• KECHG school supports the KEC Recommending Body for ITT training

We are supporting the training of teachers of all subjects at secondary level through the King Edwards Foundation Consortium. Our ICT technicians work with the lead staff at the Foundation Resources centre to ensure the smooth running of their networked computers and projection facilities. In addition to this we have developed a personalised programme of support for trainees which are not successful at passing the QTS Numeracy test on their first attempt. In the past trainees from the RB have also attended ICT training sessions held at the CLC in Kings Norton, which has given them experience of using some of the software that is frequently used in a classroom situation.

• Y9 Maths Enrichment classes for Level 8 pupils

Enrichment classes were run for Year 9 pupils in June to enable the pupils to gain the skills and experiences necessary to secure Exceptional Performance for their KS3 Teacher grade. Nine girls attended along with pupils from Camp Hill Boys School and Queensbridge School.

• Y13 Cross-curricular trip to Drayton Manor Park

Y13 Mathematics and Physics students visited Drayton Manor Park last summer to experience Mechanics in Action.

• Podcasting in Mathematics

The department hosted a South Network Podcasting meeting where 4 local schools were represented. This project links in with the Core Focus Group that a member of the mathematics staff also attends which also has a focus on podcasting. We now have very easy access to two sets of cameras and computers etc to enable pupils to create their own mp4 podcasts, and have recently purchased some additional iMac computers. We are eagerly waiting to see/hear the results of the input from Y7 in this project.

• School meets High Performing Specialist School (HPSS) Criteria

In May we were very pleased to be contacted by the DCSF to say that we had met the criteria for HPSS due to our excellent results and outstanding Ofsted inspection. We have recently submitted our choices for our second specialism from the options offered by the DCSF and will hear in November as to which option has been successful. Additional funding for this new and exciting phase of our specialist school work should be available from April 2009.

• Y10 Visit to RAF Cosford and Education Business Links Award

The Y10 visit to RAF Cosford on 19th February was particularly successful and developed the pupils’ understanding of the range of careers and professions within both the RAF and museum sectors. Pupils took part in team challenges, and developed their communication, team work and problem solving skills.

The careers-based activities included discovering the role of a museum curator and how the history of artefacts can help teach people what life used to be like. The pupils also had the opportunity to design and launch rockets in one of the main hangars, meet and question RAF photographers and find out about their role both in conflict and media presentation.

The pupils were given the opportunity to use some of the specialised cameras and recording equipment themselves. The final activity based at the museum involved pupils guessing the profession of an individual through items he used in his everyday work. During a busy lunch period the pupils swapped sites and those who had been at the museum during the morning spent the afternoon manoeuvring their team through a low ropes course and taking part in complicated problem-solving challenges in a class room environment.

The museum was very impressed with the pupils and our tailor–made day has been used as a case study in a local publication, we have also won Education Business Links Award for successfully developing this work with a local company.

• ReCom Adult ICT class

A group of visitors from Solihull come to the school on Monday afternoons for some basic ICT skills training. Some interesting sessions took place as most of them had not used a computer before. They learnt how to use a mouse, some basics of touch typing, how to find and use websites, how to create, save and format documents in word and how to e-mail someone.

• Brownies Computer Badge

Over 30 Brownies from 36th Birmingham pack which meets at Colmore Primary School have visited the school for 2 of their recent meetings and with staff and parental support have worked through the skills required to gain their Brownie Computer badge, they all had a very enjoyable time, learning new skills and finding out more about Brownies than they knew before.

• Y7 Maths Relay Race

While the rest of the school had their pupil review day interviews last month, Mathematics was promoted with our newest pupils in the form of a Relay Race. The girls worked in teams to solve a range of problems, the answer to one step being necessary for the question in the next step. Each person in the team was responsible for a step and the first person past the finishing line with the correct answer won the race.

• Y8 Maths Puzzle Day

Pupil Review Day gave us the opportunity to arrange a Maths Puzzle Day for Year 8 girls. The Happy Puzzle Company provided a variety of fun, but challenging 3-D hands-on puzzle tasks each taking of which took the teams a few minutes to complete. The challenges required the teams to work together and to develop strategies to solve the problems.

• Further Mathematics Conference

Year 10 students attended this conference at Cadbury College, where they listened to a range of talks and attended workshops which broadened their understanding of Mathematics in the wider world and hopefully will have encouraged them to take their Mathematical studies beyond GCSE and A level.

• Excellent GCSE Statistics June 2008

After much hard work throughout the year, the majority of Year 10 students took their GCSE Statistics examination. They then resumed their GCSE Mathematics course and eagerly awaited their results. Their performance was truly outstanding with 104 girls taking the examination of which 89.4% girls gained either an A* or A grade.

• First KS4 AS Computing cohort embarks on course for qualification in June 2009

46 Y10 students started work on an AS Computing course in September 2007 alongside their GCSE course in ICT. We will be very interested to see how well they get on when they sit their first AS unit in January 2009.

• Sixth form work experience placements

Some of our Y12 students have taken advantage of an offer from the Centre of Business Excellence in Birmingham to arrange them work experience placements for the holidays. The pupils all flew through their interviews for these positions in a range of employment sectors which include Accountancy, Recruitment Agencies, Financial, PR and Marketing, Legal, Estate Agency and Insurance and Banking. Sixth form have also been taking part in community service activities to support departments around the school.

• CLAIT Adult ICT class

Adult learners from the local community have been participating in ICT lessons on Wednesday afternoons leading to a CLAIT qualification. All but three have now passed the web module through BBC Webwise. Members are using practice materials to develop spreadsheet skills. Candidates are now approaching the point where they can begin to be entered for modules to gain accreditation for their learning. The Webwise module should cover one of their three units they require. The other two are spreadsheets and File-handling/word processing.

• Y6 Thinking Skills in Mathematics

This course takes place annually for two local primary schools, King David and Moseley C of E School. Some of the sessions were held for each school separately, one was held with both the Year 6 classes at one primary school and the final session was held here and included some ICT based work and a Maths Trail. The pupils benefited from working with new people and also from spending an extended period of time in a secondary school prior to their own secondary induction day.

• Y8 Mathematics and Science Enterprise Days

Last summer all of Year 8 had the opportunity to participate in a whole day of maths in enterprise involving the financial constraints of running a business which fished for shrimps! In Science they had the opportunity to design a fire extinguisher, manufacture the carbon dioxide to fill it, present their designs and consider the financial implications of their design choices.

• Stirchley Primary School Year 4 Topic based Mathematics Project

This project worked with the children in Year 4 over half a term to help them improve their links between mathematics and other areas of the curriculum. The lessons included sessions on using Mathematics areas as diverse as History and Cooking!

• Y9 Careers Afternoon

The Y9 Careers Conference took place on 17th March 2008 and involved representatives from a range of careers and companies including engineers, lawyers, accountants and the Fire Brigade. Pupils participated in 2 taster workshops and gained an insight into the roles that different people have in the organisations they work for.

• Y7 Rover trip

Year 7 pupils visited the Land Rover factory in Solihull. They completed various control challenges in one of their sessions and also had a tour of the factory to see the robots in action in the other session of the day.

• Computer clubs

A computer club for girls runs throughout the year to increase pupils’ interest in ICT and related areas.