Throughout this half-term I have had the pleasure of coordinating our peer mentoring sessions. The commitment shown by both mentors and mentees demonstrates the positive impact of pupils working together to strengthen our school community.

These packed sessions reflect our shared understanding that improving school attendance is a collective responsibility. By building supportive relationships across year groups, pupils are helping to create a culture where everyone feels encouraged, valued and motivated to attend each day - while having the opportunity to take responsibility to overcome any barriers to good school attendance.

Our mentors have continued to show maturity, empathy and leadership, providing consistent encouragement; acting as positive role models and embodying our Turves Values. Equally, our mentees deserve recognition for their willingness to participate, reflect and take meaningful steps towards improving their attendance. Their openness and effort are central to the success of the programme.

Peer mentoring is more than an attendance strategy; it is an investment in developing resilient, confident and successful individuals. When students feel part of a caring and connected community, they are more likely to thrive both socially and academically.

This week pupils from Year 9 and 10 got their results back for the UK Maths Challenge. The challenge was issued to the top set of each of the two-year groups and is an internationally recognised award to identify mathematical talent from pupils all across the UK.

Declan, Connor, Louie, Charlie and Llemari in Year 9 as well as Tyshae, Yahya, Aiden, Kamron, Jamie, Teo, Zack, Logan and George in Year 10 all achieved bronze awards.

Alfie in Year 9 achieved that year groups only silver award with Charles, Duarte, Sebastian and William in Year 10 all getting silver awards

And then for his second time at TGBS Remee in Year 10 achieved a gold award. A young man with some super mathematical talent.

Congratulations to all of those who took part. The UK Maths Challenge is an incredibly tricky test and shows a lot of resilience and skill to even attempt. Year 8 and Year 7 will get their chance to try the junior one in the next few months.

Turves Green Boys’ School recently hosted a successful Careers Fair in the Main Hall, giving pupils structured access to a wide range of education, training, and employment pathways.

The event formed a key part of the school’s careers programme and supported pupils in developing a clearer understanding of their post-16 and post-18 options, in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks.

What pupils did

Prior to the event, pupils completed a planning task during Form Time, identifying at least three organisations they wished to speak to. This ensured that engagement at the Careers Fair was purposeful and matched pupils’ interests and aspirations.

During their allocated sessions, pupils:

• Spoke to a minimum of three different providers
• Introduced themselves professionally and confidently
• Asked questions about courses, careers, entry requirements, and progression routes
• Recorded key information on their careers worksheets to support reflection and next steps

This approach encouraged pupils to take ownership of their careers education and develop important communication and employability skills.

Who attended

The Careers Fair welcomed a diverse range of organisations, ensuring pupils were exposed to academic, vocational, technical, and specialist pathways, including:

• Sixth form colleges offering A Levels, BTECs and T Levels
• Further education colleges specialising in vocational and technical routes
• Universities and higher education providers
• Apprenticeship and training providers across construction, engineering, IT, health, and business
• Armed forces, including the British Army and Royal Air Force
• Sport, creative, STEM, and specialist career organisations

This breadth of provision ensured pupils could explore pathways aligned to a wide range of interests, abilities, and future ambitions.

The Careers Fair is part of TGBS’s ongoing commitment to high-quality careers education, supporting pupils to make informed, ambitious, and realistic choices about their next steps.

The school basketball team produced a thrilling performance on Monday 9February holding on for a dramatic 41–37 victory in a game that swung wildly from start to finish.

TGBS came out firing and looked in complete control early, racing to an incredible 21–0 lead. Tight defence and quick ball movement left their opponents struggling to find any rhythm, as the onlookers watched the scoreboard climb without reply.

However, the momentum shifted as the game wore on. The opposing team regrouped after the opening shock and slowly clawed their way back into contention, tightening the score across the second and third quarters. What once seemed a runaway contest turned into a tense battle, with every possession carrying weight.

In the closing moments, the score stood delicately poised. With time nearly expired and the pressure at its highest, the winning team showed composure beyond their years. As the buzzer loomed, a last-second three-pointer was launched - and dropped cleanly through the net by Shanrique - sealing the 41–37 victory and sending the bench into celebration.

The win was a testament to a fast start, resilience under pressure, and the confidence to deliver when it mattered most.

We are thrilled to announce that this summer, our school will be putting on the beloved musical “The Wizard of Oz”! Join Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion on an unforgettable journey down the Yellow Brick Road.

Auditions are coming up!
Pupils who are interested in performing can collect an audition pack from Mrs Haynes or Miss Harrison. Auditions will take place after half term, so make sure to pick up your pack and start preparing your part!

Whether you love singing, dancing, acting, or simply being part of a fantastic team, there’s a role for everyone. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a magical production that promises fun, excitement, and memories that will last a lifetime.

Stay tuned for more details about rehearsal schedules and performance dates. We can’t wait to see your talent shine on stage!

Step into the magic – see you on the Yellow Brick Road!

The Tigers group recently visited Kings Norton Construction College as part of their intervention, where they were introduced to a range of opportunities within the groundwork and construction sector. Staff at the college provided an overview of different career pathways and the skills required to succeed in the industry, giving the group valuable insight into real-world construction environments.

During the visit, the boys took part in a practical block paving activity, allowing them to gain hands-on experience and develop practical skills. They approached the task with enthusiasm, worked well together, and demonstrated positive attitudes throughout the session. All the boys were brilliant, representing the group extremely well and making the most of the learning opportunity.

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 Rawlings, 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!