News Compendium

Reflections on International Holocaust Day

Old Bordenian Mark Sayer lived in Germany during the 1990s.  As part of his travels through the newly opened Eastern Europe, he visited Auschwitz. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he provides a thought-provoking piece on that experience and his reflections:

Christmas celebrations 1944

This is the time of year we glance over our shoulder to times and ages past in our celebration of Christmas before we firmly look forward again in the New Year. Our Archive of School magazines, bolstered this year with the bequest of John Allard’s Year Books, offers a great view into Christmases Past at the School.

Dennis Fowle asks "Were exams tougher or easier 70 years ago ?"

We are always pleased to reconnect with Old Bordenians from whom we have not heard from in a while.  Dennis Fowle was at the School 1945-51 and as we reconnected, offered this thoughtful look at the standards back in the day:

"Is the General Certificate of Education (GCSE) easier or more difficult for students than the General School Examination (GSE) it replaced in 1988 in many schools?

I certainly am not brave enough to offer an opinion – but I can offer a few of the questions I had to tackle in the summer of 1950 at Borden Grammar School.

Poetry Corner

Thank you to Philip Drury (At School 1966 -73) for sending in his reworking of Adlestrop by Edward Thomas which reflects his memories of travelling to/from Sheppey on the train.

David Jenkins - OB and Teacher

Its with great sadness we learn of the passing of David Jenkins (1960-2022) who was both an Old Bordenian through his studies at the School (1973-1978) and teaching career which ended in 2015.  Many OBs will have known 'Dave' Jenkins as a fellow pupil during his years or studied under him in his Science classes.