19th July 2017
Final newsletter for this academic year We now are reaching the conclusion of what seems in some ways a long and busy term. As always there are a number of ‘thank-yous’ to express and these are mostly linked to some of the amazing events which have taken place in the last few weeks of this summer term. Firstly to the PE team who have given endlessly of their time with so many competitions and events; I know parents greatly appreciate this as I spoke with so many at the Sports Presentation Evening. The annual Awards Ceremony was a wonderful event and again thank you to students, teachers and parents for making it so special. Saturday proved to be an exciting day with the “Slice of Summer” fete organized by our Larch Centre parents. So many families attended and supported the school. It was particularly moving to hear the reception children and then the year 1’s singing in Spanish! And then on to Saffron Hall for our summer concert. Words cannot express how amazing that was and we have received many emails expressing awe and wonder as well as thanks. So a huge thank you our amazing music team! Finally a big thank you to all staff who make this school on a daily basis a great place to work and learn, to my Governors who ensure good decisions are made and to our incredible students. Thank you too to you, as parents. So many of you support the school actively and are very much part of the “family of Simon Balle”. Please keep sending in your feedback and thanks , as they make me proud and encourage all of us. And as you know we also listen when things are not going so well- thank you to those who are able to accept our apologies but also apologise to us, when they get it wrong! So all that is left is for me to wish everyone a restful break and I look forward to seeing everyone again on September 4th.
Arrangements for end of term All students in years 7-11 will be dismissed from school by 12.40. As usual some lessons will take place on the last day as well as formal assemblies and tutor time. Arrangements for the start of term All students (including primary) are expected back into school on Monday September 4th, for a normal day. School photographs will take place in the morning for Y7 and Y11 students only. Uniform On the previous newsletter I reminded parents of our uniform rules for both clothes, haircuts and accessories. Please ensure that all students are correctly dressed. Having listened to parents we have slightly altered the boys’ summer uniform. We are phasing out the school regulation summer shirt and replacing this with a less expensive model. Boys will wear either a long-sleeved white shirt or a short sleeved one. Shirts at all times must be worn tucked in and with a school tie, unless the weather is hot (staff will announce this) and then the shirt can be worn without a tie. Term dates for 2017- 2018 Please note from September we will be operating a new system for requests for leave of absence. Holidays in term time will not be authorised unless the reason is highly exceptional. Autumn Term
4th September to 20th December Inset Monday 25th September Half term 23rd October to 27th October Occasional day Friday 24th November Occasional day Monday 27th November OPEN MORNING SATURDAY 23RD SEPT – ALL STUDENTS TO ATTEND
Spring term
4TH January to 29th March (normal finish time) Inset Friday 9th February Half term 12th February to 16th February
Summer Term
16th April to 20th July Bank holiday Monday 7th May Half term 28th May to 1st June
Dates for your diary 4th September 11th September 14th September 18th September 20th September 23rd September 25th September 27th September 29th September 3rd October 4th October 9th October 16th October 19th October 23rd October
School photos Y7 Larch Centre annual parents evening Phasels Wood parents information evening Family photos – Larch Centre Y12 Parents information evening Y10 Parents information evening Y12 geography trip parents information evening OPEN MORNING Inset day Y7 group 1 Phasels Wood trip Non uniform day Y9 Parents information evening Y7 group 2 Phasels Wood trip Y12 geography field trip PSA AGM Y11 Parents information evening HALF TERM
Sixth form car parking Please note that as from September there will be no car parking for sixth form students on site. This is to support the school travel plan and to promote sustainable travel to and from school.
Mobile phones in school Most schools now have a clear policy on students bringing mobile phones into school. Whilst students may believe that they need their phones during the school day, we do not agree. From September 2017, all students in years 7-11 will not be able to use their phones during the school day – either in the building or at breaks. We acknowledge that for sixth formers, there may be occasions when they do need to use them; “permissions” will be granted for responsible use. Mobile phones in school present a safeguarding challenge- and it is our commitment that all students and staff feel safe. Nationally it has been shown that the increase in mental health, bullying and friendship issues, amongst young people, can be partly attributed to the fact that mobile phones are in constant use. Our evidence in school mirrors this. Whilst we issue iPads for all students in years 7-11 and ask sixth formers to use iPads or laptops, this is for educational purposes. We understand that from time to time students may need to be contacted by family and therefore whilst we cannot stop students bringing in phones we insist that: Phones are turned off Phones are kept discretely and safely in school bags and no longer in shirt or kilt pockets If you as an adult need to contact your child, please phone the school or email your child. If your child needs to contact you, tell them to come to the front office to seek permission to use their phone If a student is seen using their phone, the usual sanctions will take place. In the first instance, this usually is a warning and then a confiscation of the phone for up to 5 days (held securely in the school office) and the parent will be contacted. School Trip Leaders will issue instructions about the use of phones on any school trip. Having recently returned from a conference on medical research about the brain, I will be sharing important information with parents regarding significant evidence on the effects of screen time on young people and how we should be limiting the time away from all screens, outside of the learning environment.
Exams Results Dates THURSDAY 17th AUGUST—8.30am A2 Results THURSDAY 17th AUGUST—9.30am AS Results If any students have questions or concerns regarding university or Year 13 places, please contact sixth-form@simonballe.herts.sch.uk 6th form staff will also be in school on Friday 18th August until 1pm. THURSDAY 24th AUGUST—9.30am GCSE Results—Year 11 All students need to confirm their A Level choices as soon as they receive their results. If you are not available to collect your results, please contact the school on sixthform@simonballe.herts.sch.uk
Drama News The drama department are very proud to announce that Reece Debnam has successfully auditioned and gained a place at the prestigious Urdang Academy in London. Reece has always had a great passion for performance and has contributed so much during his years at SBAS. We wish him every success in his training and beyond. We have a feeling we might be seeing Reece singing and dancing in the West End in the not too distant future! Mrs Cornell, Mrs Palmer & Miss Green (Drama Dept)
Food and Catering Tins and plastic containers for use in the food room We would welcome any unwanted sweet or biscuit tins for use in Food when we return in the new school year. Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 achievements in practical work This year our students have continued to use a variety of ingredients and a range of techniques and skills to produce an excellent array of dishes often presented to a high standard. They are always keen to challenge themselves and their amazing achievements would not be possible without the fantastic support of our parents. A big thank you for ensuring that our students are well prepared for practical lessons, thus enabling them to excel and achieve their very best in Food lessons Visit from Abel Smith students We recently welcomed Year 5 students from Abel Smith School to work with us in our Food room at Simon Balle. As part of their school project on Greece Year 5 created a number of dishes using a range of ingredients popular in Greek cuisine. They extended their knowledge of ingredients and made lamb koftas, halloumi kebabs, feta salad, pittas, dips and salad dressings using Greek yoghurt, grilled melon. They prepared, cooked and presented their dishes and were able to celebrate and share the culmination of their brilliant efforts with a Greek culinary feast. All of the students were keen to sample their dishes. During their visit students learnt a number of the same skills and methods taught to KS3 students when they join the school in Year 7 e.g. knife and cutting skills, safe use of a range of kitchen equipment, cooking using different parts of the cooker and the always popular washing up and clearing away. They also learnt about and applied their understanding of the health and safety rules needed to work in the Food room and used a temperature probe to test the core temperature of meat. We hope that they enjoyed and benefited from their experience in Food & Catering.
Simon Balle Recipe book As part of our special birthday celebrations at Simon Balle we hope to produce a ‘Simon Balle Recipe book’. Over the summer we are asking you to look out your favourite family recipes (everyone has a family favourite) and share them with us to include in our book. Please send them to jonesl@simonballe.herts.sch.uk or bring them into school in September with your name and form. If you have a short story / paragraph that we could include that may tell us something about the origins of your recipe or the person who used it (perhaps a grandparent/relative or friend) that would be even better. We will enjoy looking through your recipes in September and will try to include as many of the recipes as we can in our book. We plan to produce and print our illustrated recipe book in the autumn. This may make the ideal gift for Christmas or birthdays. In addition every named entry will gain 2 house points. We welcome contributions from our new Year 7 students.
Our attendance at the end of this school year is 96.5% which was a .2% improvement on previous year. So a big well done to you all! We hope we can all work hard together next (school) year to raise our attendance even further to bring us in line with our target of 97% . I am sure with a continued effort from our whole school community we can do it.
97%
96.5%
Thank you to the parents and carers for supporting us in achieving this target.
We would like to thank those parents/carers who make sure their child is attending school regularly and on time and are therefore benefitting fully from their educational opportunity.
Congratulations to Y11 student Beth Emsley for 100% attendance during 5 years at Simon Balle. We also had 10 Y11 students who had 100% attendance for 4 out of 5 years. Below are our students who have reached 100% attendance this academic
YEAR 7
YEAR 8
Tyrese Davis
Eve Jones
Jess Hedge
Gemma Bignell
Thomas Kimpton
Alex Welch
Evie Titheradge
Kitty Bennett
Eleanor Jablonowska
Ellie Hughes
Gabriel Dass
Jodie Hughes
Juliet Carr
Daniel Bristow
Maddy Milroy
Casey Farrell
Charles Gollop
Alex Raphael
Luca Bregazzi
Jack Emsley
Alex Greaves
Jasmine Bidwell
Archie Harris
Sam Jones
Isabel Allen
Frankie Ciuffa
Tilly Ross-Gardener
Callum Stephenson
Caitlin Wragg
Joshua Button
Annabella O’Sullivan
William Frith
Anna Hipkin
Thomas Moore
Amelia Cutting
James Walton Gene Delameilleure Morgan Day James Tomlinson
YEAR 9
YEAR 10
Bailey Doe
Laura Butcher
Alex Bartlam Alfie Joy
Amy Chen Tom Childs
Lucy Martin Owen Hedge
Sarah Greaves
Isabel Moulder
Sean Harding
Lucia Devonshire-Helps
Emily Ibbotson
Isabel Ross
Marc Ross-Gardner
Archie Andelin George Gollop Danny Orpin Finlay Smith Chloe Carter Oscar Collins Dacey Holleworth Grace Stanbrook James Threlfall Joseph Morriss Toby Madhlangobe Rowena Carr Chloe Hill
Megan Walker Abbie Walton
Does the idea of joining a choir to sing a wide variety of music appeal to you? Worried about the audition or that you can’t read music?
What if you could join a friendly community choir that doesn’t require you to either read music or audition before joining? Well if this appeals to you and you are over 18, come along to the Take Note Community Choir, based at Simon Balle All-through School in Hertford, led by our wonderful music director Miles and the excellent accompanying pianist Jeremy. Take Note are a group of men and women who enjoy learning, singing and performing a variety of music from rock, pop, classical, or a bit of light jazz and have fun doing it. Whether it's Adele or Mozart, Queen or Frank Sinatra, we love the challenge and the joy that singing together brings and are always looking for new members to join. We get together to rehearse in the Simon Balle music department every Wednesday 7.45pm -9.30pm in term time. Come along and have a free taster session. Simon Balle School Mangrove Road, Hertford SG13 8AJ music@simonballe.herts.sch.uk
Dear Parents The Simon Balle All- through School PSA is a small charity run by parents and staff from all parts of the school. Our main aim is to raise funds to improve the whole school experience for our children. At the same time we hope we give the students, parents, staff (and ourselves!) some fun and memorable moments to help build the school community spirit. We organise various events such as Ladies Pamper Night, quiz nights, Year 11 leavers awards party, silent auctions, Christmas and summer fairs, Larch Centre discos and film nights, uniform sales, and raffles. We support many school events by providing a licensed bar and refreshments at wonderful events such as Big Band Night, Carol Service, wind and brass evening, school plays and poetry evenings. Over the last few years our funds have helped the school refurbish the main school library, main hall, and 6th form reception area, contributed towards the outdoor nature classroom, Larch centre garden and trim trail, pay for the lease and running of a mini bus, and contribute "little extras" for the students. However there’s always more funds needed for more projects. We would really like your help, involvement and new ideas. At present, we are specifically looking for people to help with the following: 1. Marketing Sub Group Do you have experience in marketing / advertising for small companies? Would you like to join our sub group to develop new fund raising ideas, forge contacts and spread our PSA brand? 2. Website Management Do you have IT skills / Website Maintenance experience? Could you work with others to manage, update and develop the website? 3. Events Evaluator – do you have an eye for a bargain? Are you an auditor? Or just very organised?! Have you time to compare our refreshment and event prices and processes with other similar events? Could you review our event feedback so we can improve next time? Can you update our event procedures?
If you are interested in this or any volunteering, or want to chat through what’s involved, have any questions, or would like to meet some of us, either: contact us via email psa@simonballepsa.org.uk , one of us will get back to you. come along to our next meeting (Monday 18 September 2017, 7 - 9pm) come along to the AGM (Monday 16th October) th
Take a look at our website : http://www.simonballepsa.org.uk/SimonBalle
Remembering WWI and the Hertfordshire Regiment In a brave attempt to break the German 'Langemarck Line', on just one day, 31st July 1917, the Herts Regt lost 479 of their 620 men. They were killed, gravely injured or captured in the battle which lasted only two hours, from 8.00 to 10.00 am just outside the small village of St Julien. Monday 31st July at the War Memorial 10.00 am Parliament Square, Hertford A quiet time of reflection, two minutes silence with the laying of a wreath and the Last Post to mark 100 years since the end of the battle of St Julien. Everyone is welcome. Please bring a sprig of rosemary or a flower from the garden to lay at the War Memorial. This Act of Remembrance lasts about 10 minutes and is supported by All Saints Church and Hertford Town Council Rev Canon Jo Loveridge Team Rector of Hertford Rural Dean of Hertford and Ware
Hertford
Summer Programme
Supported and arranged by:
All activities for 11-19 year olds
Youth Project @ the MUGA, The Ridgeway, Sele Farm, Hertford
Trampolining – Hartham Common, Hertford
Mondays 10, 17, 24 & 31 July 7, 14 & 21 August 6.00 – 8.00pm
Wednesday 16 August 3.00 -5.00pm
Youth Project @ the Zoo Café, Ware Road, Hertford Tuesdays 15, 22 & 29 August 7.15 – 9.45pm Every Thursday (7 2 10 Project) 7.15 – 9.45pm Fridays 14 July, 18 & 25 August 7.15 – 9.45pm
Lark in the Park – Hartham Common, Hertford Wednesdays 2, 9, 16 & 23 August 3.00 – 5.00pm
Arts, sports, crafts, food and lots more fun! No need to book, just turn up!
Climbing Wall - Hartham Common, Hertford
Keep an eye on our Twitter feed for all the late st times and informatio n #easthertssu
mmer
Wednesday 9 August 3.00-5.00pm
These activities have been funded and organised by following organisations East Herts Council, YC Hertfordshire, Network Homes, Buntingford Town Council, Sporting Inspirations Ltd, Ware Town Council, Bishop’s Stortford Town Council and Hertford Town Council. All activities are FREE and for ages 11-19 years old. Should you have any questions about the activities please contact:
Or VISIT www.eastherts.gov.uk www.channelmogo.org
Julie Pomfrett, East Herts Council, 01992 531423 or julie.pomfrett@eastherts.gov.uk (Mon-Fri 9.00am-5.00pm)
Check out the Twitter for up to date information
Russell Cairns, YYC Hertfordshire, 01992 588214 russell.cairns@hertfordshire.gov.uk
easthertssummer
District wide Summer Programme
Supported and arranged by:
All activities for 11-19 year olds
There is a wide range of things to do in the district all year round that you may want to try this summer. These are just a few suggestions of what is on offer. Skate Parks
Parks & Play areas
There are 5 skate parks in the district
There are lots of parks and open spaces in East Herts that can provide great places for young people to meet up with friends. Here is a list of some of the larger ones in the district that have equipment and facilities for teenagers.
Ware Priory Grounds, High Street, Ware Sworders Field, Bishop’s Stortford Hartham Common, Hertford Bowling Green Playing Field, Buntingford
Hartham Common, Hertford
Vantorts Park, Sawbridgeworth
Southern Country Park, Bishop’s Stortford Multi-use Games Area (MUGA) and Adventure equipment, King George Park, Ware MUGA & Play equipment, The Ridgeway, Hertford Thorley open space, Bishop’s Stortford Vantorts MUGA and play area, Sawbridgeworth Sacombe Road play area and community fitness fit trail, Hertford Foxholes Avenue, Hertford
Graffiti wall Sworders Field, Bishop’s Stortford
Great Innings South Play area and MUGA, Watton At Stone Northern Parkland Play Areas, Great Hadham Road, Bishop’s Stortford Parsonage Lane Play Area, Bishop’s Stortford
Cinema & Arts Empire Cinema, Anchor Street, Bishop’s Stortford Hertford Theatre, The Wash, Hertford Rhodes Art Complex, South Street, Bishop’s Stortford
Watermill Lane Play Area, Watermill Lane, Hertford
in partnership with
SUMMER HOLIDAY
Netball Camps chool years 3 & 4 (ages 7-9) S 2-day camp Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd August 10am-3pm £65 per person
chool years 5-8 (ages 10-13) S 3-day camp Tuesday 8th, Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th August 10am-3pm £95 per person
Camps are weather dependant. Please contact Sarah Beattie at sarahbeattie@everyoneactive.com for more information or call the centre to book. LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE! Book early to avoid disappointment.
Hartham Leisure Centre
01992 584000
PLUS
All those who book onto a camp will also receive a Mavericks T-shirt!