End of Term
20th July 2015
Term finishes on 22nd July, Students will be dismissed at the following times Year 7 at 12.35pm Year 8 at 12.30pm Year 9 at 12.25pm Year 10 and 12 – after their assembly (approx. 12.30pm)
Start of Term Students are back in school on 2nd September for 8.40am. There will be the usual 2 hours for form time for the first part of the day. Year 7, 11 and 13 will be having their school photos during this time. September 2015 marks a new era at Simon Balle. (the 59th birthday on 18/9/2015) In September we welcome 60 reception aged children to the Simon Balle family. What is particularly exciting is that this group consists of a small group of existing parents, ex students and new families. Whilst the rest of the students will not start school until Wednesday 2 September (staff training day on 1st September) we have decided that reception children will join us on 1st September so we can manage effectively their transition and start. I would very much like to publically thank Ruth Oakenfull (who joined us from Abel Smith as our Primary Lead) for all her hard work during the past few months. Ruth has visited the children in their nurseries, visited parents, bought furniture and resources and also decided upon teaching practices. We will be ready for September and are so excited!
Awards Ceremony We held our first Awards Ceremony on Thursday July 16 at All Saints Church. 122 students from all year groups received certificates celebrating their efforts and achievement in all subject areas and in the community. It was a great privilege to have Nic Hamilton, an alumni from Mike Moss’ original year group! Nic Hamilton suffers from celebral palsy and is the first disabled racing driver to compete in the British Touring Car Championship. He spoke passionately about setting high aspirations, overcoming the restrictions faces due to his disability and the support he received at Simon Balle. He urged our current students to aim high. We have received many positive comments from parents and hope to run this celebratory event next year.
THIS ISSUE: Term Details Awards Evening Summer Dates Goodbyes and Thank you Autumn Uniform Reminder iPads, Student timetables, bookcovers and ParentPay Language Festival Transition Day Science Food CPD Marketplace Art and Photography Library and English Music PE NCS Program
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: Term Dates: Summer Term : 20th April to 22nd July Autumn Term : 1st Sep to 18th Dec Half term : 26th-30th Oct Occasional Days : 26th and 27th Nov INSET Days : 1st Sep, 28th Sep July Wed 22nd Mon 27th
Music Tour
Thurs 30thFri 7th
Ardeche Trip
Aug A2 results AS results GCSE results
13th August—8.30am 13th Aug—9.30am 20th Aug—9.30am
September Tues 1st Wed 2nd Thurs 10th 6.30-8.30pm Sat 26th
INSET Day School photos for Years 7, 11 and 13 Sports presentation evening Open Morning
What is happening during the summer
Music Tour—22nd-27th July . Our music students will be playing in 5 concerts across Belgium including the Ghent Music Festival of which they have been invited back to play at again. Ardeche Trip - 30th July to 7th August Exams Results Dates
THURSDAY 13th AUGUST—8.30am A2 Results THURSDAY 13th AUGUST—9.30am AS Results If any students have questions or concerns regarding University or Year 13 places, please contact sixthform@simonballe.herts.sch,uk 6th form will also be in school on Friday 14th August until 1pm. THUSDAY 20th 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 THURSDAY 20th AUGUST 11.30am to 12.30pm—GCSE Results—Year 10 NB it is not compulsory for Year 10 to collect results—these will be available when you return to school in September.
Summer School for new Year 6 “targeted” students (lead Mrs Noxon) from 17th to 21st August, 9.00am to 3.15pm, daily Handover of new Larch Centre—Aug 17th (Mrs Harman and Mrs Oakenfull to attend)
Good-byes and thank yous! Traditionally at this time of year we say “good-bye” to a number of staff who will be moving on to new things, permanently or temporarily. Exceptionally this year we have a number of teachers who will soon have babies: Miss Green, Miss Hill, Mrs Townsend, Mrs Davies, Mrs Ayres and then early on in September, Mrs Bonfield. Our best wishes are with them and look forward to hearing their news. Other staff are moving on. We say good bye and thank you to Miss Scullard (history- Cambridge), Miss Steele (science- moving to Spain), Mr Duggan (science- Lake District), Mr Taylor (MFL- Buntingford), Mr Opie (technology- Haileybury), Mr Fisher ( Stevenage School) We wish Jack Grinter success with his teacher training, Gail Melville (support) happiness in her retirement. We are delighted to share with you the fact that Ms Ellis, one of our Deputy Heads has been asked to be acting Headteacher at Fearnhill School in Letchworth. This is a secondment for 4 days a week; Ms Ellis will be at Simon Balle on Thursdays to resume some of her duties and teach some classes!! I am sure that we will all learn a lot from this valuable experience. Our newsletter in early September will welcome our new staff. The new school year offers an opportunity for us to re-inforce our message of “High Aspirations, High Expectations”. All parents will be hearing more about this. Uniform is part of this. Please can all parents support us in this as I am frequently disappointed that this is not always the case. In particular can we remind parents: Black flat “leather” shoes must be worn Boys shirts- must be long sleeved with a tie – jumpers should be brought to school Girls skirts should be just above or knee length and not rolled up Girls can wear black tights (no socks over the tights or leggings), white or black socks that sit BELOW the knee Haircuts must not be shaved or “no natural” colours or braided Make up is not allowed; whilst we seem to have got the message across about heavy makeup, some students (and parents) have forgotten that nail varnish is not acceptable and from September a “community” sanction will be issued Ear rings—plain studs to be worn and no other facial piercings allowed. No hoodies worn to school Bags should be rucksacks or large bags- suitable for holding A4 books and iPads.
iPads We, alongside Governors, have evaluated the impact of using iPads as effective learning tools. Staff are being trained and encouraged to use a variety of apps and digital tools and student leaders are also driving this. We will be using e-text books in the sixth form with the advent of the new A levels, as this again prepares students for university and college studies. From September Governors have agreed that all students will be provided with iPads as an aid to learning. This obviously is at great cost to the school at a time of budget restrictions and to ensure that it is sustainable in the long term we are asking that parents contribute towards the insurance and administration of the scheme. However we are committed to this and shall be working with all students and parents in terms of e-safety, proper use and respect for digital learning and the opportunities available. Please can you reinforce how special and what a privilege this is and that the iPads are on loan. Indeed many schools ask parents to supply iPads themselves. Care includes- charging them up, protective cases and proper bags to transport them but we will send detailed information very soon.
Student Timetables 2015/2016 This year we are planning to send the students’ timetables via our InTouch communication system to all the students’ school email accounts as well as to any parent email addresses we hold. The first email will be sent to Years 8-11 and 13 during the school holidays with a second email sent to Years 813 during Tuesday 1st September. Students are asked to print a copy ready for the first day of term on Wednesday 2nd September. If you would like to update your email address, please email admin@simonballe.herts.sch.uk by Thursday lunchtime.
Book Covers Can parents who have not paid to date, please pay before the start of next term as this will enable students to protect their books as soon as they are distributed on the first day back. All students are expected to have book covers and they will be distributed on the first day of term.
ParentPay We would really like to encourage all parents to use our online payment system, www.parentpay.com Dinner money, music lessons, school trips and other items can all be paid for online quickly and securely. It also allows for prompt refunds. If you have not yet activated your account or require a login, please email finance@simonballe.herts.sch.uk or phone 01992 410400 and ask for the Finance Office.
Language Festival Fun! Wednesday 1st July saw the culmination of this year's MFL Young Leaders Programme in which 150 Key Stage 2 pupils from five local primary schools spent the day at Simon Balle School to learn about other languages and cultures. However, this was just the final part of a project that has been on-going since the start of the school year. Earlier on this year, groups of Year 10 students became Young MFL Leaders and prepared short games and activities to help teach younger students German, French and Spanish. The leaders then went into local primary schools (Bengeo, Mill Mead, Morgans, Abel Smith and Wheatcroft) twice to do these activities with the children, one revolving around language and one revolving around culture. These visits were enjoyed by both the leaders and young students alike; however the real climax of the project was the Langfest in July. The primary school children took part in four different workshops in French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, as well as role plays led by young leaders in French, German and Spanish. The day finished with an awards ceremony in the hall in which prizes were given to the best individual students and schools for their enthusiasm and participation in activities. All in all, the day was a great success thanks to all the staff involved in organising and running the day, especially Mr Taylor for whom this will be the last Langfest after many years of running the event. Joseph Chapman 10M
Sean Ross-Gardner Football Coaching Award Congratulations to Sean for receiving the Wodson Park Trust East Herts Youth Coach of the Year Award on Tuesday 14th July. The award was presented at Castle Hall and recognises the work that Sean has been doing to lead Bury Rangers All Inclusive Weekly Football Sessions for young disabled players, the work he has been doing with Bury Rangers U13 Age Group and his participation in the FA's Football Futures Programme. Sean has put in over 60 hours of voluntary coaching since January and is really enjoying the opportunity. He was absolutely thrilled to be nominated and for him to have won will give him a huge boost.
BURGLARY MYSTERY DAY On Thursday 9th July, our new Y7 cohort starting in September all became detectives as they tried to solve a mystery crime that occurred at Simon Balle. Students from all our feeder schools attended Simon Balle as part of the transition programme. The day began with an assembly being interrupted by a police officer who listed the new Y7 tutors as the key suspects. Students were then given documentation about the motives and alibis the key suspects had before attending a variety of lessons that gave clues about solving the crime. Our cunning detectives tried to solve clues in History, state factual evidence in English as well as working with face recognition in Art. Key observations were made in Science whilst students were reconstructing the scene in Drama. Students also had secret interviews with the suspects during the Learning Skills session. Once all information had been collated - students were then asked to identify the suspect with reasoning - and a few of which did so with great success! It was a fabulous day that provided the new students with the opportunity to gain an insight to Simon Balle life by meeting new staff, working in groups to make new friends and experience working within a secondary setting. Well done to all and many thanks to all the Y10 students and staff who assisted on the day. IanFinch
Primary Phase Update It has been a busy yet exciting term. The Reception class lists have been finalised, the furniture and resources have been ordered and the planning and preparation is ongoing. The building looks absolutely stunning and is well on track for August completion. I cannot wait to get inside and set the classrooms up, ready for the start of term. Thank you to the families who have contributed to our library with brand new books and who have brought in pre-loved resources and equipment. They have all been gratefully received. We are still on the hunt for Duplo and Lego, so if you find any during the holidays, it is not too late. Have a lovely summer holiday and follow the Larch Blog to see the progress we make. Mrs Oakenfull
Science Our Y12 chemists recently undertook the ‘Cambridge Chemistry Challenge‘. The challenge is aimed at lower sixth students loosely covering topics taught at AS but stretching their knowledge and application. It is a tough exam and the awards are hard to gain. Congratulations to Seth Forster who gained a gold award—meaning he is in the top 8% of the country. Also, Sophie Rawlinson, Charlotte Benham, Liam Boles, Martha Munro, Patrick Tarry and Shona Water all achieved a copper award (in the top 55% of the country). A great achievement.
Y7 Winners At The Big Bang Eastern Competition Our Year 7 STEM club has been running all year and the students have been working towards their Bronze CREST award. The looked at chemical testing and carried out a number of GCSE level practicals to determine what chemicals were present in some unknown samples. Louis Broad and George Gollop displayed their work at the recent Big Bang Eastern Science Competition. They were able to explain their project in great detail to the four sets of judges that visited them during the day. The judges were obviously impressed as out of the 50 stands at the competition, Louis and George were awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Prize!
National Brain Bee 12 budding neuroscientists from Year 10 travelled to UCL for the English Regional Brain Bee Challenge. I am delighted to announce that of the top 10 places, Simon Balle students stormed the field and occupied 9 of the available 10 spots in the final round. In the end it came down to some very tough questions about the ions involved in action potential propagation—something our Year 13 Biologists struggle with. Elspeth Grace was the overall winner and crowned the English Brain Bee champion. She has won the right to travel to the International Brain Bee Final being held in Sydney! Congratulations to all involved, it really was a sterling performance from all the students.
Industrial Cadet Programme 12 Year 9 students recently attended the final of the Industrial Cadet Programme at GSK House, London. The programme is a nationally recognised scheme that allows schools to work closely with professional scientists whilst completing a 9 week project. This year focus was healthy schools and the students’ projects examined the biological effects of caffeine and the role of exercise in improving concentration. The teams presented and discussed their projects with a panel of professional scientists. All students acquitted themselves admirably and I am pleased to announce that Simon Balle School won the prize of Outstanding Display. In addition, all students qualified as Industrial Cadets and obtained a Silver Crest award. Carolyn Kelleway—Head of Science
Food Technology and Catering
We had a very busy few weeks in Food Technology. As part of ‘Food in Focus’ we have enjoyed working with KS2 , 3 and 4 students from other subjects across the curriculum within Simon Balle and also other local primary schools. We were delighted to welcome Year 6 students and their parents to work in the Food room as part of the Transition activities.
Ready Steady Cook You will have already seen the amazing photos that gave you a peek into the very exciting event that was Staff Ready Steady Cook’. We have held this event on a number of occasions before and the staff have always been brilliant, but this year they were so competitive I was actually quite scared! I’m sure that your sons and daughters will have told you that all of the teams were stunning and created some very exciting dishes inspired by a number of themes that were pure genius. I am so grateful for their great enthusiasm and support and for giving up their time to take part in this event, particularly at such a busy time of year. A huge thank you to everyone involved. The Maths department ‘Graph –eat–e’ was crowned the eventual champions, but I thought that all the teams were winners.
We shared cross curricular links with other departments in the school including MFL, maths and textiles.
Year 5 students from Abel Smith School visit Food Technology
We recently welcomed Year 5 students from Abel Smith School to work with us in Food Technology. We have worked with KS1 & 2 students on a number of occasions this year – Brownies, Guides and transition students and we were keen to welcome our final visitors of this academic year to Food Technology. As part of their own 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 wrapped around vegetable batons, halloumi kebabs, feta salad, pittas, dips and salad dressings using Greek yoghurt and 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, encouraging all to sample some foods that they may be less familiar with. During the afternoon 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, 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. We hope that they enjoyed and benefited from their experience in Food Technology.
KS3 Food Technology
None of this would have been possible without the support and enthusiasm of our wonderful staff who have taken time out from their own very busy schedules to work with us in Food Technology and of course our very special students. Thank you!!
The Sweetie Bag Challenge As part of Food in Focus Week, the year 8's participated in the Sweetie Bag Challenge during their textiles lesson. Their task was to create the most well designed sweetie bag in 50 minutes. Students had to use the skills they have gained so far from textiles in order to create their product. These included: cutting, pinning, machining, hand stitching, applique along with other decoration techniques. The class then voted on the 3 highest achievers in each group. The winners were: Lucy Chapple Ella Fleming Madeline Durtin All students demonstrated good making and creative skills and had fun during the task
Last week saw the annual CPD marketplace where staff share the findings of their reflective inquiry. During the year staff work individually or in small groups to investigate an aspect of teaching and learning. They research around their chosen area, try a range of strategies, reflect on their practice and discuss which have the greatest impact on learning. The topics this year included looking at the impact of peer tutoring, how might we need to alter our teaching and learning approaches to meet the demands of linear examinations, the use of iPads to enhance learning, engaging students with STEM subjects through Robotics and strategies to develop the most able. Two groups of our second year teachers have been using lesson study to look at how we can differentiate by outcome to promote outstanding progress and how we can build and nurture self-reflective learners. Lesson study is a peer-topeer professional learning strategy. It requires teachers to work collaboratively to plan, deliver, observe and refine their practice after each lesson and has been extensively used in Japan as a key tool in improving teaching. It is great to see staff continuing to refine and develop their practice to ensure they continue to deliver engaging and challenging lessons using strategies and techniques that have been shown to have impact on student outcomes.
Art and Photography Trips Year 10 students enjoyed the opportunity to visit the National Gallery on the 9th of June while the year 12 experienced a day at The Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green. Whilst there, we were treated to a tour of the beautiful sculpture gardens, the studios and the various outbuildings. This enabled students to gain an insight into the way this renowned artist worked and see first-hand where his inspiration came from. Following a picnic lunch, we were put to work, photographing and sketching the many sculptures on display. We were blessed with wonderful weather which helped make the trip a huge success.
Community Project During the term, we were invited to participate in a community project. The aim of which is to transform the subways between the school and Hertford town. A number of art pieces have since been selected by County. These will be displayed, alongside work from three other local schools to showcase the huge talent of our young artists. The work has just begun and is due to be completed by early September. We are very excited and look forward to seeing the wonderful transformation.
Art Club Despite the exam period being over, our weekly after school Art club has continued to take place. It has been a true testament of the dedication that our students, who have attended faithfully throughout the year, have. Well done!
Photography House Competition 1st place Olivia Rider 7A (cd reflection) 2nd place Matt (7M) and Alex (7N) Bartlam 3rd place Alice Gower (sunglasses) Highly commended, Jake Preston 9B his own model of a landscape.
Well done to all who entered.
2015 Ruth Bate MFL Award
The 2015 Ruth Bate Award was presented to ChloÍ Smith and Alex Willis on 22nd July in recognition of outstanding performance over this school year’s Young MFL Leader programme. The award key criteria are personal achievement, commitment, creativity, pro-active participation, enthusiasm, assisting others, initiative and promoting MFL through example. History of the award - Ruth Bate was a language teacher at Simon Balle School who died in January 1989. In her will she left a sum of money in a trust fund to be used to promote MFL at the school. Awards were made for a number of years following her death; however due to staffing changes, the fund was forgotten, assumed spent. In June 2009, the bank holding the account contacted the school and enquiries were made. The remaining trustees agreed to the proposal that, rather than spending the remaining balance, a permanent award should be set up in Ruth's name which recognises the qualities listed above in students in any year group. The shield and a list of students who have received the award are permanently displayed in the MFL department. It is hoped that this award will preserve the memory and some of the qualities of Ruth Bate as well as recognising the achievements of a new generation. R Taylor, HoD MFL
Library and English Department News Last week the English Department held our first inter-house debating competition. Mrs Gjoka-Gibberd and Mrs Owen have been running a debating club on Monday lunch times and we thought it would be a great idea to get more students and staff involved in debating. The competition was launched with a ‘show debate’ in assembly on the motion, ‘This house would bring back corporal punishment’. Two concepts proved central to this debate: a student’s right to learn without disruption and whether punishments were an effective a deterrent for undesirable behaviour. It was hardly surprising however that the floor (over three hundred Y7 and Y8 students) voted overwhelmingly in opposition to the motion! Each class then entered a house team to compete in parliamentary style debates on the following motions: This house would abolish homework (Y7) This house would replace teachers with computers (Y8) This house would ban religion (Y9) We were supported by two outstanding students: Alex Willis in Year 10, who is our young leader for debating, and Hugo Turner in Year 12, who is our prefect in charge of the house system. "I was delighted to see such a high turnout from staff, students and supporters for our inaugural house debate competition. The standard of debating really impressed me as well, and therefore I look forward to welcoming some of the participants to the debate club when it restarts next year." – Alex Willis ‘The House Debating Competition and similar events not only help students improve their debating and communication skills but also promote the values of the Simon Balle ethos by encouraging the development of an even stronger community within the school.’ - Hugo Turner All the students who participates were awarded a house point and the members of the winning teams were awarded 3 house points each. Congratulations to everyone who debated and a huge thank you to all the staff and sixth formers who helped to promote, judge and support the event. Nicola Gjoka-Gibberd To celebrate the Carnegie Award winner announcement, the Book Club gathered to discuss our favourite books from the shortlist and to read extracts from the winning book: “Buffalo Soldier” by Tanya Landman. Although it was not the book we expected to win, the club agreed that “Buffalo Soldier” was deserving of its place: it is engaging, well written and has an interesting and complex narrator. Jenny Townsend
Summer Reads Library Event for Staff, New Parents and Year 12 Students On Monday 13th July we held an enjoyable, late afternoon event recommending reading for the summer to each other over orange juice and lemon cake. Over 30 people attended and were encouraged to browse new Library acquisitions, Carnegie shortlisted books and recently reviewed titles. Many books were borrowed and stories about reading were swapped in what has become a regular fixture in our Library’s calendar. Happy reading! We look forward to sharing your opinions on your summer reads after the break.
New Library App for Hertfordshire Public Libraries Have you downloaded the new, free App that enables you to reserve books, search for eBooks etc. and use the fantastic online reference resources on the go? For more details please go to http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/ libraries/libapp To get the most out of this service please join your local library by filling in a form or going to https:// herts.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/OPAC/JOIN From September all students will be expected to join the public library service to make the most of resources available.
Exhibitions in the King’s Cross/Bloomsbury areas of London If you get the chance to spend some time in the capital please try to visit the British Library’s Magna Carta exhibition http:// www.bl.uk/whats-on (Under 18s are free) or the House of Illustration’s exhibition on the history of Ladybird books http:// www.houseofillustration.org.uk/whats-on There is also a good variety of exhibitions at the British Museum http:// www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on.aspx Any feedback (email library@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) on your visits would be much appreciated please. Enjoy the summer break!
Browns Books for Students and our VLeBook Platform Over the past year forms 7A and 7M have been involved in the Library’s pilot programme of Browns eBooks. Feedback showed it was successful and we have therefore renewed our subscription for 2015/16. Many thanks to the parents who fed back their thoughts on the pilot programme. Our initial collection of 50 eBooks has been doubled, thanks to a generous gesture by Browns of another 50 free eBooks. There are many Accelerated Reader books amongst the new eBooks and some well known authors appear. More details next term on how other students can participate in this exciting development. This week our Library took delivery of a box of new books from major school book supplier, Browns Books for Students. This was sent as a token of thanks for the Library’s willingness to promote its VLeBook platform to other schools in the area. The books sent include award winning titles and will be much appreciated by our students and staff.
MUSIC July is undoubtedly our busiest month! The summer concert at Broxbourne Civic Hall saw some excellent performances from our ensembles and choirs, including the Primary Wind and Brass band and our adult choir Take Note. The following morning some of our dedicated musicians (and staff!) were back at school at 7.30am to travel to Birmingham for the national Music For Youth festival. Saxidentals directed by Clare Taylor were awarded a special certificate for achievement and innovation, testament to many hours of dedicated practice and some great choreography! Rock School took over the Corn Exchange for their summer gig last week, which also featured a guest appearance from the keyboard ensemble Afterwerk. Well done to all our performers and ensemble leaders who have worked so hard throughout the year to bring us so many memorable musical moments.
Our pianists and keyboard players enjoyed a masterclass with visiting musician Anna Markland, who had many tips and suggestions for improving performance – we look forward to seeing her ideas in practice at the next recital evening. We are rounding off the year with our final exam sessions. Well done to all those who took Trinity exams last week, results are below. Congratulations also to Emily Moore who was awarded a high merit in her recent grade 5 flute exam and to Elliot Carr on achieving a distinction in his grade 8 drums exam. Good luck to our musical theatre, diploma and Associated Board candidates whose results will be published in September. There will be a small increase in music tuition fees next term; termly invoices will now be £136 for 20 minute lessons, £198 for 30 minute lessons and £53 for Rock School. This continues to represent excellent value and is comparable with charging structures in other schools and Hertfordshire Music Service. The much-anticipated music tour departs on Wednesday, feel free to come along to wave us off at 6.30am as we set off for a busy concert schedule including performances at the Ghent music festival, Charleroi and Mons.
NAME ALEX MURPHY JOEL HASTINGS EMILY BAILEY BRUNO MCLEES LAURA BOLES ALEX KYRIACOU ALEX WILLLIS THOMAS FREDERIKSEN LIZZIE PICKUP LANE BORONTE MATTHEW PARRIS GEORGIA GRIFFITHS TOBY FLANAGAN JESS GRAY CHLOE HILL SARAH KENWAY ELLIE SHARP SHANNA HAYES MOLLY NESBITT-LARKING CAITLIN MASON LIZZIE PICKUP JAKE PRESTON EMILY MORTON CHARLOTTE ADAMS ALEX SALTER TOBY FORSTER JAMES MADELL
FORM 9A 8B 7L 7A 9L 11R 10R 9B 10A 11N 11R 12L 7R 8A 7B 10M 12B 8N 9R 10A 10A 9B 10N 13M 13B 9R 11L
INSTRUMENT CLARINET DRUM KIT DRUM KIT DRUM KIT FLUTE GUITAR GUITAR GUITAR GUITAR GUITAR GUITAR OBOE PIANO PIANO PIANO PIANO PIANO SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE SAXOPHONE TRUMPET TUNED PERCUSSION
GRADE 5 1 1 3 6 3 3 4 4 7 7 8 INITIAL 2 2 6 8 1 4 5 5 5 6 8 8 5 3
RESULT MERIT DISTINCTION MERIT PASS MERIT MERIT PASS PASS MERIT MERIT MERIT MERIT DISTINCTION MERIT PASS DISTINCTION MERIT MERIT MERIT PASS DISTINCTION PASS PASS MERIT DISTINCTION PASS MERIT
PE NEWS Girls Super 8 Cricket Competition The Year 9 and Year 10 girl’s cricket team completed in the County Super 8 Cricket Competition at Bishops Stortford Cricket Club. They won their pool group winning all matches against John Warner, Onslow St Audreys and Herts and Essex. The girls then went on to beat Queenswood in the semi-final and then met Herts and Essex again in the final. Next, the girls went on to represent Hertfordshire at the Regional Super 8 cricket competition at Springfield Cricket Club in Essex. They had two tough matches against Kent and Essex and then had a draw against Middlesex before a nail biting game losing to Norfolk by 2 runs. The girls then had a tough game against Surrey with a break for rain losing by 8 run but went on to win against Bedfordshire in their last match. They had a tough day of competition but improved with every match and demonstrated some great bowling all day and some clever batting in places. The girls finished 5th in the South East of England. This is an amazing achievement.
Boys Cricket District Cup Champions Our Year 7 boy’s team have had a very successful year and made it through to the District Cup Final against Richard Hale last Thursday. Captain Aiden Read won the toss and opted to bowl first. SBS couldn’t have asked for a better start – Alex Bartlam clean bowling the Hale opening batsman in the first over. More wickets were to follow with Owen Hedge and Aiden Read also finding the stumps. A good bowling display coupled with superb fielding and great teamwork and communication limited the opposition to 109 runs from their 20 overs. We got off to a steady start in reply and a fantastic innings of 38 runs from Archie Worrall – with six 4s – set them up nicely. However, with 5 overs left the wickets started to tumble. It was left to Aaron Hale and Owen Hedge to try to win the game and with only 2 balls left Owen hit the boundary that gave Simon Balle the District Cup! Well done to the boys who have worked so hard over the last term.
Nicky Morris Challenge 2015 The girls once again performed amazingly at the annual Nicky Morris competition at Wodson. Competing in Division 1 and for the first time since promotion in 2010 placed 2nd overall. Not only that but the Year 7 girls finished 2nd and the Senior girls 3rd. Outstanding performances from Louise Reilly in the 300m Hurdles and Niamh Hartnett in the Triple Jump, breaking the competition records. All girls played their part in such great results and the department are very proud.
The Bruce Longden Boys Athletics Challenge Recently the boys participated in the Bruce Longden Memorial Challenge. The competition consists of 2 Divisions with schools from the Lea Valley District as well as Essex and North Herts with Simon Balle competing in Division 1. The boys performed fantastically against some very tough competition. Liam Gould won the Senior Long Jump with Patrick Tarry winning the High Jump in a school record of 1.70m. Dan Morton once again won the Javelin and has been one of our most consistent performers for the past 6 years. The Minor boys ended a very consistent year with good performances from Sam Veryard (2nd 200m), Will Gibbard (2nd 800m) and the Relay team running well to back up their silver at the Districts with a fine 3rd place. In the Junior boys Jean Nwahba won the Shot Putt title with another fine throw of over 10m. Jack Skelton also won a well-deserved gold in the 800m. However probably the performance of the day came from the 4 X 400m Junior boys team. George Jones led off bringing handing over to Jack Skelton in 2nd place. Jack ran strongly to hand over to Albert Nwahba in 3rd. Jean Nwahba ran the anchor leg leading after a great run from Albert and continued strongly to win by a big margin over Saffron Walden and Richard Hale. In the final results, the Junior and Senior Boys finished 2nd and the overall and the combined team finished 3rd only 10points behind Saffron Walden. Congratulations to all the boys after another fine year.
Simon Balle Sports Stars recognised at East Herts Awards On Tuesday night Simon Balle students were recognised for their sporting achievements this year at the East Herts Awards evening at Hertford Theatre. The Year 9 and 10 Girls Cricket team became county champions in March and went on to finish 5th in the South East of England. The Year 8 Boys won the County Sportshall Athletics Championships beating some strong schools on the day. Sean Ross-Gardner won the Wodson Park Trust East Herts Youth Coach of the Year Award. Finally, Lily Jones was nominated for a young leader’s award for her work throughout the year leading sessions for Year 7 students at after school and lunchtime athletics club.
County Golf Success Congratulations to Y10 student Harrison Coxshall (and his team mates) who recently retained the ‘George McPartlin Trophy’. Harrison’s score of 34 counted toward the impressive Hertfordshire total of 271. This resulted in a comfortable victory over Bedfordshire (251) and Essex (239). The players conducted themselves admirably, taking pride in wearing their county shirts and showing obvious delight in getting their hands on the trophy again.
PE Notice
Sports Presentation Evening takes place on Thursday 10th September 2015 at 6.30pm in the school hall. Invitations have now all gone out. Please return to Mrs Noblett as soon as possible.
Our Year in numbers – A Review 26 District / County Championship Teams across 7 Sports 16 individual District Athletics Champions Team Achievements Year 7 Girl’s Herts & Ware Hockey Champions Year 7/8 Girls County Athletics League Plate Finalists Year 7 Boys Lea Valley Cricket Champions Year 7 Boys Emerging Schools District Rugby Champions Year 8 Boys – Last 32 in National Football Cup Year 8 Boys 6-a-side Lea Valley Football Champions Year 8 Boys Emerging Schools District & County Rugby Champions Year 8 Boys Herts & Ware Sportshall Athletics Champions Year 8 Boys County Sportshall Athletics Champions Year 7/8 Boys County Athletics League Cup Finalists Year 9 Boys LVSSA Basketball Champions Year 9 Boys LVSSA Tennis Champions Year 9/10 Boys County Athletics League Plate Finalists Year 10/11 Boys LVSSA Cross Country Champions Year 10 Girl’s 6-aside Lea Valley Football Champions Year 10 Girls LVSSA Combined Sportshall Athletics Champions Year 9/10 Girl’s County Cricket Champions Year 11 Girls 11 a-side Lea Valley Football Champions Year 11 Girls 6-a-side Lea Valley Football Champions U16 Girls County Football Champions Senior Girls 6-a-side Lea Valley Football Champions Senior Boys 6-a-side Lea Valley Football Champions Minor Combined District Athletics Champions Senior Girls District Athletics Champions Combined Girls District Athletics Champions OVERALL DISTRICT ATHLETICS CHAMPIONS
NCS Program Hello, We are a group of young people participating in the National Citizen Service (NCS) program - this is a four week program in which young people learn new skills to enable them to plan and deliver a social action project. For the social action project, our NCS group are putting on a fun day in Hertford on Thursday 23rd July 2015 further details can be found in the poster attached to this email. All proceeds from the event will be going to a local charity called Mudlarks who support anyone over the age of 16 who has mental health or learning difficulties. To support Mudlarks our NCS group are also volunteering next week in their allotments by helping in all aspects of gardening. The money raised will go towards helping the organisers of Mudlarks to continue their fantastic work by supplying them with new tools and resources. I am emailing to kindly ask you to circulate our poster (which is attached) within your school for all children, young people, families and staff members to hear about our event. EVERYONE IS WELCOME!! So please come along to join the fun next week. If any further information is needed, please feel free to contact this email directly. Kind regards, Owen Hussey East Herts NCS Participant