This year, students and staff at our school embraced the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, testing their problem-solving skills and creativity with the intelligence agency’s annual brain-teaser. The top sets in Years 7, 8, and 9 tackled the puzzles during their lessons, diving into a series of challenging tasks designed to stretch their logical thinking and teamwork.

The puzzles, released annually by GCHQ, are renowned for their complexity and connection to real-world skills such as codebreaking, problem-solving, and pattern recognition. Students worked collaboratively to decode clues, crack ciphers, and solve riddles, channelling the same critical thinking skills used by intelligence professionals.

Participation wasn’t limited to lessons. Other students, staff took on the challenge in their own time. The collaborative spirit across the school was inspiring, with participants sharing ideas and working together to conquer the puzzles.

This event highlighted the importance of resilience, creativity, and teamwork, qualities that align with the values we aim to foster in our school community. Congratulations to everyone who participated, in particular: J, Choi 10A1, O. Perret 10A1, A. Hannon 10B1 and O Warrilow 9T1 who where the first group to finish the challenge.

This week, we have additional awards for pupils who have exemplified TURVES Values in the community. Our reading rewards vending machine continues to be a focal point of our celebrations on a Friday lunchtime. Pupils from all year groups are considered and selected for a range of approaches to demonstrating our TURVES Values., contributions in the community and extra-curricular efforts.  

Year 7: J Hockell ‘Bossing it’ in multiple lessons and putting in serious shifts in his effort/homework/valuable contributions.    

Year 8: P Curnew and a fellow pupil, on behalf of Miss Mansell “These two absolutely warm my heart and remind me of exactly why I love my job. They have attended 2 of the UOB evening lectures off their own back and have come back brimming with information and excitement. Their thoughtfulness and attention not only to their studies but also those around them fills me with pride. There is no accolade in the school high enough for these young men as every day they show the best of what Turves has to offer”.   

Year 9: T Rose for having the most positives in his year group in Tolkien for two weeks running. Well done for working hard and meeting our expectations each day. 

Year 10: N Simon for significant improvement in attitude to learning and showing guests superb manners.  

Year 11: H S Hughes & C Thomas awarded a prefect ties and token for improved attitude in Year 11.  

On Thursday 28th November all the schools from across Matrix Academy Trust came together to celebrate the Performing Arts. It was a spectacular display of talent, showcasing their skills in dance, drama, and music. This event was a celebration of creativity, hard work, and the vibrant spirit of pupils who have worked hard over the past few months to showcase their performances.

This event emphasised the importance of the performing arts in shaping well-rounded individuals. The confidence, discipline, and teamwork required in these artistic disciplines provide invaluable life skills that extend far beyond the stage.

The success of this event is a testament to the thriving performing arts community within our Trust schools. It’s clear that the future of dance, drama, and music is in good hands. With such incredible talent on display, it’s exciting to think about the future performances and productions that will emerge from these talented young artists.

Thank you to everyone for their involvement with the event.

This week, we have additional awards for pupils who have exemplified TURVES Values in the community. Our reading rewards vending machine continues to be a focal point of our celebrations on a Friday lunchtime. Pupils from all year groups are considered and selected for a range of approaches to demonstrating our TURVES Values., contributions in the community and extra curricular efforts.  

Year 7: D Tayengwa – For receiving the highest amount of positives consistently in his year for a number of days. Mr Dependable and extremely polite to boot.   

Year 8:  C Grundy, E Lowe and JP Atwood – finding and handing in a bank card 

Year 9: K Light improved attitude and effort since the start of Y9 

Year 10: J Cartlidge – positive behaviour and positive work ethic that has had a brilliant start to KS4 and is a consistent achiever across all subjects.   

Year 11: K Foster - an excellent year 11 pupil who is consistently showing excellent attitude towards his studies and preparation for his GCSEs. 

Our commitment to driving up literacy standards at TGBS continues with a keen focus on developing oracy for all staff and pupils this year. As part of an ongoing programme to promote confidence in a range spoken arenas, all pupils will have the opportunity to take part in an externally run workshop this academic year.

Our first workshop took place mid-November for all of our Year 7 pupils. The esteemed oracy specialists ‘Talk the Talk’ took the boys through a series of activities exploring their transition from primary to secondary, friendship groups, adapting to new situations and new opportunities. All the boys took part in individual, paired and group discussions and presentations. The pupils felt they were more confident in talking aloud, sharing ideas and trying new things in their evaluations at the end of the day. The trainers were full of praise for our boys and are keen to come back to work with our older pupils.

Since September a variety of pupils having been competing in the F1 for Schools competition after school, each week they have been meeting and working as teams to design a model formula 1 car to race at the regional finals in February. Since the start of the competition our school has been linked with the Austin Ex-Apprentices Association Trust, set up in memory of Herbert Austin. The trust have kindly donated financial backing for the boys to manufacturer their designs and compete at regional finals. on Monday 25^th November trust members visited school to meet and talk to the club teams.

I would like to express a huge thank you to all of the parents who came to join me for another successful SEND coffee morning this November. It was a lovely opportunity for you to meet with our new Assistant SENDCO, Mrs Morris, and to discuss the varied and bespoke provision we offer for those pupils in our care.

It was great to hear your thoughts on our systems and processes, and we will definitely look into some of your fabulous suggestions for an even wider array of Extra-Curricular opportunities for our young people with SEND.

Thank you all for your continued support, Mrs Green.

A big thank you to the Outreach team at the University of Birmingham for coming back and helping our pupils analyse their particle traps. A great session was had by all and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed getting hands on with the equipment – firstly looking at locust legs through their microscopes and then their particle traps.

Our reading rewards vending machine continues to be a focal point of our celebrations on a Friday lunchtime. Pupils from all year groups are considered and selected for a range of approaches to demonstrating our TURVES Values. 

Y7 C Zebrowski: Quiet and understated student that gets the job done. Great help to Austin house office this week.  

Y8 J Allabush : Deserves to be recognised for his brilliance across all subjects and his high level of effort.

Y9 M Scarfe: For his excellent effort within D.T. He has already completed his project in the lesson and is supporting his peers and helping them complete their projects, without being prompted to do so. 

Year 10 O Orchard: A polite and respectful young man who has had a huge improvement in his attendance this year.  

Year 11 Hunt: A polite and respectful young man who is continuing to make incredible effort in lessons and his final year here at TGBS.

I wanted to take a moment to share how incredibly pleased I am with the enthusiasm and dedication shown by my 8A1 group as we explore the fascinating work of microbiologist Robert Koch from our medicine topic.

The pupils have embraced this topic with genuine curiosity, engaging in thoughtful discussions about Koch’s groundbreaking contributions to microbiology and their impact on modern medicine.

 They have shown a keen interest in understanding the principles of his work, such as the identification of disease-causing microorganisms and the development of his famous work.