11th February 2016

Dear families

We have been reminding students that we are now half-way through this academic year. How time flies! It is not only the weather patterns that have perhaps surprised us this year but can I also remind all parents that our Easter break is somewhat unusual. We at Simon Balle are following the Hertfordshire County Council model which means that:

Good Friday (March 25th) is a school holiday

Bank Holiday Easter Monday (March 28th) is a school holiday

BUT every student is at school on Tuesday 29th March - Friday 1

st April (inclusive).

Our 2 week Easter holiday is from Monday 4th - Friday 15

th April.

The reason for this decision being taken is that Easter falls very early this year and the decision helps schools to ensure better learning time. We published this and alerted you to this many months ago. We therefore expect all students to be in school. I, along with many other local headteachers, have been getting increasingly frustrated by some parents’ attitude to school attendance. Having spoken to local primary heads, we want parents to realise that missing any school must be an exception. We expect children to be in school all of the time.

Our Governing Body recently discussed attendance, following a presentation from Hertfordshire Local Authority. The county council is recommending that they fine parents for children not attending school. This is for all absence but cases would be dealt with on an individual basis after ‘trigger points’ have been reached. Governors have yet to debate and agree our stance.

The government expects attendance to be in the region of 97% for all students, authorised as well as unauthorised. Mike Moss explained this to parents in a previous newsletter. Our school is penalised if the figures drop. Persistent absence is now deemed to be 90% and this is the point at which LEA intervention will trigger.

I am grateful that most parents do actually request leave rather than simply take it. We are always sympathetic to special family events, sporting or cultural opportunities, funerals etc. However, I am worried by a few parents who are asking for ‘pure holidays’ or odd days to facilitate cheaper travel. Again, we do take the wider picture into context, look at previous attendance and how much the student has missed school including sickness. Apologies to the many for this small rant/reminder!

The difficulties of recruitment of teaching staff continues to hit headlines. We too at Simon Balle, despite the fact that is is a great place to work, find it so difficult. We are attaching various flyers and information for you to pass on to others. We always advertise our latest vacancies on the school website.

Thank you to all parents (including some from our reception class) who attended the recent e-safety

evening. This newsletter contains information about our next evening on ‘Drugs Awareness’.

The Governing Body will be hosting a parents’ forum on Thursday 5th May to discuss Careers

Education and Guidance. More about this in a future newsletter.

Thank you again for all your support and encouragement. There have been many events recently

where parents, and indeed students, have feedback their appreciation and praise for all that the staff

here are doing.

We continue to be a very popular school. With over 850 applications for secondary enrolment (for

172 spaces) and more than 250 primary (60 places) we can, despite the recruitment and financial

crisis, make a great difference to the lives of so many young people.

Have a good and restful half term break

Alison Saunders - Headteacher

Dates for your diary

15th to 19th February HALF TERM Thursday 25th February Y13 parents evening Friday 26th February Big Band Evening Tuesday 1st March PHSEE parents meeting Wednesday 2nd March Y12 parents evening Thursday 3rd March Y13 geography field trip (back 5th) Thursday 10th March Y9 Battlefields trip Brass recital evening Thursday 17th March Strings and singing concert Friday 18th March Non uniform – Sports Relief Tuesday 22nd March Y10 geography field trip Wednesday 23rd March Gym and dance evening Friday 25th March GOOD FRIDAY – SCHOOL CLOSED Monday 28th March EASTER MONDAY – SCHOOL CLOSED Thursday 31st March Stevenson’s uniform sale (3pm to 5.30pm) Friday 1st April END OF TERM – NORMAL FINISH

Saturday 23rd April Wind and Brass concert 7pm in hall Tuesday 26th April Y7 parents evening Thursday 28th April String Recital 7pm in hall Monday 2nd May BANK HOLIDAY Tuesday 3rd May INSET DAY Thursday 12th May Singing Evening 7pm in Larch Centre Monday 16th May Start of public exams Friday 27th May 6th form ball

Dear Parents, Spring is on its way with signs of blossom and bulbs poking through everywhere… What better way to celebrate spring, than by helping the Larch Centre ‘Win a Garden’! Tokens will be printed inside the Hertfordshire Mercury, Hertfordshire and Essex Observer between 17/02/16 and 11/03/16. All you need to do is buy the paper and send the completed tokens into school and we will do the rest! Please ask your friends, family and neighbours to help you, so we can collect as many tokens as possible, increasing the number of entries and therefore raising our chances of winning!! Thank you for your support. From all of the team in the Larch Centre During the half term, if you decide to have a spring clean then please think of us. We are now thinking about the Year One classrooms so are on the lookout for good quality toys, puzzles, books, posters and other educational resources. Resources for role play are always welcome- costumes, props, small furniture! Your unwanted items might be treasure to us. Thank you. Ruth Oakenfull – Primary Phase Leader

Parental Drug Awareness Workshop

Concerned that your knowledge about drugs and alcohol is limited or out of date?

Then we would like to invite you to our Drug Awareness Workshop specially

designed for parents / carers at Simon Balle on Tuesday 1st March from 18:00 – 19:30.

The workshop aims to:

Provide relevant, up-to-date information about alcohol, cannabis and legal highs in a safe and familiar environment

Offer strategies for parents to have open conversations with their children about drug and alcohol misuse

Promote ways parents can help children make positive, healthy choices.

As well as an interactive presentation and informal learning tasks, there will be an opportunity to ask

questions and find out where to go for more information and support.

Please let us know if you are coming by emailing smithj@simonballe.herts.sch.uk or returning the

slip at the bottom of the letter which is going to be emailed out to parents tomorrow.

We look forward to welcoming you.

In the latest of our ‘House Spotlight’ sections the attention falls on New House

New house have been making steady progress in the house league table this academic year. Due to

the hard work of the students in gaining house points, we are delighted to have moved up a place.

New house has high ambition and we aim to move even further up the league table as the year goes

by.

As many students from New house are regularly awarded the prestigious Student of the week, it is

obvious that there are many young people out there who are working hard to make sure that house

points are accrued, not only through participation and awards in house events, but also through

excellence, hard work and dedication. It is wonderful to realise that many students from New house

are exceeding expectations in the variety of subjects offered at Simon Balle School.

Year 7 have shown their value to the house with two New house members being recognised as

overall category winners in the castle day competition. Year 7 students had been challenged to draw

or construct castles which had been inspired by the learning in their history lessons about William the

Conqueror. A massive well done to our very own Courtney Power who won best picture, and also to

Laila Davies who won most historically accurate castle. It is great to see so much creativity and

house spirit amongst our newer members.

Students in New house are to be congratulated on their achievement in the recent Inter House sports

results. New house were placed third in this competition. The year 10 boys and girls did particularly

well in this as they both came second in their sports. The girls in basketball and the boys in football.

Well done to all participants.

New House Achievements:

The “Ready, Steady, Book!” writing competition which took place last year continued the tradition of

having students submit short stories based on upon a certain theme, this year being that of

‘Transformation’. The winners of the competition (pictured below) included two members of New

house: Sophie Noxon and Callum Morris-Horne.

This literary achievement earned the two New ouse winners

multiple house points and a £20 book voucher delivered by the

honourable Mayor of Hertford at an intimate event held at the Leaf

Cafe where the winning short stories were read out to teachers

and parents alike. The winning stories submitted by the New

house students were selected by writer Melanie Taylor and the

Mrs Syme who has ensured that the pages of ‘Ready, Steady,

Book!” were filled with literary opportunities which stimulated our imaginations and kept pages turning

long after the event ended. These stories which explore several themes linked to transformation,

including Sophie’s story of what it feels like to be transgender and Callum’s fable about the

transformation of thought, along with the ones submitted by students, will be available to read soon in

a leaflet published in the library.

Over the past few months, Year 13 students have been busy writing their personal statements,

researching, visiting and applying to universities, apprenticeship programmes and other further

education schemes through UCAS. The UCAS deadline was on the 15th of January, and before and

since then, the vast majority of students who have applied to study various subjects have been

successful in receiving both conditional and unconditional offers from their chosen academic

institutions. The New House captains would like to offer congratulations and kudos to those who have

been fortunate in achieving their offers, and would like to wish them all the best in their future

academic pursuits.

In terms of notable achievements within New house, Year 13 student Callum Morris-Horne was

fortunate enough to be one of the two successful applicants, along with Charlotte Benham from

another house, who applied and received an offer from University of Cambridge

Dear Parent/Carer Are you a qualified teacher and interested in bringing your skills back to the classroom? Do you know a qualified teacher that has left the profession and may be interested in returning?

As part of a recruitment campaign to ensure our schools in Hertfordshire have the best quality teachers, we’d like to make you aware of a free, new support programme to help qualified teachers return to the profession.

If you, or someone you know, would like to return to a career teaching secondary age English, mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, languages, history or geography, this programme will offer tailored support and identify individual needs to enable a successful return to teaching. This will include:

an overview of the curriculum and changes to GCSE and A level updated classroom practice training (including behaviour management, assessment and new

technologies) subject knowledge training access to supported classroom experience support from a mentor support with applications and interview preparations

We would be very interested to hear from anyone who is thinking of returning to teaching -but are seeking in particular people who have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), who can teach EBacc subjects and want to bring their skills back to the classroom, where they can make a real difference to young people every day. There are opportunities to access this programme in Bishop’s Stortford, Stevenage, Hitchin, St Albans and Harpenden, starting in the summer term 2016, with flexible delivery options to fit around current family and work commitments. If you think you may be interested in accessing this programme or would like more information, please contact us, using the details below: For training based in the Bishop’s Stortford, Stevenage or Hitchin areas please contact: The Teach in Herts Team through Julie Grimwade (01438 844755) julie.grimwade@hertsforlearning.co.uk www.teachinherts.com Or for training based in the St Albans and Harpenden area please contact: The Alban Teaching School Alliance through Vicki Kateley (01727 799560, ext. 281) enquiries@albantsa.co.uk www.albantsa.co.uk For further general information on returning to teaching you can also visit www.education.gov.uk/returners

We look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully

Liz Shapland Claire Oakes Senior Adviser (Secondary) Assistant Headteacher & Alban TSA Strategic Leader Herts for Learning Sandringham School, St Albans

Half Term First AidClass

Tuesday 16th Febraury 2016Hertford Heath Mission Room

1pm-2pm 7-12 years £82pm-4pm 13-18 years £15

To book contactjulie@daisyfirstaid.com

07831155609