Borden Grammar School Parent Portal

Dear Parent or Guardian

As students may be able to tell you, my favourite Christmas film is the 1946 black and white classic, “It’s a wonderful life”. The story reminds us how, no matter how bad things get, the small things people do help to make a big difference to the lives of others. It’s fundamentally a story of hope and kindness in the face of difficulty. The fact that this was released the year after the war must have had a huge impact on people going through the aftermath of the world’s largest conflict with all that entailed.

At times this term, it has felt that this message has a renewed relevance. Outside of the school, the cost of living crisis, the Ukraine war, the crisis in Gaza and the Covid enquiry continue to impact on our community in different ways. Inside school, the run up to Christmas is generally accepted as the hardest period in the year for any school. Students in year 11 and 13 have started feeling the stress when preparing for their mock exams and there is a yearly rush to finish all the GCSE and A level courses early next year. Our external and internal building work is reaching a crescendo and, with the loss of both fields in the winter, has put the social spaces of the school under significant strain. We are simultaneously having internal building work completed, with the removal of the hall stage and the replacement of heating and plumbing systems, through to March, making everything a little more challenging than usual.

There is also no doubt that Covid is still around, with a clear increase in absence of students and staff as we approach Christmas. Teaching in small, warm classrooms with windows closed in the winter makes it easy for illness to spread. So we have reminded students to continue using the sanitiser we provide and reminded staff to open their doors and windows, using their CO2 monitors as a guide. On that note, you wouldn't believe how many students are still arriving in the morning without a coat; I can’t remember who said “In youth we learn, in age we understand”, but we would all rather they didn’t have to sit in lessons whilst soaking wet!

On the other hand, I have seen numerous examples of students doing those small things that make a big difference. Our recent remembrance ceremony was the best yet, with a host of Old Bordenians representing us and reading a prayer, the school captain reading a poem written by a year 9 (you can read this later in this newsletter) and one of our own students playing The Last Post on a genuine World War I bugle. This term we have also seen the 6th form raise over £440 for the Macmillan charity, year 7s trained in becoming anti bullying ambassadors and our newly trained peer mentors starting to support the younger years. We have more recently seen the year 7s produce a Christmas fair that rivals the best I can remember, with parents and staff being relieved of all their cash for a good cause! We have also seen trips to Switzerland to see the Large Hadron Collider, record numbers of students have signed up to the Duke of Edinburgh Award following our information evening and, of course, our amazing Christmas concert. However, the moment this term that really exemplifies the message of the film is watching a student putting his arm around another student who was genuinely upset in the library and reassuring him for the best part of 10 minutes during his lunch break. A line in the film says “remember, no man is a failure who has friends”.

Generous Borden!

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed towards the food bank this year, which feels remarkable considering how difficult things are for families at the moment. We made a minibus trip to drop off all the generous contributions with the 6th form team this week and they were extraordinarily grateful. It truly shows how our wider community has the Borden value of kindness at its heart.

Safer Borden
Please can I remind parents that The Avenue of Remembrance can be a dangerous road to cross. I have written to the local council for a further crossing at the other end of the road several times and unfortunately have had no response. However, this is made worse when cars stop outside the front of the school to drop students off, forcing other cars to go around. So please can i ask everyone to avoid doing this and to encourage your child to cross at the pedestrian crossing. On a linked matter, we are expanding our secure facilities to store bicycles shortly and would certainly encourage our young people to walk or cycle to school where possible.

So, whilst there’s no doubt that things are tough for many at the moment, the small everyday moments of kindness that I see from staff and students at Borden every day, fill me with hope. If there was ever a more poignant Christmas message in any film than “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away”, I have yet to hear it.

Have a wonderful giving Christmas,

Ashley Tomlin
Headteacher

Some words from our Heads of Years

YEAR 7: Term 2 has been extremely busy for Year 7. We have spent the past seven weeks planning our annual Charity Christmas Fair whilst also electing our Form Captains, training the next cohort of Anti-bullying Ambassadors and dealing with the extremely cold weather! Year 7 also received their first audit this term. On the whole, we have a lot to be proud of. Looking through the audits, it is clear that the year group have made a brilliant start to life at Borden; with a lot of students showcasing their dedication to their studies with fantastic achievement and attitude to learning grades! We will be celebrating those achieving in the top 20 in the new year. It is typical that during one of the busiest afternoons of the year for our year group, I would have to miss out due to Covid, but the boys had the most magical time and raised over £815 for charity. Charities to benefit are Cancer Research, Guide Dogs, SNAAP and RSPCA. A massive well done and thank you to the whole year group; to the parents/guardians who have been behind the scenes helping them prepare; to those that visited our Christmas Fair and then a BIG thank you to my amazing form tutor team who have worked tirelessly to help prepare their form groups. Have a lovely winter break Year 7! I'll see you in the new year!
Miss Irinoye
Head of Year 7

YEAR 10: Year 10 have continued their excellent start to their GCSE studies this term. Form captains and school council representatives have put themselves forward and been elected. In Personal Development this term we have focused on men's health and will be starting to learn about personal finance and money matters in the New Year. Eight of our students will enjoy a reward breakfast on Thursday, having been nominated by their form tutors for embodying the Borden Values. Another larger group of students will enjoy a bowling trip on the last day of term as a result of gaining the most achievement points in the year group (and no behaviour points!), recognising their hard work in lessons, around school and in their independent learning. In extra-curricular activities, our musicians have represented the school beautifully both in school and at a joint venture at Highsted Grammar, Duke of Edinburgh Award engagement is high amongst Year 10 students and GCSE Spanish students have signed up to visit Barcelona at Easter to practice their language skills. Thank you for all contributions received for the Foodbank this Christmas and wishing all Year 10 students and families a wonderful holiday!
Mrs Edwards
Head of Year 10

YEAR 13: Our students have been completing personal statements and UCAS applications this term. We are so proud and pleased to share that a number have received interviews for both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, which is a testament to their hard work and commitment to their 6th form studies. Well done!
Peer mentoring and Mental Health First Aider training has become a part of the 6th form culture over the recent years, and yet again we are welcoming a new team of externally trained year 12 students to work with KS3 and KS4 students; and would like to share our thanks and gratitude for the time and commitment shown by the year 13 retiring team.
Mrs Searle
Head of Year 13

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.

Newsletters

Christmas Newsletter

Peer Mentors

Mental Health First Aiders

Attendance reminders for Parents