Dear Parents, So much happens, so quickly, in just a few weeks. Can we really believe that half term was only 2 weeks ago! Our primary phase building has ‘leapt’ up and is really starting to look like a school now. The bungalow area has finally transformed itself into a 33 space car park which will no doubt ease some of the congestion on site. Every week, parents meet together for various calendared events and activities. This week our new parents received notification of their new Year 7 places—all 172 them.

Alison Saunders

PRIMARY PHASE LEADER

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Ruth Oakenfull as our Primary Phase Leader. Ruth is a very experienced Early Years practitioner and joins us from Abel Smith primary school where she has worked for nine years. Ruth will start work with us in May on a part-time basis and will join full time at the beginning of June. This should give her time to familiarise herself with our school, organise the curriculum and get classrooms and other areas ready for our reception intake – plenty to keep Ruth busy! We warmly welcome her to our Simon Balle Community.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: Term Dates Spring Term : 5th Jan to 2nd April Summer Term : 20th Apr to 22nd Jul Half Term : 25th-29th May March Thurs 5th : Year 12 Parents Evening Fri 6th : Big Band Evening at 7.45pm at Wodson Park Thurs 12-14th : Year 13 Geography Trip Fri 13th : Non Uniform Day Mon 30th : Year 10 Field Trip - Thurs 2nd

5th March 2015

THIS ISSUE: Introduction Primary Phase Leader Ski Trip to Obertauern Science News Library and English News Non Uniform Updates Sainburys Vouchers PSA News PE Updates Music News

Ski trip 2015 report

On Friday 13th February (unlucky for some but not for us!), 43 students and 6 members of staff set off on the long journey from Simon Balle to Obertauern in the heart of the Austrian alps. We arrived 24 hours after departure, mid afternoon on Saturday, with only a few complaints on the way (from Mr Kay and Mr Grinter). Arriving at the Felseralm hotel, students had a good sleep to prepare for the busy week ahead! Each evening held a new type of entertainment - there were trips to a ski show, an Ice Hockey game, a chance to try our hands at curling and a beautiful walk through the surrounding forests in the early evening, which Miss Corbett especially enjoyed staying completely dry and warm for. However, the most important and enjoyable aspect, the namesake of the trip, was the skiing. Each group has its own story to tell, most of them not including someone’s amazing technique and ability to stay on their feet. Aside from the laughs and falls, all of the instructors assured us by the end of the week that each group had greatly improved in confidence and technique. There was ‘snow-one’ left behind - although the multiple choices of ski lifts did prove a bit too complicated for two members of our party! The beginners particularly improved greatly throughout their first week of skiing, all of whom had never been on snowy slopes before. It was certainly easy to see on the first morning, with bodies, legs and skis sliding down the hill regularly. However, after a few hard days grafting on the beginners slopes we moved onto the snow park and took on some much steeper hills with a varying degree of success. But that too was soon mastered and over the course of the fourth day we moved up the mountain via a chairlift which caused some inevitable difficulties but no complete calamities thankfully. After a steady slalom on the fifth morning, in which some of our group, including myself, may have taken Mr Trueman's "no crash" policy a little too literally. For the rest of the holiday, we were tearing up the blue runs on the beautiful mountains of Obertauern to cap off some remarkable progress.

The trip brought many great stories and all of the students and teachers who went thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great to get a chance to talk to people outside your own year group, and usual circle of friends. Everyone got along really well, and there were many great shared experiences. There were many lessons learned, namely Mr Trueman’s views on Nutella sandwiches, and to always make sure Mr Grinter has a map before you leave him alone. Miss Steele provided updates on twitter throughout the week, and reinforced that a snow pun would have to make it into this report. All in all a great trip, and one we will all remember for a long time!

Nick Stokes and Alex Willis

Science News

On the 10-12th March, a group of Year 10 students will be travelling up to Birmingham to take part in the national final of the National Science and Engineering competition at the NEC. This follows on from their superb performance in the regional heats last July. Two projects; ‘Under Pressure at Simon Balle’ and ‘Hygiene at Simon Balle’, will be showcased and judged. We wish them the best of luck and will update you on the results in the next newsletter. Y7 Great Egg Race Winners After some close run finals and great egg racers from the whole of Y7, the students below won house points in the Great Egg Race for the following. Fastest racer-Lucy Martin 7B Most Stylish racer-Emily Bailey 7L Safest racer- George Gollop 7N Most Scientific plan- Zachary Pettengell 7A

Science Week is coming! 16th-23rd March

Every year the Science department aim to make Science week bigger and

better than the one before. This year is no exception with activities every

lunchtime, several competitions and quizzes for house points taking place.

Highlights include: a Biomechanics workshop, Chemistry Whizzes and

Bangs, Physics extreme ping pong and a visit from Bloodhound SSC.

All lunchtime activities start at 1:20 unless stated. Monday 16th

Royal Veterinary College biomechanics workshop. A must for anyone thinking of further study in Medicine, Physiotherapy, Veterinary or Physiology. ALL YEARS. Ticket only event, sign up for tickets from Monday 9th at the science prep room. 1:10 start

Tuesday 17th

Chemistry Whizz Bang Lunch. Ever seen a Jelly baby scream? Wondered what elephants’ tooth paste looks like? Or just want to see some of our favourite noisy and messy chemistry? ALL YEARS S4. Lunchtime

Year 8 Maths Day P1-4

Wednesday 18th Honeycomb making. The Science behind the humble Crunchie! Y7 S8 Lunchtime Physics ping pong ball extravaganza. ALL YEARS meet in S1 Lunchtime

Thursday 19th Honeycomb making. The Science behind the humble Crunchie! Y8 S8 Lunchtime GSK Senior school challenge, Y10 trip to GSK Y7 Model Cell House Competition final. S3. Come and vote for your favourite model cells for your house.

ALL YEARS can vote S3. Lunchtime

Friday 20th Science week speakers corner. Library. Lunchtime Potions lesson. Try out some real Magical Science inspired by Harry Potter Y7 S7. Lunchtime.

Monday 23rd Bloodhound SSC comes to SBS. A full scale model of the car being designed to reach 1000mph will be in

the front playground all day. Y9 will be having a day of workshops looking at the Science and Engineering behind this exciting car.

Tuesday 17th

Natural History Museum at Tring YR 12 Biology trip. All Week CSI: Simon Balle in YR 9 Lessons. I’m a Engineer Get Me Out Of Here… in YR 8 Lessons. House science quizzes Science in all lessons and form times.

Any questions? Contact your nearest Science teacher!

LIBRARY AND ENGLISH DEPARTMENT NEWS Better World Books Due to ongoing weeding out of very old and tatty stock and sending them to Better World Books the Library has received a cheque for £31. As well as the school library getting a percentage of any online book sales this company donates to literacy charities such as READ International and the National Literacy Trust. Thus we are supporting charities and books are not going to landfill. To read more about this organisation please go to www.betterworldbooks.co.uk Mobile Sixth Form Library Thank you to our Sixth Form Library Supervisors who have started promoting popular fiction books to fellow students. At break or lunch time they can often be found talking books with their friends and taking some of our attractive book stock around the Sixth Form for them to loan. Well done girls! Red House Children’s Book Award Our Year 7-9 Book Club has been shadowing the Red House Children’s Book Award and voting for their winner. Our students voted Split Second by Sophie McKenzie their winner, and indeed this won the Older Readers’ Category. Sophie visited our Library in 2013 and her books remain a firm favourite amongst our students. To find out who won the overall RHCBA please go to http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/ LitFest 15 Why not take a look at the full programme of literary events taking place in public libraries around the county in March and April. For more details of events please go to http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/libraries/whatson/litfest15 Book Reviews Here are some snippets from the students’ book reviews which have been on display in our Library. As well as encouraging students to read these books the students have earned House Points. If you would like to contribute a review please email it to library@simonballe.herts.sch.uk

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown A thrilling mystery that leads Harvard professor Robert Langdon across Europe trying to solve the brutal murder of the curator of the Louvre. Along with a French cryptologist, he comes face to face with conspiracies, violence and danger! A great novel for mystery lovers! For Year 9+ (By Emma Liddle 8A).

Billionaire Boy by David Walliams It is a funny read and you get right into the action of

the story. I also like it because a lot happens and the ending is great. Some parts surprised me a lot

and I really enjoyed it. For Year 5+ (By Alex Bartlam 7M).

Check this link out please! Please ensure you read to the end! Thank you. http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/totally-magical-libraries-to-visit-before-you-die#.rggMvk0KY

Job Vacancies at Simon Balle We are looking to appoint a full time History teacher, a full time Geography teacher and a part time Philosophy, Religion & Ethics teacher to cover maternity leave in our Humanities department. For full details and an application pack, please visit the school website

NON UNIFORM DAY – RED NOSE DAY – FRIDAY 13TH

MARCH

Red Nose Day is back on Friday 13th March and once again,

the nation is gearing up to put on their Noses, pull out all the

stops, and get fundraising.

Whether it's at work, at school or at home, the money raised

for Red Nose Day is spent by Comic Relief to transform the lives

of millions of people, both at home in the UK and across Africa. Since the last Red Nose Day, Comic Relief has spent £99 million helping over 12 million people – this includes money raised through Red Nose Day, Sport Relief and other fundraising. Areas targeted by the charity include helping young people, domestic violence, mental health, malaria, HIV and education. This year the UK Government has agreed to double the money raised by schools throughout the country so it’s important that we raise as much as possible. We would encourage students to bring a minimum of £1.00 to support this charity. Students should dress sensibly and not wear anything which may be deemed inappropriate (please note that girls must not wear shorts). Those who come to school dressed inappropriately may be sent home to change.

Mike Moss Deputy Head

Lottie’s Cancer Treatment Fund We received a letter from Lottie’s mum to say a big thank you for the £1149.69 raised before Christmas. The family have just returned from Michigan after Lottie’s second phase of her treatment and are very grateful for the contributions made to make these trips possible.

Sainsburys Active Kids Vouchers We are collecting Active Kids Vouchers to put towards the purchase of schools sports equipment. If you collect any, please can you hand them into the School Office. Many Thanks

PSA News PSA Quiz Night The next PSA Quiz night is taking place on Saturday 14th March 7.00 for 7.30 start. Licensed bar, teams of up to 8 – tickets £6 are still available from the School Office or online at www.simonballepsa.org.uk The last quiz was a huge success with our new quiz master Andy, an evening not to be missed - hurry because tickets always sell fast!

PSA Ladies Pamper Evening Date for the diary - The next ladies pamper evening will be taking place on Thursday 7th May (7pm – 10pm). Join us and be pampered for the evening while the country waits for the general election vote count to start! Online bookings for treatments will open on 26th March www.simonballepsa.org.uk

Waitrose Community Matters If you shop in Hertford Waitrose please look out for Simon Balle PSA in this month’s Community Matters collection. The money donated by Waitrose will be going towards completing the revamp of the outdoor classroom.

Outdoor Classroom Over half term Weston Homes and Norbury’s Hertford have been helping the PSA to revamp the outdoor classroom by removing all the old rotten decking and installing new deck boards. You can see the completed half term work in the photo. This is part of a revamp and spruce up of the whole area that will including new planting supplied by Joseph Rochford Gardens. The PSA are extremely grateful to Weston Homes, Norbury’s Hertford and Joseph Rochford Gardens for supporting this project. If any parents or staff would like to join a future 'working party' which will replant the flower beds and retreat the timber structure please email psa@simonballepsa.org.uk

PE News

Football Update

It has been a successful term so far for Boys football. We currently have 4 teams in the District Cup Semi Finals, which are to be played over the next two weeks. On Saturday mornings we have played Sandringham, Richard Hale and John Warner, results below. John Warner - 3 wins out of 4 Richard Hale - 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss Sandringham - 1 win, 2 draws, 1 loss. As you can see we have been really competitive against some strong opponents and the challenge now will be to make as many District Finals as possible.

Hockey Update Simon Balle were Senior Hockey District Tournament runners up last week. Winning against John Warner 1-0 but losing 1-0 to Presdales.

Sportshall Athletics

The final of the District Sportshall Athletics tournament takes place next Thursday 12th March at Wodson. Both Y7 & Y8 boys and girls teams have qualified for the finals. The Year 7 & 8 Boys have also qualified for the County finals to be held on Tuesday 17th March. The girls must finish ahead of Chauncy and Presdales on Thursday to progress to the finals.

Rugby update

Congratulations to the Year 8 boys who have qualified for the County finals on the 20th March. The Year 7 boys will play a round robin tournament between Goffs and John Warner on Monday 9th March to decide who represents the area in the Y7 County Competition. Year 7 Tournament at Broxbourne – Friday 6th March.

Inter House Sports Scores Update

Inter-house sports was held week beginning 9th February. Please see the combined points for each year group

below plus the running total for house sports.

Well done to all year groups for their efforts!

Music News

Digital Technology in the music classroom (part 2) The music department continue to roll on with the use of technology. All students in music will soon be using Google Classroom in their lessons, to access mark schemes, music journals for feedback, links to tracks and more. Google Classroom is accessed by either links on the school website or by using the classroom ipad app. Classroom links to Google docs as well, organising the files. It is really important that all students become familiar with Google Classroom and Google docs. Help may be needed at home to navigate round Classroom initially. This, along with homework being set regularly via Show My Homework, will enable better tracking of work by parents. It is surprising the number of students who claim they cannot log in to Show My Homework! Please help at home with this, enabling us to cut down on printing costs, work smarter and provide more flexibility in how we provide feedback.

As our busy term rolls on we were delighted with the results in our Associated Board exams. Congratulations to the students and their teachers, plus families for their on going support – success like this is always a team effort!

NAME FORM INSTRUMENT GRADE RESULT

BETH EMSLEY 9L ‘CELLO 5 PASS

JOSHUA GREEN 7A CLARINET 3 PASS

CAITLIN MASON 10A CLARINET 5 PASS

CHARLOTTE ANSELL 7L FLUTE 1 MERIT

LUCIE WELLER 8L FLUTE 1 MERIT

DUSTY FLUNDER 8A FLUTE 2 DISTINCTION

ABI COUSINS 11L SAXOPHONE 5 MERIT

JESS MILLER 10M SAXOPHONE 5 PASS

HANNAH FREDERIKSEN 7A SINGING 1 MERIT

TRIXIE WRAITH 7A SINGING 1 DISTINCTION

ANNA BEAVEN 8R SINGING 2 DISTINCTION

ANYA DAAR 9B SINGING 3 DISTINCTION

NANCY WAUGH 8M SINGING 3 DISTINCTION

TOM COLLINS 11A SINGING 5 PASS

KATIE KELSON 11L SINGING 6 DISTINCTION

MARTHA MUNRO 12R SINGING 6 MERIT

SOPHIE NOXON 12N SINGING 6 MERIT

ALEX DELAMEILLEURE 12A SINGING 7 DISTINCTION

SAM VECK 12M SINGING 7 PASS

SIMEON MUNRO 13B SINGING 8 DISTINCTION

ANNA BEAVEN 8R VIOLIN 2 PASS

Our ensembles are preparing for their upcoming performances – Big Band at Wodson Park this Friday, Rock School at Hertford Corn Exchange on Thursday 26th March and Singing and Strings in the school hall on Saturday 28th March – see posters below. Looking ahead to the start of the summer term, our Woodwind and Brass concert takes place on the first Saturday back (25th April). Saxidentals are also taking part in the regional festival of Music For Youth in Bedford on Sunday 22nd March and we wish them every success with this. A reminder that it is vital that students attend all the weekly ensemble rehearsals – everyone needs to be committed so that we can continue to attain the highest performance standards.