This year the Department for Education has launched its National Year of Reading Campaign, due to the number of children reading for pleasure falling at an alarming rate. 

Annually, we take part in the Book Trust’s ‘Bookbuzz’ initiative which aims to promote reading for pleasure in Key Stage 3. At form time in October, pupils were shown a range of short clips from award winning authors talking about their books for this year’s round. Each pupil has a personalised bookmark on which they selected their top 3 books. Our Year 11 prefects worked hard to sort all the individual books and had the privilege of handing these books out to pupils in the final week of school as our Christmas ‘gift of reading’. 

As part of our ongoing commitment to raising the profile of reading, we have ensured that each pupil in KS3 has their very own book to read at home over Christmas that they have chosen themselves. Staff and pupils were delighted to receive, discuss and above all, start reading their new books in their dedicated form time reading session. Along with their Accelerated reader books, pupils are well equipped to embrace the year of reading initiative!

The popular game has become a key part of our break time at TGBS! Thanks to Mr Rawlins, pupils can meet in A1 with their Beyblades and compete against one another. The boys enjoy mini tournaments and cheering each other on.

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.

06/02/2026

Winners this week include

Year 7: Callum – consistent demonstration of the Turves values – 100% effort, 100% of the time 

Year 8: Ethan - a quiet pupil who often goes under the radar. He is hard working in all lessons and shows respect and manners to everyone he comes across.  

Year 9: Tommie-Lee – a polite, respectful, hardworking pupil who just gets on with it and goes unnoticed. 

Year 10: Kamron - deserves to be recognised. Great worker, polite and diligent. 

Year 11: Dylan - hardworking, polite and model pupil to the lower years. 

30/01/2026

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Carl - a quiet pupil who keeps his head down and demonstrates everything it means to be a TGBS pupil.  

Year 8: Aidan – a quiet and respectful pupil who is consistently hard working.  

Year 10: Jacob – a valuable contribution across all lessons. 

23/01/2026

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Maurice - polite young man who embodies the values. Always self-motivated to achieve and handing homework in on time. Taking pride in his work and being respectful and kind to those around him. 

Year 8: Ethan - for applying himself to the best of his ability each and every day, having 256 positives to date.

Year 9: Rowan - for his excellent efforts in all of his subjects, more specifically in core subject English, Science and Maths where most of his positives are coming from. 

Year 10: Mason - a Year 10 pupil who has shown great efforts and determination in the first term of his GCSE studies.  

Year 11: Joshua - positive role model to younger pupils.  

19/01/2026

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Kierell - a polite and hardworking pupil who consistently demonstrates all values, despite some of the distractions taking place around him.  

Year 8: Hayden – a hardworking, polite and respectful pupil who is a credit to Boulton house. 

Year 9: Luke - never puts a foot wrong.  A young man who lives by our values. 

Year 10: Aiden - a fantastic pupil all round. Hardworking, polite and respectful. An excellent addition to Boulton house this year.  

Year 11: Josh - do we really need a reason why? Surprisingly, has not been nominated this academic year.  

08/12/2025

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Shingirai - made huge inroads into his work and has been noticed by staff members due to his hard work.  

Year 8: Nathan - a pupil who never puts a foot wrong. Committed to succeeding in everything that he does.

Year 9: Emaan-Tawheed - new starter to TGBS and what an amazing start he has had, he has settled in well and already taking advantage of our amazing extra curricular clubs such as Duke of Edinburgh.

Year 10: Ryan – fantastic settling in at TGBS.

Year 11: Darren - a model pupil. Lives and breathes the TURVES values. Showing an outstanding effort in his GCSE studies. 

24/11/2025

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Ace - hard worker/consistent effort across all subjects.  

Year 8: Jack -made a serious improvement this week and deserves the nomination.

Year 9: Kaiden - has impressed in science this term with his thoughtful questions.  He clearly takes in information and really tries to think about it and connect with his prior knowledge then asks follow up questions, from Dr Patchett.

Year 10: Zack – a mature, polite, hard-working pupil who has shown an excellent approach to his GCSE studies. 

Year 11: Archie - helping a pupil out of a dangerous situation and showing great compassion.

14/11/2025

Winners this week include:

Year 7- Codi – a polite and respectful pupil who works hard in all lessons. Has returned to school following an operation and has not let this stop him.

Year 8: Oscar – valuable contributions to the class as well as involvement extra-curricular activities like the Warhammer painting and music.

Year 9: Suber - a quiet, hardworking pupil who keeps his head down and demonstrates all things TURVES

Year 10: Ahmed – for living and breathing the TURVES values every day

Year 11: Noah - a self-motivated, respectful, hardworking pupil who continuously shows an outstanding approach to his GCSE studies.

20/10/2025

Winners this week include:

Year 7: Jayden - for his hard work and his wonderful enthusiasm towards school.  

Year 8: Charlie - shout out from Dr Patchett: “He showed great enthusiasm for every single workshop.  He wowed me in the first when he very quickly told the mentors that he thinks electrons behave like particles and waves, during a session on coding he showed a huge enthusiasm.  He owns a Raspberry PI at home where he does coding himself and he worked hard to calculate the probability of getting two questions in a row right in the maths session, including volunteering to be a gameshow contestant in front of the group and another school.  He showed great enthusiasm and model behaviour the whole time and it was great to get to hear more of his ideas and interests, especially in STEM.”

Year 9: George - a hardworking, focused and hardworking pupil who shows outstanding effort in ALL of his lessons.  

Year 10: Justin - has shown a real mature approach to the start of GCSE studies.

Year 11: Harry - showing a determined and focus approach to his mock exams.  

10/10/2025

Winners this week include:

Year 7: George - has had an excellent start to TGBS, demonstrating many of our values each day and working hard in all of his subjects.

Year 8: Ollie - a polite, respectful pupil who demonstrates our Turves values in all that he does.  

Year 9: Abdullah - a polite, hardworking pupil who puts in 100% effort into everything.

Year 10: Jamie – a quiet but hardworking young man who has started year 10 off outstandingly.  

Year 11: Charlie - for his excellent start to the year and determination shown across all subjects. Charlie has really shown he is ready to work hard to get the grades he deserves

03/10/2025

Winners this week include:

Year 7:  T Mitchell – understated and determined.  He will smash his work and is being nominated by multiple members of staff.  Keep it up!  

Year 8: G Deeley – a polite and respectful young man that has made a really positive start to year 8.

Year 9: J Sibanda - a quiet, polite, hardworking pupil who has settled in tremendously since starting TGBS.  

Year 10: Y Khan – excellent start for this young man who came from a different house and has been a great addition to the Austin roster.  

Year 11: A Kilburn has turned it around after a shaky start to Year 11, well done!

26/09/2025:

Winners this week include:

Year 7: A Slotta – polite, respectful, hardworking. He has made a real positive start at TGBS.

Year 8: L Brown –  a hardworking, considerate, and respectful young man who exemplifies our values on a daily basis.  

Year 9: M Jinks - for an excellent performance in the Matthew show.  

Year 10: T Fox- his efforts do not go unseen in the classroom, there has been many good things said about his work ethic particularly in English  

Year 11: O Perret – an excellent performance playing Miss Trunchbull in Matthew show.

12/09/2025:

Winners this week include:

Year 9: D Hawkins – great start to September

Year 10: L Taggart – fantastic approach to KS4 & GCSEs.  

Year 11: A Burton: Approaching year 11 with a great mindset. A polite, respectful, hardworking young man.  

05/09/2025

Winners this week include: 

Year 7: Alfred L - Amazing start to TGBS, showing many of our Turves values each day. 

Year 8: Archie M: Has started year 8 with an excellent approach, one that I would expect nothing less than. Always a polite and respectful young man who lives our values. 

Year 9: Lamar L Has come back to school a new person. Polite, mature and focused. Has had an outstanding first week back. 

Year 10: Doubra P great start to KS4 

Year 11: Noah T mature start to Year 11 

The Tigers group recently attended a local boxing gym, Anderson’s Boxing Club, as part of their intervention programme, stepping into an environment that challenged them both physically and mentally. Under the guidance of an experienced boxing coach, they were introduced to the basics of boxing, learning correct stance, movement, and controlled techniques. Alongside this, they took part in circuit training that pushed their stamina and strength, encouraging them to keep going even when they felt tired. The gym setting provided a structured and focused space where effort and respect were expected from the outset.

Throughout the session, the emphasis was placed on resilience and self-discipline rather than competition. The boys were encouraged to manage their emotions, listen carefully to instructions, and support one another through demanding exercises. By persevering through the challenges, they began to understand the value of self-control, determination, and personal responsibility. The experience helped them to recognise that resilience is built through consistent effort and positive choices, lessons they could carry beyond the gym and into their everyday lives. Well done to the boys – they worked incredibly hard and were a real credit to TGBS!

Last week Year 9 pupils enjoyed their second visit from researchers at the University of Birmingham to analyse the particle traps that have been hung around school since the end of October.

We recapped what air particles are, why we are interested in them and how they can affect people’s health by getting into their lungs and even bloodstream. After a brief practice at using the mini microscopes people were then able to analyse their samples, counting the number of particles that were trapped on their grids and calculating a mean value.

We hung traps in history and art, science rooms, the canteen, reprographics and DT and results are shared below (as many staff have been asking!)

What impressed staff most was the number of pupils who used the workshop as a fresh look at science and asked intelligent questions and reflected critically on our method, suggesting ways we could improve the validity of our results.

Many thanks to all the staff who supported the day by covering classes and supporting sessions, providing our guests with refreshments and hosting our traps in your classrooms and well done to all Year 9 who made the most of this exciting opportunity.

We are incredibly proud of the commitment shown by our Year 9 and Year 10 pupils who have taken on the role of peer mentors, as well as our Year 7 pupils who have engaged so positively as mentees during recent attendance mentoring sessions.

This programme reflects our whole-school commitment to developing successful, resilient and confident individuals. By working together across year groups, pupils have helped to create a supportive environment where younger pupils feel listened to, encouraged and valued, and where older pupils are able to demonstrate leadership, empathy and responsibility.

Our Year 9 and 10 mentors have approached their role with maturity and care, offering reassurance, guidance and positive role modelling. In turn, our Year 7 mentees have shown openness, courage and a willingness to engage, which has been central to the success of the sessions.

The peer mentoring programme plays an important role in strengthening a caring culture within school. It promotes a sense of belonging and collective responsibility, helping all pupils to feel part of a community where wellbeing and attendance are supported through understanding and encouragement.

We would like to thank all pupils involved for their enthusiasm and commitment. Their participation highlights the positive impact of pupil leadership and peer support in building a school community where everyone feels seen, supported and able to succeed.

This year in Period 6 for science Year 11 pupils are focussing on “tricky topics” that pop up in GCSE Science. These are topics that have been identified nationally by exam boards as key areas where pupils commonly make mistakes therefore are great topics to help us pick up extra marks and close the gap between where we are now and our target grades. Groups have worked on command words like “compare” - where we know we can draw a table to make sure we are drawing comparisons or “explain” where we know we should be using link words such as “because”.

We have also been drawing attention to our practical skills, knowing that in exams a labelled diagram and accurately naming equipment can start us off with some marks in those long answer questions.

Last week Dr Patchett’s group drew links with their practical skills and knowledge of the structure of cells by extracting DNA from strawberries. We recapped the structure of a plant cell and used our knowledge of the other layers – the cellulose and cell wall and fatty cell membrane to break open the cell. We recapped the names of key equipment including, pestle and mortar, test tubes and pipettes. The results speak for themselves! Well done to all the pupils who took part in this task.

The Science department rounded off the winter term with a wonderful trip with 45 of our most hard working Year 7 scientists. Pupils travelled to the University of Birmingham for a campus tour and festive lecture given by Jon Wood where he spilled the beans on the science and engineering behind Christmas food.

We voted for our most essential part of Christmas dinner (roast potatoes of course!) and took part in a heated debate about the most appropriate meat. We also learned about why sausages contain bamboo fibre, why some people REALLY hate sprouts and what it means when our food packaging says, “stored in a protective atmosphere”.

Our pupils were as enthusiastic as ever, sharing ideas and thoughts during the lecture, braving the December weather with good cheer. We also got to enjoy the incredible Aston Webb building, which looked particularly impressive decorated for Christmas. Staff were even treated to various renditions of Christmas Songs performed by pupils in preparation for the talent show on the way back to school.

Well done to our pupils who made us proud representing the school so wonderfully and a special thanks to Mr Turbill, Mr Hawkes and Miss Abbott, who drove and supervised the trip making this experience possible and enjoyable.

This Christmas season has truly shown the power of community, kindness, and generosity. Our annual Christmas Food Drive was an incredible success, thanks to the overwhelming support from parents who gave so freely to help others during the festive period.

We are especially proud to celebrate Boulton House, whose outstanding generosity shone brightly throughout the campaign. With the highest number of donations collected, Boulton House has been officially crowned our Christmas Community Champions! This remarkable achievement reflects not only enthusiasm and teamwork, but a genuine commitment to supporting those in need at the most important time of the year.

Every donated item represents a thoughtful act of care, helping to bring warmth, comfort, and festive cheer to local families. The friendly competition between houses added excitement to the drive, but the true victory belongs to our whole community, who came together with compassion at its heart.

Thank you to everyone who contributed, organised, and supported this initiative. Your generosity has made a real difference and perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas. Congratulations once again to Boulton House—and thank you all for proving that, together, we can make this season brighter for everyone. 🎄✨

Year 8, you deserve real praise for the focus and maturity you have shown while studying Animal Farm this term. You approached a challenging and thought-provoking text with curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to think deeply. Your discussions showed growing confidence as you explored characters, themes, and the powerful messages behind Orwell’s writing. Many of you demonstrated impressive focus when analysing language and symbolism, making thoughtful links between the novel and ideas about power, leadership, and fairness.

You listened respectfully to different viewpoints and supported your ideas with evidence, which is a key skill you continue to develop well. Your written work reflected care, effort, and an improving ability to explain ideas clearly and thoughtfully. Most importantly, you showed that you can stay engaged with complex ideas and rise to academic challenges. Keep this focus and determination going - you should be very proud of the progress you have made this term.