Borden Grammar School Parent Portal

Dear Parent or Guardian

I am sure that you are very aware that the exam season is upon us. This is always a stressful period for students and staff, but has been magnified this year by the fact that none of us have had to prepare for exams since 2019. All of this is made worse by the more general impact of Covid on learning, mental health and personal development. The courage, respect and determination that students and staff have shown is a real reflection on the strength of the whole school community.

Summer Uniform
The early summer heat wave meant that we decided to move to ‘summer uniform’ a little earlier than usual. Tutors have explained what this means to students, but thought it would help to explain it to parents. The logic is simple, if it is warm you would expect to want to remove your blazer first and, if still warm, your tie. To summarise,

Ties must always be worn to and from school (blazers are optional)
Ties can be taken off in school as well with top buttons undone
Blazers can never be worn without wearing a tie
Shirts should always be tucked in
Black shoes should be worn; trainers (even if black) are not allowed.

I have also had a few students say “but I’m outside of school” when challenged and have to remind them that the same rules continue to apply to uniform and behaviour on their journey to school in terms of uniform and behaviour. I would be grateful if you could reinforce this with your son so that in school conflicts can be avoided.

Year 11 exams

So far, examinations appear to have run smoothly, with students really benefiting from our new 'super learning sessions' focused on the area they are being examined on the next day. Having had such a huge proportion of their learning disrupted, we made the decision to keep Year 11 in school a little longer than has previously happened, which appears to be having a positive impact on students ability and confidence. After half term Year 11 students may still come into school to work silently in the library between exams, or to meet with their subject teachers in their usual lesson time. However, they must always attend school in uniform and should remember to be quiet and respectful as other students will be working in the library when they are there. We continue to wish them the very best of luck and remember, we are always here to help!

Road safety, Sainsbury's and keeping green!
Some of you will have seen me outside the front of the school in the mornings greeting our students as they turn up for school. In the main, students have become accustomed to crossing at the traffic lights rather than crossing outside the school gates. However, we have noticed that when students leave school they too often cross the road directly outside the gates, with the traffic and buses making it even more of a risk. You may be aware that we had a horrible accident where a student was knocked over outside the school within the last two years, so please can you remind your child to cross at the crossing before and after school. I would also encourage our students to cycle or walk to school wherever possible. It not only helps the environment but keeps them fit and healthy! Finally, please remember to use Central Avenue or Sainsbury's to drop off your children rather than directly outside the school where it adds to the risk.

I am also a regular visitor to Sainsbury's, supporting our boys and making sure Borden upholds its good reputation. I am proud to say that the vast majority of our students are impeccably behaved outside of school, being polite, reasonable and well presented. However, please can I ask you to remind your child that they represent Borden when in uniform, and this includes at Sainsbury's to and from school.

Planning for our new building
Our new build is still going ahead, but a mixture of logistics and paperwork has delayed things, worsened by a general shortage in building supplies. In terms of the works programme, the following appears to be the current timeframe,

Archaeological investigations are commencing in July 2022
UKPN (power) works will be undertaken in August 2022
Building works to commence December 2022

When the building work finally starts, we will likely lose a significant part of the school field and are currently looking at how we can maximise the existing student social spaces, including providing more seating areas and possibly a covered area. We are also investigating the idea of providing lockers differently, outside of classrooms for those that need them, thereby freeing up more space in classrooms which were mostly built for a maximum of 20 rather than 30 students. I am in school during the half-term to look through our various sheds and storage containers to see if we can be more ruthless in what we keep, creating more space for students to sit, eat and play.

Student clubs and trips
We are back in business with clubs and trips post pandemic, with the ski trip organised for next year and other trips in the planning stages. We have also expanded our offer of clubs, with Warhammer, chess, DT and gardening clubs all relatively new additions to the usual sport and performing arts clubs that exist. We are always looking for volunteers however, so if you want to help out in any way and have some spare time, please do let us know!

A big goodbye
Coming full circle from my introduction, it is worth saying how good the atmosphere was on the day that Year 13 left last Friday. I saw a number of parents laughing as they dropped their children off in the morning seeing the wide variety of fancy dress costumes on display; everything from vikings, police officers and super heroes to 8 foot inflatable dinosaurs. Both students and staff really made an amazing effort and, together with bouncy castles and sumo suits, approached their goodbye with the Borden humour and good spirit we have come to expect. We wish both Year 13 and Year 11 the very best for their forthcoming exams, but particularly wish the very best to our year 13s who will be leaving us for good, ready to make the world a better place. Thank you all for being such an amazing group of individuals and do keep in touch!

I would like to thank you all for your continued support and wish everyone a safe and restful half term.

Kind regards

Ashley Tomlin
Headteacher

Some words from the trustees

I just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself as Chair of Trustees for Borden Grammar School. I was elected to the chair role just as our previous Head teacher left and then Covid arrived, so I apologise for not being in touch sooner.

I wanted to thank all students, parents and staff for the support and work that has been put into safe and effective learning carrying on at Borden during what has been a very difficult few years for all.

As we continue to navigate our way through life and the impact covid has had on everything I just wanted to share information about the trustees and trust board each term.

The Full trust board at Borden Grammar is made up of 12 trustees and 4 members. All undertake their roles in a voluntary capacity. Full details of their names and individual roles can be found in the trustee section of the school website

We have just welcomed our most recent parent trustee Nathan Wood to the board and look forward to working with him on his induction to this role.

The role of the trustees in all academies is to

develop a vision and strategy for the school
oversee the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent
hold the school leader to account to ensure that every pupil has the best possible education
engage with pupils, staff, parents and the school community to understand their views of the school

We meet regularly throughout the year with staff and students to allow the trust board to fulfil these roles and our meeting schedule and work plan is also published on the trustees’ page of the school website for your information.

We very much look forward to having the chance to increase our engagement with parents, students and staff as we move into the next academic year, and we return to more face to face activities.

Each term we’ll also share with you via this newsletter visits and meetings trustees have undertaken in the previous term, so you are able to get a better picture of the work the Trustees are doing for the school and its community.

Following our most recent board skills audit we have highlighted that we would benefit from having an additional trustee with experience and knowledge of finance processes. I f you feel you would be a good fit for this role or know of someone in the local community that would be interested and suitable for this role please get in touch.

If you would like to contact me for further information please email smendoza@bordengrammar.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Sarah Mendoza
Chair of Trustees

Peer Mentoring

Peer mentors are a voluntary group of students in Year 12 and 13 that are trained to deal with complex issues pupils in the school community may be facing. Our role involves being carefully and selectively matched with a pupil who needs and will benefit from our support; providing one on one sessions with the pupil every week. Within a session, we build a positive relationship with the mentee and try to resolve the issues they may be facing in order to provide them with the support they need. I was attracted into becoming a peer mentor due to my desire to help people in any way possible and the positive feedback I have received from my friends when trying to help them deal with issues they have faced; it is a way for me to utilise these skills for people who need help. Our training involved two days off timetable in the Pavilion, learning about the types of problems we may be faced with and what we could do to help the pupil in each situation to the best of our ability. This involved some general team building exercises which were designed to teach us how to interact with our mentees and make them feel welcomed and at ease, alongside a particular emphasis on bullying and how to support pupils if they are experiencing this. In addition to this, we were taught the importance of safeguarding and how to protect both the mentee and us. In addition to all of these, we had a separate session where the anti-bullying ambassadors came up with scenarios for us to practise our skills on and to give us an idea of what it would be like to have a mentee. All these sessions were hugely beneficial for us to develop the vital skills we need.

Peer mentoring has many benefits that are often overlooked, not just for the mentee but also the mentor themselves; the mentee has someone in the school that they can trust and build a positive relationship with who is there to support them and for them to speak to, and the mentor themselves are rewarded with the progress their mentee makes. Many mentees will be given to us who are shy, upset and scared of the prospect of talking to someone about their issues but when they open up, a weight is lifted off their shoulders and this, as a mentor, is a privilege to witness, knowing you have made a difference in their lives which is often incomprehensible. Being a peer mentor also gives you a sense of belonging within the school community and makes you feel like you are making a real difference to someone's life. In being a peer mentor, I have learnt that just being there for your mentee is enough sometimes and even if the issue they have is one you cannot fix, you should know that you are making a huge difference to them.

Joanne Washer Year 12 Peer Mentor

Some words from the trustees

Sam's MEGA raffle raising funds for Ukraine

Some words from our Heads of Years

Year 11 revision breakfast

Why not join in the fun

Mental health and wellbeing

Religious Studies Department

Attendance reminder to students and parents

Secondhand uniform shop

News from the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors!