Dear Parents, This newsletter will confirm many parents thoughts that time rushes by and that school life is increasingly busy. Amongst the normal day to day of leading a school (reports, parents evenings, marking, lesson preparation) we have seen incredible involvement and support with house plays, musical events, team quizzes, trips and sports events to name just a few. As we approach Christmas itself Year 11 enter their ‘mock examination period’ in order for them, their parents, their teachers to assess their learning and to see where teaching practice now needs to focus. This is picked up with the Year 11 Parents Evening on January 15th. The rest of the school continues to be involved in trips, pantomime, Clothes Show, science field trips, Natural History Museum, carol concerts, Christmas lunch etc. We are now showing visitors around school who are eager to be in our sixth form. If you know of anyone interested please ask them to contact us. Our ‘primary phase’ recruitment to reception continues. I trust that you found the information from the Governors helpful. We shall shortly be advertising for staff, so again check the website if it is of interest. Now enjoy reading about all that is happening in our amazing school.

Alison Saunders

Simon Balle School at Christmas – important information Our Carol Concert will be taking place on Tuesday 16th December at 7.00pm at All Saints Church. Everyone is welcome and the PSA will be serving mulled wine, mince pies and shortbread. This is always a popular traditional event and we look forward to seeing you there. On the 17th our Y7, Y8 and Y12 students will be going to the church for their own Carol Concert. They will leave school at 11.05am to walk to All Saints church and will be back in school at 12.15pm Students should bring suitable outer clothing and if they wish a small donation for the church collection. If for any reason you do not want you child to participate please email Mrs Chandler in the school office (chandlers@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) This is always a wonderful opportunity for our lower and upper school to get together.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: 3rd Dec : Year 10 Parents Evening 4th Dec : Year 8 Geography and Science Trip to Natural History Museum 4th to 19th : Year 11 Mock Exams 16th Dec : Carol Concert at 7 pm 17th Dec : Christmas Lunch 19th Dec : Christmas Jumper Day and end of term—see finish times

3rd December 2014

THIS ISSUE: School Christmas Infor-

mation Armistice Day Volcano Competition 6th Form Field Trip Book Banter Highlights Sixth Form Open Evening Take Over Day House Plays School Concert PSA Quiz Night Brownies Visit PE News Music

After the carol concert Y7 to Y10 will have their Christmas lunch – A two course traditional Christmas lunch (vegetarian option available) PRICED £3.75. Tickets for the lunch must be pre-bought and will be on sale in the canteen w/b 1st December. This is a very festive occasion with music and is really enjoyed by all our students. Please note that there is no other food served on that day so students will have to bring a break snack and/or packed lunch with them. The 6th form Christmas lunch will be held on Thursday 18th December and further details will be sent our via the 6th form. On the last day of term, Friday 19th students will wear their school uniform but have the opportunity to wear a Christmas jumper instead of their school jumper. We would encourage students to bring a minimum of £1.00 which will be collected during first lesson. The proceeds will be given to The Campaign, which has been launched to help an ex student travel to the USA to trial a new treatment for her rare form of brain cancer, as you may have recently read in The Mercury. The current treatment of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is struggling to combat the tumour and it is hoped that the drug trial will lead to a remission. We hope that you will give generously. School will finish early, with each each year finishing at the following times. Year 12 and 13 12.05pm Year 10 12.45pm Year 9 12.50pm Year 7 and 8 12.55pm

Armistice Day Service

On 11th November, we held a ceremony to commemorate Armistice Day and the sacrifice of servicemen and

women who have lost their lives in the two world wars and other conflicts. This being the centenary of the start

of World War One, the focus was on the 1914-18 conflict.

Just before 11am virtually the whole school; staff, students, govenors and visitors, gathered in the central

playground. There were a number of readings and the laying of two poppy wreaths. Deputy Head Boy, Sam

Brown, read an extract from the day of a soldier about the thoughts and feelings he had whilst waiting at the

scaling ladders before an attack. Molly Nesbitt-Larking, a Year 9 student who had been on the recent trip to

the Belgian war graves, read the poem “In Flanders Field” by Col. John Macrae; having visited the place where

the poem had been written in response to the death of a friend during shelling.

A reading about how people in 1914 had little or no comprehension of what would occur and the scale of the

casualties that would be incurred as the war continued was read by Head Boy, Nick Stokes. The Ode Of

Remembrance was read by Deputy Head Boy, Alex Thompson and the then buglers played the Last Post.

After this a perfectly observed two minute silence provided time of personal reflection and thought, the buglers

played the Reveille.

Sixth Form geography students who were on a field trip in Dorset gathered for a ceremony on the beach to

observe the two minutes silence.

The recent events and coverage of the centenary have sparked an interest in many students to find out more

about the First World War and the role played by family members in it and this will be no doubt continue over

the coming years until the centenary of the end of the conflict in 1918.

Volcano Competition Since the start of the new academic year, Year 8 have been learning about tectonic hazards and are currently studying volcanoes. As part of their homework over half term students were asked to create an entry into the annual Geography Volcano House Competition. The categories which students could enter were volcano cake, model, explosion or art work. The response was outstanding with extremely high quality in all categories. All students who entered received a house point. Points were also awarded for the best entry in each category in each form.

Overall winners

Volcano Cake Oliver Scorey New Volcano Model Emily Pavlou Mimram Volcano Eruption Melissa Mendez Asbourne Volcano Art Work and overall winner Olivia Ware Rib

We have been following up the competition in Geography lessons by giving peer feedback on the entries and by learning about how volcanoes can be managed.

Volcano Cake Arthur Twyning

Emily Ibbotson

Joel Pattison

Eleanor Bayford

Lulu Sutton

Oliver Scorey

Volcano Model

Emma Liddle

Brodie Saban

Megan Spragg

Shanna Hayes

Emily Shillito

Sam Monaghan

Volcano Explosion Melissa Mendez

Ben Foster Nathan Downey

Alice Brigham

Alice Chapman

Volcano Art

Ben Kenway

Daniel Charles

Charlotte Osborne

Maddie Irons

Olivia Ware

Year 12 Geography Field Trip to Dorset

In November, the Geography department took thirty two Year 12 students on their annual field-trip to Dorset. Here two of our Y12 students describe what the week was all about. After a three hour long bus journey we were greeted by the natural beauty of Lulworth Cove, before trekking over and across the famous hills of the Jurassic Coastline to reach the quite magnificent Durdle Door. After spending time gathering data we then returned to the cosy coach for a short trip to our accommodation for the week (YHA Youth Hostel), which was very well maintained and all staff were always at hand when needed. Throughout the week we kept to the routine of exploring the area during the day; visiting places such as Lyme Regis, Charmouth, West Bay and Chesil Beach, collecting data and discovering more about the ideas of 'Crowded Coasts' and 'Rebranding'. Other visits included a day-trip to Boscombe and Bournemouth and Studland Bay, a place recognised for its outstanding beauty and diverse ecosystems. Evenings were spent in the classroom analysing the gathered data. The week finished off with a visit to Southampton University where were carried out a practical in the Geography & Environment department labs and were given a full tour of the campus. Overall, the trip was an extremely enjoyable and very interesting week, packed with things to do. It was a good opportunity to make new friendships, and form new and stronger bonds with everyone. We would like to thank all the teachers involved in the organisation of such a great trip

Luke Wilde & Maddy Twyning

BOOK BANTER: A Festival for Readers and Writers

Highlights of the week were the author events where all students had the opportunity to hear a published writer. Lyn Gardner spoke of her job as Theatre Critic for The Guardian as well as her stage school series about Olivia.

Abel Smith School brought two groups of their enthusiastic Year 6 students to hear Lyn and Jamie Buxton talk. Jamie taught his audience about the historical context of his popular book ‘The Temple Boys’ set in 1st Century Palestine. Sally Nicholls, award-winning author revisited Simon Balle to talk about her writing and gave some very dramatic readings which had her audience spellbound! Bali Rai, author of 35 books for young people, appeared on the last day of Book Banter and gave students and staff much food for thought.

It was a pleasure for students, parents and staff to listen to Andy Hobson (Arts Editor of the Daily Mail) talking about his career in journalism and the issues facing newspapers today.

Another major highlight of the week was a first for our festival: 6 winners of the Writing Challenge were presented with their certificates and book tokens by Sally Nicholls at our local Leaf Café on the Monday evening. Parents, other family members and staff were thrilled to watch Olivia Rider, Sorcha McComb and Ruby-Leigh Smith (Year 7), Chloe Shaw and Emily Moore (Year 8) and Natasha Walsh (Year 9) meet Sally and hear about how she started writing. Melanie Taylor (Festival Writer-in-Residence) hosted the evening and remarked how the judges of the Writing Challenge had been bowled over by the high standard of short stories on the subject of ‘Home’. Mrs Saunders praised the girls for taking part and being successful: they are the ambassadors for next year’s Challenge!

Book Banter ended with a Poetry by Heart Speakers’ Corner event in our Library on Friday lunch time. Well done to Emily Bailey, Grace O’Connor and Bailie Caiger from Year 7 and Chloe Shaw from Year 8 who earned 2 House Points each for learning a poem off by heart and reciting it! Thanks to Books@Hoddesdon and Brenda Parkhouse (independent bookseller) for running bookshops

throughout the week and helping to promote literacy. Also, thank you to all those who supported our 3rd book

festival and made it so successful!

6th

Form Open Evening Thank you to all the staff and students who contributed to the success of the 6th Form Open Evening on 20th November. We had over 215 students and their parents on the evening – not only our own Year 11 but many looking to join us from a wide range of other schools. An Octet of 6th form students welcomed everyone to the evening with a highly accomplished singing performance. This was followed by a brief introduction to the 6th form by Mrs Saunders and Mr Preshous, with heartfelt endorsements from Sam Brown, Alex Thomson and Hope Fenton, three of our Senior Students. Students and parents then had the opportunity to visit departments around the school to discuss possible subject choices for September 2015. It was a pleasure to see so many of our current 6th form students volunteering to offer advice to prospective students and explaining how their approach to learning has altered since joining the 6th form and about the range of support they are offered. The evening is only part of the process for students in making these important decisions – for many external students a follow-up visit will take place before Christmas and then all students will get the chance to discuss their choices with a senior member of staff after they have their mock results. For further information or if you know of any other students who want to join our sixth form please contact sixthform@simonballe.herts.sch.uk or ring 01992 410400 ext:274

A Huge Success!

On Friday 21st November a group of Simon Balle students were

involved in the National Take Over Day. Eight students from Years

9 to 11 ran Hertford Museum for the day. A lot of planning went

into the event to ensure its success. Students regularly met with

Eleanor Payne, Learning Officer at Hertford Museum, to consider

who they would target, how it would run and what activities they

would offer. Students also met with Mary Sykes from the company Best of Both Worlds to consider ways to

promote the day.

The museum was open to the public from 10.30am until

midday. Students guided visitors around the museum and

discussed interesting facts they had researched about the

objects. They also provided hot drinks and home-made

cakes to the visitors.

In the afternoon two primary schools were invited in. Year

3 from Bengeo and Year 5 from Abel Smith. The primary

students worked together to complete a history trail which

involved clues and lots of interesting facts. They then

completed a quiz based on what they had found out. All

groups got full marks and were given a goody bag to

celebrate!

Well done to all Take Over students. The day was a huge success and students were a credit to Simon Balle

School.

Vicky Cleevely

House Play competition 2014 (November 26th 2014) Adjudication We opened this year’s competition with a vibrant chant from the Mighty Mimram. First mention must go to Sarah Kenway and her fantastic diction as the narrator. We had wonderful comic pairing with the wonderfully horrible Fairy Queen and her long suffering husband , Darryl (Jess Miller and Matthew Davis). We had more comic fun with the duo of Ugly Sisters (Caitlin McSherry-Howes and Maddy Coupe). There was some great choral work for the Dwarves and lovely characterisation from Prince Charming (Tom Collins) and the Fairy Godmother (Alice Chapman). We had so much energy from this large cast. Well done on some impressive staging and for choosing a super script. This piece was ably directed by Erin Lawson, Elspeth McClymont-Cornell, Rachael Janes and Mollie Lawrance. Our second performance from Lea was the ‘The Awesome Adventures of Percy’ directed by Martha Munro and assisted by Oliver Blake. It opened really well with the terrifying Prophets of Doom (Katherine Searle and Lucie Weller). Here we had a great sense of comedy combining well with James Hunt whose dry wit was a joy. We saw strong and well-delivered work from Abi Cousins. The baby was well voiced by Richard Bowen who then grew into a commanding Percius. Good team work from the Three Furies. Overall a witty performance and some great stone gags! Rib’s ‘Little Mermaid’ highlighted some very clever direction from Sam Veck, Jess Pointon, assisted by Sophie Rawlinson. There were some really great touches that ranged from interesting and varied entry points to an impressive drowning sequence. We were treated to exceptionally strong vocal performances from Eden Maydale and Rosa Noxon. The comedy from Luke Leishman and William Orsmby added to this impressive presentation. The sound, music and lighting were worked particularly well in this performance, as well as a good attempt at puppetry. After the short break we had Beane’s ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’. Here we had impressive and focused ‘still’ work from all the statues. We had a true sense of ensemble here. The idea of being in a confined room was well conveyed in the staging. The performance had a lot of clear voices and excellent diction; particularly from Libby Harding, Emily Palmer, Issy Sutton and Hannah Foley. This was all well rehearsed and drilled. Nice dragon work; very inventive and a well staged and a lively ending. Well done to directors Alex Delameilleure, Rob O’Dwyer and assistant Adam Beaven. New’s ‘Hansel and Gretal’ opened with the promise of a fine performance. Well done on the lovely oven, really good performances and for choosing a very funny script. Libby Freeman gave us a great vocal and physical performance as the Stepmother and Darcy Brennan and George Gollop fabulous as the highly irritating Hansel and Gretal. We had extremely funny and well-timed ensemble work from the McDonald Elves. The clear scene stealer was Reece Debnam with a stunning entrance as the Wicked Witch – a character well sustained throughout the performance. A big well done to Stassy Carr, Helen House and Calum May. A real crowd pleaser! Finally we had ‘Ashputtel’ from Ashbourne which was directed expertly by Luke Davis and Joe Leggett. Joseph Vinton commanded the stage from the opening and particularly as The Prince, adapting really well to the style of the play. We were witness to some brilliant choral work from the Ugly Sisters (Clare Brittain and Caitlin Mason) and a very strong vocal performance from Georgia McIntyre. A really lovely narrative piece (well chosen) and all performances delivered clearly with excellent volume. Well done on a stunning ending to the fabulous House Plays 2014.

With thanks Sarah Cornell

Awards 2014 Best New Comer – Matthew Davis (Mimram) Best Overall Performance – Libby Freeman (New) Audience Appreciation – New Overall Winner 2014 - Rib

Autumn Concert It is always a highlight of my year to attend the autumn concert. This year exceeded even my very high expectations and the evening flew past. Broxbourne Civic Hall was packed to the rafters and I was lucky to get a seat! There was a wonderful mix, moving from primary musicians right through to the Year 13 students who have contributed so much to the musical life of the school in their seven years with us. Mr Taylor and the team succeeded yet again in balancing this sense of the exciting potential of our younger students with the amazing accomplishments of the senior groups, showing the progression of talent. During the first half, apart from the delightful Primary Wind Band, there was variety in range and mood

including both the full, energetic sound of the Concert Band and the softer, atmospheric Guitar Ensemble. The

sense of commitment, energy and joy was evident to everyone. Miss Iles and the Melodic Minors rounded off

the first half beautifully, before we moved to an exciting second half with musical theatre pieces combining

song with choreography and costume. There was something for everyone! The vocal performances were

moving and powerful and the high quality was evident to all. The new SaxPack are hot on the heels of the

established Saxidentals and the year’s learning focus on challenge was not lost on the groups as they moved

around the stage, matching their movement to the music. The final numbers finished the evening on an

energetic high, with the Simon Balle Big Band and the entertaining ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ arrangement to

finish.

Thank you so much, Music Department at Simon Balle – the whole team are an inspiration and I know from

the comments of those parents I spoke to just how much the department’s work is valued.

So when’s the next one?

Liz Ellis

PSA Quiz Night The PSA Quiz Night on the 15th November was very successful, raising £900. It was a closely fought competition which went right down to a tie-break—’The Octnoughts’ took victory from ‘The Magnificent 7’. Thanks to Andy Woodhead (Quiz Master), Erin Lawson (scoring) and everyone who donated raffle prizes or helped set up and clear away after the event. With Parents Evening meetings in full swing, please remember to buy a raffle ticket as you sign in—lucky winners from Year 8 were Mr and Mrs Greaves and Year 9 parents Mr and Mrs Blackman will both be enjoying their hampers. Second hand uniform is always sold during parents evening so please pop along (even if it isn’t your evening) Lastly, please remember to join ‘Give As You Live’ before buying your Christmas gifts—it is an easy way to support the PSA and doesn’t cost you any money. Raise funds for us with every online purchase this Christmas from cuddly toys to ipods #givetwice sign up at https://www.giveasyoulive.com/join/simonballepsa

Brownies Use Food Tech

Simon Balle has welcomed Brown Owl Sonia Cousins and

her Brownie pack to make use of our extremely well

equipped catering facilities on two recent occasions.

The Brownies baked small cakes and also learnt how to lay

a formal table and make menus. They were two very busy

evenings with lots of excited Brownies. The girls, who

mainly attend local primaries, learnt skills that can be

transferred to achieve various Brownie badges.

A big 'Thank you' to the Brownies who were excellent

ambassadors in terms of their presentation, ability to learn

and general behaviour. Thanks should also go to the

adults, including SBS Catering teaching Mrs Jones, who all

worked hard both evenings.

We look forward to meeting these girls again - as Brownies

or as future Simon Balle students.

PE NEWS Rugby Update

Year 7 Rugby v Chauncy – 34-10 The Year 7 Rugby team took on Chauncy in a district league match on Wednesday 19th November. This game allowed the team to further develop their positional play and all of the players now have a better understanding of their role within the team. The movement of the ball was very impressive and the team created many scoring opportunities, running in 6 tries courtesy of William Gibbard, Ernie Dial, Charlie Ingram, Anthony Corbett, Archie Guiver and Max Eland. Archie Worrall kicked two conversions and the boys ran out emphatic winners.

Year 7 v Richard Hale The boys competed against a Richard Hale team in a friendly match on Friday 14th November. After struggling early on the boys really got into the tie, making countless tackles and rucking over the ball very well. One particularly strong feature of this game was the scrum which is something the students have worked hard on in training.

Saturday Rugby v Broxbourne Y7, Y8 & Y9/10 (combined) v Broxbourne – Sat 8th November Y7 boys 0-7 The Year 7 boys competed in their first Saturday morning fixture for Simon Balle against Broxbourne in

November. The team started off slowly and conceded a try in the opening phase of the match. After that the boys

pulled together and set up defensively very well deploying the tackling techniques they have learned recently.

The team gained good territory in the second half and had some opportunities to score but could not quite

manage to get over the line. Such was the quality of the defending, there were no more scores in the contest.

This was a great match; played with excellent team spirit. Max Eland was the SBS man of the match playing his

first game at scrum half very successfully.

Y8 boys 0-34 Y9/10 7-12 Well done to all the boys who showed great commitment in representing the school in this Saturday fixture. The next Year 7 and Year 8 fixture is against Levanthorpe on Wednesday 10th Dec with the Y7’s at home and the

Y8’s away.

Y10/11 v Freman College Well done to the boys who won comfortably by 26-7. Finlay Bright was man of the match putting in some fantastic tackles. Dan Heald and Alex Washbourne also worked well together as 10 & 9. Moving forward to next year this is very positive as these boys will make up the main core of the Senior Rugby team.

Football Update

1st XI v Parmiters - County Cup

Last week the senior team were involved in a fantastic cup tie against Parmiters. SBS took the lead early on through Sameer Abdelahmid who scored a fantastic individual goal. Parmiters then scored twice just before half time. The team fought back well in the later stages of second half after going down 4-1, with some notable superb performances form Zack Abdelhamid and Kallum Titchmarsh. With 5 minutes to go Jono Carter scored to make it 4-3 but unfortunately Parmiters scored again to finish 5-3.

A good performance from the boys. Next up Sele in the District Cup.

Year 7 Football County cup v Sir John Henry Newman 1-4 The Year 7 Football team unfortunately lost to Sir John Henry Newman in the County Cup. In a very even game the opposition managed to finish their opportunities better than the boys. This team will now look forward to developing by playing in Saturday morning fixtures after Christmas.

6-a-side tournament Year 8 Boys update The Y8 boys play Rydens Enterprise School from Woking in the 4th round of the National Cup. The boys are also through to the last 16 of the County cup where they beat Marriott’s School 8-2 and will now play either

Stanborough or St. Edmunds.

Year 8 Boys win 6-a-side District tournament

Congratulations to the Y8 boys who won this tournament . The boys beat Turnford and Chauncy as well as drawing against St. Mary’s, Sheredes, John Warner and Broxbourne. Simon Balle finished on 10 points, level with Broxbourne but won overall due to more goals scored. Man of the tournament and captain Jack Smith scored 4 goals altogether along to cap off a great night for the boys.

Basketball update Well done to the Y7 & 9 Girls who finished 3rd in the recent Herts & Ware basketball tournament.

Year 7 Boys Results The Year 7 Basketball Team has now been involved in 4 games, winning two and losing two. Particularly impressive in recent games has been the boy’s positional play and off the ball movement which has allowed them to create many scoring opportunities. The boys now need to work on converting those opportunities into points. Sam Veryard had a very good game recently at point guard in a win against Sele School, dribbling the ball up the court and setting up his teammates with precise passing. The boys have 4 more games before Christmas.

A visit from International Cricket star On Wednesday 19th November we had the pleasure of a

coaching session from England International cricketer Lydia

Greenway. The girls were from Year 7, 8 & 9 and enjoyed

the session enormously. They worked on a range of skills

including batting and catching. Thank you Lydia for a great

session.

Casey Stoney, international footballer works with Y7 & 8 students

Music

On Friday, we were able to remind everyone in Hertford how good our music is, thanks to the Simon Balle Big Band. They were the main part of the entertainment on Friday evening to help switch on the Christmas lights.

The Big Band are an amazing group of musicians who work so well together. The huge crowd watching loved what they saw. The great name of Simon Balle has once again been celebrated in our community.

The Mayor of Hertford, Chantal Geall wrote to say 'The Big Band performed to their usual high standard and it was good to see them playing outside after the more formal setting of Broxbourne Civic Hall. I thoroughly enjoyed the Autumn concert and thought it was wonderful that you were able to get so many students to take part. Please pass on my congratulations to your teaching team – they must be

working very hard and have great motivational skills to achieve so much from so many.'

Well done to everyone. Our musicians and music team are just brilliant, as everyone keeps reminding me.

Our adult community choir Take Note are holding their winter concert at St Andrew’s Church on Saturday 13th December. The school’s Christmas Service takes place at All Saints’ Church on Tuesday 16th December at

7pm, all welcome. See posters below for full details. Finally a reminder that music lessons continue to run throughout the mock exams – students are responsible for re-arranging lessons as necessary.

The Autumn Concert was a wonderful occasion last week. With over 200 musicians involved, I am yet again in awe of the standard of music achieved. Let’s leave the comments to the parents:

‘I’ve been smiling so much this evening my face genuinely aches! Well done on such a magnificent concert. Having the three stages all playing together was such a clear illustration of the progress pos-

sible – not to mention a superb bit of organisation. The whole evening was such a joy.'

‘I feel very proud and lucky that my son is able to participate at school in music of such a high standard. With so much pressure on schools and pupils to reach higher targets academically each year, it is lovely to see such a large proportion Simon Balle pupils enjoying making music and entertaining the audience with such high quality performances…..I know that the standard of the music tonight is what the parents of the Y6 and 7 children there for the first time can expect each term. Music at Simon Balle is

always of an exceptionally high quality.’

‘Fabulous! An evening filled with musicians clearly enjoying themselves and an audience loving it!‘

‘I am honestly amazed by the wealth of talent you have at your school and delighted I have one child at-

tending already and hopefully one to join September 2015‘

‘Watching the teachers inspire the students with such passion and witnessing the huge impact that this has on the young musicians, made us feel proud of the school and reassured us once again that send-

ing (our child) to Simon Balle is one of the best things we’ve done in our life’

We have fantastic musicians at Simon Balle, and a wonderful music team. Well done to all.

Dear Parents Our work on the primary specialist building has now well and truly begun, ready to welcome the very first Reception classes at Simon Balle in September 2015. Local parents are already applying for reception places (deadline January 2015) and have spoken of the pressures on places. As a “new setting” with no buildings as yet, we had organized a number of coffee mornings, as well as an early evening information briefing (December 8th) in which we can discuss questions and talk of our philosophy and ethos. The three we have already held have been popular and the families represented have been eager to find out more of the benefits of an All Through School. A “project” group has been formed of key senior staff and governors who have “primary” experience and they will meet monthly following a time plan that has been formulated with specialist external advice. The Headteacher has met with Peter Ruffles (who is very supportive) and there is a local residents meeting planned for early December to talk through any current issues they have. Obviously their main concerns have all been regarding increased traffic. Hertfordshire Highways have a number of plans, which will need to be implemented. The school continues to drive forward its commitment to its travel plan, trying to reduce the number of current students who come to school by car. We as Governors are asking you as parents to really think about this; so many of our families live locally and with careful organization can get their children to walk to school. Reception families will have a personalised travel plan, committing them to sustainable transport. Over the next few weeks and months we shall continue to meet and work with various specialists and experts - such as primary Head teachers, lead advisors, national promoters, to enable us to plan for the very best education. This is very exciting; an All Through School enables us to plan very differently and we want to ensure that the Simon Balle philosophy and vision is at the heart of all we do. We shall shortly be recruiting staff; we have already been asked about this from many of our current parents. So if you are interested or know someone who is, please keep looking at our website. As Governors we intend to write at least half termly to update our families on this exciting development. Yours Sincerely Dr. V. Jones (Chair) On behalf of The Governing Body