18th May 2016

Dear Parents Your child(ren) may (or indeed may not!) have told you that we have now started the public exams period. What most people are not aware of is that we are totally restricted by the national system of examinations. They set the time envelopes which include when exams start and finish. We also have to, rightly, comply with their rigorous security requirements. Each year we have an unannounced inspection to check our procedures. Our new timing of the school day (moving P5 and a slightly earlier lunch) ensures we can still deliver hot meals and start exams at the beginning of the afternoon. We will revert back to our ‘usual‘ school day on Thursday 23rd June. Holiday leave Parents will have read of the recent court case involving a father from the Isle of Wight taking his child out of school in term time. Further investigation shows that the family had done this on several occasions and in the radio interview I heard, he bragged of his child’s excellent attendance record of 90% (please see below). Can I take this opportunity to remind our parents of some basic things as I am continually being asked to sign holiday request forms. Parents must request any leave of absence and not simply inform us once booked. Too many parents

are telling me that they-or a relative-has already booked the holiday. Please write an accompanying letter to the green request form (available from reception) 90% attendance is poor, the national average is 95% and we are at 96%. Schools are judged by the

government on their attendance. Children who miss school for whatever reason penalise the school - I know that this is ridiculous but it is still a fact!

If time must be taken try and minimalise this by wrapping it round an existing holiday Teach your children that they should be at school at all times unless they are too ill to attend. This will

help them in their future lives. If students miss vital education it is often difficult for them to catch up. My Governing Body have been discussing whether to issue fines but decided, prior to the court case ruling, not to do so except in exceptional cases of absenteeism. We now await the Government’s actions.

Alison Saunders - Headteacher

Dates for your diary Friday 27th May 6th form ball Monday 30th May to HALF TERM Friday 3rd June

Monday 20th June Sports afternoon Thursday 23rd June Careers Fair in hall Friday 11th June Y11 celebration evening in hall Monday 27th June Sports afternoon (Larch Centre) Wednesday 29th June Art exhibition Saturday 2nd July Music For A Summer Afternoon Monday 4th July Y8 trip to Globe theatre Friday 8th July INSET Wednesday 13th July Transition evening for new Y7 parents Thursday 14th July Transition day Awards ceremony Saturday 16th July Music tour leaves Monday 18th July Stevensons (uniform supplier) in 3pm—7pm Tuesday 19th July Stevensons in 3pm—6pm Friday 22nd July END OF TERM

Non-uniform Day The non-uniform day on Friday 6th May raised £1,185.84 for Macmillan Cancer Support. You will recall from a previous mailing that teacher Steve McGovern is going to ride the Surrey 100 on 31st July in aid of Macmillan in memory of staff member Phil Carter. £1,150 has already been pledged on his JustGiving page. We wish him luck in his ride and look forward to updating you on the monies raised. Music For A Summer Afternoon Please make sure you look at the flyer at the end of this newsletter for the announcement of our Summer Music Spectacular on Saturday 2nd July. Full details and tickets are available from the music department. PSA request If you are able to contribute any raffle or tombola prizes to the PSA they will always be gratefully received via the school office. We are always looking for new and innovative ways to raise funds for the school. If you have any thoughts, suggestions or would like to join our group please email psa@simonballepsa.org.uk It is also worth visiting the PSA website www.simonballepsa.org.uk for the latest information/upcoming events.

INSET Day Report – Tuesday 3rd May During our recent INSET day the staff finally had an opportunity to have some extended time to consider the many new GCSE and A Level specifications that are being introduced in September. In preparation for the day Heads of Department had been introduced to a backward planning tool that embraces the core features of our teaching and learning principles at Simon Balle. The tool has been developed by Andy Griffiths and Mark Burns whose work has provided the backbone to much of our professional development over the last three years. Their recent book, “Teaching Backwards”, provides practical advice about how to understand success, work backwards from success to where the students are now, and then plan to navigate the route to this success. Staff were challenged to consider the skills, knowledge, attitudes and habits that students will require to achieve success in the new A level specifications and then think backwards from that point to plan for the other year groups. This approach should result in our staff designing inspiring and innovative schemes of work from Year 13 to Year 7 that prepare our students effectively for future learning. At the same time they also had to consider how they were going to build on the work that our new intake will have completed at Key Stage 2. How they are going to pre-assess their knowledge and understanding to ensure that we challenge students from the outset to build on their prior learning? One of the many key thoughts that staff were asked to consider when designing their schemes of work was taken from Graham Nuthall’s book "The Hidden Lives of Learners" where he states that:- “Children know about 60% of classroom content BUT the prior knowledge differs between students, so it will be highly variable”.

At Simon Balle we take students from over 25 feeder schools so this is a key consideration for our planning. Staff will be given more time during the summer term to build on this work in their teams to ensure that all our students are provided with purposeful and engaging learning opportunities throughout their time at Simon Balle.

Yvonne Adshead Assistant Headteacher Drama Exams 2016 Well done to both A level and GCSE Drama students who have now all completed their practical examinations. Whilst we have to wait until August for the results as far as I am concerned a great job was done by all. The self-devised work from the Y13 A2 group demonstrated a maturity and a great understanding of drama. The A2 group tackled a piece that required huge emotional input and they all rose to this challenge extremely well. They should also be congratulated for sharing this difficult piece of drama with the rest of the 6th form during their SMSC sessions. Our 3 GCSE pieces were all responding to the idea/theme of 'consequences' and they all successfully communicated this idea. Well done to the casts of 'Girls and Dolls', 'An Inspector Calls' and 'Female Transport'. Also thanks to Mrs Palmer, Mr Harrold and Miss Nesbitt-Larking for giving of their time and expertise. Sarah Cornell

Hertford and Ware Sports Partnership Awards 2016

This annual event was held on Thursday 28th April at The Sele School. Many of you

know just how active this sports partnership has remained (despite Government

funding cuts) and equally how it promotes participation in a range of sports, particularly

in local primaries. This year sees the co-ordinator and lead Debbie Evans retire and

she will be succeeded by Sandy Edwards who has historical links with Simon Balle,

having been Head of PE here in the 1990s.

Each school nominates students for the various categories. There is stiff competition

so we only hear the final shortlist on the night. At secondary level Simon Balle boasts

of success in several categories and in fact received more awards overall than other

local schools.

Effort & Improvement KS3 Finlay Cattermole

Officials Emma Butcher

Adult Awards Elizabeth Moore (who coaches and leads at Morgans) was a joint

winner in this category.

Team Award Our Year 8 cricket team were runners up to Chauncy & Sele

Individual Elite Performer Louise Reilly shared the award.

It was a privilege to see so many primary schools participating. A

special mention should go to the achievements and participation of so

many Amwell View students.

Congratulations to all our students and of course our PE department.

A few years ago we at Simon Balle felt that at times we were perceived

as the ‘underdogs’ in the area but now we definitely have surpassed

most of the local schools in the range of our success both locally, at

county and at national level. Simon Balle is most definitely the place to

be if students enjoy sport.

Hopefully, next year we will be nominating and achieving success for our Year 1 children as well!

PE update Summer term has arrived and time to move on to athletics, rounders and cricket. Once again we have entered

the County Athletics league competition with seven fixtures to be fulfilled around the county. The opening one

for us was at Wodson two weeks ago which we hosted and organised. Thanks to Miss Jones the event ran

very smoothly and our athletes rose to the occasion by winning three out of the four age groups.

The following week we went to Luton. This was held on our INSET day and the PE Dept were delighted that all

of the students turned up to compete. They were an absolute credit to the school and competed well against

some very strong schools.

Rounders and cricket matches begin next week and all the results will be published in forthcoming newsletters.

The girl cricketers took part in the regional Lady Taverners indoor competition after winning their Hertfordshire

competition. The girls came up against some excellent competition only losing their last 2 games on the last

ball.

In a recent girls football tournament hosted by Tottenham Hotspur at Goff’s School, the Simon Balle Y7, Y8

and Y9 teams all reached the final playing some very good football. All three teams were narrowly beaten

finishing runners up. Elsa Barnfather had a great tournament picking up a Spurs kit as one of the players of

the tournament.

Upcoming County Athletics fixtures:

Mon 23rd May – Round 4 (Stevenage)

Thurs 9th June – Round 5 (Luton)

Mon 13th June – Round 6 (St. Albans)

Mon 20th June – Sports Day

Twitter – please see our twitter feed for more updates and results @sbspedept

Simon Balle School

Saturday 2nd July 2016, 3pmSimon Balle All-through SchoolGates open 2.30pm. Under cover if wet.Tickets £8 Adults, £5 Concessions, under 3’s freeFamily Ticket (4 tickets) £22Available from the Music Department music@simonballe.herts.sch.uk01992 410408

Bring your own picnic and chairs, PSA Bar open

Simon Balle All-through School presents

Music for a

Summer afternoon