Dear Parent or Guardian

It’s been a busy start to term as always, with everything falling into those patterns of school that we, once again, take for granted. This has been made to feel all the more hectic because of the extraordinary building work we have taking place all across the site. The beeping sound of reversing vehicles by S block sometimes seems too distracting for students! The kitchen extension is on hold until the summer but the foundations have also further restricted the site at the back of the school. Meanwhile, the new 1.9 million heating and plumbing systems are being fully completed in S block and work starts on the main 1928 building over half term. Whilst a big chunk of this work will be completed out of hours, it will necessitate lots of room changes and mess over the next 4 months. This isn't even including the plans for new toilets, ripping the stage out of the hall, making the gym into a performance space, various planned renovations and reconfiguring of our outside spaces once the temporary classrooms have gone. It’s complicated, time consuming and exciting, but also means having to regularly make “omelettes and eggs” analogies and trite comments like “It will be worth it in the end”. 

But it will. A new sports hall, new 6th form area, new classrooms, changing rooms, loads more cubicle toilets, a fit for purpose eating space, a larger presentation/event space, bigger kitchen, more offices, a purpose built isolation room, bigger library, more covered outside spaces….I could go on. As a history teacher, I like to think in terms of the bigger historical picture and I think it is fair to say that for Borden, this year is one of those historical moments in its development. 

1878 ‘Barrow Boys’ or Borden boarding school (with less than 40 students)

1929 Borden School built on current site (280 students by 1939)

1979 ‘Hardy block’ added on to main site named after the prior headteacher

1995-98 ‘Short block’ added as a separate block named after the prior headteacher

2004 Astro turf and pavilion jointly built by the school and hockey club (750 students)

2023 New sports hall, classrooms and 6th form space (now almost 1000 students)

There’s also no doubt that the context in which we are working is harder than it’s ever been, but you will see from this newsletter that, despite this disruption, the school is going from strength to strength. We await our GCSE progress 8 score to be published, but already know this is going to be the best for many years. We had two students go on to Cambridge University this year, record numbers of students have joined our 6th form, and we have over 30 students going on to pursue their silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, having already been successful at bronze. Our 6th formers have been selling cakes at social times to raise money for the Macmillan charity and students have been reflecting on Black History month in assemblies and tutor time. On Friday, Borden staff are taking part in professional development delivered by the national anti-bullying foundation, where Borden has become one of only 16 schools in the country being asked to pilot the programme. We all have a great deal to be proud of. 

On the note of bullying, the current issues taking place across the world require us to be vigilant in challenging expressions of hatred and encouraging our Borden values, particularly kindness. Please do take a look at the parent resources in the Educate Against Hate website and talk to us if you have any concerns. I am happy to say that for the vast majority, most of the time, the Borden values of kindness and respect dominate, but it is important not to be complacent. Although, having listed the above, I hardly think we can be accused of complacency!

Thank you to the students and staff that make this all possible and please enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

Kind regards 

Ashley Tomlin
Headteacher

Attendance reminders for Parents 

REPORTING ABSENCES

If a student is unable to attend school, parents should report this on Edulink (Absence Reporting) before 8:00am. Calls should only be made to the school for absences if Edulink is unavailable.

If the school has not been notified for the reason of absence by 9.10am the absence will be unauthorised and will affect your child's attendance figures.

FIRST DAY CONTACT

For all students missing from school we will make first day contact to establish the reason for absence, this is to safeguard student welfare. We apologise if you receive more than one call or an additional call where you have attempted to contact us.

If your child is off school due to illness, medical evidence will be required for your ​child's absence.

CONTINUOUS ABSENCE

If after 3 days of absence, your child has not been seen and contact has not been made with the school, we will make all reasonable enquiries to establish contact with parents/carers and the child, including making enquiries to known friends and wider family. In the event of an absence of three or more days without contact from the family, a home visit will be made to ascertain the safety and well- being of the child and in addition to the reason for absence from school.

TEN DAYS ABSENCE

We have a legal duty to report the absence of any student who is absent without an explanation for 10 consecutive days. If the child is not seen and contact has not been established with the named parent/carer then the local authority is notified that the child is at risk of being missing from education (CME). The Education Welfare Officer will visit the last known address and alert key services to locate the child.

FREQUENT / PERSISTENT ABSENCE PROCEDURES

We want to avoid absence wherever possible. If there are any issues preventing attendance please communicate with us. When absence first becomes a concern we will write to you to outline our concerns. The letters are designated by the Local Authority, so the tone can sometimes be harsh, however we are required to follow Local Authority guidance in this. If there are no improvements to attendance, we will invite you in for a meeting with the school to put an action plan in place. In the event of no change to attendance after this step, we have a duty to involve the Bexley Education Welfare Service.

ATTENDANCE FACTS

There are 190 days in a school year, which leaves 175 days to spend time with the family, shopping, dentist appointments and other things. At Borden Grammar School, our attendance target is to achieve higher than 95%. Frequent absence can add up to a lot of missed learning time and can seriously disadvantage your child in adult life. How does your child compare?

Good attendance at school is essential for a child’s education and establishes a positive working ethos early in life. It has been proven by DfE studies that students who are absent from school do not reach their full potential when measured against their target grades and those that have a higher attendance percentage. Parents should bear this in mind when allowing their child to stay at home.

Meet the new Prefect team

The Prefect Team has already made great progress in our first half-term. We’re setting up a school paper for students across the school to contribute to, planning fundraising events and working on student-led revision sessions, as well as supporting the peer mentoring already in place.  We want to make sure that the lower years can be as involved as possible in our plans, and we have enjoyed visiting their assemblies and form times. I look forward to seeing how these projects move forward over the school year, and how they can have a positive impact on students.

Noah Flatt
School Captain

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