Dear Parent or Guardian
This is a shorter newsletter for what has been a much shorter term than usual. That hasn’t stopped it being jam packed full of Easter school, internal and external exams, highly attended parents evenings, rewards breakfasts, the Old Bordenians yearly event, sports fixtures, mentoring sessions, trustee meetings, all of year 10 on work experience, Duke of Edinburgh weekends, subject trips, interviews and all the other things that keep the school moving forward. A particular highlight was the year 10 work experience where we received numerous responses from those that hosted, saying how amazing our students were, and how well they represented the school. Well done to them all.
A few reminders; please remember that, with the introduction of summer uniform, students must wear their ties to and from school. Please remind them to be in school at 8.40am or earlier if they want a free bagel breakfast. As it gets hotter, remind them to hydrate regularly and to fill their water bottle in their social times.
This half term is always an intense and anxious one where we say goodbye and good luck to our year 11 and 13 students to prepare for their final exams. It does sometimes feel like society has become a little over obsessed with examining everything. Since students are now taking more exam papers than ever (around 30 per student at GCSE), this inevitably means they have to start much earlier in May to fit them in. It doesn't stop there either; my daughter is in the midst of her finals of an English degree at university and has six 8 hour exams - when did that become usual? Anyway, thank you to all parents of children taking exams, for your support of your child and the school at such a stressful time. Together we will hopefully help them all get the success they truly deserve.
To finish on a linked note, someone sent me a passage that has been circulating on social media which I used in my final assembly - also echoing the words I delivered to year 13 a couple of weeks earlier. It serves as a poignant reminder of all the challenges these young people have met to get to this point, so I thought it worth sharing with you.
When the world shut down in March 2020, you were just children in Year 6. You missed your leavers' parties, your final sports days, the transition days that were meant to ease your leap into secondary school. For some, education halted entirely--no online learning, no structure, just uncertainty. You began secondary school not with the usual excitement and nerves, but through screens and restrictions. Your Year 7 wasn't filled with team-building days, school trips, residential adventures or lunch break conversations. You learnt to work in bubbles, to avoid physical contact, to keep your heads down. Inter-school sports? Cancelled. Drama productions? Postponed. Group work? Discouraged. Yet here you are. Five years later. About to be assessed and judged by the same grade boundaries used in a pre-Covid world-as if it's been a level playing field all along. To every young person in Year 11 sitting their GCSEs this year: You've already overcome one of the greatest disruptions to education in living memory. You are resilient. You are capable. You are more than a number on a results slip. Pace yourselves. Do your best. Be kind to yourselves and each other. In just six weeks, these exams will be over. But your courage, your persistence, and your story-that will stay with you, and with us, for a lifetime.
It’s interesting how our Borden values are covered by these words; particularly courage and resilience. Ironically, these values were voted on by our year 11 and 13 students when they were in year 7 and 9 in answer to the question “what makes an ideal Borden student?”. The great thing is that I see them exhibited every day by so many of our students, not only those now taking exams. Well done and keep going!
Ashley Tomlin
Headteacher
Student Work Experience at The Narwhal Tusk 
Students already participating from a previous year can still complete their award by uploading their evidence to the eDofE app and asking their assessor to complete the end-of-section report. Please ask if you have forgotten your password!
