Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School is Company Limited by Guarantee and registered in England and Wales with company number 7986921. The Registered Office is at Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield B74 2NH

The Governors of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School are a registered charity (No: 517907)

Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield, B74 2NH, 0121 250 5400, www.bvgs.co.uk

DGR/sw

19 October 2018

Dear Parents/Carers

Quote of the Week

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities J K Rowling

Act of Kindness Bishop Vesey’s students design and create sensory board

Our hearts have been brightened at the end of this week with a beautiful story of kindness from our Head of Rowing and Head of Year 9 Mr Ian Bousfield. Mr Bousfield found the note above attached to a gate by the waterside yesterday afternoon and kindly fulfilled the wishes of the person leaving the note. He posted this on the BVGS Rowing website and it has attracted a considerable amount of media interest. Typically the unassuming Mr Bousfield is slightly baffled by all the fuss but to us, as a community, his actions are heroic and we are very proud of him. See story in the press here

Boys from Y7 and Y8 were commissioned to create a sensory board, designed to stimulate children with a range of additional needs, by the Square Peg Foundation charity. The project was overseen by Mrs Rowlands and Mrs Gregory. A big thank you to them and the boys included Alex and Ibrahim (pictured)

The staff are very touched this morning by a lovely note from Ryan Cartwright 7W who has strong family reasons to be raising money for Bloodwise and Diabetes UK. He brought in a lovely array of cupcakes for us to buy and I know the staff have made a generous donation. Well done Ryan for your good work.

Fundraising for Bloodwise and Diabetes UK by Ryan Cartwright 7W

Year 8 Food Bank Appeal

8P are running an appeal for donations to Erdington food bank, which gives out thousands of emergency food supplies to people in crisis each year. Year 8 students (and others who wish to donate) are being asked to bring in products from the list below and leave them in the donation boxes in Year 8 form rooms. The donations will be delivered to the food bank in early November. The food bank requires donations of the following (all must be within the use-by date):

• Bags of sugar • Packets of toilet rolls • Tins of soup • Tinned tomatoes • Tins/jars of pasta sauce • Tinned vegetables (not beans!)

• Tinned meat • Tinned fruit • Tinned rice pudding • Tinned custard • Tea bags – packs of 40 or 80 • Tinned vegetarian meals

No pasta, cereals or tinned beans, please!

Open Mornings

We had 200 families on site for our Open Mornings this week. A big thank you to our Year 8 guides and our magical musicians.

October Colour Newsletter

Read all about a very successful summer and autumn at BVGS here.

GCSE English Literature Trip

Very well done to all boys who attended the GCSE English Literature trip to see Macbeth at the Barbican Theatre in London: you were an absolute credit to BVGS throughout the day. Many thanks to Mr Byrne, Mr Williams and Miss Langham for kind help in organising the trip.

Year 10 English Support Evening

A big thank you to the English Department for running a helpful Year 10 English Support Evening for parents. Thanks in particular to Second in English Mrs Beth Lynch for leading this excellent initiative.

Year 7 and 8 Writing Competition

Congratulations to Charlie Cooper 8G for winning the competition. He will be receiving 3 merits and a book as a prize. Thank you to Aditya Muthukumar (8G) for organising and look out for next term's competition.

L6 Welcome Evening

I thought this was a very useful evening indeed for parents and students. I was very impressed by the brilliant speeches from Archie Sansome, Holly West and James Horn. These very valuable messages were complemented by the input of the staff team. Remember: excellence is not a miracle, but it is about what we repeatedly do. It is about organisation, hard work, curiosity, ambition and doing it all cheerfully.

Rugby News w/c 8 October

Once more a week of heavy fixtures, with 12 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses coming across 18 matches – not including cross country races which were hosted at Bromsgrove School.

For the second time in the school’s history, Bishop Vesey’s played 10 matches against St Peter’s RC High School, Gloucester across 7 age groups. On Friday 12 October, the Under 12 A side registered their first loss of the season away from home, losing a close encounter 5-4. However, both Under 12 B and C sides were able to score 7 past a strong Gloucester side, winning 7-5 and 7-4 respectively. On Saturday, the first XV lost a close game 23-18, however the Under 16s reigned victorious, registering a 29-10 win at home. Once more, the 100% win rate of the Under 15 A team was broken as they lost 27-21. Both Under 14 A and B teams won emphatically, winning 27-20 and 31-5 at Gloucester. Unfortunately, both Under 13 A and B teams lost: with the A’s losing 40-30 and the Bs struggling, losing 25-5.

Hockey and Netball Roundup

A successful week in hockey, with both Under 14 A and B sides extending their unbeaten win this season, over Warwick Schools. The A’s won a close game 2-1 however the Bs were entirely dominant, winning 6-0. These impressive results were followed up by 3-2, 2-1 and 4-0 victories over the Warwick by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd XI the following day, Wednesday 10 October. The 4th XI were involved in a 0-0 stalemate with Bablake Boys School also to round up an unbeaten week for Bishop Vesey Hockey.

Netball Success

BVGS entered two teams into the prestigious County Netball tournament which was held at KEHS on Thursday 18 October. The 2nd team consisted of Ilerioluwa Ojikutu, Sophie Elsoueidi, Kate Lam, Eleanor Davis, Emily Gibson, Anisha Jordan, Molly Sherriff, Katelyn Martin and were superbly captained by Bethan Davage. Some great whole team passages of play saw them finish a very credible 8th in the County.

The students representing BVGS 1st team were Jade Crutchley, Charlotte Fellows, Samantha Hurst, Neve Parkes, Abigail Steventon, Lauren Tennant and Fiona Kerry under the exemplary leadership of captain Victoria Lacey. BVGS dominated the group stages of the tournament to sail through to the semi’s where they remained clinical to proceed to the final which was against KEHS. KEHS were formidable opposition having also been unbeaten all day and led by 3 at half time. However, BVGS came out very determined in the 2nd half and were relentless in the pressure they put on every KEHS pass to force two crucial turn overs. With each centre pass

going to goal the shooters remained calm under pressure to net every shot. In the dying minute a final centre course interception and goal saw BVGS turn the game around to win by 2. It was a nail-biting match to watch and a fantastic team performance. Pictures to follow next week of the County Champions with their trophy and medals!

Great spirit was shown by all and a big thank you to Mrs Clarke and Mrs Parize for their support and encouragement on the afternoon.

Hope not Hate

Next Friday, 26 October is Founder's Day, where we remember our Founder John Vesey. Vesey's tomb is in the Anglican Church, Holy Trinity, Sutton Coldfield. Annually Year 11 and Sixth Form attend the Founder's Day Service at the church. A lot of thought goes into making this a multi-faith service. This year's guest speaker is a BVGS governor and parent, Mrs Mahmooda Qureshi from the organisation, Hope not Hate. Hope not Hate uses research, education and public engagement to challenge mistrust and racism, and helps to build communities that are inclusive, celebrate shared identities and are resilient to hate. This is so important at the current time when hate crime, particularly against Muslims and Jews is sadly on the rise. At the service we will be holding a collection for this important charity.

PA New Parents' Curry Evening

It was great to have a big turn out last night for the curry night - an excellent opportunity, courtesy of the Parents' Association for people to get to know each other better. I hope you are all able to come along to future social events.

Parents' Association AGM - Monday 22 October 7:00 - 7:45 in The Hive (on the left as you come up from the car park)

We would love more parents to be involved in helping to organise social events for the parent body (at the same time as raising money for the school).

Congratulations to the Merit Winners

Michael OWEN 7B, Raiyan TANVIR 7G, Umar BASHIR 7P, Joseph GORST 7R, Ethan MILLER 7R, Eriife ADEBO 7W, Sunny JOSHI 8B, Aditya MUTHUKUMAR 8G, William DALE 8P, Viraj GUPTA 8R, Ethyn JAMES 8W, Lewis ALLISON 9B, Shailan SRIKANTHAN 9G, Arnaldo SO 9P, Jack BATES 9P, Theo KEARNS 9R, Rajveer CHAUHAN 9R, Matthew KEELING 9R, Joseph HANLEY 9R, Anay MAKAN 9W, Thomas LAM 9W, Luke NUTTALL 10B, Danish KHAN 10B, Oliver GRAY-NIMMO 10G, Zaid ASHRAF 10P, Benjamin PAGET 10R, Samuel KAKOSA 10R, Rohan BHOPAL 10W, Luke BARRIOS 11B, Rahul SHAMJI 11R, Amaan AHMED 11W. All will be invited to Mr Robson's office on Thursday 25 October at break-time.

Pre-ordering food from the Dining Hall

For those who are new to the school, please note that students are able to pre-order hot or cold food at breakfast for collection at break. This is particularly useful if your son or daughter has a sporting fixture, which necessitates them leaving the school site before lunch.

Extra Curricular Activities

Astro Turf Activities

Have a great weekend.

Yours sincerely

Dominic Robson Headteacher

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Letters issued this week:

Y11 Support Session

U6 Parent App Pilot Survey

SCGSG PA Disco

Year 7 Super 7s Choir, Christmas

Lost property List

Parents' Association AGM

Dates for your Diary

Autumn Term 2018

Tuesday 23 October Junior Soloists' Concert 19:00 - 21:00

Friday 26 October Founder's Day

Break up for half term

Wednesday 31 October Oxbridge Admissions Tests

Monday 5 November Autumn Term recommences

Wednesday 7 November School closes 12:15

Sixth Form Open Evening 16:00

Friday 9 November Remembrance Day Services in School

Friday 9 November Oxbridge and early entry interview afternoon 13:00

Friday 9 November Y7&8 Disco at SCGSG

Saturday 10 November MEP intensive learning day

Wednesday 21 November Year 9 Parents' Evening 16:00 - 19:00

Friday 30 November School Closes 12:15 Speech Day at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall

Thursday 13 December Lower Sixth Parents' Evening 16:00-18:30

Monday 17 December Christmas Concert 19:00

Tuesday 18 December Christmas Concert 19:00

Friday 21 December Christmas jumper day

School closes at 12:15 School breaks up for Christmas

Spring Term 2019 Monday 7 January Spring term commences

Thursday 17 January Year 9 Options Evening 16:30 - 18:30

Friday 18 January Year 7 and 8 disco at BVGS

Thursday 24 January Year 11 Parents' Evening 16:00 - 19:00

Friday 1 February Six Nations Rugby Event

Thursday 7 February Senior Soloists' Concert 19:00 - 21:00

Friday 8 February Whole School Review Day and Careers Fair

Friday 8 February PA Comedy Night

Friday 15 February Break up for half term

Monday 25 February Term recommences

Wednesday 6 March Ladies' Lunch at Moor Hall

Thursday 14 March Year 10 Parents' Evening 16:00 - 19:00

Friday 22 March PA Annual Quiz

Thursday 28 March Year 8 Parents' Evening 16:00 - 19:00

Friday 5 April Year 7 and 8 PA Disco at SCGSG

Tuesday 9 April Spring Concert 19:00 - 21:00

Thursday 11 April Students break up for Easter

Friday 12 April Staff Training Day

Summer Term 2019 Monday 29 April Summer term commences

Monday 6 May May Day Bank Holiday

Thursday 9 May New Year 7 Induction Evening 18:00 - 20:30

Thursday 16 May Junior Sports Dinner at Veseyans

Friday 17 May PA Race Night

Thursday 23 May Students break up for half term

Friday 24 May Staff training day

Monday 3 June Term recommences

Friday 7 June Golf Day

Friday 21 June Year 7 and 8 Disco at BVGS (tbc)

Saturday 22 June OVA Sports Reunion

Thursday 27 June School closes at 12:15

Open Day 16:00 - 19:00

Friday 28 June Staff Training Day

Saturday 13 July PA Family summer party

Monday 15 July KS3 Main School Presentation Evening 19:00 - 21:00

Friday 19 July Break up for summer holiday

Parents' Evenings 2018-19:

Wednesday 21 November Year 9 16:00 - 19:00 Thursday 24 January Year 11 16:00 - 19:00 Thursday 14 March Year 10 16:00 - 19:00 Thursday 28 March Year 8 16:00 - 19:00 Thursday 2 May Year 7 16:00 - 19:00