As parents and carers, we all aspire for our children to develop the confidence and ability to express their mental health needs effectively. Research indicates that one in five children are recognising their need for support with mental health, highlighting the importance of open conversations and accessible guidance.

At Turves Green Boys’ School, we are committed to equipping our pupils with the knowledge and skills to understand, articulate, and seek appropriate support for their mental wellbeing. We believe that developing self-awareness and resilience is fundamental to their overall development and success.

From Monday 3rd February to Sunday 9th February, we will be supporting Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week, an initiative aimed at promoting mental health awareness among young people. This year’s theme, "Know Yourself, Grow Yourself", delivered in partnership with Here4You and Disney, encourages children across the UK to explore their identity, strengths, and emotions—helping them build resilience, confidence, and a positive mindset.

Throughout the week and beyond, our pupils will engage in assemblies and discussions designed to reinforce these key messages and provide practical strategies for maintaining good mental health.

If you have any questions regarding Children’s Mental Health Week, please feel free to contact the school at postbox@tgbs.co.uk. For further information, you can visit the official website: www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk.

Thank you for your ongoing support in prioritising the well-being of our young people.

Year 10 drama pupils are working on bringing scenes from the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen to life for their BTec Component 2 coursework. This contemporary, emotionally charged production follows the story of Evan Hansen, a socially awkward teenager dealing with the impact of mental health struggles, loneliness, and the consequences of one impulsive lie.

The pupils, who have been studying the musical’s theme of Equality, are working hard to recreate pivotal moments from the show. Dear Evan Hansen has been praised for its raw portrayal of adolescent issues, and these young performers rose to the challenge of interpreting such complex characters and situations.

The pupils were tasked with selecting key scenes from the show that would allow them to explore both emotional depth and dynamic stage presence. They focused on building the authenticity of characters like Evan, who longs to fit in but finds himself at the centre of a web of miscommunication. By embodying the struggles Evan faces, such as his desire to be understood and accepted, the pupils gained deeper insight into the emotional layers of the character.

Throughout the process, pupils have reflected on the experience of engaging with a musical that addresses such poignant, contemporary issues. Many expressed how challenging, yet rewarding, it was to step into the shoes of characters who are struggling with their sense of worth. 

Our reading rewards vending machine continues to be a focal point of our weekly celebrations on a Friday lunchtime in the new year. 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: Abdulazim O:  A polite and respectful young man who has consistently demonstrated the TURVES values since starting in September.  

Year 8: Yaseen I For his outstanding effort in lessons and around school.  

Year 9: Jak A – quiet man but works hard in lessons and has got involved across multiple fields.  

Year 10: Denis B:A pupil who has shown a shift in his attitude to learning, especially showing great effort in his French lessons.  

Year 11: Oscar B is a dedicated and hardworking individual who may be quiet in class but always puts in great effort. Their focus and determination are evident in their work, and they consistently produce thoughtful, high-quality results.

As Spring 1 has begun, the boys have began their dive into plays and drama in English. The English department is thrilled to show off on this post how engaged and brilliant the students attitude is towards the plays.

In KS3 we are currently teaching The Tempest (Y7), Blood Brother (Y8) and Romeo and Juliet (Y9). The boys are reading and, recently, we have introduced a little more drama into our lessons!

Our Trainee, Nat, worked with the Y8’s to create freeze frames for the prologue of Blood Brothers. The boys reflected on the key theme of tragedy to inspire their presentation of the separation of Mickey and Edward and also their death. The Y8’s managed to capture the pain and grief of the play whilst also building on skills like team work, organisation and physical coordination.

In Y9, the boys have been focussing on themes of fate and love. During Miss Tom’s English lessons they have been re-enacting the romance of the first meeting at Capulet’s ball while considering ideas surrounding affection and the concept of love at first sight.

Finally, in Y7 the boys have been focussing on threats and insults between Caliban and Prospero. They have understood how anger can be performed through tone of voice and how meaning can be shifted due to projection of voice.

Below are some photos of the fantastic team work and resilience in these tasks from the boys in Y8 that we hope you enjoy 😊

Year 7 pupil Alfie is making waves in the boxing ring! His dedication and hard work paid off as he won his most recent fight, earning a well-deserved trophy.

Balancing school and training, Alfie’s resilience and passion for the sport are truly inspiring. With his eyes set on a professional boxing career, he is proving that determination leads to success.

We are incredibly proud—watch this space for a future champion in the making!

Doctors and researchers from the University of Birmingham came to Turves this week to show our Year 9’s how they can test the air quality in our school! Linking into their KS3 past curriculum and their future KS4 curriculum, pupils were able to make links between how the quality of the air we breathe affects our health. They have started an experiment where they have set up particle “traps” to be placed around the school in the areas where they think the air pollution would be greatest. Then, when the outreach team return on Wednesday 20^th November, they’ll be able to see which of them was right! The pupils behaved admirably and it was great seeing them take advantage of having such experts in the room by asking lots of questions!

This week in F1 club we visited the Engineering department at Aston University. Whilst there, students used CNC equipment and CAD software to machine their car designs. When machined, they assembled the cars and tested their designs and reaction times on the Universities test track. In the next meeting we will be making any modifications needed and painting the designs, ready for the regional final.

Expert trainers from Talk The Talk will be coming into school on Monday 3^rd February 2025to work with students in Year Groups 8 and 9.

The Talk About Communication workshop is an exciting and engaging master class developing speaking and listening skills within a creative learning environment. The workshop provides numerous speaking opportunities and students are coached and supported throughout the day to deliver a structured two minute presentation, on a topic for which they have a genuine passion, to their peers.

‘We demonstrate that speaking out should be an experience that we CAN do – and one that is nowhere near as daunting as we might think. One of the keys to the success of the Talk The Talk programme is creating an environment of mutual respect with a supportive ethos so that when students stand up and voice their opinions, share their thoughts and present their ideas – their skills and confidence grow.’

Talk The Talk

Talk The Talk’s mission is to develop students’ oracy skills and their communication confidence to support positive interaction in all life situations and improved social outcomes.

Talk The Talk has trained over 115,000 students to be confident communicators across England and Wales since they began in 2013.

To learn more about Talk The Talk’s work visit them at: www.talkthetalkuk.org

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Our commitment to improving literacy continues with a focus on developing creative writing this year. ‘Young Writers’ is a national competition that offer multiple opportunities for pupils to submit a range of creative writing from poems to mini sagas. We encourage all pupils to enter but target specific year groups to mirror some of the content in their curricula.  

Our third offering came from years 7-10 for ‘The Beautiful Truth’ short story. A fantastic 27 pupils have received certificates and have been invited to give consent for their work to be published in an anthology. Look out for our next competition launching soon! 

At 9am on the 18^th December, Mr Hawkes embarked on a run from Etone College in Nuneaton to Turves Green Boys' School in order to raise money for the 3 house charities at TGBS. The distance between the 2 schools is just over a marathon distance coming in at 26.4 miles.

In the lead up to the main event, a few fundraisers were held in order to build the money raised. This included a couple of bake sales with cakes provided by Mrs Hawkes and other members of our Head of PE’s family as well as a time predictor challenge.

On the day, Mr Hawkes ran with a support car who provided motivation as well as food and drink to keep him going however many members of the public gave encouraging honks of horns along the way. As the end of the school day rapidly approached, Mr Hawkes made it through the school gates with minutes to spare and he was greeted with a huge cheer and round of applause from all of staff and students.

As a school, over £800 was raised with the money being split between Age UK, The Birmingham Children’s Hospital and The Buddy Bag Foundation.

Mr Hawkes would like to thank everyone who got involved and donated towards the cause but also everyone who cheered as he made it into school.