THIS ISSUE:
30th January 2015 This week has been “Challenge” week at Simon Balle and hopefully you have not only read about how teachers have set challenges within lessons but that the students themselves have relayed examples to you at home. Obviously as teachers we try and challenge our students all the time, but what we have tried to do is to think very carefully about the level of challenge and build in the expectation that to struggle and fail is in fact good news. It is, of course, in overcoming problems and finding solutions that we grow as learners. My year 7s were given the challenge of planning, cooking and preparing an ambitious cooked breakfast to include the hob, oven, electrical equipment, fruit, vegetables, you name it all. They had an hour! It was great to not only see the variety (muffins, traditional pancakes, hotcakes, smoothies, baked eggs, fried breakfast etc) but also the presentation and skills. We are all very familiar with the concepts of reading, spelling and numeracy ages, but an article I was reading mentioned the idea of a “cooking age”. Talking with others schools, I really believe that our students are not typical in their level of skill and that by promoting high expectations, creating a passion and enthusiasm for cooking and using skill development, their “cooking” ages are far beyond age expectation! This is indeed an important skill for life. The newsletter as usual will give you a flavour of so much that is happening and all of this is only possible with your great support and commitment. So, a big thank you!
Introduction Non Uniform Day Year 7 Castle Competition Holocaust Memorial Day Freddie Knoller Hertfordshire Memorial Day Year 9 Options Challenge Week Science Update Smartcards and ParentPay ICT Support for Primary Schools MFL Young Leaders Library News Music PE PSA news UniFest DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: Term Dates Spring Term : Half Term :
Summer Term : 20th Apr to 22nd Jul Half Term : 25th-29th May February Mon 2nd to Fri 6th :
Year 12 exams
Fri 6th :
Non-uniform day
Wed 11th :
Year 7 Humanities trip
Thurs 12th :
String Recitals and UCAS talk at 7pm
Wed 25th :
Year 10 Art Trip
Thurs 26th:
Year 13 RE Trip and Year 13 Parents Evening
March Mon 2nd :
Alison Saunders Non Uniform Days As usual there are two non-uniform days this term. Our first will be held on Friday 6th February in aid of cancer charities Our second non-uniform day will be on Red Nose Day on Friday 13th March.
5th Jan to 2nd April 16th-20th Feb
Full Governing Body Meeting at 7pm
Thurs 5th :
Year 12 Parents Evening
Fri 6th :
Big Band Evening at 7.45pm
Thurs 12-14th :
Year 13 Geography Trip
Fri 13th :
Non Uniform Day
History Castle Competition Year 7 impressed both the staff and students at SBS with the quality of their castles which were gathered together in the school hall this month. They have been studying William the Conqueror and his use of castles to maintain control in Medieval England. Students have learnt about and considered the effectiveness of both Motte and Bailey and Stone Keep castles. They were then given the Christmas holidays to create a castle entry for the house competition. The categories for the competition were: Best Castle Model Best Castle Cake Best Castle Artwork The winners were as follows: Best Model
Best Cake
Best Artwork
Ashbourne
Freddie Welch
Chloe Weir
Hannah Southall
Beane
Lucy Martin
Jazmine Bareham
Eloise Oakes
Lea
Charlotte Ansell
Alfie Joy
James Milroy
Mimram
Nayeli TallisRodriques
Louis Cripps
Chloe Carter
New
Nathan Ramos
Alice Martin
Ernie Dial
Rib
Toby Madhlangobe Emma West
Overall Winners Model = Nathan Ramos 7N Cake = Louis Cripps 7M Artwork = James Milroy 7L Well done to everyone that entered! The castles were all superb!
Niamh Hartnett
Holocaust Memorial Day This year marks 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the end of Nazi persecution of the Jewish population of Europe. As a school, we have commemorated with assemblies by our two 'Lessons from Auschwitz' ambassadors, Alex Thompson and Alex Delameilleure in years 12 and 13. They have encaptured the essence of this year's theme 'keeping the memory alive' through images and stories of the memorials that commemorate the holocaust and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. On Tuesday, our year 9s spent the whole day learning about one particular family, the Greenmans, who unexpectedly became victims of the Holocaust. They learnt about Leon Greenman, and his life after the Holocaust; his dedication to fighting prejudice and discrimination despite ingoing persecution from right-wing extremists. In the afternoon, the students put everything they had learnt into producing a mural to raise awareness across school of the lessons learnt. The winning form entry will be announced next week. A huge well done to year 9s on tackling such a challenging topic with interest, sensitivity and hard work. Thank you as well to all the teachers involved in running the day. We hope to continue 'keeping the memory alive' for many years to come.
Freddie Knoller’s War You may have seen the BBC2 programme on January 22 which told the astonishing story of Freddie Knoller. Freddie is an incredible man who we have been lucky enough to meet twice in the last year as he has visited Simon Balle to speak to our 6th formers about his experiences. Born in 1921, Freddie was forced to abandon his family and flee Vienna in November 1938 when the Nazis arrived. His journey took him, among many other places, to Paris, where he earned a living guiding the Nazis around the less salubrious parts of the city. He fought in the French Resistance where he was involved in operations on German troop trains and following his capture in 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was held for almost two years. It was a privilege to listen to Freddie’s story while he was in school and his positivity in the face of the most horrendous adversity was an inspiration to all who heard him speak. The programme is still available on iPlayer and his book ‘Living with the Enemy’ is a fascinating and humbling account of his life.
Hertfordshire Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration 2015 On the evening of Thursday 29th January I attended the Hertfordshire Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration at St Joan of Arc Catholic School in Rickmansworth. This was a very large event with over four hundred guests and contributions from thirteen different schools in the western area of the county. We were privileged to have one of the seventy specially commissioned memorial candles, which have been sent to key events across the UK. The Hertfordshire candle was lit by a Holocaust survivor to mark the opening of the ceremony. There were representatives from all the major religious faiths as well as students, parents, friends and council officials. The evening included responses to the challenging topic of genocide in the form of dance, drama, readings and music. As well as the Holocaust of the Second World War, other genocides such as Rwanda, Darfur and Srebrenica were also reflected upon. A key part of the evening was the personal testimony of Nelly Ben-Or Clynes, a Jewish woman of Polish birth who had to flee from Poland as a small girl with her mother and sister, escaping from the ghetto where her family had been forced to live. Her father was taken and killed but she and her mother and sister escaped by getting false identity papers, helped by a non-Jewish doctor and nurse who arranged for them (and others) to leave. At one point she had to share a train compartment with some German SS officers who placed their army coat over her to keep her warm, not knowing she was a Jew trying to escape. Settling in the UK, she grew up and became a music teacher at the Guildhall School of Music in London. The evening was thought-provoking and very sombre, but there was also an emphasis on hope for the future and the importance of passing on the memories of those who may not be with us for much longer. A painting of the tree outside the house of Anne Frank, mentioned in her diary, is shown. This painting is called ‘Anne had no time to blossom’ and the artist, Cindy Lass, writes: ‘Anne was never given the opportunity to blossom and grow….Please enjoy this painting and let us appreciate our life together and be kind and understanding to all’. Liz Ellis Deputy Headteacher
Year 9 Options Year 9 are approaching the time when they make crucial decisions about their GCSE choices and look ahead to starting Key Stage Four. This week parents are receiving letters inviting them to attend the Options Evening on Wednesday 11th March at 7pm. At that meeting the options booklets will be issued and important information given. As in previous years, senior staff will also be offering a one-to-one interview with every student and their parents/carers on the evenings of Tuesday 17th or Thursday 19th March. There are changes this year with new GCSEs in English and Maths and a new number grading system, from 1-9, replacing letter grades in those core subjects. Other GCSEs will change next year. We will work hard to ensure that parents and students understand the choices ahead of them and get the high quality information, advice and guidance they need. Liz Ellis Deputy Headteacher
Challenge Week! This week sees the students and staff continuing to explore our whole school teaching and learning drive for this academic year of challenge. Students had assemblies last week to explain the importance of experiencing failure in the learning process in order to go on to achieve further success. They were also spoken to about the essential learning skills that they need to adopt when facing challenges in their learning - the need to be resilient, resourceful and reflective. Teachers are planning really challenging and engaging learning opportunities for the students throughout the week in order to help students develop their decision-making, problem solving and collaborative skills as these are key strategies when tackling complex tasks. At the end of the week we will be speaking to some students to gain feedback about how they were challenged in their learning and the strategies that they needed to use when they found themselves in the "Learning Pit".
The week has got off to a good start with Year 8 attempting Year 12 AS questions in Science, other Year 8 students using clay for the first time in Art and Year 7 students having to use Pythagoras to solve mathematical problems. Oliver Moore was heard to say "this is impossible" when tackling his maths challenge, but kept on working. Well done Oliver. Miss Ahmet was busy preparing her challenge sticks over the weekend in preparation for the week. Challenge week has been such a success—we have had so many posts from staff to include on our website, that you will probably see them appear right up until half term!
Science Update Egg-citing times in the Science department…….. When asked to make a machine to race an egg for homework you might wonder if it is elaborate practical joke, or perhaps an error on Show My Homework. However, this is what all our Y7 scientists were challenged to do. They rose to the challenge producing some fantastic results, including zip wires, programmed Lego, catapults and several homemade cars. Not only where models superb and pupils enjoyed racing them, they showed good understanding of forces involved with explanations and diagrams. Also, this was the first Y7 house competition in Science. Preliminary heats have taken place in lessons and winning machines from each house have been chosen. These have already achieved house points for their houses. The Great Egg Race final is due to take place next week on Wednesday 4th February at lunchtime in S3, where there will be final races to determine the fastest, and a vote for most stylish and safest.
Science week is back with a vengeance this year from the 16-20th of March. This will include several more house competitions, lunchtime activities including a ‘potions’ lesson, honeycomb making, biomechanics demonstrations, trips and much more.
Teachmeets Next week staff will take part in a teachmeet focused on the use of digital technologies and learning. With the start of our iPad programme, it is essential that staff (like students) see themselves as learners developing their digital skills. At the teachmeet there will be the chance for those who have made good use of digital technologies to share their experience and spark ideas for us all. I will feedback on the event in the next newsletter and also give some information about how student digital leaders will develop in the summer term.
Andy Grantham
Smartcards All purchases in the canteen can only be made via smartcard. Smartcards can be credited via parentpay, cash or cheque payable to Simon Balle School. Students can use a maximum of ÂŁ6 per day. As the canteen tills do not inform students of a low balance, students do need to keep an eye on the balance themselves. If students need to replace their smartcards, there is a charge of ÂŁ3.50 for a new card. Once an old card is reported as lost or faulty it will become inactive and cannot be used again. If you have any enquires regarding smartcards or purchases, please speak to the Catering Manager. Thank you. Lorraine Gregory
We would like to encourage all parents to use our online payment system, www.parentpay.com ParentPay can be used to top up dinner cards, pay for school trips and music lessons. If you need any help accessing your account please email finance@simonballe.herts.sch.uk Mary Haines, Finance Officer
ICT Support in Local Primary Schools Our Network Team are hard at work this time of year not only managing the Simon Balle Network, but also supporting local primary schools in Hertford and Ware. We currently offer outreach support to seven different primary schools all with varying needs and requirements. Our technicians not only manage and advise the schools on ICT infrastructure, but they also help train staff and teach the students during ICT lessons. This provides excellent links when year 6 students make the move into the Simon Balle community. With our own primary school students joining Simon Balle in September, our Network Team have the experience and skills to ensure ICT is delivered to the highest standards.
MFL Young Leaders 20th January 2015 Richard Taylor Forty Y10 MFL Young Leaders visited Abel Smith, Mill Mead, Bengeo, Wheatcroft and Morgans primary schools on Thursday 15th January and gave French, German and Spanish languages lessons to KS2 pupils. Our students were, as ever, enthusiastic and brilliantly delivered their lessons to the younger pupils – they were also able to find out what life is like on the ‘other side’ of the whiteboard! They now look forward to their 2nd placements in April and the Annual Festival of Languages which is being held at Simon Balle in July. Here are some quotations from their evaluations: “It was a bit intimidating in front of the children, but all of them listened and I really enjoyed it…..I think we were teaching at the right level of the Year 3s and with lots of praise and enthusiasm they all really got involved. “ (Sarah Kenway) “We all entered Wheatcroft feeling nervous, not knowing how the (KS2) students would behave. The lessons went well and we did everything we wanted to and even had some time to answer the children’s questions about secondary school. “ (Nathan Monaghan) “I was nervous at first to be put into a teaching position, but got use to it after the first couple of groups…..You should praise them when they progress and cooperate with the lesson you are delivering, but you shouldn’t over-praise, always leave room for improvement. “ (Lizzie Pickup) “It was exhausting but rewarding as it felt like they were actually learning from us.” (Rose Shepherd) “When watching the teacher I learnt to talk in a calm way and to listen to them. I felt confident as they were younger and listened to me. My activities worked, however the timing was different each time.” (Rachel Bell) “I thought it was really good for us to learn how it is for the teachers to teach primary age children. It was also a confidence booster for me as I had to talk! “ (India-Mae Doe)
Library News Are you getting the most from your local public library? This is just to remind you that Hertfordshire Libraries have an increasing number of eBooks and audiobooks as well as printed material. Also, there is a vast array of online resources available to all members free of charge. Databases such as The Times Digital Archive and the Dictionary of National Biography are accessible to all members of the library service 24/7. For more details please go to http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/libraries/ online/onlinereflib/ We do encourage all our students and staff to become members to support their teaching and learning and there is a form online at https://herts.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/OPAC/JOIN Please note that a smartphone App is currently being developed for Herts Libraries so that all public library members can access the Oxford English Dictionary and Britannica more easily and free of charge. Earn House Points by Reviewing Books Our Library now displays book reviews in our new promotion rails on the Fiction shelves. We offer students one House Point every time they review a book – whether it be fiction or non-fiction. Please email your reviews to library@simonballe.herts.sch.uk Here is one of our first entries: Binny for Short by Hilary McKay Binny for Short is a great book, It has a sad beginning but a great ending. The book follows Binny whose life was turned upside down when her father died but soon her luck changed..... For Y7+ By Katherine Searle 8L Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel This week staff and students around school have been talking about the televising of double Booker Prize winner, Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies. With Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII leading the cast there is lots of praise for this major BBC series. Why not join in the conversation on Twitter #Wolfhall or loan out the novels from our Library?
We have received a big thank you for the £999.52 raised on Children in Need day—thank you to all who contributed to the total raised.
Going Digital in the Music Department In Music, particularly at KS3, we are trying to go even more digital and reduce the amount of paper we use. We need the help of parents and carers to move forward with this! Year 7 are all being asked to download several free apps from the app store on their ipads:
Audioboom
Virtuoso Piano 4
Google Drive and Google Docs
We are hoping to use the new Google Classroom feature to share work to student’s google drives that they can access on ipads. Please can all students be signed into their school google accounts on the ipad app. This is really important to save time in lessons. There will be the expectation that students understand how to use google drive and have the skills to open and use them. Help at home learning these skills will be invaluable (a few moments at home learning this will save hours in school)! Many thanks for your help with this. Big Band tickets are available from the Music Department from Monday 2nd February.
PE News Cyclo-cross News Congratulations to Elspeth Grace (Y10) who is a keen cyclist in cyclo-cross has recently won the Eastern and South East of England under 16 championship and was 10th at the National trophy in Milton Keynes a few weeks ago.
Football Update Broxbourne Saturday games were cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Saturday 24th Fixtures v John Warner School Y7 won 4-3 Y8 won 6-3 Y9 won 3-2 The Year 8 boys match doubled as a District cup match where the boys were 2-0 down after 15mins, however came back strongly with a hat-trick from Albert Nwahba to win 6-3. On the previous Thursday the boys played Leventhorpe School in the first group match and won convincingly 8-0. The Year 8 Boys are now through to the semi-finals of the District cup. The Year 7 boys beat Sheredes 5-0 on Monday night to also progress to the semi-finals of the District cup. Good luck to the boys in the next round.
Y8 Boys progress halts in the last 32 On Tuesday 13th January our Y8 Boys played Shenley Brook End School, Milton Keynes in the last 32 of the ESFA National Cup. We met a very strong team in all departments. They man-marked one of our players very well for most of the match and matched us for size. We were 1-0 down at half time, to the boys credit they came out fighting in the 2nd half to score after 10 secs with a goal from Albert Nwahba. Shenley then scored to make it 2-1. The scored stayed like this until the last 5 mins when Shenley scored 2 goals in quick succession to win 4-1. When we talk about resilience, this was a prime example as we played against a superior team but the amount of blocks and kicks of the line by our lads was amazing and they never gave up in difficult conditions. Congratulations to all the boys involved in this thrilling journey which started with 700 teams and to reach the last 32 in the country is a fantastic achievement. Well done Y8 and the best of luck to Shenley as they progress in the competition.
Year 10 Girls win District 6-a-side competition On Tuesday night the year 10 girls won the district six a side tournament winning all of the games they played . They beat Turnford 1-0 in the final. Congratulations to the following; Dani Hills, Lucy Sende, Cerys Greenfield, Cerys Atkins, Georgia Turville and Jess Miller.
Basketball Year 9 Boys The Y9 Boys have made a great start to the District League. So far they have won all 3 games beating Chauncy, Turnford and John Warner. All games have been very competitive and the boys are really making good progress as a team. Tuesday’s game saw them beat John Warner 66-20 with fantastic performances from Jay Chitole and Dan Tarry. There are two games left in the league against Richard Hale and St Marys and all is to play for.
Hockey Update Year 8 Girls team beat Presdales 1-0. The game was played in horrendous weather and the girls worked really hard for the win.
Sportshall Athletics The Year 7 & 8 Boys and Girls Simon Balle teams started their season on the 22nd of January at Wodson. The 2nd fixture takes place on the 12th February with the finals on the 12th March. Good luck to all those participating. Simon Balle PE staff are organising this year’s competition. Well done to the Year 10 Leaders who did a fantastic job in running the first District fixture of the year. The Year 11 leaders will be attending the fixture on Thursday as part of their GCSE Athletics Officiating Award.
District Indoor Athletics Championships On Wednesday 21st January both boys and girls from Y7 to Y11 went to Lee Valley Indoor athletics track to compete in the District Indoor Athletics Championships. There were some great performances across the age groups. Y7 girls had an amazing first competition winning the shield for their age group. Niamh Hartnett, Trixie Wraith, and Julianna Glinkowska all getting 1st places with their relay team winning in style in the 4x200m. The junior boys got a well-deserved 3rd place while the inter boys got a great 2nd place with Josh Moses coming 1st in both the 60m sprint and triple jump. In the Junior Girls Eleanor Bayford won the Shot Putt. The inter girls also came 2nd missing 1st by 2 points. Louise Reilly had a great event winning both the 300m and the high jump and Lily Jones winning the triple jump. The girls relay again winning in exceptional style. Well done to all who competed in a great first competition of the year.
Rugby update The Year 7 Boys beat John Warner on a very closely contested match with Sam Veryard scoring a couple of great tries and winning the man of the match award.
Inter-House Sports Inter-House Sports takes place next week with the girls taking part in swimming and the boys participating in basketball.
Cheerleading Year 8 girls have started back with their cheerleading. The girls started learning new lifts last week and are looking to learn a new routine. If any of the girls would like to join Saracens School of Cheer please get a leaflet from Miss Ansell. The club is at Presdales school on a Tuesday evening 5:30 – 7:30.
PSA Newsletter—Jan 2015 We’re pleased to let everyone know that the next PSA Quiz Night takes place on Saturday 14th March 7.00 for 7.30 pm start in the school hall. This event is always popular and closely contested. The PSA will be running a licensed bar, please feel free to bring nibbles. Tickets can be purchased from school or from the PSA website at www.simonballepsa.org.uk Teams of upto 8 people. £6 for Adults and £4 for Students The PSA garden area was constructed in 2008 to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary. Unfortunately, some of the timber decking has begun to rot and the area needs a bit of a spruce up! The PSA with help from Weston Homes and Norbury Timber are looking to replace the decking, replant some of the flower beds and give the area a good tidy up. If you are interested in helping with the weeding, planting or staining the structure please email psa@simonballe.org.uk Booking a holiday this year? Did you know if you book using @Give as you Live you can raise a free donation for us? https://www.giveasyoulive.com/join/simonballepsa Date for your diary………
PSA Ladies Night 7th May 2015 More details soon, but join us for an evening of relaxation and taster treatments. Unwanted Christmas presents? We love them for raffle prizes—please drop any donations in the school office.