Thursday 3rd May
In the first two weeks of the new term we seem to have experienced a whole year of weather and a taste of the whole year’s school events! Thank you to parents for attending parents evenings, concerts, staff interviews, sports fixtures, PSA meetings and parents performance clinics! Although clear in both message and daily living, promoting a holistic education, we are now entering a period of exams and tests. This is our first cohort for KS1 SATS. Phonics tests, internal exams, GCSEs and A levels continue to dominate. Perhaps this is a good time to remind parents how the system of assessment has radically changed in English schools and is affecting every child. Firstly, the content and skills have got harder at each key stage. Children are learning more complex material and information from an earlier age. So what does that look like? Quite simply material at A level (aged 18) used to be studied at university; at 16 what used to be studied in the sixth form and so it trickles down, all the way through to KS1. I know that many parents are amazed at the standard they see their 5 year olds producing, particularly in their knowledge and understanding of grammar, handwriting, and at Simon Balle, music and Spanish. Secondly, modular exams are no longer the norm and coursework has dramatically changed. In fact, in practical subjects including drama, food, technology and PE, the majority of the marks are awarded on the written exam. The other important point here is that the exams are now “linear” which means that students have to recall difficult and a huge quantity of information. To be frank many find this very difficult. Whilst I am of the older generation who had to do exactly this (up until undergraduate level) I am also of the age when we as children used our memories far more and indeed trained them to be able to recall. We had to remember facts like telephone numbers. We played lots of memory games- remember “Kim’s game” or “heads and tails”? Year 10 students and their parents recently attended a fantastic presentation which focused on just this and helped both parents and children on how to improve.
We as a school are also doing this; although for many parents all you might see is the increase in internal exams and tests, as more frequent testing is so important. However I am determined that we will not become a testing factory and that children must enjoy their learning and teachers be passionate about teaching young people the joys of knowledge. So, we to will be working on developing memory with our youngest through to our oldest. We need your help though as we can not do this alone. If you are the parents of our youngest children, look at the games that can be used, the questions you can ask. Use the journeys as a time not to “plug your child into a video” or hand out a phone with games. For all families, especially those with children aged under 14, play old fashioned board games, expect your child to remember and teach them ways to improve memory. And please, alongside this, we cannot over emphasise the importance of good sleep and disciplined time away from electronic machines. We all want the very best for our children and sometimes we forget that some basic things that we can do, actually do make a huge difference.
Dates for your Diary Thursday 3rd May - Y12 Parents Evening Monday 7th May - Bank Holiday Wednesday 9th May - Y10 Jekyll and Hyde Trip Thursday 10th May - Y11 Jekyll and Hyde Trip Wednesday 2nd –Friday 11th May - Y10 Mocks Friday 25th May - Sixth Form Ball Monday 28th May - Friday 1st June - Half Term Friday 8th June (7-10pm) - PSA Pamper and shopping night Friday 22nd June - Y8 Globe Trip Friday 29th June - Sixth Form Ball
Head Boy and Girl The Governors and Senior Leaders would like to offer our sincere thanks and good wishes to our Head Boy and Girl, Harry Ingrams and Molly Robinson, for all their hard work and commitment over the past 12 months. They have worked tirelessly for the school in so many areas including representing the school at events, as Edu-Tech Ambassadors and working with younger students. Harry is hoping to go to Leeds and Molly has secured a prestigious Graduate Apprenticeship with Glaxo. After a very in-depth and highly competitive process we are pleased to announce our new Head Boy and Girl. Josh Hill and Tabitha Hummerston will be taking up these positions and we wish them success and happiness. In addition to these roles there is a group of senior student leaders and also prefects, many of whom will work closely with senior staff and our House Leader, Helen Rhodes. Thank you for your incredible support The recent “Wind and Brass in Cartoon Animation� concert was truly amazing and we have received so many wonderful emails about how you all enjoyed the evening. Also as teacher of a year 7 class, thank you too to those parents for their highly positive comments on how effective the transition has been, how pleased they are with the high standard of education and how happy their children are, here at Simon Balle. Changes to our website We are currently looking to tweak our website to make it even easier to use and more effective in showing just what happens at Simon Balle. More on this later this term.
Change to the daily timetable The public exams (GCSE and A level) start on Monday 14th May and end on Wednesday 27th June. We therefore have to change the school day to adhere to the exam boards timings and to ensure as much quiet as possible while the exams are taking place. Many of our older students will be aware of the change but this will be the first time for our Y7 students. The timetable will be as follows: 8.45 to 9.45 lesson 1 9.45 to 10.45 lesson 2 BREAK 11.05 to 12.05 lesson 3 12.05 to 12.30 lesson 5 LUNCH 1.25 to 2.25 lesson 4 2.25 to 3.25 lesson 6 Tuesdays 8.45 to 9.45 9.45 to 10.45 BREAK 11.05 to 12.05 12.05 to 12.20 LUNCH 1.00 to 2.00 2.00 to 3.00
lesson 1 lesson 2 lesson 3 lesson 5 lesson 4 lesson 6
We hope students will support those taking exams and move round the school quietly and pay attention to the signage.
ATTENDANCE MATTERS Be Here - All Day - Every Day I would like to thank you for your support in getting your son or daughter into school. From September to Easter, our attendance as an all-through school was 96%. Our school target is 97%. Year 7 (97.0%) are to be congratulated in particular, with 62 students with attendance of 99% and above. The primary phase attendance is also deserving of a special mention, with Year 1 attendance at 97.3. This term thirty Year 11 students received an attendance award from County, recognising their excellent attendance throughout the year. At the end of the summer term excellent attendance will be recognised amongst other year groups but a particular mention and congratulations to Lizzie Moore and Beth Emsley in Year 12, who have not missed a day off school since joining in Year 7. There will be more students recognised for the excellent attendance over the course of this term. I have listed below ways that you can continue to support your child and the school in improving attendance. Thank you all for your continued support Practical Tips for Parents/Carers Make sure your child keeps a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine. Organise uniform and pack bags the night before. Ensure your child goes to school every day unless he/she is really sick. Avoid scheduling medical appointments during the school day. Do not schedule holidays in term time. Contact your child’s Form Teacher / Head of Year if you have any concerns regarding your child. Develop back-up plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, neighbour, or another parent to take your child to school.
Help wanted The PSA are looking for a treasurer. I am aware that many of our parents work in the financial sector and have the necessary skills for this role. I know how busy we all are however we really need someone to help us. Do you want to give something back to the school? This role does not entail lots of meetings , rather a few reports back to the committee and the finances. Please can you help? If you can , please contact psa@simonballepsa.org.uk Swimming Pool I am delighted to inform parents and also the community that we have successfully been awarded a grant for us to completely upgrade our swimming pool. School swimming pools are a rare item now as they are so expensive to run and costly to maintain. We have been concerned about our swimming pool for many years and despite frequent repairs, there has always been the worry of a major expense. So many people and groups make use of the pool, renting it out for various sections of the Hertford community. This year, the PSA has committed to raising funds for this very cause and now we have the grant we can afford to really improve the pool. The bid will allow us to replace the ageing heating and air handling systems as well as providing a new pool liner. This should give the pool a new lease of life for years to come and ensure that we are able to provide swimming opportunities for many in the school and the surrounding areas. Therefore we wish to use the internal funds raised to enhance the actual quality and appearance of the changing rooms. Having a pool is a great privilege and so many of our students enjoy swimming. Currently our year 1 children have weekly swimming lessons as water safety is of the uttermost importance. Therefore, we are excited by the prospect of a modernised pool for all to use. We anticipate that most of the work will be complete during the summer holiday but this may extend into September.
Ladies Pamper and Shopping Evening The Parent and Staff Association (PSA) of Simon Balle all Through School would like to invite all you hard working mums, your girl friends, sisters, daughters, female staff and students ages over 18, to our fundraising and social Ladies Pamper and Shopping Night on Friday 8th June in the Larch Centre Primary School, 7 - 10pm. • Treatments on offer will include, amongst others - massages (neck back and shoulder, hand and arm, lower leg, deep tissue, Thai foot, hot stone and Indian head massage), facials, manicures, pedicures, eyebrow and eye lash tinting, reflexology, Reiki, lip and chin waxing, Hopi ear candling • We will also have lots of lovely gift, jewellery, craft and well being stalls • A bar, sweet and savoury snacks will be available • Wonderful raffle prizes. Entry tickets and pre-bookable treatments will be available on the PSA website simonballepsa.org.uk from Saturday 5th May until Tuesday 5th June. The first 40 tickets sold will receive a gift bag of nice goodies. • Beauty and holistic treatments will cost £7 for mini 15-minute taster sessions and £14 for full 30-minute treatments, payable to your therapist on the night. NB guests need to be 18+ Many thanks in advance for your support. We look forward to making you even more beautiful! From us all on the Parent and Staff Association
https://twitter.com/simonballemusic
Team Music are on twitter, and we post most of our news and events there. Recently, we have posted news and recordings from:
• • • • • • • • •
Our A level recitals
The Strings and Singing Concert
The BIg Band Evening
Performances at the Secondary Head’s Conference and East Herts Chairman’s Charity Gala
Our recent music exams where 8% of the secondary phase had an exam.
The amazing results for our music exams
Recordings of rehearsals and the fabulous music our musicians create every day
The Brass recital
The Rock Gig
Our music website also has details of our concerts, our ethos and all that we do.
http://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/music
Do have a look at the website and twitter posts!