Simon Balle All-through School Newsletter Spring Term
27/02/2019
Message from the Headteacher I do hope that everyone has managed to get a break over the past week and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. With just six weeks now until we break up for Easter (Friday 5th April) the seasons are rushing by. The main purpose of this newsletter is one of reminders to parents. Firstly uniform.
Inside this issue: Message from the head teacher
1-2
Mangrove Road
2
National Indoor Championships
2
PSA News
3
Design Ventura Winners
4-5
World Book Day House Plays
6
Quiz Night
7
GSK Maths Open Evening
8
Hertfordshire Recruitment Fair
9
All students should be wearing their jumpers/ cardigans to school. Kilts should not be rolled up but knee length. Black tights or white socks, with no socks over the knee. Boys should wear black socks, which should not be seen under full-length trousers. We have recently changed the short sleeve shirt option. Please note- boys (or girls) cannot wear their shirts un-tucked. Boys must continue to wear a tie. Students must wear coats or jackets – hoodies are not to be worn. If outerwear has a logo it should be small and no larger than the size of a bank- card. Denim and leather are not allowed. Rings, false nails and nail varnish continue to be banned. Hair should be a normalized colour, no colour braids or shaved parts of the head. May I add how smart the sixth form continue to be- please keep this up- excellent role modelling. From time to time, parents may need to ask for special leave of absence, which is known in advance (not funerals). Please do not email teachers, or phone in to request this. Could all parents, including those in the Larch Centre, please complete the on line request form. Holidays are usually not agreed to, in accordance to the UK educational law.
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Simon Balle All-through School
Dates for this half term Thursday 28th February - Y9 Battlefields trip (first) Tuesday 5th March - EPQ presentation evening Thursday 7th March - Y9 Battlefields trip (second) Saturday 9th March - Big Band evening Monday 11th Match - Reception parents meeting Tuesday 12th March - Y10 parents evening Wednesday 13th March -Iceland trip Friday 15th March- Red Nose Day Monday 18th March -Y10 geography field trip (first) Saturday 23rd March - Strings and strings evening Monday 25th Match -Y10 geography field trip (second) Friday 29th March - House plays Tuesday 2nd April -Y7 parents evening Wednesday 3rd April -STEVENSONS UNIFORM SALE 3PM TO 5.30PM Thursday 4th April -Careers fair Friday 5th April - End of term (early finish) Tuesday 23rd April - Term starts
Mangrove Drive We have received complaints from residents in Mangrove Drive. This is a private road (the sign is due to be replaced shortly) and parents should not park there. Please be considerate to our neighbours and use the park and stride. Thanks you for your co-operation.
National Indoor Championships Trixie Wraith (Y11) won a silver medal at the National Indoor Championships at the weekend in Sheffield over 800m, running a personal best of 2mins 12secs. She ran an excellent tactical race and led for 3 out the 4 laps, only just beaten in the end by less that half a second. This was her first National medal. Well done Trixie and just reward for all the hard work she puts into her training on a daily basis.
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Simon Balle All-through School
PSA News Minibus The PSA are pleased to tell you they have made a donation of ÂŁ5,000 for the lease of one minibus for this year. The minibuses are used by the school to transport students to various sporting and activity events. Events We have organised the Larch Centre pottery event on the 4th March for Primary children to decorate a memorable gift for Mothers Day. At Big Band Music Concert on Saturday 9th March, 7pm, main hall we will be running a Licensed Bar with wine, Prosecco, ales, soft drinks and snacks. Recycled uniform sale and a raffle hamper at Parents Eve on 12th March, 5pm to 7pm, in 6th Form. Please remember to bring cash with you. At Strings and Singing Music Concert on Saturday 23rd March, 7pm, in main hall, we will be running a licensed bar with wine, Prosecco, ales, soft drinks and snacks. There will also be a raffle hamper to win. We are providing funds for the Larch Centre Garden. The Green Fingers Garden Tidy Up on Saturday 30th March, 9 to 11am, will be in preparation for planting. Quiz Night Night - Saturday 30th March, 7 for 7:30pm Why not get a team together and join us for some fun, prizes, raffle and bar and fundraiser for your children at the same time. If you want to come on your own, we will join you up with others. To find out more about your PSA, how you can get involved, meet parents and staff, have some fun, help your school and the community AND fundraisers, please come and say hello at any of these events, or contact us at psa@simonballepsa.org.uk or visit our website www.simonballepsa.org.uk We need more helpers. Please give us a try.
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Simon Balle All-through School
Design Museum announces Simon Balle school as 2018-19 Design Ventura Winners Six students from Simon Balle All-through School are the overall winners of this year’s Design Ventura, the annual national design and enterprise challenge, run by the Design Museum in partnership with Deutsche Bank’s youth engagement programme, Born to Be. The winning product concept Hit Snap is a game which aims to encourage everyone to do more exercise. The Simon Balle team will work with the Design Museum and creative professionals to develop their product and launch it for sale in the Design Museum shop in June with profits going to the school’s chosen charity. Since 2010 Design Ventura has helped over 75,000 students to develop design, enterprise and employability skills, as well as raising over £10,000 for charities chosen by Design Ventura winning teams. The winning team from Simon Balle All-Through School, Billy, Loui, Ross, Bailey, Fynn, and Dan, with their teacher Jack Andrews, joined the judging panel, led by Sebastian Conran, at the Design Museum in Kensington on 13 February for an exhibition and VIP reception to celebrate the achievements of all ten shortlisted teams. Design Ventura’s real-life design brief calls for teams to research and consider the needs of one of three target audiences; adult design enthusiasts, young people and students, or families. Students must consider how their product will complement others on sale in the Museum shop, sustainability, the ease of the manufacturing process and budget. Addressing the brief, the Simon Balle team considered rising obesity rates among young people and the need for everyone to take more exercise. This led to their concept for a game that can be played by a range of ages and would complement other products in the Museum shop. Jack Andrews, Lead Teacher of Design & Technology, at Simon Balle All-Through School, recognises the skills that students have gained through Design Ventura. ‘Being able to design is an excellent skill but being able to see value in ideas and create viable business models and account for stakeholder needs will allow young people to have an impact in the economy and potentially start their own companies and businesses.’ He added, ‘Design Ventura gives me the means to enthuse them [students] at the beginning of their GCSE and an amazing sense of pride when they succeed. But teaching isn’t just about GCSE results, it’s providing the most meaningful learning experiences possible and Design Ventura helps to facilitate this.’
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Simon Balle All-through School
Nicole Lovett, Deutsche Bank’s UK Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, commented, ‘The creative industries are likely to be creating 1,000 jobs a week in the UK that are highly skilled and resilient to automation. Design Ventura offers students the opportunity to engage with the industry and an early insight into business. The skills they gain open career pathways and contribute to longer-term community sustainability as well as economic growth.’ 2018-19 winning teams are:
Simon Balle All-Through School, Hertfordshire, overall winner, for Hit Snap, a version of the game Snap in which the opponent must perform the exercise on the card when there is a matched card
East Barnet, London - second place
Horsforth School, West Yorkshire - third place
Weydon School, Surrey - commended
Gilliots School, Oxfordshire - commended
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Simon Balle All-through School
World Book Day To mark World Book Day on Thursday 7th March students in Reception to Year 9 are being sent home with a £1 book token. If any older student would like a token please call into the main Library. The tokens are valid from 28thFebruary – 31st March (inclusive). There are some specially produced books priced £1, available at participating bookshops, and we will have some copies of these available for loan in our two libraries shortly. The tokens can also be used against other books or audio books worth £2.99 or more. Further details are available at www.worldbookday.com There will be a book treasure hunt running for secondary students on World Book Day itself - watch your emails for details please.
House Plays Rehearsals are going well for this years House play competition on March 29th, 7pm in the school hall. We have six fantastic abridged versions of Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins, A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time, Matilda, Three Alices in Wonderland and A Murder Mystery. Tickets will be sold on the door at a bargain price of £5 per person...we promise this will be an evening to remember. So put the date in your diary and we look forward to seeing you there. The Drama Department
HERTFORDSHIRE
TEACHER RECRUITMENT FAIRS 2019
Your Future. Their Future. Come and meet Hertfordshire schools face to face at any of these three events in 2019 to secure your first NQT post. You will be able to meet face to face with schools who have vacancies for September 2019 (some may be keen for a July start). Find out in workshops and discussions why Hertfordshire is such a unique place to live and work and the wealth of support, mentoring and peer connections you can expect in your NQT year and for your future career. Register on our website for one of these events: teachinherts.com
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9, 9:30AM – 1PM
Watford, South and West Herts
SATURDAY MARCH 23, 9:30AM – 1PM
Letchworth, North and East Herts
SATURDAY MAY 11, 9:30AM – 1PM
Cheshunt, Central and East Herts Register for job alerts
Visit our website: teachinherts.com to register as a candidate and set up your job alerts for the areas you want. You can then manage your own profile for both your first and any future job applications in Hertfordshire. Please apply directly to schools with vacancies using the Teach in Herts portal as soon as possible during your training year. Schools do not incur agency fees. 01438 845785 teachinherts.com
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GSK Global Manufacturing & Supply Priory Street Ware Hertfordshire SG12 0DJ February 2019 Dear Student Maths Matters GSK are holding a Maths Careers Evening on 2 April in Ware, and you are warmly invited to attend. If you are studying (or thinking about studying) Maths as a GCSE or A level, you may be interested to learn where Maths could take you in the future. The event will provide you with an opportunity to hear about potential careers in the Pharmaceutical Industry that involve Maths. You will be provided with information regarding our graduate scheme, industrial placements, and apprenticeships, as well as direct entry career routes.
Places are limited and must be pre-booked. You will need to select which session you want to attend – 16.15-17.30 or 18.00-19.15. Each session will be identical. A presentation will be given during the first half of each session. Following the presentation, you will be able to wander around our career stalls and chat informally with our employees to better understand the roles and opportunities, collect any leaflets you are interested in, and ask any questions you may have. There will be a range of careers covered such as: Clinical Statistics Finance Data Analytics Informatics
Non-Clinical Statistics Engineering Data Science Programming
If you would like to secure a place at the event, please complete the booking form via: https://survey.gsk.com/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=llKImn25H
You are very welcome to bring one guest with you, eg. a parent, guardian, or friend. Due to the limited number of places, it will not be possible for two guests to accompany you. You will be sent further information about the evening closer to the date. As soon as all places have been booked for each session, the application form will be closed. Please apply early to avoid disappointment. If you have any queries, please email: kmh60335@gsk.com (Please note - email bookings cannot be taken.) We hope to see you there. Yours faithfully
GSK Early Talent Manager