Year 11 Drayton Manor Trip has been rescheduled to Friday 3^rd July 2026

On Thursday 18 June, 25-year Key Stage 3 pupils visited a STEM careers day at Gaydon Motor Museum. This event was kindly paid for by the Herbert Austin Apprentices charity. They took part in several activities, including a tour of the museum, a hands on experience with design team behind Forza Horizon 6, crash test dummy building and career talks with leading automotive engineering companies.

Following a series of Diversity Club sessions exploring different religions and protected characteristics through a study of the Equality Act, pupils took part in an educational visit to consolidate their learning through first-hand experiences.

The group began the day with a visit to a Sikh Gurdwara, where pupils were welcomed by members of the Sikh community and given a guided tour of the place of worship. Pupils respectfully followed cultural expectations, including covering their hair, and learned about Sikh beliefs, values and practices. The visit provided valuable insight into the importance of equality, service, community and respect within Sikhism.

Pupils then visited a Parish church, where they were shown around the building and introduced to Christian beliefs. This enabled pupils to explore the diversity that exists within Christianity and further develop their understanding of inclusion, acceptance and belonging.

To conclude the day, pupils attended a bowling session at a local bowling alley in Rubery. This provided an opportunity for pupils to relax and build positive relationships with one another outside of the school environment. Lots of fun was had!

The trip was a highly positive experience for all involved. Pupils demonstrated maturity, respect and curiosity throughout the visits and engaged thoughtfully with the information shared by both faith communities. The experience successfully reinforced learning from Diversity Club, enhanced pupils’ understanding of different beliefs and identities, and promoted the school's commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Our reading rewards vending machine continues to be a focal point of our weekly celebrations on a Friday lunchtime.  Pupils from all year groups are considered and selected for a range of approaches to demonstrating our TURVES Values, representing the school and attendance at extra-curricular clubs.

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Jibreel – settled in excellently, polite, hardworking and respectful

Year 8: Khalidou – outstanding effort this week – like a new pupil

Year 9: Sakarya – involved in everything, deserved recognition

Year 10: Faisal – always gives 110% to everything

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Leo – brilliant attitude to school

Year 8: Ethan – puts 110% effort into lessons

Year 9: Lewis – polite, hardworking and respectful

Year 10: Jude – great effort on report card

Year 11: Stephen – turned up for every revision session going and always has an excellent attitude.

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Lennon

Year 8: Mason

Year 9: Ahmad

Year 10: Hermon

Year 11: Reuben and Charlie

For demonstrating the TURVES values.

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Oscar – for his amazing science homework on the solar system.

Year 8: James – a hard-working pupil who puts in amazing effort into all that he does.

Year 10: Logan - on his 7^th nomination, is a hard-working pupil who keeps his head down and shows great determination in all of his lessons. Consistently achieving the highest praise points in his form group. 

Year 11: Thomas – brilliant effort throughout the exam period so far.

This week, we are proud to celebrate the fantastic achievements of our pupils in English. Through their hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication, pupils have made excellent progress in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Across all year groups, pupils have embraced a wide range of texts, exploring different genres, authors, and themes. Their growing love of reading has helped them develop stronger comprehension skills, expand their vocabulary, and build confidence in expressing their ideas.

In writing lessons, pupils have demonstrated creativity, imagination, and resilience. From engaging narratives and persuasive speeches to thoughtful poetry, they have produced work of an exceptionally high standard. Many pupils have shown great pride in editing and improving their work, reflecting their commitment to becoming successful writers.

We have also been impressed by pupils' confidence in speaking and listening activities. Whether participating in class discussions, or sharing their ideas during group work, they have shown maturity, respect, and excellent communication skills. A particular highlight has been the enthusiasm pupils have shown during reading challenges. Their willingness to engage with new texts and share recommendations with their peers has helped foster a vibrant reading culture across the school.

These achievements are a testament to the determination and effort of our pupils, as well as the support of families and staff who encourage a love of language and learning.

Congratulations to all our pupils for their outstanding accomplishments in English. Here is some work we are particularly proud of from Year 7 Chase and Year 9 Jahiri .  We are incredibly proud of their progress and look forward to seeing their talents continue to flourish in the years ahead.

We were exceedingly lucky to secure some tickets to the Big Bang Fair at the NEC again this year. This annual event showcases organisations related to STEM for pupils to learn about what they do, what they need to do to get into a career in that field and see how their skills and interests have real life applications. The pupils behaved admirably, came away inspired in a career in STEM (with many talking about how they would like to look at coding) and deepened their understanding on how important the work they do in school now is on their future careers. Thanks to all the organisers and EngineeringUK for allowing us to visit!

7X1 have started their new Scheme of Work on Poetry with excellence and curiosity. After consolidating their knowledge on all things relating to extended metaphors in ‘The Sea’ by James Reeves, pupils asked themselves whether humans, who are absent in this poem, can ever truly control nature. Their “Everybody Writes” responses gave them the opportunity to think carefully and begin developing their own personal responses to the poem. It also enabled them to reflect on the ambiguity of such questions and practise incorporating alternative ideas into their work, building on prior discussions about the sea’s power and unpredictability.

After this, pupils were tasked with creating a short poem, applying their knowledge of extended metaphors to their own writing. Using nature as their vehicle, pupils created some wonderful poems showing the power of the natural world. From earthquakes being starving bears fighting, to the sun being a powerful ruler and exerting their dominance over the solar system, the quality of these poems was exceptional and a pleasure to read.