During National Careers Week students signed up to talks on Law, Engineering, Dentistry. Thanks to Tom Jackson (OV), Peter Davies, Gover-
nor, Wayne Geldard, parent, Steve Clements, former parent, Natalie Ashby, (Law) teacher and Adrian Reilly Economics teacher for their
support. We also welcomed back Rebecca Fellows (OV) to talk about higher level apprenticeships with Deloitte and Laura Bray from Durham
University. Thank you to Lesley Overton, Examinations/Business Support Officer and Julie Robson, Governor for making this happen.
Spring 2015 Page 8
Attain Travel is a proud sponsor of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School Sports
Thank you for your support
http://www.bvgs.co.uk/alumni/alumni-community
Dan VENABLES– RYA UK Squad Sailor a member of the Royal Yachting Association UK Youth/ Junior Squad.
Dan’s selection for this squad recognises their potential to progress within the British Sailing Team, with the aim of
winning selection for our UK Youth Squads or beyond in to our Olympic Development programmes. Dan has been
selected on the basis of their performance and commitment to a programme of training and competition over a period
of several years and establishes their status as a UK Squad sailor who we hope will represent Great Britain at major
international events in the forthcoming years. Information relating to the UK Squad programme can be accessed on
the following website: www.rya.org.uk/racing/youthjunior.
BVGS Sixth Form Girls organised the High 5 Netball tournament at the end of November for girls in Year 6 at local
primary schools. Emma Jackson from Boldmere Junior School I took 18 girls, from who all thoroughly enjoyed the
day. She said ‘t was run exceptionally professionally and the girls were a real credit to you. In particular, Madeleine
Turner demonstrated excellent organisation skills and communicated brilliantly leading up to the competition. We
also had two training sessions at the school run by Ore Akinwale and Kirun Sehra, which my girls loved. We
would love to have them back at training, when it recommences in Spring, if they would like to come. I hope this
event becomes an annual one, or possibly could be repeated in the Summer term?’
High Five Netball Tournament
Growing Vesey, Growing Minds … in London On Tuesday we held our 17th reception of the Growing Vesey, Growing Minds Campaign. We are grateful for all the homes we have been
welcomed into and the support we have been given along the way. As part of our re-connecting with Old Veseyans we have been supported to
offer two London receptions. This week we were at Osbourne Clarke in the City of London and back in January we hosted a reception at the
world famous Reform Club on Pall Mall. Thanks to all the students, staff, parents, Old Veseyans and Governors who have spread the word about
our campaign.
National Success for BVGS
What a term for Vesey Sport. Our Senior Girls Netball team qualified for the National finals in Ellesmere Port. The U13 Hockey Team also
qualified for the Nationals - the first time a BVGS Hockey team has reached such dizzy heights since the 1970s. Meanwhile the U13 Rugby team had
an amazing tournament at the World’s Best 7s Contest at Rosslyn Park in London. They smashed all private school opposition in front of them
until losing to the ultimate winners Dulwich College. What an amazing time to be playing sport at BVGS. Well done to all the coaches, our
amazingly supportive parents and of course, our talented students.