15th December 2015
Christmas is always a busy time of year both for families and other organisations and of course Simon Balle is no exception. There are always the concerts, carols, Christmas lunch that sit alongside the normal days and cycles of meetings. This year is no exception and in fact busier than usual, with the first ever Nativity Play and our reception class going to the pantomime. It was incredibly emotional to see our 60 reception children all taking a speaking part in the play. Big thanks to both the staff that wrote and patiently rehearsed as well as the parents for the incredible costumes. Alongside all of this has sat numerous other events. Thank you to those of you who wrote in to express your delights with the school concert on December 1st. Sometimes we take for granted the extremely high standard of our music and simply have to remind ourselves that they are only children! During the past three weeks we have also welcomed well over 100 families who are deciding on a primary place for their children, as well as the many people who have applied for our sixth form. From September 2016, we shall be widening the courses post 16 to include both academic and technical subjects, as well as the exciting and highly valuable enrichment programmes. For either entry into Reception or Y12 please do not hesitate to email us or pop in. (admin@simonballe.herts.sch.uk preshouss@simonballe.herts.sch.uk klippelr@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) The end of term is a time to both look back and also look forward. We have now had three of our annual parents evenings; years 8, 9 and 10. Thank you for your support and engagement; numbers attending were, as usual, incredibly high with those not attending sending in apologies. Thank you too for the completed questionnaires; highly positive and those who suggest improvements or raise questions, please be assured that we try and address any concerns. The next parent evening is for Year 11 as they are currently engaged in their mocks. This will be held on January 12th. In the past feedback from this evening is exceptional; parents welcome the highly forensic approach taken by teachers so that they really understand and can support their children to be very successful in their summer exams. We continue to stress our “high aspirations, high expectations� to all students and once again we are pleased to hear of your support with regard to uniform and also work. May I remind parents that boys now should be wearing the winter long sleeved shirt, tucked in with a tie. Also all students must wear black leather shoes; if there is a good reason for doing so, a note signed by the parent must be brought in or do email/ phone.
Whilst we value and indeed welcome all of the correspondence and contact we have with home, please note that teachers teach! Just like other people and professionals, parents - if they wish a meeting - should seek an appointment, indicating how urgent this is. I am afraid that we often cannot drop everything and see someone; even if urgent, you may be asked to return at a later time that day. This working together is important and we shall again next term be running some parent meetings, which focus upon particular issues. These evenings will be a mixture of information sharing, skills development and an opportunity to provide feedback. Whilst primarily aimed at KS3 parents, everyone is welcome. The first evening will take place on Monday 1st February and will focus upon e-safety. We have recently been reviewing online safety in school but obviously this is something of concern for everyone. The second evening is to be run by Vanessa Rogers, an ex-parent. Vanessa has been asked by HCC to run drugs awareness workshops for parents. This will take place on Tuesday 1st March. Governors will run the third evening. Our “Student, Community and Partnerships” committee will be organizing a workshop for parents to look at careers education and employability skills. This will be held on Thursday 5th May. Further details will be sent out nearer the time. We do hope that many parents will attend. We are beginning to think about how Simon Balle will remember and celebrate the school’s 60 th birthday. Part of this will be to re-launch our Alumni group. Naturally I will communicate more about this as time passes but our first event will be a “legacy concert” aimed primarily at those families and ex-students who no longer come along to school musical events! From time to time I meet many parents who have over the years paid large amounts of money and time in supporting their children learn and perform, but now the students have left, although many of whom still play. This concert will take place in school on Tuesday 29th March (the day after bank holiday Easter Monday). If you know anyone or you are interested please contact Sue Pearson in Music as she puts together the guest list (music@simonballe.herts.sch.uk). Now talking of Easter 2016, can I remind parents of the extra-ordinary holiday pattern, which will affect most primaries locally and also Simon Balle. As Easter falls so early this will happen: Good Friday- Easter Monday (25-28 March) – school closed Tues 29th March- Friday 1st April- School as normal Easter/ Spring holiday- Monday 4th – Friday 15th April Monday 18th April- school starts for the summer term Recruitment The “teacher shortage” continues to dominate the news and we are finding it very difficult to recruit staff. Indeed we are always looking for good teachers to join our team. Even if we do not have a current opportunity, we are always eager to meet potential staff (teachers and support staff) who would like to work at Simon Balle or more generally thinking about becoming a teacher or a teaching assistant. Shortly we will be recruiting staff for September, including primary-trained teachers and teaching assistants. Please do not hesitate to contact us – recruitment@simonballe.herts.sch.uk
Good byes We will be saying good bye to Dr Searle this week. Dr Searle has taught Chemistry and we wish her every success in her new role. Also leaving is Mrs Figgis, who has worked in our MFL department for 11 years. She supported Mr Taylor with his administration as well as supporting students in spoken French, particularly at A level. Students and staff will miss her and we wish her well for the future. Au revoir et bonne chance Mme Figgis!
FRIDAY 18TH DECEMBER – CHRISTMAS JUMPERS A reminder that students must wear their school uniform on Friday but may wear a Christmas jumper. We are asking for a £1.00 minimum donation which will be sent to Crisis at Christmas. Advance notice There will be some work being carried out on the gas mains from Monday 4 th January 2016. Temporary traffic lights will be installed in Hagsdell Road, at Valley Close and at the junction of Hagsdell Road and Mangrove Road. The pavement will be closed and a temporary one in the road. These works may result in increased traffic and/or delays. Further information will be sent out in the New Year. Statutory Admissions Consultation 2017/2018 We are holding a consultation on our Admission Arrangements for 2017/2018. The consultation period takes place between 21st December and 31st January 2016. If you wish to make any comments regarding this consultation please email admin@simonballe.herts.sch.uk. The admission arrangements can be found on the school website.
Dates for your diary Monday 4th January Tuesday 5th January Tuesday 12th January Monday 18th January (w/b) Monday 25th January (w/b) Wednesday 27th January Thursday 28th January Friday 29th January Monday 1st February Wednesday 10th February Thursday 11th February 15th to 19th February Thursday 25th February Friday 26th February Tuesday 1st March Wednesday 2nd March
Y7 to Y13 back to school Reception classes back to school Y11 parents evening Y13 mocks Y12 mocks Holocaust Memorial Day Blue X food sale (canteen lunchtime) Non-uniform day (Home Start) Parents e-safety meeting 7pm Y9 options evening String recital 7pm (hall) HALF TERM Y13 parents evening Big Band evening Parents PHSEE parents meeting Y12 parents evening
House news - In this edition we take a look at Lea House
Lea House has had a fantastic start to the year! We have come on leaps and bounds in the house point table, getting to second place within the first few weeks of term! To celebrate a number of individual successes we have been into the Lea forms as well as attending a multitude of school events starring Lea house members. A number of students in Lea have been a massive help towards spreading Christmas joy to the reception children in the Larch Centre. Two Lea house captains together created the “Primary Link Committee” with representatives from every year group to spread the Christmas spirit from the eldest members of our community to the very youngest. We created a house competition (unfortunately not won by us) and together we all went and decorated the Larch centre with paper chains, paper snowflakes and wonderful artwork all created by students. A big congratulations to all those who helped out either by helping us decorate, giving us decorations or by making paper chains. An especially big well done to those sixth formers who spent time decorating door hangers as a Christmas present for all the children. Recently the school took part in ‘Children In Need’, raising money to help change the lives of people our age. As part of this, Lea House created their own version of the ‘Sweets in a Jar’ game in which students of different houses were able to make guesses for 50p and be in for the chance of winning the whole jar of Wine Gums. The stall was run by House Captains and some volunteers from other year groups. Mrs Upton won the jar with a guess of 950, the closest to the actual number of 946. The house is delighted to have contributed over £50 to such a wonderful cause! Abi Cousins, Philippa Humphreys and Eddie Martin directed a wonderful “Finding Nemo” as part of House Plays. The brilliant and clever staging has been described by Mrs Cornell as ‘joyous’. Particular congratulations to Ruth Pattison who played Dory, Adam Wheeler who played Marlin and James Walton as Nemo all of whom won best newcomer for their fantastic performance. Also individual congratulations to our Louis Broad who is student of the month in key stage three with 66 house points making him not only the best boy in the house but the highest achieving member of the house. The highest achieving girl is Abby Morgan in year nine with 51 house points. A masive well done to them both. More congratulations to Louis who won the Roald Dahl Quiz run by the library along with George Gollop, gaining pride and house points for all of their efforts. Second place was also taken by Lea house, both teams that tied for second contained house members- Charlotte Ansell and Monique Gettings. Great work guys! Here's to another great year!
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