newSBytes 1st December 2015

1st December 2015 Dear Simon Balle All-through School parents and families With three weeks to go, we are now entering into a very busy season. Thank you to every parent for your recent support and encouragement for the many events that have taken place. Our Book Week was a tremendous success, with author visits as well as the prestigious writing competition. Various trips and visits have been enjoyed by a large number of students who have come back to school really enthused and excited about their learning. We look forward this week to our Autumn Concert where some of our year 7s will be performing in their first Simon Balle event, feeling already part of the music family. Please do continue to look at our website and read just how much is going on and the vast array of opportunities available.

Our Sixth Form Open Evening was attended by over 200 families, with over 120 of our own students looking at both the range of courses alongside the great “package” we can offer in terms of preparing students for both university, apprenticeships and jobs. Our enrichment programmes address those important employability skills which are very much needed along with character development. If you missed this evening or know someone who currently does not attend Simon Balle but would enjoy and benefit from what we can offer do contact either Steve Preshous (preshouss@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) or Rob Klippel (klippelr@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) to find out more.

Year 11 start their mock exams this week so can all parents please ensure that they know timetables. Our year 11 parents consultation evening must be a high priority for all families who have a year 11 student as teachers will give diagnostic feedback on performance. This will take place on Tuesday 12 January and it is a compulsory attendance.

Alison Saunders, Headteacher Dates for your diary Wednesday 2nd December Thursday 3rd December Friday 4th December Wednesday 9th December Thursday 10th December Saturday 12th December Tuesday 15th December Wednesday 16th December Friday 18th December Monday 4th January Tuesday 12th January

Y8 Parents evening Y11 mocks start Rock School Gig – Corn Exchange Reception coffee morning (prospective parents) Reception coffee evening (prospective parents) Y9 Parents evening Take Note Christmas concert Carol Service 7pm (details above) Carol Service (Reception, Y7,Y8 and Y12) Whole school Christmas lunch End of term – finishing times below Term starts Y11 Parents evening

Simon Balle All -through School at Christmas – important information Our Carol Service will be taking place on Tuesday 15th December at 7.00pm at All Saints Church. Everyone is welcome and the PSA will be serving mulled wine, mince pies and shortbread. This is always a popular traditional event and we look forward to seeing you there.

On the 16th our Reception classes, Y7, Y8 and Y12 students will be going to the church for their own Carol Service.

They will leave school at 10 40am to walk to All Saints church and will be back in school at 12.15pm Students should bring suitable outer clothing and, if they wish, a donation for the church collection. If for any reason you do not want you child to participate please email Mrs Creasey in the school office (creaseyj@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) This is always a wonderful opportunity for our lower and upper school to get together. After the carol concert all year groups (except 11) will have their Christmas lunch (Reception, and Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Y12 and Y13) There will be a two course traditional Christmas lunch (vegetarian option available) PRICE £3.75. Tickets for the lunch must be pre-bought and will be on sale in the canteen w/b 30th November until 11th December.

This is a very festive occasion with music and is really enjoyed by all our students. Please note that there is no other food served on that day so students will have to bring a break snack and/or packed lunch with them.

On the last day of term, Friday 18th, students will wear their school uniform but have the opportunity to wear a Christmas jumper instead of their school jumper. We would encourage students to bring a minimum of £1.00 which will be collected during first lesson and sent to Crisis at Christmas. By offering advice and access to yearround service Crisis at Christmas marks the beginning of longer term support and opportunities for homeless people. We hope that you will give generously.

School will finish early, with each year finishing at the following times.

Year 12 and 13: 12.05pm Year 10: 12.45pm Year 9: 12.50pm Year 7 and 8: 12.55pm

Vacancies Immediate: We are looking for a science teacher who can start after Christmas, either full-time or part-time. We will also be recruiting two primary teachers and two TAs for the Larch Centre to start in September. Please look out for the adverts on our website and on TeachInHerts.

If you would like information prior to the adverts going out please contact Julia Creasey (creaseyj@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) for further information or to organise an informal visit.

Database Information Over the next few weeks students will be bringing home a Data Collection Sheet which holds personal information including names, addresses and contact telephone numbers. This will be given to students and you will be asked to return it confirming the information or amending as required. If for any reason this should not go via your child, please contact the school office.

PSA requests We continue to provide a raffle at each parents evening – an easy way to help our fund-raising. You will appreciate the improvements that are being made to the reception area in the sixth form/humanities block. Your generous help in previous years has allowed the PSA to provide grants towards the cost of this work.

We also run a Nearly New uniform sale at every parents evening – please pop along for your uniform needs (even if it isn’t ‘your’ parent evening).

House News This time Beane house take their turn in the spotlight – article written by house captains: After a poor start to the year we have begun to show our true potential with increasing awards of house points.

We went from being near the bottom at the beginning of term and now we are closing in on our ‘arch enemies’ Ashbourne. Just look at our rise up the table moving up a place every week; with the addition of last year’s points we are currently second and pushing Ashbourne for top spot. We expect this to continue over the next half term and we hope we can be top by Christmas. So keep doing all the competitions and taking part in activities as every House point counts. Remember it's not about winning but about taking part!

If you want to know what other house events there are coming up later on in the year, feel free to ask your subject teachers, your four house captains, or Mr Klippel, our head of house.

Beane is a house with some very impressive students. We pleased with students within our house and how successful in school and out of school. One such example is Harry recently had a major success in his karting career. He had which is a major event where some of the most skilled karters race once a year. It is held at Rye House. He colours by winning all his practice and qualifying races. the British Champion and doing really well.

are extremely they have been both Platten Yr8. He won the London Cup experienced and won with flying Finally he is currently

Another student who needs recognising is Rachael Janes, Yr13 . We decided to sit down with her and talk about her success with her singing career. She recently went to sing at Ronnie Scott’s - a famous Jazz club in London along with the Simon Balle Big Band including other members of Beane house; Joe Leggett, Joe Collins and William Butcher. Rachel said it was a fantastic atmosphere and being able to sing on the world famous stage really gave her an opportunity to share her voice and she said it was a ‘’milestone’’ in her career.

These are just a two of our amazing students in Beane but here is a few of our ‘honourable mentions’.

In Year Nine students have achieved great success, such as Marcus Lowe who passed his grade 4 Piano exam and said ‘’I’m a little proud of passing’’. Emily Tibbits who received 50+ house points last year. Lastly, Jessica Martin who participated in the golden lunches event, which helps out the community and is currently doing very well on house points as well. In addition Year Ten have had some success especially with Anya Daar who got to sing with our very Mr Klippel in the winning music ensemble last year…..apparently he has the voice of a ‘’deaf angel!’’

Finally in 6th form we have some very successful and great students. For example everyone in 12B had achieved at least one A* in their GCSEs which is a major achievement. This is why they joined Beane to become extremely intelligent just like our leader Mr Klippel. Also 70% of our Year 13 students achieved at least one A-A* at AS, which is a fantastic achievement for our whole house and mainly for the 6th form students. Lastly, another achievement in 6th form was House Tag Rugby. Year 13 managed 4th place in the House tag rugby competition but had the most participants so gained lots of points. Both Yrs 12 & 13 Beane are currently leading their year groups for house points. ‘’Just remember we are Beane, and we all love Beane’’ Mr Klippel - House leader

Sport Update The PE department continues to keep very busy with numerous fixtures and competitions being held in a wide variety of sports. This is just a brief mention of the highlights over the last two weeks. In order to view all results and news of the department, please follow us on Twitter @sbspedept On Sunday our Y8 and Y9 cheerleading girls entered the Saracens ‘School of Cheer’ competition in Watford and won! This is a fantastic win for the girls who have committed to training one morning a week before school and their efforts thoroughly deserved the win. A big thank you to Miss Ansell for making this possible and to the parents for their support on Sunday.

Two teams of girls, Y 7/8 and Y9/10 entered the Hertford Rugby Festival against teams from all over Hertfordshire. There was a mixed bag of results against some very big and strong teams – however, the progress the girls made over the afternoon was amazing.

The Y7 boys hosted a 9 aside football match v Broxbourne on the astro and were unlucky to lose two closelycontested matches.

The Y11 boys travelled to Nicholas Breakspeare school for a county league basketball game. This was a fantastic game played at high speed, with both teams showing incredible shooting skills. Simon Balle were unfortunate to lose 48 – 52 The Y9 basketball team had a good win over John Warner 35 -25 Our Y10 GCSE sports study students will be visiting 5 local primary schools to lead rugby and netball sessions in preparation for the leadership unit they are following.

UPCOMING SATURDAY RUGBY FIXTURES 5th Dec Y7 AND Y8 V MOUNT GRACE – AWAY 12TH DEC Y7,Y 8 AND Y9 V GOFFS – VENUE TO BE DECIDED. Please check the twitter account on these mornings for any cancellation.