Thursday 28th June A big thank you to all those parents, ex staff and ex Governors who have emailed messages, sent cards or stopped me in my tracks to not only express their congratulations for achieving the highest category a school can achieve nationally from Ofsted but also to say why they think it is so rightly deserved. It continues to humble me when I hear your stories of how your child has benefitted from what both the school and individual staff do each day for the children; how they inspire them, care for them, help them to achieve and set such high goals. When I was appointed Head at Simon Balle 21 years ago this was my vision: to ensure that each child was known as an individual, cared for as an individual, accepted for who they are and believe in what they can be. Every child deserves the very best education and the very best of opportunities to grow and learn how to be an active world citizen. Thank you too for keeping us informed of those hundreds of young people who have now left Simon Balle and have gone on to do such great things. And of course I had no idea 21 yeas later we would be seeing this taking place for 5 year old children here at Simon Balle! I would also like to mention our wonderful sixth form as some of you have asked about this. Inspectors arrive at school with a hypothesis and then pursue lines of enquiry. Our GCSE results have, over the past few years, been the best locally, within Hertfordshire and indeed nationally particularly when viewed within our context. The challenge then for all schools with sixth forms is to ensure that this progress continues to be as strong as the students take their level 3 exams. Our GCSE results were judged to be “well above average” whilst our 16-19 results, “average”. Indeed this is similar again to many local schools and others in Hertfordshire. A number of factors come into play at this stage including the fact that we want to encourage a more inclusive sixth form. I have many conversations with parents about next steps after GCSEs; this is a difficult time and the options locally are limited and not always of good quality. We are always looking to achieve more as we work with both parents and students to raise aspirations and to support them in their study.
So in the words of some of our Year 2 children when talking about the Ofsted visit: “the judges came and awarded us the top marks. The sixth form got one mark less, but overall we were the winners!” And talking of winners. I do hope you are reading our posts on the website- a number of winners from handwriting, sport (in particular cricket, both girls and boys), maths, and lots more. Dates for your Diary Thursday 28th –29th June - Sixth Form induction Friday 29th June - Y11 Awards Evening Sunday 1st July - Summer Concert, Saffron Hall Monday 2nd July - Author event - Library Y7 and 8 HPV Injections Tuesday 3rd July - Art Exhibition Thursday 5th July - Sports Presentation Evening Saturday 7th July - Slice of Summer Fete Monday 9th July - Sports Afternoon, early lunch Wednesday 11th July - New Y7 Parents Evening PSA Second Hand Uniform Sale 4pm-6pm Thursday 12th July - Transition Day (new Y7 students) Awards Evening Friday 13th July - Non Uniform Day in aid of the school Library Music Tour Leaves Monday 16th July - Larch Open evening 5pm-7pm Tuesday 17th July - Stevensons uniform sale (3pm-8pm dining room) Thorpe Park trip for Rib students Friday 20th July - End of Term (details to follow) Monday 3rd September - INSET Tuesday 4th September - INSET Wednesday 5th September—All students in school school photos for Y7and Y11
PSA Any good quality second hand school uniform would be gratefully received by the PSA to raise funds for your school. The Parent and Staff Association (PSA) will be selling very low cost Recycled Uniform before Yr 7 Transition Day evening talks on Wednesday 11th July from 4pm to 6pm.
KS3 Grading Questionnaire Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to complete our survey about the KS3 Grading Scheme. The comments that people have been leaving for the final question are really interesting and will help us to make things clearer for everybody. The survey will remain open until 6 July, so if you would still like to respond you can do so by clicking on the following link https://goo.gl/ forms/1oEmsqu2bcKzKaGP2. Many Thanks Mr Ayres and Mr Pooley
Car parking Please do not drive through Balls Park and /or park on the exit road. Over 20 cars were parked there this week which caused an obstruction for residents trying to leave the park. Harrisons Lane and the road outside White Lodge are also area where parking is not allowed. Please, if you have to drive, use the park and stride next to the fire station. We want to maintain our good relationship with our neighbours and recently we have received more complaints. We are looking to make improvements over the summer holidays which we hope will help to alleviate the situation but in the meantime we would like to thank you for your co-operation in this matter. A reminder that our next non-uniform day on Friday 13th July is to raise money for libray improvements. Library Matters Tickets are on sale for our upcoming author event in the main Library on Monday 2 July 4-5pm. Emily Thomas will be promoting her exciting new book 'Mud'. This book has been given 5 Stars in the Telegraph Book Reviews section on Saturday 23 June. £1 tickets are available from symej@simonballe.herts.sch.uk and there is a £1 voucher with the ticket redeemable against the price of a book on the afternoon (£6 instead of £7.99 RRP). We look forward to welcoming students, parents, carers, staff etc. -If you have a few minutes please would you nominate our School Library in this draw (link below) to win £5,000 worth of free books. You might also win £100 of book tokens. We could be lucky! Thanks in advance. https://www.nationalbooktokens.com/schools#.WyjKElVKiUk Mrs. J. Syme (Librarian)
PE News Athletics News
Congratulations to the U14 Boys who became County League divisional Champions after beating Hitchin boys to the overall awards by only 3 points.
The boys now compete on Tuesday 3rd July in the Cup final at Jarman Park, Hemel from 2pm onwards. Throughout the league the boys had some consistently outstanding performers, mainly Matt Mills and Tyrese Davies. Throughout the 6 rounds Matt (hurdles & pole vault) and Tyrese (300m) were unbeaten, well done to both boys. The U16 Boys also finished 8th overall in their competition and have qualified for the County Plate Final which takes place, this coming Monday 2nd July at Jarman Park, Hemel from 2pm onwards. The U14 girls finished 13th with a strong group of Year 7 girls which bodes well for next year as well as this weeks District competition.
The U16 girls finished 11th, only 21 points off qualifying for the Plate final.
County Athletics Championships The County Athletics Championships took place at Jarman Park on Saturday 9th June. We had a strong team of athletes representing the school. Congratulations to Trixie Wraith who won the U17 Girls 800m to become County Champion and qualify for the English Schools in Birmingham (July 13th & 14th). She ran her usual strong race, leading all the way and winning comfortably in the end. We wish Trixie good luck at the Nationals. Tyrese Davies (U15 300m) and Matt Mills (U15 hurdles) both made finals and finished 7th & 8th in their respective events. Well done to the boys as they are still in this age-group next year. In the U15 Boys Callum Stern placed 5th in the hurdles. Niamh Smith & Jess Tappin ran well in the Y7 800m finishing 4th & 7th respectively. Lily Harrison-Stokoe finished 7th in the 1500m and these were just some of the performances that took place, well done to all who participated on the day.
We have a very busy month of athletics coming up and below are our remaining competitions District Athletics Championships – Fri 29th June County League Plate Final – U16 Boys (Jarman Park) – Mon 2nd July County League Cup Final – U14 Boys (Jarman Park) – Tues 3rd July District Combined events – Weds 4th July Sports Day – Mon 9th July The 2018 Nicky Morris Challenge Inter-School Challenge for Girls – Thurs 12th July The 2018 Bruce Longden Memorial Inter-School Challenge for Boys – Tues 17th July
Cricket Congratulations to the Y10 Cricket team who have had a fantastic season progressing all the way to yesterday’s County final where they lost out to a very strong St. Albans Boys team. However on the way to the final the team saw off teams of the calibre of Hitchin Boys and Dame Alice Owens. The team now are still competitive in the District competition and play Levanthorpe in the semi-finals. District Cricket The Year 7-10 Boys District competition is now entering the knock out stages where Year 7, 8 & 10 Boys teams have reached the semi-final stage, with fixtures as follows; Year 7 Boys v Broxbourne (A) – Mon 9th July Year 8 Boys v Chauncy (H) – TBC Year 10 Boys v Levanthorpe (H) - TBC Boys Calypso Cricket Year 7-10 boys competed at the annual Calypso Cricket Tournament and the results were as follows; Year 7 – Plate runners-up Year 8 – Plate winners Year 9 – Plate runners up Year 10 – Overall Cup winners U13 girls finished runners up in the Plate final at Calypso Cricket The girls played really well and the U13's in only their second big tournament made the Shield Final, finishing runners up only narrowly missing out on the win to John Warner.
U15 Girls won the Cup Final being crowned Calypso Champions
The U15 girls won their pool comfortably meeting Freman Collegein the Semi finals. After beating Freman College, they made it through to the Cup Final and faced a strong Chauncy side. The girls displayed some excellent batting and fielding, with Elsa really showcasing her elite cricket skills, helping the girls secure the victory and win Calypso Cricket.
U15 Girls won Chance to Shine Cricket winners: In the U15 Chance to Shine competition the girls were crowned winners beating a strong team from Tring School in the final. The girls were superb and hit 123 runs which left Tring too much to do when they come in to bat. The girls are now heading to the regional event which will be held in Loughborough where they will be representing Hertfordshire.
Rounder’s News Year 9s were crowned District Rounder’s Champions: District Rounders Tournament held at Chauncy. The girls played extremely well and with their fantastic fielding skills, all of the opposing teams struggled to gain good enough scores to beat us. Beating Chauncy in the semis led to a nail biting final against our rivals Presdales. However, after a tense game the girls held their nerve and took the win being crowned District Champions. Also congratulations to the Y10 girls who also won their District tournament at St Mary’s.
Tennis Champions Well done to the Year 8, 9 & 10 Boys teams who won the District Tennis championships in June. The boys went on to represent East Herts at the County Tennis Finals at Queenswood School. They all performed well with the Y8 & Y9’s finishing 3rd and Y10s finishing 4th.
Congratulations to Jack who made the GB American Football Squad
Results Dates! GCE Thursday 16th August 8.30am—A2 Results Thursday 16th August 9.30am—AS Results If any students have any questions or concerns regarding University places, please contact Mr Taylor on taylorm@simonballe.herts.sch.uk Members of staff from the sixth form will be in school on Friday 17th August until 1pm
GCSE Thursday 23rd August 9.30am: Year 11 Results—students need to confirm their A Level choices with a member of staff as soon as they receive their results. If you are not available to collect your results, students need to contact the exams office for further information. If you are not able to confirm your A Level choices in person please email Mr Coy on coye@simonballe.herts.sch.uk Thursday 23rd August 10.30am to 11.30am—Year 10 Results NB: it is not compulsory for Year 10 to collect their results results will be available when you return to school in September. CERTIFICATES WILL BE READY FOR COLLECTION FROM MONDAY 5TH NOVEMBER