April 2017 Newsletter

On 11 February and 11 March, over 30 primary school boys from different schools all over the city came to take part in our ACE Saturday Schools. The first event was focused on STEM subjects and the second had a focus on Arts and Humanities – this was able to give our Year 4 visitors a rounded flavour of the variety of activities that our students are engaged in when they go to secondary school.

During our STEM day, the primary pupils (helped by our own Year 12s) were able to engage in programming robots, designing a slow marble run and engineering robust structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows. Feedback was very positive with happy students and parents at the end of a busy day, however, there was not enough scope to go outdoors thanks to the snowy conditions. This was rectified on our second Saturday in March when the boys were able to take part in a Dragon Hunt through following the map clues around the school grounds – gold chocolate coins being the reward for finding the dragon. Students were also able to act out their own versions of scenes from the poem, The Lady of Shallot in a drama session and could construct castles out of junk modeling which parents were delighted to see they could take home. A huge thank you to Mr Cattermole, Mrs Hundal, Miss Buckley and Mr Rudd for their contributions to making the events such a success as well as the Year 12 volunteers who gave impressive support and advice to the boys throughout.

On 5 April, Camp Hill Boys hosted he UKMT Primary Schools Mathematics Team Challenge – 15 teams took part in a series of challenges which required pupils to work together to solve mathematical problems and demonstrate their speed and accuracy in using numbers. Again many thanks to the helpers from Year 12 for their contribution towards a successful event,

GNH

Senior Production – The History Boys by Alan Bennett 31^st March – 1^st April 2017

I can remember it well. In the immediate aftermath of the Junior Drama production, buoyed by their directorial success, Billy Chapman and Harry Wilson both asked me could I contact Mr Southworth and let him know they’d had an idea: could we put on The History Boys for Senior Drama? Despite being a GCSE text, this was always going to be a controversial choice for a school play; the sexual themes and the coarse language being particularly large obstacles to overcome. Nevertheless, thanks to Mr Southworth still not knowing what the word ‘retirement’ means, and with a few swipes of his editorial pen, the boys’ dream came into fruition for a three night run.

If auditions were anything to go by, The History Boys was clearly a popular choice with our mainly Science and Maths Boys. Records numbers attended, with some very talented actors unfortunately having to be turned away; their time will come, however (I’m thinking of you, Year 10!) Having selected his cast, Mr Southworth set about rehearsals with an efficiency never yet seen before – clearly stopping teaching ‘History boys’ has had an invigorating effect upon him. When asked to pop in for my now usual slot a week before the production was due to begin, I was expecting to see the usual chaos; boys still on script, half of them missing for rugby fixtures etc. However, much to my shock, what I saw was a largely flawless rehearsal, with days still to go! Complacency was the only warning that could be given.

Fortunately, for anyone who saw the production, complacency was not an issue. I can honestly say that as a collective performance, this is the best production I have seen. Every single actor can be thoroughly proud of him/herself, having put on a show of professional standards. It was particularly gratifying to see the boys who had come through the ranks of Junior Drama: Isara, Lior, Harry, Ihsaam, Lewis, Billy and Matty all came of age in this production. I’m pleased that Sunil has continued with acting, after his successful debut last year, and talking of debuts, it was great to see Matt Sherwood following in his brother’s footsteps on the Camp Hill stage. However, special mention must go to fellow debutants, Miles Smith (Hector) and Hasnain Khan (Posner), who were both superb; you would never have guessed that they had not done anything like this before.

As ever, thanks must go to Mr Downing and Mr Parkinson for the set, Mr Palmer for the music, Mrs James for front of house, costumes and make-up (another one who doesn’t understand ‘retirement’), Ms McCulloch, Mr Hardy and Dr Taylor also for front of house, and of course, the ‘Tech Team’ for sound and lighting. Of course, special mention must go to Mr Southworth for his indefatigable efforts in producing such a superb show. His talent cannot be underestimated and it will be a sad day when he finally does look up the definition of the word ‘retirement’.

NH

Year 11 Visit to RAF Cosford and the National Cold War Exhibition

On a chill January day, year 11 Historians set off for the far side of Wolverhampton to visit the RAF Museum at Cosford. Due to an inauspicious start with the bus taking us the wrong way down the M6, we arrived over an hour late – thankfully Mr Southworth and Rohan Aggarwal had to patience to wait for us. It has been an annual pilgrimage for the history department to visit the hangar containing exhibits on the Cold War and Britain’s role and technology within it, however, this would be the last time due to changes in the GCSE Specifications. The boys were able to follow a trail around the Cold War exhibition, visiting hotspots on the Nuclear Arms Race, the Space Race and the Cuban Missiles Crisis as well as gathering information to help them with the Vietnam unit of their GCSE. In a change from previous years, our students took part in a workshops ominously called “Protect and Survive”. During a session which incorporated chilling public service announcements from the 1980s, students had to choose what to take with them into their makeshift fallout shelter and to dress in NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) suits complete with gasmasks in order to carry out simple tasks. The trip also enabled us to enjoy the 4D cinema and the exhibits in the other hangars, including First and Second World War air technology. It is hoped that in future years the visit will still be possible for other year groups as it a valuable resource almost on our doorstep.

GNH

At the start of March the Year 12 Geographers packed their bags for the first field trip of the year, to the Rhyd-y-Creaua field centre in north Wales. The purpose of the trip was both to prepare the boys for their AS exams in the summer and the fieldwork element, but also to build a skill set of fieldwork skills for those who will continue into Year 13 and produce their own Independent Investigation. After settling into their rooms and an introduction from the centre staff we headed down the road to Betws-y-Coed to practise some basic place study field skills such as urban derives, rephotography and soundscapes – which left Mr Eckley and Mr Jackson scratching their heads. This apparently is the ‘new geography’ – which, for a generation of teachers schooled in the quantitative-revolution can take a little getting used to. However, we persevered and the boys took to these new ideas with ease.

The next day was our coasts fieldwork and we headed to the quiet coastal town of Criccieth to explore Mr Duncan’s favourite ice cream shop and possibly collect some pebbles on the beach (I’d waffle on about systematic sampling and the Zingg index but I doubt you’d keep reading much further). Suffice to say the boys collected some very useful data which produced a statistically significant result when we processed the cross-sections back at the field centre that evening – a success!

Day three was spent conducting some research in the small village of Llanrwst just up the Conwy Valley. Boys used simple geographical surveying techniques like environmental quality surveys and also conducted interviews with members of the public to get some insight into their lived experiences of life in the village. This was then contrasted with our more recent trip to Sparkbrook to contrast the major socio-demographic differences between the two areas.

For the boys it was an educational experience and one which will help them with their planning for the Independent Investigation in Year 13 when they will utilise many of the skills they have gained in Year 12 to design their own project.









Music

Once again it has been a busy term for school musicians.

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra offer free concerts to Year 7 pupils once a year in January. We were pleased to take up this offer, and so took the whole of our Year 7 to an excellent concert of ‘Music around the World’. The presentation was lively and stimulating, and the pupils really enjoyed it. Amongst the pieces played was the ‘Theme’ and some of the ‘Variations’ by Edward Elgar. Being such a local composer to us – Elgar worked in Worcester and Malvern, and was the first Professor of Music at Birmingham University – we have studied some of his music in class following the concert.

In GCSE and A level music lessons boys compose pieces for their academic coursework. These are often of a high quality, but few are ever performed in public. This is a shame, so from time to time we try and include some of the best compositions in school events. One such opportunity arose in the Year 9 Options Evening: on this evening parents and boys in Year 9 come along to hear about what options are available for GCSE. Alex Byrne first gave a very good talk about the GCSE course, outlining the changes that had taken place and the benefits of taking music at this level. He then got together with Sam Stafford and performed one of Sam’s GCSE compositions, an exciting and rhythmic composition for two pianos.

It is very pleasing to see many of our best musicians performing to a high level outside school. Many play with the excellent local Music Service ensembles. As well as this:

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  Ludo De Ventura and Jamie Wen were two of the four soloists in a ‘Rising Stars’ concert with the Solihull Symphony Orchestra on Saturday 25^th March.
  

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  Harry Atkinson and Lucas Houldcroft are away in the last week of term with the National Youth Orchestra, and will present concerts in Leeds Town Hall (8 April) and the Barbican (9 April). Tickets for age under 26 just £5.
  

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  Jamie Phillips, past pupil, conducted the CBSO Youth Orchestra in a concert in Symphony Hall on Sunday 26^th February.
  

Musicians are still busy in the last week of term.

Thursday 15 June at 7 pm Summer Soireé (CHG Hall)

SFP