21st March 2017
What a week! It all started with the letter from the Department for Education, signed by Nick Gibb. We received this as our results last year (summer 2016) placed us in the top 5% of schools in the country in terms of the progress made by our students from KS2 and KS4. A huge thank you to those parents who took the time to email in, adding their congratulations and also stating why they are so pleased with Simon Balle. Messages from parents from sixth form to reception; do keep those coming in! This is a special school, where community and ethos is at the heart of all we do, alongside high standards from all students and a focus upon academic excellence. Swift on the tail of this was the arrival of the lambs in reception (do look at the photos) as part of their learning about mammals. On Wednesday Dame Alison Peacock visited us. Some of you may remember or know Alison as parent at Simon Balle, Deputy at Wheatcroft, Head at Wroxham Primary, neighbour in Hertford, or more recently Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching. Debretts named Alison as one of the 500 most influential people in education. Alison came to visit our Larch Centre and was delighted with the ethos, learning and environment. Alison was particularly charmed when one young student spontaneously sang her a song in Spanish to demonstrate her knowledge and understanding of the days of the week! Science week is always a huge event at Simon Balle, and no less this year. Nine students attended the national Big Bang event in Birmingham, having won local competitions. This is a very special event as it is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK. Last year it had over 70,000 visitors. Our students loved the event and although this year were not prizewinners achieved well. Here at home, we enjoyed a variety of events from making honeycomb to dissections by the Royal Veterinary College of chickens, foxes and pythons!