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SEND Year 11 college taster day
On Tuesday 26th April, 8 Year 11 students, accompanied by Ms Wareham and Mr Thornton, attended South and City College Birmingham’s Hall Green campus for a taster day. The event was a fantastic opportunity for our students to get a first-hand look at college life, not only to support their transition to Post-16 but also because this was the first chance they had had to experience this since the ending of Covid restrictions.
Our day started in one of the most important areas of Post-16 life, the Common Room. After a quick reconnaissance, we decided to take advantage of the facilities, including table tennis, and pool, which for some was a new experience. From here we were taken to our first taster session, which was ceramic crafts. After a short introduction of our task, painting casts of faces, we dived straight into the session, firstly being shown how to make plaster of Paris, then creating our designs, and then painting them. The session revealed some very interesting designs, including superheroes such as the Flash from Uzain, to horror characters with Wassi creating his own take on Scream, but also simple highly effective ones with Zara’s purely pink face.
Following a tour of the college we went straight to our second taster session, which was ICT and Media. Now this task was a little bit different because we were not going to be based in the classroom, but would instead be on a ‘scavenger hunt’ around the college! We were divided into groups, and set the challenge of taking thirty photographs of specific things around and about the college, including someone with blue eyes, running water, the reprographics and the Science block. When the time was over, we returned to the ICT and Media department, and we attempted to judge who had won. There were some really great and imaginative photographs taken, especially the ones of shadows and clouds, and it was decided that it just had to be a draw!
After completing our evaluation forms and a short debrief, our day was over, and what a day it had been, with several students thinking about applying to the college, while others had found a direction they would like to pursue at Post-16, based on their taster experience. A massive thank you to Ms Price and Cherise for organising the day. A huge grateful thank you to Craig and John, for truly fantastic sessions, which I know the students really engaged with. Thank you to the students, who were outstanding and exceptional ambassadors for the school, and Ms Wareham, who as always, was brilliant.
GirlTecWM 2022 Event at Millennium Point
11 x Yr8 girls attended an event at Millennium Point on Friday 29th April aimed at encouraging more girls to consider careers working in the digital sector.
The first half of the day involved the students moving round a range of employers to find out more about that industry, and to take part in different activities. Our students had the opportunity to do some games design, design and build a bridge to a specification using Lego and an imaginary building using straws and finally to take part in a quiz that was linked to them learning more about the storage of data.
The afternoon session took place in the main auditorium where Avanti West Midlands Trains had put together a very well planned and informative presentation about career opportunities for women working in digital careers. The presentation was led by a group of Avanti female employees who held different positions within the organisation. It was clear to see that these women are proud of their journey and experience.
There is a shortage of women working in the digital sector, and the audience learnt that only 37% of people who work in the sector are women, and only 25% of people who work in digital for Avanti West Midlands are female.
Avanti also talked about cyber security and how to stay safe when using the internet and mobile phones. The girls were introduced to some new terms such as Phishing, Spear Phishing, Whaling, Smishing, Vishing and Watering hole, and just how common these attacks are in our everyday lives.
Money Raised for Acorns from Yardleys Staff Breakfast - April 2022
Today, ‘the Breakfast Crew’ handed a cheque for £168.78 to Acorns Children’s Hospice. The money was raised through the staff breakfast, which was held at Christmas, where colleagues buy and cook a range of breakfast fayre to celebrate our school and its values, as well as raise money to support local charities, and is a long held tradition within Yardleys School.
Olivia Guglia, from Acorns, came into school, and was handed the cheque by Ms Mitchell, a key member of the Breakfast Crew, supported by our Head Boy and Head Girl, Abu Bakr Faqeer, and Huma Mahmood.
Maths News - March 2022
On the 23rd of March students in year 7- 10 took part in the World Maths Competition.
We are proud to announce that three of our students are in the top 100 in the country!
Huge well done to Emmanuel in Year 7 and Zahid and Imaad in Year 10 who have received prizes, badges and certificates.
Yardleys vs Waverley (Yr 10 Boys Football) - March 2022
Daanyaal M wrote this match report following our historic and momentous victory:
'Two strong teams were fighting for victory on a hot sunny day at Waverley's home patch. From first whistle to the last, every player was trying their hardest. It looked like a long day for Yardleys after a poor start conceding very early to a calamitous error from year 9 student Hasan R. He misjudged a slow rolling ball back to him thinking it was going wide, only to see the ball trickle into an empty net.
Despite this, Yardleys overcame the setback and dominated play and kept the ball very well. This led to a goal after a through ball from Daanyaal M which allowed Elijah A to finish it off. Yardleys continued to dominate the rest of the first half and also got a goal from Sahib M. During the start of the second half it was quite balanced as both teams had good amount of possession but Yardleys managed to get another goal from Daanyaal M after a mistake from Waverley's defence. Later on into the second half Farhan H managed to secure the win for Yardleys with a goal that made it 4-1 late in the second half to put the result in no doubt.
Yardleys defence of Raheem S, Hasheem S, Mussah W and Adam N played well and all put their bodies on the line in resilient fashion at the back. Midfield was controlled by Mustafa H who provided much needed control, providing many through balls allowing many chances for our strikers. We could even afford to miss a golden chance to extend the lead when Mohammed Adil H was put through on goal and waited too long to shoot and was dispossessed by a returning defender. The score ended 4-1 after an outstanding performance by the boys.
Birmingham Indoor Cricket Competition - February 2022
After England’s dismal performance in the Ashes our own roaming reporter Raihaan looks to see if there are any glimmers of hope with the game as Yardleys begins it’s journey in the Birmingham Indoor Cricket Competition.
"Yardleys vs Broadway two teams fighting to go to Edgbaston. Who wins...
Yardleys were put to the test batting first with Rehaan Zaheer and Mussah Waheed (Man of the match) both hitting in their 20s and Mussah retiring and some brilliant cameo roles from Shakir and Raihaan.
On to the bowling and Broadway were set a target of 116. Shakir and Rehaan Zaheer opening the bowling excellently. Then comes in Mussah and Zahid with Zahid comes with a huge breakthrough. Farhaan comes to bowl next with the best economy out of the group and grabbing two wickets. A couple of heroic fielding moments get Yardleys 3 wickets.
The last over Mussah to bowl chosen by Raihaan and 3 balls left. First ball 3 second ball wicket and third and final ball is a 1 - Yardleys win the game. A special thanks to Broadway school who gave Yardleys a tough game and their opening batsmen who had Yardleys shaking. Another special thanks to Esa Khan for coming and had amazing passion for the game."
Mathematician of the Month – January 2022
This month the maths department have been celebrating the following students for their exam success in their December exams.
Year 7: Mehrunisa 7v1, Hamza 7v2, Amyma 7v3, Saif 7v4, Alisha 7h1, Farzan 7h2, Mohammed Riyaan 7h3
Year 8 : Hanin 8v1, Abdullah 8v2, Khalil 8v3, Ayaan 8v4, Zubeir 8h1, Nisha 8h2, Samuel 8h3
Year 9: Daawuud 9v1, Raheen 9v2, Abbaas 9v3, Irtaza 9v4, Riyadh 9h1, Ehsanul 9h2, Amirah 9h3
Year 10: Nasir 10v1, Mohammed Nabi 10v2, Akemi 10v3, Alaae 10v4, Malaika 10h1, Zara 10h2, Aysha 10h3, Saheim 10h4
Year 11: Zuhaib 11v1, Salaar 11v2, Zahidah 11v3, Issaa 11v4, Hammaad 11h1, Ali 11h2. Sohail 11h3
Well done!
Mathematician of the Month - December 2021
This month the maths department have been celebrating the following students for their revision and additional work completed at home, in preparation for their upcoming exams.
Year 7: Mehrunisa 7v1, Shayaan 7v2, Amyama 7v3, Ali 7v4, Ubaid 7h1, Minahil 7h2, Abubakkar 7h3
Year 8 : Muhammad Shafil 8v1, Faizal 8v2, Muhammad Abid 8v3, Sara 8v4, Harvey 8h1, Nisha 8h2, Aamina 8h3
Year 9: Lukiva 9v1, Tania 9v2, Maryam 9v3, Haleema 9v4, Paige 9h1, Olivia 9h2, Fatima 9h3
Year 10: Reha 10v1, Rayaan 10v2, Maryam 10v3, Paradise 10v4, Malaika 10h1, Abere 10h2, Areebah 10h3, Afnan 10h4
Year 11: Huma 11v1, Salaar 11v2, Mohammed Tariq 11v3, Michael 11v4, Imaan 11h1, Adam 11h2
Well Done!
Virtual Employer Presentation
A group of Year 9 iMedia students had a great opportunity on Friday 8th October to attend a virtual careers presentation delivered by Cassian Harrison, SVP, Content & Commissioning, BBC Studios. The presentation was organised through Speakers For Schools.,
The speaker spoke to the group about his own personal career journey and highlighted to them that he had to start his career in Media working in low level jobs that would enable him to gain the skills and experience that he needed to be able to progress up the career ladder. He also touched on how important it was to try and be resilient, even when knock backs in your career occurred.
The speaker has had a very varied and exciting career to date which the students enjoyed hearing about, they also had the opportunity to see slides of some of the television productions that he has been involved in, one of the best known being the David Attenborough series of wildlife documentaries. The presentation also included some examples of how the GCSE curriculum that the students are currently learning, links to actual work that is carried out in the in the Media industry.
Some quotes from the students:
Summaya ' I like how he explained the job roles, I understand more about the kinds of jobs I can do (in media) in the future now.
Ryan 'I like how he admitted that he had been rejected, but that he kept coming back to get the job he wanted'
Ahmed ' I liked to see how media jobs took him all around the world and to different countries - he even got arrested!'
Science Award Nominees October
Well done this half terms Science Awards nominees -
Year 7
Zuzanna - Nominated for her positive attitude to her learning
Year 8
Inaya - Nominated for her enthusiasm in lessons
Urooj - Nominated for her excellent piece of independent work on digestion
Tasneemah - Nominated for her excellent written work in Biology
Mohammed Yusuf - Nominated for his positive contribution in lessons
Year 9
Rebecca - Nominated for her hard work in chemistry
Adal - Nominated for his brilliant mathematical skills in physics
Mohammed – Nominated for being hardworking and focussed in Chemistry
Mohammed - Nominated for his excellent homework scores in Biology
Zara – Nominated for her high homework scores in Biology
Year 10
Isaam - Nominated for his contribution and effort in Chemistry
Year 11
Suleman - Nominated for his persistently good work in Biology
Omar – Nominated for his effort and hard work in class and with EDUCAKE
Heena – Nominated for her resourceful and hard work with revision in Physics
Amina – Nominated for her initiative with independent learning in Physics
Uzma – Nominated for her outstanding effort in Chemistry
Year 7 Bank of England Career Talk
The Year 7 cohort had the opportunity to attend a virtual careers presentation on Tuesday 25th May during Form Time. This event provided the Year group with a chance to learn from an employer about the world of work and encouraged them to think about their own careers.
The Speaker was Victoria Cleland, Executive Director of Banking, Payments and Innovation for the Bank of England. The Speaker talked to students about the history of bank notes and the fact that there are currently 6 x denominations of bank notes in existence: £5, £10, £20, £50 – these are the notes that we are all probably familiar with, plus there are in fact two more which only exist in very small numbers. The £1M (one million pounds) bank note otherwise known as a ‘giant’ and a £100M (one hundred million pounds) bank note otherwise known as a ‘titan’.
Students learnt that the Bank of England is the second largest keeper of gold in the world holding gold worth over £200,000M (two hundred million pounds) second only to the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
The Speaker went on to tell the Year group about her own career journey including what she had done at university, and what made her decide to work for the Bank of England. She discussed work/life balance and how it was important to enjoy the job that you are doing.
The event finished with an opportunity for students from each Form to ask the Speaker a question. They asked some extremely good questions and have since been complemented by the Speaker, Victoria Cleland on the quality and variety of the questions that they asked.