Welcome to new staff
The secondary section is pleased to welcome the following new teachers at the start of this academic year. Mr Christopher Draper as Head of Secondary, Mr Chris McKenna as teacher of Computer Science, Ms Barbara Freeman as teacher of music and Mr Kevin Kinchington as teacher of mathematics. Mr Gerald Seenan becomes Head of Faculty (Mathematics and Computing). Ms Cathy Williams rejoins us this turn returning to her role as Assistant Head Academic after her maternity leave following the birth of her son.
Welcome to new students
As well as the returning Year 6 students joining the secondary section as our new Year 7 there have been a number of other new students joining TBS for the first time this week in Years 7, 9 and 12. An especially warm welcome to all our new students and their families.
A Level Results
In the last two weeks we have had the privilege to celebrate another fantastic set of A level and GCSE results with secondary students.
At A level, 37% of grades were A or A* and 80% were A* to C. There were many impressive individual performances, including from Khyatee and Shivanshi who each gained three A*s! We are pleased to be sending our outgoing Year 13 students off to a range of excellent further education institutions across the world and on to some exciting gap year projects.
At AS level, 28% of grades were A and 73% A to C, setting students up for great success in the full A2 next year. Special congratulations go to Vani, who scored full marks in two of her science exams! In a year when the exam boards have raised boundaries in a return to pre-pandemic grading standards, we are particularly proud of our students who have clearly risen to this challenge too!
The final set of GCSE results will be published this coming Thursday, so we will be celebrating our outgoing Year 11s in next week’s Yeti.
Meet the mentor meetings
We are really pleased to announce that this year, we are introducing a “Meet the Mentor” session, where you will have the opportunity to, well, quite literally meet the Mentor! At TBS, we are keen to listen to your suggestions and one of those is that it can be quite a long time before you get to speak to the teaching staff. Therefore, from the beginning of September, we will host a series of “Meet the Mentor” sessions where you can come into school and not only meet your child’s Mentor but also see where they go each morning for registration. We plan to run these sessions from 8.15am to 8.40am over a period of two weeks. That way, if you have more than one child at the school, you will be able to meet all the mentors. The schedule will be shared with you soon. See you there!
Year 8 Poetry
Year 8 has been reviewing poetry this week. Each group has been given a different poem to read and analyse. They then need to prepare a presentation to teach their classmates about their assigned poem, including a discussion of imagery and other devices.
Upcoming events
Week 2 Head of English and Literacy, Mr Jamieson will lead school assemblies with a focus on student personal reading, how private reading can improve academic performance and to introduce changes made in the secondary library over the summer. Parents are reminded that they are welcome to borrow books from the school library and we would ask all parents to encourage their child to read for recreation as well as for academic study.
Week 3 Meet the Mentor Meetings (Year 7 Tuesday 29 August and Year 12/13 Thursday 31 August), World Scholars’ Cup team leaves for Bangkok Thursday 31 August)
Week 4 Meet the Mentor Meetings (Year 8 Tuesday 05 September, Year 11 Wednesday 06 September and Year 12/13 Thursday 07 September), World Scholars’ Cup team returns from Bangkok Wednesday 06 September)
Week 5 Meet the Mentor Meetings (Year 9 Tuesday 12 September, Year 10 Wednesday 13 September)
Week 8 Expedition Week Monday 02 – Friday 06 October
Week 10 International Day and End of Term 1
Leaving campus during school hours
If for any reason your child needs to leave campus during the school day, for example an unavoidable doctor’s appointment, please contact your child’s Head of Key Stage in advance of the absence to request your child be able to leave school, letting them know the date and time of the absence and how your child will be collected from school. If authorised, your child will need to collect an exit pass from reception when they are due to leave and we will ensure your child has permission to leave campus safely.
Other news
Next weekend, 26 & 27 August, Mr Jamieson is taking part in the World Ironman Triathlon Championships in Finland. On the following weekend, 02 & 03 September our drama teacher Ms Mounjoy is competing in the Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc, a 100 mile ultra marathon around western Europe’s highest mountain. Both are invitational events and we are very proud of both our teachers in having qualified for these prestigious competitions. We wish them good luck and look forward to hearing how they get on in their challenges! Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Montague-Munson on their birth of their first child Magnus during the school holiday.
