Dear parents and guardians,

I am sure you have heard the news that the government is partially closing all schools in England from Friday.  I write to you to offer reassurance in a number of areas at this time.

All Year Groups
School Partially Open
The government has announced that schools should plan to stay open for the children of ‘key workers’ and for children with an EHCP and children with an allocated social worker.  However, at this school, we do not feel that we should ration this provision away from other people whose work is key in helping our community through this, so we are happy to add the children of care workers and we are open to approaches to include others we have not considered.
 
School will be open for these children from 9am to 3pm every day.  They will access the school via the red gates by main reception where they will be greeted by a member of the school leadership team.  They will then be directed to one of the temporary classrooms, where teachers will be waiting for them.  They will receive four lessons throughout the day delivered by specialist teachers, but will be taught in groups combining Year 7 and 8 in one group and Year 9, 10 and 11 in the other.  Normal school rules and standards will apply in these lessons.  School uniform will not be required.
 
The partial opening of school for these children will continue through the Easter holidays.
 
Please email safeguarding@turvgng.bham.sch.uk if you are intending to send your daughter in on Monday because you feel you fall into the ‘key worker’ definition or because you feel your daughter is particularly vulnerable, along with a brief summary of why by 2pm this Friday.   This will allow us to calculate group size and have a register in place for safeguarding purposes.
We will be contacting a number of other parents directly offering this provision.
 
If you wish your child to join this provision in the weeks ahead, email safeguarding@turvgng.bham.sch.uk in the week prior to the Monday from which you wish her to attend with your reasons.
 
Distance Learning
You will have had these details when I wrote to you earlier in the week, but to recap:
This week Year 11 pupils will begin coming home with substantial paper packs of classwork.   This substantial amount of work should allow Year 11s to continue to develop their academic skills regardless of their plans for the future, and it is not unlikely that in cases where we appeal against the grades our Year 11s are eventually allocated, that some sort of assessment may be needed as evidence.  I can well imagine that many Year 11s now feel this pointless, but I urge you try to motivate your daughter.  It may well be worth them also exploring online resources for their chosen courses for September.

For Years 7 to 10, parents will have received a parentmail communication including attachments of work for each subject your daughter takes.  Much of this work will include online resources on the School’s virtual learning environment (Moodle).  This work should be undertaken over the first two weeks of closure.    Your daughter will be sent further work via her school email address for each of her subjects as well as notifications to online lessons.  Narrated Powerpoint lessons will also come through your daughter’s email.  Powerpoint, and all Microsoft office programmes can be downloaded from the school website for free, when your daughter logs into her email.

If you or your daughter run into technical problems with any of this, please email:
it-support@turvgng.bham.sch.uk
If you have any queries around the work sent out or if you require more, please let us know by emailing: distance-learning@turvgng.bham.sch.uk

School Meals
Any child (not just Free School Meal pupils) who require one will be able to collect a packed lunch (or two) from the school canteen between 11am and 1pm.  As outlined previously we believe that this can be done whilst maintaining distance between children, but would ask they collect their lunch and leave and not congregate to socialise.  We will be exploring buying supermarket vouchers to post to parents of pupils eligible for Free School Meals as this partial closure goes on, but will not have this in place by Monday.

Year 11
Public Exams
According to the government: ‘We will not go ahead with… secondary exams this summer, and we will not be publishing performance tables.  We will work with the sector and Ofqual to ensure children get the qualifications they need.’
I realise what an unsettling and scary development this is for our tremendous Year 11 students.  Unfortunately, we currently have no idea what process the government and other agencies will use to determine grade.  This year group was on course to produce the best results this school has ever seen which is a testament to these outstanding young people and their supportive parents.  My staff and I will pursue every avenue, provide every piece of evidence and challenge any unreasonable decisions made about the grades awarded.  Please encourage your daughter to keep all her books in the event of us requiring evidence.

Prom
We are incredibly proud of our Year 11s and we share their upset that the normal events marking the end of their time in secondary school is being derailed by the rapid spread of this virus and the closure of schools.  We will make sure that our Year 11s are invited back to school for events and will arrange a prom for them to come to, whether it be in the Autumn or even Christmas.

In closing, I would like to share with you my massive appreciation to the staff at our school.  Yesterday, for example, we had just a single teacher absence, enabling all pupils able to attend to enjoy their normal lessons throughout this strange week.  Not a single member of the canteen staff or the admin team have been absent – and everyone has prioritised the welfare and education of your daughters.  I have never been as proud to be a part of this school as I have this week.
Yours sincerely,

N Jones
Headteacher

Dear Parents & Careers

We currently have a position open on our Governing Board for a Parent Governor.
If you would like to find out more or nominate a candidate for election please see the link below.
The Closing date for nominations is 16th March.

Turves Green Girls' School Open evening & Morning are taking place on the following days and times:

Open Evening, Tuesday 17th September, 6:30 - 9:00pm
Open Morning, Thursday 19th September, 9:15-11:00am

Turves Green Girls’ School would like to congratulate our Year 11 leavers and their teachers for securing fantastic results in their GCSEs. The percentage of leavers securing a Grade 4 or better (equivalent to the old ‘C’ grade) rose to 69% in Maths and 79% in English.

The number of students securing higher grades, 5+ (equivalent to the old ‘B’ ) is also remarkable. Across a wide range of subjects, our leavers achieved tremendous results, with over 60% achieving a 5+ in Computer Science, 54% in RE and 52% in History.

Our broad curriculum, which allows students to follow practical qualifications, has also allowed many students to secure a career path into public services with results with 96% securing a pass or better and 62% achieving a distinction or better in Health and Social Care Btec. Creative subjects, such as Performing Arts – Dance, have again seen huge success, with 83% achieving a merit.

One particularly pleasing outcome of this summer’s hugely challenging and stressful exams is the number of students who achieved the very highest grades, 8s and 9s. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Computer Science, English Language and Literature, History and Geography all saw a number of students reach these phenomenal heights – placing these talented and hard-working students amongst the best and brightest in the country.
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We wish our leavers every success in their chosen sixth forms, apprenticeships and colleges, and look forward to hearing about their challenges and successes in the years ahead and hope to see many return whether for work experience, to present in careers sessions or speak in assemblies and other events.

Dear Parents

Please see the file below for details of when your Daughter should come to school on the first day back at the start of the new academic year, Tuesday 4th September.

Dear Parents.

As a school we have been asked by Network Rail to share the following video on Rail safety.

You vs. Train