Are you interested in coming into School to talk about your career?

We are looking for parents who would be interested in coming into school to take part in our Year 7 Careers programme on 14 May 2019. Each year we have some parents who come into school and spent around 15-20 minutes talking to a Year 7 class of around 30 students about their current careers, their roles and responsibilities, the skills they need and about their career journey more generally. If you would be interested, please could you email Mrs Mistry (Careers & Higher Education Adviser): [email protected] or call 01924 418315 for further details.

Thank you.

This maths competition is being run by the STEM team in Educational Engagement at the University of Leeds. The challenges are aimed at mathematically able and enthusiastic pupils in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 and should be done at home during half term!

If you are interested in taking part, then please email [email protected]  and mark for the attention of Mrs Hepworth; she will then send you the puzzles to solve.

There are prizes available!!!

Tuesday 18 December saw 600+ guests attend Heckmondwike Grammar School’s annual Senior Prize Giving in the grand surroundings of Dewsbury Town Hall. The evening was a very fitting tribute to the outstanding successes of year 11 and 13 students in the record-breaking 2018 examinations.

Throughout the evening the audience were entertained by the fabulous Soul Band who also accompanied talented vocalists singing ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ made famous by the late Aretha Franklin and ‘Seasons of Love’ from the musical ‘Rent’.

The special guest Roger Burnley, who is an old scholar of the school, awarded prizes to the top performing students. Roger has since gone on to become the CEO and President of ASDA and it was a fitting link between outstandingly successful students across different generations. Roger entertained the audience with his tales of life in the school as student in the 1980’s and of the importance of tenacity and resilience in working to achieve our goals in life.

There were many highlights to the evening including Hamish Dee being awarded the Jo Cox – former Head Girl of HGS, memorial award for his services to the community and Basim Kajwal who was presented with the Rex Scolarum award for the highest academic success having achieved 4 A* grades at A level. Basim is now reading Computer Science at the University of Oxford.

Mr Roberts, compere for the evening, concluded the event with hearty congratulations to all the students in the class of 2018 and paid tribute to the outstanding staff who work tirelessly with the students to support them in their achievements.

Our Street Orchard cafe, located in the Jo Cox Centre, is now on Instagram. Follow us at Street_Orchard to see what’s on offer and to find out about our daily deals.

The winning numbers of the Friends of HGS Winter Raffle are listed below. Please collect your prize from Student Services.

Year 12: Can all those students who put their names down for Silver DofE pay their registration fee of £21 to the business office by Friday 23rd November.  If you are new to the Award or you did your Bronze Award at a different centre then please see Mrs Swann as she needs some information from you before she can set up your Silver accounts.

Year 13: Can all those students who have done their Silver DofE, please get all their assessors reports on their eDofe accounts by Friday 30th November.  If anyone is having problems they need to speak to Mrs Swann about it.

We currently have two vacancies for the role of parent governor on our governing board. For more information about the role of the governing board, the parent governor and the election process, please click here.

If you are interested in applying for the role, please complete a candidate application form and return to Jody Dunn, Clerk to the Governors and Office Manager, in the school office or via email on [email protected] by Friday 30^th November 2018.

If you have any queries about this process or would like to find out more about the role, please contact Jody Dunn on the above email or on 01924 402202.

• Application Form

On Saturday we held our first open morning for old scholars and it was wonderful to meet so many old boys and girls.

The first visitors through the doors were Denise Baines and her husband, who travelled over from Scarborough so that Denise could take a trip down memory lane. Its 57 years since Denise Powell, as was, left school and went on to spend a lifetime in teaching.

Visitors were welcomed into the school library where they were able to look at the school archive. Items on display were the original roll book that records all students attending school from 1898 -1948 along with school magazines and photographs of school life over the last 120 years. They could even peek into the detention book and hold the old canes!

It was great to see so many decades represented with scholars who left school only 4 years ago and ones who left 61 years ago. Amongst former staff who attended were Tom Riddles who was Headmaster 1970-1989 and former pupil Keith Wilson who went on to be Deputy Head 1984-2006.  They are pictured with current Head Nathan Bulley and Deputy Head Peter Roberts.

Everyone enjoyed tours of the school taking in parts of the original building, the Hutton studio, Crellin and Powell blocks that have been added in recent years. Old Scholars were expertly guided by year 7 and year 13 students and all were equally impressed by each other’s stories of school life. Past students can join the old scholars association via the Alumni page or email [email protected]

Heckmondwike Grammar School will be marking Children in Need 2018 on Friday 16th November by holding a non-uniform day to show support for this excellent cause. Students will be able to pay £1 for the privilege of wearing their own clothes for the day and all contributions will be donated to the charity.