Borden Grammar School Parent Portal - October Newsletter 2024

Dear Parent or Guardian

An eight week term after a long summer break always feels a long one, with students (and staff) noticeably finding the last week or so tough going. It’s been busy too; we have had 7 or more events already since September, including open evenings, our Saturday Borden test, trustee meetings and the events covered immediately below.

We parted from Borden tradition this year, separating our prize giving event into two this year, one for year 11 and one for year 13. We held them in a more relaxed style with food and drink supplied around small tables. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive with students commenting on it being more personal and making them feel special - which was the main aim.

We also proudly held our Duke of Edinburgh Award evening, introducing new students to the bronze award, some to silver and even our intention to even run the gold award for the first time this year (highly unusual for schools). We now have in excess of 250 students involved in some way in the award and my sincere thanks go to the students and parents for committing themselves to the award, as well as to the many staff who voluntarily give up their precious weekends camping to help make this happen!

Under the leadership of Ms Mahoney, we also ran our own major careers event in our new sports hall, with a large number of universities and businesses attending to give personal advice to Borden students from year 10 to 13. I am very grateful to the attendees, many of whom were ‘old Bordenians’, which ranged from an army colonel, a member of HM government tax inspectors, a London solicitor, accountants, charity workers and even an ex computing student who now works for a credit card company keeping your transactions safe! This was also a huge success and I would like to thank all involved.

The other big event this term was the opening of our new Vafeas sports hall and teaching block. We had around a hundred guests visit, including the local MP, mayor and the deputy director of education in Kent. The most honoured guests of all were the wife, children and even grandchildren of the late Harold Vafeas who unveiled the portrait and plaque that greet you as you enter the new block. It was quite an event and we are very grateful to all. Now all we need to do is to get the main field to drain the water that appears to be sitting on top of it…quite a number of parents have jokingly asked if we have built a swimming pool! The other building work replacing electrics, lights ceilings and doors continues, with more planned in the near future to start updating toilets and the auditorium. It’s genuinely exciting to see Borden being updated to meet the needs of its students in the 2020’s.

More importantly, it’s the positive ‘little things’ that our students have done this term that could so easily be missed. Our 6th form team have been an inspiration so far this year, with all the great work they have been doing covered later in this newsletter. We had over 100 students turn out to support our open evening, 6th form peer mentors have already started helping younger students and the fire alarm practice this term saw students leave calmly, sensibly and quietly - probably the best I have seen since headteacher. I have also received a number of communications from members of the public expressing how kind and respectful our students so often are; for instance, several younger Borden boys, without being asked, helped a woman struggling to remove a parcel from a post locker and were “extremely polite and helpful”. You will no doubt already have seen one of our year 8 students in the press, given a bravery award in his assembly by a local councillor for showing the courage to help save someone from drowning over the holiday.

So what next? Next term we hold our yearly remembrance ceremony on November the 11th; on that note, if you know anyone who can play The Last Post on the bugle and can attend, please do let us know as our resident bugler has left! We will also be holding our 6th form open evening and I would certainly recommend all students in year 11 attend, ready to ask questions about courses and requirements. Some of our physics students will shortly be visiting Geneva to look at cutting edge science. Similarly, performing arts students will be attending a Royal Philharmonic concert, with many of these students taking part in other events taking place before Christmas, including our joint Christmas concert with Highsted. This is aside from the numerous clubs that take place on a weekly basis, including a new robotics club that has just been established. Whilst not a club, the move away from mobile phones has seen the development of an amazing number of our students choosing to spend their social time playing chess in the library or hall.

As a quick reminder, we are certainly into the wet and cold season. Please provide your child with a warm, water resistant coat and encourage them to wear it to school on top of their school uniform. Hoodies or non uniform jumpers under blazers are not allowed. Also, please remind your child to cross at the pedestrian crossing on the Avenue of Remembrance and avoid stopping to drop your child off on this road. We had a near tragedy a few years ago when one of our students was hit by a car just outside the school gates and I would ask that you remind your child of the need to be especially careful.

Finally, I want to thank and say a further well done to all those students who collected their GCSE and A level results this year. We knew they had achieved some excellent grades when they collected them in August, but were not clear on what this meant in terms of ‘adding value’. As it turns out, the A level results were the highest performance on record for Borden and GCSE students improved further on last year, gaining the best value added outcomes on record for Borden. We are immensely proud of all our students achieve and look forward to them going on to bigger and better things. Well done all.

Ashley Tomlin
Headteacher

Some words from our Heads of Years

Year 7
We have finally arrived at the end of a really long and busy first term! Year 7 have completed their first two months in secondary school and have made a cracking start to their journey at Borden. We have appointed form and vice form captains for each form group that will work closely with me to ensure that the year groups' school experience is as positive as possible. Myself and the Year 7 tutor team have been incredibly proud with how they have all tackled the transition to secondary school with lots of changes and new people to meet, this is shown in the abundance of positive points going home for their behaviour and attitude to learning. This term we have spent a lot of time introducing Year 7 to the Borden Values and the expectations and standards that make our Borden community so special. Next term we'll start our preparations for the annual Year 7 Winter Charity Fair and we are all so excited to once again spend the afternoon raising money for charity. A massive well done to 7JCF, our term 1 form competition winners! They will enjoy a non-school uniform day on the first Friday back after the half term break. Have a lovely week off Year 7.

Miss Irinoye
Head of Year 7
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Year 8
We have had a busy first term with an excellent start for the vast majority of students. We have enjoyed assemblies by sixth formers on a number of topics, as well as a bravery award being awarded to a member of our year group. There have also been lots of winners of the kindness raffle, demonstrating just how many kind and thoughtful actions that occur every day between students. 8JE have won this term's form competition and will have an 'own clothes day' on the last day of term as a reward. The competition begins again in term 2, with a fresh start for another form to win. All in all, a successful first term for year 8.
Mr Holley
Head of Year 8
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Year 9
Year 9 have made an excellent start to the year. Attendance at the Year 9 Expectations’ Evening was fantastic and students are beginning to think carefully about their next steps for their GCSE subjects. On Thursday 10th October, students took part in a Safety Roadshow, where they heard from Kent Police, NHS
representatives and others about safety both within and outside of school.

Miss Phillips
Head of Year 9
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Year 10
This term year 10 has made an excellent start to KS4 as they get used to the increased rigour of studying at GCSE level. Within class, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive as students are approaching lessons with inquisitive attitudes and learning to apply knowledge to case studies and extended questioning. Within tutor times, pupils have been exploring the benefits of metacognition and exploring different ways that learning can be reviewed and extended through a variety of methods. Over the coming weeks, an emphasis will be placed on accessing the plethora of interactive websites, designed to support learning in the classroom and investigate how these can be built into independent study.
Mr Weller
Head of Year 10
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Year 11
Year 11 have started this academic year smartly dressed, well-equipped and generally with a very positive attitude to their studies. We are focusing on making sure that when they open their examination results in August, they are able to progress to the post-16 studies they will have chosen. In form time, we have been focusing on revision skills and why effort is crucial at this stage of their education. Year 11 have had an assembly delivered by Mr Brinn, explaining how the Sixth Form application process works, the online programme that we use to make these applications and a date for the diary - 14th November is Borden's Sixth Form open evening. The slides from this assembly are available on Google Classroom, should you wish to look at these with your son. Kent Choices logins, for the website we use for making Sixth Form/college applications, have been given to your son in form time.

A reminder that the first set of GCSE mock exams begin on Tuesday 5th November. Students should come fully equipped with clear pencil cases, clear water bottles, full stationery and calculators where needed. It is essential that students arrive promptly each morning as some exams may start before 9am. Last week, all parents/carers received a letter outlining the procedures and requirements for the exam period - please refer to this and ensure that your son is fully prepared each day, either for his exams or for his timetabled lessons between exams.
Mrs Edwards
Head of Year 11
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Year 12
Year 12 have made an impressive start to term 1, showcasing their skills of commitment, solidarity and community spirit during the year 6 open evening on the 9th October 2024. In addition to this, their dedication and maturity during the Talk Consent sessions on the 7th October demonstrates their embodiment of the Borden Values and their commitment to the implementation of the pastoral curriculum at Key stage 5. I am hugely proud to be their Head of Year and look forward to term 2.
Ms Das
Head of Year 12 ____________________________________________________________________________________
Year 13
Introducing the year 13 Student Leadership Team:

SCHOOL CAPTAIN: Ife Fadipe
VICE CAPTAIN: Kristian Wigg , Amelia Bowker
SENIOR PREFECTS: Chris Mutah, Alisha Lang, Kshitish Josh, Emily Gillan,
Esther Molloy
PREFECTS: Crystal Matselele, Alex Collins, Oluwagbogo Laniyan, Jude Bodkin, Sandra Waugh, Jasper Hitchcock, Pelumi Oshinlaja, Felix Lloyd, Samuel Hancock, Isobel Lockyer, Aadi Deepak, Jacob Parrish, Nicholas Hagiannis, Jack Robson, Jasmine Smith

And what a fantastic start to the new academic year they have had!

The leadership team supported the ‘ex’ year 11 and year 13 prize giving events, with Ife giving a speech on behalf of Borden students, recognising and celebrating the outstanding achievements of last year's students. They also supported the opening event for the brand new Vafaes block and also year 6 open evening and morning.

The team worked together to allocate specific roles and responsibilities; from Subject Mentors, Inclusion and Diversity to new student support groups. Here are some of the activities they have organised and led on this term:

An introduction assembly of the leadership team to all year groups, sharing their vision for the forthcoming academic year and offering student voice.
Macmillan cake sale
Black History Month assemblies to all year groups, the students particularly wanted to share their story and focussed on Windrush and UK athletes such as Mo Farah.
Culture week is in the making, and we are looking forward to what the leadership team is going to implement next term.

However, it is not only the Student leadership team who have been busy, the Mental Health First Aiders have delivered anti bullying form activities and assemblies to all year groups. Explaining how they became MHFA through training and how this is used to support the wellbeing of Borden students.