PRINCIPAL's BLOG - 9th december 2022

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OUR WORK NEVER STOPS

Welcome to my weekly blog and I hope you and your families are well.

We have had a fantastic week in school with so much excitement around the 12 Days of Christmas events. In addition, our 3rd College event has also kicked off this week. You can read the details about the Table Tennis College Tournament and watch the video of our previous two College competitions below.

12 Days of Christmas

I am sure your son has been sharing all of the excitement with you regarding the events happening in school and it is fair to say that there is a definite festive spirit in the air.

It is brilliant to share that the school raised £410 on Thursday when students were invited to wear a Christmas jumper or non-uniform. 410 students donated 10 Classcharts points each, 10 points being equivalent to £1. This fund will be sent to Save the Children today, and thank you for your support with this.

There are more surprises next week and I look forward to sharing some insights into the Christmas Music Concert that is taking place on Wednesday 14th December.

Design & Technology

Mr Tattam, Subject Leader for Design & Technology, stopped me on the corridor earlier this week to share a few insights into the project work that is coming to an end for this term in Design & Technology. He has been delighted with the attitudes and practical application that students have demonstrated during their D&T lessons this term and was very proud to show me some of the photographs of the Block-Bots that students have been creating.

Design & Technology has always been a very popular subject at Lordswood Boys' and it has been delightful to watch the students using our new facilities this term.

We look forward to sharing more details as the year progresses.

Reading Week

The following information is from Mrs Kang, Vice Principal.


It is great to share that on Monday we have the launch of Reading Week with all students in Year 7 to 10 taking part in reading throughout the week. As a school we encourage the students to read more, and we ask for your support to continue to encourage your son and ask him about his reading adventures.

The students are taking part in D.E.A.R (Drop Everything And Read) in their lessons. D.E.A.R. is a national celebration of reading designed to remind families to make reading a priority activity in their lives. It is supported by research which shows that reading for as little as 10 minutes every day has an important impact on how well a child does at school and it is a method that helps build learners' literacy skills. Since it inspires making reading a priority, the goal is for reading to become a regular part of your routine.

There are so many benefits of reading that we share with the students, and we ask that you also continue to discuss these will your son. There are just a few listed below.

Life-Changing Benefits of Reading 30 Minutes a Day.

• Reading Increase Your Intelligence.

• Reading Makes You Empathic.

• Reading Improves Your Mood.

• Reading Minimize Your Brain Decline.

• Reading Provides with You Richer Social Connections.

• Reading Polishes, the Writer in You.

• Reading Gives You Better Career Opportunities.

• Reading is “brain food”

• Reading improves listening skills.

• Reading builds early literacy skills.

• Reading prepares children for preschool.

• Practice makes perfect.

• Reading improves academic performance.

The books the students will be reading are:

Year 7 – Cirque Du Freak

Year 8 – Holes

Year 9 – Fahrenheit 451

Year 10 – To Kill a Mockingbird

Year 10 have already received their books and have made a superb start to their reading. It is marvellous to see students stimulated through their reading of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and discussing key terminology and themes around race, class and hypocrisy.

College Updates

You will remember me sharing some details about our Colleges earlier this year in my blog on 7th October. Since then, Mr Bradshaw, Head of Central College, Mr King, Head of Midland College and Mr Insley, Assistant Principal, have been hard at work organising the Decathlon events that are set to take place across the remainder of the year.

The third event, Table Tennis Championship, got underway this week and the two colleges have been competing throughout the week in the knock-out tournament.

The first two events, Basketball Hoop-shoot and the Tug-of-War were highly competitive and as you can see from the score board below, Midland College just pipped Central College to the post in both events. The running total is very close, only 5 points in it, so all is to play for in the final event of 2022.

I look forward to sharing the results from the current tournament with you in the new year.

CURRENT COLLEGE SCORE BOARD

LOOKING AHEAD - DECATHLON EVENT IN JANUARY

The Decathlon events come thick and fast and Literacy tutors are already forming their Literacy group teams ready for the event in January which, as you can see from the poster to the left, is an indoor (it's far to chilly for an outdoor event) FIFA Championship.

The Auditorium will turn into a hive of competition during January as the PS5 is set-up for battle to commence.

I look forward to sharing the updates and knock-out schedule as the event gets underway.


Sport fixtures and training schedules for week beginning 12th December 2022

Monday 12th of December

  • Basketball match - Y8 vs Queensbridge @ home


Tuesday 13th of December

  • Year 8 & 9 ESA Cricket Training.


Wednesday 14th of December

  • All Years Cricket Training.

  • Year 7 ESA Football Training

  • Basketball double header - Yr 10 vs Highclare and Starbank @ home


Thursday 15th of December

  • Year 9 ESA Football Training.

  • Basketball double header - Y8 vs Camp Hill and Starbank @ home


Friday 16th December

  • N/A


Please see below the results update from our fixtures last week:


Year 9 Indoor Cricket

Mr Preece took the students to Moseley School for an Indoor League Fixture.

LBS won by 5 Wickets.

Adeeb Haroon starred with the ball, taking two wickets from two overs.

Yuvraj Kang starred with the bat, scoring 17 runs not out.


Year 8 Basketball

Mr Deeks took the students over to Wheelers Lane, LBS won 11-8 in what was a very low scoring game, none the less, an LBS victory.


Year 10 Basketball

Mr Bradshaw oversaw our Year 10 team as they hosted Aston Manor. LBS won 52-31, Jacob Nnjai scored a huge 30 points.


Year 7 Football

LBS 0-2 Kings Norton Boys' School.

Just to add some context, Kings Norton have played 12, won 12, scored 78 and conceded 1 goal coming into this fixture. They have 3 academy players and are arguably, the strongest team in Birmingham. The performance from the LBS students last night was heroic. I have to admit, we went against my beliefs and played very defensive in order to try and stay in the game. I thought the detail I provided the boys might be too complex, but their understanding was fantastic. They developed their knowledge around how to set up in a low-block, keeping good defensive distances and how to reduce space. I tried to record stats throughout the game to share this information with the students after the game. I recorded that Kings Norton had 37 shots, I counted shots that were blocked so that shows how good the boys were defensively to only concede two goals, we had 3 shots and amongst those chances, should have scored 2 goals. The resilience and mind-set of the boys to defend for 50 minutes and to remain in the game was simply outstanding. Winning is essential to development and although Kings Norton won the game, they left frustrated with their own performance as our boys really competed. The LBS students left that pitch with a sense of team cohesion as they developed their tactical awareness, game understanding and willingness to work hard for each other. Parental support at the Year 7 games is appreciated and as 14 parents were present at the game. Thank you.


If you have any questions relating to the details above, please use the contact details below:

Next week is our final week in school and we break up for the Christmas holiday on Friday 16th December. You will be aware from the letter that I sent earlier this week that school finishes at 12.20pm on Friday 16th December. Therefore, can parents/carers please ensure you make the necessary arrangements for your son to get home safely.

Finally, West Midlands Police have issued a letter to families ahead of the Christmas holidays. You can read the letter by clicking here.

I wish you all a safe and happy weekend and as always, please call us on 0121 464 2837, leaving a message if lines are busy, and we will support you.


You can always contact me directly this week at: l.williams@lordswoodboys.co.uk


Have a good weekend and I look forward to updating you with events in school next week.


Mr L Williams,


Principal,


Lordswood Boys' School.

Lordswood Boys' School • Hagley Road • Harborne • Birmingham • B17 8BJ

Tel:0121 464 2837

Email: enquiry@lordswoodboys.co.uk

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