Monday 26th March
Dear Families We are fast approaching the end of the Spring term with unusually recent memories of snow and bitter cold weather. Hopefully warmer days are on their way! Despite this, several trips have taken place including Year 1 to Parndon Park in Harlow and Year 2 to Windsor castle. This week it is the turn of the geographers. All parents and friends might be very interested to learn of a recent letter received which confirmed just how well Simon Balle All- through School did in last summer’s exams. Indeed, this was the second year running when, as you will know, we out -performed local schools at GCSE level (see league tables) and also have achieved national recognition! SSAT (The Schools, Students and Teachers network) is a nationally recognised leading education organisation. “Dear Alison Saunders, Congratulations to you and everyone at your school on your excellent performance last year. At SSAT we believe it’s important to celebrate and share the success stories of schools across the network who have gone above and beyond, so I’m delighted to announce that your school has won two SSAT Educational Outcomes awards: your school is in the top in the top 10% of non-selective schools nationally for attainment and progress in the 2017 end of KS4 examinations. This is based on your students’ best 8 average point scores at key stage 4. Your third award recognises your success in achieving high levels of performance for your students eligible for the pupil premium.” This success is once again down to so many people and demonstrates how academically we are one of the best schools in Hertfordshire. We shall collect our awards with immense pride. Thank you too for all your support this term. We have noticed that many families have continued to suffer from flu and colds and so we wish everyone a happy, healthy Easter break, able to return to school refreshed and energised for the summer term. Alison Saunders, Headteacher
Dates for your Diary Monday 26th March - Y10 geography field trips Tuesday 27th March - Reception trip to Paradise Wildlife Park Wednesday 28th March - Stevenson’s uniform sale 3.00pm to 5.30pm Thursday 29th March - End of term (early finish) Monday 16th April - Term starts Thursday 19th April – Y7 Parents evening Friday 20th April - Haworth trip Saturday 21st April - Wind and brass concert Thursday 3rd May - Y12 Parents Evening Monday 7th May - Bank Holiday Friday 25th May - Sixth Form Ball Monday 28th May - Friday 1st June - Half Term Friday 8th June (7-10pm) - PSA Pamper and shopping night
World Down Syndrome Day—Odd Socks Y13 Health and Social Care students have been researching into campaigns and decided they would like to raise awareness for World Down Syndrome Day which is celebrated on Wednesday 21st March. The students invited sixth form and students to wear odd or funky socks to school. They also posted 21 socks around the sixth block each with information about different organisations on each one. Everyone looked fantastic in their funky socks. Thank you to the Y13 Health and Social Care students and Mr Klippel for organising the day. PSA Pamper Night—Save the Date The Simon Balle PSA are organising a Ladies Pamper and Shopping Night on Friday 8th June, 7pm to 10pm. More details to follow in April. If you have any small, unused samples of beauty products e.g. Moisturiser, shampoo, body lotion, perfume, please would you kindly consider donating them to the PSA, to make gift bags. Please bring this to the main school front office. Recycled Uniform The PSA sell good quality recycled secondary school uniform, very cheaply at all Secondary Parents Evenings from approximately 4:45 to 7:30 pm. The next Recycled Uniform Sales will be on April 19th May 3rd Alternatively, if you can't make these evenings to choose your uniform, please email us at psa@simonballepsa.org.uk with your uniform needs, size, and contact details and we will try to do some personal shopping for you to collect and pay for at Reception or via your child.
Sports Relief Friday 23rd March marked Sport Relief and we at Simon Balle All-through School did our bit to help raise money for sporting projects across the UK and the rest of the world by holding a non-uniform day and running a mile! For the whole week Mr Brennan held assemblies to promote Sport Relief and raise the importance of sport and physical activities. All students contributed at least ÂŁ2 to sports relief as well as running the Sports Relief mile. It was great to see the Larch centre students all participating with Mr Norcross and Larch centre staff pacing the students around the course. Assemblies took place in the week prior to the event to promote the day where the students learned that just 60 minutes of exercise a day can help reduce stress and anxiety, lower the risk of depression and increase your self esteem! The fastest mile of the day was run by national athlete Trixie Wraith in a time of 5mins 31secs. Fastest male was Joel Hastings running a time of 5mins 45secs. During lunch-time a staff versus students volley ball competition took place in the gym. Well done to all who participated on the day, we raised a fantastic ÂŁ1937.59.
Science Week Science week 2018 has seen a range of students engaged in a variety of activities. Monday saw students dissecting owl pellets to determine the owls' diets and building density towers. Tuesday was the annual Y7 inter house egg race competition. Well done to Marie who made the Safest Racer, Sophie who made the Most Stylish Racer, Max for making the Fastest Racer and Saffia for the Most Scientific Plan. On Wednesday students studied thermal decomposition and states of matter by making honey comb and ice-cream, which is always a student favourite. The Royal Veterinary Collage came in on Thursday to give students a chance to develop their veterinary skills. Students were given a chance to practise bandaging, learn how to put on scrubs before surgery, perform sutures, and interpret x-rays and ultrasound scans. It was great to see budding doctors and vets developing some skills early. Science week ended with a bang, secondary students were treated to a chemistry 'wizz bang' where students could watch some of their favourite chemistry demonstrations. The primary school got to test out their rocket designs on the field. The designs were very impressive and went huge distances up into the air.
We would also like to congratulate the three teams who went to the National Big Bang Competition, all three teams made it through to the second round of judging and wowed judges with the confident and passionate way they explained their projects. Students also had a chance to explore the event and could discuss with scientists some of the latest STEM developments. A great event for inspiring the next generation of scientists.
PE News - March Sport at Simon Balle is usually quite hectic during March however this March was one of the busiest ever and probably one of the most successful throughout a wide range of sports and across all year groups from basketball to hockey, rugby, cricket and athletics. Rugby In Boys rugby the year 10 boys reached the final of the County Shield by beating St Mary’s in the semi final. In the final the boys were up against a strong John Warner team who on the night got a quick start over the boys from Simon Balle and unfortunately our boys lost out by a couple of tries 15-33. On the same night our year 10 girls played in the county hockey finals and played amazingly well reaching the final, More on this to follow. Our Year 10 Girls rugby team also competed in the recent county rugby finals performing very well to finishing third overall. School Games Final The School Games finals also took place last week and we were involved in County Handball and Sportshall finals. The Year 10 handball team reached the semi finals. In the sportshall finals our Year 7 girls and Year 8 boys were representing Herts & Ware after both teams won the District Sportshall league. The Year 7 girls finished 3rd overall with the Year 8 boys finishing 4th in the county, well done to both teams. On the day a big well done must also go to the 20 Simon Balle Leaders who assisted in running the event. This was the fourth event they participated in and they have have done a fantastic job throughout all competitions.
Cross Country Simon Balle hosted the District Cross Country Championships on Thursday 15th March. The Year 7 boys, Year 7 girls and junior boys teams all won silver medals on the day. Trixie Wraith continued her great form this season winning the open girls race and she was followed in by Elspeth Grace. In the Junior girls Kathryn Rollins became district champion and was closely followed by her sister Emily. Alexander Harley finished in the top 10 in the junior boys race, a great performance in his first race for the school.
Basketball The Year 7 basketball team had a great month winning all their games to become district champions. At county level the Year 9 boys qualified for the plate finals and had a resounding win in the semi-final against Monks Walk. They then played against Beaumont in the final and put in a great display, just falling away in the last quarter to lose out by 8 points. Samuel Trapp had a game high 28pts after a strong performance.
Football News The year 10 boys reached the final of the district cup for the second year in a row and played Haileybury Turnford yet again in a very close match. With just under 10 mins to go Anthony Corbett took to the field and scored to make it 1-0. The boys held on displaying grit and determination to become the first Simon Balle team to win 2 consecutive District cups.
The year 7 boys football team reached the semifinals and were beaten by a very strong Richard Hale team and losing out 5-0. The Year 9 boys football team lost to Haileybury Turnford in a closely contested match at the quarter final stage. Well done to all teams this year and especially well done to all the students who participated including goals in all or Saturday fixtures common District Cup, county cup on National Cup fixtures.
Hockey News Following an unbeaten performance in the county league, the U15 girls’ hockey team earned themselves a spot in the finals. On Wednesday 14th March, the team faced Royal Masonic School in the semi-final and if successful would end the evening with a final against either Hitchin or St Francis. The girls struggled to find their rhythm at the beginning of the match and despite some fantastic saves by Tilly Day, found themselves 2-0 down after the first half. At half time the girls were disappointed with their performance and were determined to turn things around in the final 20 minutes of the game. Some good leadership and positivity from defenders Phoebe Evans and Georgina Buchan got the team off to a good start and within minutes Simon Balle had scored their first goal. Captain, Emily Palmer, worked well with Kathryn and Emily Rollins in the middle of the pitch and found gaps in the RMS defence. Simon Balle won a couple of short corners and eventually Niamh Hartnett found the backboard to bring the score to 2-2. From here the girls picked up momentum and Niamh Hartnett scored another 3 goals in the final 10 minutes to finish the game at 5-2. The final saw Simon Balle up against St Francis, a team they had beaten 2-1 earlier in the year. The girls played well as a team and had numerous opportunities to score in the first half which were blocked by some good saves and a strong St Francis defence. St Francis converted 2 opportunities and the first half ended at 2-0. Simon Balle went back onto the pitch knowing that they had the ability to come back from this position. Within minutes Simon Balle suffered 3 injuries to take the team down to 10 players for the final half. Despite excellent resilience the girls were not able to capitalize on their chances and the game finished at 3 -0. A fantastic season for the team with some amazing hockey played by both Year 10 and Year 9 students. Well done girls!
County Cricket success A big congratulations to the under 15 girls cricket team who earlier in the year qualified for the Herts Lady Taverners finals winning their district competition convincingly. Last Thursday the girls competed at the county finals at the Herts University Sports Complex. The girl performed very well winning all their games to become county champions and now they will represent Hertfordshire at the Regional championships towards the end of April in Surrey.