December Sports Blog

20th December 2024Elena Newman

December Newsletter 

 

Boys Football 

The year 8 football team fought well in the 5th Round of the national cup against Fulham boy’s school holding them to 1-0 at half time after scoring a free kick from the edge of the box. The second half was tough allowing their Arsenal academy midfielder too much time on the ball allowing him to dribble into space and spread the ball to their wingers.

The team held their heads high with Alfie W being man of the match after some incredible saves. Score finished 5-1 to Fulham boys. We look forward to the start of our district cup campaign after christmas.

The Year 9 boys recently played in the local Broxbourne tournament. This was a great opportunity to give squad members a game who don’t usually play for the first team. The boys performed very well, beating Broxbourne School in the first game 2-1 and just losing out to a strong Goffs team 2-0 in the second game. Thomas H was player of the tournament performing very well in midfield. The boys now look forward to January and both the District Cup and Saturday football. 

 

Girls Football 

I am incredibly proud of the dedication and hard work shown by all of our girls’ football teams this year. Every single player has demonstrated exceptional commitment to training and matches. Their enthusiasm and teamwork have truly been inspiring, and it’s clear that each team has grown not only in skill but also in spirit. Whether on the field or during practice, the players have shown a true passion for the game and a strong desire to improve.

Looking ahead to the new year, we are excited about the upcoming fixtures and the opportunity for the year 7s to get the chance to showcase their commitment and passion for football in the fixtures in the new. We’re confident that the girls will continue to impress, and we can’t wait to see all their hard work pay off on the pitch. Here’s to another great year of football!

 

Rugby 

The Year 7 Rugby team played against a strong well structured Haileybury school team. After conceding the first try within a few minutes we put in some strong tackles and linked up some fantastic passing creating gaps in the Haileybury defence leading to some excellent break away tries. The final score finished with SBS losing 4-7 tries.

Our Year 8 team came back to face a much strengthened Haileybury side compared to last year. However, the year 8’s commitment to training has shown off with some incredible linking up and excellent work within the defensive line. The result came Simon Balles way again with more tries than could be counted. We look forward to our other games after the christmas break.

 

Netball 

During this term the girls have been showing off their skills during training. With not many matches this term, training has been filled with fun drills and games to keep the girls fitness levels high and enthusiasm for playing netball strong. Each week they are showcasing their teamwork and commitment to playing netball for our school by coming to training consistently. After Christmas there are lots of potential matches for everyone to participate in and as a department, we can’t wait to see what Year 7 netball has in store for the students. 

This term, our Year 8 and Year 10 netball teams have been showcasing their skills and teamwork in the Herts County School Netball Cup. After an intense first half of the competition, the Year 8 team proudly secured 2nd place in their pool, while the Year 10 team achieved an impressive 3rd place. Both teams have made significant progress, demonstrating excellent development and cohesion on the court. As we move into the new year, we eagerly await the announcement of our opponents for the second round. Well done to all players for their hard work and dedication so far—keep it up!

In the new year, each year group will have the exciting opportunity to participate in the district netball tournament. At Simon Balle, we take great pride in always entering a minimum of two teams for these events, reflecting the enthusiasm and commitment of our players. These tournaments provide an excellent platform for the teams to put into practice everything they have worked on throughout the term, showcasing their development and teamwork in a competitive environment. We can’t wait to see how they perform!

 

Basketball

Year 8 have started training well over this half term and we look forward to the start of our games in January.

Attendance at after-school Basketball training for Year 9 has been excellent and students are preparing for their first match of the season away to Chauncy on Tuesday 17th December. 

Y10 played Chauncy and Freeman College in the district league. In year 10 the competition was very strong and despite very spirited performances on both occasions the team lost both games. Training will continue up until xmas

The senior basketball team has been in action this month, with new players coming into the team, it has been fantastic to see how positively they are growing as a team and working hard for each other. 

The senior team has enjoyed a really positive start by beating a very strong Freman College by 33-31. The boys were then narrowly beaten 34-31 in the District competition at the semi-final stage by an impressive Chauncy school team featuring many high level players. The team showed amazing levels of determination and the game swung back and forth several times before the end. A special mention must go to Lucas N who led by example for the team, scoring, assisting and working hard on defence. I have been very impressed by the team’s attitude and I look forward to more games in the future.

Year 11 fixtures should start in the District competition after Christmas and we have high hopes for them progressing into the latter stages.

 

Interhouse 

The inter house sports competition this term was an exciting showcase of talent and teamwork. The teamspirit and sportsmanship displayed by each form, across each year group, was commendable and showed a great sense of community across the school. 

 

Girls Football Tournament

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9  Year 10
1st  New Rib Ashbourne  Lea
2nd Mimram  Ashbourne  Beane  Beane 
3rd Ashbourne Mimram  Lea  Rib 
4th  Rib  Lea Mimram  New 
5th Lea  New Rib  Ashbourne 
6th  Beane Beane New  Mimram 

 

Boys Football Tournament

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9  Year 10
1st  Beane  New Rib  Beane 
2nd Mimram  Lea Lea  Ashbourne 
3rd Lea  Beane Beane  Lea 
4th  Ashbourne  Mimram  Mimram  Rib 
5th New  Ashbourne Ashbourne  Mimram 
6th  Rib  Rib New  New 

 

The overall scores of inter house across all years are: 

 

In 1st place is … Lea 

In 2nd place is … Beane 

In 3rd place .. New 

In 4th place … Rib 

In 5th place … Ashbourne 

In 6th place … Mimram 

 

Congratulations to Lea who are the overall winner! 

 

Sporting Success

A huge congratulations to Nathalie W,  year 7, for her incredible achievement in the Badminton England Under 13 Girls Doubles event. Competing against top talent from across the country, she secured a silver medal—a testament to her hard work, skill, and dedication to the sport.

Nathalie commented the following about the event: ‘There were many amazing doubles pairings and it was amazing to watch some of the girls play while I watched from the sidelines of some of the matches. Many children came so there were lots of great matches to watch while I waited to play again. And it was inspiring to see how amazingly some girls played. The atmosphere of the tournament was tense yet also full of excitement.’

We are immensely proud of Nathalie’s success and can’t wait to see her continue to thrive in her badminton journey.

 

Upcoming Sports Events

  • District Indoor Athletics Championships – Monday 20th January 2025
  • Sportshall Athletics – Takes place in Jan & Feb 2025
  • Herts Schools Cross Country Championships 
    • Primary – Saturday 1st February 2025, St. Margaret’s School, Bushey
    • Secondary – Saturday 1st February 2025 (Westminster Lodge) 

November Sports Blog

28th November 2024Daire Brennan

Hockey News

Congratulations to Thomas N (8B) who finished with a silver medal at the National Indoor Hockey Schools Championships last week. They were narrowly beaten in the final by Whitgift Independent school for boys.

Football

The senior football team picked up their first win of the season in the county plate with a 3-2 win against Longdean. Goals scored by Gerogio, Olly S and James W. Great resilience shown by the team coming from 1 down. The next round in this competition is the 16th December at home against Kings Langley School.

The year 8 football team have continued to build on their success in the national cup beating Verulam 5-0 in the 4th round with goals from Tom S, Isshi D, James M and Mason K. With the full squad demonstrating excellent linking up play and fantastic defensive work keeping a clean sheet. The year 8’s were also entered into a friendly 9-a-side tournament where we ended up winning 3 games and drawing another 2, an excellent effort all round. 

Year 9 Boys play Ashlyns on Thursday of this week in the last 16 of the County cup. Good luck to them all. On Tuesday next week, we are sending a team to the Broxbourne football tournament, good luck to all attending. 

Year 7 has seen a huge level of interest in football this term. We have regularly had in excess of 45 boys at the club on Fridays and we have extended opportunities to represent the school to almost everyone who has trained thus far. In competitions, we were narrowly beaten by an excellent Haberdasher’s in the ESFA National cup second round 3-2 but progressed through in the County cup by beating Nicholas Breakspear 5-2 and then overcoming Sir John Henry Newman school 3-2. We have the next round match against Aldenham School in early December. 

Finally, two of our Year 7 football squads competed in a tournament and match held at Broxbourne school this week. The tournament squad achieved 2 – 0 wins against Robert Barclay and Broxbourne C respectively, drew 0 – 0 with John Warner and lost 1 – 0 in a very close match against Broxbourne B. The match team won a great game 1 – 0 against Broxbourne. Super performances from the boys who were all representing the school for the first time. It was fantastic to see all 23 of our students enjoying positive football experiences and representing the school so impressively.

Rugby Union

The Year 7’s have been training hard and faced their first game against Chauncy. The team showed fantastic resilience battling hard in every tackle. The team were able to create some fantastic opportunities on both wings and through building up their rucking play. Only losing the game by 1 try in the final minutes of the game. 

The Year 9 Boys Rugby team played Freeman College this week, performing really well against a strong Freeman College team. The First half started slow for Simon Balle, going 21-0 down, however Simon Balle came out strong in the second half and matched Freeman in this half 14-14, with tries from Jack T and Maxwell R. Jack T captained the side very well, scoring 2 conversions also. The boys now look forward to playing Mount Grace on Thursday 12th December. 

Basketball

The senior basketball team has been in action this month, with new players coming into the team, it has been fantastic to see how positively they are growing as a team and working hard for each other. The senior team has enjoyed a really positive start by beating a very strong Freman College by 33-31. The boys were then narrowly beaten 34-31 in the District competition at the semi-final stage by an impressive Chauncy school team featuring many high level players. The team showed amazing levels of determination and the game swung back and forth several times before the end. A special mention must go to Lucas N who led by example for the team, scoring, assisting and working hard on defence. I have been very impressed by the team’s attitude and I look forward to more games in the future.

Year 11 fixtures should start in the District competition after Christmas and we have high hopes for them progressing into the latter stages.

We will begin to develop our Year 7 team after Christmas and look forward to their involvement in the District competition to come.

Our Primary students recently competed in a District competition this month, performing very well, winning 4 out of their 6 games. Well done to all who participated.

Netball

We had over 40 students turn up to the first Year 7 netball training of the year which was an amazing turnout. Their enthusiasm, team work, motivation and netball skills are just a few of the things that have really stood out to the PE department. The girls first tournament at Heath Mount School was tough as they played against Year 8’s. However, they all went on to the court with a positive mindset and were able to keep hold of that positivity even when the games were challenging. Their next match against Broxbourne was gripping as the score was extremely close. Unfortunately, the girls didn’t come away with a win this time but there are plenty more chances for them to become winners. We can’t wait to see the Year 7’s representing the school in many more competitions and opportunities that are coming! 

Our Year 8 and Year 10 netball teams have made an impressive start in the first round of the County Cup, showcasing remarkable growth and teamwork throughout their matches against St Margaret’s, Broxbourne, and HABs.

The Year 8 team have demonstrated excellent progress in both attack and defense, building strong connections across the court. Their hard work has paid off with one match drawn and another secured as a victory. With only Herts and Essex School left to play, the team is in a strong position to continue their success.

Meanwhile, the Year 10 competition has been fiercely competitive, pushing our players to perform at their best. They’ve displayed resilience and skill, with upcoming matches against Broxbourne and Herts and Essex sure to provide exciting challenges.

Well done to both teams for their dedication and determination – we can’t wait to see how the rest of the competition unfolds!

Our Year 9 netball team showed excellent resilience and teamwork in the friendly fixtures against Chauncy and Broxbourne. These matches have been a brilliant opportunity for players to showcase their skills, develop teamwork, and enjoy competitive play. A key highlight this term has been the inclusivity of our Year 9 netball program. Every student who has attended netball club has had the chance to represent Simon Balle School in these fixtures, reflecting the team’s enthusiasm and commitment.

Upcoming Sports Events

  • Inter-House Sports 2 – December 
  • District Indoor Athletics Championships – Monday 20th January 2025
  • Sportshall Athletics – Takes place in Jan & Feb 2025
  • Herts Schools Cross Country Championships 
    • Primary – Saturday 1st February 2025, St. Margaret’s School, Bushey
    • Secondary – Saturday 1st February 2025 (Westminster Lodge)

October Sports Blog

25th October 2024Daire Brennan

It’s been another busy month of sport at Simon Balle, with teams still involved in District, County and National competition across many sports. We have also this month had our Inter-house sports competition where girls have completed Hockey and boys on touch rugby. We also have the District swim gala on Friday with more information to follow in our next blog.

Football Update

Girls Football

Year 8 girls had a very impressive 4-2 win over Herts and Essex in the County Cup last week. Lola W was player of the match, however she was closely followed by a phenomenal team performance and on this evidence, the team will hope to progress further.

The under 16 girls had a very challenging game in the national cup where we unfortunately lost however showed great spirit and togetherness.
U15- Played really well despite losing and only playing with 10 players for the whole game.
Year 8 Boys Football
A tough game for the county cup which the team fought until the end against a strong side from Queens. With some last minute changes to the team due to injury we went out with an altered starting line up which were able to work well and play some excellent passing football. However the game finished 3-0.
Year 9 Boys Football
The boys played Leventhorpe in the first round of the National cup losing out by 3 goals to one. The boys now play Marriots School in the second round of the County cup after half term.

Rugby Update

Year 8 rugby vs Leventhorpe– A fantastic performance from the boy’s with the first half ending 4 tries to 3 in a close match that could have gone either way. Our students showed the determination and drive to want to win the game with excellent tackling and rucking all over the pitch with some incredible try stopping tackles. On the attack the boy’s seemed unstoppable with some great steps sending their defence in the wrong direction as well as some fast bursts to break through their defensive line. Finishing the game 11 tries to 4.
Year 9 rugby v Leventhorpe – Also this week, the year 9 boys began their District league competition, away to Leventhorpe. Against a strong Leventhorpe team the boys started well, however after 15mins, some got isolated and therefore left us a few tries down at half time. In the second half the boys came out strongly scoring a try and a few penalties. However in the end lost out 47-11. We now look forward to our next game against Freman College in November.

Netball

The Year 7s have got off to a great start on their first netball matches v Presdales.
The A team won 18-15 in an exciting game and the B team worked really hard but unfortunately lost 19-10 in the end.
Year 8 & 9 had a successful evening this week against Robert Barclay. The 8s winning 18-4 and 9s winning 37 – 9 both teams playing some excellent netball.

District Cross Country League

The final league meeting took place at St Edmunds College on an excellent cross country course in touch conditions. Going into the race, our Year 7 boys had an outside chance of winning a team medal. In the girls Junior age-group Cora N & Evie T were 1st and 2nd respectively in the league after 2 rounds.

In the Junior Girls both girls went to the front and were one and two for the whole race, finishing for the third race in the row in 1st and 2nd. Therefore Cora N became the District Cross Country league champion for the second year in a row, with Evie T finishing as league runner up. Well done to both girls. In the Year 7 girls race, Grace P ran another strong race to finish second and in second place overall in the league, a mark of phenomenal consistency from Grace. The Minor boys led home by James P (Y7) finished 3rd on the night and 3rd overall in the league.

Well done to all who competed over the league series and now athletes look forward to the Herts Cross Country Champs in February.

Primary Cross Country success

On Wednesday this week, our Larch students competed in the District Primary Cross Country Championships at Haileybury College in glorious conditions. After winning last year, the pressure was on again, however our students didn’t disappoint, once again winning the overall title. Congratulations to the team. Key results are as follows;

  • Matilda M in Year 4 – 1st
  • Orson B in year 6 – 2nd
  • Daisy W in Year 6 – 3rd
  • Year 3/4 boys – Team winners
  • Year 3/4 girls – Team winners
  • Year 5/6 – Overall Team winners

Simon Balle Year 3-6 Overall winners

 

Inter-House Sports

This week we have held Interhouse Sports for Year 7-11 where all students experience both competitive sport as well as participating with their houses, provinding a carnival atmosphere throughout the week. We have been very fortunate with weather conditions. The boys have all participate in touch rugby and the girls in hockey and Netball (Y10-11). The results are as follows;

Interhouse Results – Round 1

Year 7 

Boys Rugby Girls Hockey Overall
1 Lea Beane Beane
2 Beane Mimram Lea
3 Ashbourne Lea Mimram
4 Mimram Rib Ashbourne
5 Rib  New Rib
6 New Ashbourne New

Year 8

Boys Rugby Girls Hockey Overall
1 Lea Ashbourne Lea
2 New Beane Asbourne
3 Beane Lea Beane
4 Mimram Mimram New
5 Ashbourne Rib Mimram
6 Rib New Rib

Year 9

 

Boys Rugby  Girls Hockey Overall
1 Beane Lea Lea
2 Lea Ashbourne Beane
3 Rib Rib Rib
4 Ashbourne Beane Ashbourne
5 Mimram Mimram Mimram
6 New New New

 

Year 10 results to follow

Year 11

Boys Rugby Girls Netball Overall
1 Mimram Mimram Mimram
2 Lea Beane Lea
3 New Lea Rib
4 Rib Rib New
5 Beane New Beane
6 Ashbourne Ashbourne Ashbourne

 

Sports Extra-curricular Programme

For changes to the extra-curricular programme please go to our Sports web page – https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/sport/secondary-sport/

 

September Sports Blog

27th September 2024Daire Brennan

Cross Country Update

The Cross Country season has got off to a great start with 2 races already completed, the Year 7 mob race and the first round of the District Cross Country League. In the mob race Grace P finished 3rd overall with the Year 7 team finishing 2nd team. James P finished 4th in the Year 7 boys race leading his team to a third place finish overall. 

On Monday this week, the first round of the cross country league took place at Leventhorpe School. Simon Balle took athletes from Year 7, 8 & 9 to compete. The star performers of the meet were Cora N (Y9) and Evie T (Y8) who finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the Junior Girls race, with Lilia T running very well to finish 8th. Cora ran from the front from the gun and opened up a big gap early on to win comfortably. She is already the reigning champion and on this form she is a big favourite for this year’s league. In the Year 7 Boys James P ran strongly to finish 4th in a highly competitive field, with the team holding 5th place so far and not too far off the top 3. The Year 7 Girls performed well and are currently in 3rd place overall with a strong team performance, led home by Grace P (3rd) and followed in by Alice D (5th), Mariella T (11th) and Sofia B (26th).

Football News

Last week the Senior Football team played The Grange academy. Despite taking the lead, with a great finish from James W, in the county cup first round game vs The Grange Academy the team lost 4-1. We were much the better team for large parts of the game but struggled to turn our possession into chances in the final third. We now welcome Goffs to Simon Balle next Wednesday for our National Cup first round fixture.

The Y11 boys have made a great start to the school football season. Alex S, Georgio G and Ephraim D scored as the team beat Etonbury Academy 3-0 in the first round of the National Cup. They welcome Sandrigham to Simon Balle for the second round in this competition. A bye in the first round of the county cup means the Y11 team play Birchwood in the next round of the competition. 

Our Year 10’s start their football season off this Friday with a first round county cup fixture away to Nicholas Breakspear.

The Year 9 Boys played their first fixture of the year on Tuesday against a strong Leventhorpe side. Despite a bright attacking display from the team, the boys went in 2-0 down. After half time, the boys played very well and Dylan W scored a goal from the corner flag to make it 2-1. It stayed like this until the last 10mins, when Leventhorpe moved away scoring 2 late goals to win 4-2 and progress to the next round of the National cup. The boys now look ahead the Herts cup. 

The Year 8’s have had a fantastic start to the season with 40 students attending training. The teams first fixture demonstrated that they have started the season how they finished in year 7 with a dominant 6-0 win in the second round. The teams next game will be taking place on Thursday 3rd October (County Cup game).

There has been a great amount of girls for both year 7 and 8 turning up to training each week. The Year 8 girls have their first fixture of the year against Marlborough in the first round of the National cup on Tuesday 1st October. 

Netball News

The attendance at extracurricular netball club has been fantastic across all age groups. Over the last 3 weeks students have been developing their connections across their teams. In preparation for upcoming games, training has had an attacking focus developing our through court attacking principles. We look forward to seeing these strategies in action in future fixtures. Next week the year 7 and 8s have their first fixture against Presdales to kick off the season.

Hockey news 

Monday hockey club continues to be a fantastic opportunity for all age groups and experience levels to develop their skills and enjoyment for the sport. We have seen some exceptional talent across the year groups, partially from our year 7 players who have shown great promise. Thank you to all the hockey players who represented the school in our hockey masterclass on Open Morning. We will keep you posted on upcoming hockey fixtures for both boys and girls.

Key Stage 3 Inter-house

We have started our Key stage 3 lessons with an inter-house competition where students have participated in the Long Jump, 100m, Vortex throw and a Cross Country run. The results are as follows;

Year 7 

1st place: Mimram 

2nd place: Beane

3rd place: Lea and Ashbourne 

 

Year 8 

1st place: Ashbourne and New 

2nd place: Lea 

3rd place: Rib 

 

Year 9 

1st place: Ashbourne 

2nd place: Beane

3rd place: Lea and Rib

 

 

July Sports Blog

19th July 2024Daire Brennan

What a fantastic month it’s been, when normally many schools would be winding down after a busy year, Simon Balle were still competing for honours across Athletics, Rounders and Cricket. We also had our Larch Sports Day last week too which was a very successful day, in glorious conditions with many sprint, obstancle races and relays. A first edition of the Larch Interhouse sports took place through Rounders over the past few weeks which ran very smoothly. We also had our sports presentation evening as well. Please see below a round up from a very successful month. 

Sports Presentation Evening

     

On Wednesday 10th July, we hosted our Sports presentation evening where parents, carers and students all showed up to provide a fantastic atmosphere on the night. There were many award winners as well as nominees for a wide range of sports and main awards. The evening began with a review of the year and a celebration of our District Athletics winners, it was then onto our awards. Our 4 key main award winners were as follows;

  • Sportswoman of the Year – Naomi P
  • Sportsman of the Year – Ellis D 
  • Larch Sportswoman of the Year – Grace P 
  • Larch Sportsman of the Year – Louis B

Sportsman of the Year

Sportswoman of the Year

Year 8 Rounders District Champions

The Year 8 Rounders team competed at the annual District Rounders tournament last week. Emily P was outstanding in batting against Chauncy in the group stages. In the semi final we beat Presdales to reach the final again against Chauncy. In the final the girls performed very well in quite a competitive game where Simon Balle won by 5½ to 2 rounders to become District Rounders Champions. 

Athletics Round up

In Athletics this month, we have had our end of season Girls and Boys Invitational events. Winners from the Nicky Morris Girls event were as follows;

  • Georgina B – Y7 Shot Putt
  • Emily P – Y8/9 Discus
  • Cora N – Y8/9 800m
  • Naomi P – Y10/11 400m

Overall our girls finished 4th overall out of ten teams behind winners Presdales.

At the Bruce Longden Boys event, Rex T-W was the star performer winning the Year 7 Hurdles, standing Triple Jump and was also part of the victorious 4 x 100m relay team. Rex was also awarded the Sally Gunnell award for up and coming hurdlers. Mason K won the Year 7 100m and alongside Marley H and Max F was part of the winning relay team too. Barney W-B won the senior 800m. Overall our boys team finished 4th in Division one retaining their position in the league, amongst some strong schools of the calibre of Saffron Walden & Richard Hale. 

Cricket Round up

This has been one of our most successful seasons in recent times. Year 7, 8 and 10 Boys teams were still involved in both County and District competitions right up until this week. 

The year 7 Cricket team played well in the semi final against Broxbourne with a convincing win with only 3 batters chasing down Broxbourne score within 12 overs. We then went into the final against Richard Hale, opening with our best bowling performance of the year keeping Richard Hale down to 82 runs off 20 overs with 10 wickets made up of some excellent bowling as well 4 very good catches within the field. However, Richard Hale were also able to put up a good fielding performance keeping our batting down finishing with 69 runs. Well done to our Year 7’s and we’re looking forward to next season for more of the same. 

Year 7 District Runners up

The Year 8 team captained by Jack T had a phenomenal game against Richard Hale in the semi final at Hertingfordbury. By the 5th over, Simon Balle had scored 9 wickets with Jack T scoring 5 and Teddy G scoring 3 to set Simon Balle up to chase down a score of 48 runs which we did to earn a final against Broxbourne. 

In the final Simon Balle bowled first and star performer was Jaiveer A, with 3 wickets and an excellent catch in the field. This meant that Simon Balle had to chase only 59 runs which they did by the 10th over becoming District Champions. Congratulations to all the boys on a tremendous year. 

Year 8 District Champions

The Year 10 Boys reached the County Plate final against Parmiters school beating Hemel School in the semi final at Hertford CC. 

The final was played this week at Parmiters Sports grounds, a fantastic setting with Simon Balle winning the toss and chose to bowl first. With Parmiters on 120 runs in the 18th over, the rain arrived and after 30 mins of rain we decided to postpone the game until yesterday. 

In glorious conditions again at Parmiters Sports ground on Thursday we were back for the rearranged final. This time Parmiters won the toss and bowled well restricting Simon Balle to 54 runs. Parmiters went on to chase this score and by the 10th over they had won. Well done to the Year 10 boys in their final game for the school and congratulations to George C on captaining the team to the final. 

Year 10 County Runners up

We will be publishing our sports enrichment programme during the first week in September.  From the PE department we would like to wish you all a fantastic summer and look forward to another busy year of sport. 

June Sports Blog

1st July 2024Daire Brennan

Welcome to the June sports round upand what a busy and successful month this was with so much athletics, rounders, cricket and tennis competitions taking place. We also had our annual Sports Day on Friday which was a huge success. Please see our monthly round up below;

All through District Athletics Success

Last Wednesday Simon Balle competed at the District Athletics Championships at Wodson Park. With a 70+ strong team of athletes in sweltering hot conditions, Simon Balle students were ready and prepared to perform to their best. Eight Simon Balle teams competed for both individual, team and overall school honors. There were many highlights, with three District records broken and 21 individual champions alongside two relay successes. Oliver B (Y9) broke the 300m record whilst qualifying for the final, running 38.4 secs, beating the previous record of 40.0secs. Oliver went on to win the final with another strong performance. In the Junior girls, Emily W (Y9) continued her athletics success, winning the Triple jump in a District record of 8.83m. Our Year 7 Boys continued their strong season winning the relay in a District record time of 53.6secs. Our athlete of the day award went to Alisha P (Y13) who won the Senior Girls 100m, Long Jump and was part of the victorious Senior Girls relay team.  As well as the above successes we had a further 15 individual winners;

  • Mason K (Y7) – Minor Boys Long Jump
  • Rex T-W (Y7) – Minor Boys Hurdles & Standing Triple Jump
  • Eve R (Y7) – Minor Girls 1500m
  • Cora N (Y8) – Junior Girls High Jump & 800m
  • Emily P (Y8) – Junior Girls Discus
  • Sylvie S (Y9) – Junior Girls 1500m
  • Lincoln A (Y9) – Junior Boys Pole Vault
  • Elizabeth K (Y11) – Inter Girls High Jump
  • Charlie R (Y11) – Inter Boys Triple Jump
  • Naomi P (Y10) – Inter Girls 300m 
  • Emilia C (Y10) – Inter Girls 800m
  • Ruben B (Y12) – Senior Boys 1500m
  • Adele P (Y13) – Senior Girls Triple Jump
  • Jacob A (Y13) – Senior Boys Pole Vault
  • Barney W (Y12) – Senior Boys 800m

As a consequence of the above as well as many fine performances from the rest of the team, including lots of top 3 finishes as well as students competing for the first time in events, we won the following team awards; 

  • Year 8/9 Overall Athletics award 
  • Year 10/11 Overall Athletics award
  • Y10/11 Girls Athletics award
  • Sixth form Overall Athletics award
  • Overall District Athletics Champions

As a result of the above Simon Balle became Overall District Athletics Champions for the first time since 2019, a phenomenal achievement and many thanks to all our students who performed to a very high level displaying buckets of resilience, perseverance and grit. We now look forward to Sports Day as well the Nicky Morris & Bruce Longden competitions.

KS2 – District Athletics Champions!

A particular highlight this month was the district athletics competition. Determined to follow the success of our secondary athletes the day before, our Larch students gave their all in every event. It is with great pride that I can share the following results:

 Year 3: 1st Place District Athletics Champions 

– Year 4: 1st Place District Athletics Champions 

– Year 5: 1st Place District Athletics Champions 

– Year 6: Joint 1st Place District Athletics Champions 

The above results meant that Simon Balle were the overall winners; this was a testament to the hard work of every individual involved.

Some particular stand out performances came from:

  • Rosa: Year 3 Girls Sprint A 1st 
  • Daniella: Year 3 Girls Sprint B 1st 
  • Zak: Year 3 Boys Sprint B 2nd
  • Austin: Year 3 Boys Javelin 1st
  • Ben: Year 4 Boys Sprint A 1st 
  • Maddie: Year 4 Girls Sprint B 1st
  • Orson: Year 5 Boys 600m 1st 
  • Daisy: Year 5 Girls 600m 1st 
  • Rory:  Year 5 Boys Javelin 2nd 
  • Olivia: Year 5 Girls Sprint 2nd 
  • Ava: Year 6 Girls Sprint A 2nd 

Sports Day

Sports Day took place last Friday, after a busy week of sport, there were yet again some fine performances throughout the day. In the morning the field events, tug-o-war, volleyball, 800m, 300/400m and 200m races took place. The sixth form also participated in the morning activities with the inclusion of Volleyball and Softball. In the Y12 800m in a tactical race Kayden F was victorious. Cora N (Y8) continued her successful season winning the 800m comfortably. Olly S (Y10) ran 2.22 to win the 800m and Oliver B (Y9) ran a convincingly strong 300m to back up his District record winning performance. In the afternoon, activities moved to the astro with the programme as follows for Y7-10 & Y12;

  • 60m
  • 120m
  • 4 x 60m Relay

In the 60m, our students made the place judges work very hard with some close races. In the Year 9 race Noah B (Y9) won beating our District representatives and surely a talent for the future. Other District representatives ran well, including Grace S (Y12), Olivia B (Y12) & Florence B (Y12) across all sixth form running events. 

Halfway through the competition there were only 4 points separating 4 teams, so a close competition. However in the end Beane House were victorious, winning by a fine margin. The results were as follows;

  • 1st Beane 314
  • 2nd Lea 275
  • 3rd New 266
  • 4th Ashbourne 261
  • 5th Mimram 234
  • 6th Rib 219

Well done to all students who participated throughout the day. Our next big school event now takes place on Weds 10th July which is Sports Presentation evening.

Herts Schools Athletics Championships

On Saturday 8th June, the Herts schools athletics championships took place at Jarman Park. In glorious sunshine, there were many fine performances in a highly competitive competition. In the Junior Girls 800m Cora N (Y8) won her 800m heat, running strongly from the front. In the final Cora ran very well again, finishing second in a time of 2.28. A great run from a girl who is still in the age-group next year and with a current pb of 2.22, with continued training, Cora is in with a chance of an English schools place next season. 

Niamh S (Y13) competed in her final schools event running a well controlled paced race to win the 400m becoming Herts schools Champion. Naomi P (Y10) qualified for both the 200m & 300m finals, however with the finals only 30 mins apart, she chose to run the 300m and ran a great race finishing 5th in the County. Sam D (Y7), finished 3rd in the boys Shot Putt, a great performance. Jack T (Y8) participated well in both the Junior 100m and Triple Jump. Max F (Y7) ran strongly to qualify for the 200m, a great achievement after just returning from injury, finishing 6th in the final. Isshicar D (Y7) ran in a tough 1500m, running well. Eve R (Y7) finished 5th in the 800m in 2:41 and Sylvie S (Y9) finished 10th in the 1500m. 

Cora N – 800m runner up

District Pentathlon

The District Pentathlon took place at Wodson yesterday where Y7 & Y8/9 teams participated. Athletes competed in the hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot put and 800m. Simon Balle performed very well, winning the Y7 boys competition with Mason K winning the Y7 individual competition with a score of 1,986 pts. The year 7 boy’s team also won the overall year 7 competition winning 4 of the individual events between them. Phoenix L (Y9) finished second overall in the Y8/9 boys competition performing very well and his best performance came in the long jump where he jumped over 5m. Cora N (Y8) continued her fine form finishing second in the Y8/9 girls competition, with the team finishing second overall behind Presdales.

Y7 Boys Champions

Year 10 Boys into a Cricket County final

The Year 10 boys played Hemel last Thursday at Hertford CC. In glorious conditions Hemel batted first and got off to a great start, they had reached 111 runs after 12 overs and with the game moving away from Simon Balle Alfie P, Lincoln A and the Adam’s brothers stepped up with some fine bowling to limit Hemel in the end to 134 all out. During the Simon Balle inning’s George C led by example scoring 50 runs to help Simon Balle win in the 19 over with 4 wickets to spare. The boys have made the final of the County Plate, the first time a Simon Balle team has made it to this stage since before Covid. They will play Parmiters in the final on Tuesday 9th July, venue tbc.

Year 9 reached the Quarter finals of the County Plate but were beaten by a strong St Clement Danes team. In the district cup they narrowly lost to Broxbourne

The Year 8 boys have qualified for the District semi finals after beating Goffs, with Harry T scoring 51 runs, a great performance. The boys now play Richard Hale in the semi finals over the next couple of weeks. 

The Year 7 Boys have played JWS and Richard Hale so far in the District cup. They have made it through to the semi finals to be played in the next week. The boys beat JWS and lost by only 5 runs to Richard Hale after bowling them all out.

Larch Sports Round up

June has been an exciting month for sport in the Larch with our students continuing to display great enthusiasm and determination to succeed. Across the whole of KS2, we have seen high numbers of students representing the school with pride; come rain or shine, our students have approached competitions and festivals with a smile and positive attitudes.

KS2 – Ultimate Frisbee

Our passion and drive to ensure that all our students receive opportunities to represent the school is clear and it was wonderful to see 22 children across Years 3,4,5 and 6 seize the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their skills in an ‘ultimate frisbee’ festival last week. Our sports ambassadors, Harry and Hattie, deserve a special mention; their guidance and encouragement led one team to achieve a commendable 2nd place in the tournament.

Year 5/6 Dynamo Cricket

The torrential downpours most certainly did not dampen the Year 5/6 cricketer’s moods as they took to the field in the Hertford and Ware School Sports Partnership annual Dynamo Cricket tournament. With some fantastic displays of batting and fielding, we are exceptionally proud that both teams walked away with medals, one team achieving silver and the other bronze. 

Secondary Calypso Cricket

At the annual Calypso Cricket this year, both Year 8 & 10 Boys teams performed very well. The Year 8 boys finished 2nd, beaten by Richard Hale in the final. The Year 10 boys finished second behind Chauncy. 

In the girls competition, the year 9 & 10 girls calypso cricket team worked well together and improving their bowling and batting throughout the day.

The year 7 & 8 team were strong from start to finish, they managed to beat many teams only losing one game throughout the whole day. They finished as joint champions at the top of the table. 

Well done to all Calypso participants. 

Rounders update

The Year nine rounders team travelled to Chauncy to compete in the district tournament. They started strong with two wins against Broxbourne B team and Chauncy. A loss to Presdales meant they finished second in the group and progressed into the semi final.In the semi’s they faced Broxbourne A team and it proved to be a close match, some strong fielding form Simon Balle meant Broxbourne struggled to score many but unfortunately we couldn’t quite score enough and lost the match 7-9. Well done to the whole team on a great performance.

District Tennis

Year 8’s and year 10’s showed fantastic resilience at the recent District Tennis tournament playing against some well drilled players from across the district. Special mentions to Giorgio and Freddie in Y10, who were undefeated in the tournament and to the year 8 team for stepping up having not played in competitive matches for the school.

May Sports Blog

23rd May 2024Daire Brennan

County Athletics League Roundup

The Athletics season got off to a strong start with U14 & U16 teams competing in the County Athletics league. This is a league of six athletics meetings where points per event are added together to give an overall cumulative score after the six competitions. There are two divisions of 25 schools with the top 8 schools in each division progressing into the county finals. So far in May, we have had 4 league meetings with two remaining in June. 

In the U14 girls, Cora N (800m) has been the star performer winning each of her four 800m races by over 50m. A suburb run of performances by Cora, a future talent in the making. Eve R has run well over 1500m, consistently finishing in the first 3 across all 4 competitions.   

In the U14 boys, Dylan W has performed outstandingly across the 300m & Triple Jump. Oliver F has run well over the 800m, consistently finishing in the top 3.

In the U16 girls Naomi P (300m) has excelled running 45 secs consistently. Sylvie S & Martha S have worked well together over the 1500m distance culminating in first and second place in round 4. 

Finally the U16 Boys have been very consistent across all rounds and are in a strong position to make a final. Sam B (100m) has won most of his races, this week winning in a pb of 12.0secs. Ollie S has performed outstandingly in both 400m & Triple Jump, Lincoln A has performed well in the Pole Vault, recently achieving a pb of 2.30m. Ephraim D has won both his 800m races, winning the last race in a pb of 2.13. 

 

The final two rounds take place on;

  • Round 5 – Tues 4th June (St Albans)
  • Round 6 – Weds 12th June (Stevenage) 

Rounders News

Year 9 and 10 Vs Chauncy

The teams faced strong opposition with Chauncy well prepared for the matches. The year 10 team started slowly, not taking the opportunities to score in the first innings. They started the second innings behind but made a strong comeback with plenty of rounders scored across the team. Unfortunately they left themselves too much to do and Chauncy took the victory.

The year 9 team started strong and after the first innings they were trailing by just ½ a rounder. Some excellent fielding meant Chauncy struggled to score many in the second innings and Simon Balle took the victory by just ½ a rounder.

Cricket 

Year 9 team into the next round of the county plate after a good win Vs Sandringham. Tring or St Clement Danes will be the opposition in the next round. 

The Year 10 team are through to the semi final of the County Plate and a fine win over Verulam School. Simon Balle batted first scoring 120-6 after a slow start. It was then up to Simon Balle to put in a good performance in the field and they did just that with Ben B & Reagan A both scoring a hatrick of wickets, with the team winning in the end by 31 runs. We now await our semi final opponents. 

Primary Tag Rugby

The Year 5 and 6 festival, boys won all their games in wet conditions. Freddie A was excellent on the ball, scoring loads of tries. The girls won the majority of games, performing to a very high standard.

Upcoming events

Summer term 2 will be one of our busiest half terms, below are some key events to look forward too as well as our busy fixture list;

  • Fri 7th June: District Tennis
  • Sat 8th June: Herts Schools Athletics Championships @ Jarman Park
  • Tues 11th June – Thurs 13th June: Calypso Cricket (Y7-10 Boys and Girls)
  • Weds 26th June: District Athletics Championships @ Wodson Park
  • Fri 28th June: Sports Day
  • Thurs 4th July: Nicky Morris (Girls Athletics Comp)
  • Weds 10th July: Bruce Longden (Boys Athletics Comp)
  • Weds 10th July: Sports Presentation Evening (Invitations to follow for Nominees)

March Sports Blog

28th March 2024Daire Brennan

It’s been a fantastic month for Sport at Simon Balle with so many students representing the school across a variety of sports. Our Year 9 & 10 students have yet again been involved in Sports leadership events across County and District Athletics and Cross Country events, officiating and leading at their usual high standards. Thank you to all who have volunteered their time. March has also been a very busy month for Saturday football with successful block fixtures against Roundwood Park, John Warner and Sir John Lawes schools.

In the Larch, congratulations to our Cross Country teams, Football and Netball teams who have had a great term. In Cross Country, at the recent district competition, four teams came 1st, four teams came 2nd with the school finishing first overall. In Netball and Football, both Y5/6 teams have reached finals which take place after the Easter break.

Finally, please find next terms extra-curricular programme by clicking on the following link – Summer Term – Sport extracurricular programme 2023_24

Please see below for a comprehensive round up of the months Sporting successes.

Year 10 Boys – District Football Champions

Last week the Year 10 Boys played in the District Cup Final v Robert Barclay Academy. It was a very tough game but the boys worked extremely hard and battled superbly. Playing some great football they managed to take the lead but were pegged back and the full time score was 1-1. After a stalemate in extra time the game went to penalties. The students showed real courage and determination to step up and take penalties (10 out of 11 players had to take one) And we were successful winners 8-7 on pens.

The Year 9 Boys team again made the final of the District cup final looking to retain their title. Unfortunately, this year, despite the boys best efforts Richard Hale won the game and became the new district champions. A great achievement for this team to make the final 2 years in a row. Hopefully they will be able to repeat this again next year.

Both Year 7 & 8 teams also made semi finals, however the Year 8’s were beaten by a strong Chauncy team and the Year 7’s lost a close battle against Richard Hale.

The Senior boys Football team has had a very good year. Making 2 semi finals in the District and County cup. Unfortunately, in the county cup we were beaten by a very strong Sir John Lawes team who will most certainly be favorites to win the competition. In the District cup the team were unlucky to lose on penalties but should have won the game in normal time. We will rebuild the team next year with a number of the boys leaving us to move onto university, jobs or apprenticeships. We wish them all the best of luck in their future careers

Year 7 Girls – District Football Champions

On Wednesday 16th March the Girls had their last Football fixture of the year, The District Cup Final. The girls faced a tough side in Chauncy, who had also won their group stages to make the final. With a few girls out with illness the girls had to step up and play an unfamiliar line up and formation. Despite this, one minute into the game the girls scored their goal after a fantastic through ball. Confidence was high and within 10 minutes the girls were then 2-0 up. Chauncy had some great chances through on goal and managed to slip one past our keeper making it 2-1 at half term. Going into the second half the girls were keen to put away some more goals after hitting the crossbar twice in the first half. Goal! A fantastic follow up from Annabel secured a 3-1 lead. Chauncy came back feistier and had a few great chances but nothing our defence and goalkeeper couldn’t handle. The girls battled hard right til the end and won 5-1, with Annabel scoring a Hatrick in the second half. A thoroughly deserved win for the girls who had narrowly missed out on the county cup final earlier in the season! The PE department are very proud of the girls and their achievements this season, we look forward to next season as U13s!

District Swimming

On Friday 22nd March, Year 7-11 students competed in the annual District Swimming Gala Championships which was held at John Warner Pool. We have a very talented group of swimmers and also some tough competition from Presdales, Leventhorpe and John Warner. We came 1st place in 13 out of 21 races. Many swimmers were also competing against swimmers a year older due to the age groups being mixed.  Both boys teams won their relays and the girls teams both came 2nd. Particular praise needs to be given to Lilia T (year 8) who swam up an age group against swimmers who were in year 9 and 10 and still won her individual breaststroke race and Harry B who had some strong competition but still kindly offered to swim 2 legs of the relay due to an injury and helped the team win both their relays! Winners of the races are listed below. Also a big well done to Harry, Frez, Willow, Ollie and Emily P who all came 2nd in their races. 

I was very proud watching you all and thank you for your commitment to attend and compete on a Friday evening! Well done to all swimmers! 

In addition to this, after the gala, Zara R went on to another gala to represent East Herts District at the County Gala and she got a bronze medal in the 50m Butterfly! 3rd fastest in the county!  Amazing Achievement.

Harry B also attended the county gala and got a personal best time!

1st place medal winners: 

  • Owen L, year 7 – boys 50m Freestyle
  • Lilia T, year 8 – girls 50m Breaststroke
  • Toby G, year 10 – boys 50m Breaststroke / boys 50m Butterfly
  • Rex T-W, year 7 – boys 50m Butterfly
  • Alfie H, year 8 – boys 50m Breaststroke
  • Amelie J, year 7 – girls 50m Backstroke
  • Ethan G, year 8 – boys 50m Backstroke
  • Zara R, year 10 – girls 50m Butterfly
  • Year 7/ 8 boys won both their freestyle and medley relay – Rex, Alfie, Owen and  Ethan
  • Year 9/ 10 boys won both their freestyle and medley relay – Ollie, Harry and Toby.

Netball News

Y10 Netball Final

The girls traveled to Herts and Essex School for the final of the county plate competition. It was an amazing achievement to reach the final and the team didn’t disappoint with the performance they put in. After taking an early lead Herts and Essex proved to be too strong and despite fighting until the final whistle Simon Balle finished as runners up. 

Y8 Netball District Tournament

On Tuesday 19th March the year 8’s competed in a district tournament entering both an A and B team squad. The A team played some difficult matches but progressed well throughout the event working better together as a team as the matches went on. The team showed excellent resilience, especially those playing out of position. Overall the A team came 4th in the district, playing a round robin competition.

The B team played excellent in the group stages only losing one match which qualified them for the semi final. The team showed great movement and speed, winning the Semi-final. They played Chauncy in the final which was a really well contested game. The team showed excellent patience and fearlessness in defense meaning they won the final by one goal. Therefore the B team are district champions in the B team competition!

Players of the tournament were Erin H, Chloe P and Bella L.

Year 7 had their District Netball Tournament on Monday 25th March. After it being rescheduled once due to rain, the girls were excited and ready to compete! Both teams had some strong competition throughout their tournament. 

After an initial defeat in our first game against Leventhorpe we pulled together and made some positional changes which enabled us to come back and we beat Broxbourne. We narrowly lost our last game by just 2 goals against Presdales. All girls played really well and showed great resilience, teamwork and effort. Well done. 

Player of the Tournament for the A-Team: Lola W and Hope A 

The B team also had a great district tournament and in their round robin had some tough games but also won some games too. They put 100% into every game and Charlotte B (a sixth former who kindly offered to manage and umpire for the team) reported how much effort the girls put into the games and how well they played. 

Players of the Tournament: Jessica and Emily  

Y9 Emerging Schools Netball

On Wednesday 13th March, the year 9 girls netball team entered the emerging schools’ netball tournament at Wodson park. There were 8 teams in the round robin competition. The girls had a good start, winning their first game convincingly. Out of the remaining 6 games, we won 4 and lost 2 (gaining a single point for getting over half the opposing teams’ score). The girls secured 3rd place overall.

This Girl Can

Last week, a group of Year 7 students attended the ‘This Girl Can’ festival at Wodson Park Sports Centre, accompanied by their Year 9 mentors.

The day consisted of three sessions focused on developing confidence, teamwork, and trying new activities. The girls learned how to play two new emerging sports, pickleball and spikeball. 

The students were also fortunate enough to meet Paralympic Athlete Kylie Grimes, a triple Paralympian of the London, Rio and Tokyo games. Kylie became the first woman to ever win a Paralympic Gold medal in Wheelchair Rugby when GB beat USA 54-49 in the final at Tokyo 2020.

World Champion Inline Skater and ten time British Champion, Jenna Downing, where students heard how she overcame the challenges she faced in her sport growing up.

‘This Girl Can’ is a great cause, funded by the National Lottery, and believing there is no “right” way to get active. The girls’ attitude throughout the day was fantastic and they came away feeling excited to start a club of their own back at Simon Balle, to encourage other girls to engage in fitness and sport.

Rugby News

In March we changed to 7’s rugby and for Year 7’s it was 10-a-side. Our U16 and U12 teams both competed at the prestigious Herts U16 7’s tournament and U12 10’s tournament this month. 

The Year 7 Boys had a fantastic start to the tournament beating Longdean school, unfortunately we then faced our toughest opponents of the year- Berkhamsted, and Watford Boy’s in back to back games. We finished the morning in 4th place in our group which was an excellent result for the team.

The U16 boys got off to a great start against JFK scoring winning by 4 tries. The boys then had close contests against Queen Elizabeth Boys and St Clement Danes, just losing out by one try. A special mention to Charlie O for his fantastic leadership of the team as well as Simon Balle player of the tournament Stanley M.

Basketball News

It’s been an excellent term of basketball for the Year 7 boys squad. It has been really encouraging to see a committed group of players training after school weekly and making such good progress. The development each boy has made both individually but also as part of the team has been very pleasing to see. The team are unbeaten this season and with one game to go are currently top of the district league. Notable victories have been against Richard Hale and a very strong Broxbourne side who really tested us in the final few minutes of the game but we showed great composure to win by 8 points. The boys have learned so much from each game and a comprehensive 56-26 victory last week against Chauncy showed just how far this group of players have come in such  short time

The Year 8 Boys team put in a spirited performance away against Chauncy this week in their final game of the season. Well done to all of the players who have played this year.

The Year 10 Boys have had a good month playing against Goffs and Chauncy. The boys were coming off the back of a good win against Richard Hale, when they faced Goffs at the start of the month, just losing out 25-18, however we had 2-3 debutants which was a fantastic experience for the boys to represent the school. This week the boys played Chauncy, whom they have had many close contests and this time was no different. After a strong start from Simon Balle who were 26-14 ahead, Chanucy managed to come back to within 3 points, however through the strong tactical leadership of Lucas N, the boys won out in the end by 55-51 in an excellent game.

The Year 11 Boys faced Chauncy school in a very close battle, finishing 24-26. All in the team put in their all, closing down Chauncy within the last quarter scoring 12 of our points. It has been excellent to see the boys attending training session and enjoying playing basketball throughout their time at Simon Balle.

Inter House Sport

Our third inter house competition of the year took place this week with all students from years 7 to 11 participating in their form groups. Boys played hockey and girls played football with some excellent, competitive matches being showcased across the week. Results are below:

Year 8 Boys: Year 8 Girls:
Winners – New Winners – Lea
2nd – Beane 2nd – Ashbourne
3rd – Lea 3rd – Beane
4th – Rib 4th – Mimram
5th – Ashbourne 5th – Rib
6th – Mimram 6th – New

 

Year 9 Boys: Year 9 Girls:
Winners – Rib Winners – Lea
2nd – Mimram 2nd – New
3rd – Beane 3rd – Rib
4th – Ashbourne 4th – Beane
5th – Lea 5th – Ashbourne
6th – New 6th – Mimram

 

Year 10 Boys: Year 10 Girls:
Winners – New Winners – Lea
2nd – Ashbourne 2nd – Mimram
3rd – Lea 3rd – Ashbourne
4th – Beane 4th – Beane
5th – Mimram 5th – New
6th – Rib 6th – Rib

The second half of the year 7 competition has been postponed until after Easter due to the weather.

Orienteering update

Peter Palmer – Orienteering

Last September, I got invited to a national orienteering event by my orienteering club, South East Orienteering Association. The event is called Peter Palmer and is made unique by the fact that the race starts at 5am in the morning. Funnily enough, I had the first leg, which was around 6 km on a direct route, and I had to wear a head torch for most of my leg due to the lack of visibility.

The race was held at Stowe House which offered very special terrain and features. Despite its potential though, there were some issues with some of the symbols and notation used on the maps which only added to the difficulty of navigating in the dark.

The event is comprised of two relays that happen simultaneously and each race is made up of a team of around 6 from each region. In the end, we managed to achieve outstanding times and win the race my team was competing in.  (by Bors F in Year 10)

A great effort by Bors and his team. We are very fortunate to have such talented orienteers at Simon Balle and we wish them the best of luck for the rest of the season. 

 

Sports Roundup

7th March 2024Daire Brennan

It’s been another busy 3-4 weeks with many competitions reaching the later stages. At the time of writing we have 5 boys football teams in District semi finals alongside our U13 Girls still in a National Football competition. Although weather conditions have not been great, we have still managed to fulfill our Saturday fixtures giving lots of boys an opportunity to represent the school. Netball continues to go from strength to strength with our Year 10 Girls reaching the final of the county plate competition. This will take place at 2pm on Tuesday 19th March at Herts and Essex school. In Sportshall Athletics, our teams performed well with the Year 7 Boys finishing 2nd and our Year 7 girls finishing 3rd in the District out of 9 teams competing. As you will have read in our ‘On the Balle’ edition, the Simon Balle Sports leaders continue to lead at many many events throughout the District and County, officiating and leading to a high standard, in doing so giving so many students the opportunity to participate. We are coming towards the end of the Basketball season too and will keep you updated on our progress on social media. Please see below for a quick round up of key moments from the last 2-3 weeks. 

Larch Sports

Sport continues to go from strength to strength within the Larch and there is plenty to celebrate. Fundamental to PE and sport is the development of gross motor skills in EYFS; this is hugely supported by the delivery of specialised gross motor interventions for our reception children as well as ensuring regular access to an array of equipment and opportunities to develop whole body movement. Always striving to develop further, our Outdoor Learning team has made great strides in developing a new vision to further support gross motor development. 

Engagement in structured sport and tournaments at lunch time continues to be high, with Mr Leonard and Mr Rouse’s Premier League football in full swing for KS2. We are also delighted to see that 70% of our KS2 children have engaged in extracurricular sports clubs this academic year, including dodgeball, karate, table tennis, indoor cricket. 

We continue to work with the Hertford and Ware School Sports Partnership to provide varied and enriching opportunities for all in our community. 30 of our Year 4 students recently attended an ‘engage and inspire’ event, led by the partnership, where they participated in a range of activities including: Bollywood dancing, athletics and bowls. 

The partnership also provides competitive event opportunities and it is important to note the success of our Y5&6 netball and football teams. Our football team has battled fiercely against local schools and have successfully earnt a place in the semi-final of the Hope Cup which is taking place next week. The netballers have also fought hard and after winning their 3rd round match 15-0 they too are through to the semi-final and face Hunsdon on 14th March.

Upcoming dates and advanced notices:

  • Thursday 14th March: Year 5&6 Netball Semi-Final vs Mill Mead
  • 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: Years 3,4,5 and 6 Cross Country at Hertford Rugby Club

U16 Netball

The U16 netball team have progressed fantastically across the season. We entered the County League knowing we would come up against tough opposition.  The team demonstrated excellent tenacity and resilience every game. The girls have developed strong connections across the various court areas and have especially developed their through court attack. This was proven in our last match against Queenswood winning by a staggering 20 goals. The team were fearless in defense flying for interventions, calm and patient in attack and excellent communication and rotations in the shooting circle. It was a great way to end the season.

Year 7 Netball fixture vs Chauncy on Tuesday 6th March. 

We played a small tournament between 4 teams. Both SBS teams won all their games. They played really well with excellent passing and moving around the court. Particular merit must go to Lucy B for excellent movement into space. Well done to all! 

Hockey

Well done to the year 7 and 8 boys hockey team who went to the county tournament at Haileybury school at the start of the month. Up against some strong opponents the boys put in some fantastic performances narrowly missing out on a place in the semi finals. It has been a great year watching these boys improve and we look forward to seeing them play on an 11-a-side pitch next year!!

U16 Rugby

The Y10/11 Boys rugby team played in the Herts U16 7’s competition yesterday at Woollams and performed very well. They beat JFK in their first game by 3 tries and in their following games against QE Boys and St Clement Danes, we lost out by a try in each game. Charlie O captained the team fantastically and player of the tournament was Stanley M. Well done to all the boys who competed. 

Football

Saturday football update – As always, it has been brilliant to see so many students participating in Saturday Football, representing the school and proudly displaying our school values. Saturday mornings has always and will continue to be an opportunity for all students who attend training to be able to participate in competitive matches for the school but not only this students are able to play with their friends and enjoy it.  

Unfortunately, this year, due to frozen and waterlogged pitches there have been some disruption to our games against Richard Hale, Katherine Warrington and Roundwood Park with only one or two games going ahead because of access to a 3g surface. We are looking forward to our final fixtures of this year against John Warner (16/03) and Sir John Lawes (23/03). 

Year 7 boys 

Year 7 Boy’s have had excellent turn out with over 35 boy’s representing the school in Saturday football matches. The team have also made the Semi-Final of the District cup against Richard Hale (8/03). 

Year 8 boys 

The Year 8 boys have reached the District semi final after a good win against Richard Hale School last week by 4 goals to 2. We now look forward to this weeks’ semi final against 

Year 9 boys – Following a 4-1 win over St Mary’s and a bye against Leventhorpe. The Year 9 boys football team play John Warner in the semi final of the district cup. A replay of last year’s final.

Senior boys – What a great season this team has had! After beating Merchant Taylors in the quarter final of the county cup with goals from K.Francis and E.Day the team booked themselves a place in the semi final against Sir John Lawes. Unfortunately, on the day Sir John Lawes were too strong for us and progressed into the final. A great achievement to reach a county cup semi final and the first time a Simon Balle team has gone this far in this competition for some years. All thoughts are now focused on the district cup semi final to be played in a couple of weeks. 

Girls

The Girls have had a great half term of success in the District and National Cup. The U13 Girls have won both their games to secure their sport in the third round of the National Cup. Which will be played in Billericay on the 7th March against Mayflower High School. A fantastic achievement as the majority of the Girls are playing up an age group. The U12 Girls have also made it to the district final after winning their group stage which will be played against Chauncy.

 

January Sports Round Up

1st February 2024Daire Brennan

Indoor Athletics success

Last week we took a strong team to the District Indoor Athletics Championships and they certainly delivered. 12 students won individual events as well as winning 3 of the overall team events. This was our best performance since entering the competition nearly 12 years ago. The performer of the day was Emily W, who ran an excellent 300m in the Junior girls breaking the District record with a time of 46.0 secs, a phenomenal time which certainly puts her as one of the fastest athletes in the County. Other excellent female performances came from Caitlin B winning the Triple Jump (Junior, 8.65m), Amelia L winning the Long Jump (Inter – 4.15m), Elizabeth K winning the High Jump (Inter, 1.50m), Naomi P winning the 300m (Inter, 46.2secs), Eve R winning the 800m in 2.47 (Minor) and the Year 10/11 (Inter) girls won the 4 x 200m relay quite convincingly. 

Year 10/11 Girls Relay Team

Overall our Girls team finished 2nd out 13 schools competing, only 8 points off first place. The following are the age group overall positions; 

Year 7 Girls (Minor) – 1st

Year 8/9 Girls (Junior) – 3rd

Year 10/11 Girls (Inter) – 2nd

In the boys competition we had similar success with the following winning individual titles;

Year 7 Boys Relay Team

Mason K winning the 60m (Minor, 8.5secs), Oliver B winning the 300m (Junior, 41.4secs), Max F winning the 200m (Minor, 30.2 secs), Oliver P winning the High Jump (Inter, 1.60m) and the Year 7 Boys 4 x 200m Relay were victorious. As well as these winners, there were so many other excellent performances which culminated in the Boys team winning the overall competition, the first time we have won this competition and really shows the depth of athletics talent that we have at Simon Balle. The following were the age group overall positions;

Year 7 Boys (Minor) – 1st

Year 8/9 Boys (Junior) – 7th

Year 10/11 Boys (Inter) – 3rd

Well done to everyone who competed and now we look forward with anticipation to a very exciting outdoor athletics season with the following competitions coming up;

  • Herts County Athletics League – 7 meetings
  • Herts schools Athletics Championships
  • District Athletics Championships
  • And many more opportunities. 

Our next big event takes place this Saturday in St. Albans where our students will be competing in the County Cross Country Championships, all hoping to make the Nationals in March. Good luck to all those competing and will update you on our social media platforms. 

Sportshall Athletics

Last Wednesday we again hosted and organised the prestigious District Sportshall Athletics League. This year we have a record entry of 9 schools making this one of the most competitive leagues in recent times. Each school will compete over 2 rounds with the teams with the most points winning overall. In the Year 7 competition,the winning schools will go forward to the County schools competition in March. 

On the night we had over 20 Year 9 and Year 10 Sports Leaders who did an excellent job allowing the competition to run very smoothly, the overall results for Simon Balle on the night were;

Year 7 Girls – 3rd

Year 7 Boys – 1st

Year 8 Girls – 3rd

Year 8 Boys – 4th

Our next competition takes place this coming Wednesday at Wodson Park with a 4pm start. 

Football News

Year 7 Boys go close to reaching the last 16

A few weeks ago the Year 7 boys played Northampton school for boys in a closely contested game. Simon Balle were the stronger team over the first 10-15 mins when Northampton took control with 2 goals in quick succession from outside the box. After half time, the boys came out strongly with lots of attacking intent and managed to score early in the second half with a spectacular goal from Mason K from outside the box. In the final 5mins Simon Balle through everything they had at Northampton Boys but just fell short losing out 2-1. It was a very spirited performance from all, displaying lots of resilience and courage. The boys now look forward to competing in the District cup, where after their exploits in the National cup stand a good chance of success. 

Year 8 Boys update 

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity for some of our Year 8 boys to play against Chauncy in a friendly match, for some this was the first time they had played for the school. In a closely contested match, Simon Balle went 2-0 with a great opening goal for Jacob L. In the second half, Chauncy came back to score 3 goals without reply to win 3-2. Well done to the team on a great performance and especially to the many debutants. Player of the match was Lui N. 

Y8-Football-Friendly-v-Chauncy

Last Saturday we had our first block fixture against Sandringham School. Over 70 boys had the opportunity to represent our school across Year 7-10. The results from Saturday were as follows; 

Year 7A – 5-0 win

Year 7B – 3-5 loss

Year 8 – 6-1 win

Year 9 – 0-3 loss

Year 10 – 0-2 loss

The Year 10 Boys Football team have had a successful month, especially in the District cup, beating Richard Hale 4-1 to reach the District Football semi final, with goals from Sam B (2), Olly S and James W.

Senior Boys update

Senior boys football county cup quarter final vs Merchant Taylors to take place on Wednesday 7th February.

Our upcoming Saturday football fixtures are as follows; 

10/02 v Katherine Warrington

02/03 v Roundwood School

16/03 v John Warner

23/03 v Sir John Lawes

 

Girls Football Report

U14 Girls Football team

Y7 Girls Football

We have a great run of fixtures for the girls this month! The U14 Girls have played 2 District Cup games winning one and narrowly missing out on a win with the other. Two strong performances from the girls and we await to see if we have done enough to progress into the next round. The U12 and U13 Girls have had a successful week with two back to back wins. On Tuesday 30th the U13’s had a successful 5-0 win against Longdean in the ESFA National Cup, securing their place in round 2. Their next game is against South Hampstead on the 8th February. POTM Lola Wildig. On Wednesday 31st the U12’s had a tough battle against Goffs Academy in the District Cup, winning 5-2. POTM Darcy B.

Netball News

On Wednesday 31st the year 10 team travelled to Sherrardswood School to compete in the semi-final of the County Plate. Injuries to the squad led to a call up for year 9 student Olive M. The girls started off nervously with goals being scored by both teams but towards the end of the first quarter the nerves settled and the girls had a 12-6 lead. The second quarter saw them extend their lead slightly with excellent play all over the court. The second half saw Simon Balle putting in a dominant display taking control of the game and working hard for each other to maintain possession. After an excellent performance the score finished 41-26 to Simon Balle who now await to see who we will face in the final! Well done to Annie B, Scarlett B, Laurel S, Lottie O, Chloe G, Carline C, Sophie G, Olive M and team manager Emma K.

Hockey News

Well done to the U13 boys hockey team for their first fixture against Haileybury. The boys really settled into the game and had periods of excellent game play. Player of the match went to Matt N who had an outstanding game in goal. We look forward to building on this at the County tournament next week.

Basketball News

Well done to the Year 8 team who have so far played JWS and Broxbourne schools in the District league, displaying fantastic levels of resilience across both games.