Welcome to Tudor Grange Academy Solihull Parent Teacher Association

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at Tudor Grange Academy Solihull is an enthusiastic organisation of volunteer parents and staff working together to support our children’s education and enrich their secondary school experience.  The PTA raises funds that improve and enhance the resources, equipment and opportunities available to all TGAS students.  This new PTA has recently been created by amalgamating the former Enrichment Trust (a charity that raised money via covenanted donations to improve classrooms) and the former Parents Association (which ran similar fundraising activities).

There are many ways to support the PTA’s work, for example through direct donations, matched funding, sponsorship, our very own lottery (the 333 club), refreshments and raffles at school functions.  We run social events for students, parents and staff that are always great fun and inclusive, such as school disco for Years 7, as well as fantastic Quiz, Race and Bingo nights.

Whatever your background, interest or ability to support the PTA, you are welcome, we will value any support you can offer, and your money will promptly be put to good use at your child’s school.

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How contributions are used

Here are the most recent messages sent to the PTA from staff whose departments have received recent PTA funding:

Maths Department: David Smith

The British Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (BMOG) was sat on 07/10/21 with girls from years 12 & 13 wishing to take part. We had a brave and talented year 10 student who also participated in the competition. One student in particular, who entered the competition last year, has been working with the maths department over the last few months preparing for this competition. She appeared confident and in high spirits upon the completion of the allotted time. I managed to look over her solutions which are significantly more sophisticated than her script last year. This student has now volunteered some of her time to write up her experience and produce an advice sheet for future participants.

By entering the competition, students obtain a better understanding of how to communicate a solution to a problem together with experiencing mathematics in a different light. The Maths department is committed to exposing our students to these types of problems as they enrich the understanding and awareness of our subject.

This ?Olympiad project? is particularly exciting when the impact is seen through the competitions available to them, like the BMOG which the PTA kindly supported with funding in the past. We?ve seen first hand how empowering it is for students to be supported and work diligently on problems that are far beyond that of the curriculum.

Thank you for your time and support!

The Mathematics department.

Media Studies: Laura Bradwell

Thank you kindly for granting us Media funding which will mean that we can now create a Media theory library for our A Level Students – this will now enable our students to effectively bridge the gap between A Level and University level theory and challenge them to consider layered interpretations through the lens of an expert. The challenge, criticality and understanding that these texts offer is invaluable and we are very grateful for your ongoing support.

Maths: David Smith

I wanted to pass on my thanks to the PTA for supporting the entry into the British Maths Olympiad for Girls. We had 14 girls who optionally entered from years 11, 12 & 13. We may extend this to year 10 in the future.

I’m pleased to say that we had 3 girls of the 14 whose score placed them in the top 25% of entrees across the UK. This is by no means an easy competition and all girls did really well. I’m very proud of them. Each participant will get a letter from the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust in place of any certificates. These shall be printed and handed out to the girls after half term. I have shared this information with them on SMH.

I would like to continue to build upon this and develop an ethos for our female mathematicians, across all years, that they can succeed and flourish in mathematics.

Mr David Smith, Leader of KS5 Maths

D&T: Nicola Grice / Paul Evans

I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the donations you have so kindly given to the D&T department this year. The software and licences have proved invaluable during this third lockdown as now all of our students can carry on using the design software at home for the onsite learning we are now doing. The cricut machine was greatly received by both Year 11 and Year 13 students although unfortunately, due to the current circumstances, I do not have any examples yet to show you. When restrictions are lifted I will send you some pictures of some items created. Thanks again, the donations are much appreciated by both staff and students in helping us keep up with current technology.

Chess Club: Matt Amison

The funds used to purchase new equipment for the chess club have been gratefully received. The new boards and pieces have meant that more students have been able to access chess club at once this year, despite the restrictions from Coronavirus, and they have benefitted from the display board when learning new techniques. We hope to be able to organise a chess team for our school in future to compete locally, and the new boards and pieces will help us to hopefully make that goal a reality.

English: James Bargh

I wanted to pass on my sincere thanks from the English department for the money that the PTA have granted us over the past two years. The money has been invaluable in allowing us to target one of our main department improvement areas which focuses on developing a passionate love of literature in all of our students across all year groups. In recent years, although students have always performed outstandingly well in English, there appears to be a little bit of disconnection between love of reading and actually studying the subject. This has been shown nationally where fewer students are choosing to study English Literature at A level as they progress into subjects that offer more direct paths into high paying jobs like mathematics and the sciences. As a department, we want to enthuse students in order to love English once more and we see that this will take place through developing a love of reading for pleasure. Therefore, we have spent some of our money on building a bank of independent reading texts for the department to share with students to help them develop a love of reading beyond the curriculum. In addition, we have also invested some of the money in buying class sets of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ which we study in year 9 in order to allow students to take books home and establish a love of reading Shakespeare for pleasure. This has previously not been possible because of budget constraints and we are excited by the possibilities this new investment has allowed us. We are excited about the way that this money can help us progress to realising one of our department improvement targets and we will keep you updated of our progress.

PE: Kyle Hindley

A massive thank you to the PTA from the PE department for our Basketball hoop. Having it in the sportshall has changed how we can use that space for our students and has given us a whole new indoor space to use in the winter terms with our students.

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PTA contact details

Registered Charity Number 1171246

To contact any member of the PTA please email them via:

PTA@solihull.tgacademy.org.uk

Chair – Rachel Hopkins

Vice Chair – Hayley Heathcote

Treasurer – Jasbir Marwa

Please download and complete the PTA Gift and Donation Form with Bank Details