We have been very much enjoying the quality of composition and creativity evident in Gothic stories written by Year 8s over the past two weeks.

For their mid-term ‘Key Piece’ in English, each student has been tasked with writing an introductory descriptive paragraph to a Gothic story. The results have been stunning, not to mention sinister, Devilish, ghoulish and creepy. Like this from L. Thompson-Clarke (8T1) who finds ‘the crackling of leaves’ sending ‘a shiver down’ his ‘spine’ as he ‘approaches a dark, gloomy abandoned mansion’ when suddenly ‘a light flickers on’ and he ‘hears light footsteps faintly in the distance’.

There are many fine examples of students using tricks, techniques and structures that will help them develop into confident authors by the time they finally arrive at GCSE. At this stage, though, the students clearly find writing in a creepy Gothic style as much fun as they do hard work. Like L.Cullen (8T1) who finds the ‘breeze is cold and harsh,’ his ‘cheeks numb and ‘his eyes dry’ as he approaches his ghostly mansion, the ‘isolation’ of which ‘he finds unnerving’. He moves ‘on to one of the steps leading up to the door but immediately retreats’ when he hears ‘a loud unsettling creak.’ He then ‘regains his composure’ and heads on into the house to face the horrors within.

These are just two, but there are many such examples of young Stephen Kings in the making, all of them creating a classically scary atmosphere – enough to give an English teacher – tasked with marking them – nightmares!

WELL DONE!

Embarking on a journey beyond borders can be a transformative experience for students, offering them a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in different cultures, languages, and traditions. Recently, a group of 35 adventurous pupils from across Matrix Academy Trust had the incredible opportunity to explore the city of Stockholm, Sweden through the Turing Scheme. This government-funded scheme enables pupils to experience other cultures. 

Our first activity was a visit to the Paradox Musuem, which offers an engaging exploration of optical illusions. Visitors are invited to pose for some great pictures as part of these illusions, before walking to the Avicii Experience, where our pupils enjoyed DJing alongside the groundbreaking DJ and producer, experiencing his music in a unique and immersive setting. 

Later that afternoon, our students had the opportunity to visit Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s charming Old Town, exploring landmarks such as the Royal Armouries. They also delved into the world of Nobel laureates at the Nobel Prize Museum, learning about the importance of science, literature, and peace in shaping our world.  

On our second day, we visited the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. As you step into the museum, you’re greeted by the Vasa ship, a preserved warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 and was salvaged centuries later. Our pupils also enjoyed exploring Lego versions of the world’s most famous shipwrecks. 

Following this, our students had the pleasure of exploring the iconic music of Sweden. At the ABBA museum, they were immersed in ABBA’s iconic costumes and memorabilia, exploring interactive exhibits and singing and dancing along to timeless hits.  

On day three, we paid a visit to the Tekniska Museum of science, technology, and innovation. Here the pupils enjoyed interactive exhibits, followed by lunch at Max Burgers – Sweden’s (significantly better) answer to McDonalds.  

In the afternoon, we took a scenic boat tour around Stockholm’s archipelago, where we got to see the city’s iconic landmarks from a unique perspective. And in the afternoon, the competitive natures of staff and pupils kicked in with an outdoor escape room adventure around the historic town. Divided into teams, pupils navigated their teams and their teacher through the narrow cobblestone streets, solving clues and unravelling mysteries, where only one of our groups solved the clues to find the final code! 

On day four, our pupils had the opportunity to visit Töjnaskolan, a Swedish school located in the suburbs of Stockholm. Stepping into the classrooms of Töjnaskolan, our pupils were struck by the differences between British and Swedish educational systems. Aside from being instant celebrities, they noticed smaller class sizes, a longer lunchtime and no school uniform. The visit sparked discussions between both sets of pupils about the different educational models, encouraging our students to reflect on their own learning experiences and cultural perspectives. 

On day 5 was a visit to Skansen, the world’s first open-air museum, showcasing Swedish life from centuries past to the present day. Our students were delighted to explore the native animals of Sweden, with the highlight of the visit being the opportunity to hand-feed some of the friendly birds that call Skansen home. 

On our final day, our pupils experienced an adrenaline rush at Skypark Vaxholm, an exhilarating outdoor adventure park. They navigated treetop obstacle courses, zip-lined across forests, and conquered thrilling challenges, pushing their limits and building confidence. 

As our pupils bid farewell to Stockholm and boarded their flight back to London Heathrow, they carried with them memories that will last a lifetime. The trip embodied Matrix Academy Trust’s ethos of Education without Exception. Through experiences like the Stockholm trip, we empower our students to open their minds to endless possibilities and shape them into compassionate, informed global citizens. 

In March, pupils across Matrix were invited to enter a Maths competition to celebrate Pi Day. Pupils were asked to use their imagination to bring Pi to life and to illustrate a real life example of Pi. We received entries from Smestow Academy, Etone College and Turves Green Boys School. M Harris from Smestow was our overall winner and has received a £30 Amazon voucher. C Bettison from Etone College and E Keegan from Turves Green Boys’ School received a £10 Amazon voucher for runner up prizes.

Huge congratulations to all three pupils!

This week science club were carrying out experiments around pressure. Dr Patchett demonstrated how to crush a can without touching it using the pressure created by steam – steam takes up 1,600 times the volume of water!

We then used our new knowledge about pressure to figure out how to suck a boiled egg into a conical flask using boiling water. Have a look at the pictures and see if you can figure out how we did it.

Next week we will be carrying out experiments to celebrate British Science Week based on this years theme of “time”.

Year 7 and year 8 took part in the UK Maths Trusts’ Junior Maths Challenge. In exam conditions, with just a pencil and scrap paper students had an hour to complete 25 challenging questions.  The results will be back in a couple of weeks and students will receive their certificate for participating and any Bronze, Silver or Gold awards students managed to achieve.

In the meantime, why not have a go at some of the questions yourself:

Saltmine put on a fantastic performance for our pupils; the recent preventative education production and workshop that took place for KS3 pupils was informative and brilliantly delivered. The production focused on important topics such as social media use, sexual harassment, consent, cyberbullying, AI, and pornography.

The performance centred around the story of Samantha, a typical “IT girl” whose life revolved around TikTok dances, selfies, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends. Samantha had a large online following and big dreams. However, as the story unfolded, cracks began to form in her once unbreakable friendship group.

The production highlighted the dangers of the digital world, where truths can easily become distorted and personal images can be exposed online without consent. Samantha found herself in a situation where she had no control over the dissemination of an explicit image of herself. This led to a crisis where she had to decide whether to try and repair the damage to her online persona or watch everything around her unravel.

As the story progressed, it became clear that filters and illusions could no longer mask the mess that had been created. Samantha and her friends were forced to confront the issues in their own lives and deal with the consequences.

The performance served as a powerful reminder of the importance of responsible online behaviour, the need for consent in all aspects of life, and the potential dangers of social media and technology. It encouraged pupils to reflect on their own online presence and consider the impact their actions can have on themselves and others.

We are incredibly proud of our talented performers who brought this thought-provoking production to life. Their dedication and commitment to raising awareness about these important issues were truly commendable.

We hope that this production has sparked meaningful conversations among our pupils, leading to a greater understanding and empathy towards the challenges faced in the digital age.

Turves Green Boys’ School welcomes inspiring guest speaker Alison Cope to educate pupils on youth violence.

In a captivating and heartfelt event, we had the privilege of hosting Alison Cope, a remarkable guest speaker and mother of Joshua Ribera, who tragically lost his life to violence in 2013. Alison’s unwavering commitment to preventing youth violence by sharing her son’s unique life and death story has made a profound impact on countless young people.

Alison’s visit provided our KS4 pupils with a valuable opportunity to learn about the realities and consequences of youth violence. Through her powerful storytelling, she not only shed light on the devastating loss she experienced but also highlighted the importance of making positive choices and the far-reaching impact of violence on individuals, families, and communities.

Alison’s talk was both educational and thought-provoking, leaving a lasting impression on our pupils. Her ability to connect with the audience on an emotional level truly captivated their attention and sparked meaningful conversations about the issue of youth violence.

Through her tireless efforts, Alison has become a beacon of hope and inspiration, working tirelessly to create awareness and drive change. By sharing her personal journey, she strives to empower young people to make informed decisions and choose non-violence over aggression.

The impact of Alison’s visit extended beyond the event itself. Our KS4 pupils expressed their appreciation for the time and educational opportunities that Alison provided. Her story touched their hearts and left them with a deeper understanding of the consequences of violence.

When Ms Parker heard about how well the pupils vegetables were doing in the garden (progress pictures to be shared next week when we’ve done the last of the planting) she asked if we had thought about growing herbs.

Luckily, the seed box the pupils received contained many different varieties and the first has germinated! Here you can see the start of the curly cress which Ms Parker requested so the catering team can use not only our home grown fruit and veg in the pupils food, but also add a bit of flavour with our fresh herbs! We are all about collaboration and sustainability here at TGBS and can’t wait until our produce are ready to harvest so Ms Parker and her team can cook us up something tasty!

This week our triple science Y10 students had the opportunity to take part in the National Scientific Thinking Challenge this is an online quiz that has been written by staff from 

Warwick, Southampton, Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester and Oxford Universities.

The questions are decoupled from the GCSE curriculum; they have been created by taking 6 current areas of scientific research and development and presenting the students with data and information for them to interpret and analyse. This really gave our student to use the transferrable science skills that they have developed over the last four years.

Students marks will be ranked and those in the top 10% are awarded Gold, the top 25%, silver and the top 40% bronze certificates later this year. 

Well done to all of our students who took on the challenge and showed off their fantastic thinking and analytical skills.

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.

Winners this week include:

Y7: C Grundy -For excellent behaviour record

Y8: L Turner – continued perseverance with learning.  

Year 9: W Charles-Tracey – Excellent effort and most praise points in Boulton this week.  

Year 10: J Inman – Improved effort and attitude this week.  

Year 11: M Beach – improved attitude to GCSEs