The Knights Templar School Headteacher: Park Street Mr T. Litchfield, G.G.S.M. Baldock

Herts SG7 6DZ

Email: admin@ktemplar.herts.sch.uk Tel: 01462 620700 www.ktemplar.herts.sch.uk Fax: 01462 620701

PARENTAL WEEKLY UPDATE – 9th July 2015 (also available on our website)

Dear Parents and Carers You may be aware that from September there are changes to the GCSE structure. Whilst this is relevant to the current year 9 students only, I would encourage all students to have a read. You can view the changes on the school website. As we enter the last week and a half before the Summer break, I would like to wish all the staff and students going on the Morocco and Brittany trips next week a safe and rewarding time. This week and next the PE department are running their Summer house matches where all students are involved. We have had a hugely successful day today with our new intake in September visiting us. The students have had taster lessons in a wide range of subjects, have met most of their teachers and have already started making new friends – I am sure you can remember what it was like for your son or daughter! Last Thursday evening our Year 11 students attended their prom at the Spirella ballroom, Letchworth. What a wonderful evening, celebrating the end of five years at KTS and the end of the GCSE exams. The students all looked fabulous and conducted themselves extremely well. Congratulations to everyone involved in the organisation of this event. Can I please remind you of our very clear guidelines regarding school uniform and in particular the rules around hair-cuts. Some boys are coming into school with very short sides and long hair on top. Our policy states very clearly that hair should not grow over the collar not be too short (should be no shorter than a number 2 style), nor should it have patterns or varying lengths in it – some boys are having their hair cut with extremes of length and this is not acceptable. I have asked the pastoral team to speak to the students. Please may I ask you to follow the school rules on this. Please also be reminded that when we start back in September any extreme hairstyles sported for the summer holidays should be back to ‘school standard’ so please do plan ahead. Thank you for your co-operation. We were very pleased this week to be able to hear of Water Polo success of two of our students. Amelia Spinks and Ruby Doherty have both been involved in the East Region U16 Water Polo team. This was Amelia’s report from the weekend. “Last weekend I represented the East Region at the U16 Girls Inter-regional Waterpolo tournament in Walsall, Birmingham. All the matches were very tiring and you needed a lot of stamina to keep up. The games were also very aggressive and despite being winded & punched during counter-attacks with a lot of determination (and fouls!) our team, “East Angels”, got through to the final having beat London, South East & the Midlands along the way. It was the last match against Wales and we all knew if we won then we would be the champions. After putting in 110% we won, the final quarter score was 21-9, we had not only won it but smashed it!!! Now we are U16 girls national champions!!! Amelia Spinks Year 8”

Congratulations to both girls on their achievements and representing themselves and the school so well. Kind regards, Tim Litchfield Headteacher

Dates for your diary: 09/07/2015 Thursday Yr 6 Intake Day

Yr 6 Parents Information Evening, 6pm in the Hall

10/07/2015 Friday Yr 12 Final Reference/Report Primary Music First Access Event Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco (returns 26th) Sports Day

11/07/2015 Saturday Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco

12/07/2015 Sunday Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco Yr 7 Brittany Trip (returns 17th)

13/07/2015 Monday GCSE/A Level Art/Art Graphics/Photography Art Exhibition, Hall - all day Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco

14/07/2015 Tuesday GCSE/A Level Art/Art Graphics/Photography Art Exhibition, Hall - all day Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco

15/07/2015 Wednesday GCSE/A Level Art/Art Graphics/Photography Art Exhibition, Hall - all day Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco KS3 & Yr 10 Musical Theatre Trip to see Matilda Bronze DofE Assessment Expedition Planning Meeting 4, 6.45pm-9.15pm - T16

16/07/2015 Thursday GCSE/A Level Art/Art Graphics/Photography Art Exhibition, Hall - all day Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco Yr 7-9 The Project Drama production - DS

17/07/2015 Friday GCSE/A Level Art/Art Graphics/Photography Art Exhibition, Hall - all day Yr 7 Brittany Trip (returns) Yr 12 & 13 Expedition Trip to Morocco

Summer Festival Thank you to those parents who have already paid £5.00 towards the costs incurred by organising activities for students in the final week. We are still awaiting many payments. Please make your payment via

as soon as possible. The request of £5.00 represents a contribution towards the overall cost, which is much higher, and which the school is

undertaking to provide for. Students will find out what they are doing from Monday next week. Year 7s attending Brittany should ensure they have checked with their form tutors before the end of school tomorrow.

Year 11 prom This took place last Thursday at the Spirella Ballroom in Letchworth. All the ladies and gentlemen (previously known as Year 11s) arrived in their finery and looked truly magnificent. The theme was a “Knight in Wonderland” based, of course, on “Alice in Wonderland”. We had a wonderful balloon arch made for us by Emma Groves who has just started up a company in Baldock-Balloons of Baldock and who has a daughter in year 10. In keeping with our theme the balloons were red, black and white and amongst them were Queen of Hearts playing cards, “drink me” and “eat me” signs and other “Alice” related bits and bobs. I would like to publicly thank Emma for her contribution to our prom. We were also given an AMAZING cake, 4 tiers, each of a different flavour and decorated so convincingly with an edible white rabbit, bottles, playing cards, watch chain and the Mad Hatter’s hat label etc- all made out of icing. I would like to offer my grateful thanks to Rennan Tilbury’s parents and grandmother for supporting Rennan’s prom with this spectacular ensemble- it was a work of art as well as being delicious. Mrs Sidey created the table decorations (with the help of Orlando Micele): Mad Hatter hats that doubled as table lights. Orlando made the Mad Hatter awards and Chloe Gower and Shani Casey did a sterling job designing the tickets, creating a sign post and putting together the playlist for the DJ. Mr Pearson was our splendiferous Master of Ceremonies. The Year 11s danced, dined (well, had a finger buffet) and drank (soft drinks of course) the night- or should I say “Knight” -away. They were in fine spirits and impeccably behaved. Any one of them could have been our Prom King or Queen but the two winners of these prestigious awards were Reno Edwards and Olivia Kendall Torry. Lots of staff came to support the students and it was good to see one or two of them on the dance floor (Mrs Wallace and Mrs Nott). I would like to thank, once again, all the people already mentioned who played a part in this year’s prom, but also the prom committee for coming up with the ideas and attending the meetings . And also the 154 young people who attended and without whom there would have been no prom. Mrs Paice

(Balloon arch kindly supplied by

Further pictures of the Prom can be found here on our website. Balloons of Baldock, 07815 878013)

Year 9 cricket team crowned district champions! Congratulations to the year 9 boys’ cricket team who cruised to a relatively easy win in the North Herts District Final against The John Henry Newman School, Stevenage. After an impressive bowling and fielding display, the KTS boys were left with a score of just 77 to chase down. An inspired batting performance by Sam Rayner (50 runs) helped secure the title for KTS in just 13 overs! This is a fantastic achievement to cap off a very successful season- well done to all of the boys involved in the squad!

Music Grade Exams On Monday and Tuesday this week, 31 of our students took Trinity Guildhall music grade exams. We hope to receive the results before the end of term. First Access On Friday, 10th July we look forward to welcoming children from Ashwell, St. John’s and Sandon schools, who will come together for a Herts Music Service First Access workshop of music sharing. Children have been learning an instrument in their class at school, and will come together to perform, ably assisted by some of our KTS musicians. St Mary’s Choral Scholarship St Mary’s Church, Baldock are once again offering students in year 10 and above the opportunity to audition for a choral scholarship. The successful candidates will receive a free 15 minute weekly singing lesson. Further details can be found on our website and/or from the Music Office. Stotfold Mill Visit Year 7 On Thursday July 2nd, 12 year 7 students visited Stotfold Mill. The trip was a reward for students who had shown real progress and effort over the last school year. The source of the River Ivel is, of course, Baldock so the students could link their local river to the history of milling flour. They were able to mill their own flour and could see the development of milling from grinding by hand with a stone, to using moving water to turn the large millstones in the working Mill today. The Mill is now fully restored, after a fire destroyed most of it in 1992. It is run fully by volunteers and is open to the public most Sundays over the summer. The Mill is an excellent place to see local history, geography and science. The students and I had an enjoyable day and would recommend the Mill as an interesting place to visit. The website to check opening hours is: www.stotfoldmill.com

Mrs M Clarke

Luke and Ryan milling flour The workings in the mill.

Year 8 Meet the Professionals The excitement was palpable as 24 guests came to KTS for Year 8 Vocational Morning, Thursday 2nd July. The whole of Year 8 took part in our school’s annual vocational morning. After quizzing the professionals in an attempt to find out their occupation, they were able to talk to them one to one about their career. From market research to market stall holders and missile directors to midwives there was a huge variety of vocations on show. For the students this was the first opportunity to find out about interesting career opportunities available to them and they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Connor Kelly described the day as “fun” and said that it was “good to know what people get to do in their jobs and how that affects people’s lives.” Dominic Chambers enthused, “It’s been really interesting and it shows you how skilled professional people are.” Callum Parry also enjoyed a richly rewarding morning. “I’ve never taken part in an event like this and I found talking to the guests fascinating,” he said. “They were really nice, too.” Year 8s can now look forward to Enterprise events in Year 9 with the Engineering Day and Year 10 with Employability Day. The guests also had a great day, Ellen Manchester, a market stall holder, said it was a “lot of fun.” They were also full of praise for the students. Richard Harbon said there were: “outstanding questions, it was a very impressive day.” Jacqui Piner thought the “young people were very polite and respectful and I hope they learned something to help them with their careers.” All in all, it was an extremely successful day. Enterprise Coordinator, Mr McDermott, concluded: ”I was very impressed by the Year 8s during the Vocational Morning. They showed impeccable courtesy to our guests and had the courage to ask many probing questions. These students have made a really positive first step on their career path.”

Click here to see more pictures!

Chemistry Students Scoop Copper The results are in! Congratulations to Amelia Ellis, Charlie Langshaw, and Thomas Luck. All three managed to achieve a coveted Copper Award in this year’s Cambridge Chemistry Challenge (pictured with certificates and fellow chemists). There were over 9000 competitors this year; a copper award places students in the top 4000 students worldwide.

Knights Sports Centre Try membership at Knights this summer, 2 weeks Peak membership for 2 people for only £20! Gym, swim, classes and more! Speak to a member of the team on 01462 631300.

Sixth Form News Good luck to sixth form track superstar! We would like to wish sprint superstar Lauren Rule (year 13) all the best as she battles it out with the best athletes in the country at the English Schools Athletics Championships. Lauren qualified for this event relatively recently and is looking forward to racing some of the fastest athletes in the country! The championships will be shown live on Sky Sports! University taster days and summer schools Over recent weeks, we have had a number of year 12 students apply for and attend University taster days and summer school courses at prestigious institutions such as Cambridge and Durham to name a few. I would like to continually encourage students and parents to seek out the many opportunities that are out there. Please visit www.universitytasterdays.com to find out what is on offer- this is a fantastic opportunity to help students make the all-important post 18 decisions! ‘Silly sixth form sports day’ and zorbing!

As a reward to our year 12 students for all of their hard work this year, the school will be hosting a ‘silly sixth form sports day’ on the morning of Tuesday 21st July. This event will include light refreshments for students as they battle it out in a series of primary school sports day styled events including; egg and spoon race, sleeping bag race and 3 legged race. This event will be capped off with a chance for pupils to enjoy the enthralling activity of zorbing (see picture). This activity will provide students with the opportunity to blow off a bit of steam by crashing into their friends (and potentially teachers) while enclosed in a protective bubble. Students will be asked to pay a £5 fee to cover the costs of this event.

Sixth form assistance at year 7 disco We would like to thank the group of sixth form students who volunteered hours of their free time to organise and supervise the school year 7 disco. The year 7 pupils had a fantastic time and this was largely due to the superb organisation of our willing sixth form students- thank you! Sixth form students prepare for Morocco trip A group of highly motivated sixth form students make their final preparations before departing for Morocco this Saturday for a 2 week long expedition that will involve hours of hard trekking through the unforgiving terrain of Morocco. We would like to wish our students the best of luck with this mammoth challenge and look forward to having many stories and photos to share with the wider KTS community! Ogden Trust Physics Award Congratulations to Andie Foster, Rowan Frowde (both year 9), Helen Inman and Nathan Gilbert (both year 12) for being nominated for the Ogden Trust Physics Award. Baldock ‘dragons’ arrive at KTS The year 13 business students had the opportunity to present their knowledge learnt this term to a select group of Baldock businesses. They were tasked with preparing a presentation on the marketing of a new product they had developed. Each of the teams presented their proposals and were ‘grilled’ on the content by 4 local businessmen. The students commented ‘It was great fun to prepare and present, but the dragons were hard task masters and some of their questions really put us on the spot’.

The winning team as judged by John Street, Bernard Doyle and John and Alan Hilditch, from Satchells, was the ‘Talkin’ Walkin wardrobe’ designed and presented by Caprice Brookes, Fran Rowley and Megan Byford. Alan Hilditch commented “Their presentation was professional with an original idea and the group definitely used their individual strengths when presenting”. Caprice and Fran said “It was a great opportunity to use our creative skills and applying it to a real situation in front of the dragons”. Mr Vallier

Head of Business and Social Sciences Faculty