Simon Balle All-through School

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…

It has been incredible to see our community in action in support of one another at this very special time of the year. From the most inspiring Reception nativity performance, to our sixth form leaders supporting musicians and readers in preparation for our Carol services: so many Simon Balle values from patience, kindness, compassion, responsibility and resilience are evident. The all-through shines where all years combine, from the Herts Young homeless Santa Dash (Year 4 and sixth form); the Frost Fair with leadership evident from Year 6 sports leaders to sixth form business students; donations of gifts to future Living and goods to the food bank; to our raising of over £1,700 for Save the Children through Christmas jumper day; and to the traditions of this festive season shared further as we move into the last week of term – including Christmas lunches. We believe passionately that students will achieve great things – academically and in the widest sense – when they belong to our community; evidence of this is in abundance this fortnight.

A huge thank you to all students for their dedication with assessments at this time of year, particularly to our Year 11 students during mocks and our Year 13 students in preparation. With students in all year groups, Year 1+, following assessments we will be focussing on the quality of the feedback we give – research shows the importance of formative feedback so that students can see areas to now target where there are gaps in knowledge, or areas to develop skills, or misconceptions to be identified and resolved. It is much more important that we support students to understand these – as these will lead to future gains – rather than focussing on raw scores or grades alone. Any questions, do stay closely in contact with us.

As you read the newsletter below, you will see that once again there is so much to celebrate – from Inter-house sports, to sixth form internal and external applicants for September, and we thank you for your parental partnership with online and in person parents’ evenings, as well as your support for many enrichment trips and events: including Year 4 Narnia evening, Year 12 Art trip, secondary theatre trip to the Mousetrap and the theatre coming to us in the Larch (Jack and the beanstalk). A very exciting Year 10 STEM day is still to come next week.

And finally, at the end of this first team of headship, Mr Moss and I would like to thank you all for your continued support to ensure that we are all deeply proud of our all-through school. It is a special place to work and to learn – and it is a privilege to lead our dedicated and specialist staff team to motivate and support your incredible young people. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, and a happy and healthy new year when it comes.

PE News

A full round up of this term’s sporting news will be published next week on the Sports blog, but we’ve included some photos of this week’s inter-house competition and a brief taster of what’s been happening.

This week both Year 7 Boys and Year 8 Boys teams played against Haileybury College, with the Year 7 team winning convincingly and the Year 8 team coming back from 4 tries to nil at half time to drawing the game. Both girls and boys football teams have had cup action, with the Y7 boys going through to the last 32 of the national cup, and the senior boys reaching the quarter finals of the Hertfordshire cup.

Pedagogy portal

Every academic year we work closely with the Alban Teaching School Hub and host trainee teachers who want to join our wonderful profession. If you are interested in teacher training or even want to know a little more; do get in touch with the school or the Alban TSH. This week’s portal contains the views of a current trainee and their journey and pedagogy practice so far, whilst training at Simon Balle. We hope it inspires you to get in touch and perhaps use the Alban TSH to train at Simon Balle All-through School.

https://www.simonballe.herts.sch.uk/pedagogy-portal-train-to-teach/ ‎

Sixth Form practice interviews

Sixth Form enrichment over the past few weeks has focused on interview techniques for Year 12 students. It has been great to see so many young people supporting each other as they reflect on their own skills and experiences. In preparation for these mock interviews, students were asked to research an employer and prepare their CVs as well as responses to interview questions. We were lucky to be supported by over 20 fantastic local employers, who willingly gave up their time to support our students with their career development.

“Gaining real world interview experience was so useful. The verbal feedback from my employer was so helpful. He gave me a number of targets to help strengthen my CV and future applications.” Sam, Year 12

Library News

It has been a busy term in the Simon Balle libraries, culminating with today’s Jólabókaflóð (Book Flood) and Christmas Bingo. You can read more about all the events that have been taking place by visiting the Library Blog.

Spotlight on Phase Three

Over the last few weeks, Year 5 have been designing their Christmas cushions and have just started to create them in class. They have all shown resilience with their sewing skills and creativity with their designs.

In English, Year 6 have been enjoying reading Skelling and applying their skills of persuasion by writing an advertisement to sell houses. Last week they impressed us with their incredible poems based on the main character.

PSA News

The Frost Fair was enjoyed by many visitors, and thanks to the incredible support from our school community, it is estimated that we raised an outstanding £8230! Funds raised will support both phases of the school. A huge shoutout to our dedicated students who selflessly volunteered their time to make this event unforgettable. Special thanks to Chirp, shystudio, and Edwins for their fantastic sponsorships, and a heartfelt gratitude to Mrs. Major for her generous donation.

Unwanted gift appeal

‘Tis the season of giving, and while we appreciate the love and thoughtfulness behind all the festive gifts, we’re embracing a fun twist this year! If you find yourself with an unwanted Christmas gift that’s been waiting for a new home, we’d be absolutely delighted to take it off your hands. Your generosity will fuel our exciting plans for prizes, raffles, and PSA fundraising endeavours in the upcoming year. Drop off your donations at either school office, marked “FAO SBPSA.”

Larch UV Party

Get ready to glow, Larch families! Tickets for the much-anticipated UV Party for years 1 to 6 are now on sale via the PSA website! To join the neon fun, hop onto the website and make sure to register then patiently await admin approval to complete your checkout, if you are new to the website. Don’t miss out on this luminous extravaganza – tickets will be on sale until Friday January 12th. Get your glow on, Larch! See the UV Party Poster here

Support for families

A coffee morning is being held on Monday 15th January by SPACE for parents with children who have a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD or are on the pathway to a diagnosis. They are a local charity who offer support to families who are neurodiverse. If you would like to attend please contact vivashk@simonballe.herts.sch.uk to reserve your place. You can read more about this on the county website, or watch a summary of the information on YouTube.

Family Lives are delivering a range of online support for families living in Hertfordshire. Please take a look at their Facebook page and the two flyers for more information.

Jedidiah on Fore street is a wonderful free fresh food pantry, helping the people of Hertford who are feeling the cost of living crisis to fill their fridges and feed themselves and their families. The pantry opens every week day from 12-1pm and all are welcome to come along and help themselves to the array of fresh food donated by our local supermarkets.

Careers News

Please click here for our latest careers opportunities blog. This edition includes links to the New Unifrog online courses (available to all students in Y7 – 13). Click here to access the new careers section on the school website which includes:

Links for students and parents
Careerometer and Skillometer to help students explore different careers
Links to Local Market Information
And many other useful resources

Holocaust memorial Day visit to St Albans Cathedral.

Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated nationally on 27th January 2024. This year we have been lucky enough to secure 50 tickets to the St Albans commemorative event on Tuesday 30th January. The trip will take place in the afternoon and students will be returning home to school around 4.30.

This is a fantastic opportunity where students will be able take part in a number of workshops focused around the Holocaust and the events that preceded it. The highlight of the visit will be to listen to a presentation from a Holocaust survivor and then have an opportunity to partake in a Q&A session. This trip is currently open to Y9, 11 and 13 and has proved very popular. We do however still have 6 spaces still available. The trip costs £13. If you would like further information on the trip then please contact Mrs Page on pages@simonballe.herts.sch.uk who will be able to give you more information and arrange payment.

Don’t forget!

We break up for the Christmas holidays at 12.00pm on Thursday 21st December. We return to school at normal time on Monday 8th January.

Between now and Christmas

There are still a few events taking place between now and the end of term:

All week: further work is being done on the changing rooms, so secondary students need to come into school wearing PE kit on the days they have PE (apart from Y7 and 8 on Tuesday 19th).
Monday 18th December: Y8 STEM day (drones)
Monday 18th December: Secondary carol service, All Saints Church, 1900-2000
Tuesday 19th December: Y7, 8 and 12 visit All Saints for the carol service in the morning (full school uniform required). Secondary Christmas Dinner (there will be no other food service at break or lunch, so those that have not bought a ticket for the Christmas lunch will need to bring a packed lunch)
Tuesday 19th December: Larch carol service, All Saints Church, 1800-1900
Wednesday 20th December: Larch students visit All Saints Church for the carol service in the morning. Y10 Stem day (rockets)

After Christmas

Monday 8th January: Y11 Business trip information evening, 1800, Main Hall
Wednesday 10th January: Sixth Form History and Politics Berlin trip information evening, 1800, Main Hall
Wednesday 10th January: Y6 SATs information evening, 1800, Larch Hall
Tuesday 16th January: Y6 STEM day (experiments)
Wednesday 17th January: Y11 Tate Modern trip
Tuesday 23rd January: Y11 parents evening (face to face)
Friday 26th January: PSA UV Party after school – details to follow
Thursday 15th February: Y4 Roman Britain Workshop

Wishing everyone in our community a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Yours sincerely,

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