Simon Balle All-through School Larch Newsletter Autumn Term
9.11.18
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Families Welcome back after half term and I trust that most managed to have time to re-charge batteries. So many other Counties had half term a week earlier than Hertfordshire and I am aware that this has caused issues for some. However with an action packed half term ahead, the seven weeks will fly by. Please do take note of the dates below as we would like to see as many of you as possible at our events. Thank you to those families who have responded to past newsletters and who continue to send in donations. We are as ever very grateful. In addition we are always eager to hear from you if you would like to get you or your place of work involved either in our careers fair or come in as part of our learning for life programme with any of our children or young people. We are still looking to recruit staff and also as part of the Alban Teaching Alliance, train future teachers. Please see our website for details.
Inside this issue: Reception News
2
Year 1 News
2
Year 2 News
3
Year 3 News
3
Attendance
4
Values Awards
4
PSA news
4
Notices from Primary Leader
5
Dates for the Diary 5
As I write this I am mindful of our preparations for our “Remembrance� service which will be held on Friday 9th November. We introduced this several years ago and it has come to be an important time for the community to gather. Whilst some of our children are too young, we ask for representatives from the Larch Centre to join us for readings, music and the laying of the wreaths. This year is obviously an important one; one hundred years since the Armistice. Our Year 9 students will once again visit the First World War Battlefields in March and many students learn of events in history lessons. Having just returned from Krakow and seen the horrors of Auschwitz, and having read of the awful recent killings in the United States of America, we as a school community continue to emphasise the importance of living well together and celebrating differences.
PAGE 2
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL
Reception News Reception had a fantastic time on Tuesday learning all about volcanoes with the Year 8’s. They went to the hall and got to see the incredible creations and get a guided tour from a Year 8 student. It was lovely to see the children listen so well and share the knowledge they have already learnt about volcanoes with an older student. For the rest of the week we have been learning about and celebrating Diwali. The children learnt the reason Diwali is celebrated and helped to act out the story of Rama and Sita and how good defeats bad, light wins over darkness. They all then made a clay Diva lamp and designed rangoli patterns and mehndi hand prints. In phonics the children will continue learning the phase 2 sounds; s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss. The children have also been introduced to our new value for this half term, Respect. We have discussed what Respect means and how they can show it not only to adults, but to each other and our school environment.
Year 1 News This week Year One have enjoyed sharing all of their half term news. As lots of the children had seen some fireworks over the last week we decided to create some of our own firework poetry. We thought about onomatopoeia and making the poems sound exciting. In maths we have been thinking about 3D shapes and some of their properties. We also enjoyed starting out new topic of Superheroes with a superhero training day! In phonics we have learnt some new sounds: ay (play, stay), ie (pie, tie) and ou (house, mouse) - please practice these at home too. Next week we will continue to learn about shape and begin to explore some new texts in literacy. In science we will think about materials and what different materials we have around us.
PAGE 3
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL
Year 2 News This week we have been reading “Dogger” and planning our own story based on this book. We have written firework poems using onomatopoeia and interesting adjectives. In science we have continued to explore the properties of different materials and conducted experiments which have tested the property of bounce! In maths we have begun exploring multiplication so please continue to practise this at home. We have begun our new topic of Location, Location, Location Next week we will begin looking at the story ‘On the way home’ and we will continue looking specifically at the 2, 5,10 times tables.
Year 3 News This week we have exploded into our new topic, ‘Volcanoes and Earthquakes” with what we suspect was a real earthquake that had caused our classrooms to be turned upside down! We spent Monday trying to solve the mystery, writing and asking questions to all of the adults in the Larch Centre. The children then filmed their own news reports on iPads and edited them to report the SBAS earthquake. We have read the story ‘Escape from Pompeii’ which will be linking to our English where we will be writing newspaper reports. In maths, we have been recapping number knowledge to ensure we are all secure before moving on to our next topic. Our science topic this term will be ‘Rocks and Soils’ which we started this week too. Next week, we will be continuing our English topic linked to ‘Escape from Pompeii’ and in maths we will be looking at fractions.
PAGE 4
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL
Attendance Over the last two weeks we have had excellent attendance: Hedgehogs: 95.56%
Foxes:
97.41%
Squirrels:
94.82%
Deer:
98.15%
Rabbits:
98.15%
Wrens:
96.67%
Badgers:
96.11%
Robins:
96.42%
Please ensure your child attends school and is punctual every day.
Values Awards Reception
Year Two
Hedgehogs
Foxes
Angus & Olivia
Amber & Eric
Squirrels
Deer
Albert & Lena
Molly, Poppy & Daisy
Year One
Year Three
Rabbits
Wrens
Megan & Aurelia & Aaron
Erin & Henry
Badgers
Robins
Beatrice & Harrison
Miley & Raya
PSA News Frost Fair, 1st December, 1-4pm Helpers Helpers needed – are you able to sign up for a slot or two to assist with the fair? Your child(ren) are welcome to join you - they especially enjoy helping on the games stalls! Please look out for the sign up sheet or email penny@simonballepsa.org.uk to express your interest. Raffle Tickets Shortly, each child will come home with some Frost Fair raffle tickets. We have over 30 lovely prizes again this year, including: Afternoon Tea for Two at Down Hall, Google Home device, £50 Bills Restaurant voucher, passes to Willows Farm, Marsh Farm, Jump City and more. Should you wish to participate in the draw, we kindly ask for the stubs and monies to be returned by Friday 30th November. As always, there is no obligation to buy, but for those interested, a prize will be given to the Larch family who manages to sell the most tickets. Prize list will soon be available on the PSA website Christmas Stocking Competition Please see the flyer at the end of the newsletter to enter this exciting competition. For a detailed Frost Fair update, see www.simonballepsa.org.uk
PAGE 5
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL
Notices from the Primary Phase Leader Welcome back to a new half term! I hope that you had a restful week, spending precious time with family and friends. It has been lovely to hear about all of the adventures the children have had . The weeks leading up to Christmas is always busy in schools. We have made a few changes to the usual festivities and wanted to confirm these in advance. Performances: This year, reception will act out a modern style nativity. This will be shared with the primary phase during the day and will be filmed. The children will perform to you as the audience on The DVD will be available to purchase for a small charge. Please save the date of 11th December 2:30pm. Year 1, 2 and 3 will each prepare and present a class assembly at different times throughout the year. Year 1: Thursday 4th April at 2:30pm Year 2: Thursday 27th June at 2:30pm Year 3: Thursday 23rd May at 2:30pm Pantomime: Year 2 and Year 3 will attend the Pantomime at Hertford Theatre this year. Reception and Year 1 will enjoy an age appropriate activity at school. More details to follow. We will all enjoy a Christmas party as normal!
Dates for your diary 12th - 20th November - Winter Words Festival Visiting Authors and the travelling bookshop in the Larch Centre Please see recent email from Mrs Syme for details Friday 16th - Non-uniform Day (Children in Need) 19th November - Prospective Reception parent meeting and tour 10am
The Details of these events will be advised closer to the time. 1st December - Frost Fair 1-4pm Larch Centre 6th December - Prospective Reception parent meeting and tour 6:30pm 11th December - Reception Christmas play 2:30pm 18th December - Year 2 & Year 3 at the Hertford Panto
23rd November - Occasional Day (school shut)
20th December - Carol Service at All Saints Church
26th November - Occasional Day (school shut)
- Christmas Lunch
30th November - Prospective Reception parent meeting and tour 10am
21st December - End of term 12pm finish
PAGE 6
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL
Hamper requests: As I am sure you are aware, to support Children in Need there will be a non-uniform day on Friday 16th November. Please send your child in with £1 which will go to this worthwhile cause. As with last year, the PSA, with your help, organised a fabulous ‘Hamper Raffle’ at the Frost Fair and hope to do so again this year. Therefore, we kindly ask that you please send one of the below items in with your child on this day as well.. Hamper items we are looking for include: Luxury biscuits, specialty tea and coffee, new mugs, scented soaps, moisturiser, body scrubs, scented candles, hand care items, foot care items, boxes of chocolates, hot chocolate sachets, DVD’s, popcorn, nibbles, small Christmas cake, mince pies, Christmas puddings, anything alcoholic, chocolate tree decorations, small gift items (for adults and or children).
Writing Challenge Well done to the following winners who will be given their prizes on Monday night at our special Writing Challenge Awards Evening. Our VIP guests are The Worshipful the Mayor of Hertford, Cllr. Mrs. Beryl Wrangles and Alice Hemming, our Patron of Reading. The judges were very impressed by the high standard of entries. Thanks to all of you who entered - House Points are on their way. Y2 Category Winners: Archie C and Grace Mc Highly Commended: Oliver J, Wally C, Amaya S Y3 Category Winner: Summer L Highly Commended: Harry O and Holly W Y7-8 Category Winner: Henrietta R (7L) Highly Commended: Ruby G(7B) and Orla W (7B) Y9-13 Category Winners: Ruby-Leigh S (11R) and Lucie W (12R) Thanks, Mrs Syme
STEM Returners programme running in Hertfordshire with ACE Lifts Have you taken a career break from an engineering or a technical sector and wish to return? Are you working below your experience in a different sector? Do you have an engineering or technical degree that you aren’t using? Do you just wish to transfer sectors but don’t have any experience? If so this could be the opportunity for you! We are currently sourcing candidates for the ACE Lifts ‘STEM Returners’ programme, a 13 week, fully paid and supported return to work programme starting in February 2019 in Watford. All candidates will also have the opportunity to obtain a permanent role at the end of the programme. No career break is too long, register to return to STEM today! For more information please visit www.stemreturners.com or email hello@stemreturners.com. More information on the programme is also available here: https:// www.stemreturners.com/2018/11/07/engineering-returners-given-lift-watford-thanks-local-employer-
PAGE 7
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL
PSA Donations to School The Parent and Staff Association were delighted to present Mrs Saunders, with a generous ÂŁ15,000 cheque at their AGM in October. We have been working very hard to fundraise this money and thank all the parents, staff, students and businesses that have helped make this happen. The donation will go towards refurbishment of the swimming pool. We are already discussing with Mrs Saunders what the school needs for our next project donation. In the academic year 2017/ 18, the PSA donated ÂŁ5,000 towards the lease of one of the minibuses, helped pay for a group of Year 10 students to take part in the Big Bang Science competition in Birmingham and provided some treats to make the Year 11 Leavers Awards Party a memorable event for them. We couldn't do this without the time our supporters donate in one way or another. A big thank you goes to all of them. PSA AGM At our AGM held on 22nd October we sadly said goodbye to our Treasurer Nicola Irons who has helped us enormously for the last 5 years. We warmly welcome Rebecca Pirt as our incoming Treasurer. Also stepping aside was longstanding member and Vice Chair, Sharon Jones who made way for Sarah Holzbauer to step up as Vice Chair, but luckily for us, Sharon remains on the Committee. Our other re elected Committee members were Clare Stokes as Chair, Ali Mackie as Secretary, Jana Veryard, Janice Lucas, Jo Duggan, Penny Lafferty and Sandra Rumbold. If you want to find out more about what's involved, do feel free to have a chat with any of these lovely ladies, or pop along to our next meeting on Monday 19th November at 7pm - 9pm in IT2 portacabin, or email us at psa@simonballepsa.org.uk to ask We don't bite - promise!
Take Note (adult) Choir Concert Bar and Refreshments, Saturday 15th December, Main School Hall Helpers needed at various times. We need Helpers please to - purchase drinks and snacks a few days beforehand (we will give you a shopping list and pay you back of course!). You get to keep the Clubcard points! - from 2 - 3:30 pm on 15th, stock up our fridge with chilled drinks, set up a few tables as our bar, put out glasses, bottles of beer and snacks and display a raffle prize - from 6:30 pm serve at bar, and interval. - sell some raffle Tickets to the audience - tidy up and pack away - take a tray of glasses home to wash and return to school during the following week - help count the money in the following few days. It's not a lot to do if there's a group of us. But we need YOU to help make up a group. It's a lovely small event and a nice introduction to volunteering work with the PSA if you haven't done so already. If you can help in our friendly team, please email us with your mobile number and what part you could help with. psa@simonballepsa.org.uk We will then contact you with further details. Thank you. Your PSA needs more volunteers Being a supporter of the PSA is all about building the school community through fundraising and friendship with other parents and the staff for your children's benefit. If you can give the PSA any of your time - from just a couple of hours to help get a small event ready; to a few hours to organise a quiz, or bar or apply for community grants, man a stall at Primary Fairs, hunt down and make up raffle prizes, get poster printing done; all the way up to being a project manager for a larger event, we would love to have you on board. There just aren't enough of us. Any time, skills, services or ideas that any parents could offer, would be very gratefully received. Thank you in advance. We particularly need a parent or two from Reception, Year 1, Year 7 and Year 10 to join us as regular members at our meetings (usually one evening for 2 hours per Term - hardly a lot to ask!) and be a link between the PSA and your child's year group.
PAGE 8
SIMON BALLE ALL-THROUGH SCHOOL