Old Scholars
We are currently in the process of creating a newsletter to keep you all up to date with developments at Heckmondwike Grammar School. The intention is to publish it via our Facebook page and send it to all contacts on our Old Scholars database If you would like to receive the newsletter, or if have anything that you would like to share with us and your fellow Old Scholars please send it to [email protected] . This could be news of what you are doing, career, locations, achievements or sharing memories and remembering former pupils and staff.
The D of E practice expedition was a challenge for all, both mentally and physically but it was also a chance to bond with people you may not have talked with very much inside school. For my group, it was a chance to get to know people better, flatten out our differences and work together as a team which I believe we accomplished very well despite a few hiccups along the way.
The first day went reasonably well for us as we reached our first checkpoint late but in one piece! After this our team navigated our way to the campsite through Bedale and past Aysgarth falls, in which we took a break and the girls sat on the rocks gazing at the beautiful waterfall whilst the boys and I proceeded to skim rocks on the water. This was one of my favourite parts of D of E because it was calm and we all enjoyed the time without the great weight on our backs!
Upon arriving at the campsite we met with the rest of the groups and we all told each other of how our walks had gone, most went well but the latest group came in around 6:30 after a few detours and a trip to A and E! We all helped each other put tents up but some people were much better that others at this job so the rest got onto cooking our tea for the night. Apart from a couple of mishaps with boil in the bag rice my team managed to have a good meal and some hot drinks as it got dark and the first day came to an end.
The second day, however did not go as planned. We started off well (despite leaving a bit late), after getting up at a good time, cooking, cleaning and packing to go as a team but as soon as we reached the checkpoint we were sent on a detour and that’s where it all went wrong! After going much further down a straight and taking a wrong turn, we ended up walking up, what seemed like, one of the 3 peaks! We did, however meet up with another group, who’d also fallen into this situation and with a little guidance from Mrs Swann, we made it back to the bus.
Despite the mishaps of the second day, I still really enjoyed the expedition and I think the situation made us closer as a group as we had to support and listen to each other to try and get out of the problem we found ourselves in.
Evie Hargreaves – Year 10
Each year, Heckmondwike Grammar chooses a ‘charity of the year’ to support and raise money for throughout the school, in both lower school and sixth form. The process of choosing the charity involves all students and staff meaning there will be real passion and determination to raise as much money for the final charity chosen. This year, 2017/18, Candlelighters was the overriding choice within numerous form groups, across all years, proposing the charity in their posters, created as a form activity. As well as Candlelighters being a popular charity to support across the school, there were also members of the school whose friends and family members had had brilliant experiences with them meaning they were even keener for the school to support them. Corinne Hunter, a parent at the school whose son’s friend had a great experience with the charity, wrote:
“My friend’s little boy, Joe, sadly passed away last year aged 7 after a long fight with cancer. He spent a lot of time in hospital and Candlelighters were a massive support to him and his family. They did everything from providing tasty food to try and tempt him to eat, to organising activities on the ward to alleviate the boredom of being in hospital. Joe and his sister, Eve, went to Candlelighter’s Christmas party every year, where each child got a present from Santa and his elves. Candlelighters supported Eve, and continue to do so, through way of days out and counselling. Candlelighters keeps families going through the toughest times and it is so important that we keep fundraising for them to enable this amazing support to continue.”
Throughout the year, there have been numerous events that have been extremely enjoyable for everyone at the school but, more importantly, have raised lots of money! Both staff and students have got involved with the money-raising, especially throughout the Christmas term. A Christmas jumper non-uniform day really got lower school into the Christmas spirit, raising £921, along with mince pie sales going down a storm in the staff room! Heckmondwike teachers continued their spur of fundraising with many opting to donate to Candle-lighters rather than send Christmas cards to one another meaning there really was the generous Christmas feeling throughout school!
The annual tradition of the Christmas fair was ever anticipated amongst both staff and students, with the challenge of spending as much as possible in the 30 minutes on all the stalls really paying off, with a whopping £1610.13 being raised! A Christmas photo booth, ‘I’m a celebrity’ trial and a mock- tail stall all turned out to be extremely popular, with Father Christmas providing the most entertainment. This kind of event is something of a tradition at Heckmondwike Grammar school, leading up to the excitement of the last day before Christmas, so using it to raise money for such an amazing charity was a privilege.
The sixth form took part in a ‘Formal Friday’ whereby year 12 and 13 students come to school in business-wear and pay £1 to do so. As well as it feeling very apprentice-style, it is an easy way to raise lots of money in a single day and something which everyone can get involved in! Halloween brought another fantastic opportunity to dress up once again, with everyone getting thoroughly involved. There were witches, corpse brides and members of the Adams family rocking up to their usual A-level lessons, all to raise as much money as possible for Candlelighters!
On Monday 26th March 2018, the school presented Candlelighters with a cheque of £2,711.34, raised from the Christmas Fair, Christmas jumper day, mince pie sales and teacher donations. Sixth form are still fundraising and are yet to hand over the money raised, meaning the overall total is still to rise! Supporting Candlelighters all year has brought everyone at Heckmondwike Grammar together, both year 7-13 and staff. It has been immensely enjoyable raising the money and, as a school, we really hope our efforts will be beneficial.
Bronwen Brown – Head Girl
The Bank of England holds an annual competition in November within their technology sector, the entry is a 1000-word report. This year the theme of the competition was cyber security. Michael, Jamie, Kuba, Matthew, Basim and I decided to base our entry on how to distinguish between fraudulent data and real data using machine learning. Our team was decided on a Friday and the deadline was the following Monday, so over a frantic weekend, we finished the report.
Recently, we were informed that we won the competition, to the complete shock of us all. The prize will be a 4-week paid internship at the bank’s headquarters in London. Also, there will be an award ceremony during the Easter holidays that we’ll be attending. None of us has realised the impact of it until the abundance of security clearances overwhelmed us. We’re all thankful for the continued support from the school and especially Mr Stone. Exciting times ahead!
By Basma Khan
Our Year 9 football team played Westborough in the ¼ final of the Spen Valley Cup defending the trophy they won last season.
Heckmondwike made a slow start after their long winter break and Westborough took an early lead. This seemed to spark Heckmondwike into life and the equalising goal soon arrived. Harry Hobson used his space and skill to run rings around the Westborough defense and Rahul Ho-Shing was dominant in centre midfield. Two further goals gave Heckmondwike a 3-1 lead at the interval.
Heckmondwike started the second half in a positive fashion and did not let some industrial challenges put them off their game. Further goals were added by Fiad Elmubarak, Rahul Ho-Shing and Raheem Miller with a Rabona style penalty, to leave the final score 7-1.
Well done to all of the players for their efforts,
The team will now face BBG in the semi-final.
We had 2 teams who took part in the Spen Valley netball tournament on Wednesday 21st March at Westborough High School.
The A team played 3 matches against Mirfield Free Grammar, Batley Grammar and Westborough High School respectively. The team played really well and were able to dominate throughout demonstrating good attacking and defending skills, we intercepted the ball well and capitalised on our opponent’s mistakes. Our shooters worked well together in the circle scoring a total of 11 goals in their 3 games. Having won all 3 of their matches the A team progressed into the final against BBG.
The final was a very close game with both teams playing well, again we defended well and dominated the centre third of the court but just couldn’t get the ball into our shooters. With BBG leading 2-0 we managed to pull one goal back, however, despite having a few more chances to score the ball just didn’t seem to want to go in the net and BBG managed to score a third goal which saw them win the tournament 3-1. A valiant effort by the team despite very cold and windy conditions.
The B team played 2 games in their group, winning against Whitcliffe Mount 1-0 we then lost our second game 4-0 to BBG. This did see us finish second in the group meaning we qualified to play in the 3rd place play-off against Mirfield Free Grammar. It was a difficult game for the girls and a big ask as we now only had 6 players which gave Mirfield a big advantage. They capitalised on this and won the game quite convincingly 4-0.
On Wednesday 21st March, we took our Year 11 and 13 Drama students to watch The Turn of the Screw; the original inspiration for Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and adaptation of Henry James’ novel.
Set in 1840, the play tells the story of a young governess who agrees to look after two orphaned children in Bly, a seemingly idyllic country house. But shortly after her arrival, she realises that they are not alone. There are others – the ghosts of Bly’s troubled past. The Governess will risk everything to keep the children safe, even if it means giving herself up to The Others. Later, confronted by the past she is compelled to revisit the terrifying events at Bly and account for what actually happened to her and the innocents under her protection.
This thrilling performance was thought-provoking and terrifying. There were many jumps and even the occasional involuntary scream! A great evening had by all!
On Friday 23rd March we hosted a non-uniform day in aid of Sports Relief as well as a Sponsored Mile Run event in which all students and staff could participate if they wished. We raised a fantastic £3182.62. Thank you to everyone who donated and joined in the various fund raising activities. Any outstanding sponsor money should be handed in directly to the business office as soon as possible.
Congratulations to the 68 students in Year 11 who were presented with their Bronze DofE Certificates and Badges in assembly on Friday 16th March. Over the past 12 months they have all worked hard in a wide variety of volunteering activities from helping at Rainbow Groups, Charity Shops, Care Homes and Sports Groups. They have completed physical and skill activities and last summer they all completed a very successful expedition in the Yorkshire Dales.
Well done to all pupils involved and thank you to Paul Bateman from the North of England DofE Award for joining us in assembly and helping to present certificates.
The school was represented by Partha Khanna, Akhil Maddula, Ellis Speight and Rutwij Patel in the regional final, taking place at Bradford Grammar School.
After an excellent first three rounds the team was performing well in comparison to other high scoring teams from Bradford Grammar (last years winners) and Ermysteds Grammar. After a tense final round, we discovered that we had finished second having been pipped at the post by the strong team from Ermysteds Grammar. The team thoroughly enjoyed the day and acquitted themselves admirably against strong opposition – congratulations and well done to them all.