Friday 10th May

Co-headteachers’ welcome

The sun has finally made an appearance and it is a wonderful coincidence that it was this week that our year 7 students visited Bawdsey Manor. I’m sure that each and every one of them will have made fantastic memories and will have stories to tell their families and those of us back at school.Today when walking around the Larch and secondary phase popping into lessons, listening to student discussion, debate, enquiry and having ‘light bulb’ moments I start to think about what it is like to be a child at Simon Balle All-through School? What is it like on a day to day, month by month and over the course of their education. We have such a strong curriculum which builds and reinforces knowledge and we look to enhance this experience by our wide enrichment opportunities. Currently the trips committee are plotting what opportunities are on offer in each year group and it is lovely to see the variety of experiences.

It is certainly the time of year where we are now heavily involved in staff recruitment in a climate where nationally it is hard to recruit teachers and support staff. We are passionate about our students receiving a broad and ambitious curriculum and maintaining the highest quality teaching. I am well aware that the biggest asset we have are our students who sell our school by acting as ‘tour guides’. As they take candidates into lessons and walk the corridors they always speak about the calm atmosphere and the focus on learning. The relationships between staff, students and parents are certainly key to our success!

This week I have enjoyed attending Larch assemblies, listening to our students playing fantastic music in assembly, handing out lots of sport certificates and recognising students for living our values. 

As many of our students near their public exams it was fantastic to attend the Year 13 final assembly. The array of costumes under the guise of film and TV characters was amazing and everyone took part, even the sixth form staff! It was surreal to share the school hall with the Mario Brothers, inflatable dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, Buzz Lightyear and a hotdog! Spirits were high and it was a fantastic send off.  The sixth form team deserve a big thank you for organising the event. On Friday we will have a similar event for Year 11. 

Next week, exams start in earnest in year 6 (SATS), year 11 and year 13 (A levels and vocational qualifications). The results they achieve in these assessments will celebrate their academic achievements but we are so very proud of the many other ways in which these students have developed. The exams won’t measure the kindness they have shown to their friends, the perseverance they have shown in their sports teams, the confidence they have developed to speak up, the hours of practise they have put in with their musical instruments, the ways in which they have overcome challenges faced both in and out of school, nor will they capture the creativity the students have shown when developing the ability to solve problems. Exams are important as they provide stepping stones to greater things but it is worth remembering just how much our young people have grown in other aspects which are just as valuable.

Young Enterprise Area Finals Trip

On Tuesday 30th April, 7 students from our Y12 Young Enterprise Company went to the University of Hertfordshire to represent Colour2Learn at the Area Finals. The students spoke passionately about their business, their journey and all that they had learned along the way and they showed the school values of responsibility, wisdom and community in leaps and bounds. A special mention to Taylor Arm, who stood solo on the stage to present the company to an audience of over 200 people with charisma, confidence and clarity. The educational colouring books were praised for their innovation and the judges were impressed with the quality of the final product. Colour2Learn still has a few weeks left to trade and so if you would like to snap up a colouring book before the opportunity passes, please email 12E-YE@simonballe.herts.sch.uk. They are £6 each or 2 for £10.

Y10 Trip to Farm Fitness

Last week, twenty-one year 10 boys travelled  to Farm Fitness – voted as one of the ‘best gyms in the world’ by Men’s Health. This was a rewards trip for the students who have been working hard at Mrs Butler’s lunch time fitness club throughout the year. 

The students were put through their paces by the owner Tom Kemp and functional fitness coach MJ and given the opportunity to transfer the skills and techniques learnt at school to some functional fitness movements on the farm. The boys showed excellent resilience and teamwork throughout 4 varied workouts.

Year 5 and 6 update

Year 5 have been thoroughly enjoying the careers talks taking place over the course of the last few weeks. They sparked great conversations and the pupils were lucky enough to hear from an engineer, pharmacist, user experience designer, art curator and someone who works in health economics. 

Year 6 are enjoying their Science lessons – taught by Mr Davison – on Monday afternoons in preparation for their transition into Year 7. SATs revision is well underway and we have been blown away by the effort each and every pupil is putting in. We wish them all the best of luck next week.

SEND

The SEND team are pleased that Mrs Gibbins is joining the SEND team as Inclusion administrator. She will be a familiar face to those in the Larch. 

If you would like to speak to a member of the SEND team, you can book a virtual appointment of up to 15 minutes with a member of the SEND team, please use the following booking link: Booking link

The Local Offer has shared an online training session about Autism which is open to parents as well as schools. Level 1 Autism training This covers:

• some basic principles of autism, challenging some myths and stereotypes
• the strengths and areas of difference
• simple reasonable adjustments and strategies for practitioners to consider.

Library news

We’ve got two exciting events coming up in the next month. First we have the return of our popular Disney Quiz on Thursday 23rd May. And then after half term we are very excited to welcome back author Alice Hemming to celebrate the 2024 Paris Olympics and National Writing Day. She will be hosting a Sports Writing Workshop and launching a Diary Writing competition (closing date Wednesday 19th June).

Please speak to Library staff or see the posters in the Library for more information about both events.

Please click here for our latest careers blog

Uniform reminder

As the weather improves, we kindly ask that the children come prepared for the warmer days. This should include applying sun cream before school, bringing a named hat and a filled water bottle.

Please take a moment to review the summer uniform standards by following the attached link https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/daily-life/uniform/

Parent Staff Association

Slice of Summer, 13th July – Volunteers needed!

The Slice of Summer VolunteerSignUp sheet is now open! Sign up today to support your year group.  All student sign ups will be entered into a draw to win a £20 Amazon Voucher.

• Prize Table – Year 9, 10, 11 + 6th Form
• Inflatable Archery – Year 8
• Ice Cream – Year 7
• Human Fruit Machine – Year 6
• Nerf Fruit Splat – Year 5
• Lucky Lollies/Win a Stanley Cup – Year 4
• Splat-the-rat – Year 3
• Teddy Tombola – Year 2
• Buried Treasure – Year 1
• Hook-a-duck –  Reception

In addition, other areas that need volunteer cover include: Bar, BBQ Serving, Inflatables, Candy Floss, Admissions, Shortbread Decorating, Bottle Tombola, Pre-loved Uniform.

Frozen Friday – Volunteers needed!

If you are able to support your year group Frozen Friday sale after school, please sign up to a slot.  Stock will be purchased each week, we simply need help running the sales.

• 7th June – Year 6
• 14th June – Year 5
• 21st June – Year 4
• 28th June – Year 3
• 5th July – Year 2
• 12th July – Year 1
• 19th July Reception

Summer Raffle. Tickets now on sale.

Pay for Summer Raffle tickets, via the PSA website where you can also view the most up to date prize list.

New customers will need to register and wait for admin approval before completing transactions.

After the May half term, secondary orders can be collected from the office and primary orders will be sent home via bookbags.  Just remember to then return completed counterfoils to either school office by 12th July!

21st May – PSA Meeting,

Join us at 7pm on Tuesday 21st May in the secondary library, for our next meeting where we will be reviewing recent and upcoming events. You do not need to be a committee member to attend.

If you’re unable to attend but are able to offer support, please sign up to one of our many volunteer slots – see below!

Hertford Family Pride Day

This weekend (Sunday 12th May, 2-4pm) the Town Council will be hosting Hertford Family Pride Day in Castle Park. You can read more about the event here: https://www.hertford.gov.uk/news/hertford-family-pride-day/

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• W/b 13th May: Y6 SATS week
• Wednesday 15th May: Y5 trip to the Barbican
• Friday 17th May: Y9 Aim High Trip – Festival of Ideas
• W/b 20th Mat: Larch parents’ evenings
• Wednesday 22nd May: Y1 animal dress up day
• Thursday 23rd May: REception Ugly Bug Ball
• Tuesday 21st May: PSA meeting
• Thursday 23rd May: Disney Quiz in the Library
• Thurs 14th June: Sports Writing Workshop lunchtime in the Library

Wishing everyone in our community a positive and fulfilling fortnight ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Friday 26th April

Co-headteachers’ welcome

Welcome back to the Summer term. We hope that everyone managed to have a restful Easter break and recharge their batteries ahead of what always proves to be a busy term.

Since the term started we’ve already had quite a lot going on: the MFL department have taken 80 students to France, Y12 have been on work experience, Y7 and Y8 have taken part in the UK Maths Challenge, our Y11 and Y13 students have started practical exams in MFL, Art, Textiles, 3D Design and PE, our Early Years team opened their wonderful new outdoor environment for learning and our Year 5 and 6 netballers and footballers reached the district finals – wow!

This week we have been delighted to welcome an inspection team from Ofsted and show them all of the fantastic things that we do at Simon Balle All-through School. We are incredibly grateful for all the messages of support from our community, and the hard work put in by both teaching and support staff across the all-through school over the past few days. However, we always say that our students are the best advert for what we do here, and once again this was the case during the inspection. They worked hard, demonstrated an excellent attitude to learning and truly embodied our Simon Balle Values.

By the time the next newsletter is published, the exam season will be well and truly underway with the written exams starting in the hall, our Year 6 SATs ready to go, and our Y7 students will be on the way back from their residential trip to Bawdsey Manor. And if we’re lucky we might have enjoyed a sunny bank holiday weekend…

Chemistry Olympiad

Year 13 Chemistry students took part in the 2024 Chemistry Olympiad competition. This challenging competition allows students to develop their critical problem-solving skills and test their knowledge in new, real-world situations. All students were successful in gaining certificates, with 55% achieving the Bronze level. An outstanding result for our students.

On Tuesday 23rd of April Year 13 Chemistry students visited the University of Hertfordshire to listen to talks on a variety of analytical techniques including NMR, Mass Spectrometry and Infrared Spectroscopy. Students were able to bring along their own synthesised Aspirin samples for analysing! An excellent day and fantastic opportunity for our students.

Year 12 Work Experience Week

This week, our year 12 students have successfully completed work experience placements across a number of industries with a range of employers including; Thames Water, EY, Roche, Vivienne Westwood, NHS, Hertfordshire County Council, University College London, the Bishop’s Stortford Independent, Handlesbanken, McMullen, Sotheby’s and more.

The work experience process began in September as students joined the Sixth Form. Attending weekly enrichment workshops, students have gained the confidence to engage and connect with employers and professionals. Work experience is a vital part of a student’s development as they prepare to choose a next step destination after leaving Simon Balle All-through School.

We look forward to hearing all about their fantastic placements on their return to school. However, it has been great to hear so much positive feedback from employers throughout the week. 

A huge thank you to all the employers who continue to support our careers programme.

Click here for our latest careers opportunity blog

Larch outdoor area opening

We were delighted to officially open our Reception Outdoor Area this week! After much research, planning and preparation, the Reception team have worked hard to transform our outdoor provision. Their aims were to create an environment that promotes the holistic development of all students, and to ensure the area provides a space that enhances skill development and open-ended play opportunities linked with all seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.

We are proud to have invested as a school in new resources and provision, as well as having a number of resources and furniture designed and built by our Design and Technology Department here at Simon Balle. Our Reception children also helped to paint some of our resources and the fence themselves! They were so excited to start their learning through play outside, and particularly enjoyed our new ‘Larch Reading Hut’ and our stage area! It has been wonderful to see them taking risks, problem solving and being creative and curious learners. We really look forward to seeing this year’s cohort enjoying the new area, as well as our Reception cohorts in the years to come. 

Please head over to Instagram to see photos of the grand opening

Music News

Our musicians have been keeping themselves busy performing at a series of events. you can read (and more importantly hear) what they’ve been up to in the most recent Musical News Blog.

SEND

If you would like to speak to a member of the SEND team you can book a virtual appointment of up to 15 minutes with a member of the SEND team, please use the following Booking link.The Hertfordshire SEND Local Offer website lets parents, young people and professionals know what special educational needs and disabilities services are available in Hertfordshire, and who can access them.

PSA News

10th May – Doughies Pizza. Order today!

Calling all pizza and cookie fans!

The next Doughies delivery is booked for Friday 10th May.  Any orders for pizza or cookie kits need to be placed via the Doughies website before 4th May.

Click on the link to see the promotional poster: Pizza Evening – Simon Balle.

Summer Raffle. Tickets now on sale.

To pre-order Summer Raffle tickets, visit the PSA website where you can view the most up to date prize list. This will be updated when new donations come in. As always, there are some superb prizes on offer.

Secondary pre-orders can be collected from the office after the May half term holiday.  Primary pre-orders will be sent home via bookbags.  Just remember to return completed counterfoils to either school office by 12th July!

Slice of Summer. Volunteer sign up open.

The Slice of Summer VolunteerSignUp sheet is now open! Sign up today to support your year group.

We are trialling a new sign up process this year, enabling you to view the live volunteer sign up sheet and choose a time and area that best suits you.  Please take some time to carefully read the sign up instructions at the top of the form before committing to a slot.

All student sign ups will be entered into a draw to win a £20 Amazon voucher.  The more slots filled, the more chances of winning!

We have a limited number of Friday set up Film Club slots available this year.  If you would like to help us set up but have difficulty helping due to childcare, look no further! Staff members will be on hand to keep an eye on your Larch children, so that you can get stuck in.

Larch Frozen Friday. Helpers needed.

Each Friday after the May half term, weather permitting, Larch children (and adults!) look forward to an ice cream sale in the playground.  As always, we can only offer events like this with a good number of supporters to assist with the sales.

This year, we are trialling a new volunteer sign up option where each Larch year group will have the opportunity to host a sale. See attached poster for the year group rota.

If you are able to support your year group, please sign up to a slot.

Library News

 

Extreme Reading Challenge

Well done to everyone who did the Extreme Reading Challenge during the Easter holidays. A lot of reading was done in unusual places and in creative ways (including a hologram and an action film)!

London Marathon

Congratulations to Mr Townsend for completing the London Marathon last weekend. If you’d like to contribute to his fundraising you can do so by visiting this link.

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• Tuesday 30th April: Y12 Young Enterprise Finals
• Thursday 2nd May: Singing Recital
• Friday 3rd May: Y13 Leavers Event
• Friday 3rd May: House Reward Event
• Friday 3rd May: Y3/4 Gymnastics Competition
• Monday 6th May: Bank Holiday
• Tuesday 7th – Friday 10th May: Y7 Bawdsey Manor Trip
• Wednesday 8th May: 8N McMullens Visit
• Friday 10th May: Y11 Leavers Event
• W/b 13th May: Y6 SATS week
• Friday 17th May: Y9 Aim High Trip – Festival of Ideas

Wishing everyone in our community a positive and fulfilling fortnight ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Friday 22nd March

Co-headteachers’ welcome

As we dust off our tennis rackets and bring out the cricket pads from the garage we can reflect back at a fantastic term and look forward to an exciting summer term ahead. Although the summer weather is not upon us we are certainly able to benefit from the lighter evenings.

Last week we were pleased to announce the opening of our new MFL block. This is a replacement building for our dilapidated mobiles and they look amazing. We did an official opening with students across our all through school, our MFL department and members of our governing body. A special thanks goes to our Business Manager, Haydn Walsh for his vision and tenacity in pushing this build over the line. This is all part of future proofing and providing the very best learning environment for our teachers and students.

We have had several enrichment activities over the last few weeks. From our Spanish trip in Year 8 and 10, our sixth form in Berlin, our politics students attending as delegates at the Model United Nations to Year 2 on a trip to Windsor. Within school we also had a ‘awe and wonder’ week as our science staff took over the assemblies. It is hard not to be excited about learning opportunities across our all through school!

In the next academic term we again have yet more wonderful opportunities. Year 12 are on work experience for a week, Year 7 are off to Bawdsey Manor and Year 8 and 10 are off to France. There are, as usual,  numerous musical and sporting activities for your children to participate in. We all know the impact this has on mental health and positive wellbeing.

Finally the new term for many will signal the final preparations for the public exams starting as early as mid April. A big thank you goes out for all the hard work by staff in preparing our students to do their very best. Our students have worked really hard and we wish them our very best!

Simon Balle’s Got Talent!

On Monday 25th March, at 6pm, we are hosting our first talent show! We have an array of talent on display, from musicians, to drama performances, dance, and much more! Please come and support our students. 

Tickets are now available through the parent portal and will be on sale until 3 hours before the show. They must be purchased in advance, and are a bargain at just £3!

https://simon-balle-payments.co.uk/

Go to Make a Booking, then Music Events. Please select the correct event – Talent Show! Tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis and are unreserved. You will receive an email confirmation.

Library News

There’s lots happening in the library at the moment. World book day was celebrated right the way across the all-through school, our regular Speakers’ Corner and Music Mondays have been taking place, and there’s a host of exciting events coming up to celebrate Easter.

Click on the posters above to see the upcoming events, and then read about everything in the latest Library News blog post.

Please click here for our latest careers opportunity blog. This edition includes:

• Film
• Medicine
• Construction
• Sustainability
• University bursaries 
• Career as a pilot

Sixth Form

Red Nose Day Football – rain or Shine

The annual Sixth Form Charity Football match to support Red Nose Day was another highly entertaining match. We had sunshine, a VAR decision, rain, a dramatic last minute goal, more rain and a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 draw.

Well done to all the students that participated and thank you to Mr Prendergast for officiating and everyone else that came to support and remained until the very end.

UCAS Excel Trip

Year 12 students had the opportunity to engage with a number of next step providers as they begin to consider life after A Level study at Simon Balle All-through School. Following weeks of enrichment preparing for the event, it was great to see students interacting with universities such as @rncmlive and employers and asking those all important questions as they continue planning their destination after Sixth Form. Our staff enjoyed upskilling themselves and learning more about the opportunities available and making connections with @ucfbuk @unioftheartslondon and the @dysoninstitute to support the careers provision at Simon Balle All-through School.

A Level Politics Conference

A Level Politics students attended a conference last week where they heard from a range of speakers across the political spectrum including politicians from Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Reform UK.   The conference finished with the hosts of the Rest is Politics podcast, Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, answering questions from the students about current political events. The speakers touched on so many aspects of our Politics course including whether the voting system for general elections needs to be reformed, policy differences between political parties and the protection of human rights within our political system.

Year 12 Next Steps Evening

On Thursday 21st March we held our ‘Next Steps Evening’ for Year 12 students and parents/ carers. Annabelle Bullock from Hertfordshire University delivered a talk focusing on University applications, labour market information, improving employment prospects and finance and funding for university applications. We also discussed our internal next steps programme and the support provided to all students in year 12 for apprenticeship and university applications. We hope that the evening was informative and has given our Year 12 students the motivation to start exploring their next steps in more detail. 

Arts Ambassadors

Thank you to all those students who applied to become Arts Ambassadors. We were really impressed with the range of skills and knowledge of different art, craft and design techniques. Congratulations to the following students who will represent the all-through Creative Arts:

Freddie, Chloe, Jack, Alec, Aluna, Albert, Callum, Cara, Gemma, Mya, Isabelle, Eloise, Grace, Sophie, Issachar, Jessica, Csongo, Lottie, Isabella, Carolina, Christina,  Kaiyah, and Lila  – As Larch Arts leadership role.

 

Look out for the House World Arts Day information via student email next week. This is due on the first day back after the Easter break on Monday 15th April. Arts ambassadors will collect them in morning form in the Larch and any submissions in secondary can be delivered to the main reception before morning form. A selection chosen by the ambassadors will be submitted for the underpasses in the local community.

Science Week

The Simon Balle community had a wonderful time supporting this year’s British Science Week! The theme this year was ‘time’. In the Larch, all year groups were able to participate in exciting assemblies led by Mr Davison and the secondary Science staff, which included some fascinating experiments. Years 3-6 also had a session called ‘Ask a Scientist’ in which Mr Davison was really impressed with the quality of questions and answers. Year 5 also had the opportunity to visit the secondary labs and use bunsen burners for the first time! The Larch Science team are really looking forward to seeing the children’s entries for the Poster Competition, winners will be announced in due course! Please take a look at our social media pages for some brilliant photos capturing all the excitement of British Science Week.

Learning in the Larch – Phase 1

It has been another few weeks of amazing learning in Reception and Year 1!

Reception have been reading the story ‘Jasper’s Beanstalk’ and learning all about plants. We have even planted our very own runner beans, and will be keeping a diary to record our observations as we watch them grow! We continue to develop our outdoor area and the children have been really enjoying the new resources introduced so far… watch this space for our launch after Easter! The children are learning important skills to carefully look after our resources and how we tidy up responsibly. We hope this continues at home! 

In Year 1, the children have been thoroughly enjoying learning about shape poems, and we have been using our senses to explore fruit to inspire writing our own poems. We are learning all about ‘Who Were the Greatest Explorers?’ in History, and the children have been fascinated by the explorations of Captain Cook, Roald Amundsen and Captain Scott. Finally in DT the children are designing and creating their own ‘fabric faces’, and we have been so impressed by their sewing skills!

SEND

If you would like to speak to a member of the SEND team, you can book a virtual appointment of up to 15 minutes with a member of the SEND team, please use the following booking link: Booking link

STEM Update

Last week we launched the Industrial Cadets Programme for Year 9 students. Industry mentors from Glaxo will be coming in every Thursday to support students with their projects. Students have chosen the following project titles: My school is an island and A theme park for the future.

A group of Year 12 students have built a drone with a falcon attached, which is designed to deter seagulls from visiting the school grounds. Below are some images, illustrating their work to date.

If you would like to get involved, please come to S8 on Thursdays after school, 3:10pm – 4:10pm.

Secondary Dinners

From Tuesday 26th March we will be sending out automatic alerts on ParentPay every Tuesday and Thursday for students with a dinner money balance in arrears.

Students’ accounts are allowed to be overdrawn by £5.40 (equivalent to a meal deal for two days) to give two days’ grace for account balances to be topped up. If you do receive an email alert, please make sure that you top up your child’s account as soon as possible to ensure that their account is in credit.

If you would like to receive low balance reminders before your child’s account becomes overdrawn, you can set this up on your individual ParentPay account on this link (requires logging into your account before clicking the link). Instructions on how to set up low balance reminders can be found on the ParentPay website by clicking on the ‘Help’ link at the top of the screen, then choosing ‘Managing Your Account’ in the knowledge base, and then choosing ‘How to set alerts’.

PE News

It’s been an incredibly busy March already for Sport and PE, with still many more fixtures to go. We have had much success across Football, Netball, Basketball and Rugby as well as a ‘This Girl Can’ trip and the continued great work from our Year 9 and 10 Sports Leaders. 

This week we have had our Year 10 Girls play in the County Netball final against Herts & Essex School. There are 3 teams in District Football finals with the Senior team still in with a chance of reaching another final. The Year 7 Boys Basketball team are currently unbeaten in the District league with one game to play.

We’ll be publishing our Easter Sports Blog on Thursday, and this will include Inter House Sports results, an update on the District Swim Championships, as well as next term’s Sports extra-curricular programme.

Parent Staff Association

Slice of Summer – Raffle donations needed!

Our summer and winter raffles have been tremendously successful over the years.  We are looking forward to launching the summer 2024 raffle next term but need your help.

Are you or your company are to able to donate a prize or sponsor the raffle?

Previously, we have given away ipads, spa days, hotel stays, gift vouchers, afternoon teas and lunches, theatre vouchers, experiences, uniform vouchers and more.

Please get in touch if you can help us! 

psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Slice of Summer, 13th July – Sponsor search

Is your business in the position to sponsor our summer fair?

Does your company offer Match Funding? It is an easy way to boost fundraising efforts!

Can you donate a star prize to the Summer Raffle?  All donations will be well received.

Please email psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Interested in taking a pitch at the summer fair? Join our Stallholder Database to express your interest.

Larch Frozen Fridays

Traditionally, each Friday after the May half term, the PSA offers ice cream sales to Larch families.  This is a much enjoyed treat for the warmer months but can only happen with a good number of parent helpers.  If you are able to support sales on a Friday between 3-3.30pm, please sign up to a slot via this form. 

Thank you in advance.

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• Monday 25th March:  Simon Balle’s Got Talent 
• Monday 25th March: Years 3,4,5 and 6 Cross Country at Hertford Rugby Club
• w/b 25th March: House sports
• Thursday 28th March: last day of spring term (finish at normal time)
• Monday 15th April: first day of summer term (start at normal time)
• Tuesday 16th April: Y8 France trip
• w/b 22nd April: Y12 Work experience
• Tuesday 23rd April: Y8 parents evening (virtual)
• Wednesday 24th April: Gym and Dance display

Wishing everyone in our community a happy Easter

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Friday 8th January

Co-headteachers’ welcome

Welcome back to Spring 2! We do hope that everybody had a restful and enjoyable half term, despite quite a lot of rain across the UK! I am reliably informed that the next time we will experience a sunset before 5pm will not be until October 27th 2024 – I am sure we are all looking forward to longer and lighter days, and the promise of all that spring will no doubt bring.

Hope is such an important value for us at Simon Balle All-through School, and yet this value can be so hard to teach with news across the world at this time difficult to read, to comprehend and certainly to explain to our young people. Yet, of course, young people bring a hopeful outlook to every new day – their smiles, their commitment, their ambition and more. ‘Creating tomorrow’s citizens today’ could never be more important and I am delighted to bring a glimmer of what is going on pastorally, right now, across our all-through school in the opening to this newsletter: 

• On Friday last week, an insightful Talk and performance – Drug Education, Mental Health and Healthy Lifestyles – for Years 7 – 10
• Broadening horizons  is always a focus – a wonderful Berlin history trip for A level students last week, an enriching Hertford museum trip for Year 3 linked to their Stone age learning, and, OCR sports students focussing on outdoor activities, just to provide a few examples
• Our Duke of Edinburgh programme offers so much from volunteering and community to the independence and skills with expeditions – we currently have 136 participants, 100 bronze, 21 going from Bronze to Silver and 15 undertaking their Silver expedition
• Our full programme of careers guidance is well and truly in swing – Royal Navy activities for Year 9 provided enjoyment and inspiration last week
• We recognise that each students’ own pastoral journey will include times where a little more support is required, and we are here to spot that early and to intervene. We currently have over 50 students with 1:1 mentors through our MCR pathways investment, and we ensure that trusted staff across our all-through school are mental-health first-aid trained (15 at present) and with time to support with age-appropriate interventions, including drawing and talking in the Larch phase
• We are excited to welcome the Mental Health Schools Team to our school and you will have received a separate letter outlining the support that they will be providing. 
• We know that when our young people engage with fulfilling activities, they are, quite simply, happier. We refer regularly through our assembly programme to the 10 keys to happier living to support our young people to make positive choices here. With just a couple of examples, please see  the Larch sport round-up below, our first publication of ‘On the Balle’ on social media; and in the next week in music, we have both an all-through celebration of brass concert plus our annual Big Band Evening on Saturday – reflecting years and years of practice (individual and ensemble) to reach such musical highs!

One of the aspects of Simon Balle that we believe is so special is that we work actively to ensure that there is no tension between this in-depth pastoral support and our academic expectations – always high. A huge thank you to parents who are so busy supporting their young people with learning at home at this time: whether reading every day in Reception and above (this is non-negotiable for us) or supporting with revision timetables in Years 11 and 13 and/or attending our focussed performance clinic meetings, we thank you. We know that great things are achieved when we work in partnership between home and school. 

And, finally from me, a reminder that all of our excellence in pastoral support (not that we are ever complacent) together with the academic achievements of your wonderful young people are achieved through a skilled team of staff, who deserve excellent training and support. There are many examples of this throughout each term, but our INSET days are crucial for the whole staff team in coming together to align all that we do each and every day for teaching and learning – please read more in our pedagogy portal below.

Comic Relief 2024

On Friday, 15th March, SBAS will be joining the global movement to end child poverty by participating in Red Nose Day. Visit our Just Giving page and make a donation: Every contribution, no matter the amount, brings us one step closer to our fundraising goal. Here is a link to our page: Just Giving Simon Balle School Comic Relief.

We’re asking students in the Larch to wear something red, and the sixth form will be holding a charity football match at lunch – there will be collection buckets for any secondary students wishing to donate while they watch the match.

In addition to supporting Red Nose Day, we are partnering with the local food bank charity Jedidiah to make a positive impact on our local community. There will be foodbank collection points in the Larch and in the main school office in the secondary. Please bring non-perishable items such as tins, pasta, rice, nappies, toiletries etc. You can read more about Jedidiah and their work here: https://www.jedidiah.org.uk/.

The canteen will also be providing a special Red Nose Day menu across the all-through school (you can download this special set of recipes to make at home). We hope all students, staff and parents can get involved.

Pedagogy Portal

On Monday 26th February we welcomed staff back with some quality training that puts students at the forefront of our thinking. Click the link below to find out more. 

https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/pedagogy-portal-staff-inset/

Message from the Governing Body

The relationship between governors and school leaders and staff is a critical one in ensuring that the school is run well from an educational and financial perspective to enable the best possible outcomes for all students and families.

As in any organisation, open, honest and transparent communication will determine how well that relationship works. We have therefore built strong connections with, and trust in, each other to prevent any miscommunication which, in my experience, is the cause of many of the problems we face.

We make sure this relationship is maintained and built upon through the following process:

• The Chair and Vice Chair meet every two weeks with the Co-Heads to discuss a wide range of topics and any issues
• The Co-Heads and two staff members are an integral part of every Full Governing Body meeting
• At least one of the co-heads attends every committee meeting i.e. Achievement and Standards (A&S), Finance/Assets/Resources (FAR), Personnel, Student/ Community/ Partnerships (SP&C), and Health/ Safety/ Environment/ Sustainability (HSE&S). 
• These committees are where much of the work of the Governing Body is done and where a wide range of leaders and staff present and contribute in order to ensure the Governing Body has a good overview of the rigour and breadth of education at the school
• All suggestions for improvement in the way we work, or complaints, are dealt with in an efficient and effective way, regardless of how they are received e.g. email, post, verbally
• Governors further support school leaders and staff through meetings, school site visits and attending events

This process means that any issues raised by students, teachers, parents or members of the community are fully understood and then handled with care, respect, transparency and a sincere commitment to find solutions, whilst ensuring we adhere to our own policies and Government guidance.

From Mr P. Connolly

Learning in the Larch- Phase 2

What a successful few weeks it has been in Phase 2. Year 2 have been busily preparing for their trip to Windsor Castle, an experience that will really extend their learning in history. In English, they have been reading a book called ‘Cinderboy’, a modern day version of Cinderella involving a football stadium and a television. I look forward to seeing their own versions very soon! 

Year 3 finished their ‘Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Mountains’ unit with a bang, erupting some of the children’s volcano models with baking soda and vinegar. It was a pleasure to witness the excitement and engagement. They also visited Hertford Museum to deepen their understanding of the Stone Age and to kick off their learning about the Bronze and Iron Ages. Fun was had by all, handling lots of artefacts and asking some fantastic questions! When asking the children their favourite part, the majority said handling the baby woolly mammoth’s tooth! 

Year 4 have started the term with ‘Journey to Jo’burg’ as their focus in English which is a fantastic text where children begin to understand about apartheid in South Africa. Already this week, we have seen some beautifully written diary entries and descriptions inspired by the text. They have also been focusing on branching databases in Science, learning how to classify a variety of animals.

Sports Roundup

In addition to this month’s new publication On the Balle, we’ve got a mini roundup of all the recent sporting fixtures from the across the Larch and Secondary. Head over the sports news feed to read more.

Outdoor Learning

We are excited to announce we are developing our Reception outdoor area! 

Our mission is to have an outstanding outdoor space that promotes curious, independent and resilient learners while continuing to support all seven areas of learning. We want to ensure the space allows the children to freely explore and experience the natural environment which is essential for their wellbeing. 

In order to be sustainable, we would like to repurpose/recycle as much as possible. Please take a look at this document (EYFS Outdoor Area), and if you are able to support us to source materials, or provide expertise and skills, we would be very grateful. Please contact Miss Ponder – pondere@simonballe.herts.sch.uk if you have any questions or can support this project in any way.

Canteen News

Hopefully you spotted the special Red Nose day recipe cards above. There are also a set of recipes celebrating British Pie Week – there are quite a lot to choose from so you’re bound to find something that you like the look of.

March – OVER 10’S – BRITISH PIE WEEK – RECIPE BOOKLET

Ski Trip

At half term Simon Balle returned to the slopes for our first Ski Trip in over 10 years. Despite a long journey the students were fantastic and once settled in their rooms, they were fitted with their Ski equipment and given time to explore the hotel. The students started their Ski lessons on Sunday with 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, this continued for the following 5 days. 

Throughout the week it was amazing to see the students make significant progress, whether they were a beginner learning to snow plough turn and then parallel ski, or an advanced skier developing and refining the skill of carving on different red, black slopes and world cup slopes. 

Following the Skiing, students engaged in apres ski activities of bowling, a pizza night, swimming and use of the hotel facilities that included a sports hall, trampoline park, theatre room and a games room. 

Please look out for information about next year’s trip in the coming weeks as well as more posts on social media about about this year’s trip.

SEND

If you would like to speak to a member of the SEND team, you can book a virtual appointment of up to 15 minutes with a member of the SEND team using the following booking link: Booking link

Coffee morning invites have been sent (meetings to be held at the Larch Centre –  26th March 9.30am led by ADD-vance). Further information can be found on the link https://www.add-vance.org

Drama lighting

Thanks to fundraising by the PSA we have had the drama studio lighting re-fitted. 

This week the students have been experimenting with different lighting states and exploring the impact of colour on mood and atmosphere.  The new lighting system will enable students across the year groups to work with different lighting techniques in their drama lessons.

Sixth Form News

This February we held our first ‘Apprenticeship Information Evening’ for students and parents/ carers in years 11-13. The information covered topics such as:

• The types of apprenticeship available
• Myths about apprenticeships
• Applying for apprenticeships and the application process
• The selection process
• Developing the skills required for apprenticeships

We were also fortunate enough to have a speaker from GSK who discussed the apprenticeship opportunities available at the company. We hope that all the students and parents/ carers who attended found it useful and informative.

On Tuesday 27th February, Year 12 and Year 13 students attended a presentation from the University of Hertfordshire on Student Finance in the Main Hall. This discussed repayments of student loans as well as the different bursary and scholarship opportunities available to students. For Year 13 students who have not applied to university we arranged for the Director of Fore Street Recruitment to talk to them with a focus on making competitive job applications, employment contracts and tips on what to look out for when accepting jobs.

Amongst all this (and preparing for exams) the students have found time to hold a Valentine’s Bake Off competition. There were some fantastic entries – click on the pictures for a closer look!

 

Please click here for our latest careers opportunity blog. This edition includes

• Virtual University fairs
• Apprenticeship opportunities 
• London Career Festival

Royal Navy Teamwork and Leadership Activities

On 29th of February our Year 9 had some great activity and enjoyable sessions from the Royal Navy. Each form had two hours, half in what the Navy calls Upper Deck Sports and the second a STEM building activity. In the sports the students had plenty of exercise playing two team games, the first a cross between cricket and dodgeball and the second a variation on netball where students with buckets replaced the hoops. The building activity had small groups using a kit to build a communications tower which had to meet three criteria. 1.It must be freestanding 2.It had to be over 6 feet high and 3.The wheels had to be mounted at the top. Once the tower was built it had to withstand a shake test from the RN team. All the activities were designed to improve life skills, the foremost being teamwork, leadership and communication and our students showed these in abundance.

Help needed!

On the 22nd – 26th April 2024 our Year 12 students will be taking part in Work Experience placements. Unfortunately, some students do find it very difficult to find placements that are linked to areas they are interested in pursuing in the future and this is where we hope that you can help. We still have a number of students who are still looking for a placement. If you are able to offer a placement during this week please contact us at workexperience@simonballe.herts.sch.uk  and let us know the area of business/industry that you work in and we will be in touch as soon as we can. We would be very grateful for any support!

Parent Staff Association

Vice Treasurer Opportunity

Simon Balle Parent Staff Association is seeking a dedicated individual to fill the role of Vice Treasurer. You’ll help tol support our Treasurer and work with the school, ensuring the financial health and success of our association. This is a great opportunity to make a meaningful impact and contribute to the success of our school community. To find out more, please come along to our next meeting on 26th March at 7pm (Secondary Library) or email us by March 31st psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Volunteers needed for the Wind and Brass evening

Can you help out on the bar during the Music Department’s Wind and Brass evening on April 27th? If so, please sign up via this link. Your commitment is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to creating memorable experiences together!

Secondary pre-loved uniform plea

The secondary pre-loved offering has been highly successful. We are running low on secondary items and so welcome your uniform donations, in clean condition with no stains or holes.  Please drop off to secondary reception.

Slice of Summer, 13th July – Sponsor search

Is your business in the position to sponsor our summer fair? Match Funding is an easy way to boost fundraising efforts – Does your company support this initiative?

Can you donate a star prize to the Summer Raffle? From Spa days to holiday home stays, vouchers to experiences –  all donations will be well received!

Please email psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Interested in taking a pitch at the summer fair? Join our Stallholder Database to express your interest.

PSHRE

On Friday 1st March all students in Year 7-10 were fortunate enough to have a performance and talk from up and coming singer Grace George.

Grace talked about her own experiences coming across substances, why she chose to say no, and how she has seen other people affected negatively by these substances and making bad decisions. She discussed how living a healthy lifestyle is beneficial at all stages of life and impacts all areas of life. She talked through how these situations arose, her reaction, what she did, along with the risks and consequences of the situations. She also discussed the best ways to tackle peer pressure at school. The main message of the presentation was “to make the right decisions in life”, and “to live a healthy lifestyle.” On top of this, she discussed mental health, the causes of mental health problems (stress at school, relationships etc), her own mental health issues and who to turn to for help as well as the importance of speaking up. Alongside this she also performed some well known songs and her own tracks which the students thoroughly enjoyed!

Safeguarding

Please find the time to watch these important videos about railway safety – over 20 million students, parents and teachers from across the UK have already watched these videos which has led to a significant decrease in the number of fatalities and injuries in their area through watching the safety videos.. There are different versions aimed at different age groups please choose the one most appropriate for your children.

• NEW Primary school version: Suitable for KS1 https://learnliveuk.com/ks1-primary-school-safety-talk/
• NEW Primary school version: Suitable for KS2 https://learnliveuk.com/network-rail-primary-school-safety-talk
• NEW Secondary school version: Age 11-16 https://learnliveuk.com/network-rail-secondary-school-safety-talk/
• College & University version: Age 16 plus https://learnliveuk.com/network-rail-college-safety-talk-lnw

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• Saturday 9th March: Big Band Evening
• w/c 11th March: Y8 & Y10 Spain trip
• Friday 15th March: Model United Nations
• w/c 18th March: Reception parent evenings 
• Monday 18th March: Y2 Windsor Castle trip
• Tuesday 19th March: Y12 UCAS trip
• Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd March: Y10 Geography day trips
• Thursday 21st March: Year 5&6 District Netball at Wodson Park
• Friday 22nd March: Year 5&6 District Football at Wodson Park
• Monday 25th March:  Simon Balle’s Got Talent (more details to follow
• Monday 25th March: Years 3,4,5 and 6 Cross Country at Hertford Rugby Club

Reminders:

• Forgotten Items – If your child has left something at home and they need to have it in school, please bring the item in a bag with their name on it, to the school office from where the student can collect it.  Unfortunately, we are unable to take items directly to students.
• Dogs –  We kindly remind everyone that dogs are not permitted on the school grounds. This is in place to ensure the well-being and safety of all individuals within our school community.

Wishing everyone in our community a positive and fulfilling fortnight ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Friday 19th January

Co-headteachers’ welcome

As we finally reach the end of the spring half term I wonder where the time has gone. The days are definitely getting longer and the emerging bulbs remind us that summer is on its way. I for one am looking forward to lighter and warmer evenings which bring the chance to get outside as much as possible. 

The biggest pleasure of being a headteacher is the ability to walk around the school visiting classrooms and seeing students grasp ideas, concepts, skills and knowledge. To watch students methodically work their way through problems on their own, or with their peer group, is great to see. I was lucky enough to be in the primary phase last week and heard Miss Blackman’s class talk enthusiastically about the Vikings. They proudly showed off their model longships which were simply stunning. I was struck by the level of completed work and the deep learning which had taken place. It was wonderful to witness the level of commitment, enthusiasm and dedication of the students to their learning. I left with a smile on my face and a new understanding of Viking coastal raids.

Last week I attended a fantastic presentation on apprenticeships delivered by our sixth form team, with a representative from GSK as our external speaker. The range of careers and pathways of entry for students is expanding and it is well worth making yourself aware of the opportunities available. Our careers education has flourished under the leadership of Mr Prendergast and day to day work of Mr Carr. Year 9 students have taken part in a careers day encompassing interview practice and feedback, with external employers, teamwork activities and problem solving. Initial feedback to the day has been excellent. It is so important to develop the academic and personal skills young people need to be confident articulate adults ready for the outside world. This is symbolised by our key message of  ‘Creating Tomorrow’s Citizens Today’. Sometimes as Milton Berle said, ‘If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door’!

The new MFL block is now pretty much ready for occupation, with the final pieces of cladding are being applied to the exterior. Yesterday we received delivery of the furniture, and lessons are scheduled to start in there at the beginning of March. We will be emailing a separate buildings update later today.

We wish those travelling to Austria for the ski trip at half term a safe journey and a wonderful adventure. Please consult the calendar  about the vast array of events taking place next half term. Whether it is music, drama, art, sport or even the talent event organised by our House Leaders in late March. There is lots to look forward to and I wish you a happy half term break!

Y11 Business Trip

Last week 73 of our Y11 Business students enjoyed the magic of Disneyland Paris whilst attending a Business convention. As well as enjoying the rides, attractions and shows, the students gained an insight into Disney as a Business. With live talks from Disney executives, students gained a greater awareness and understanding of how Disney markets their brand, which links directly to their GCSE course. 

Students also got to experience first hand the disruption caused by pressure groups and how businesses are affected by government decisions, although this did mean we had to postpone our trip to Paris. 

Whilst away, students accepted the trust bestowed upon them. They were punctual, polite and certainly more courageous than me on some of the rides.

STEM Update

These are just some of the exciting projects being worked on at STEM Club:

• Falcon drone to keep the seagulls away
• Dynamo with gears that can be attached to a bicycle
• Wind turbine to generate free electricity
• 3D printed chromebook
• Robot that collects rubbish
• Hydraulic machine to lift heavy objects

If you would like to get involved, please come to S8 on Thursdays after school, 3:10pm – 4:10pm.

Spotlight on phase 3

Year 5 have been busy writing balanced arguments about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We have been impressed by how they have developed their ideas to provide the reader with a tricky decision to make at the end. In Maths, they have been finding the volume of shapes, remembering to use the correct units and applying their knowledge of times tables. TT Rockstars has been a huge hit and we are seeing great uptake across Phase 3.

Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their visit from Michael Owen as part of our careers work over the last few weeks. Prior to his visit, they spent some time researching his career to formulate a range of questions to ask him at school and were very excited to see his memorabilia.

 

Last week, Year 6 also had the opportunity to visit the food tech rooms and make smoothies with Miss Newman. The lesson involved following the recipe to create two different smoothies, taste test and then describe the texture and taste using a range of vocabulary – the green smoothie was a huge hit! 

In English, they really have shown off their writing skills with their current narratives – based on our WWII text ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’. We have discussed using ‘show not tell’ in their writing to really capture the reader’s attention as well as making mature decisions with vocabulary and punctuation. Each and every pupil has been so proud of their achievements and hard work through this unit of writing

Library news

It’s been another busy fortnight in the Library. 66 people took part in Thursday’s Harry Potter quiz – you’ll need to head on over to the latest Library news blog to find out who won. You’ll also be able to catch up on all the news about the visit to Bishop’s Stortford College, the most recent Speaker’s Corner and plenty more besides that.

Library News #4

Pedagogy Portal

A ‘deep dive’ is a phrase given to the process that is used to gain a deeper understanding of a particular subjects’ curriculum. Through close inspection of several subjects, schools are better judged on the overall quality of the education they deliver. Lesson visits, student voice & curriculum discussions are all part of a ‘deep dive’ experience.

At the start of the academic year, we shared the feedback of Maths within our all-through school and now would  like to follow this by celebrating the success of a recent deep dive in Music and Geography, led externally by our improvement partners from the local authority. Click this link to find out more https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/pedagogy-portal-deep-dives/

Holocaust Memorial Day workshops at St Albans Cathedral

On the 30th January the history and PRE department took 40 students from Y9 and Y11 to St Albans Cathedral to take part in a series of workshops focused around Holocaust Memorial Day. The students participated in a series of workshops delivered by the Holocaust Educational Trust on pre-war Jewish life, the Wiener Library on resistance and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust where they discussed the importance and purpose of Holocaust Memorial Day. They then had the opportunity to listen to Antoinette Mutabazi, who described her harrowing experience of the Rwandan genocide. 

This was followed by a presentation by Robert Voss, the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire whose family came to England during World War II to escape persecution in Nazi Germany. Roxy (Y11) spoke with Mr Voss after the presentation to share her own family’s experiences.

The day came to a close with Y11’s Meredith Wing, Elizabeth and Grace reading the Statement of Commitment and Roxy reading the ‘The Jewish Shtetl’ Poem under the Peace Doves installation. 

A truly thought provoking and memorable day.

ELSA Next Generation ‘Get Work Ready’

On Friday 2nd February our Year 10 had a great day provided by ELSA Next Generation,. The students all attende 6 workshops throughout the day based on how big company recruitment carousels can work. ELSA ran one workshop themselves, another was interview practice (with the fantastic support from Simon Balle parents and carers) and the remaining workshops were provided by Local employers (Fortem, Bowmer and Kirkland, the Royal Navy and NGTU). The students were incredibly grateful for the change to experience an interview for the first time and many found it a far more daunting task than they initially thought, however, the session provided them with some really valuable feedback to help improve any interviews they have in the future.The Royal Navy session focused on students team work, leadership and communication skills. In one activity they were asked to follow a series of instructions in a knockout style competition – it was wonderful seeing the students encourage their classmates in the later stages of each competition. Students then had to create a raised border which could hold all the students in their group and were challenged to make the border smaller and smaller – the creativity demonstrated by some groups was outstanding! All the activities encouraged team building, leadership and communication skills and the students even carried out logistical planning for a construction site! We trust the day encouraged the students to think about how they present and sell themselves as well as how to work in and communicate with a team.

Careers related activities taking place this term

• Y8: McMullan trips – including a tour of the brewery and kitchens and a talk about careers in hospitality 
• Y9: Royal Navy – Leadership and Team building day
• Y12: Talks from the British Army, Ernst Young, and a Student FInance talk from Hertfordshire University

Unifrog

Just a reminder that all students in Y7-13 have access to Unifrog – the universal destinations platform, which helps students compare every university course, every apprenticeship, and Further Education courses. Students can also explore a range of careers and labour market information using the site. 

Careerometer

If your child is interested in finding out more about different careers, the careerometer is a tool that allows you to compare different jobs e.g. wages, growth etc click here

YHT Careers Fair

On Friday 9 February twelve of the year 10 students who are taking part in the YHT programme had the opportunity to visit a Careers Fair held at the UOH Fielder Centre, Hatfield,  which was put on by Hertfordshire Opportunities Programme.  This was a great opportunity to talk to a variety of companies about opportunities they have including degree apprenticeships as well as local colleges and universities.  

Employers and Providers in attendance include:

Army Bower and Kirkland B & D BPL/Kedrion Care Tech Computacenter Crane & Staples Solicitors CT Catapult Fire & Rescue Service GLL trading as Better Hertfordshire Building Control Hertfordshire Sports Village Herts Academy of Beauty Herts Sport Partnership Home Instead HOP HR Owen Iknaia Institute of Motor Industry

JPA Furniture Learning Curve Group Lovells Morgan Sindall NHS Not going to Uni Oaklands College Pay Point Pitman Training Police Quantum Care Right At Home Roche Royal Air Force Royal Navy & Royal Marines Siemens Police Quantum Care

Right At Home Roche Royal Air Force Royal Navy & Royal Marines Siemans Simmons Bakers Skillnet Sky Studios Stevenage Football Club Teach In Herts Tesco Tewin Bury Farm The Royal Veterinary College Toffee’s Beauty House Tottenham Hotspurs FC University of Hertfordshire

Blog

Please click here for our latest Careers Blog.

Young Enterprise

Colour 2 Learn, a company comprising 16 Year 12 students,  as part of a business social program called Young Enterprise, have created a colouring book with educational elements and are hoping to begin selling soon. Young Enterprise is a registered charity and gives students the opportunity to create a business, create a product or service and then bring their business to market, with a competition between different Young Enterprise businesses across the UK competing. This gives them the full experience of running a business including running their finances, research and development ,and introducing them to the real business and working world. 

We  have created a colouring book with educational elements aimed at children aged between 3 and 7 that allows them to explore and colour various topics including sports, jobs and world landmarks. Please see some examples of our hand drawn pages here. We are excited to be offering a launch offer for our Larch students with the first 30 copies sold priced at £3.50. After these initial copies, our book will retail at £4.99. We are really excited about launching a product of which we feel very proud and would love support for our Young Enterprise competition too.

If you would like to sign up to a preorder one of the reduced price copies, please email 12e-ye@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

PSHRE

We are currently reviewing our PSHRE curriculum and we would really appreciate your feedback to help improve our PSHRE programme even further. If you have time, please complete the relevant questionnaire below:

• Primary school parent questionnaire – click here
• Secondary school parent questionnaire – click here

Our PSHRE curriculum helps children and young people to identify, celebrate and manage the many personal, economic and social challenges they face, in order to become responsible and active members of society. Secondary school students work on a carousel where they will learn about different topics for 5 weeks in one of the following areas: physical health, mental health, relationships and living in the wider world. We have designed our curriculum so that each year group experiences a different aspect of these core themes e.g. in the physical well-being unit students will learn about healthy diets in year 7, maintaining a healthy lifestyle in year 8, the importance of physical health (dental health, sun safety, vaccinations) in year 9, vaping in year 10 and blood and organ donation in year 11, alongside many other topics.

A list of the different topics covered in PSHRE can be found here: click here

World Book Day week celebrations in the Larch

After half term, we are looking forward to celebrating World Book Day throughout the week w/c 4th March! 

On Tuesday 5th March, we will be hosting our first ever book swap morning during the school day where children in the Larch will get a chance to explore books donated and choose one to take home to read and keep. If you have any spare children’s books at home you’re able to donate, please send your child in with them by Friday 1st March. If you have more than one book to donate, this would be greatly appreciated to support those who may not have any books to donate. Please ensure the children’s books are not in a poor condition and could be enjoyed by another child in the Larch. 

As in previous years, instead of dressing up we will be focusing on the true meaning of World Book Day- reading! Please watch this space for upcoming dress-up and wow days in your child’s year group (such as the fantastic Year 4 Roman Workshop day on Thursday!).

There will be lots of reading based immersive activities throughout the week such as all of the the younger and older children in every class reading with and to each other.

Hall of Fame Results

Having counted down our Top 15 Hall of Fame pieces over the past weeks, we revealed our 2023-24 Hall of Fame champion in our assemblies last week. It was very tight at the top, but Wagner’s  Ride of The Valkyries just pipped Debussy into the top spot. Below are the standings for the top 15 this year:

• Ride of the Valkyries- Wagner (up 3 places)
• Claire De Lune- Debussy (down 1 place)
• Fur Elise- Beethoven (down 1 place)
• Moonlight Sonata- Beethoven (new entry)
• Theme from Swan Lake- Tchaikovsky (up 1)
• Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy- Tchaikovsky (down 3)
• Winter from The Four Seasons- Vivaldi (new entry)
• Spring from The Four Seasons- Vivaldi (up 1)
• Ode to Joy- Beethoven (down 4)
• Symphony no.5- Beethoven (up 1)
• Nimrod- Elgar (new entry)
• William Tell Overture- Rossini (new entry)
• The Lark Ascending- Vaughan Williams (new entry)
• Piano Concerto no.2- Rachmaninov (new entry)
• The Firebird Suite Finale- Stravinsky (new entry)

SEND

If you would like to speak to a member of the SEND team you can book a virtual appointment of up to 15 minutes using this Booking link. 

The latest parent newsletter from DSPL3 can be found here: DSPL3 Parents February Newsletter

A coffee morning on Neurodiversity being held 12th March 2024 in the Larch from 9.30am to 10.30am. Further information about Add-vance can be found on this link https://www.add-vance.org. . If you would like to attend this coffee morning please email vivashk@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

Safeguarding and health

Read the latest what parents need to know about online-dating-platforms and video chat service monkey

The latest Public Health Nursing newsletter can be read here: PHN Newsletter teen Winter 2023 2024 Final (1)

A separate letter will be sent home today on behalf of the Hertfordshire Association of Secondary School Headteachers (HASSH) regarding vaping in schools. It is a joint letter to parents from all secondary school headteachers in the county.

Larch Sport

Year 5 and 6 have participated in a number of fixtures and events over the past two weeks. A huge well done to the Y5/6 netball team who are through to the next round of the Evans trophy after beating St Mary’s 14-6. The Y5/6 football team are also through to the next round of the Hope cup after beating Mill Mead 4-1. A number of students also represented the school at a Sportshall Athletics competition on Monday, where the girls came 5th and the boys achieved 2nd place. Well done to all who participated.

Simon Balle Parent Staff Association

Vice Treasurer Opportunity

Are you detail-oriented, financially savvy, and passionate about supporting your school community? Simon Balle Parent Staff Association is seeking a dedicated individual to fill the role of Vice Treasurer. You will support our Treasurer and work with the school, ensuring the financial health and success of our association.

This is a wonderful opportunity to make a meaningful impact and contribute to the success of our school community.

To find out more, please come along to our next meeting on 26th March at 7pm (Secondary Library) or email us by March 31st psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

PSA Meeting flyer

Volunteers needed for the Wind and Brass evening

We’re still looking for bar support for the Music Department’s Wind and Brass evening on April 27th. If you’re available and willing to lend a hand, please sign up via this link. Your commitment is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to creating memorable experiences together!

Secondary pre-loved uniform plea

We are really pleased that the secondary pre-loved offering has been a success so far. We are now running low on stock and so welcome your uniform donations of items, in clean condition with no stains or holes.

Please drop off to secondary reception.

Pre-loved flyer

Slice of Summer, 13th July

Can your business sponsor our summer fair?

Does your company offer Match Funding?

Are you able to donate a star prize to the Summer Raffle?

Please get in touch if you are able to help us psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Interested in registering on our Stallholder Database?

Slice of Summer flyer

Red Nose Day

On Friday, 15th March, SBAS will be joining the global movement to end child poverty by participating in Red Nose Day. We are lining up some exciting activities for the day, ensuring that everyone can participate and contribute to this worthy cause. Among these will be a sponsored football match in Sixth Form, a Wear Something Red fundraiser in the Larch and we will also be providing a special Red Nose Day menu across the all-through school. We hope all students, staff and parents can get involved.

How You Can Contribute:

Donate Online: Visit our Just Giving page and make a donation. Every contribution, no matter the amount, brings us one step closer to our fundraising goal. Here is a link to our page: Just Giving Simon Balle School Comic Relief Just Giving Simon Balle School Comic Relief

Foodbank Collection: In addition to supporting Red Nose Day, we are partnering with the local foodbank charity Jedidiah. Let’s help make a positive impact on our local community. You can read more about Jedidiah and their work here: https://www.jedidiah.org.uk/

We will provide more details regarding the donations and activities planned for Red Nose Day closer to the time. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• Monday 26th February: INSET Day
• Tuesday 27th February: Y13 Berlin trip departs
• Wednesday 28th February: Y3 visit to Hertford Museum
• Thursday 29th February: Y9 Royal Navy Activity Day
• w/c 4th March: Y3,4 and 5 swimming to begin . More details will be sent via letter.
• Wednesday 6th March:  Y13 Parents’ evening
• Thursday 7th March: World Book Day
• Saturday 9th March: Big Band Evening
• w/c 18th March: Reception parent evenings 
• Monday 25th March:  Simon Balle’s Got Talent (more details to follow)

Wishing everyone in our community a positive and fulfilling fortnight ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Friday 19th January

Co-headteachers’ welcome

It is hard to cover in a short co-headteachers’ welcome all that January has encompassed at Simon Balle All-through school – it has certainly been an exciting and busy month. As always, we talk of no tension between high academic expectations (not just our Year 11 and Year 13 cohorts but across our school) and wonderful enrichment – from business to art to MFL trips, and from sporting success to on-site activities such as the Year 6 science Wonderstruck and Year 4 Gaudi workshop. What is important for us as leaders at Simon Balle is that nothing is left to chance – our bespoke and planned curriculum allows us to plot and implement exciting academic and personal development opportunities in each and every year, and to seek student and parent/carer feedback as to every young person’s journey. Please do keep a watchful eye on our social media posts as recent posts include incredible success amongst our Year 13s and their future destinations; celebration of phonics outcomes from 2023 with our Year 1s (thank you Damian!); careers opportunities a-plenty; ‘more to experience’ activities for our Year 6 cohort as they prepare for their transition to the secondary phase; and enrichment from sport to art to music and more. It has been a great month too for our ongoing partnership with parents – with so many thanks for the enormous success of our in-person Year 11 parents’ evening, and the engagement so tangibly felt with Year 9 preferences this week. 

I trust that you have had the opportunity to read our standalone letter in relation to premises developments. We are truly excited to be creating new buildings that are state-of-the-art classrooms, investing in the very best possible facilities for our young people, and, of course, preparing for our Simon Balle four-court sports hall. We thank you in anticipation of your understanding where compromises are required – for example, with parking. 

And finally, for our co-headteachers’ update, it is important to let you know that we are excited to share the possible expansion of our multi-academy trust (MAT) at Simon Balle. You will already know how important our community is to us at Simon Balle – including all of our stakeholders, our local area, our feeder primary schools and more. We value outward facing leadership and partnership with others – always with our young people at the heart of decision making. The Department for Education have granted an academy order for the expansion of our Trust and Mill Mead Primary School are currently undergoing a consultation process with their parents/carers and staff. We look forward to sharing more information with you very soon. 

We hope that this newsletter is informative, exciting, relevant to all and providing great hope for all that 2024 will continue to bring!

Art update

Gaudi Mosaic Day

Year 4 were lucky enough to have a visit from Claire Costello a local mosaic artist who worked with both classes to create individual mosaic tiles, which is the beginning of our Gaudi garden. We teamed this up with a stained glass window workshop. The outcomes were amazing!

GAUDI GARDEN PROJECT

We are looking to source some outdoor garden flooring (outdoor tiles or artificial grass) for a small space . Please if there is anyone who works in the gardening business who will have offcuts or anything that is no use to them please can you contact ledsterh@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

New kiln

It was exciting seeing the first load of the year 9 pots go on in our new kiln! Thank You again to the PSA for making this possible.

Spotlight in Phase 1 in the Larch

In Reception the children have been thoroughly enjoying our Literary Canon texts ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and ‘How to Catch a Star.’ Using our Talk for Writing approach, the children have enjoyed retelling the stories, creating story maps and then creating their own versions of the stories. We have had some wonderful ideas such as ‘We’re Going on a Crocodile Hunt’ and ‘How to Catch the Moon’! We are very proud of how hard the children are working on their letter formation and beginning to write sentences. We have also been focusing on numbers 6 and 7 along with subtraction in our numeracy. The children have also enjoyed our PSHE learning about staying hydrated and healthy teeth – our role play area of the dentist surgery has proved extremely popular!

In Year 1, the children have been doing brilliant learning in their Phonics as they review the sounds taught so far in Level 5. The children have such a positive attitude to their daily phonics lessons and are always keen to practise their reading and writing! In Maths, we have been learning about odd and even numbers as well as capacity, and we have been encouraging the children to use accurate vocabulary to explore different containers and their amounts. Finally, in Geography, we have been exploring rainforests and comparing this environment to a familiar environment to us.

Computacenter Careers Presentation Y8,Y11 and Y12

On Tuesday last week we were lucky to have Renée Ramsay-Nicol from Computacenter coming into school to give a presentation about Computacenter. They are local employers with a global footprint as an independent technology and service provider (e.g. screens for airports and software for Domino’s). The students learned about the choices she had made and the path she had taken to gain her current position. Even though Computacenter is an IT company the presentation showed there were roles that did not require IT skills and for the right candidate even the IT training could be provided as an employee or as an apprentice.

Please click here for our latest careers opportunity blog.

PE & Sports News

The past couple of weeks have been action packed with so many competition and sports taking place. Our students have participated in the District Indoor athletics championships and Sportshall Athletics league to name but a few. We have also had District and county competitions in Football, Basketball, Rugby, Netball and Hockey, with so many resilient performances. On Saturday our students are representing the school at the Herts Cross Country Championships and we wish them all the best of luck. For more information and reports from a very successful month of sport, please see our January Sports Round Up.

February in the canteen

Our catering partner Accent have published a set of recipe cards for you to use to cook up some healthy meals this month. They’re all based on the theme of Blue February. You can find these recipes (and latest menus and offers) on the catering page of the website.

KS2 Healthy snacks at break

We kindly ask for your support in providing healthy snacks for break time for key stage 2, following on from the healthy offer for our key stage 1 children. A nutritious snack fuels their bodies and minds, enhancing their focus and productivity in class until lunch. Please consider sending in snacks such as fresh fruits, vegetables, breadsticks, crackers, or a small sandwich. By choosing more healthy and substantial options, it helps ensure our students have the energy they need to thrive throughout the day and reduces waste from packaging. Thank you for your support.

Library news

Well done to all those students ‘getting rewarded for reading’. Click on the images below to see the current leaderboard.

The RSPB’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch

The secondary library ambassadors joined forces with the Larch and secondary school eco groups on Friday 26th January to take part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch which is a nationwide research project that helps the RSPB to monitor how British wildlife is doing throughout the country. Our top 4 birds were the carrion crow, wood pigeon, jackdaw and blue tit. We observed the wildlife on the school playground, school field and woodland and we found different species of bird in each location. Our results have been submitted to the RSPB to add to their national data. Well done to the birdwatching team!

Pedagogy Portal

Educational Expert Dylan Wiliam suggests:

“It’s the commitment we make as teachers to never stop learning that will build good habits, develop great teachers and ultimately move the lives of the young people in our care forward. Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.”

In this week’s blog, we look at two members of our staff body who have recently completed and started some National Professional Qualifications. As they share their journey, we celebrate the progress that they have made and look forward to updating you on many other staff achievements of those undertaking these qualifications.

https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/category/teaching-learning-news/

Parenting Support Programme

Please see the attached flyer for information about the bespoke parenting support programme being run by Leon brown and Colette Marino.

Simon Balle parenting support programme

Parent Staff Association

Bar support needed for Wind and Brass evening.

We are seeking your support for upcoming events in the spring term. We’re in need of bar support for the Music Department’s Wind and Brass evening on April 27th. Your involvement will add a wonderful touch to the musical night and contribute to the success of our school community events. If you’re available and willing to lend a hand, please sign up via this link. Your commitment is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to creating memorable experiences together!

Have you any unwanted bottles gathering dust?

Help us uncork generosity! The PSA welcomes your unwanted bottles of booze, patiently gathering dust. Turn clutter into community spirit by donating them to support our initiatives. Let’s raise a toast to shared goodwill! #SipAndGiveBack

Sponsorship – can you help us?

We are looking for a number of sponsors for this year’s summer fair. Can your business sponsor either of these areas:  The Bar.  The Summer Raffle.  The BBQ. The Slice of Summer will take place on Saturday 13th July, 12-4pm. Save the date!

Securing sponsorship not only adds to the success of our events and fairs but also strengthens our bonds within the local community. Your involvement is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the school’s spirit and provide much-needed fundraising support for the Simon Balle Parent Staff Association. With your support, we can make our events and fairs unforgettable and continue to build a stronger school community.

psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• Thursday 8th February: Y5&6 Evans Trophy Netball vs St Mary’s – home
• Thursday 8th February: National Apprenticeships Week information evening
• Thursday 8th February: Y5&6 Hope Cup Netball vs Mill Mead – home
• Monday 25th February: Y5&6 sportshall athletics
• Thursday 15th February: Y4 Roman Britain Workshop
• Friday 16th February: Ski trip departs
• Monday 26th February: INSET Day
• Tuesday 27th February: Y13 Berlin trip departs
• Advance notice: Y3,4 and 5 swimming to begin w/c 4th March. More details will be sent via letter.
• Advance notice: Wednesday 6th March Y13 Parents’ evening
• Advance notice: Reception parent evenings w/c 18th March
• Advance notice: Monday 25th March Simon Balle’s Got Talent (more details to follow)

Wishing everyone in our community a positive and fulfilling fortnight ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Friday 19th January

Co-headteachers’ welcome

Welcome back! We hope everyone has had a fantastic break. We now look forward to longer days and exciting events ahead in the spring term.

As Years 11 and 13 are finishing topic content, honing skills through practice questions and diagnostic feedback, Year 6 are preparing for SATs. It was lovely to see so many people at the information evening where, along with practical information and advice, students found out about exciting opportunities available to them as they continue their all-through journey. This stage of the journey to their public exams can be full of ups and downs. It is important to use these experiences to move forward, to take advice and continue to take small steps towards achieving a goal. A positive mindset goes a long way and helps to develop the valuable resilience skills needed in many areas of life.

As I look at the calendar for this term, I am struck by the number of educational and enrichment activities scheduled. The GCSE Art students are off to the Tate Modern, Year 4 will be taking part in a Gaudi workshop, the Business department are visiting Disneyland Paris, Year 6 will enjoy a visit from ‘Wonderstruck’ for a science masterclass and the ski trip to Austria takes place at half term. When students leave Simon Balle, they often talk about the trips and activities which captivated and inspired them so we cannot underestimate their value and importance. I’m sure we can all recollect a trip we went on during our school days and perhaps even have a tale to tell!

Finally, I want to let you know how proud I was watching the Year 7 and 8 teams playing rugby at Haileybury last month. Their teamwork, communication and sportsmanship were exemplary and a credit to our school values. The Year 7 team remains unbeaten and I know they are excited for the next  challenge.  Year 4 are looking forward to the indoor athletics competition at Wodson park which I know is a highly enjoyable event where the students enjoy cheering each other on as much as taking part. An exciting term ahead…

Transition from Year 6 – 7 at Simon Balle All-through School

As an all-through school, we are unique in the benefits we can offer our students as they remain at one school and yet make an important transition from our primary to secondary phase. There is so much that remains consistent for students – many staff with whom they have excellent relationships; familiarity with so much of the all-through site from music to sporting facilities, secondary library, and a range of classrooms; friendships so importantly formed; and a broad, ambitious and bespoke curriculum which has been planned in a progressive and sequential manner all the way from Reception – Year 13 in all subjects. 

We are delighted that 99% of our first two Larch cohorts stayed with us, and we are even more delighted that now they are in Years 7 and 8 we are innovatively reworking some of our approaches to teaching and learning and pathways in Year 9 and beyond, to ensure that academic challenges are rigorous and highly engaging for such outstanding KS2 results. Indeed, we believe this curriculum offer is innovative and one that sets us apart.

In both cohorts so far, student and parental feedback is highly positive in relation to the transition that children made – no time is lost as they settle quickly – socially, emotionally and academically. That said, we are never complacent: transition work has already begun for the third cohort through, this is a personalised process, and summer school is a huge success for all students. 

And so, we work on emphasising all that is consistent for students as they move from Years 6 – 7. This is very important. But at this point in the year, we want to ensure that they understand too what will be new and exciting! After all, belonging to the secondary phase brings many new opportunities and lots of change. 

Parents for the current Year 6 provided great feedback last Wednesday following their workshop which covered not just SATs, but an insight into the activities for this half term designed to provide students with just a flavour of what is to come in Year 7 and beyond. From science to MFL, from music to sport, from food tech to business, we will be sharing these exciting opportunities on social media and in newsletters so that not just Year 6, but all year groups below this in the Larch can also see all that belonging to an all-through school can offer.

Pedagogy Portal

Educational author Judy Durrant stated that:

In any profession, it is an important responsibility to keep up to date with the latest ideas and information. Teachers have particular challenges in this respect: not only are there continuing changes in the nature of what is taught, but research and development inform pedagogy – how the teaching of this subject matter could be approached. Furthermore, new understandings continually arise from research into learning, leadership and school improvement, all of which influence what goes on in classrooms. A learning disposition is therefore crucial for teachers in order to take account of this changing knowledge and understanding, and develop new skills which may enhance practice. 

At SBAS, we are excited to share that we have created our first ever staff Teaching & Learning research group. Click on the link to find out more. 

https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/category/teaching-learning-news/

SEND information

If you would like to speak to a member of the SEND team, and your child currently attends Simon Balle All-through School, you can book a virtual appointment of up to 15 minutes with a member of the SEND team, please use the following booking link: Booking link

This week the SEND team hosted a coffee morning alongside SPACE for parents of our all-through school. They explained the support that they can provide to families including lending equipment, offering advice and courses for parents (much of which is free to access). For further information look at their website  https://spaceherts.org.uk/ 

Potential Kids is an award winning charity based in Welwyn/Hatfield which provides learning, social and sports opportunities to Neurodivergent children / young people. You can view their list of activities here:January 2024 Activities

Finally, please take a look at the DSPL3 Parents January Newsletter. It contains SEND information, training available and key websites and contacts for SEND support.

Year 1 Parents and Carers Book Look and Phonics Information Session

We would like to invite parents and carers of Year 1 students to a Phonics Information Session with an opportunity to view your children’s learning books. Taking place in the Larch Hall, you will be able to view books from 2.20pm and the session will start promptly at 2.35pm. We encourage everyone to attend wherever possible as this is an opportunity to hear directly from the class teachers about how the teaching of Phonics is supporting your child, how you can help at home, and information about the statutory Phonics Screening Check that takes place later this year. Please note this is a date change that was originally advertised as the 27th February.

Wednesday 28th February 2.20-3.05pm Larch Hall
Book Look: 2.20pm
Information session: 2.35-3.05pm

Spotlight on Phase 2

Over the last couple of weeks, Year 2 have started looking at Castles in their History lessons. The children are excited and engaged with learning the parts of a castle and their purpose. Year 3 have started 2024 with poetry! As part of their English and home learning, they have focused on Kit Wright’s ‘The Magic Box’, analysing the language and poetic devices to be able to write their own versions. It was lovely to see the Year 4 children trying to spot the common exception words which needed editing during their spelling lessons. Once they had spotted each word, they had to correct them and then use it accurately within a sentence.

Y6 Wonderstruck Day

 

Last Tuesday, (the 15th of January 2024) Year Six students had the pleasure of the Wonderstruck company coming in to do a science workshop with them. We had many activities to enjoy; the workshop lasted all day.

Firstly, we watched a science show in the hall. This included many demonstrations such as: being shown the science of combustion and how it worked. We were taught how cotton melts -but does not burn- and how nylon burns and does not melt. This was demonstrated by Peter (the person giving the workshop) picking up cotton on fire. Then, we were taught about how smoke can be even more fatal than fire; if you inhaled even just two lungfuls of toxic smoke, you could be seriously or fatally injured. After that, we were shown some examples of different chemical reactions and what the outcome of them were.             

Here is a table of the results of the fan-powered car workshop.

Teams	Time (seconds)	Position
Red rocket	4.53	3rd
The awesome foursome mobile	6.53	6th
The pink party	4.34	2nd
The penguin mobile	3.91	1st
Murphy rules	5.25	5th
Hot wheels	4.94	4th

In the fan-powered car workshop, we were shown how to construct the cars and then we were allowed to go and make them. Then, after we had constructed the cars we were allowed to change the wheels, propellers and amount of wheels to make the best possible design. Finally, we raced them all. We learnt that if we used the 4 pack of batteries it would weigh the car down but give it more power. If we used big wheels as well as the batteries, it would be too heavy and therefore make it go slower.

Here are the results of our paper rocket launch experiment.

Students	Distance (metres)	Position
Rosey and Zoë	110	1st
Kira, Cara and Jennie	106	2nd
Archie, Henry and Xander	103	3rd

Firstly, Peter showed us how to make the rockets, then we made them. After that, we launched them and saw whose rocket travelled the farthest.

Y8 Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Day

Just before the end of last term Y8 had a great visit from the RAF Museum, they provided 2 activities with help of funding from the RAF. One was to plan out and plot a route for a helicopter to aid in a disaster situation followed by the chance to fly a drone. The other had the students using a tablet to program a rolling drone (Sphero) to follow a set route on a plan on the floor. All of year 8 enjoyed taking part in one of the activities that will encourage our budding scientist of the future and hopefully everyone gained a small insight in ways that the STEM subjects can be used.

Y11 Art, Photography and Textiles trip to Tate Modern 17.01.24

To coincide with the launch of the exam unit, the Art department visited the ‘Capturing the moment’ exhibition at Tate Modern. This display of art and photography work contained a wealth of inspiration for our students as they begin their creative journeys into the exam theme of their choice.

Our students were thrilled to see works by artists that they are familiar with, for example Pablo Picasso’s ‘The Weeping Woman’ as well as being introduced to pieces by contemporary artists they had yet to discover. With time to explore the rest of the Tate’s permanent collections, the students have come away with a range of artists to include in their individual exam projects which they will use as starting points as they develop their own ideas.

All-through extra-curricular clubs

Our all-through school is dedicated to providing a comprehensive enrichment offer that goes beyond traditional academic pursuits. Our students have the opportunity to explore a diverse range of extracurricular activities, fostering personal growth and a well-rounded education. From sports and arts to STEM programs and music, our enrichment initiatives aim to nurture students’ interests, talents, and character. We believe in cultivating a holistic learning experience that extends beyond the classroom, preparing our students for success in both academic and real-world challenges. Through our enriching programs, we aim to inspire a love for learning, instill a sense of curiosity, and develop skills that extend far beyond the academic curriculum.

We are proud that every day, Monday to Wednesday we offer a wide range of clubs and opportunities for students across our all-through school, thanks to the contribution of teachers and support staff across the school. 

For our full extra-curricular offer, please refer here to the ‘what’s on’ section of our school website. This will also provide you with the contact details for various members of staff to speak to you if you have any questions about a specific club or how to sign up.

Careers

It is going to be a busy term for careers events. We have presentations from Computacenter (Y8, Y11 and 12), Ernst Young (Y12)  and the British Army (Y12) which provides the largest apprenticeship offering in the UK. The employers will talk about opportunities for apprenticeships and employment in their job sectors. Y8 will start a form by form programme of visits to McMullens for a tour and a Kitchen demonstration. Y10 will be “Getting Work Ready” with a whole day of activities from employers organised by ELSA Next Generation and Y9 will have leadership and team building activities sessions from the Royal Navy.

Please click here for our latest careers opportunities blog. 

This includes:

• Current degree apprenticeship application links for: Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology , Government Economic Service and Schroders investment management apprenticeships.  
• Real Estate opportunities for Y12 students. 
• Virtual Medicine and Dentistry Opportunities – Y10 – 12

On the 22nd – 26th April 2024 our Year 12 students will be taking part in Work Experience placements. Unfortunately, some students do find it very difficult to find placements that are linked to areas they are interested in pursuing in the future and this is where we hope that you can help. If you are able to offer a placement during this week please contact us at workexperience@simonballe.herts.sch.uk and let us know the area of business/industry that you work in and we will be in touch as soon as we can. We would be very grateful for any support!

National Apprenticeship Week 2024 is taking place from 5th to 11th February 2024. 

• For more information and resources to help students and parents understand more about apprenticeships, please see the ‘Apprenticeship’ tab on the careers section of the website: https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/careers/apprenticeships/ 
• We are hosting an ‘Apprenticeship Information Evening’ on Thursday 8th February in the school hall at 6.00pm. This event is open to all parents and students in Y11-13 and will cover a range of topics related to apprenticeships including: the different types of apprenticeships, searching for apprenticeships, support available, expectations and benefits of apprenticeships and the recruitment process. If you are interested in attending please complete this link: click here

Online safety – Smartphone Safety Tips for Young People

According to Ofcom, 69% of under-18s use a smartphone as their main method of going online. Additionally, 49% of children use them for online gaming – putting smartphones only behind consoles (59%) as the device of choice for playing games on. Most people won’t require such statistical evidence, however, to acknowledge the huge importance of phones to young people. From passcodes to parental controls, and from screen time to scams, the most recent #WakeUpWednesday guide has the essential advice: smartphone-safety-tips

PSA

Sponsorship – can your business help?

As we embark on planning our upcoming events, we are reaching out to our school community for support. If any of our families have business connections or know of local businesses interested in sponsoring these significant events, we would love to hear from you. Securing sponsorship not only adds to the success of our events and fairs but also strengthens our bonds within the local community. Your involvement is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the school’s spirit and provide much-needed fundraising support for the Simon Balle Parent Staff Association. With your support, we can make our events and fairs unforgettable and continue to build a stronger school community.

Bar Support

We are seeking your support for upcoming events in the spring term. We’re in need of bar support for the Music Department’s Big Band evening on March 9th and the Wind and Brass evening on April 27th. Your involvement will add a wonderful touch to these musical nights and contribute to the success of our school community events. If you’re available and willing to lend a hand, please sign up via this link. Your commitment is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to creating memorable experiences together!

Slice of Summer – Saturday 13th July. Save the date!

Contact us about any of these events by emailing psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

Uniform at Simon Balle All-through School

We are writing just to let parents/carers know that we are working to review our uniform providers for uniform in the secondary phase at present. This review includes all aspects of daily uniform and PE kit. Our principles have not changed as we know the huge benefits that school uniform brings in relation to an important sense of belonging to our community: uniform shows this both when in school, and when representing the school including within sporting events. Our new approach to rewards and clarity of behavioural expectations have seen an excellent increase in all aspects of our uniform being worn well and our high expectations adhered to. That said, we know that there are a number of important factors to consider for parents/carers too in relation to value for money, quality of garments, ease of purchasing (and returning), availability of stock and sizing. We are working hard to ensure the very best process and outcomes and will communicate back with you all in due course.

A reminder also to please ensure your child doesn’t come to school wearing any jewellery (including hoop earrings for health and safety reasons), except for one small set of stud earrings and a watch.

Reusable drinks bottles

Last week, our secondary students received an assembly all about plastic pollution and what we can do, as a school and tomorrow’s citizens, to reduce our impact on the environment. Each year, Simon Balle has historically used a staggering 200,000 single use plastic bottles. This equates to 5 tons of plastic waste and, stacked end to end, would be as tall as four Mt Everests!

At Simon Balle we are committed to reducing our environmental impact and a vital part of creating tomorrow’s citizens is teaching them how to live more sustainable lives and this is best done leading by example. To this end, in November, we removed plastic bottles as well as cans and cartons from sale in our secondary canteen and are encouraging students to bring their own reusable bottles and to fill them from water fountains or the new Generation Juice vending machines. This is an important first step in our campaign to make our catering operation as close to zero waste as possible and reducing our carbon footprint.

One of the statistics we learnt during the assemblies is that 92% of our secondary students have a reusable water bottle that they can bring to school but only 60% actually bring it to school. From the 29th January, to encourage our students to remember and use their reusable bottles, we will be launching a house league table with fortnightly rewards for the houses that save the most single use plastic bottles by filling their reusable bottles at either the water fountains or Generation Juice vending machines.

To help us help our environment, please remind your children to bring their bottles to school. If your child does not have a reusable bottle, or their bottle is lost or broken, they are able to purchase a 500ml stainless steel bottle with two free drinks tokens from the canteen for just £3.50.

Cold weather

Please ensure that your child comes to school in a suitably warm coat, and that all items are clearly labeled so they can be reunited with their owners if discarded at some point. We have made some adjustments at break and lunch time to provide students with an extra inside space that they can use. If there is a need to close the school due to bad weather we will endeavour to inform you by 7am at the latest. This decision is never taken lightly, and will always be made with full regard for the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff. Online learning will be provided for the students, although there will be a sufficiently long deadline on this to ensure that everyone has time to get out and enjoy the snow…

Attendance – Fixed Penalty Notices for Holidays

We were delighted to see a great increase in attendance during the Autumn term compared to that of 2022. In the Primary Phase figures rose from 92.56% (2022) to 96.93% (2023) whilst in the Secondary there was a 0.4% increase going from 93.56% (2022) to 93.96% (2023). We know the benefits of great attendance for our students both in the impact that high attendance can have on academic results but also the improvement in young people’s mental health and wellbeing. We are determined to see these figures continue to rise as the academic year progresses. 

With this in mind, we are seeing a vast number of term time holidays being taken which is negatively affecting student attendance. As of Monday 26th February any unauthorised absence for term time holidays will invoke a Fixed Penalty Notice (FNB). These fines will be administered by the local authority (LA) and the school will follow LA guidance in respect of issuing fines. The amount payable is £60 (per parent) if paid within 21 days or £120 (per parent) if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt of the notice. If a student is going to miss school for an unauthorised holiday then the school will send a warning letter to advise that a FPN will be served unless the action is not carried out. 

We really value our parents’ continued support in avoiding the booking of term time holidays. Indeed there are 190 days in a school year, leaving 175 days to book holidays out of school time.

High Attendance. Excellent Achievement. Positive Wellbeing

Puzzle of the week

SInce the start of this term, year 7 and 8 students have been taking part in the weekly ‘Puzzle of the Week’ competition.  It is an opportunity for students to win house points and prizes, as well as engage in fun, problem-solving questions which test both their mathematical and logical thinking. Below are the first three puzzles that have been attempted so far – click on the images and see if you can solve them!

Dates for your diary

A full calendar of events can be viewed on the school website.

• Tuesday 23rd January: Y11 parents evening (face to face)
• Wednesday 24th January: Ski trip information evening
• Friday 26th January: PSA UV Party after school
• Wednesday 31st January: Y9 Preferences evening
• Thursday 15th February: Y4 Roman Britain Workshop
• Advance notice: Reception parent evenings w/c 18th March

Wishing everyone in our community a positive and fulfilling fortnight ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk and Mr Michael Moss (Co-headteachers)

Dear Parents/Carers,

Re: Building and facilities developments at Simon Balle All-through School 

We are writing to make you aware of so many exciting developments already underway and planned for the near future for the facilities available at Simon Balle – from individual classroom refreshments to whole block developments across the all-through site.

It is first important for us to explain our vision – why these developments are planned and how they will enhance the lived experience of our children, wherever they are on their journey from Reception to Year 13. In 2022 we began working with a firm of architects (indeed, the lead architect is himself a former Simon Balle student!) to develop a master plan for the Simon Balle premises. The purpose of the plan is to provide us with a holistic strategy to improve the school’s buildings and estate in the most efficient and effective manner possible, with each step along the development journey further enhancing existing facilities whilst also laying the foundations for future improvements. The master plan aims to deliver these improvements in three key ways:

• Increasing capacity – we are increasing the space that is available, both in terms of classrooms for our secondary phase, and importantly for everyone with our sports hall. Capacity increasing allows not only the best possible opportunities during the school day, but also continuation of our outstanding enrichment programme where space can be a challenge!
• Improving quality – New buildings and refurbishments are painstakingly designed to the most modern standards for acoustics, lighting and ventilation to ensure the most comfortable working environment for our staff and students. This is of vital importance to us as the correlation between the quality of work environment and the productivity and mental and physical health and wellbeing of staff and students is well documented and established.
• Improving teaching and learning resources – New resources purchased to support the breadth and ambition of the curriculum across our all-through school, including enhancements to both equipment and the use of displays. 

So, what is new?

The first steps of the master plan are well underway with £6.9m already invested in expanding and improving the learning and working environment for our students and staff. Already completed projects include: 

• Critical upgrades and health and safety improvements to cold water services
• Refurbishment of two student toilet blocks and PE changing rooms – both excellent examples of student voice in action!
• Site security fencing
• Jubilee suite 

As with any changes made to facilities on a busy site day to day, work is being phased and planned to ensure minimum disruption. The projects below will give you a sense, however, of further improvements coming soon (please make sure you have a look at the photos at the bottom of the page too – just click on the images to enlarge them)! 

• Our new four-classroom block (at the back of the playground on the secondary site, looking towards the back field) is soon to be opened. Light and spacious, these are state of the art classrooms, and we are delighted that this will be housing Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) at Simon Balle. It is an incredibly exciting time at Simon Balle where the numbers of students studying French and Spanish at GCSE is increasing year on year; the new block will be opened by our current Year 6 cohort who are currently looking forward to their ‘More to experience’ weeks where they gain an insight into just how much more the secondary phase has to offer them!
• Our mobile classrooms, currently housing Business and Explorers and IT are being replaced with new, modern buildings. The Jubilee suite is almost ready to house Explorers (Years 3 – 6), with a newly fitted kitchen and bathroom, and with direct outdoor access to the trim trail and Astro. Our new IT classroom is large and fitted with all technology required for the continued success of Computer Science from Year 7 – Year 13. There are some internal movements too for business and other departments – more to follow!
• Another multi-functional education ‘suite’ is arriving to be placed near to the new MFL block. As a larger space, this supports so many important areas of school life – including a sixth form study area when exams are taking place, and a large space for external speakers – supporting our careers and PSHRE programmes. 
• Within Art, we are delighted to announce the arrival of our new kiln. This will be a superb addition to our ceramics programme, both within the main curriculum and extra-curricular, primary phase and secondary. Within drama, an investment is being made into new lighting for the drama studio, ensuring the highest quality of equipment to support students of all ages and, of course, importantly at GCSE. 
• In the Larch, as well as new signage, we are very excited that a bespoke design is currently in process for an important, large history display which will be placed in the centre of the building, around the library walls. Reflecting all units within our history curriculum Reception – Year 6, the timeline will support children in understanding the chronology of historical events so that they can understand sequencing, and ensure that new learning is building on their prior learning of times, places and concepts.
• We are maximising opportunities to create quality outdoor recreational and educational spaces for all of our students including seating, canopies, landscaping and improvements to our outdoor classroom.
• Last (for now!), but certainly not least, we are so excited about the building work, due to start imminently, on our sports hall. From badminton to cricket, from netball to basketball, our four court sports hall will not only be a wonderful resource, but will also release pressure on our other multi-use halls and gym, and serve our Hertford community. 

Sustainability is a key consideration and the environment is an important stakeholder in our decision-making. New buildings are designed to consume as little energy as possible (for example, the sports hall will be passively ventilated and utilise sun tubes) and will include solar panels wherever possible. Refurbished or second life materials and furniture are also used wherever appropriate to reduce our carbon footprint and promote a circular economy. The next steps in the master plan will also allow us to decarbonise the site’s heating and an application for a further £2m in government funding was submitted in December 23 to this end.

Safeguarding is, as ever, our first priority, and together with the work last year to add gates and fencing around the whole perimeter of the site, the sports hall will create a professional and welcoming face to the front of the school. 

Financially, all of this is being achieved through: 

• Excellent work by our Director of Business to apply for government funding – not just our £4m sports hall or £1.1m MFL block, but work that is continuing to deliver essential upgrades to the site’s electrical infrastructure, fire safety and central heating. 
• Prudent and careful financial management by our governors and senior leaders.
• PSA funding – here we are so grateful to the whole of the PSA, and every single parent/carer who has supported in so many events every year. The PSA are specifically funding the kiln for Art, the lighting in drama, the Larch history display and the humanities classroom refurbishment which took place in the summer.  

Apologies for such a long letter – we will do our best to continue to provide updates on social media, our website and newsletters, including with many photographs. Following this letter, there will be more communication coming to you in relation to practical updates – for example, where there will be a change of pedestrian routes to ensure the safety of everybody with building works taking place. As you have already read, car parking will be significantly reduced  – but, in essence, this is no different to what has already been shared many times before as our car park is only intended for staff and for visitors to Simon Balle. 

We hope that all stakeholders are as equally excited to read this update, as we are in writing it! 

Please direct any questions to Mr Ayres who is our Assistant Headteacher leading on operations at Simon Balle: ayresd@simonballe.herts.sch.uk 

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Rachel Kirk, Mr Michael Moss and Mr Haydn Walsh

Co-headteachers and Director of Business 

 

 

 

We are delighted to be able to share with you Reception’s wonderful performance of ‘The Twinkly Nativity!’. This will be available for you to download until the 19th. We hope you enjoy watching it with your family!

Nativity link