We are incredibly proud of the positive engagement shown by our Year 8 pupils through the peer mentoring programme. Throughout the term, pupils have approached the sessions with maturity, enthusiasm and a genuine willingness to support one another, helping to strengthen the caring culture that sits at the heart of our school community.

It has been particularly pleasing to see mentors continuing to develop their communication and leadership skills through regular mentoring conversations and collaborative activities. Their confidence in supporting younger pupils has grown significantly, demonstrating empathy, patience and responsibility in every session.

Alongside providing pastoral encouragement, several mentors have also offered valuable academic support to Year 8 pupils, helping peers to build confidence within lessons and develop positive attitudes towards learning. This willingness to support others both socially and academically highlights the strong sense of collective responsibility that we continue to nurture across the school.

The peer mentoring programme remains an important part of our commitment to developing confident, resilient and successful individuals. We would like to congratulate all pupils involved for the maturity and dedication they have shown, and for the positive contribution they continue to make to our wider school community.

Year 8 pupils have been exploring the fascinating world of gothic writing through the creation of dramatic and atmospheric story openings. During recent English lessons, pupils focused on developing setting descriptions that captured mystery, tension, and suspense. Using dark castles, abandoned streets, stormy weather, and eerie landscapes as inspiration, the class experimented with language choices that would immediately engage a reader.

One of the key techniques pupils explored was the “so, so, so” sentence structure, which helped them build emphasis and create a powerful sense of atmosphere in their writing. By carefully repeating words and phrases for effect, pupils learned how authors can slow down a moment and make emotions or settings feel more intense. This encouraged them to think creatively about sentence construction and the impact their writing can have on a reader.

Alongside crafting their own gothic openings, pupils also developed important editing and feedback skills. They worked collaboratively to read each other’s work, identify strengths, and suggest improvements using constructive and supportive comments. Pupils focused on improving vocabulary, punctuation, sentence variety, and descriptive detail, showing maturity and thoughtfulness in the feedback they provided.

The editing process allowed pupils to reflect on their own writing and recognise how small changes can greatly improve the overall effect of a piece. It was fantastic to see pupils responding positively to feedback and confidently redrafting their work.

Overall, Year 8 demonstrated impressive creativity, teamwork, and resilience throughout the project. Their gothic openings were imaginative and engaging, and the class should feel proud of the progress they have made as developing writers.

Year 7 have been busy preparing themselves for the annual spelling bee, hosted by the Matrix Academy! 15 boys were able to show their hard work, determination and talent in the Spelling Bee auditions, all boys bared their teeth at the competition and gave it their all! Here at Turves Green, we are incredibly proud of all the pupils who took part. Every contestant demonstrated courage and commitment, making the Spelling Bee auditions a memorable experience for everyone involved.

The auditions created an exciting and supportive atmosphere, with participants encouraging one another and showing great sportsmanship throughout. It was inspiring to see so many pupils willing to challenge themselves and step forward with confidence. Their hard work and commitment were clearly reflected in their performances.

The auditions were not only about selecting contestants for the next stage of the competition, but also about celebrating pupils dedication to improving their vocabulary, pronunciation, and communication skills. Every participant should feel proud of their effort and achievement. Here at Turves Green, we want to celebrate all students who have taken part!

Unfortunately, there can only be 2 students who can represent the school at Villa Park in July. A big shout out to Hussain Year 7 and Hazael Year 8 for being our finalists, for trying their hardest and not getting stumped at abolish!

The Year 8 football team travelled to Etone College for the Matrix Football Tournament this week.
The boys were brilliant throughout the competition and were unlucky to come up just short in the semi-final, narrowly losing 1-0 after fatigue in the heat began to take its toll. Their attitude, teamwork and determination were outstanding all day, and they were a real credit to the school.

Turves Green Boys' School are proud to announce that we have received an FFT National School Attendance Award for the Spring Term for being in the Top 25% of similar secondary schools in the country for attendance. We are incredibly proud of this achievement and believe that strong attendance is crucial for the academic success and personal development of all our pupils. We are grateful to all members of our school community for their support in achieving this award, as strong attendance cannot be achieved without the support of parents, carers, pupils and staff.

The recent Turing trip to Canada was a fantastic success, providing pupils with a rich and memorable educational experience across multiple locations.

The trip began in Niagara, where pupils had the opportunity to explore the breathtaking Niagara Falls. This included an insightful visit to the power stations to understand the engineering and energy production behind the falls, as well as the unforgettable “Journey Behind the Falls” experience. A particular highlight was Niagara Takes Flight, which gave pupils a unique aerial perspective and deeper appreciation of the geography and natural beauty of the area.

Following this, the group travelled to Montreal, where the focus shifted towards science, culture, and university life. Pupils visited the Planetarium, where they engaged with interactive exhibits and shows exploring space and astronomy. This was complemented by a trip to the Biodome, allowing pupils to experience a range of ecosystems from across the Americas, and a visit to the Science Museum, where hands-on learning further enriched their understanding.

A particular highlight during the Montreal leg of the trip was a visit to Parc Omega, where pupils experienced Canadian wildlife up close. This provided a unique opportunity to observe animals in a naturalistic environment and added an exciting outdoor dimension to the trip.

Another memorable experience was the visit to a traditional maple syrup farm, where pupils learned how maple syrup is produced. Pupils fully embraced the experience, sampling a wide range of traditional dishes featuring maple syrup. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all and, unsurprisingly, resulted in a definite sugar high across the group!

Cultural experiences were also a key part of the trip. Pupils embraced local cuisine by trying traditional poutine, which proved to be a popular highlight. In addition, a visit to McGill University provided valuable insight into higher education opportunities abroad, giving pupils a glimpse into university life in an international context.

Throughout the trip, the boys were exceptional and represented TGBS amazingly. Their behaviour, engagement, and curiosity were consistently praised, and they approached each activity with enthusiasm and maturity. 

Overall, the Turing trip was a highly worthwhile experience, broadening pupils’ horizons both academically and culturally.

At TGBS we are committed to improving and celebrating reading success for all. Recently, Mr Green escorted a bespoke group of pupils to Peter’s bookshop in Birmingham to select new non fiction books for the library. 

The were selected based on their successful reading age improvements based on recent assessments and interventions. Other pupils were those who have read the most of our 16 by 16 initiative. The boys were also gifted a book of their choice as a reward for the improvement in reading. 

As part of the DFE’s national Year of Reading, we will be conducting more reading based rewards trips in order to foster a love of reading and desire to improve a repertoire of reading material.

Our Year 11 pupils are focusing on our 4 week countdown plan to the final GCSE exams in English. Our English team are busy revising with pupils and marking timed responses ahead of the crucial exams in a few school weeks' time. Pupils are, as you can see, working hard on refining those last-minute techniques and making every minute matter. We are incredibly proud of how our Year 11 boys are approaching their revision with rigour and determination. 

This week Year 8 pupils have experienced ‘Reteach’ lessons in English, where they have had the opportunity to improve their assessment. After receiving their assessment back, they read through teacher comments and identified parts of the writing they could improve. After writing a thesis statement together as a class with the teacher they were then able to highlight parts of the success criteria they had achieved. They then applied this method in their own independent practice and considerably improved their original thesis statement. Pupils commented that they now feel confident to produce a much higher quality thesis statement and with more practice they know they will eventually be able to do this more independently. The English department are extremely proud of the way in which pupils have approached this new concept, the effort and pride they have taken in their work is wonderful to see.

The Year 9 boys took part in their first netball competition today, facing six other teams from across the Matrix Academy, and delivered an outstanding performance. Despite it being their first experience of competitive netball, they rose to the challenge brilliantly, showing confidence, teamwork, and determination against much more experienced sides. Their ability to adapt so quickly and perform so strongly throughout the tournament was impressive, and reaching the final was a remarkable achievement. Although they were narrowly defeated by Etone, finishing as runners-up against such experienced opposition is something they should be incredibly proud of.