UoBSchool Community Newsletter: Summer Term 2017
It’s been another bumper Summer term at UoB School! Here are some of the highlights.
Street Dance Champions
Meeting our Paralympic Heroes
We travelled down to the Olympic Stadium this week to watch the World Para Athletics Championships. We were even lucky enough to bump into Paralympic athletes Heinrich Popow, and Dave Henson — some of Alice’s all time heroes!
UoB School takes part in national Great Get Together
Our pupils have been working hard in enrichment this term to organise UoBSchool’s first ever Street Party (on our front car park). The event was part of the national Great Get Together celebrations, which took place across the country as part of The Eden Project’s annual ‘The Big Lunch’. Parents, staff and our community all brought food and talents to share with each other, as we celebrated all that we share in common. Jo Cox said that “We have more in common than that which divides us,” and the Street Party was a lovely testament to that.
Awards galore!
Rotary Club: Bauan in Sixth Form scooped first prize in the Young Person’s Award for Design and Craftsmanship for his chess-board coffee table.
EES Semi-Finalists
Language Perfect
Bronze CREST Awards
The pupils below earned Bronze CREST awards for their projects on energy systems including solar panels and water tanks in School. The assessor said the pupils’ presentations had made her day, and that they were to a very high standard, even relative to what’s expected for the award. This is a significant success on a national scheme, and reflects the hard work these pupils have put in over several months in physics.
7A — Esther, Elena, Nicole, Shayaan, Reem and Evie. 7M — Nshae, Hana and Sarah. 7N — Alvyn. 7S — Naomi and Umayyah.
House of Lords
Millie, Ali, Tyler (Sixth Form) and Yedam (Y8) went down to the House of Lords to have lunch with Lord James O’Shaugnessy UK Govt Health Minister and collect their #whycharactermatters awards with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. #charactereducation
BiFor
Year 12 Geographers visited BiFor, the ‘Birmingham Institute of Forest Research’, recently opened by the University of Birmingham. As a result of a visionary 15 million pound donation, BiFor has been set up to provide a step-change in our understanding how our forests will respond to future increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), including effects on forest growth and agricultural pests and diseases. Our students, alongside Mr Roden, took a tour of one of the institute’s forest sites in Staffordshire and learnt about land management and use and the challenges facing our woodland and forest ecosystems. #universityschool #engagedinresearch
Sports News
We had an awesome day with our athletics teams @BhamSchoolGames, with Year 8 boys finishing as champions again! Year 7 boys won silver and Year 8 girls won bronze respectively.
Our opening hardball cricket match saw us take a victory against Kings Norton Boys School, with 8 wickets in hand!
Exploring Careers
Top: Visiting Wesleyan and Mazaars during the BPS Professional Services Week 2017.
Middle: KPMG’s Work Ready Day, exploring careers for the future with artificial intelligence robot Kai and volunteers from KPMG.
Bottom: Exploring careers with purpose in London, visiting Grant Thornton, Edelman and Impact Hub Islington.
Leavers
As we said farewell (or ‘see you soon’) to our first ever Year 13s, the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues made a moving documentary following their journey.
Baroness Massey
Baroness Massey spoke to our pupils in assembly and led a fantastic discussion on what happens behind the scenes in Parliament.
Varsity
An exciting Sixth Form vs Staff varsity match. Find out who won over on @UoBSchool and @UoBSchool_PE on Twitter.
UoBS Friends
We had our very first UoBSchool Friends social evening, for parents and carers of pupils at UoBS.
UoB School Friends are starting a collection of used uniform with the aim of offering it for sale. If you have items now or if you are thinking of renewing uniform over the Summer, they will happily accept good quality out-grown items.
These items can be given into reception at School over the summer holidays in a clearly labelled bag. When they have enough stock, they will announce when the sale will be. Your donations will be gratefully appreciated.
Curious and curiouser…
Our Meal in a Wheelbarrow entry at BBC Gardeners World Live 2017. Ours was Alice in Wonderland themed, complete with a mad hat.
Rush Hour Research: Social Justice
Professor Kalwant Bhopal gave a great talk to teachers from across the West Midlands about social justice and BME student experiences in higher education. See our Twitter stream for the topics we discussed. #universityschool #engagedinresearch
Mr Roden on (mock) Trial
The Kalisher Trust joined us alongside judges, barristers, and Year 12 pupils from schools across Birmingham to put Mr Roden on a mock trial and explore the realities of the legal world.
Mission Transition
We welcomed Year 6 pupils to our School, ahead of their official start in September. Why not join them and read the book they were all given to read over the Summer? The book is 'Wonder’ by RJ Palacio.
Symphony
Our pupils went to Symphony Hall to the BBC Ten Pieces Launch event and played alongside the University of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (@UoBMS). 30 of our students (some total beginners, some experienced musicians) went to rehearse three pieces — Habanera and Toreador Song from Bizet’s Carmen and Mambo from Bernstein’s West Side Story — as members of the University of Birmingham Orchestra. They had an absolute belter of a time, with the University students mentoring our pupils. We’re now looking forward to setting it up as a yearly event! #universityschool
Sports Day
An incredible day was had by all last Friday across our playing fields, UoB Sport and Fitness, Weoley Hill tennis courts and our School MUGA , clocking up points for the all important College Cup.
And that’s a wrap!
We wish you a restful and joyful Summer break, and look forward to welcoming you back in September for another incredible year at University of Birmingham School.
Best wishes,
All the team at University of Birmingham School
