Pastoral Updates 

Please ensure you read through the Head of Year update that is relevant to your son and make contact with our colleagues should you have any questions or quries.

NOS Updates - 26 April 2024

The National Online Safety programme publishes a weekly #WakeUpWednesday update for parents/carers. This weeks update relates to 'SHOPPING APPS'. 

Long gone are the days where eBay and Amazon were the only means of buying quality items online. The rise of user-friendly, accessible shopping apps has meant that getting clothes, gadgets and other goodies delivered direct to your door can be accomplished with a few touches of your phone’s screen while you’re on the go.

These apps aren’t without their issues, however, and users still run the risk of scams, data breaches and other online safety concerns. Being aware of these dangers will go a long way to keeping your money and information safe, so you can still enjoy what these shopping apps have to offer. This guide has some top tips to help protect young people on these purchasing platforms.

I hope your find this information useful.

Extra-Curricular

Here is a reminder regarding our Extra-Curricular provision. Please find the timetable below of the clubs that we offer. This timetable has been amended slightly for the remainder of this half-term.

Sport fixtures and training schedules for week beginning 30 April 2024

Basketball Provision

Mr Noble's Year 10 team beat Camp Hill last night 53-43 in the Birmingham Schools' Cup Final. This is an outstanding achievement with the run of results the team had to put together to reach the Final. Mr Noble has had the team in twice a week to train, this has underpinned the success.

Massive thank you to Mr Noble for providing these students with such opportunities and creating memories that I am sure will stay with them forever. 

Cricket Provision

On Wednesday last week, we took 6 Year 7 students to Edgbaston for the Birmingham U12's Indoor Cricket Finals. A round robin tournament saw us face Washwood Heath in the first fixture and Stoke Park in the second. 

We won the first 2 fixtures with ease, not conceding more than 45 runs in both fixtures respectively and progressed to the final versus KES Camphill. Camphill, a team full of Warwickshire Pathway players, put us into bat and we set a respectable 96 from our 10 overs. Great batting from Sachin, Eron and Reon helped us on our way to a par score. 

In the field we struggled with the enormity of the fixture, conceding 16 runs off of the first over, with Camphill easing to 5 wicket victory and just 2 overs to go we started to believe. In the penultimate over, just conceding 3 runs, meaning Camphill needed 4 off 6. The remaining 6 balls were as follows - . W . . 1 3 heartbreak. Camphill won with a ball to spare. 

A massive congratulations to all Year 7 who have represented the school to get us this far and a special mention to the Birmingham Indoor runners-up;

Sachin Banda, Reon Nimseth, Eron Nimseth, Yusuf Habib-Khan, Enayat Tarakhel, Navjot Singh

Following on from a very successful campaign, a couple of our students have been asked to represent Warwickshire County Cricket Club for U11's. 

This week, on Monday 22nd April, we took 3 students from Year 7 and 3 students from Year 8 to the Doug Ellis Sports Centre in Perry Barr to represent Lordswood in a Chance to Compete tournament. 

We played 6 games, playing 3 teams twice. Soaring to victory in the first 2 games, scoring over 180 runs combined. We faced Washwood Heath in our third fixture. We batted first, only posting a below par 48 runs from 5 overs. Washwood Heath cruised to victory and ended the first round robin with 3 wins from 3. 

Now for the second leg of fixtures, facing the 3 opposition once more, again, back to back victories in the first 2 fixtures. We faced Washwood Heath Academy who had won 5 from 5 meaning it was a winner takes all. Knowing only a victory would see us as champions, due to the fact we had scored the most runs in the tournament, we batted first. We posted a very respectable 89 from our 5 overs. Our turn to bowl and we finally followed Mr Preece's tactics of bowling to the batters' weaknesses. Washwood quickly slipped below the run-rate and needed 25 of the final over. Lordswood won by 9 runs and were crowned Indoor Cricket Champions of Birmingham. 

Weekly music news & schedules from Mrs Lowndes-Ford, Director of Music

LORDSWOOD AND NISHKAM: JOINT PERFORMANCE PART 2

Today, thirty of our students spanning Years 7 to 10 will embark on a journey to Nishkam High School for a collaborative performance with their counterparts. Previously, we had the pleasure of hosting the Nishkam students and staff at Lordswood prior to Christmas. During their visit, under the guidance of Mrs. Lowndes-Ford, Director of Music at Lordswood Boys' School, and Miss Cohen, Head of Music at Nishkam High School, the students engaged in intensive rehearsals resulting in a grand percussion and vocal performance. This showcase captivated our Year 7 cohort during an afternoon concert.

Once more, our schools unite to craft a performance to be shared with all Year 7 students at Nishkam High School.

BIG BAND HARMONY WITH B MUSIC

Our Big Band diligently rehearses every Monday after school, and it brings me immense joy to note the increased interest from students in joining this ensemble over recent weeks. Presently, the Big Band is immersed in perfecting a repertoire of Jazz pieces for their upcoming performance at the Symphony Hall on Friday, May 24th. Stay tuned for further updates on this concert in our next blog post. Keep an eye on this space for more information.

ELECTRIC VIOLIN AVAILABILITY

Only two spaces remain for interested students to join the Electric Violin club. Those keen to participate are encouraged to approach Mrs. Lowndes-Ford promptly. The club is set to commence on May 20th.

EXCITING LAUNCH - CHARANGA SECONDARY!

This week marks the launch of YuStudio, a cloud-based software accessible to all our KS3 students and Year 10 GCSE Music students. Each student has received a welcome letter containing their login credentials, enabling access to the platform from their personal devices at home. A series of projects has been curated for our students, and we eagerly anticipate their compositions.

We are impressed by the students' enthusiasm both in the classroom and beyond, as many continue to explore and create music outside of school hours.

GCSE Music - YEAR 11 COURSEWORK

A gentle reminder: the deadline for GCSE Music coursework submission is approaching, slated for next Friday, May 3rd. To provide additional support, I have arranged intervention sessions focusing on solo and ensemble performances. These sessions will be held at the following times:

• Monday: Lunchtime and After School until 4:15 pm

• Tuesday: Lunchtime and After School until 4:15 pm

• Wednesday: Lunchtime and After School until 4:15 pm

• Thursday: Lunchtime and After School until 6:30 pm

Kudos to the diligent Year 11 students who are diligently honing their pieces this week.