Coming back on June 11th after the Spring Bank Holiday reinforces just how the term has flown. We shall soon be welcoming officially the new Year 7s (11th and 12th July) and the exams have only 3 weeks to go. Annual events abound in the next few weeks – the arrival of the American visitors, the first golf evening, the Fun Run, Sports day, Art Exhibition, Languages Festival, various athletics competitions, the summer concert, Shakespeare Festival, House Plays – all in 6 weeks! Fun Run and Fund Raising For those of you who have been long associated with Simon Balle, you will be aware that we rarely ask for funds, other than to participate in trips and activities. Unlike most local schools we do not have an annual school fund and we do not put pressure on parents to make financial contributions. However, this term we are fundraising. A number of parents have expressed a wish for us to refurbish our school hall and indeed it looks rather ‘tatty’ compared to other public spaces such as the library and lecture theatre. It is a complex area used daily by most students as an assembly room, social area, sports space, exams hall and meeting place. The PSA and Governors therefore have recognised the need to do something and have committed to some serious refurbishments over the next eighteen months. Anything on this scale is costly and to paint and replace lighting and fixtures, address the floor and generally freshen up, will cost over £60,000. There are a number of ways in which you can help us in our fund raising –

• The Fun Run - all students take part and sponsorship is vital, all forms to be returned to form tutors by 18th June. Last year we raised £3000, we would like to raise even more this year

• Hosting American visitors – thank you to James Pooley and all the families who have volunteered. This event usually raises in excess of £1500

• Family Golf Day – a new event for this year. We hope it will be a big success and enjoyed by all our amateur golfers! Again thanks to Mr Pooley for organising our first ‘Open’

• A ‘thank you’ donation as your child leaves Simon Balle • Donating gifts for our raffles and buying the tickets

I am fully aware of the current economic climate but if everyone gives a small amount we would soon reach our target and be able to transform our hall into an area of which we can be proud. Thank you for all your support, do email me (saundersa@simonballe.herts.sch.uk) if you wish to donate or have any fund raising ideas. Dates for your Diary 11 – 15 June Year 12 Work Experience 14 June Americans arrive 17 June Americans leave 19 June Howarth Trip talk 6.45pm library 20 June SBS Golf Competition 25 June Fun Run 27 June Sports Day Art Exhibition 6 – 8pm 28 June Year 7 Table Tennis Evening 2 & 3 July Year 12 Induction 4 July Summer Concert Broxbourne

Vacancies Having talked to many local secondary Headteachers, we have all been surprised at how difficult it is to recruit this year. We are still looking for maths and science staff – do contact us as soon as possible.

Update on Foundation Status On the 1st June 2012 Simon Balle became a Foundation School. The Governing Body now owns the school site, and employs all the school staff. We are also responsible for student admissions, although, at present, we will keep the same local authority procedures. We anticipate that becoming a Foundation school will give us greater control over decision making and enable us to deliver our unique vision and values for Simon Balle. To this end we are now working on developing deep partnerships with other schools and the wider community which will enrich all students and lead to greater opportunities and achievement. Over the summer and into the autumn there will be changes in the Governing Body as we develop an updated model of governance and ownership which reflects our community focus. We will be electing new parent-governors in the autumn and have identified finance and personnel as areas where we seek expertise. Parents who might be interested in standing as a Governor should contact Melanie Salter, Clerk to the Governors In the next few months we will also continuing to explore whether Academy status is appropriate for Simon Balle. Viv Jones, Chair of Governors

Year 8 Globe Theatre Trip On the 2nd May Year 8 visited Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre – London. The day included a guided tour, a workshop and we even had a sneak peak of

the play ‘Cymbeline’ in rehearsal and Sudanese Arabic. The performers were from the South Sudan. This was the part of the ‘Globe is Globe’ festival 37 plays performed in 37 languages.

In the guided tour, we went up into the circle. The theatre was extremely similar to what it was like in 16th Century. This is quite remarkable as this is the third reconstruction of the Globe. The present theatre is the only thatched building created in the whole of London since the Great Fire of London. This was a special exception because of its significance in London’s history but it had to have a sprinkler system to prevent the spread of fire. Our favourite part of the day was the workshop. Our tour guide, Fiona, played games as a warm up based on the play ‘Macbeth’. We found this very exciting, we learnt lots about how the play was written, why Shakespeare wrote it and the language of the play, yet we enjoyed it as well. It was a great day and we are very grateful to Mr Davies for organising it and all the staff who came on the trip. Ketan Curtis and Matthew Parris Year 8

Performing Arts All GCSE and A Level students have now completed their exams, however life in the department continues to be ever busy. On June 28th, sixteen dancers from years 7, 8 and 9 are performing in the Youth Games Opening Ceremony at the University of Hertfordshire. They will be performing again at the closing ceremony on July 8th when the Olympic torch passes through Hatfield. Rehearsals are going well and it should be a spectacular event with their performance combining dancers from Amwell View, St John the Baptist Primary and Simon Balle. On July 13th, 14th and 15th, twelve A Level drama students supported by eight chorus members are performing an abridged version of Twelfth Night at The Priory, Ware. Simon Balle have been asked to stage this in conjunction with the celebrations for the loan to Ware museum of 'The Great Bed of Ware' and we are very excited to be performing. All performances are at 2pm and the event is free, so come along and watch what promises to be a very entertaining piece of drama. Finally, this term concludes with the annual House Drama competition on July 17th and 18th. Although a different date in the calendar this year, we are hoping to still see it well supported by students, staff and parents. More information on all of the above will be sent out in due course Sarah Cornell and Anna Palmer

Music News The Big Band were invited to play at Mill Mead School’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Friday 1st June, Karen Lewis writes: “Thank you so very much for making yesterday's Jubilee tea party such a success! The Simon Balle Big Band are a credit to you and we so appreciated all the young students giving up their time to attend our community event. The music and singing was superb and that really gave the whole event such a great atmosphere.

Results Congratulations to our drummers on their exam results:

NAME FORM GRADE RESULT

Thomas Carroll 9JM 1 PASS Leah Wilkerson 7HL 1 PASS James Clark 9SW 2 PASS Finlay Christie Hobbs 8LEJ 2 PASS Adam Beaven 9BM 3 PASS Florence Fyfe 9JM 3 PASS Sam Veck 9BM 3 PASS Shona Waters 9JM 3 MERIT Jonathan Carter 9SJN 4 PASS Nathan Liu 11HA 6 PASS Sam Gould 11JB 6 DISTINCTION

Finally a reminder that tickets are now on sale for our Summer Concert on 4th July.

Library News Tips for Research on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee There is an attractive display in the Library of resources for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which the school community is welcome to browse. Books on display include: Queen Elizabeth II: Portraits by Cecil Beaton by Susanna Brown (V & A Publishing, 2011) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Souvenir by Annie Bullen (Pitkin Guides, 2012) The Royal Line of Succession (Pitkin Guides, 2011) Also, why not look at a series of Diamond Jubilee ephemera on the John Johnson (Bodleian Libraries, Oxford) twitter feed @JJCollEphemera. The John Johnson Collection is one of the major collections of ephemera in the world. New Books The Library has recently chosen a selection of new Accelerated Reader books for Year 7 and various new fiction titles from the Hemel Hempstead company 66 Books Ltd. Please go to http://www.66books.co.uk/ for more details on the 10,000 titles available through them with 70% off the cover price! Membership of the St Albans and District Children's Book Group Our Library has become a member of this group so that our Lower School Book Club can review a wide selection of new children's fiction for the Red House Children's Book Award. As part of our subscription the Library receives a copy of the children's book magazine 'Carousel'. The St Albans and District Children's Book Group is part of the Federation of Children's Book Groups which exists or "Bringing children and books together!" For further information please see their website www.fcbg.org.uk and if anyone is interested in joining our local group please contact me at library@simonballe.herts.sch.uk for an application form. Their twitter feed is @StAlbansCBG to get a flavour of their local events etc. Mrs Syme PSA News Second Hand Uniform - If you have any uniform that you would like to donate to the PSA please drop it in to reception. Y9/Y11 jumpers are particularly useful but all uniform is welcome. The next PSA 2nd hand uniform sale is on Friday 13th July.

Quiz night - The PSA raised £1,000 towards the school hall refurbishment at it's recent quiz night. Congratulations to team 'Quiz Akabusi' who took the title by 2 points after a tense final 'Wipeout' round. Come along and join us for the next quiz on Saturday 13th October - it is always a fantastic and popular night.

Jubilee Pageant One of our students Josh Burton-Brown in 10SDP was involved in the Jubilee Thames Pageant. He is a member of Hertford and Ware Sea Cadets who took their Trinity boat and joined with 55 other sea cadet Trinities from around the country to form part of the flotilla which sailed ahead of the Royal Barge, all flying a different flag from the commonwealth countries.

MFL News French Exchange Update

All year 8 and 9 students hoping to take part in the French Exchange next year should have returned their partner matching forms before half-term. If this is still outstanding please down load a form from the web address below and return it to Mme Figgis by the 14th June at the very latest. This is extremely urgent as the French school will be closing soon for the summer. Form and covering letter download link: http://simonballemfl.wordpress.com/updates-news Messages from the French students who were with us in May can be seen on the same page. If you have any queries, please contact me as soon as possible: taylorr@simonballe.herts.sch.uk or on extension 206.

El Grúfalo: Un Cuento leído por la clase 7HL 7 HL reads the Gruffalo in Spanish. Listen online at:

http://www.sbslangs.org.uk/gruf7hl.wmv or http://www.sbslangs.org.uk/gruf7hl.mp3

County League Athletics Update The final round of the County Athletics League takes place on Wednesday with a number of teams in contention of making the County final. The U16 girls have performed magnificently and are currently in 4th place and level on points with 3rd placed Dame Alice Owens. They are in a strong position to qualify for the Cup final. The U14 Boys and Girls are currently 7th and 8th respectively and are in with a great chance of making the Plate final. The U16 Boys are currently in 10th place just 2 places outside a possible plate final place. Good luck to all teams tomorrow. Rounders Update Rounders games have been adversely delayed by the weather. The year 7’s and 8’s have had mixed results. However the year 9’s have performed fantastically winning all their games. Cricket News The year 8 boys lost out to John Warner and Richard Hale over the past couple of weeks. However they were some excellent performances from Matt Parris and Andrew Austin.

National School Sports Week National School Sports Week takes place on the dates below. Also below you can find a copy of our time-table of activities for the week. On Monday it is World Sports Day where we will be hosting the fun run and we are honoured to have the company of the mayor for the presentations. Sports Day takes place on the Wednesday where we hope to begin our afternoon of sport with an opening ceremony. To finish off the week we are competing in the District Championships where we won the overall award last year. Morning Lunch-time Afternoon

Monday (World Sports Day)

P4 & 5 – 5Km Fun Run – Year’s 7, 8 & 9 Elite pupils & staff 5km race

Tuesday Year 8 Field Events, Tug-o-war & beach Volleyball Finals

Wednesday Yr 7, 9 & 10 Field Events, Tug-o-war & Beach Volleyball Finals

SPORTS AFTERNOON – Opening Ceremony & Track programme

Thursday Paralympic Day Paralympic Activities

Paralympic Day

Friday District Athletics Championships

Sports Assemblies to take place the week before.

News • Volleyball - year 10 boys team will be representing the district at the Herts youth games in 2 weeks time. Upcoming Events • Wednesday 13th June - County Athletics League Round 6 (Wodson) • Saturday 16th June – County Schools Athletics Championships (Hemel) • Monday 25th June – World Sports Day • 25th – 29th June – National School Sports Week • Monday 25th June – The 5km Fun Run • Wednesday 27th June – Sports Day (Inter-house Athletics & tug-o-war) • Friday 29th June – District Athletics Championships • 4th July – District Athletics Combined Events Championships